Good Food Guide 2023: 15 of Sydney's best value suburban restaurants

• All of the winners, hats and news from the SMH Good Food Guide

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2023 was published this week and the new edition lists more restaurants in the suburbs than ever before.

While postcodes between Newtown, Bondi and the CBD still claim the majority of hatted venues (ambitious restaurateurs are often attracted to high density, high income areas), suburbs including Ramsgate, Burwood, Castlecrag and Wheeler Heights are represented in the Guide for the first time in many years.

"We didn't want to launch head first into Manly where it's a very saturated market," says Sean Toth, who opened Wheeler Heights' Tothy Brothers Deli with sibling Blake last year.

"We grew up around here and wanted to open in a Northern Beaches neighbourhood where there's families and plenty of local support."

Tothy Brothers has become hugely popular for its American-style smoked meat sandwiches during the day and a more elevated evening menu, currently featuring Cajun sausages and flame-grilled market fish with currants and sorrel.

"There are a lot of people around here who want to eat the kind of food you traditionally find closer to the city, but they don't want to drive," says Toth. "Being in the suburbs, we can offer that style of cooking, but in a cruisier format. People will come in for dinner on the terrace with their dog."

Summer Hill's Good Food Guide presence has also grown thanks to Lotus Dumpling Bar arriving in the inner-west suburb in May. Lotus Dining was formed in 2012 by restaurateur Michael Jiang and the group's eateries have traditionally been located closer to the CBD.

Lotus Dining head of operations Mark Chinnock says he wanted to open in Summer Hill after spending more time in the community through the pandemic.

"I'm a local, and I noticed the suburb was becoming buzzier due to more people working from home. When a shop came up for lease, we did our market research and the young professionals that live around here are part of the younger demographic our dumpling bar brand is geared toward.

"There were already a lot of Chinese restaurant options nearby in Ashfield, but we felt there was a premium offering missing, one with cocktails and wine. Opening in Summer Hill was still a risk but it has definitely paid off and the bar has become very popular."

Indeed, it has been a good year for noodle fans in the area with 35-year-old CBD laksa specialist Malay Chinese opening in Ashfield too.

"Our footprint has always been in the CBD, with a big lunch crowd on Hunter Street, but then of course COVID hit and everyone started working from home," says Malay Chinese co-owner Alex Sigma.

"We've always had a crowd of loyal supporters saying, 'hey, can you open up in the suburbs?', so we figured there was no better time. Ashfield works because it's such a central part of the inner west."

With the success of Lotus in Summer Hill, Chinnock says he is now looking to expand the brand further.

"Right now, we're exploring from the northern suburbs right down to Maroubra and Cronulla. For a lot of people, it's hard to get to the city and transport has become a bit of a nightmare. From our research, the hybrid work-from-home model is sticking around too."

The Good Food Guide's best value restaurants rocking the suburbs

Many suburban restaurants in the Good Food Guide 2023 are new venues, while others are stalwarts featured for the first time. Here are 15 of the best where you eat for less than $100 per couple.

Apandim Uyghur Restaurant, Burwood

A Burwood Road favourite often busy with expats and locals chatting over plates of chewy lagman hand-pulled noodles and giant metal skewers of lamb fragrant with cumin. Arrive hungry.

Ayam Bakar 7 Saudara, Penshurst

It's strictly homestyle Indonesian cooking at this converted fish-and-chip shop, specialising in marinated pieces of chicken with a touch of kecap manis for sweetness.

Chatkazz, Harris Park

The heart and soul of Sydney's liveliest Little India. Dosa are a given, but consider the vada too – little black-lentil doughnuts served with coconut and tomato chutneys and sambhar.

Fish Butchery, Waterloo

Watch chefs fillet, bone and dice myriad ocean treats for take-home dinners or to eat right there and then on weekends. The audibly crunchy fish and chips is Sydney's best.

Gursha, Blacktown

Simmered-sauce dishes (wot) are heady with spice and make colourful splodges on spongy and gently soured Ethiopian flatbread injera. Dip and scoop and dip again.

Hai Au Lang Nuong, Canley Vale

Choosing from more than 90 dishes is all part of the delightful sensory overload at this Vietnamese eatery where smoke from the charcoal grill billows across decorative rickshaws.

Hansang, Strathfield

Vibrant bibimbap and pork-neck hot pot is reward enough for the short wait at this Korean favourite, even before you factor in the dizzying procession of accompaniments. Banchan galore.

Jugemu & Shimbashi, Neutral Bay

Soba here is made from scratch each day, and the signature bowl of buckwheat noodles served with chicken and mushrooms in a rich walnut soup is the right move.

Malay Chinese, Ashfield

The laksa is incredible, but don't miss the char kway teow either, a hearty scramble of soy-stained thick noodles loaded with Chinese sausage, chicken, egg and sprouts.

Mrs Ding, Botany

Fiery and beautifully balanced Hunanese cooking sets Mrs Ding's suburban strip alight. Try the silky stir-fried eggplant glossed with black bean sauce and green chilli.

Peranakan Palace, Auburn

This purveyor of Singapore staples plays it relatively straight – see the laksa, rendang and steamed otak-otak parcels – but specialties such as Nonya-style fish curry add extra dimensions.

Queen Margherita of Savoy, Cronulla

A pizzeria which prides itself on proper Neapolitan technique for toasty, chewy bases freckled by open flames and topped with capers, olives and anchovies.

Song Fang Khong, Fairfield

Tiny family-filled diner for hard-to-find Lao favourites such as crisp-fried rice with pickled ham and dried school prawns, barbecued ox tongue and zesty raw beef salad.

Tothy Brothers Deli, Wheeler Heights

It's American-style sandwiches at lunch including a reuben with signature pastrami, while the dinner menu stars smoked chicken with golden-brown skin and a knock-out mash and gravy.

Traditional Cantonese Taste, Eastwood

Why queue to order, pay in cash, find a table, and wait for something as simple as cheung fun (rice noodle rolls)? Because they're cooked to order and a gold standard of the craft.

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2023 magazine is available for $9.95 from newsagents, supermarkets and at thestore.com.au.