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Sydney's best late-night eateries

If you're curious about what the taste masters do for food, walk in their footsteps in the wee hours, writes Carla Grossetti.

Carla Grossetti

Want to know where to eat and hang out in late-night Sydney? We followed the trail of the kitchen crews from our hot restaurants. Here's where they go for everything from bowls of congee to salami-topped pizza and chilli-spiked fried chicken when most people are tucked up in bed.

BEN SEARS
33, head chef, Moon Park, Redfern

Chefs spend all night tasting so it's nice to sit down and eat without any fuss or pretense. My girlfriend [fellow head chef Eun Hee An] and I finish at midnight and one of our favourite places to go is NaruOne Korean Restaurant. I love the galbitang, a Korean soup made of beef short ribs and cabbage. It's not as rock'n'roll as the fried chicken they are famous for, but it's great to get a wholesome fix of good, honest Korean food at the end of a long shift.

Old Town Hong Kong Cuisine is another place chefs gravitate to. It does a really good congee [rice porridge] with fish and ginger. I also order Chinese doughnuts on the side.

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Hot Star Large Fried Chicken on Liverpool Street is another hotspot. It's a real hole-in-the-wall that we detour to on the way home. It attracts a lot of students because for $7.90 you get an enormous serve of Taiwanese fried chicken. The space itself is extremely bright. It's like a little fluoro beacon lighting up a Sydney night.

Eun is Korean and for a special occasion we go to Danjee because it serves traditional Korean food. I order yukhoe [Korean-style beef tartare] or buldak, which translates to fire chicken and is served with rice cakes and is really good.

DANIELLE ALVAREZ
30, head chef, the Fish Shop, Potts Point

I'm from California and have only been in Sydney for two months. One of the first places I was taken to when I arrived was Golden Century, which is not a secret spot, but exciting all the same. The pipis in XO sauce, and salt and pepper squid are hard to beat. It is the best Chinese food I've eaten and to have it at 1am is pretty cool.

When I finish work, I tend to crave Asian food because it's not food I cook in the restaurant, so it's a break for me. Arisun serves a killer Korean chilli-glazed chicken, which is sticky, spicy and sweet. Another dish they do sounds weird, but it's amazing: it's chicken off the bone cooked in chilli sauce with melted cheese on top. It is strangely good, and a really welcome feed at the end of the night with a cold beer. There are big tables where you can cook on the tabletop and they bring a small keg of beer to the table and it's a lot of fun.

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10WilliamSt is in my neighbourhood and I often stop by after work and have a snack and a glass of wine. I love the pretzels with smoked anchovy dip. It's a really dimly lit restaurant with a cool sexy bar, cute staff and smart food. I usually sit at the bar, have a few snacks and people watch.

MIKE EGGERT
32, head chef at Pinbone, Woollahra

NaruOne is a great late-night place to have a beer and eat fried chicken. You don't have to think about what you're going to eat: there's only one thing you can eat - chicken. I always order fried chicken half 'n' half, which is half fried chicken and half with sweet and spicy sauce, kimchi and pickles on the side. NaruOne is hidden down a set of stairs and a bit low-key.

If I'm feeling more social, Golden Century is the go: it's always heaving. You will see all the boys from Ms G's, the Sepia crew, Rockpool crew and the Three Blue Ducks boys. I love the garlic and pepper sauce snow crab with noodles.

For a quick bite, Fatima's on Cleveland Street is a Lebanese joint that does the best kebabs and falafels. I have the lamb kebab with extra garlic and chilli. It's open until 4am, takes five minutes to get your food and then you're off.

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Superbowl is another favourite place in Chinatown. You get one bowl of congee and a share bowl and then you buy the accompaniments. It's in Dixon Street Mall and is pretty basic. After cooking dinner for 200 people, it's a great place to go for a quick feed where you can mentally switch off.

JULIAN CINCOTTA
28, sous chef, Nomad

Chefs work really long hours and don't need to go anywhere fancy for a feed; we just want something tasty. After you've done a couple of doubles (double shifts) it's like, "let's get a feed" and so every Thursday, we go to Sydney Madang in Pitt Street and feast. Korean food is really popular with chefs. We have lots of soju [Korean rice liquor] as well as barbecued meats and pickles. Chefs are often on carnivore diets. We eat a lot of carbs and a lot of meat.

