Sydney’s historic Paddy’s Markets’ new food mega-precinct, Hay St Market, will open to the public on March 26 in Haymarket. The $20 million market ­– with 48 traders including celebrity chef Luke Nguyen ­– has finally arrived after three years of planning and a challenge from existing “standholders” in the NSW Supreme Court.

The expansive project aims to finally provide Sydney with a central eat-in fresh-produce market, similar to those in other international cities, and will employ up to 400 staff across a 3000-square-metre space offering more than 25 different cuisines.

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The market includes a modern, colourful Korean area and a bar clad in plastic crates that sells everything in cans. There’s also a row of Dickens-era shops full of antique mannequins and furniture sourced from auctions.

A mid-century truck parked onsite helps sets the tone. “We want it to look like it’s been here for 100 years,” says Joseph Murray, group chief executive at Doltone Hospitality Group, which has driven the project.

While most food markets grow organically over time with multiple operators, Hay St Market falls under the management of Doltone, which has drafted in a large range of food experience to contribute.

Tim Casey, former head butcher at Rockpool, who has worked in the trade for 50 years, runs Love Me Tender, the butcher shop. Cheese expert Christina Murphy was plucked for her experience working in the fromageries of Paris to head The Cheese Table.

Chef and TV presenter Luke Nguyen, whose venues include Red Lantern in Darlinghurst and Fat Noodle at The Star, is involved across several venues. His father’s “secret” 24-hour broth is the cornerstone at Pho Chu Lao. Nguyen is also steering a dumpling program at a nearby stall, while across the way he’s behind another outlet offering a twist to banh mi. Another TV regular, Indigenous chef Mark Olive, is serving smoked blue gum barramundi at Little Midden, a spin-off of his Opera House venture.

Murray said the market needed to reflect the cultural food diversity of Sydney and the city’s community needs (it has a florist and is fully licensed). It also had to tap into the historical links of Paddy’s, which dates to the 1800s, some of which are personal for the people involved. Doltone Hospitality Group executive chairman Paul Signorelli’s father worked at the market as a new immigrant, and the Signorelli Bros moniker at Hay St Market’s greengrocer outlet honours that link.

Construction on the multimillion-dollar makeover of Paddy’s Markets in Haymarket began last year after Sydney Markets Limited won a bitter battle in the NSW Supreme Court with “standholders”, who were forced to relocate internally to make way for the project.

Sydney Markets interim chief executive Dale Doonan said Hay St Market would tap an international trend of mixing fresh produce and eat-in dining, which has lured a younger audience to markets.

Doonan is optimistic the addition of Hay St Market can double visitor numbers at Paddy’s, which sit at about 5 million annually. Both he and Murray point to London’s Borough Market as an example of a food market that shares similar DNA to Sydney’s arrival, although Hay St Market, with its broad range of cuisines on offer, will have its own city-centric traits.

For Murray, his latest project fills a gap in the market. “We asked ourselves ‘what does Sydney have and what doesn’t Sydney have?’ Even when I go to my home town [in Ireland], there’s a central food market … We want this to be for Sydneysiders and visitors.”

Open breakfast, lunch and dinner daily

Ground floor, Paddy’s Market, Hay Street, Haymarket, instagram.com/haystmarket