It’s easy to be swept up by the excitement of the menu at this Petersham diner. Will it be the deep-fried mac’n’cheese balls, the cheesy fries or a meat-pie jaffle? So you order it all, plus a boozy milkshake.

Daisy's is a place you visit with friends so you can try the bounty of food. It's charmingly kitsch, inviting and now open after dark.

Aesthetically, Daisy's by night is much like Daisy's by day, which is precisely why Jess de Varine-Bohan was apprehensive about extending the trading hours. “I’ve always wanted to open Daisy’s at night,” she says, “but I was worried the aesthetic wouldn’t translate into night time, and that it looks too much like a cafe.”

We think you might like Access. For $12 a month, join our membership program to stay in the know.

SIGN UP

She needn't have worried. With the simple addition of fairy lights the sunny pastel booths, colourful Mexican oilcloth table coverings and lolly mural look great in the evening.

The menu does, too. At night the offering is simpler than in the day. There are rissoles; chicken-schnitzel fingers; burgers; and a ’70s-style sharing plate with cabanossi, a mini spinach cob loaf and caprese skewers (tomato and mozzarella). And toasted sandwiches. “At first we didn’t have jaffles on the night menu ,but people were so sad, so we put them on,” says De Varine-Bohan. She runs Daisy’s with her husband Jake, who is behind Marrickville barber Tooth and Nail.

There's a small list of wines – one red, one white, one rose, all natural – supplied by P&V Wine and Liquor Merchants in Enmore and tinnies of Young Henrys Newtowner. The milkshakes are enhanced with shots of Jack Daniels.

Because the milkbar and its treats are based on memories of childhood, it wasn’t a stretch for De Varine-Bohan to incorporate another childhood activity: plaster painting. Every night an assortment of moulded plaster figures – pterodactyls, fish, sailboats, butterflies – is laid out on the counter, ready to be decorated with paint and glitter.

De Varine-Bohan says people are finding it therapeutic. “The best way to do Daisy’s is to do things I really love. If the passion is there for me, usually other people love it too.”

Daisy’s Milkbar
340 Stanmore Road, Petersham
(02) 8065 3466

Hours:
Mon to Fri 7.30am–4pm
Sat & Sun 8am–3pm
Thu to Sat 6pm–10pm

daisysmilkbar.com