Food and wine in Chinatown

Best spots to eat and drink 

All times of the day and night, Haymarket’s Chinatown is busy serving up a kaleidoscope of Asian tastes, textures, food and wine. Grab your chopsticks and dive in.

If dumplings appeal, wait in line for a table at Din Tai Fung in World Square. This busy, in-and-out Chinese eatery specialises in pork dumplings, or choose from nine other fillings including prawns, crab, mushrooms and vegetables.

In Chinatown, check out Red Chilli if you can handle heat while Golden Century, a Cantonese institution open until 4am, will sort out any late-night reveller craving a post-clubbing plate of salt’n’pepper squid. BBQ King, open since 1979, is a must for Peking duck and barbeque pork. At Mamak on Goulburn Street, when you scoop up a delectable kari ayam with a soft folded roti, prepare to be transported to the sights and smells of Kuala Lumpur.

High ceilings and opulent marble characterises The Haymarket Hotel, a lounge bar located in a former bank on George Street.

Down on Dixon Street, Malaysian restaurant More More Cha is also famous for its roti (there’s even a YouTube clip of Super Roti Man doing his thing on their website) or head to Arisun for a Korean beer and a sweet and spicy fried chicken.

Expect great food and wine (sake-style, naturally) in the nearby Darling Quarter. Slurp a laksa at the Nok Nok Thai Eating House, try over 100 varieties of sushi at Umi Sushi and Udon or enjoy the French/Vietnamese fushion fare at Taste Baguette.

Spanish tapas bars along Liverpool Street include Capitan Torres and subterranean Miro, both consistently good. If jugs of punch, disco beats and soul food appeal, so will small bar Goodgod on the same street.