The Secrets of Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺
“Other than the beach or the well-known infrastructures in Sydney, there’s not a lot to do other than visiting cafes and eating to your heart’s content. Finding a place to fill it isn’t too hard.”
Today’s Filter is not short, but it is one of my favorites yet. Skip to the end for Just the Links, with pins to the Filter Map with everywhere Jay recommends.
Jay Ryu has spent over a decade working in the coffee industry in Sydney, and his guide to the city paints a picture of small cafes worked each day by passionate artisans, quiet walks in hidden places through the city, and excursions that are mostly yet unknown. Jay shows us the Sydney of small pleasures enjoyed by everyday people.
Jay Ryu is roastery manager at the boutique micro-roastery Reuben Hills in Sydney, Australia. Photos courtesy of Reuben Hills
Filter: What do you like to do for fun around Sydney?
Well, other than the beach or the well-known infrastructures in Sydney, there’s not a lot to do other than visiting cafes and eating to your heart's content. Finding a place to fill it isn't too hard. Since I work in the industry, I like exploring different cafes and restaurants during the week. I have to say that my fixed go-to has been A.P. House Rooftop in Surry Hills.
It’s been almost 12 years working at Surry Hills, but I do enjoy my walk to the bakery because of the serenity and heritage architecture I walk past in the early morning. A.P. Bakery has been fairly popular lately, but there’s normally not a huge queue when I get there early in the morning. I’d like to say I’m doing a quality check, but truth be told, I’m simply there to enjoy a cup of Reuben Hills coffee and a freshly baked croissant. Other pastries are a show stopper too. Their canele, basque cheesecake, and their ricotta tarts are based on seasonal fruits, which means I’m not eating the same menu for months on end.
My usual routine after work would be hitting the pub or a bar with my work colleagues if we’ve had an extra hard day. Going to the pub after work is a ritual for most Aussies, especially on a Friday. So, as you can imagine, Aussies have done a great deal in developing great wine bars and breweries to meet their needs. If you asked me what is the best beer in Sydney, it would be Wildflower in Marrickville. It’s quite similar to coffee in the sense that it has a light citrusy taste with a fruity note to it. It pairs quite well with the snacks in Bar Copain next door.
Another amazing thing in Sydney is the weather. It’s hot and sunny, which means it’s perfect weather for the beach. The popular beaches you would want to visit are Coogee, Manley and especially Bondi Beach because they’ve got an amazing food culture in that area.
Filter: If a good friend came to visit, where would you be sure to take them?
This question is a really easy one for me as there’s a staple place we go to if we have family or friends visiting us in Sydney. It’s almost like a ritual. Firstly, I recommend my guests to stay in the Paramount House Hotel in Surry Hills. I love visiting there myself, especially on special occasions. It always gets me from the lounge to the vibrant elevator that takes you to a cozy boutique room. The bedding and the amenities there are absolutely amazing because I exit the room spelling like Aesop, which is what you want to smell like on a date night. Then when I get hungry, I would start snacking on the gourmet treats that you won’t find at a regular hotel. Then in the morning, I take my guests to the cafe on the ground floor, called the Paramount Coffee Project (PCP). It’s an extraordinary cafe that showcases Sydney's best roastery coffees and alternates their guest beans to add variety. Then it’s desserts at the rooftop, where we get mouthwatering pastries and more coffee.
Then I take my guest on a city tour and walk down to Hyde Park, St. Mary’s Cathedral, and the Australian Museum. Another place we visit is the Royal Botanic Garden and Art Gallery of NSW, which is free to enter so it’s a must-try. At the end of the Royal Botanic Gardens and its vast greens, the most iconic landmark in Syndey—The Opera House. I highly recommend getting a glass of beer or wine on the outside tables of the Opera Bar, which is located under the Opera House. After the extensive tour, we normally get a hearty sandwich from Small’s Deli in Potts Point. Ben and his wife make the most mouthwatering sandwiches in Sydney. Their tuna sandwich ‘Harissa’ is my favourite, and their vegetarian option Al Green is an absolute must-try.
When it comes to dinner time, I always take my guests to Poly, a restaurant and a wine bar right under the Paramount Coffee Project. Poly is the sister restaurant of Ester in Chippendale, another restaurant that you have to try. Both restaurants are led by a genius and a very talented chef, Matt Lindsay. They are a little different in the sense that Poly is more directed towards snacks that pair wonderfully with their broad range of wines and Ester gives you a course dish experience. Both places are amazing and if you’re planning to try out their potato with salted egg yolk and their grilled potato bread with sesame whip. For Ester, I would say their blood sausage sanga, grilled mains and Hasselback potatoes with whey sauce are a must-try. Both restaurants are honestly the best restaurants in Sydney.
