Sydney's Best New Precincts of 2016
Honouring Sydney's best new large-scale neighbourhood projects and gargantuan foodie developments this year.
Sydney's Best New Precincts of 2016
Honouring Sydney's best new large-scale neighbourhood projects and gargantuan foodie developments this year.
In a year that saw Sydney's cultural ecosystem and the legislative shackling of certain elements of it become a more polarising subject than ever before, the city's most innovative, forward-thinking residents have made outstanding lemonade. Those aiming to truly transform the city permanently have made headlines with long-awaited new cultural and food precincts, transforming Sydney neighbourhoods with gargantuan, smart and beneficial new precinct developments.
At Concrete Playground we encourage exploration and showcase innovation in our city every day, so we thought it fitting to reward those most forward-thinking teams pushing Sydney to be a better, braver city. And so, these six new precincts, launched between 2016-16 and developed this year, have been nominated for Best New Precinct in Concrete Playground's Best of 2016 Awards.
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If you live Camperdown, you may have noticed the stunning and speedy transformation of the suburb’s dilapidated bowling club to a full blown urban farm. The space, now donned Camperdown Commons, consists of Pocket City Farms and Acre Eatery, which, with help from the Camperdown Project, turned the neglected space into a site for fresh organic produce and a farm-to-table restaurant to boot. The produce from the farm, headed by permaculturist Michael Zagoridis, will be used for the Acre (nominated for Best New Cafe this year) menu, with enough for the community as well. Community is a major part of the PCF system — they will continue to host volunteer days, along with farm tours, slow-living workshop, yoga and a school education program. They’re going local and ethical on their protein as well, exclusively partnering with Vic’s Meat Market, which guarantees full traceability of all of their meat. Both PCF and Acre are already partnering with locals as well, including using the spent grain from Young Henrys for compost.
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Rosebery is fast becoming one of Sydney’s most desirable neighbourhoods, largely in part to The Cannery, a huge 4500-square-metre retrofitted warehouse precinct, which houses the delicious likes of Archie Rose Distillery, Black Star Pastry, Koskela and Italian restaurant Da Mario. In 2016, however, The Cannery really took things next-level, with the opening of several game-changing additions. Brand new providore marketplace Saporium opened in May 2016, and is designed to bring everything you need to live a wholesome, healthy life together in one place, with a greengrocer, a butcher, a baker, a coffee roaster, restaurants and a cooking school. The space even launched its own weekly market. In November, Saporium also landed a sustainable bottle shop, The Drink Hive, which features refillable beer and wine stations. With the crew from Three Blue Ducks joining the neighbourhood in June, The Cannery has been one of the buzziest areas of Sydney in 2016. And it’s not done yet.
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If you’ve spent one too many nights wandering hungry around Circular Quay, dodging dodgy fish and chips and bad pizza, you’ll welcome this news. The watery end of Sydney’s CBD has finally sorted itself out, scoring a slew of decent eateries. It’s part of a new $60 million development on Alfred Street called Gateway Sydney. The new precinct has been transformed by Woods Bagot Architects from a very average walk-past-worthy food court into a slick new dining area. The second level houses Neil Perry’s second incarnation of his Burger Project, Chat Thai, a 50-seater sushi train and 2015 World Barista champions, Canberra’s Espresso Room, to name a few. It’s more of a dining affair, and opens for dinner as well. The project is being developed by DEXUS Development Group, and the DEXUS Wholesale Property Fund own 100 percent of the new precinct.
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We’ve been preaching about it a lot, but Chippendale’s culinary laneway, Kensington Street Precinct, continues to up its game — even after the main physical part of the renovation was completed last year. Gone are the run-down facades; blitzed with a bit o’ glam and restored to their former glory, they’re now home to some of the hottest eateries in Sydney, including Jason Atherton’s Kensington Street Social, Automata and The Old Clare. Casual eats are hidden in the precinct’s buzzing Asian foodie spot, Spice Alley, and this more casual environment has been flanked with newer neighbours Bar Chinois, an Asian-French fusion bar housed in an old terrace, international chef Frederic Colin French brasserie Bistrot Gavroche, next-level dessert gallery Koi, and, most recently, private dining option The Private Kitchen and inner city cellar door Handpicked Wines. And it ain’t done yet.
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Since opening its first pop-up in November 2015, Barangaroo’s culinary precinct, The Streets of Barangaroo, has been running full steam ahead. The waterfront dining precinct is bursting with food options both high-brow and casual, with a new opening every other week. Queues form daily at the permanent instalment of Melbourne’s Belles Hot Chicken, which delivers the deep-fried goods with abandon, just-opened vermouth bar Banksii (nominated for Best New Bar this year) is packed at quitting time, while Zushi serves up fresh sushi with pearler views of Darling Harbour. Also buzzing is Devon, which has just moved their Danks Street cafe to the new precinct, as well as Bentley-run restaurant Cirrus and the new Ume Burger. We could go on. And to make things even more gloriously overwhelming, there’s even more to come. Over the next few months another five new eateries are set to open in the precinct, from rooftop cocktail bars to Louisiana-style barbecue joints. Stay tuned.
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The massive revamp of the heritage-listed Rozelle Tram Depot now features a European-inspired market hall lined with bespoke retailers, from butchers and bakers to fried chicken and fresh pasta makers. Basically, it’s enough to make your eyes weep with sweet, sweet happiness tears (and maybe some of anxious indecision). Each of the retailers — which include some of Sydney’s biggest food names, as well as some newbies — have created a stunning space to serve their nosh, with most offering takeaway as well as produce to take home and cook. There’s a supermarket, a nail salon and a gym, but the food is where it’s at. It’s open seven days a week for brekkie, lunch and dinner, so there’s ample opportunity for gorging.
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