Glebe Point Diner

When a restaurant uses soil-caked potatoes as decoration, you might figure that produce plays a big part in proceedings. The seasonal focus at this cosy but classy diner leaves you in no doubt. Add great staff and a smartly selected wine list and you have the sort of local that can make neighbourhood real estate prices soar. A salad of black Russian tomatoes, blood plums, avocado and spring onions is a delicate balance of sweet and tart. Equally good is a Williams pear salad with pecorino and fennel; a simple but elegant main of spanner crab with homemade fettucine, chilli oil and tomato; and a fall-apart, 12-hour braised Berkshire pork shoulder buoyed by tangy apple slaw and a crisp curl of crackling. French chic meets fairground fun in a caramel parfait, lifted by a crisp sheet of caramel popcorn. The team may be sharing the love via their newer Neutral Bay diner (see p121), but the Point remains as sharp as ever.