Wilbur's Place

This new laneway restaurant offers great grub for cheap

First published on 24 Jan 2012. Updated on 29 Feb 2012.

So everybody’s talking about food trucks and laneways and late-night dining and food trucks in laneways open late, but how about this for bucking a trend: a good restaurant in the heart of the eastern suburbs offering main-course meals for under $20?

No, we haven’t been tripping balls on acid. It’s a real thing. It’s happening right now in the laneways of Kings Cross. Wilbur’s Place is just next door to LL Wine and Dine and just down the street from the brand new bar from the Eau de Vie guys, The Roosevelt. Which is a good thing, really, given how very busy the place is and how very much you’ll want to wait for a table rather than eat somewhere else.

Share a bench outside of an evening and order from the old-school felt pin board, or bunker down at one of the seats facing the wall inside. During the day, it’s all about the coffee and the porchetta roll ($8!) but dinner service sees the likes of fall-off-the-bone roast duck leg with crisp, golden polenta chips and roast plums, creamy duck liver parfait with toast, and a side of lightly pickled cauliflower and a sharp-yet-rich salad of pork belly, walnuts, apple and witlof.

It’s BYO at Wilbur’s so you’ll either want to be prepared or happy to take a stroll for a six-pack. Either way, you win really. But when it comes to winning, can we talk a little bit about the all day sweets menu? It starts at 11am and goes all the way through to 9.30pm. That means you can swing by any time you like for the ice-cream sandwich (two pieces of toasted brioche, sandwiching a slab of vanilla ice cream accompanied by a good soaking in caramel) or the Paddle Pop with a sort of runny jube paste on the side. Breakfast dessert just got a bazillion times sweeter.

Wilbur’s Place doesn’t just buck the trend for reasonably priced and tasty food in Sydney: it creates a new one.

Words by Myffy Rigby | Photos by Dan Boud |

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