Sydney Eat Street: 10 places to try in Chippendale
FROM its rough and tumble industrial past, this city-fringe suburb with its growing number of cafes, hatted-restaurants and eagerly awaited revival of The Australian Hotel, Chippendale is set to take on Sydney’s foodie scene.
Eat Street
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FROM its rough and tumble industrial past, this city-fringe suburb with its growing number of cafes, hatted-restaurants and eagerly awaited revival of The Australian Hotel, Chippendale is set to take on Sydney’s foodie scene.
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.
For a chance to feature your food picture in The Sunday Telegraph, tag #SydneyEatStreet.
THE DUCK INN PUB & KITCHEN
FOR those after a bistro with craft beers, inspired food and courtyard seating, this inconspicuous spot fits the bill.
While the fowl puns will endure, both the decor and kitchen however have had a relatively recent revamp. Fortunately the warm and welcoming atmosphere you’d expect from a neighbourhood pub remains intact only now the usual banter happens over pints filled with local brews such as St Peters’ Willie the Boatman and Marrickville’s Batch Brewing.
The menu has seen a shift as well, which head chef Mark Wiseman attributes to people’s tastes moving towards healthier options as well as downturn in quick hurried lunches with more patrons lingering a bit over coffee, dessert or just their laptops.
“People are taking their time now so pub food no longer has to be fast and pre-cooked,” Wiseman says, and because he isn’t forced to rely on frozen food and deep fryers, this affords him the time to gather and prep fresh ingredients such as with the labour intensive slow-cooked braised lamb shoulder share plate.
It’s a massive piece of meat made all the more filling with accompaniments including smoked hummus, flat bread, chickpea salad, dukka, pomegranate and an additional side of root vegetables.
Wiseman goes on to explain how the healthier options have become popular, pub classics are still on the menu, though as with the duck schnitzel, German spaetzle and housemade sauerkraut, that too was part of the makeover. — 74 Rose St
LP’S QUALITY MEATS
FROM the fastidious and delicate dishes at Tetsuya, a pillar of Sydney’s fine dining scene to the fat and decadent burgers of the counter culture crew at Mary’s, chef and co-owner Luke Powell has run the gamete of the culinary scene.
But it was among the undulating fields of rural New York State that he found his calling with a stint at Blue Hill, a true farm-to-table restaurant which uses only what is grown and raised on their farm.
Here he connected with the philosophy and embraced its approach to all facets of meat. While others return from travels with T-shirts and refrigerator magnets, Powell shipped over a Southern Pride Smoker, which has now become the foundation of LP’s Quality Meats, a contemporary honky-tonk joint with share plates and shared tables.
While the menu and atmosphere are relaxed, Powell still adheres to some formality in the kitchen with precise temperatures and cooking times, not just for the famous 15-hour ironbark smoked beef short rib but also the cold cuts such as the Mortadella, which typically is made with emulsified smoked pork, cracked pepper and olives but to which Powell has added warming spices such as cinnamon or the humble salumi, made with in-house dry cured pork & salt and pepper.
Follow restaurant manager, Max Walker’s lead and progress through the set menu with his recommended drinks including collaborative beers from The Grifter Brewing Company such as Demon Lungs, a stout featuring hops that have been smoked in Powell’s southern belle or specific wines, both red and white, that he has selected with just enough acids to cut through the respective meat’s fat.
Bottom line, Walker notes that LP’s Quality Meats is where “anyone can come in and everyone will leave truly satisfied, not just with the food but the whole experience”.
— Unit 1, 16 Chippen St
AUTOMATA
BEFORE Kensington Street’s cobblestoned laneway became known for its eclectic dining precinct, renowned chef Clayton Wells had already begun making waves with his first solo venture, Automata.
An adjunct to the uber-chic boutique accommodation The Old Clare Hotel, this sleek, industrial restaurant offers set menus that showcase his fine dining pedigree but also his sincere respect for local produce.
Wells explains that his dishes not only change with quarterly seasons but virtually week by week based on what is prime at the time, such as his favourite vegetable, romanesco broccoli, a spiral of chartreuse coloured buds, so pretty it’s best described as an edible flower and justifiably the hero of this entree.
