Welcome to Western Sydney baby.
If you've been reading along, you'd know that having just finished exploring the surprisingly un-Western suburb of Homebush, I crossed into this suburb's border on foot. This landed me on an entirely unnotable residential street. In high spirits, not even the threateningly grey clouds up ahead were going to bring me down.
Back in Homebush, the residential quarters presented to me a surprising stack of beautiful vintage houses, leading me to concede that perhaps the suburb could consider itself part of the Inner West. Homebush West, in contrast, offers a much more Western Sydney scene, with dowdy brick apartments,
a year's supply of pigeons,
and your classic generic corner store who never bothered to add the "9" when their 7 digit phone number was upgraded in the 90s.
From here, I started on the suburb's commercial centre.
Homebush West's CBD is a pan-Asian hub, featuring herbal medicines,
grocers from all over,
and, of course, many, many restaurants representing much of the world's largest continent.
If there's one thing I love checking out in Western Sydney, it's suspicious looking eateries. Lucky for me, it was lunchtime, which led me to "Happy Snack Cafe House", a location I chose for no reason other than the fact that I had no idea what they offered.
Happy Snack turned out to be a very hole-in-the-wall sort of place, seemingly specialising in Vietnamese rolls (aka banh mi) and sweet drinks.
Don't mind if I do.
For my lunch, I wound up going for a barbecue pork roll and an avocado shake. If you've been living in Sydney and somehow have never had a Vietnamese roll, the recipe goes something like this: start with a crusty bread roll (a delicious legacy of French colonialism), stuff it with some very flavourful pork or chicken, add in some salad with a generous heap of fragrant herbs and finish it off with chilli hot enough to put a facial expression on Vladimir Putin. This was a fine example of Vietnam's humble street sandwich. An avocado shake sounds kooky, but the sweet, thick, icy yet creamy shake is perfect for extinguishing the fire that such a roll inevitably causes in your face.
Across from the restaurant is Homebush West's train station - Flemington Station. Did you know that Flemington isn't actually a suburb? I only learned this through doing this blog. How about that.
But before that, and feeling fed and avocadoed, I continued up the street to check out something I'd only ever seen while riding the train west.
It wasn't this church (although the golden Jesus is pretty cool),
it wasn't this South Asian video and spice shop,
but just a few steps over,
is this small but impressive Hindu Temple.
I don't know too much about this place, but I can only assume that it's close to brand new, with how clean and red the clay-coloured idols are on the building's facade.
Heading back, it was time to finally head to the station.
But I wasn't leaving Homebush West just yet. I still had perhaps the suburb's most notable point of interest to explore.
From the station, you can take a raised walkway all the way to Paddy's Markets.
And this isn't that touristy Paddy's in the city either,
this is the real thing.
As a child to parents who had relatively recently immigrated to this country, my folks couldn't afford to burn their hard-earned on fruit and vegetables by the kilo at Coles. No, they were stocking up on bargain priced crates of whatever fresh food was in season at Paddy's Markets.
On Saturdays, the entire place is full of fresh food. Today was Sunday though, which means that most of the market more closely resembles an offline eBay.
They sell everything here, from high vis,
to pot plants,
to toiletries,
to toys,
to car accessories, kitchen supplies, shisha, Indian snacks, DVDs,
and even probably-not-ethically-kept pets.
This place is noisy, busy, dirty, kind of dodgy and I love it.
It was quieter than usual today, most likely owing to the ominous clouds in the sky and a certain virus which was doing the rounds (note: this visit was pre-lockdown), but a trip to Homebush West's Paddy's Markets is always an experience.
After my brief visit, I backtracked to the station, where I was able to take a short train ride to my next suburb.
Homebush West
If you've been reading along, you'd know that having just finished exploring the surprisingly un-Western suburb of Homebush, I crossed into this suburb's border on foot. This landed me on an entirely unnotable residential street. In high spirits, not even the threateningly grey clouds up ahead were going to bring me down.
Back in Homebush, the residential quarters presented to me a surprising stack of beautiful vintage houses, leading me to concede that perhaps the suburb could consider itself part of the Inner West. Homebush West, in contrast, offers a much more Western Sydney scene, with dowdy brick apartments,
a year's supply of pigeons,
and your classic generic corner store who never bothered to add the "9" when their 7 digit phone number was upgraded in the 90s.
From here, I started on the suburb's commercial centre.
Homebush West's CBD is a pan-Asian hub, featuring herbal medicines,
grocers from all over,
and, of course, many, many restaurants representing much of the world's largest continent.
If there's one thing I love checking out in Western Sydney, it's suspicious looking eateries. Lucky for me, it was lunchtime, which led me to "Happy Snack Cafe House", a location I chose for no reason other than the fact that I had no idea what they offered.
Happy Snack turned out to be a very hole-in-the-wall sort of place, seemingly specialising in Vietnamese rolls (aka banh mi) and sweet drinks.
Don't mind if I do.
For my lunch, I wound up going for a barbecue pork roll and an avocado shake. If you've been living in Sydney and somehow have never had a Vietnamese roll, the recipe goes something like this: start with a crusty bread roll (a delicious legacy of French colonialism), stuff it with some very flavourful pork or chicken, add in some salad with a generous heap of fragrant herbs and finish it off with chilli hot enough to put a facial expression on Vladimir Putin. This was a fine example of Vietnam's humble street sandwich. An avocado shake sounds kooky, but the sweet, thick, icy yet creamy shake is perfect for extinguishing the fire that such a roll inevitably causes in your face.
Across from the restaurant is Homebush West's train station - Flemington Station. Did you know that Flemington isn't actually a suburb? I only learned this through doing this blog. How about that.
But before that, and feeling fed and avocadoed, I continued up the street to check out something I'd only ever seen while riding the train west.
It wasn't this church (although the golden Jesus is pretty cool),
it wasn't this South Asian video and spice shop,
but just a few steps over,
is this small but impressive Hindu Temple.
I don't know too much about this place, but I can only assume that it's close to brand new, with how clean and red the clay-coloured idols are on the building's facade.
Heading back, it was time to finally head to the station.
But I wasn't leaving Homebush West just yet. I still had perhaps the suburb's most notable point of interest to explore.
From the station, you can take a raised walkway all the way to Paddy's Markets.
And this isn't that touristy Paddy's in the city either,
this is the real thing.
As a child to parents who had relatively recently immigrated to this country, my folks couldn't afford to burn their hard-earned on fruit and vegetables by the kilo at Coles. No, they were stocking up on bargain priced crates of whatever fresh food was in season at Paddy's Markets.
On Saturdays, the entire place is full of fresh food. Today was Sunday though, which means that most of the market more closely resembles an offline eBay.
They sell everything here, from high vis,
to pot plants,
to toiletries,
to toys,
to car accessories, kitchen supplies, shisha, Indian snacks, DVDs,
and even probably-not-ethically-kept pets.
This place is noisy, busy, dirty, kind of dodgy and I love it.
It was quieter than usual today, most likely owing to the ominous clouds in the sky and a certain virus which was doing the rounds (note: this visit was pre-lockdown), but a trip to Homebush West's Paddy's Markets is always an experience.
After my brief visit, I backtracked to the station, where I was able to take a short train ride to my next suburb.
Homebush West: Eat excellent food, shop for every product under the sun, and go home with a pet chicken.
We went on a school excursion to the markets. They needed extra parents to come along to keep the kids in line. My grandmother came with us. I thought I was very cool having MY Grandmother come along? I thought I was very special!
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