Where does a food critic take his baby for her first big day out? This retro diner, of course

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While on leave over the past five weeks, I watched four series of Columbo, got really into English cheddars and welcomed a baby into the world. She looks like the Smith’s Chips Gobbledok and my wife and I are chuffed. We’re also determined that our first child won’t mean the end of adult-focused restaurants, but pram access is currently being given more weight than reliable martini service. For Baby’s first big day out, Happy Shop ticked all the boxes: outdoor seating. Plastic trays. Good coffee. Fried chicken.

It’s the sibling to Happyfield, Haberfield’s five-year-old US diner-inspired cafe and Sydney’s most popular breakfast spot since The Grounds installed a petting zoo. When the space two doors up from Happyfield became available in late 2024, owners Chris Theodosi and Jesse Orleans took on the lease and spent 12 months remodelling the site with designer Matt Woods. The covered courtyard, with its pick-up window, mustard yellows and mirrored tables, may remind you of a 1950s Californian drive-in or a 1980s McDonald’s (albeit with more hip-hop on the stereo).

Golden Arches nostalgia has also inspired the “McFly” breakfast muffin with pork sausage, fried egg and miso-bolstered onions. There are the delicious, tallow-fried hash browns, too, and the Big Happy, a burger that updates the Big Mac’s three-tiered form with better-quality produce, such as well-salted, flavour-forward beef from Marrickville’s Whole Beast Butchery.

While Happy Shop’s DNA is similar to Happyfield’s, it has a wholly different menu. There are no Uncle Buck-sized pancake stacks like the mothership sends out by the thousands each week, but there are pretty decent waffles served with whipped butter and real-deal maple syrup. Bacon can be added, but consider going the full Presley and topping your waffles with two juicy tenders of Cajun-spiced fried chicken. The rust-red strips also feature on a sandwich with the fluffiest Japanese milk bread I’ve ever encountered (although you may find, like me, the sandwich collapses under the weight of its filling and tangy remoulade).

Potato gems (a thousand lashes to any Australian who calls them “tater tots”) help lighten a delicious and dense breakfast burrito cradling braised brisket, folded egg, Oaxaca cheese, shredded iceberg, beans and salsa. Orleans also deserves a medal for giving the Philly cheesesteak a level of respect it rarely receives in Sydney: thin-sliced rib-eye of melting fat, provolone and a spreadable Cheez Whiz (house-made, in this instance), as Pennsylvanian tradition dictates.

The chopped cheese, a New York bodega icon, makes an appearance with grilled mince and pastrami – pressed onto a grill so the meat frazzles and crisps – reinforced with American taxi-yellow cheese, adobo seasoning, onions and lettuce in a sturdy hoagie roll supplied by A.P Bakery. These sandwiches and the burrito may require two sittings to complete, unlike the New Orleans-style beignets (magical, deep-fried pillows of dough dusted in as much icing sugar as physics allows), which must be eaten hot, immediately, from the bag.

This is a collect-your-food-from-the counter operation run by friendly staff who will never correct your pronunciation of “beignet”. Evening service has just launched for Fridays and Saturdays, and Theodosi is thinking about offering a small selection of booze. Godspeed, sir. The suburbs need more thoughtfully crafted community hangouts like this open at night. American Graffiti for the Kendrick generation, not to mention an easy place to park a pram.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine