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Dining solo? Here's where to go in Sydney

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

The bar at Momofuku Seiobo: ringside seating for the lone diner.
The bar at Momofuku Seiobo: ringside seating for the lone diner.Quentin Jones

Dining alone was once a subtle alternative to raising your hand and proclaiming either "Attention, everyone - I have leprosy" or "I'm a very important person who doesn't have the time or inclination for social interaction and would you kindly allow me to read this copy of Quadrant in peace."

Things have changed. Figures obtained from online booking service Dimmi show that table-for-one-bookings have risen by 83 per cent in the past financial year. The antisocial stigma attached to lone dining is waning.

Perhaps it's because we can share our dining experience with friends via social networks, and in that way, we're never eating alone. Also, thanks to the smartphone snapping your snapper, the interweb is in everyone's pocket and there's always something to read.

Pork belly at Kitchen by Mike.
Pork belly at Kitchen by Mike.James Brickwood
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The benefits of solo dining are many. It's tremendously easier to get a seat. Even at the booked-out-months-in-advance joints you have decent odds of jagging a seat by trying lonesome luck on the night. Eating alone also gives you more time to concentrate on the food, plus there's no awkward bill-splitting and if you want to eat a whole rack of ribs without judgment you can.

On the flipside, eating alone can be heartachingly lonely, you can only try a limited number of dishes, and if the meal is terrible there's no one to laugh it off with.

Food reviewer and goodfood.com.au writer Ruby Lohman says things are even worse for the female lone-diner.

"As a young woman dining alone, I'll often be blatantly stared at, hit on or patronised. Maybe all three," she says. "Of course, this isn't the case at every restaurant...[but] the fact that I'm a woman doesn't automatically mean I want to chat. I don't."

Solo dining tips from the field

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  • Except in cases of extreme hangover, avoid yum cha at all costs. There's too many delicious things to try and it hurts not being able to do so.
  • To sample more of the items on offer, flutter around the top half of the menu instead of the bottom.
  • Go easy on the chablis. It's a fine line between suave, solo diner and lonely, depressed drunk.
  • If you intend to read between courses, bring your own literature or make sure there's adequate network coverage. I once had to spend three hours at the Four Seasons' Lung King Heen in Hong Kong with nothing but a copy of Superyacht World for company.
  • If there's an open kitchen, try to sit close to it. Watching a well-oiled kitchen at work is a marvellous thing.

Sydney's best spots for a one-on-none eating

THE TOP END

Momofuku Seiobo

Any restaurant with a bar you can eat at is already perfect for the lone diner. The three-hatted Momofuku Seiobo has two. The main bar, framing the kitchen, is painfully hard to get a spot at, but if you're dining alone your chances are much better. The smaller bar has a no-bookings policy, a limited menu and five seats. That fifth seat is yours, Han Solo. The staff are awesome and only too happy to have a chat (or not, if you'd prefer a bit of quiet).

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The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont, (02) 9777 9000

Sepia

Sepia was awarded Restaurant of the Year in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2015 not just for Martin Benn's knock-out cooking, but also because of Vicki Wild's dedication to providing professional, ever-friendly service. Within five minutes of sitting down by yourself, Wild and her floor team have made you feel like you've known them for decades.

201 Sussex Street, Sydney, (02) 9283 1990

Rockpool Bar and Grill

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Hang a right at the entrance and head straight for the bar. Gentleman, if you need to unleash the inner Don Draper, James Bond or Philip Marlowe, this is the place. Order a minute steak and an old fashioned and you're good to go. Just don't try any one-liners on ladies also dining alone because you will look like a creep.

66 Hunter Street, Sydney, (02) 8078 1900

4Fourteen

Colin Fassnidge and Carla Jones's high-ceilinged, slow-cooked meat temple has a stand-alone partition/bar thingy at the back of the room. On a buzzy Saturday night it's an ideal perch to pretend you're not watching other diners and concocting their life stories in your head. Also, eating at 4Fourteen alone means there's more colcannon to go around the table.

414 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, (02) 9331 5399

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Hartsyard

This Enmore Road eating house has fried chicken, ridiculous desserts and that Canadian classic poutine (the Hartsyard poutine involves fries smothered in a beer-and-cheese sauce and braised beef shin). It is also quite dark so order up big, grab a corner, and enjoy a date night with yourself.

33 Enmore Road, Newtown, (02) 8068 1473

CHEAPER EATS

Pho Pasteur

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Vietnamese noodle soup involves a lot of head-down shovelling and slurping that no one needs to witness. Conversation happens around pho, not during it. It also comes out mighty quick, which means you've got time for about one Facebook refresh between ordering and receiving.

295 Chapel Road, Bankstown, (02) 9790 2900 (also at Parramatta and Haymarket)

Eating World

This Chinatown food court has more solo diners than a hotel breakfast buffet. Everyone's here for something quick, cheap and nourishing. Gumshara Ramen's rib-sticking tonkotsu is a favourite of the food bloggers, but hey, you're by yourself, so relax. You can take the time for a stroll around the room without a mate telling you to hurry up because their Hainanese chicken rice is already on its way. If you're in doubt about what to order, find some taxi drivers and follow their lead (this applies to any food court in any country).

25-29 Dixon Street, Haymarket

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Kitchen by Mike

The queue for meat and salad at Mike McEnearney's canteen is out of control on the weekends. Once you've filled that enamel plate, the next challenge is finding a seat at one of the mess hall tables. A challenge for two, a cinch for one.

85 Dunning Avenue, Rosebery, (02) 9045 0910

Umi Kaiten Zushi

A sushi train is perfect for the lone eater. Instead of facing an empty seat, you're facing a conveyor belt of California rolls and katsu. Eat a plate of tempura, decide if you're still hungry, and if so, swipe another. You have to try really hard to over-order with sushi train.

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Shop 1, Lower Ground Floor, Sydney Central, 477 Pitt Street, Sydney, (02) 9281 2006

The Piccolo Bar

Nursing an espresso outside this should-be-heritage-listed-cafe still has all the Kings Cross romance about it as (I imagine) it did 60 years ago. You're never alone here as long as owner Vittorio is about for a chat.

6 Roslyn Street, Potts Point, (02) 9368 1356

Do you have a favourite spot to dine solo? Share your recommendation in the comments below.

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Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

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