Chinese New Year on Kensington Street 2017

Overview

Blooming cultural hub Kensington Street is throwing its doors open to a huge block party to celebrate Chinese New Year for the second year in a row.

The core of the celebration — in true Kensington Street style — is food. The festival will play host to dumpling-making demonstrations and punters will be far from disappointed with duck pancakes, spring rolls and burgers from new modern street food purveyor Holy Duck!. Head just behind Kensington Street to Spice Alley for even more offerings, including Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai and Cantonese street food, plus Japanese dining hall KYO-TO and Vietnamese restaurant Mekong. New openings Eastside Grill and Olio in the Old Rum Store will also delight visitors.

There will also be plenty of non-food-related entertainment, with Kensington Street set to transform into a bustling Chinese marketplace. Stallholders will include fortune tellers, caricaturists and calligraphers. Guests can also give shadow puppetry, tai chi, paper folding, lantern making or Mahjong a try (or just nibble on Kakawa's edible Mahjong tiles instead). Two stages will continuously play both old and new music — think C-Pop, K-Pop and Chinese house music — and feature a performance from the Teo-Chew Lion Dance Team. If you're more in the mood for quiet reflection, check out some silent Chinese films or watch art come to life with Sydney-based Asian and Australian street artists and muralists painting in the Old Rum Store.

After all that activity, you'll probably be feeling thirsty — make sure you check out Kensington Street Social's The Rooster (gin, lychee and ginger) or Bistro Gavroche's Red Rooster (vodka, vermouth and grapefruit bitters) drinks before you go to celebrate the start of the Year of the Rooster.