Overview
Fans of Asian eats will be no strangers to Chippendale's Kensington Street, aka Spice Alley, the hawker-style dining precinct where Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai, Cantonese and Shanghainese dishes have been on the menu for years. Now, the Land of the Rising Sun's fare has joined this roll call of eastern cuisines, with the addition of Spice Alley's new Japanese Quarter.
The two new Japanese venues are modelled after the compact hole-in-the-wall diners and izakayas dotted throughout Tokyo's busy laneways, and bring Spice Alley's complement of restaurants and bars to ten.
Devised by Kevin Vu Ha, who trained under sushi master Ryuichi Yoshii at Yoshii Omakase in Barangaroo, Japanese Quarter also offers a taste of Tokyo's vibrant cocktail scene, drawing on Vu Ha's time working with legendary Japanese bartender Hidetsugu Ueno San of award-winning bar High Five.
Japan's fast and satisfying street eats dominate the menu at Tabe-ru, where ramen, sushi, donburi and yakitori dishes are available for under $15 throughout winter. Think: crab rolls, wagyu beef donburi, black garlic ramen, chicken katsu curry and salmon sashimi. Just like its Tokyo counterparts, Tabe-ru is built for speed, with diners collecting their orders directly from the kitchen and eating al fresco at the tables out front.
Next door, Nomu is an intimate cocktail nook serving up Japanese classics — expect plenty of highballs — as well as a selection of Japanese beers, shochus and sakés, both chilled and warm.
With nods to both Japan's traditional decor and its pop culture, the fitout is a riot of manga murals, paper lanterns and bamboo trunks for an immersive experience that might help tide you over until you can next visit Tokyo in person.
Find Nomu at 40 Kensington Street, Chippendale, open 4–11pm Tuesday–Thursday and 4pm–midnight Friday–Saturday — and find Tabe-ru at 38 Kensington Street, Chippendale, open daily 11am–9.30pm.