Balmain restaurant stalwart Satasia to close

High vacancy rates and dwindling foot traffic has seen Balmain's Darling Street in the news in recent weeks.

Now the strip is set to lose one of its food stalwarts. Andrew and Aleta Lum are closing their 33-year-old pan-Asian restaurant Satasia on Saturday night. Andrew Lum isn't blaming the strip's recent woes.

"We want to retire," he says. "We've been blessed with loyal customers. In fact, our first ever customer, John Wright, comes in a few nights a week and will be our last customer on Saturday."

With Leichhardt council pouring almost $500,000 into initiatives to boost local businesses, including waiving fees for applications for footpath dining and advertising, Lum believes the issue could be solved with more practical measures.

"Parking is one of the big problems here, metered parking should stop at 6pm. It's not the destination it was. It needs more things to pull people back."