Occupation: Executive Chef and Owner, Bistrode CBD and The Fish Shop
Years lived in Sydney: 12
Years worked as a chef: 35
Accolades: 1 Hat, The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide (2012-present for Bistrode CBD)
Wine List of the Year, Gourmet Traveller (2 glasses for Bistrode CBD, 1 glass for The Fish Shop, 2013 and 2015)
What is your earliest memory about food?
Sitting around the table for a family Sunday roast lunch.
What do you love best about Sydney’s food scene?
At the moment there’s an incredibly exciting amount of restaurants being opened by a younger generation of chefs.
Name the top restaurants and dishes that you think every visitor to Sydney should try.
The black pepper mud crab at Mr. Wong is the best version I’ve ever eaten.
Anything at the cured and cultured bar at Bennelong, a different way of eating in one of Australia’s most unique restaurants.
Dinner at sunset overlooking Bondi Beach at Icebergs Dining Room & Bar.
One of the best value meals in town, it’s worth a trip to El Jannah for incredible charcoal chicken in Granville.
The wonderful array of Vietnamese restaurants in Cabramatta; I especially like Pho Tau Bay.
If you had to name one favorite dish from each of your restaurants, what would they be?
Bistrode CBD: the wagyu corned beef, a signature for 10 years.
The Fish Shop: cuttlefish, chilli and garlic. The customers’ favorite, so simple and so, so tasty!
What’s your favorite neighborhood to dine out in?
Surry Hills. I lived there for 10 years. So much choice.
Describe your “perfect dining out day” in Sydney.
Breakfast at Brickfields, all freshly baked in-house, great coffee.
Lunch: yum cha at Palace Chinese, good for offal, in the city.
Pre-dinner drinks at the Supper Club on the InterContinental rooftop.
Dinner at The Apollo [for] the wild weed pie.
What’s one dish in Sydney that blew you away and left you wishing you came up with the recipe yourself?
The smoked trout betel leaf at Longrain.
Since it’s Sydney, we have to ask: what is your favorite place to grab a meat pie?
What are some of your top places for great cheap, quick food?
I love a mixed plate at Abdul’s in Surry Hills. Marigold is another yum cha favorite in the city, and the laksa at Malay-Chinese.
Are there any favorite watering holes you love frequenting?
What food is your guilty pleasure, and where do you go to get it?
A late night visit to Golden Century. Pippies in XO sauce with fried bread, the best in town.
Since this is a site geared for travelers, are there any favorite restaurants or bars at Sydney Airport or in Sydney’s hotels that you particularly enjoy visiting?
MoVida at the airport; est. at the Establishment Hotel.
Are there any foods native to Sydney that visitors should try to seek out?
Sydney rock oysters with a view of the ocean.
What would you say every visitor must see or do before leaving Sydney?
After all that eating and drinking, the Bondi to Bronte cliff walk is an absolute must!
Chef Strode’s Shortlist:
Bistrode CBD, Hotel CBD, 52 King Street (CBD); modern British, lunch and dinner Monday-Friday.
The Fish Shop, 22 Challis Avenue (Potts Point); seafood, lunch and dinner daily.
Mr. Wong, 3 Bridge Lane (CBD); Chinese, dinner daily, yum cha Saturday-Sunday.
Bennelong, Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point (CBD); modern Australian, lunch Friday-Sunday, dinner daily.
Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, 1 Notts Avenue (Bondi Beach); Italian, lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday, brunch Sunday, closed Monday.
El Jannah, 4-8 South Street, Granville, NSW; Lebanese, lunch and dinner daily.
Second location: 701 Punchbowl Road, Punchbowl, NSW; lunch and dinner daily.
Third location: 44-48 Flushcombe Road, Blacktown, NSW; lunch and dinner daily.
Pho Tau Bay, 12-117 John Street, Cabramatta, NSW; Vietnamese, breakfast lunch and dinner Wednesday-Monday, closed Tuesday.
Brickfields, 206 Cleveland Street (Chippendale); bakery/cafe, breakfast and lunch daily.
Palace Chinese, Piccadilly Tower, 133-145 Castlereagh Street (CBD); Chinese, yum cha and dinner daily.
Supper Club, InterContinental Sydney, 117 Macquarie Street (CBD); bar, open Wednesday-Saturday.
The Apollo, 44 Macleay Street (Potts Point); Greek, lunch Friday-Sunday, dinner daily.
Longrain, 85 Commonwealth Street (Surry Hills); southeast Asian, lunch Friday, dinner daily.
Harry’s Cafe de Wheels, Cowper Wharf Roadway and Brougham Road (Woolloomooloo); meat pies, breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night daily.
Multiple locations in and around Sydney.
Abdul’s Restaurant, 563 Elizabeth Street (Surry Hills); Lebanese, lunch and dinner daily.
Marigold, 683-689 George Street (Haymarket); Chinese, yum cha and dinner daily.
Malay-Chinese Takeaway, 50-58 Hunter Street (CBD); Malaysian/Chinese, lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday, closed Sunday.
The Baxter Inn, 152-156 Clarence Street (CBD); bar, open Monday-Saturday, closed Sunday.
Palmer & Co., Abercrombie Lane (CBD); bar, open daily.
Golden Century Seafood Restaurant, 393-399 Sussex Street (Haymarket); Chinese, lunch and dinner daily, late night supper Friday-Saturday.
MoVida, Sydney Airport, Terminal 2; Spanish tapas, breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
est., Establishment Hotel, 252 George Street (CBD); contemporary Australian, lunch Monday-Friday, dinner Monday-Saturday.
About the Chef: Like many chefs, Jeremy Strode’s culinary career had humble beginnings. Starting as a dishwasher at a hotel kitchen near his home at 14, he went on to apprentice at restaurants in London and in Berkshire, including the 3 Michelin-starred The Waterside Inn.
In 1992, Strode left England for Melbourne, his wife Jane’s hometown. Together, they opened Bistrode 13 years later, where he was the head chef and she handled all things dessert as the pastry chef. Bistrode moved into its current location in Hotel CBD in 2012, and in the same year, Strode opened The Fish Shop, a seafood eatery influenced by the seaside towns in the Hamptons and Cape Cod.
