Coronavirus: Burwood Mayor John Faker supports Burwood eat streets
With fear spreading about the threat of Coronavirus, a Sydney mayor has hit back and thrown his support behind local food businesses.
Inner West
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In what must be one of the most delicious tasks in his 14 years as Burwood mayor, John Faker is eating his way through the area’s food precincts as part of a council campaign to bolster businesses that have taken an economic hit due to coronavirus fears.
The Inner West Courier joined the mayor on Tuesday as he toured Burwood Chinatown, a hawker-style food alley with colourful umbrellas hanging from the roof and hole in the wall eateries full of smiling faces and amazing street food-style offerings.
Cr Faker gave a serve to coronavirus scaremongers which he said were hurting family-run businesses like Dim Sum House, run by Vivian and Gary Cheng who are serving up authentic Guangdong dim sum on the go like siu mai and cha siu bao (barbecue-pork-filled bun) and their signature egg tart.
“Our food precincts bring so much colour, and taste, to our area,” Cr Faker said.
“Council decided to get on the front foot with a Burwood Eats campaign focusing on our food precincts in response to a downturn in business following reports about the alleged risks posed by the novel coronavirus.”
His message is it is safe to return to these local eateries and he is touring the precincts and wrapping his mouth around the many delicacies on offer as part of the council social media campaign.
The Burwood Chinatown tour included a visit to Fujimi Dorayaki that serves a traditional snack with a twist.
The original dorayaki consists of two small castella pancakes, sandwiched around a sweet red bean paste filling but Fujimi Dorayaki changes the game with new flavours such as Nutella, Tim Tam and matcha as well as a range of ice creams fillings like mango ice cream and chunky peanut.
The tour also took in King T, serving bubble, milk and fruit teas, and Million Life, Sydney’s first pink claw machine arcade.
Burwood Chinatown underwent a major redevelopment two years ago under the watchful eye of precinct designer Anthony Ho who joined the tour to give some insight into the next stage of the development, due to open towards the end of this year, that will deliver a second floor full of more hawker-style food offerings, a common eating area and quirky robots all with a neon steam punk theme.
GELATO PARTY
Love Gelato Messina? Head to Burwood Chinatown, at 121/133 Burwood Rd, Burwood on Saturday, March 7 from 4pm when they will be giving away 1000 free Gelato Messina scoops as part of their #BacktoBurwood promotion. The family-friendly party, that runs until 7pm, will include face-painting, balloons and plenty of bubbles.