Cold comforts to warm the heart

We may not have to wrangle with the puffy-jacket layers of our southern counterparts, but that doesn't mean we're not looking for a snug refuge from winter's grip in Sydney. When the wind throws icy darts at your face, duck in and curl up in one these spots - our pick of the best places to sip a hot chocolate, gorge on a glistening roast or a sticky pudding, and loll in front of an open fire.

Hot chocolate

There's hot chocolate, an innocuous frothy drink, and then there's real hot chocolate - that dark and mercilessly rich indulgence that demands a willingness to abandon the dessert tray and the diet. We looked for warming cups offering a potent dose of real cocoa beans, quality chocolate, or both.

The thick chocolate puddle in a cup at Kakawa (kakawachocolates.com.au) in Darlinghurst can be jazzed up with a hint of bitter caramel or a dash of cognac. But our favourite is the thick and dark traditional, or the chilli-spiked dark ($4). All ingredients are natural, so it's basically health food.

Sometimes something gentler than a drink of cocoa lava is in order. So go to Woolloomooloo's Flour and Stone (flourandstone.com.au) for a luxurious, creamy cup made from Valhrona discs ($4.50). The sweet and cosy cafe also does remarkable pastries such as a flaky pear tarte Tatin.

Or find an elaborate concoction of creamy Belgian hot chocolate blended with a warming star anise, cinnamon and orange zest infusion at the recently opened Shaw Street Espresso in Bexley North ($5.50).

Annandale's The Little Marionette trades used ground coffee beans for a neighbour's fresh mint and chillies, infusing each with Belgian organic chocolate to create "hot choc mint" and "hot chilli choc" ($3.50) (facebook.com/thelittlemarionette).

Potts Point's Cafe Hernandez (cafehernandez.com.au) does Spanish hot chocolate so thick you can stand a spoon up in it, or just use one of the sugary churros that come with it ($4.50). The charming little shop is a shrine to the bean, both coffee and cocoa, and it's literally open all the time.

Sidestep the over-the-top confections at Max Brenner (maxbrenner.com.au) and go for the cafe chain's single sign of sophistication, an Italian Thick Chocolate ($6). The palm-size potent dose of velveteen chocolate is thick and not too sweet, and will see you through to the spring.

Roasts

Scores of pubs and restaurants, bars and pop-ups do wonderful things with roasted beasts, gilding them with glaze and serving them alongside parsnip mash and jugs of jus. In the interest of brevity, we went for variety, selecting standouts that bring nostalgia and oodles of contentment.

The roasted Malanda Park suckling pig at Pilu at Freshwater takes several hours to cook and is served in various cuts, on the bone, with transparent and thin crispy skin that leaves diners swooning (piluatfreshwater.com.au). It comes with suckling pig sausage and vegetables ($100 for two).

If a roast at home appeals, but the adage that nobody makes a roast better than mum doesn't ring true at your house, do a pick-up from Potts Point's diminutive Wilbur's Place (wilbursplace.com). Squirrelled away in a vibrant pedestrian-only alleyway, there's a confit garlic and fennel roast pork roll with crackling ($12), and a roast suckling pig with braised lentils, cavolo nero and pancetta ($24) to eat in or to go.

Surry Hills' Sticky Bar, the hidden upstairs bar at Table for 20, does a secret roast on Wednesday with a glass of wine for $15. Roast rabbit and polenta mash one week, lamb shoulder with root vegetables and gravy the next - it's home-style food for those prepared to bet they'll get a seat in the busy, trendy bar.

For a roast you're less likely to cook at home, start a meal at Gastro Park in Kings Cross with roast bone marrow. Spoon it onto a baguette, and top with capers, parsley, shallots and chickweed salad ($16) (gastropark.com.au). The decor at the Forest Lodge Hotel is basic, but it does a roast pork neck with chilli jam, papaya salad and crispy zucchini that's value for $18 (forestlodgehote.com.au).

Jeremy Strode's five-hour Southdown lamb shoulder and autumn vegetables at Bistro CBD ($55 a person) is a succulent feast befitting a long slow afternoon out of the cold (merivale.com.au/bistrocbd).

Walk away from the washing up and the uncooked bird on Sunday and let The Tilbury in Woolloomooloo do it instead (tilburyhotel.com.au). Beef with Yorkshire pudding and chicken with bread sauce are on the rotating weekly roast menu ($38).
For a crowd, the cosy bar at Paddington’s Four in Hand does a refined but generous whole roast pork belly plus all the trimmings, from red cabbage to caramelised apple, to serve 10 (fourinhand.com.au).

Puddings

They are winter’s saving graces, fiendishly laced with butter and cream, and more sugar than we care to know. But at this time of year it’s good to damn the diet for a day and warm up with something steaming and spoonable.

The recently opened Cornerstone Bar & Food at Carriageworks is a warm place in an uber-cool warehouse. Curl up on the massive leather Chesterfield couch and order the baked lemon self-saucing pudding, served with delightful cherry ice-cream ($12) (cornerstonebarandfood.com.au).
For slightly warmer evenings, there’s the coconut rice pudding at the Bloodwood restaurant in Newtown (bloodwoodnewtown.com), topped with poached plums and a rose-infused plum glaze, with toasted pistachios scattered on top ($14). For stickier fare, go to the nearby Black Star Pastry shop in Newtown for its rendition of bread and butter pudding ($6.80). Made from torn-up croissants soaked in a creme caramel custard, this pudding could be the reason the climatologists invented winter (blackstarpastry.com.au).

If you can score a table, Sydney’s recently opened MoVida is a perfect winter dive, complete with bare-brick walls and dark wood and serving an excellent charcoal-roasted spatchcock with mojo picon and sweet peppers ($32). But the main reason we’re here is for the almond fondant, a fragrant, oozing warm pudding served with house-made fennel-pollen ice-cream ($14.50) (movida.com.au/sydney).

Fireplaces

Fireplaces at some Sydney hot spots ignite appetites and kindle the need for another bottle of red. Year round, these fireplaces beckon for cooler days and the time to use them is now.
Make a beeline for a seat by one of several fires at The Commons Local Eating House in Darlinghurst, a sandstone building decked with Scandinavian-chic furniture made for cosying up (thecommons.com.au). Consider the seasonal menu over a bar snack of caramelised shallots with goat’s curd on toast.

Pub grub has made its way up the food chain at the 3 Weeds Rozelle, which proves everyday food can be out of the ordinary (3weeds.com.au). Shimmy to the back of the pub for a braised beef pie, and sit by the enormous sandstone fireplace.

The Australian Youth Hotel in Glebe has a crackling fire in its 1857-built public bar, a creaking and happy place with a touch of Irish pub (australianyouthhotel.com.au). And a cute northside bar called Foxtrot has a roaring fire behind an ornate grate that begs for some marshmallow action or a glass of cognac (facebook.com/thefoxtrotcrowsnest).

A blazing hearth in Paddington has become an institution for Anglophiles and any locals keen for a pint. The Lord Dudley is loaded with English charm and offers a roaring fire, crackling logs, comfortable sofas and British beers (lorddudley.com.au). There’s sticky toffee and date pudding with toffee sauce ($11) to accompany the cosy scene.

If you’re game to head beachside in winter, dip in to The Bucket List at Bondi (thebucketlistbondi.com), which does a rotating selection of Sunday roasts fireside. The central fireplace turns this usually breezy summer spot into a glowing and cosy nook beside the beach.

What's your favourite winter spot? Jump on the comments and let us know your go-to places for hot chocolates, slow-roasted meats, puddings and fire places in Sydney.