Like fashion, music and film, the food we come back to says a lot about what we’re craving. Right now, as 90s nostalgia continues to show up in wardrobes and on playlists, it’s also appearing on menus and dinner tables. The appeal of the ’90s is as much about the feeling of the era as the fashion: a little more analogue, a little less self-conscious, a lot more relaxed.
Some dishes are pure nostalgia for those who lived through the decade; others are being discovered by cooks drawn to their playfulness and low-stakes charm. From throwback classics to recipes with a modern tweak, these dishes prove the 90s had more to offer than just great music and double denim.
Fish finger sandwich
For plenty of 90s kids, fish fingers were a freezer staple – whether stuffed into soft white bread, served with chips, or eaten with a puddle of tomato sauce on the side. This upgraded fish finger sandwich references that nostalgia, while adding enough crunch and tang to make it feel fresh again.
Wedges with sweet chilli and sour cream recipe
The 90s were all about a mountain of potato wedges, served with little pots of sour cream and sweet chilli sauce, where the order of dipping – sour cream then sweet chilli, chilli then cream, or a sweep together – was hotly contested. In his version, Adam Liaw has a clever trick to get that crisp skin and soft, fluffy interior – and, 90s-appropriate, it involves a microwave.
Carbonara alla panna
Creamy pasta had a serious moment in the 90s, when Alfredo and carbonara ruled dinner menus, pub menus and bistros, not just Italian restaurants. While traditional carbonara is made without cream, relying instead on the transformative emulsion of egg, Pecorino Romano, rendered guanciale fat and starchy pasta water for its silkiness, this version is true to the 90s, using a little added cream instead.
Sweet and sour pork
Long before weeknight dinners were built around gochujang and chilli crisp, sweet and sour pork was one of the Chinese-Australian takeaway staples that defined 90s suburban restaurant menus. With its golden crust, glossy sauce, pineapple and capsicum, it still delivers the kind of sweet-savoury comfort that made it such a hit in the first place. Dan Hong shares some secrets to getting the elements right, like using skinless, boneless pork belly, adding bicarb soda to tenderise the meat, and including a touch of self-raising flour in the coating for a crisp finish.
Honey soy chicken drumsticks
Honey soy and sticky soy-glazed chicken were entertaining staples in the 90s, as sweet-savoury ‘Asian-inspired’ flavours became a familiar part of Australian home cooking and casual dining. These wings channel that era’s love of glossy marinades, served here with some simple-but-impressive coconut cream rice.
Chicken pesto pasta
A poster child of 90s menus, pesto turned up everywhere, from focaccia sandwiches to creamy chicken pastas and pizza toppings. This chicken pesto pasta version leans right into that era’s love of jarred pesto, plenty of cream, parmesan cheese and one of the decade's favourite pasta shapes – penne.
Apricot chicken
What began rising to stardom in the 70s hit its stride in the 90s – a tray bake built on pantry shortcuts, sweet-savoury flavour and minimal fuss. Made with a can of apricot nectar, dried apricots and French onion soup mix, it’s the kind of weeknight classic that still has devoted fans decades later. This version skips the packet mixes and heads in a more modern Asian-Australian direction.
Potato gems
Known as tater tots in North America, potato gems earned cult status in Australia too, whether they were turning up beside a steak at the pub, on a family dinner plate or eaten straight from the tray as an after-school snack with condiments galore. Paired here with wagyu scotch fillet, they bring a little retro joy to a more luxe dinner.
Fettuccini alfredo
As many 90s kids do, Adam Liaw recalls excitedly ripping open a packet of Continental’s Alfredo Pasta and Sauce. Just as mac and cheese in America has since been updated and riffed on, this levelled-up version gives the childhood classic a glow-up with pancetta and fried capers.
Lemon chicken
Glossy, golden and unapologetically nostalgic lemon chicken was a mainstay of Chinese-Australian takeaway menus throughout the 90s. Its crisp fried coating and sweet-tangy sauce make it the kind of retro order that still scratches a very specific nostalgia itch.
