Now pushing forth as one of the largest and more comprehensive lifestyle precincts in Sydney, Darling Square has revealed a few more layers to it’s ongoing development. And this new wave features some incredible new dining and retail concepts, filling the spaces between Darling Harbour and Haymarket with some of the city’s best new openings.
Upon completion, the entire Darling Square precinct will include around 70 restaurants, cafes and shops. It’s almost too much to wrap your head around in one go. So let’s just take you through a few newbies we are most excited about.
Pasta Wafu
The team behind Barangaroo’s Banksii and the faultess Kerby Craig, mastermind behind Ume Burger, have teamed up for a Japanese pasta concept Sydney has never seen before. Crossing Italian with the distinct flavours of Japan, options like Miso Bolognaise with shiso, nori and sake exist on this wildly experimental menu.
Location: Maker’s Dozen at The Exchange.
Saga Lyte
Sister to Enmore’s immensely popular Saga, home of enormous pies and eye-popping cakes, this new opening from Andy Bowdy is pretty much guaranteed to be the sugary heart of Darling Square. Creative flavour combinations and exciting layered desserts will be the draw here, as well as flaky bakery gems like Andy’s unique twist on an Aussie meat pie.
Location: Maker’s Dozen at The Exchange.
Hopper Kadé
A strict dedication to Sri Lankan street food has seen massive success for Hopper Kade, who graudated from the Balmain markets to Crown Street in 2016. They’ve now opened their second proper store at Darling Square, set to draw crowds in with hoppers, curries, sambols, spicy sides, roti wraps, and signature kadé bowls.
Location: Maker’s Dozen at The Exchange.
DOPA Donburi and Milk Bar
Devon’s Zachary Tan has led the charge at this new all-day diner, reimagining an old-school Japanese milk bar (miruku bar) with Japanese loaded milkshakes, kakigori shaved ice desserts, giant matcha cookies, and Japanese-style breakfast staples.
Location: Little Hay Street.
Rey Jr
Share-style Flipino food dominates Rey Jr’s, bringing a diverse cuisine to the table that’s often hard to find around Sydney CBD. Cebu-born chef Nathaniel Madgrangca leads to kitchen here, who is also pairing up cocktails with desserts.
Location: Little Hay Street.
Hello Auntie
This will be your go-to for new-school Vietnamese, with Head Chef Cuong Nguyen bringing plenty of favourites over the restaurants popular Marickville outlet and putting a bit of an experimental twist on them.
Location: Nicolle Walk.
Boque by Tapavino
Not that you’d ever get sick of Asian food, but if you want to head to Europe instead, pop into the new Boque by Tapavino, coming from the crew behind Sydney’s legendary tapas spot.
Inspired by and named for the legendary La Boqueria market in Barcelona, you’ll sit down to devour Spanish omelettes and ham baguettes if you’ve caught them at breakfast, otherwise it’s all creative and traditional tapas and freshly sliced charcuterie until late.
Location: Maker’s Dozen at The Exchange.
Hakata-Maru Ramen
A Sydney precinct just wouldn’t be able to exist without somewhere for a soul-nourishing bowl of ramen. Luckily Hakata-Maru Ramen fills that spot, opening up as a flagship with a focus on authentic Hakata-style tonkotsu with thin, straight noodles and simple recipes.
The menu also holds plenty of rice dishes, side dishes and Japanese curries, so if you’re looking for something a bit more traditional don’t look past this one.
Location: Nicolle Walk.
For more information on all the new venues populating Darling Square head to: darlingsq.com
Image: Maker’s Dozen at The Exchange.
