National_Geographic_Traveller_UK_June_2017

NEIGHBOURHOOD
CLOCKWISE: A barista prepares coffee
at Harry’s; vertical gardens at One
Central Park, Chippendale; al fresco
dining at Spice Alley
Joggers puff and pant
up the steps leading
to the Harbour Bridge
walkway; rainbow
lorikeets and ibises flit
around Observatory
Hill Park; gorgeously
past-their-prime
houses with subsiding
verandahs and
corrugated iron roofs
are spread out below
Chippendale
‘Where’s Chippendale?’ An acceptable
question for an outsider, but one, until
recently, you might even have heard from the
mouth of a local.
However, things have changed, and
Chippendale is no longer a nothing suburb,
passed through unknowingly en route from
the central business district (CBD) to the
hipster enclaves of the Inner West.
The transformation began with the White
Rabbit Gallery. Opened in 2009, this private
collection of modern Chinese artworks
— whose only common theme is that they
consistently weird out anyone looking at them
— has become the figurehead for a burgeoning
artistic community. Dig into the lanes,
courtyards and crumbling houses nearby and
you’ll find small galleries, studios, workshops
and collectives merrily doing their own thing.
The metamorphosis continued with the
opening of The Old Clare Hotel on the site
of the former Carlton & United Brewery: a
knowingly cool five-star joint with rooftop
pool, fashion shoot lights in the rooms and
industrial-chic bare walls. Next to it is One
Central Park, designed by French starchitect
Jean Nouvel: two plant-clad residential towers
with a flower bed on each floor, shopping
mall on the lower levels and cantilevered
penthouses at the top — the overall effect:
ultramodernity being reclaimed by the jungle.
A key part of why this all works is that
the new and the old seem well blended.
Wandering the narrow streets and laneways
around the big shiny projects doesn’t feel like
strolling through a hermetically sealed bubble.
Spice Alley is a tremendous example of
this; a U-shaped laneway has been turned into
an Asian street food hub, with simple stools
and tables crowding the pavement. Korean,
Malaysian, Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese
dishes are served up from joints that are
curious food stall-restaurant hybrids; a
garishly painted tuk tuk guards the entrance
and Chinese lanterns hang overhead.
Chippendale is no longer just a hotspot for
casual dining either; Automata is one of the
city’s new tasting menu-only hotspots, with
an open-plan kitchen and a predilection for
bold, palate-challenging flavours. Mustard
oils, vinegars and fermented vegetables are
among the twists that make virtually every
dish arresting.
The question is no longer ‘Where’s
Chippendale?’ but ‘Where in Chippendale...?’
62 natgeotraveller.co.uk