Food at The Rocks Markets: What to Eat When You Visit

First things first:

You know that we are going to write about the Rocks Markets, the first thing we are going to talk about is food, right?

It's kind of who we are - always start with the food.

So the one rule: Come hungry. Properly hungry.

The hot-food end of The Rocks Markets is absolutely no place for someone who’s just had a massive breakfast.

You’ve got sizzling gozleme, giant pans of paella throwing out those gorgeous savoury smells, crisp dosa coming off the hotplate, dumplings getting tossed around, chilli crunch being spooned over everything...

Honestly, it’s hopeless. You will eat. We’re there every weekend, so this isn’t some carefully researched list written from a desk.

This is the stuff we actually eat. These are our people.

And these are the things we send customers to try when they lean over the fudge stall and ask: “Right. What’s good for lunch?”

Quite a lot, as it happens.

Start with breakfast gozleme

If you’re at The Rocks early, do yourself a favour and find Gozzie Sydney.

Their breakfast gozleme is exactly what market breakfast should be. Fresh dough onto the hotplate. Lovely savoury filling. Salami and egg, Golden, crisp bits around the outside. Hot, soft, cheesy goodness through the middle.

They bring the Turkish food traditions they grew up with into what they make, and it shows. And then there’s the smell. You know that moment when you weren’t hungry and then suddenly you very much are?

Yep. That. Grab one and you’re off.

Then you need a drink from Ervas.

Now, Ervas is a family business like ours and Johny, Ninoo and Jewel are good friends of ours, so yes, we’re biased. But we’re also right. 😁

Johny is a genius with herbs, spices, fruit and the family flavour traditions he grew up with, and he makes some cracking drinks.

In summer? Sangria.Cold. Fruity. Fresh. Exactly what you want when Sydney decides 34 degrees is apparently reasonable.

In winter? The warm mulled wine. Oh, that smell. Warm spice, fruit, that lovely wintery aroma coming up out of the cup. We’ve had a fair bit of mulled wine over the years.

These days only Ervas mulled wine will do! If you can’t decide what you want, don’t. Just ask the Ervas team. They'll sort you out.

Oh! Dosa — this is where lunch gets serious

Then you hit Oh! Dosa. Also part of the Ervas family food collective. Now we’re talking.

The dosa are spread fresh across the hotplate until they’re thin and crisp, then filled while you wait. Make sure you get the coconut chutney - its the best! And the butter chicken? Rich, fragrant, deeply savoury, comforting... this is not delicate little “market grazing” food. This is lean over the steaming bowl and get involved food.

The recipes draw on the family's Indian food culture, and there’s proper flavour going on here. If someone in your group says, “I’m not that hungry”, give them five minutes. They’ll be stealing yours.

Han’s pork and chive dumplings

Right. This one is very simple. Find Han at Haneer Dumplings.

Get the pork and chive gozoza. Get a generous slup of soy and the get the chilli crunch. Actually, let me make that clearer:

GET. THE. CHILLI. CRUNCH.

Han makes the dumplings by hand, and they’re juicy, savoury little things with that gorgeous pork-and-chive filling inside. Then his own chilli crunch goes over the top. Crunchy. Spicy. Savoury. A little bit addictive.

You’ll tell yourself you’re ordering them to share. Good luck with that.

Then follow your nose to the paella

You won’t need directions to La Gitana. Just follow the smell. Simon and Ester work around these enormous paella pans, stirring, adding, sizzling, building up all those flavours while a crowd slowly materialises around them. It’s part cooking, part theatre.

And our pick is easy: Chicken paella. Big spoonfuls of rice loaded with flavour, beautifully savoury, filling without being ridiculous, and exactly the sort of food you want to eat outside. Simon and Ester bring the Spanish food traditions they know so well into what they cook. And you can taste it.

Now here’s the brilliant bit

You’ve got your lunch. Now look around. You’re basically already at Dawes Point Park. So walk a few steps, sit yourself down on the grass underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, look across the water at the Opera House and eat.

