All Purpose Bakery, co-founded by a group of mates including chef Mat Lindsay from Chippendale’s Ester, and baker Dougal Muffet, is staking bread and pastry claims across the city, one postcode at time.

We love the hot rotisserie sandwiches at the newer outpost in Circular Quay, but this sandstone cottage near Oxford Street is where you can properly kick back with breakfast (oat pancakes; drunken eggs in chicken broth), lunch (hot chips and a green goddess salad) or dinner (a formidable bread basket, oysters and one of the coldest martinis around).

Anchovies, breadcrumbs and submissive zucchinis enhance, rather intensely, bitey spaghetti made with leftover bread, and it’s always worth taking a squiz at the cake stand and singular drinks list. A root-based amaro from Iseya Distillery in Japan is terrific with a slice of fig and frangipane tart in the courtyard anytime from noon to night.

Must order: Any of Muffet’s breads and pastries, many of which look like they could have been baked in an ancient French farmhouse.

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