Downtown Chinatown - Sydney food halls - Part 1
April 24th, 2007
I remember a food hall I used to go. It fed me when I was a student. Ongs, was on Little Burke, a dungeon really. Stairs descended into a low ceilinged maze, housing about a dozen or so Asian food vendors. It was good and cheap. It had a bar, which was a big draw card in those days. What’s changed?
Since the demise of Ongs there has been little of this kind of venue in Melbourne. In Sydney, they seem to be abundant. Our first expedition started badly. E and I had an altercation about our mode of transport. Eventually, I won, and got her into her pram, but in the confusion I forgot the directions.
We entered Chinatown blindly looking for food courts. Without much trouble we found ourselves on the top floor of the building that houses Paddy’s Market. Here there is a complex of more than a dozen mostly Chinese vendors selling a vast range food stuffs. Knowing nothing about any of them, we chose randomly. Golden Towers Seafood Noodles. Glossy photographs behind the counter spoke to us, and it wasn’t a conversation about seafood.
It was Beef Noodle Soup. This one came with pork wontons and braised brisket. The soup had a great tasty stock. It made the previous one I’d had, (cattle-meat-noodles), seem as it at come from a can. Included was Chinese greens, E polished most of these off, which surprised me, she eats mainly pork these days. Our noodle soup cost $7.50.
In the under pass on the way home we had to stop and watch a busking classical violinist. I was seriously paranoid that some journalist was doing a story on how we are all uncultured yobbos. (Today Tonight also copied this story that very day). So in case of hidden cameras, we had to nod some appreciation and chuck in a bit of cash. E really enjoyed it and cracked it when I made her leave.
Market City Food Court - Level 3 2-13 Quay St Sydney
April 25th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Ong’s food court, with three simple words you’ve whipped me back through time. I was introduced to Ong’s by a friend from Kuala Lumpur. She was studying at RMIT at the time and would pop into Ong’s whenever she felt homesick. I never ordered, just ate what was put in front of me. Although the dishes probably paled in comparison to real hawker-style food in Malaysia I was still mesmerised by that little cubbyhole. I think the food quality took a dive not long after I left RMIT but the memories of first discovery are still strong.