Sit Marrickville

It’s one of the main openings we have our eyes on in 2026 but the Baba’s Place crew is set to open a cafe instalment, politely titled Sit.

Now, other than a few cryptic social posts—we don’t have a whole lot of info but what we do know is Sit will open its doors on Illawarra Road over the next few weeks or perhaps, the team says, "things take the time they take"—to quote the Pulitzer prize-winning poet Mary Oliver. A deep, dark clue into the venue direction? Only time will tell.

Since first opening in 2021, the Baba’s Place team has carved out its spot in the Inner West (and more recently in Randwick as part of a joint venture with Sixpenny to revive Frenchman’s Road’s Corner 75) by doing something deceptively difficult: cooking food that feels personal without feeling precious. Menus move freely across Middle Eastern, Eastern European and broader migrant food traditions (its ‘tarama on toast’ one of Sydney’s most coveted dishes to order), anchored by produce and seasonality.

At this point in time, there’s no fixed cuisine at Sit, unlike its Baba’s Place and Corner 75 counterparts. However, in true form, nostalgia is a loose focus and “produce and seasonality will be front and centre as well as thoughtfulness, approachability and technicality”. In other words, Sit is going to be whatever Baba’s Place wants it to be.

The team is always known to collaborate with a slew of local creatives (which are due to be revealed over the coming weeks), and we already know that the famed Ian Tran, moonlighting as Instagram’s Domusvim and responsible for some of the country's most impressive hospo design, has been brought on to handle a couple of lighting fixtures that mimic doily patterns.

Sit will take up the groundings of a Nightingale affordable housing precinct in Marrickville, a joint project between the hospo heroes of suburbia and the non-for-profit organisation Fresh Hope.

More info to come.

Image credit: Sit