Jackie McMillan

Walking the streets of Lidcombe will show you fierce competition between restaurants. It manifests in excellent value deals advertised on signboards to passersby. Park Bong Sook dishes up set menus for solo diners at lunchtime, from Monday to Friday… #food

Chef Stevenson Su first impressed in a club setting at District 8 in Cabra-Vale Diggers. With a keen eye for the different price points that club restaurants need to deliver, he was snaffled by Club Blacktown to open Ocean Treasure in February 2023. It’s since spawned a sibling at Cabra Bowls. #food

Influenced by Korean ganjang saeujang (soy-marinated shrimp), soy marinated raw seafood dishes are currently popular in Thailand. These dishes see sashimi grade seafood marinated in soy sauce, garlic, red chillies, fish sauce and palm sugar. You can try them at Khao Man Kai in Haymarket. #food

King of Pickles and Spices is a hive of activity, even on a grey and drizzly Sunday morning. People are everywhere, loading up on spices, dried fruits, Iraqi confectioneries, and of course, pickles. For just $10 to $15 per kilogram, you can scoop up a whole bucket full!

I love going to Lakemba. My most recent visit was to dine with friends at Island Dreams Cafe, who put out Cocos & Christmas Island cuisine. Queen Cafe, which is Burmese, is next on my dining list in this vibrant Sydney suburb.

Ramadan Mubarak to my Muslim friends and followers.

#auspol

Billowing layers of plastic cover the tables in Chan Kun Kee. They’re peeled off for subsequent diners in this popular spot, which puts out affordable, comfort food popular in Hong Kong. Opening in 2023, it was the first overseas satellite of a dai pai dong operating since 1982. #food

On the outskirts of Armidale, an enclave of interesting dining outlets sits in the shadow of Harvey Norman. The small restaurants cover off Pinoy, Cantonese, Sri Lankan, and Korean cuisines. Outdoor tables, set under cover to avoid the blistering Armidale sun, make it easy to mix and match.

Liberals are really good at twisting words. Maybe they need to ban “smashed” too? They’re only for freedom of speech when it suits them. Hypocrites. Go smash some Liberals, Clare O’Neill MP. #auspol

It should be okay to safely protest Israel’s genocide in this country, Prime Minister @albomp.bsky.social. This isn’t what we pay our police to do. Inviting president Isaac Herzog here was a mistake. #auspol

While Sydney had something of a Neapolitan revolution some years back, lifting the standard of pizzas across the board, not all regional towns have followed suit. Forster however is a notable exception. Pezzella’s Pizzeria e Bar puts out beautiful pizza Napoletana. #food

Bruno’s in Bellingen is a charmer. Nestled behind some of the town’s verdant greenery and a green picket fence, the discreet weatherboard cottage has been delighting locals and visitors alike for the last five years. #food

Warung Pojok is a tiny Indonesian restaurant on the edge of Campsie’s ANZAC mall. Dominated by a glass counter, the compact dining room is famous for nasi padang, a West Sumatran rice dish. The counter means you can order it “pilih” where you point and choose. #food

Culinary Class Wars is the best television cooking competition I’ve ever seen. The Netflix series uses Korean ingredients across a variety of cuisines. Seeing the “black spoons” cook meat jeon inspired my visit to Jeonkaljip in Lidcombe. With jeon in the name it specialises in Korean pancakes… #food

“Angus Taylor Has My Vote for Liberal Leader,” Comments Facebook User Angus Taylor — The Shovel Member for Hume Angus Taylor has received some emotional support in his potential bid for Liberal Party leader today, in the form of a positive comment from Angus Taylor.  “Angus Taylor would make a f...

“Insiders say Taylor is confident he has the numbers, though it’s unknown how many times he has counted his own vote.”
#auspol
theshovel.com.au/2026/01/28/a...

