There’s a lot going on in Darling Square, the new dining, retail and residential precinct that’s slowly taking shape where the Sydney Entertainment Centre once stood. Soon a library will open in the Haymarket development, as well as an all-day food collective known as the Maker's Dozen – which includes Japanese pasta spot Pasta Wafu and Andy Bowdy’s Saga – a new Golden Century restaurant, and an “electric treat street” with a focus on sweets.

The next batch of eateries and retailers has just been released, adding to our already-lengthy things-to-do-in-Darling-Square list. As previously announced, Marrickville Vietnamese restaurant Hello Auntie will be opening its second eatery. It’ll have a strong focus on booze and will be serving banh xeo, a crispy coconut turmeric crepe.

Another well-established eatery, Tan Viet Noodle House, will also be expanding into the precinct. The Cabramatta restaurant has been serving Chinese-Vietnamese fusion dishes for more than 20 years; now it’s bringing its signature crisp-skin chicken into the city for the first time.

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Hakata-Maru Ramen (which can already be found in Chatswood’s Hawkers Village) will be bringing its tonkotsu ramen, baos, katsu curry and karaage chicken to the precinct. A French-inspired eatery, Auvers Cafe, will serve modern Australian food with an Asian twist and a French ethos. Expect coffee, cocktails, beers and wine. And Jackpot Hotpot will serve traditional Macau-style cuisine.

Tea-lovers will be looked after, too. Tea Shop Express – which already has an outlet in the HSBC Centre on George Street – will bring its bubble teas to Haymarket. And Surry Hills’ Haven Specialty Coffee will open an outlet, serving its Asian-inspired breakfast and brunch, as well as single-origin coffee.

Convenience-store-with-a-twist Urban Hub will sell locally sourced, gluten-free and paleo snacks, while Body Haven will offer traditional Chinese medical treatments including acupuncture, cupping and reflexology. An independent optometrist, The Spec, will also open in the precinct.

Darling Square’s remaining eateries and retailers are slated to open in August.

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