At the base is a John Dory roe emulsion, a hint to his admitted fascination with the ocean — not just seafood but all marine life including the many seaweed variants, each with its own taste and texture.
Dining at Automata is not just a meal but also a journey through Wells’ upbringing and worldly travels.
— 5 Kensington St
TOBY’S ESTATE
WHILE Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters has been recognised for its development of and commitment to the small and independent coffee farmers of South America and Southeast Africa as not often is it given credit for being the forerunner of what has become a massive cafe scene in Chippendale.
While others were shunning the rather neglected suburb, in 2005, the roasting company’s founder, Toby Smith took his coffee roasting from Woolloomooloo up to City Rd and opened what was to become Toby’s Estate’s headquarters.
Toby’s dabbled a bit in cafes, but ultimately chose to stick with just the one flagship where you can still enjoy breakfast and lunch from their season menu plus service that outshines most any Sydney cafe.
With less time spent on cafes, that’s mean more focus on coffee, specifically El Futuro, an appropriately named blend which speaks to their relationship with coffee growers and their future of “sustainable development projects which affect their local communities”.
— 32-36 City Rd
THE NIGHTHAWK DINER
THROW a stick at virtually any park over the weekend and besides the throngs of hounds chasing it down like it was the holy grail, you also stand to peg any number of roving food trucks.
From vegan to meat fests every niche is covered yet at the top of trend is the shiny silver airstream trailer towed by a vintage pick-up truck which has been serving American classics such as Philly cheesesteaks, chocolate shakes and nachos well before Sydney realised the Colonel wasn’t the only option for southern fried chicken.
On the back of that success, co-founder Alistair Fogg, has added tow new “trucks” — the dessert centric Sweet Hawk trailer and Tex-Mex offerings with the Taco Hawk as well as opening The Nighthawk Diner, which features what is essentially the “best of” each truck but is set to add more deep south dishes, such as gumbo to the menu in the coming months.
— 69 Abercrombie St
MUST TRY
MUFFULETTA
MERE metres from his hatted-restaurant Automata, chef Clayton Wells has opened a semi-casual venue with a menu that he considers “more accessible”.
It’s sort of a creative approach to country fare such as his take on the New Orleans classic, muffuletta, a pressed sandwich with olive salad, Mortadella, salami, peppers, spinach and artichoke. Plus, it’s pretty.
— A1 Canteen; ground floor, 2-10 Kensington St
DETROIT-STYLE PIZZA
THE bedraggled corner pub once known for welcoming live bands, has finally gotten the attention it deserves from none other than the music loving gents, Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham of Newtown’s Mary’s.
Here, pizza is on the menu, but rather than go regional Italian, theirs is an homage to the Detroit punk movement.
“We have opted for the Detroit style pizza,” Smyth says.
“Our pizzas are cooked in custom square blue steel pans. The cheese gets cooked out to a crunchy, salty rim, which surrounds a semi deep pan style of pizza.”
— The Lansdowne; 2-6 City Rd
HAWKER STANDS
THE sight, smell and most importantly, the tastes of Singapore’s hawker stands come to life in a back lane off trendy Kensington Street.
With no two venues offering the same thing, there are literally hundreds of options including Singaporean laksas, Thai noodle soups, Malaysian curries, Chinese dumplings and Japanese ramen. Plus it’s BYO.
— Spice Alley; 18-20 Kensington St
XIAO LONG BAOS
A FEW blocks away in neighbouring Ultimo is the popular no-fuss Chinese eatery, Chulin Chinese Cuisine & Deil.
Having developed a near cult following, they opened up an offshoot on the other side of Broadway, closer to Central park where you’ll fine inexpensive dumplings skewers and the many flavours of Northern China.
— Chulin 99; 99 Abercrombie St
SQUID INK NOODLES
INSIDE this nondescript industrial era building with its nondescript sign on a nondescript street is a restaurant the polar opposite of it exterior.
As music blasts out David Bowie and funky country tunes you get the feeling you’re in on some sort of secret where chef/owner, Mat Lindsay take his approach to all things smoke and fire in his wood-fire oven including the very subtle notes in the squid ink noodles, caramelised yoghurt and potato
— Ester Restaurant; 46-52 Meagher St