The Best Sydney Lockdown Pivots of 2021
These takeaway options, pop-up restaurants and virtual music festivals gave Sydney's four-month lockdown a silver lining.
The Best Sydney Lockdown Pivots of 2021
These takeaway options, pop-up restaurants and virtual music festivals gave Sydney's four-month lockdown a silver lining.
2021 was a tough year, but one thing that managed to make it better was seeing Sydney's creative and hospitality communities come together to try make lockdown a little more bearable.
During the four-plus months Sydneysiders were under stay-at-home conditions, many local businesses went above and beyond to help those that were struggling. And, a heap of our favourite spots came up with new and creative ways to keep their staff in work and keep locked-down patrons well-fed, entertained and feeling hopeful.
We've complied a list of eight fresh ideas that emerged during 2021's lockdown to help both us and the greater community through a difficult period.
From tasty tacos and next-level home meals to virtual festivals and a throwback to the video stores of the past, these pivots made their mark.
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8
Starting a restaurant is a daunting task at the best of times, but even more so during a pandemic. Luckily for the residents of Surry Hills, Daniel Hanssen took the plunge and quit his corporate job in order to share his love of Mexican food with the masses. Tacos Muchcachos popped up on Crown Street in Surry Hills at the beginning of lockdown with plans to take off and expand elsewhere once things went back to normal. While it has ended up sticking around now that stay-at-home conditions have lifted, the takeaway restaurant made its mark on inner city residents during their time confined to their homes.
Tacos Muchcachos’ winning eats: its signature quesabirria tacos, made on house-made tortillas and accompanied by a flavoursome birria for dipping. Other menu highlights include burritos, nachos, margaritas, boozy agua fresca and weekly specials. If you missed it during lockdown, this should be top of your list next time you’re in the city.
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7
If you love movies, then you likely miss video stores. You probably have fond memories of all that time time you used to spend scouring the shelves trying to decide what to watch, as well as your attempts to find gems — or just truly weird and wonderful flicks — beyond the big new releases. Scrolling through streaming services just isn’t the same, even if it has been keeping us all occupied during lockdown. So, the folks at the Randwick Ritz decided to bring back some of the delight of video stores during lockdown with a lending library of DVDs and VHS tapes.
Set up in a tower of crates outside the cinema, the video store encouraged folks to borrow, watch, then return their flicks of choice — all without paying a cent. Or you could drop off a couple of your old movies for others to enjoy in lockdown. The whole thing was supremely cute and gave locals access to some new flicks to discover or revisit once they’d binged their way through Netflix.
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6
The Hills stalwart Bella Vista Hotel completely reinvented itself during lockdown. Using its huge undercover car park, it hosted food trucks, a Canadian Club bar and a Gelato Messina pop-up — all drive-thru. North-west Sydney is often deprived of the wonders of Messina outside of the Church Street store in Parramatta, so it offered a wonderful opportunity for Hills residents to treat themselves to a tub of gelato or a cookie cake to brighten their time in lockdown.
There were also a heap of essentials available for those that felt a bit on edge at Woolworths, plus bottled cocktails and heat-at-home meals. The drive-thru kept local vendors in business and the hotel’s staff on the payroll. An all-round win.
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5
Many of our favourite dine-in-only restaurants came up with new ways to bring their dishes into our homes during lockdown. Delivery service Providoor helped facilitate the likes of Bistrot 916, CicciaBella and Restaurant Hubert to send restaurant-quality meals to Sydneysiders with minimal preparation required. Likewise, Sydney mainstays like Rising Sun Workshop set up their own delivery services.
A real highlight of this wave of delivered meals was Ragazzi, who provided Sydneysiders with the opportunity to indulge in some next-level pasta at home. Highlights from Ragazzi At Home included ravioli of burrata, house-made mortadella and cavatelli with cime di rappa and anchovy ragu, but the menu changed each week. Topping off the whole experience was the ability to add some luxe extras, such as a huge range of wine or a selection of fancy pantry items from Fabbrica, to your order.
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4
For the second year in a row, NSW was a practically music festival-free state. Some events got within days of pulling it off, while one major festival did actually go ahead, dancing and all. But for the most part, music-lovers were left without a field to dance in this year. In place of its usual July event, Splendour in the Grass organised a festival of inner-city gigs, but alas that was scrapped as well.
One cancellation-proof event that did go ahead was Splendour XR, a virtual music fest that took place on your mobile, tablet, browser, desktop or VR headset with a jam-packed lineup. The novelty of going stage-to-stage as well as visiting all the usual Splendour in the Grass areas — like the Tipi Forrest — on your device was fun while it lasted, but it was the musicians that made it really special. Performing special one-off performances filmed for the festival, big names and local upstarts ranging from The Killers, Phoebe Bridgers and Little Simz to King Stingray and Triple One showed up with immersive and unique performances. Yes, it was a great excuse for you to dance in your living room with your housemates, and an ace soundtrack to another weekend at home.
Image: Mitch Lowe.
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3
When Bart Jr and owner George Woodyard tried out a once-off lobster roll, they didn’t anticipate the response it’d get. “I had about 50 people on Instagram message me asking if they could pre-order for next time, and so many people came by afterwards and said, ‘please do it again’,” Woodyard said.
Piled high with fresh WA rock lobster, NSW Clarence River king prawns, tarragon, chive and horseradish, Bart Jr’s lobster rolls eventually became a regular fixture of the Redfern bar’s lockdown menu, available every Friday from the restaurant’s takeaway window — lovingly named Bart Mart. While these rolls were the star of the show, there were plenty of other items to get excited about on the menu. Date-night packs, heat-at-home meals and fancy panko-crumbed market-fresh ling Fillet-O-Fishes were just some of the exciting options Bart Jr provided to bring a smile to local faces.
Image: Destination NSW.
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2
About Time is more of a post-lockdown pivot that was born out of the rollercoaster of a year we’ve had. Just before Sydney went into its extended 2021 lockdown, beloved Sydney institution Frankie’s Pizza announced that it was closing in 2022 to make way for the new Hunter Street metro line. With complete uncertainty around the hospitality industry due to COVID-19 and a host of buildings set for demolition in the next 18 months, the team at About Time decided it was the optimal time to open a restaurant.
Based around the idea that nothing last’s forever, the pop-up venue opened as soon as Sydney left lockdown and will remain operational for about a year — until its building is knocked down alongside Frankie’s. The restaurant serves up fun twists on Australian culinary classics, including boozy versions of the servo slushie (including Irish coffee and Zooper Dooper flavours), roast lamb sandwiches, and the classic combo of Jatz and French onion dip made a little fancy. Wine and spritzes are on offer too, but it’s all for a limited-time only, so head down quick.
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1
During lockdown, Surry Hills diner Firedoor collaborated with the legends at OzHarvest for a weekly feast. In order to keep Firedoor’s suppliers in business, raise money for OzHarvest to help the organisation assist Australians suffering from food insecurity and brighten the Fridays of Sydneysiders in lockdown, the two organisations delivered at-home meals that were designed to bring the Firedoor experience — or just a really tasty meal — to you.
Each Friday’s menu would differ. Highlights included Ahana’s Indian Feast, which featured the likes of bharli vangi, chicken reshmi kebab and banana sheera for dessert; and Lennox Hastie and Jason White’s Dinner Box, which came with grilled octopus, roasted onion focaccia, dry-aged lamb chops and lemon meringue pudding.
Top image: Bart Jr, Destination NSW.
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