Frankie's Pizza every Sunday night is also a bit of a ritual. I will smash a whole margherita pizza with salami by myself. Frankie's is a bit like an American dive bar and it's a real hospo [hospitality] hangout. It's grungy with pinball machines and you are drinking out of plastic mugs. It's relaxing.

Low 302 on Crown Street is right near my place and they do a good Sunday roast for $20. They carve the roast at the table and serve it with coleslaw, roast vegetables and gravy and it's really, really good.

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El Loco is another fun place. It is open until 3am on weekends and it always puts me in a good mood; it has a happy Mexican cantina vibe. I love the hotdogs and spit-roasted pork al pastor, and the quesadillas are really good, too.

O TAMA CAREY
35, head chef, Berta

There are two Korean barbecue places I just love. One is Madang, where I have the pork belly and kimchi and ox tongue with all the mustards and sauces. I also get the seafood pancake. If it's after 2am, I go to Dae Jang Kum on Goulburn Street, Haymarket. The kitchen team all like it because it's bright and noisy and a bit divey and fun. The bulgogi beef is really good. It's a nice strong flavour and is always served with tofu and beansprouts on the side so you can make it to your taste. I am obsessed with the mustard and sesame sauce and am a bit heavy-handed with that. I work in an Italian restaurant and so I tend to crave those Asian flavours.

If I happen to finish early, I love to go to Mary's in Newtown. It's open until midnight and they do great burgers. I love having a whisky, a beer and a burger.

Gardel's on Cleveland Street is another great place to go for a bar bite. I always have the cheese and charcuterie boards, which are lovely to have at the end of the night. It's such a beautiful setting: it's got the cosy booths and is not too ridiculously rowdy and is a lot of fun.

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Golden Century is hilarious because it's full of seedy people, nutters and chefs. I quite like the red-braised pigeon and jellyfish salad. I also have a special fondness for salt and pepper tofu and always get the pipis with XO sauce and fried noodles.

Need to know

NaruOne Korean Restaurant, 375 Pitt Street, Sydney, 02 9261 2680. Open Sun-Mon 11am-10pm; Tues-Wed 11am-11pm; Thurs-Sat 11am-1am.

Old Town Hong Kong Cuisine, 10A Dixon Street, Haymarket, 02 9264 3888. Open daily 11am-2am.

Hot Star Large Fried Chicken, 96 Liverpool Street, Sydney, hotstarchicken.com.au. Open Sun-Thurs 10am-midnight; Fri-Sat 10am-2am.

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Danjee, 7 Albion Place, Sydney, 02 8084 9041, danjee.com.au. Open daily 11.30am-10.30pm.

Arisun, 1 Dixon Street, Sydney, 02 9264 1588, arisunrestaurant.com. Open daily 10.30am-midnight.

Golden Century Seafood Restaurant, 393-399 Sussex Street, Sydney, 9212 3901, goldencentury.com.au. Open daily noon-4am.

10WilliamSt, 10 William Street, Paddington, 9360 3310, 10williamst.com.au. Open Mon-Thurs 5pm-midnight; Fri-Sat noon-midnight.

Fatima's Lebanese Restaurant, 294-296 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, 9698 4895, fatimas.com.au. Open daily 9am-3am.

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Superbowl, 41 Dixon Street, Chinatown, 9281 2462. Open daily 8am-2am.

Sydney Madang, 371A Pitt Street, Sydney, 9264 7010. Open daily 11.30am-2am.

Frankie's Pizza, 50 Hunter Street, Sydney, frankiespizzabytheslice.com. Open Mon-Fri noon-3am; Sat-Sun 4pm-3am.

Low 302, 302 Crown Street, Surry Hills, low302.com.au. Open Mon-Sat 5pm-2am; Sun 6pm-2am.

El Loco, 64 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills, 9211 4945, merivale.com.au/elloco. Open Mon-Thurs noon-late; Fri-Sat noon-3am; Sun noon-10pm.

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Dae Jang Kum, 35 Goulburn Street, Sydney, 02 9211 0890, daejangkum.com.au. Open Mon-Thurs 9am-4am; Fri-Sat 9am-6am; Sun 9am-2am.

Mary's, 6 Mary Street, Newtown. Open Mon-Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm.

Gardel's Bar, 358 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, 8399 1440, gardelsbar.com. Open Tues-Sat 6pm-midnight.

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