Sydney Eat Street: Foodie finds on King St in Newtown, Chippendale
From Chippendale through to Newtown, there’s no shortage of fabulous foodie finds along King St. We’ve put together a list of local fave restaurants to tempt your tastebuds.
King St in Sydney’s inner west has been known as a great foodie destination for many years. We take a look at some of the best ones in Newtown and Chippendale.
Take a tour of the area’s best eateries right here with The Sunday Telegraph’s Eat Street. Are you hungry for more inspiration? Follow us on Instagram. #SydneyEatStreet
LA FAVOLA
Just because it looks easy doesn’t mean it is, rather the seemingly simple menu with its choice of six different pasta styles and six different sauces hides the diligence, effort and patience you’d normally associate with fine dining.
Maybe that illusions comes as chef and owner of this casual Italian eatery, Fabio Stefanelli, brings the skills he learned at Michelin-starred and hatted restaurant but more likely it’s his passion for providing his customers with the best possible ingredients.
To Fabio, it’s not enough to just go to the fish market, rather he wanted to meet the fishermen and go out on the boat for a day.
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As a small operator, he needed to trust that the supplier, Get Fish, would always bring him the best quality possible, no matter the size of the order, and would also show the same appreciation for the catch that he does.
“I respect the fish by using every part of it,” Fabio says, who uses the belly for delicate fillets and lastly the bones for a tasty broth.
When it comes to the cooking itself, Fabio and his team embrace the same dedication it took to source the ingredients for the Dal Mare sauce — a mix of seafood, garlic, chilli and tomatoes — and translate that to the hours needed each day to make the fresh pastas.
With that in mind, it’s truly worth noting the special main course which changes daily and which can range from Canadian scallops with squid ink, parsnip puree and crispy pancetta to braised lamb or blue swimmer crab with king prawns.
Don’t be shy about special requests either, as given a week’s notice or so, regular customers often ask for specific dishes or better yet, just let Fabio choose for them.
For a glimpse behind the curtain, book in for one of his gnocchi making classes. Rolling those little puffs of dough can actually be a bit tough to master (yes, really), but with Fabio patiently by your side, you too can learn to make it look simple.
— 170 King St, Newtown; favola.com.au
HEARTH & SOUL
Owner, Rachel Jelley has transformed her vision of conscious cooking into a place which welcomes and inspires visitors with through her heartfelt preparation and unique space.
Hearth & Soul is essentially divided into three spaces — one being the expansive open kitchen suitable for her classes; a sunroom with antique side tables and lounges; and somewhat of a dining room with a 4m long glass-topped communal table, with the most elaborate floral and candle lit centrepiece that has every graced a cafe or other eatery.
“I wanted this space to be an expression of me and all of the things that bring me joy — beauty, love and nourishment, all in a space to be calm and reflective,” Rachel says.
Much of her inspiration comes from time spent living in Mexico.
“Colour is woven into their lives,” she says.
Rachel tells how she would buy ingredients she’d never seen and the women of the village would show her how it was used. It wasn’t so much about getting recipes but rather “it was about having fun and cooking with beautiful things I’d never experienced before”.
The menu here is not only seasonal, it’s market fresh as she regularly goes to Pocket City Farms in Camperdown, then come back and have the freshly plucked broad bean shoots, chopped and ready to be added to the gnocchi with green garlic and cream sauce within the hour.
There’s also the herbs used in the more-ish and spiced heart labne dish or clams with chilli and green garlic.
To truly appreciate her passion for food, Rachel offers a variety of cooking classes ranging from mums and kids sessions to bread making, and even one where you go to Pocket City Farms, collect some produce and head straight back to the kitchen.
Forget hard-core diet food though as Rachel believes that it’s all about nourishment.
“Your body will tell you what it needs and if that happens to be cheese, so be it.”
— 528 King St, Newtown; hearthandsoul.com.au
LENTIL AS ANYTHING
Hungry diners have been coming to this eclectic and inspiring spot to get their fair share of delicious vegan food since it opened nearly five years ago, following on the success of its sister venues in Melbourne.
Run entirely by volunteers — be it serving food or working in the kitchen, the premise is based on a pay-as-you-feel or pay-what-you-can approach.
While some people happily pay above the market rate for the generous serving of anything from burrito bowls to hearty winter soups, others will offer up their time instead with volunteer inductions held twice a week.
It’s quite a production, but Lentil as Anything’s manager, Sophia Clifton — who learned about the venues years ago from an SBS documentary — seems to effortlessly have it all sorted.
“Everyday the menu is different based on what you have in the kitchen,” Sophia says, adding that they order fruit and vegetables by the kilogram so never really know what they’ll be working with.
On any given day, whoever is overseeing the menu is responsible for four dishes and a dessert though one of which most always is the popular Sir Lankan Curry Plate.
When it’s Sophia’s turn in the kitchen, her go-to ingredient is tofu.
