Walking past the front entrance of the iconic Paddy’s Markets these days, you might do a double take. Instead of the racks of boomerangs, Pikachu onesies and inflatable green-and-gold kangaroos that were a mainstay of the gritty Chinatown market, there’s a brand new space with vendors selling loaded bagels, fresh pasta and pizza, flowers and trays of micro-herbs grown on-site under UV lights.

This is Hay St Market, a 3000-square-metre food and shopping hub launched last week inside Paddy’s Markets. The change is striking. The $20 million project features 48 stalls and shops selling food from 25 different cuisines, from Vietnamese to Turkish, Korean to Italian. Customers can sample food and shop, all with a glass of wine in hand, thanks to a NSW-first drink-as-you-shop liquor licence. And it’s all run by a single company, catering group Doltone Hospitality.

“We want to bring the world to Sydney’s doorstep,” Doltone’s managing director Joseph Murray tells Broadsheet. “When you look at the history of Paddy’s, it’s always been evolving. It was originally a place to buy produce, and today there are still the stalls selling bric-a-brac, which millions of people love. But we want to create a new market that complements the old and add our own story.”

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Group culinary director George Diamond oversaw every menu, working towards seamless service and cohesive concepts that bring something new to Chinatown. “We wanted to keep the menus short and sharp, with two to three items that were best of breed,” he says. “There’s already a large demographic of Southeast Asian and Chinese food in the area. We wanted to bring continental European food.”

European markets such as Mercat de la Boqueria in Barcelona and Borough Market in London were reference points for the Hay St the concept: a polished, dynamic eating destination that also maintains a sense of heritage, stretching right back to 1834.

It’s a hard line to walk. Yes, there’s authenticity and craft in the pasta made from scratch with sustainable semolina; or the square Roman-style pizzas on 72-hour fermented dough; or celebrity chef Luke Nguyen’s family-recipe pho. The dumplings are decent, if a bit dear with so many other excellent options just outside. But there’s no getting around Hay Street’s single ownership structure, which differentiates it from the European markets it aspires to. That mix of independent vendors of varied backgrounds adds a tangible sense of vitality and texture to any market.

That’s not to say Doltone hasn’t addressed this. At the front entrance, a vintage red Dodge pick-up truck’s cargo bed is piled with straw, and there’s a cage containing two live parrots. Common seating areas are decorated with tables, bookshelves lined with fabric-bound classics and garden trellises. Each market venue has its own look, from the streamlined glass fridges displaying neat stacks of brie at the cheesemonger to the Korean corner aiming for the vibrant energy of Seoul. Although there’s an air of newness throughout the shiny aisles now, the lived-in feeling from a happening marketplace will grow over time.

The newness feels a long way from the old Paddy’s Market stalls – which still sell souvenirs and toys outside the perimeter of Hay St – and the buzzy energy of Chinatown. As one person wrote on Instagram, “Out on Dixon Street there are crowds waiting for dumplings from steaming baskets and all sorts of grilled skewers. That’s what should be at your market. There’s no theatre, no heart.”

But for every negative comment like this, there’s a lot of excitement for the project. While we haven’t seen the action of Singapore’s Lau Pa Sat, or the diversity and confidence of Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Markets, maybe all Hay St Market needs is time to wear in.

“At one stage we had 200 concepts that we had to narrow down,” Murray says. “That’s the good thing about a market, you can rotate the operators depending on what the people want.”

Hay St Market
Ground Floor, Paddy’s Market, 13 Hay Street, Haymarket

Hours:
Daily 10am–late
See website for specific trader’s hours

haystmarket.com.au
@haystmarket