Browse records during dinner at this inner-west institution turned old-school dive bar

Dulwich Hill’s former institution The Sausage Factory, which closed in December, has been transformed into Lazy Thinking, a record store and restaurant helmed by the site’s co-owner Jim Flanagan.

This time, the sausages have taken a back seat to the local music scene. Inspired by the gritty, old-school dive bars of New York and his small record label (of the same name), Flanagan has spent months plastering the walls with posters of Sydney bands.

A custom-made record stand runs through the middle of the restaurant, inviting diners to browse as they eat. And there are plans to host live music on Sunday afternoons.

“To me, food and music go hand in hand,” Flanagan says.

“The concept [for Lazy Thinking] was really influenced by my travels, when I’d go see live music, eat out and get a feel for a new place really quickly.”

Flanagan resumes his role in the kitchen, creating an inventive menu filled with snacks, seafood and lesser-known street food.

On Friday and Saturday nights, when the kitchen amps up production, there will be dishes such as Yarrawa cheese with kimchi, blood orange, saffron marmalade and buckwheat; monkfish tiradito with strawberry, fennel and Aleppo pepper; and custom-made bacon chops from Whole Beast Butchery, and a sauce of kohlrabi, radish, apricot and cardamom. On other nights, the menu is tighter and more focused on snack plates.

“This is only the second kitchen I’ve run, and I’m entirely self-taught so I’m no Heston Blumenthal, but I did want to do something more ambitious than The Sausage Factory,” Flanagan says.

“I like good, simple and inventive food.”

While there were once plans to cook with gas and charcoal, Flanagan has since reverted to an entirely electric kitchen to reduce carbon emissions.

And where The Sausage Factory focused firmly on beers, Lazy Thinking has broadened the selection to include simple cocktails (like “Poppy”, made with Pash Rash sour beer, pink lemonade, white rum and makrut lime) and Australian-made, mostly natural, wines.

“The reason I took seven months to [prepare for opening] is because I put a lot of work into completely transforming the space, it needed to feel completely different to The Sausage Factory,” Flanagan says.

“But I wanted to keep the space. It’s such a magical part of Sydney.”

The restaurant, which opened on Friday, seats 30 diners and welcomes dogs.

Open Wed-Sun 5-10pm.

380 New Canterbury Road, Dulwich Hill, lazythinking.com.au