0°C | Thursday November 13, 2025 
18 May 2023
By James Mullan
Bon Pollo North Sydney
15 Blue St, North Sydney
You might recognise this Lebanese chicken joint from St Leonards but did you know there is a new Bon Pollo right next to North Sydney station? North Sydney now finally has a great spot for Middle Eastern chicken and late night takeaway.
Owner Bakr hails from Egypt and previously worked at a chargrill chicken shop in Merryland before joining the famous Lebanese chain El Jannah. In 2011 he made the move to Bon Pollo Chicken, St Leonards and only three years in was offered the opportunity by the former owner to buy the business.
It was at this time the old shop site was bought out to make way for the ‘Landmark’’ skyscraper at 500 Pacific Highway, St Leonards. After Bakr spent a year back in his home country Egypt, he reopened Bon Pollo at St Leonards Arcade, just next to St Leonards’ major north bound bus station at 20 Pacific Hwy.
After four successful years serving up quality Lebanese cuisine, Bakr was keen to make a change, leaving the St Leonards store to his business partner. Originally he tried to open a new Bon Pollo in Petersham but zoning laws made it too difficult.
So Bakr made up his mind to return to the North Shore and open up a brand new location in North Sydney.
“I chose this area because we are well known here in the North. As soon as I opened up it was busy and the location is very good,” Bakr told the Sun. We also asked him what makes the chicken unique: “It’s a secret but the basic ingredients are lemon, vinegar, pepper and salt, but that’s all the most I can tell you.”
But it’s not just the chicken “The lamb wrap and chicken shawarma are very popular. Even before I open in the morning we get online orders for the wraps.” Both wraps are made with marinated meat, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, and a choice of sauce. The garlic sauce, baba ganoush and tahini particularly stand out, packing some serious flavour.
Bakr used to buy shawarma pre seasoned before mastering his own recipe. “I can do the real one so I cooked it by myself using my recipe and it came up perfect.” In fact, just about everything is made in house and prepared daily.
If you want to try the all star line-up at Bon Pollo, the BBQ platters are a good place to start. You can grab a standard quarter or half chargrilled chicken, or mix it up with the 4 skewers plate including kofta, adanna, lamb and chicken tawook.
The platters are served with fresh tabouli, hummus, garlic, pickles, and flat bread. If you are vegetarian the falafel is sensational. Crispy on the outside, fluffy and flavourful on the inside, and of course not dry at all.
To finish you simply must try the baklava which comes in 3 styles; chocolate, pistachio and kuru (syrup coated). They are simply divine; rich, sweet and the layers dense but light layers of pastry will melt in your mouth. Bon Pollo is open 11am until late and is chicken definitely worth crossing the road for.
Layers Crows Nest
Clarke Lane, St Leonards
Tucked away in a hidden street between Crows Nest and St Leonards, this modern bakery cafe is serving up truly unique coffee and delightful pastries in a location which provides the perfect retreat from the wind, traffic and construction in the area.
Owner Frances Song had been working in the patisserie industry for years and once her daughter was due to be born, made plans to move to Korea and start her own cafe. However due to an untimely sickness, Frances decided to stay in Sydney and instead open up in St Leonards where she had been a long time local with her husband Jiyoon.
Frances had patisserie expertise and Jiyoon was already working for Headlands Coffee as well as working alongside renowned Japanese coffee expert Takumi Sakamoto.
Layers brews coffee using unique Headlands Coffee, which Jiyoon roasts himself. This includes an exclusive ‘Layers Blend’ which Frances describes as possessing “natural notes of honey, peanut butter, cinnamon and chocolate. We are trying to encourage people to drink milk coffee and enjoy the caffeine fix without the sugar.”
The coffee is incredible but it’s the food that will keep you popping by for more. “We wanted to open this place to share what my husband and I really like; cooking for people and that includes pastries.”
Everything is baked fresh in house including chocolate, almond and plain croissants to Frances speciality macarons and chiffon cakes.
At Layers, they believe their point of difference lies in the softness of their pastries compared to others. Frances thinks that too often pasties are over baked, ending up with burnt butter and excessive breadiness.
By contrast “Our pastry base is very light, crispy, buttery, flaky and moist. Even when it cools down its still has a bit of a crunch and still stays nice cold or reheated.” All their goods also only use natural flavouring so they aren’t overly sweet.
As for the space: “We wanted something very warm and inviting.” The layout encourages interaction without any of the conventional cafe table chair set ups. Instead long coach seating and stools are complimented by small round tables. They want to encourage interaction between people and groups while enjoying their coffee. Layers is also available for small scale events of any kind as the space is versatile plus they have a liquor licence.
YoYo’s Chinese BBQ
116 Military Rd, Neutral Bay
15 years ago Polly Ji moved to Australia from China. Fast forward to 2023 and after years of hard work in hospitality, she has now brought classic Hong Kong cuisine to Neutral Bay.
Polly and her husband had been working at Phoenix Chinese Restaurant where he had been a chef there for over 10 years.
