Five hot new restaurants to try in Chinatown Sydney

An influx of new generation restaurants and bars – with one offering a $2500 nip of whisky – is transforming Sydney's Chinatown. Here's five new places to spend your lunch money.

Bancho, 10 Thomas Lane

Home of the $2500 Hibiki 35-year-old whisky nip, there's more to Chinatown's first laneway small bar than cocktails an high-roller drams. Bar snacks include kushikatsu (panko-crumbed skewers of meat and vegetables) and there's a smart offering of natural wine and Japanese craft beer if you're not fussed on pushing the boat out with spirits.

Bang Bang Izakaya Bar, 14 Steam Mill Lane

An izakaya is pretty much the Japanese version of a knees-up pub where beer is knocked back with gusto and there's no shortage of kitschy design. Steam Mill's izakaya is loud with colour and noise, and slings top notch sashimi, sushi and robata-grilled chook.

Myeong Rang Hot Dog, 1 Dixon Street

This hole-in-the-wall next door to fried chicken temple Arisun is a branch of a Korean franchise with more than 800 outposts worldwide. This the first "M.R. Hotdog" in Sydney although a better local name might be M.R. Pluto Pup as it trades solely in sausages threaded on sticks and deep fried in glutinous rice batter.

The Dolar Shop, 1909 Dining Precinct Market City, 9-13 Hay Street

There's at least 15 hotpot restaurants in Chinatown waiting for you to dip raw ingredients into hot broth, but none of them have the sleek glamour of this 200-seater with its gold trim and gourmet menu. Founded in Shanghai in 2014 and boasting 54 international venues, if you're jonesing for Penfolds Grange with abalone, The Dolar can deliver.

Yomie's Rice X Yogurt, Citymark Building, 683 George Street

Creating queues up to 50 metres long since it opened in September, you can find Yomie's near the gold eucalyptus trunk at the symbolic entrance to Chinatown. Creamy drinks made from yoghurt, oats and Korean purple rice are the order of the day and toppings include avocado and pistachio. Like drinking tangy rice pudding with a straw.