Locally sourced, crowd funded, foraged, milled, organic, sustainable. It’s a buzzword overload at Sydney’s newest hipster haunt – but it’s worth dusting off your wayfarers and making a booking at Stanley St Merchants.

Sydney’s first crowd funded restaurant (say, what?) Stanley St Merchants is the winner of Icon Park’s inaugural competition raising more than $200,00 in forward bookings to win the title and set up stumps at 78 Stanley Street.

Look, don’t worry about the concept too much. Here’s what you need to know: The food is banging; the wine list is punchy; and the coffee is St Ali.

Head Chef Matt Stone – hailing from Silo in Melbourne and Greenhouse in Perth – has you sharing plates laden with locally sourced and sustainable produce: think kangaroo with Australian native fruits and charred vegetables with native spinach. Try crispy crickets with seven spice for something to talk about the next day at work, but the real show starts when chicken with corn and Jerusalem artichoke hits the table.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Stanley St Merchants will keep you happy from dusk to dawn.  Stop by for an early morning latte and house made shortbread with peanut, salted pepita and rosella, or drop in for a late night Gimlet to set you on your way.

Stanley St Merchants
78 Stanley Street, East Sydney
Open seven days; 7am – midnight
www.iconpark.com/stanleystmerchants