“Tofu fetta, tofu bacon, anything with tofu. I never liked it before until I learned how to cook it. It really is like a blank canvas that takes on other flavours.”
Sophia says there’s much more to Lentil as Anything than food.
“People get as much as they give here. It’s also a place where volunteers can gain skills and work experience then get their first job.”
It’s hard to put a price tag on that.
— 391 King St, Newtown; lentilasanything.com
BELLY BAO
From a simple stall at Paddington Markets to an established and successful eatery on King St, co-owner Sylvia Tran truly deserves to step back and take a bow.
A number of years ago, while visiting the US, she tried a modern take on the gua bao, the original one coming from her grandfather’s native home of Fujian China.
“I tasted it and decided to bring the Gua Bao of my heritage back home to Sydney,” she says.
Since opening their shop in 2017, Belly Bao has developed quite a following thanks to their famous “bao dough”.
“A perfect bao is springy to touch; soft and chewy in your mouth; not too moist or dry; smooth and beautifully shaped,” Sylvia says.
Belly Bao’s first big hit on the food scene was the Baoger — Angus beef with cheese, lettuce, one, radish and sauce on a bao bun.
Other dishes include slow braised pork belly, crispy tofu or crackling roast pork belly.
It’s not just buns though as they also use the dough to make noodles to which you can add the likes of pork belly, shiitake mushrooms or a soft boiled egg.
And no menu is complete without dessert. The Gaytime Bao golden fried housemade bao includes Golden Gaytime ice cream, salted caramel, banana and coconut.
— 184 King St, Newtown; bellybao.com
MAPO NEWTOWN
It wasn’t enough for Matteo Pochintesta to bring authentic Italian gelato to Newtown — he wanted total transparency where each customer could see the whole production process from start to finish.
At MAPO (the name comes from the first two letters of his first and last name as well as his favourite Italian fruit) “we don’t hide anything”, Matteo says.
That means “no additives or stabilisers to make it stand up”. He also puts up a full list (or in their case, a short list) of raw ingredients used in each flavour.
To get the absolute best possible ingredients, Matteo knew his best bet was to shop local.
“We thought that … we’d talk to other small businesses around the area that share our goal.” This is how they came to use Pepe Pepe Saya butter (formerly of Tempe) and Olsson’s Salt to make the Sea Salt Caramel; coffee from nearby Brewtown to make java-based flavours; plus a fan-favourite gelato, peanut butter made with Sydney market fixture Chunky Dave’s Peanut Butter.
Also in the works is a collaboration with Newtown’s own Young Henrys to make a Motorcycle Oil beer sorbet (that’s the name of the beer, not the literal oil).
Add to that a commitment to sustainable practices with compostable cups, spoons and straws and recyclable tubs, MAPO has found a home amid this vibrant community.
— 123 King St, Newtown; maponewtown.com
MUST TRY
DETROIT-STYLE PIZZA
Ahhh, pizza. The great equaliser of musos everywhere, however, here at The Lansdowne, one of Sydney’s iconic live music venue, the offering skews towards Rock City with Detroit-style pizzas from Mary’s Pizzeria (of Mary’s Burger fame).
So, what makes it different from any other pie? First, it’s the shape — it’s square and not round, then there’s the method which Jake Smyth, Marys’ co-founder describes as “the fried cheese edge, plenty of sauce, crunchy base and more cheese is a recipe for deliciousness”.
And since beer and pizza go together like ... beer and pizza, stay local with a pint of Young Henrys Newtowner brew.
— Mary’s Pizzeria @ The Lansdowne, 2-6 City Rd, Chippendale; thelansdownepub.com.au/food/
THAI DESSERTS
This shop front disguised as a food cart may not take you straight to the warm sand and blue waters of Thailand, but the bowls of coconut cream sticky rice with mango slices will surely inspire a tropical holiday.
— Thai Chanok; 337 King St, Newtown
THE BANK HOTEL
Be it the stonemasons of yesteryear or the Mardi Gras celebrations since then, for nigh on 140 years The Bank Hotel has literally been at the centre of Newtown’s diverse community.
The large space is divvied up into sections suited for all sorts including a craft beer bar, expansive (and dog-friendly) courtyard, live music all with a food menu that ranges from a classic 250g rump steak, chips, green leaves, red wine jus to zucchini and spinach fritters.
Like Newtown itself, The Bank has something for everyone.
— The Bank Hotel; 324 King St, Newtown; bankhotel.com.au
NEPALESE DUMPLINGS
Go big with a selection of these little pan-fried, poached or deep fried Nepalese dumplings (momos).
Load up on veggies with the mushroom, onion, cabbage and carrot filled vegetable Momo or for something meatier, there’s also a pork, beef chicken and duck Momo as well as one with fish, spring onion and plum sauce.
— Little Momo; Shop 2, 398 King St, Newtown; littlemomo.com.au
Originally published as Sydney Eat Street: Foodie finds on King St in Newtown, Chippendale
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