I resent that David Speers thinks his role as a journalist is to goad our PM @albomp.bsky.social into making aggressive statements about Donald Trump. Why would we let Speers decide how we do international diplomacy? He’s never been elected. We didn’t even want him as the host of Insiders. #insiders

For a restaurant that’s been around for more than two decades, Maya da Dhaba, is surprisingly eager to please. It opened on a major Surry Hills arterial, Cleveland Street, back in December 1999. #food

Go home Australian Financial Review, you’re drunk.

Anthony Albanese didn’t even want a Royal Commission. #auspol

So the Coalition was lacking attention again this week? This isn’t an alternative government, it’s a rabble of self-interested fuckwits who hate each other & only exist to stop Labor from governing in the country’s interests. They have no other uniting reason, and gee this week it shows. #auspol

After visiting Tienda Latina Hola Namaste for Peruvian corn, & Super Orange for Japanese snacks, we settled in the brightly lit Blue Heaven. While it looks like, & is, an Asian dessert bar offering Korean bingsu & Thai mango sticky rice, they also do a lovely job with Burmese cuisine. #food

The disrespect Josh Frydenberg shows to one of this country’s most eminent retired High Court justices is staggering. Who better to get at the truth of the matter than Virginia Bell? Fraudenberg’s argument exposes the true aim of the RC: wedge politics. It was never about the Bondi victims. #auspol

Effort has been made to make the Ceylon & Curry dining room cheery. Saturated images of Sri Lanka line the walls, edged with plastic plants. They soften the impact of the plastic-draped, paper-topped tables, edged with burgundy high-backed chairs. It’s air conditioned, but you wouldn’t know… #food

There’s a Jeffrey Smart oil painting in the dining room at Bathers Pavilion. The Overpass (1967) captures overlooked architecture juxtaposed with a woman in a yellow dress. It’s presented by the floor team as part of the co-owners’—Ian Pageant & Jessica Shirvington—private collection… #food

You could spend a long time exploring the menu at Atin Ito, it’s extensive. Former ABC Sydney radio host, Simon Marnie, recommended the dried fish platter ($37.50) that 5 different types of fried dried fish. His recommendation is how we came to find ourselves in Cringila… #food

Armed only with a lubricated stick and a ladle full of batter, a masked female chef turns out a steady stream of Hà Nội rice noodles. The bánh cuốn are definitely the highlight at 𝐇𝐚̀ 𝐍𝐨̣̂𝐢 𝐨̛𝐢 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭. You’ll find the quaintly decorated Northern Vietnamese restaurant on the edge of Cabramatta #food

Fading red stucco walls on the sleepier side of Fairfield Station hide a restaurant that has been serving up Lao and Isan Thai cuisine for two decades. Open the screen door into Song Fang Khong and you’ll find a small but cheerful restaurant. Decor is minimal, mostly dish photographs… #food

Did I just see Kyle Sandilands on an ad about hate? The one who outed a kid on radio? The one who said “tuck shop arms” about a young Idol? The one who makes jokes about burying trans people in deserts? If he’s the example, it’s a terrible idea. #Standuptohate

Dear @chrisminnsmp.bsky.social if you’re going to tackle hate speech on signs in a protest, how about you take a look at hate speech in The Australian and on Sky News first? They reach more people than a protest sign, and the temperature of racist white Australians also needs to come down. #auspol

‘I haven’t seen Penny Wong shed a single tear’: Ley takes fierce personal swipe Ley raised her voice and smacked the lectern during a press conference as she criticised Wong’s absence from Sydney since the Bondi attack.

There isn’t one way to be sad. Weaponising women’s tears, or the lack of them, has also been used against rape victims seeking justice in legal settings. It has misogyny at its core. Sussan Ley MP is a disgusting politician. #auspol

www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...

Every day this week The Australian has written against the PM. Today they’re disparaging young people. I am sick of biased, ineffective media that cultivates hate, class divides, and dissatisfaction. #auspol

Across 2025 there were 184 reviews published on Does My Bomb Look Big In This? covering 67 different Sydney suburbs & 36 distinct cuisines. We did a lot of NSW road trips this year, covering 68 places in wider NSW & Victoria (37%). I’ve narrowed that down to 10. #food