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New flavours breathing fire into Sydney's Chinatown

Callan Boys
Callan Boys

An influx of new generation restaurants and bars – with one offering a $2500 nip of whisky – is transforming Sydney's Chinatown.

The precinct's borders are also expanding to include Darling Square's new Steam Mill Lane to the west, sandwiched between the Convention Centre and Paddy's Markets. It gives visitors more dining options, including noodle shops, high-end restaurants, fusion food bars and coffee shops.

It's all part of a generation-shift around Dixon Street, Haymarket, Sydney's premier destination for dumplings, noodles and cheap corkage since the 1970s.

The gateway to Chinatown's Dixon Street precinct.
The gateway to Chinatown's Dixon Street precinct. Christopher Pearce

Now Sydney's redevelopment surge is attracting savvy new operators and causing existing business owners to rethink their food options in the area.

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"We're hoping to capture a lot of professionals that work nearby," said Jason Ang, the 34-year-old owner of Bancho, Chinatown's first small laneway bar which opened this week.

"There's a lot of new corporate offices in Darling Harbour and the International Convention Centre is bringing more hotel guests through the area."

Fish soup at Beijing Impression, Market City.
Fish soup at Beijing Impression, Market City.Anna Kucera

Mr Ang is also the owner-operator of Tokyo Bird bar in Surry Hills and Osaka Trading Co. at Harold Park Tramsheds. He said he wants to provide customers with the kind of world-class bar experience Sydney's Chinatown has always lacked.

"So many people want to eat quickly and move on when they come to Chinatown. We would prefer guests to relax at the bar and enjoy the space," he said.

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Indeed, with one rare Japanese whisky priced at a whopping $2500 a nip, Bancho is going well beyond the quick service model of other Chinatown venues.

The glitzy Dolar Shop at Market City, Haymarket.
The glitzy Dolar Shop at Market City, Haymarket.Bill Chen

David Yam, manager of Market City shopping centre above Paddy's Markets, is targeting a new demographic of residents in the area.

"When Darling Harbour was in the planning stages of redevelopment we realised we would have an additional 3000 people at our doorstep," Mr Yam said. "High-rise developments attract Asian buyers used to vertical living and we saw an opportunity for those new residents to eat dinner with us. We already had a 14-store food court that was going gangbusters but we wanted to evolve with the market."

The third level food court at Market City was transformed into the deluxe 1909 Dining Precinct in April and new restaurants (there's eight with two more set to open) must adhere to a strict set of guidelines to convey a professional appearance – you won't see any handwritten signs for daily specials taped to windows, for instance. 1909's glitzy Chinese hot pot restaurant, The Dolar Shop, is rumoured to have a fit-out that cost more than $2 million and may be the only shopping centre restaurant in the country with a Penfolds 1979 Grange on the wine list.

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A fiery mascot at the north end of Dixon Street.
A fiery mascot at the north end of Dixon Street.Christopher Pearce

Chinatown's borders are also expanding. "When I moved here from United States in 2001, Chinatown more or less stopped at Goulburn Street," Mr Yam said. "Now it has pushed all the way up to Liverpool [Street]."

Marking the western border is Darling Square's new Steam Mill Lane, between the Convention Centre and Paddy's Markets. The precinct features Millennial-targeting fried chicken and burger restaurants, interspersed with Vietnamese pork roll, sushi and noodle shops.

New venues at Market City and Steam Mill Lane have been hand-picked to complement each other in terms of cuisine and price point. The pan-Asian offerings echo larger food trends in Chinatown.

Edition Coffee Roasters at Steam Mill Lane.
Edition Coffee Roasters at Steam Mill Lane.Louise Kennerley
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"Chinatown obviously is a reflection of society and immigration," says chief Herald food critic Terry Durack. "In the last 20 years it has gone from being a Cantonese Chinatown to a more general pan-Chinatown with northern and western regional influences. Now, it's a broader, border-crossing Asiatown, with Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai and Cambodian influences.

"We've sadly lost a lot of the great fresh food shops and grocers and said farewell to many of the vast, old-school yum cha palaces. But, in the great cycle of life, Chinatown is witnessing the growth of small, interesting, independent restaurants such as the Malaysian Ho Jiak and the south-western Chinese Spring Yunnan. Now it's next-gen Asian moving in with noodle shops, start-ups, fusion food bars and coffee shops. With any luck, it will keep evolving and introducing us to new flavours and cultures that become absorbed into the Australian psyche."

Chinatown's $2,500 whisky nip

The Hibiki 35 Year Old whisky at Bancho.
The Hibiki 35 Year Old whisky at Bancho.Christopher Pearce
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Hibiki 35 Year Old Arita

With Bancho's price for one pour of this whisky far exceeding the cost of return flight to Tokyo, this is not spirit designed for shooting. With notes of vanilla and spice, Hibiki's rare blend of grain whiskies (some of which are the oldest left in Japan) was released in a handmade ceramic decanter to celebrate 400 years of Japanese porcelain in 2017. Only 150 were made and a few bottles are still available at $54,000. Shop around on the secondary market, however, and you might be able to snare one for a cheeky $30k instead.

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Callan BoysCallan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.

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