My Favourite Sydney Breweries Judged By Food Only
Beer and food have long been in the throws of a whirlwind romance where they each lift the other up. You’ve gotta have some ballast to balance out that beer and some food to sate that drunken hunger. Luckily for me as a Sydneysider I’m spoiled for choice when it comes time to finding the brewery with the best food.
When it comes to the Sydney brewery with the best food I can’t just pick one. There is a range of great menus teeming with food that tastes good, suits the beer and maybe even tells a little story. In no order, here’s my long old shortlist of the Sydney breweries with the best food.
NOTE: Breweries with rotating food trucks are not being counted for this list.
Philter Brewing
Pizza, wings, perfection. Just like with their core range, Philter aren’t chasing the wheel down Marrickville road swearing that they’ll reinvent it, they’re focusing on the quality of a classic. There are real pubby staples like schnitties, pies, burgers and tacos but it’s the upper Millennial nostalgia that Philter nails with some cartoonishly good pizza wings and pizza that would have the Ninja Turtles coming out of their shells. The nostalgia goes further upstairs in the Marrickville Springs bar with prawn cocktail and the ‘just a little bit fancy’ grazing board. For my money, the 10+ group menu will give you a taste of their dips, wings and pizza for just $25 per head.
Philter Brewing, 92-98 Sydenham Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204.
The Bob Hawke Beer and Leisure Centre
Image via Lucky Prawn Instagram.
If Philter wasn’t nostalgic enough for you this place aught to do the trick. The Bob Hawke Beer and Leisure Centre (home of Hawke’s Brewing) is story telling you can eat. Hawkey granted 50,000 Chinese students asylum in the ‘80s which is why the freakishly accurate Lucky Prawn Chinese Restaurant serves up accurate but amped up mixed entrées to those drinking one for the country. The environment is top of mind here with CO2 emissions from brewing used to grow hydroponic lettuce that make the plate of your Sang Choi Bao. The Chinese-Australian menu makes me just a little proud of my culture but the prawn toast made with fat, fresh prawns is on another level and is mandatory eating.
The Bob Hawke Beer and Leisure Centre, 8-12 Sydney St, Marrickville NSW 2204.
The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel
If you’re a regular reader of Benny Sent Ya you might be a little over me talking about this place but that’s because it really is that bloody good. The Lord Nelson have an upstairs restaurant that edges towards fine dining but I’ve never made the trip upstairs as the bar fare does the trick for me. What I love about the menu is that every local has a different favourite dinner; curry, pizza, ploughman’s, Sunday roast. For me, the thing I keep going back to is the meat pie with gravy, mash and mushy peas with a fillet of tempura fish. It sounds weird to some but I don’t care because it changed my life. It’s the whole reason these guys are on the list (if you don’t count the cold pork pies).
The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel, 19 Kent St, The Rocks NSW 2000.
Dad & Dave’s Brewing
Brookvale is one of Sydney’s best spots for beer (top 2 for sure) and nestled in with the other worthy breweries is Dad & Dave’s who boast the best burgers on the beaches. Being raised on a combination of Man vs Food and MythBusters I put this claim to the test and yeah, they are some rather superb burgers, so much so that I did not investigate the claim any further. There’s pulled pork, chicken and even vegan burger options but I find that a Big Hooie (formerly Jerry Swinefeld) a beef burger with bacon and pulled pork hits a spot that I didn’t even know was there until my first bite. Seriously, the burgers are so good you could eat them without chips even if people might think you’d gone insane.
Dad & Dave’s Brewing, 45 Mitchell Rd, Brookvale NSW 2100.
Rusty Penny Brewing
Image via Smokin Hot Instagram. Watch Benny’s classic Rusty Penny Reviewery (note that everything has changed since then, venue, menu, everything)
Penrith has entered the chat with their almost weirdly regional love for American style BBQ. One of the best and most hydrating places to get BBQ out west is at Rusty Penny Brewing, specifically their in house BBQ kitchen Smokin Hot N Saucy Barbecue. Their chef has literally cooked for the UK royal family before and designed their really simple menu that features just three burgers, four plates of BBQ’d meats that vary in size and five odd sides. Personally, I’m a fan of the 2 Meat Plate which I load with juicy pulled pork and brisket with an erotic pink smoke ring that falls apart after receiving a tense stare. Spilt a bit of everything on the Mini Lot Platter for two or line your stomach on a bucks party with the $150 Mega Lot Platter.
Rusty Penny Brewing, 4/137 Coreen Ave, Penrith NSW 2750.
Frenchies Bistro & Brewery
Image via Frenchies Instagram. Watch Benny’s classic Frenchies Review.
For something unlike anything else on this list, you can’t go past the taste of France from Frenchies Bistro & Brewery. Homesick Frenchies and those just missing France will get their continental itch scratched with the ever changing seasonal menus which feature modern French classics and (my favourite) grazing plates full of house made rillettes and pâte alongside a healthy does of French cheese. The staff are all very French (saw them all breaking to have croque monsieurs for lunch as a family once) so all the food is emphatically authentic. There are not a lot of breweries that you could have a date night in but with their warm red interior and bistro furnishings Frenchies is one of those select few.
Frenchies Bistro & Brewery, 6/61-71 Mentmore Ave, Rosebery NSW 2018.