Another pit stop that I take to ensure my family and friends enjoy Australia is taking them on a hiking track to the Blue Mountains. On the way is another amazing breakfast cafe called Kickaboom, located in Glenbrook and their spam toastie and chicken waffle are the perfect way to start a hiking trip.
Filter: What do you like to do to escape the city?
Well, Sydney is convenient as it only takes one hour or at times, even shorter to visit the beach. My personal favourite is Bondi, but since it gets very packed in hot weather, my next option would be Palm Beach. It’s a great location to swim, surf, and fish.
If my wife and I really want to escape the city, we love visiting Byron Bay. We enjoy it so much that we visit it every single year. It’s a 9-hour drive from Sydney, but I strongly recommend taking a plane to Ballina Airport as it only takes 1 hour. I also make sure I hire a rental car as it’s usually around $100- $150 a day, and it gets me to the different restaurants and cafes I want to visit. From my experience, public transport is quite limited to the busy parts of Byron Bay and the best places can be found on the outskirts of the city.
If you're looking for places to visit within the city, you should walk to the lighthouse as it gives you a great view of the beautiful waters in Byron. Then you could take a drive to The Farm in Ewingsdale, for a breakfast at the farm experience. It’s a great place to go if you have children because they have different farm animals on site. If you’re feeling like Mexican food, you should try La Casita in Brunswick Heads and if you’re going for Italian, Ciao, Mate!’s Vodka pasta and a range of pizzas are definitely worth trying.
Filter: What touristy things around Sydney are worth the hype?
The main touristy things are Taronga Zoo, Sydney Eye Tower, Harbour Bridge Walk or Port Stephens. Firstly, Taronga Zoo allows you to see native Australian animals close by, and their shows are great, but I would recommend you to pack your own food. The Sydney Eye Tower isn’t on my recommendations list because you need to pay $40 to go up a lift and see the view and around $95 for a skywalk around the outside of the tower. Another walk in the sky would be the Harbour Bridge climb, but it’s a heftier price as it ranges from $340 to $415. I haven’t tried it personally, but if you’re looking for a once-in-a-life experience, it might be worth the money. In regards to Port Stephens, their sand slides are quite enjoyable, but the walk up the hill is an absolute killer. If you’re willing to endure an incline walk up a sand dune, go for it.
Newtown is a really cool spot outside of the city, right next to Sydney University so there’s lots of hot places around there. There’s some vintage shops, book shops, cafes and restaurants that are definitely worth the visit. Bella Brutta and Westwood are currently one of most popular pizza places in Sydney and they get completely booked out, especially during dinner hours. The woodfire pizzas there are worth the hype, especially their Pepperoni and Mortadella pizzas. Mary’s Burger went viral a couple of years ago and although it might not be a current hype, it’s still my number 1 burger shop in Newtown. When it comes to desserts, you’ll always find a massive queue in front of Mapo. They’re really famous for using fresh in-season fruits in their sorbets and their fior de latte and Pepe Saya butter salted caramel gelatos are my absolute favourites.
Filter: Where are your favorite hidden gems there?
My wife and I are living in Lidcombe at the moment, which is west of Sydney (30m away from the city), we go to Mattina in Concord West for our Saturday or Sunday brunch. Only 10m away from our place and their coffee and food are a bang for the buck as they have outstanding quality food with reasonable prices. Concord West is a very small and quiet area so it’s kind of a hidden gem place. Their chef’s special changes every fortnight, which makes me quite excited, especially on the weekend when they change their specials. They’ve got a very calm vibe and the service is exceptional, so I’m really glad that they opened up close to my place.
If you’re looking for more of a quiet walk by the bay, I strongly recommend the path down the river in Rhodes or The Bay Run in Drummoyne.
Filter: What's one other coffee shop around there that you really admire?
Artificer and Primary Coffee are my coffee shops to go to if I don’t get it at Reuben Hills. Dan, Shoji, and Daniel ensure that the taste is always consistent. I really admire the fact that they keep to the basics. They really focus on the quality of the coffee and producing the best cup of coffee for everyone that enters through their door. I also like their vibe that makes you feel relaxed unlike other loud and busy cafes in Sydney.
Filter: What makes Sydney feel most like home to you?
