Where to Shop Like a Local in and Around Chatswood for 2024

If you’re planning to build the ultimate charcuterie board, look no further than Quattro Deli in Chatswood Chase. The delicatessen sources local and imported specialty items, offering a huge range of cheeses — think Italian gorgonzola, buffalo mozzarella and plenty of washed-rind numbers — and heaps of Italian cured meats, including salami, mortadella and prosciutto. Its impressive selection also extends to olives, antipasti, jams, spreads, fresh pasta and sauces. You can grab desserts aplenty, too, including Italian nougat, biscuits, chocolates and other packaged sweets. If that’s not enough, a huge cellar features vinos from Italy, France, South America and Spain, along with Australia and New Zealand.

Image: Trent van der Jagt.

Israeli cafe Shuk expanded from Bondi to Chatswood in late-2018 — and lower north shore locals couldn’t be happier about it. The 100-seat cafe has a sprawling al fresco dining area, along with long share tables and floor-to-ceiling windows. Owner Yoni Kalfus brought existing Shuk favourites to Chatswood — including baked egg shakshuka and gluten-free teff pancakes for brekkie, and eight-hour slow-cooked lamb and hummus platters for lunch. It’s the perfect spot to take a break from a day of shopping or to grab takeaway baked goods to take home. Shuk’s daily baked bread, bagels, sourdoughs and challah are all available from the bakery, as is the delectable chocolate rugelach (a popular Jewish sweet). A range of catering options are on offer for your next brunch or dinner party, too.

Located in Chatswood Place, this outpost of Fresh City Fruit & Vegetables is particularly welcoming. It’s open daily (and until 8pm on Thursdays), so is a go-to any day of the week. You can go for a full-on shop here, or just swing by for last-minute ingredients or one-off dinners. The expansive shore offers heaps of unpackaged fruit for the sustainably minded shopper, and the prices are hard to beat, too. The best part is you can do all of your fruit and veg shopping in one place, and know it’s going to be fresh as.

Image: Leigh Griffiths.

The upside to getting to a shopping centre right on opening? It’s easy to find a park. The downside? You skipped brekkie to get there on time and now you’re hungry. If that’s happened to you while shopping at Chatswood Chase, let us point you in the right direction: Three Beans. Part of a collection of cafes with over 20 locations dotted across Sydney and Brisbane,  Three Beans Chatswood Chase will sort your early morning hunger out with its menu of cafe classics. Whether you opt for something sweet like muesli or banana bread with house-made praline butter, or a hearty green brekkie bowl, packed with avocado, quinoa, haloumi, pesto and an egg, you’ll leave feeling satisfied and ready to power through that shopping list. Slept in? Not to worry, the menu is available all day and also includes wraps, sandwiches and tarts. And don’t be put off by the fact that Three Beans is a chain; it uses its scale for good, by supporting Aussie growers and producers. The eggs come from Rohde’s farm in South Australia’s Clare Valley, pork is from Borrowdale near Goondiwindi and the chicken is from Mount Barker.

Next, hop over to Pattison’s Patisserie, which has been around since 1990. Its French-inspired cheesecakes, tarts, tea cakes and breads are the thing of legend, and it also makes some of the best macarons in the city. Think salted caramel cheesecake, almond and cherry tarts, lemon meringue pies and friands, to name a few. Pattison’s also prides itself on using the finest ingredients and creating beautiful desserts that taste as good as they look. You can nab fresh coffee here, too, and the beans are hand-roasted on site.

Image: Trent van der Jagt.

Since 1991, Cyclery Northside has been the go-to spot for cycling enthusiasts of the north shore. Not only does this specialist store stock a vast range of bikes — including gravel and adventure bikes, road bikes, mountain bikes and more — but it also has a repair workshop with plenty of spare and replacement parts, if your pride and joy needs some seeing to.

Keen cyclists will be impressed by the range of well-known brands available, like Tarmac, Shimano, Roubaix and Levo, as well as all the other must-have gear for your hobby, including gloves, lights, pumps and wool socks. Just getting into it and not ready to make the big investment quite yet? Cyclery Northside offers 24-hour hire on some of its more popular models to help you find what works for you.

Image: Leigh Griffiths

Giving any venue the glory of the best dumplings in Sydney is going to be controversial. But, given that New Shanghai has six outposts across Sydney, plus more in Melbourne, Brisbane and overseas, you can say with confidence that it must be doing something right. Its signature dumplings, xiao long bao, are both soupy and crispy, and you can get them filled with either pork or crab. Or, just order both (we would). Add some other dumplings — think lamb and leek, beef and coriander or fish — to your order, plus a side of sauteed green, if you want to feel a little more wholesome. Elsewhere on the menu, you’ll find stir-fried rice cake with pork and XO sauce, Shanghai-style cold noodles with smoked fish and noodle and wonton soups. The striking interiors aim to take you back to the streets of 1930s Shanghai, with a live dumpling making theatre where diners can watch the chefs in action.