The short answer: learn Victoria Avenue. Nearly everything on this shortlist sits on it or within a couple of minutes of it, from Texas-style brisket at number 465 to Korean barbecue by the station.
Chatswood gets filed under “shopping suburb”, which suits the locals fine. The people queuing for the Chase and Westfield mostly stick to the food courts, while along the avenue and its side streets you can move from smoked meat to Cantonese roast duck to truffle benedicts without really leaving one street. Here is how to work it.
Start on the avenue proper
Briskett, at 3/465 Victoria Ave, takes American barbecue seriously. The namesake brisket, a cut with a proud Texan pedigree, is smoked for at least half a day and lands with a mildly sweet tomato-based sauce. The supporting cast runs to ribs, pulled pork and chicken, with mac and cheese, coleslaw and cornbread on the side. Wooden tables, laid-back room, no fuss, and reviewers rate the brisket itself as the reason to come.
Two blocks along at 3/387 Victoria Ave, Chatswood BBQ Kitchen is the Cantonese counterpoint: barbecue pork, roast duck and soy sauce chicken, plus hot pot cooked at the table. It made the cut for generous portions at affordable prices, which is also why the rows of tables fill up fast at peak times. The interior is plain and unbothered by trends. Takeaway is the local workaround when the room is full.
Inside Chatswood Chase
Butter Chatswood, at 345 Victoria Ave in Chatswood Chase, is the most entertaining room on this list. It pairs fried chicken, ramen and stuffed doughnuts with a hip hop theme and an actual sneaker bar selling collectible pairs on consignment, with labels like Raised by Wolves in the cabinet. There is champagne on the drinks list, which somehow makes sense once you are in there. This is the follow-up to the Surry Hills and Parramatta venues, and the menu here is expanded.
In the same complex, Cicco Bar is the quiet option: small bagels, small cakes and coffee in a comfortable room from 8am to 5pm. Keep it in your pocket for when the Chase gets the better of you.
The side streets do the heavy lifting
Myeongdong Chatswood, at 1/5 Railway St, is the Korean anchor near the station. The banchan side dishes come free, the fusion plates are built to be looked at as much as eaten, and the drinks list stretches to traditional Korean spirits and cocktails. If you only make one detour off the avenue, make it this one.
Chimichuri takes more finding, tucked at the bottom of a commercial building at 1/6 Help St in the quieter pocket of Chatswood. It is a Latin American cafe: chorizo, empanadas, the house chimichurri, and burgers pressed into black buns that photograph better than they have any right to. Weekdays it runs 7am to 3pm and Saturdays from 8am, so treat it strictly as a daytime plan.
Coffee, sorted
Mathilda Cafe, at 26 Victoria Ave, pours Gabriel Coffee and backs it with a breakfast list that goes well past eggs on toast: cheesy truffle scrambled eggs, a truffle lobster benedict, and a house carbonara loaded with prawns, bacon, mushroom and yuzu shichimi. It opens 7:30am to 4pm every day, with indoor and outdoor seats, grocery shops nearby and Chatswood Chase a short walk away. Of the daytime rooms in the suburb, this is the one with the premium feel.
Apothecary Coffee on McIntosh Street is the other daytime pick, a rustic, vintage-leaning room with wooden furniture and a small courtyard out the back. The loose leaf teas arrive in odd little teapots, the baristas know their beans, and there are sandwiches, pastries and cakes if you need more than caffeine. No reservations; doors open 7am on weekdays and 8am on weekends.
When dinner is the whole plan
Kuro Sakura Japanese BBQ Yakiniku is built for groups, which is the point of yakiniku. The all-you-can-eat menu takes in wagyu beef, edamame, lotus chips and a spread of cabbage, tofu and shirataki, the big tables have grills built in, and there is sake, red wine or draught beer to keep pace. Regulars rate the shabu shabu buffet as the sleeper pick, with high-marble wagyu at a good price, and the room hums with conversation and sizzling meat.
If the night needs a longer runway, Chatswood Monkey Bar at 53 Orchard Rd has cushioned banquettes, a balcony and a proper cocktail list, plus full gaming and TAB facilities if there is a race you cannot miss. It takes function bookings for Melbourne Cup and Christmas, which tells you the kind of scale it runs at.
Know before you go
Chatswood keeps daytime hours seriously. Chimichuri is done by 3pm, Mathilda and Apothecary by 4pm, Cicco by 5pm. Do coffee and cafe lunches early, save the avenue barbecue joints and yakiniku for the evening, and you will never hit a closed door.
The other trap is assuming the shopping centres are the food scene. They hold their own, but the best of the suburb is at street level, on Railway St, Help St, McIntosh St and the length of the avenue itself.
Where to dig further
This is a shortlist, not a census. Browse the full run of food and drink in Chatswood for everything we did not squeeze in, or start from the Chatswood local guide if you are making a day of it on the North Shore.