Well, when I arrived in Australia for the first time I felt New Zealand and Australia had a very similar vibe and culture. However, I did feel that Sydney could bear more opportunities for me than New Zealand. Life at Sydney was my first step into the real world as an adult, and I’ve really enjoyed living here. Even though I spend the rest of my time in the busier part of Sydney, my lifestyle still feels quite relaxed. Of course I haven’t only experienced the brighter part of Sydney. There have been tough moments and it’s been hard financially and physically. I met my wife in my early 20s and it was difficult being the sole breadwinner as she was still at university. It may sound cliché, but when I look back at those experiences, I think those hardships are what got me to where I am today.
Everytime I visit Korea to see my family, I just can’t imagine myself living there for the rest of my life. It’s amazing, don’t get me wrong, but over there, it seems like everyone I walk past is too busy moving forward that they don’t have an opportunity to look back. That’s when I think, I really like living here in Sydney.
Filter: How did you end up in Sydney?
I was born in Seoul, South Korea, and went to high school in New Zealand. I came to Sydney to attend university and started studying accounting in 2010. I would say Sydney felt like a huge city to me because Hawks’ Bay, New Zealand, where I grew up, was such a small rural town. I think hospitality has grown so vast and wide in Sydney in the past 10 years. I’m grateful that various quality dining places have opened up in Sydney. In my opinion, I think the growth has been significant due to quality driven people in the industry. People nowadays are more willing to pay for quality coffee and food. They don’t want to simply ease their hunger or shove in caffeine in the morning, but they genuinely want to enjoy every meal or coffee they have. I guess this need from Sydney siders allows the industry to grow and improve.
Filter: Can you share about your role at Reuben Hills?
I currently take on a role as a roastery manager at Reuben Hills. Reuben Hills is a boutique micro-roastery based in Surry Hills which has been in operation since January 2012. We roast coffee which is showcased in the café downstairs, as well as in other cafes around Australia through our wholesale channel. We travel around the world to producing countries (origins), meeting the farmers, cupping their coffees and selecting beans, so we can provide our customers with coffees directly sourced from our farmers. We enjoy sharing their passion and love introducing their coffee to the rest of the world.
On a day-to-day basis, we are a café that focuses on unique, delicious food and exceptional customer service. Our dishes are inspired by our coffee origin trips, with a real emphasis on quality.
My main role consists of roasting coffee, as well as quality control through daily cupping. I also go on origin trips to source the green bean for the roastery to ensure we provide the best quality for our customers. My overall job at the roastery not only consists of making coffee profiles, but also managing my staff, communicating with my wholesale clients and finalising all the products. I’ve been here for almost 10 years and I started to work at Reuben Hills at the beginning of 2014. The biggest reason for my lengthy stay was that it has always focused on the quality ever since I started here. One thing that stays with me is Russ, my boss, telling me that we need to raise awareness for specialty coffee. He said that we needed to share our expertise with our customers so that they understand and grow to love quality coffee. I enjoy being part of the cause and it’s what keeps me here at Reuben.
Filter: If you could move to any place in the world just for the coffee scene, where would you move, and what shop would be the biggest reason?
As a coffee roaster, I would love to work in Europe and particularly, Denmark’s Coffee Collective. I have been their longtime fan and I admire the amount of effort they put in to producing high quality coffee. I respect the standards of the green coffees they purchase and how they roast their beans. The transparency, branding and marketing is clever and sets a great example as one of the leaders in the industry. Europe is also an area I haven’t been to, so I think it would be pretty exciting to experience that part of the world. As a business owner, I would choose Korea. I’m actually running a little espresso bar called “Flatty” in South Korea with my business partner Sunho Lee. We met in Sydney when Sunho was working as barista at Handcraft in Newtown where he used to brew Reuben Hills coffee. I send freshly roasted Reuben coffee every week as Sunho wanted to deliver Australian coffee culture to people in Korea. It’s surreal that we’re able to deliver little Sydney through Flatty and I’m grateful for our customers that respect quality coffee. The cafe is doing pretty well in Korea and we’re planning to open our second store.
Filter: How has Sydney changed as the coffee culture has become so well established?
Well, there are both good and bad things to say about Sydney's coffee culture. I guess coffee has been a necessary need for most Australians as Australia ranked 10th in the world for their coffee consumption. As I mentioned previously, the consumers would rather pay a couple more dollars to purchase a good cup of coffee. I think that would be the one of the biggest reasons why specialty coffee roasteries grew so fast. The coffee market is getting tighter and tougher in Sydney, and after the COVID and a lot of things have changed. As it is for other industries, inflation has caused significant increase in the overall production costs of coffee. Surprisingly enough, the spike in the prices have been more prominent in the lower range of coffees, reducing the gap between the prices in non-specialty and specialty coffee. This has also contributed to the increase in specialty coffees.
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Reuben Hills is a boutique micro-roastery located in Surrey Hills, Sydney.
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