Mornay
Tuna mornay may be the better-known retro bake, but this recipe for Fried onion chicken mornay to the same comforting family of creamy, cheesy dinners that loomed large in 90s home cooking. It delivers on everything people loved about the era’s casserole-style classic, minus the tinned tuna.
Mediterranean pasta salad
Pasta salad had a major moment in the 90s, when spirals, feta, olives and semi-dried tomatoes signalled a lunch that felt just a little more sophisticated than plain sandwiches. This version captures the era’s love of Mediterranean-ish flavours and make-ahead salads in one very potluck-friendly bowl.
Teriyaki chicken
Teriyaki was one of those sweet-savoury flavours that seemed to turn up everywhere in 90s Australia, from food-court lunches to quick weeknight dinners built around bottled marinades and a wok. This kind of glossy stir-fry taps into that era of 'Japanese-inspired' home cooking that felt just a little bit exotic at the time and completely familiar now.
Cheesy Aussie scrolls
Cheese and Vegemite scrolls are more lunchbox classic than strictly 90s invention, but they belong to the same world of after-school snacks, bakery treats and picnic food many Australians grew up with. Thought to have been first created by Bakers Delight in the mid-90s, the cheesy Vegemite scroll quickly became a staple of Australian bakeries and school lunchboxes.
Sun-dried tomato hummous
No 90s starter spread felt complete without at least one dip, and ideally a trio, served with warm flatbread, crackers or hunks of focaccia. With its hit of sun-dried tomato – one of the decade’s defining ingredients – this hummus feels right at home in that retro entertaining canon.
Malted milk chocolate pots de crème
Malted milk had a very particular kind of 90s comfort to it, whether it came via Milo, Ovaltine, Horlicks or a towering malted milkshake. These silky chocolate pots turn that nostalgic flavour into a richer, more grown-up dessert, while still keeping one foot firmly in the decade.
Stir-fries
Two standouts were Beef with broccoli and oyster sauce with and Cashew nut chicken. Beef with broccoli in oyster sauce was one of those stir-fries that seemed to turn up everywhere in the 90s – on Chinese-Australian takeaway menus, in suburban food courts and uni share-houses trying to recreate the same glossy, savoury flavours. This version taps into that era of quick wok dinners that made beef, greens and a good sauce feel like an easy win.
Bruschetta
Before burrata, ’nduja and all the other modern bruschetta upgrades, there was the 90s version many Australians knew best: chopped tomato, basil, garlic and olive oil spooned over toasted bread. It was simple, fresh and exactly the sort of starter that made you feel a touch sophisticated at the time. This version stays close to that spirit, but with the modern Australian twist of sourdough for the base and heirloom tomatoes.
Focaccia
Focaccia had a serious run on Australian café menus in the 90s, when sandwiches suddenly felt much fancier if they came tucked into olive-studded bread with rocket, pesto or grilled chicken. Focaccia has come back in a big way – with even home cooks talking about ‘hydration levels’. Filled with steak, rocket and parmesan, this version channels that lunch-menu era, with romesco sauce giving it a more modern Aussie edge.
Viennetta
If there was one freezer dessert that felt impossibly fancy in the 90s, it was Viennetta – all ripples, layers and dinner-party drama straight from the supermarket freezer. While Michelle Bridges’ pistachio and berry ice-cream version takes a very 2020s detour from the original, it’s still a throwback to the freezer icon we know and love.
Finger buns
Finger buns are older than the 90s, but for plenty of Australians they’re wrapped up in the same school-canteen and bakery nostalgia as cheese scrolls and iced buns. With their soft crumb, swipe of icing and shower of coconut, they still feel like a very particular kind of nostalgic treat. Pastry chef Helen Goh offers soft, slightly sweet Asian-style milk bread buns topped with pink icing made with real strawberries in this version.
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