Kürtösh, Surry Hills

This homey café is about one thing - Delicious, passed-down-from-mama recipe pastries and cakes. They're pretty proud of their house specialty - the twisty Hungarian pastry called (funnily), Kurtosh. It's quite good. Honestly, I'd say forget the pastry twister and go one of the Slab Cakes instead. Oh, so good! So far, my favourite has been the Catastrophe Flourless Choc Cake. Or mayyyybe actually the Lemon Crumble Cheesecake. Pretty much mention Mum's Chocolate Cake and I'm ready to trip a blind person for a bite! If you can't choose, you could order a sliver of each and call it day. This is the best bit about Kurtosh - everything is sold by weight, and there's no minimum (or maximum) for what you buy. So you can literally order a sliver each of four kinds of cake. Hoorah! 

Lemon Crumble Cheesecake and Catastrophe Flourless Chocolate Cake

Extra bonus: open late so you can pop in for after dinner dessert.

Kurtosh
Crown Street, Surry Hills; and Willoughby Road, Crows Nest
Mon- Fri: 7am - 10pm
Sat + Sun: 8am - 10pm

Victoria Street, Darlinghurst
Open until 11pm on Fridays and Saturday

Vasco Bar, Surry Hills

Photo from Vasco Bar owners

Boisterous, fun, unapologetically loud, and a bit rough around the edges. Not really a place for conversation, quite likely somewhere you'll do shots and definitely somewhere you'll leave with ears ringing. The mischievous Italian bar tenders are insistent that you have a good time. In a few words: Italian Rock n' Roll bar.

Vasco Bar
421 Cleveland St
Surry Hills 
Night: Tues - Sun

Chur Burger, Surry Hills

Oozey gooey beef burger, $10

These burgers are the bomb. They're not made from a catalogue of ingredients, just a few select things done really well. Indulgent, sweet, oozey and damn good (check the photos). The light, sweet brioche bun is the hero here, and ordering a diet alternative would be missing the point. Don't overlook the perfectly cooked sweet potatoes fries, either.

If you set up at the bar, you get a very intimate look into the burger prep. Hip-hop beats and the swift chef work = contagious energy. 

Chur is probably the best burger I've tried and funnily enough, the cheapest too. Fish, beef, pork, chickpea or chicken; all of them check in at $10. Thank you, Good Chur.

The main thing that separates Chur from other burger joints? They're made by chefs, not cooks.

Chur Burger
48 Albion St
Surry Hills 
Lunch: Mon  -Sat
Dinner: Tues - Sat