Seriously. How good is that? Chicken paella under the Harbour Bridge. Dumplings and chilli crunch with the Opera House in front of you. Breakfast gozleme with one of the best views in Sydney.

No booking. No dress code.No terrifying harbour-view bill at the end. Just great market food and a very, very good place to eat it. Sydney at its brilliant best.

Hot day? Stefano’s lemon sorbet

After lunch, you’re going to tell yourself you’re full. Ignore that. Go and see Stefano at Giorgio’s Gelato.

His gelato and sorbet come out of the Italian food traditions he knows well, and on a hot Sydney day there is one answer: Lemon sorbet. Cold. Sharp. Zingy. Properly lemony.

You get that beautiful sweet-sour hit and suddenly the heat doesn’t seem quite so offensive. It’s also dangerously easy to convince yourself that sorbet barely counts as dessert. We support this thinking. It's a regular 2.30pm date for us every warm Spring and Summer afternoon.

Daniel’s passionfruit chocolate

If chocolate is your thing, go and see Daniel at Emporium of Chocolate. Daniel actually makes the chocolates himself, drawing on his family recipes and chocolate traditions, and you can taste the difference. Our favourite is the passionfruit. Rich chocolate, bright passionfruit, lovely little sour hit. Very, very good.

Buy one. Then buy another because you ate the first one while walking away.

Then, obviously, come and eat our fudge

Look, we were never going to get this far without mentioning ourselves.

At The Village Providore, we bring our handmade fudge and soft nougat into The Rocks every weekend.

And yes, you can taste. You absolutely should. There are more than enough flavours to make choosing unnecessarily difficult, so samples are just good decision-making.

We’ve got the big crowd favourites, but if you’re visiting Australia or taking something home, try the flavours with Australian native ingredients: Lemon Myrtle. Desert Lime. Rosella. Bright, different, properly delicious and a bit more interesting than another souvenir with a cartoon kangaroo on it.

Plus our fudge and nougat keep for around six months without refrigeration. So they travel brilliantly. In theory. The main threat to them reaching home is usually the person carrying the bag.

Coffee. Chair. Recovery.

At some stage someone is going to run out of steam. There is always one. Luckily, 4 Doors Down run by the team at The Mercantile Hotel (Sydney's oldest Irish pub) is right alongside the market at the northern end of George Street. Good coffee. Breakfast. Lunch.

Most importantly at this point: chairs. Sit down. Have a coffee. Inspect your purchases. Agree that you probably didn’t need quite that much food. Then get up and continue eating.

So, if we were doing a proper Rocks food crawl...

We’d kick off with a breakfast gozleme.

Then Ervas — sangria in summer, mulled wine in winter.

Next, hit Oh! Dosa.

Find Han for the pork and chive dumplings and be liberal with the chilli crunch.

Stop at La Gitana and get the chicken paella.

Take the whole lot a few steps over to Dawes Point, park yourself under the Harbour Bridge and eat with the Opera House sitting across the water.

Then you need something cold. Lemon sorbet from Stefano.

Something chocolatey. Passionfruit from Daniel.

Then come and see us for fudge and nougat.

Coffee at 4 Doors Down if required.

Possibly another dumpling.

We’re not here to judge.

That’s what we love about eating at The Rocks Markets.

It isn’t one big sit-down meal. It’s a bit of this. A bit of that. Something sizzling. Something spicy. Something cold. Something sweet. A wander. A harbour view.

Then one more thing because apparently you’ve magically found room. Markets are funny like that.

Visiting The Rocks Markets

The Rocks Markets run through George Street, Playfair Street and Jack Mundey Place every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

You’ll find The Village Providore on George Street North under the main market canopy, on the inside row just near 4 Doors Down.

Come and find us. We’ll feed you fudge. And nougat!

And seriously: Come hungry.

More from The Rocks

Planning the rest of your day? Read our guide to The Rocks Markets Sydney, see exactly where to find us at The Rocks, meet some of our favourite makers at The Rocks Markets, or explore more of our Discover guides.