After hearing from a friend who owns a sushi store in Neutral Bay that the area had a strong local community with friendly people, they decided it would be the perfect location to bring their Cantonese style BBQ. They named the restaurant YoYo’s after their daughter.
From the classic roast ducks in the window to the fold out chairs and silver tables, this joint is a classic Hong Kong style eatery with the food to match: from BBQ pork to classic Chinese dishes like Mongolian beef and honey chicken.
“We freshly cook the BBQ meats everyday in the morning and again in the afternoon for dinner. It’s been quite popular!”
It really is hard to go past the duck but also on the menu are the classics like noodle soups, fried noodles, fried rice, dumplings, Szechuan chicken, Choy Sum and much more.
YoYo’s also has plenty of refreshing drinks to try.
“We do the Hong Kong milk tea and ice lemon tea with a very cute ice block.”
She wasn’t kidding as an ice bear popped out of the glass to cool off the smooth tea. All their teas are made in house and brewed to order, adding a very rich and unique flavour.
S’Top St Food & Coffee House
41 Oxley St, Crows Nest
Tucked in on the Oxley Street side of the North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre, you may recognise this Crows Nest cafe as Le Cafe Wraps and Rolls.
The current owners James and Mable had been working at bakeries when the previous owner of Le Cafe was looking to offload the business. After taking over management in 2020, they have opened up a second site and renamed themselves S’Top Food & Coffee House.
It wasn’t easy taking up the cafe in February 2020 with COVID restrictions setting in soon after. However Mable said they managed to keep things rolling along “We were lucky to keep busy. One thing was the construction site had a lot of workers. We also tried to do the best for our customers by looking after them with food and easy takeaway.”
Up until a few months ago, they were operating out of a small space offering food such as “traditional Vietnamese rolls, noodle soups, vermicelli noodle bowls. So we kept all the traditional food and we do some western style food like sandwiches, wraps and burgers to give more choice,” Mable said, adding that wraps and rolls are the most popular items, especially the crispy pork banh mi. In that same shop they also had juice, coffee, sweets and pastries.
“We were doing a lot of food there in a very small space as we were getting busier,” Mable told the Sun. With this in mind James noticed the shop next door had been vacant for about two years and decided the time was right to expand. The new site would specialise in drinks, from coffee, smoothies and protein shakes to fresh juices including sugar cane juice that is made fresh on site. It also has their sweets options like caramel slices, croissants and muffins. Mable says it’s still early days and they will expand their menu to include Vietnamese style coffee and more cold drinks as the weather warms up.
Meanwhile the original site still has the rolls, wraps and burgers “but now we have salads like chicken avocado and Caesar salad as well pastas.” Mable said it’s now a lot easier to offer more as every food now has its section with the rolls station and salad bar w at the original store with drinks and sweets just next door.
But perhaps the best aspect of their new shop is the upstairs seating, something they struggled with when it was just the original site. With 10 tables on the second floor, it is a peaceful escape from the street level with loads of natural light and a view of the surroundings.
It’s exciting time for S’Top with more space to do more of what they are so good at.
OHHO Gelato & Dessert Cafe
307 Military Rd, Cremorne
While on a trip to Italy, Nikky stumbled upon an inspiration that would change his life.
“We went to one of these infamous gelato stores in Venice called Suso. We tried the gelato and thought that one day we wanted to open up a store if we had the opportunity.”
At the time he had been working in a government job but the gelato store opportunity eventually popped up in the form of a vacant shop front on the corner of Spofforth St and Military Rd. He decided on Cremorne after a friend recommended the suburb and site, especially considering the void in the market.
“Cremorne is a neighbourhood that already has some of the best cafes, restaurants and bars in the area. However, one thing that has been missing is a place where locals can go to enjoy high quality gelato and desserts throughout the day and night.”
The closest gelato cafe is in Neutral Bay and Nikky was keen to point out that OHHO will fit into the current marketplace and complement surrounding businesses, especially with the Orpheum Theatre across the road.
When we sat down with Nikky he said “Our goal is to create a warm and welcoming space where people of all ages can come together and enjoy a sweet treat whether it’s on a hot summer day or a chilli winter evening.”
All of their gelato is made by specialty chef Vincent.
“He put his heart and soul into making different flavourful gelatos using traditional, artisanal methods and Australian produce.” Nicky said. One of their best selling flavours so far has been their Mango Sorbet which is made using North Queensland produce. Biscottino is another hit which Nicky describes as a “better version” of cookies and cream.
They also have new flavours every week with Apple Pie proving to be a hit recently. They also have more traditional flavours like pistachio, macadamia, strawberry, raspberry, panna cotta and passion fruit, to name a few. All in either gelato or sorbet form.
If you aren’t in the mood for gelato, OHHO has cruffles (croissant style waffles) and crepes.
“Most importantly, one thing that Cremorne doesn’t have particularly after 3pm. Can you guess it? Coffee” he pointed out. Nicky added saying he has had many people happy to find a spot serving up brews after most cafes shut. Their red velvet hot chocolate topped with homemade cream is another unique drink offering to keep you warm this winter.