Top food talents bring two exciting new dining concepts to surprising Sydney suburb

Two of Sydney’s seasoned hospitality pros are turning their attention to an unexpected suburban pocket, with cult Darlinghurst restaurant Joe’s Table opening a new dining concept at Macquarie Park next year, and the former head chef at recently closed CBD fine diner Soul Dining launching the broth-focused Jin Guk in the suburb this week.

Why the sudden interest from the city’s food talent in the northside commercial and residential hub?

“The Korean community in Eastwood is just a 10-minute drive away,” said Kenny Lee, chief operating officer at JS Hospitality, the group backing Jin Guk. The appetite for Korean food at Macquarie Park is evident in last month’s launch of the sprawling S-Mart, a Korean specialty food store.

Lee and Joe’s Table owner, Joe Kitsana, both rate Macquarie Park – with its tech industry and university – as already possessing a strong, captive dining market, and a location with potential as a wider-catchment food destination. The close proximity of the food-savvy residents of Ryde and Lane Cove was an attraction. “I see us building a whole new clientele there,” Kitsana said.

Kitsana started as a one-man band chef, waiter and sommelier at the well-reviewed, no-frills Joe’s Table in Darlinghurst. Skills he picked up working at Sydney restaurants Longrain, Sailor’s Thai and Phamish helped make Joe’s Table a chef and foodie haunt. But he’s teaming up at the new northside venue with restaurateur Darase Kraykaew, from Haymarket restaurant At Bangkok.

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“It’ll be called Song Wat,” Kitsana said, referring to the vibrant Song Wat neighbourhood in Bangkok, which mixes old shopfronts, spice houses and restaurants. “We’ll do modern Thai – the Chinese-Thai thing is hot in Thailand now,” Kitsana said.

Song Wat will be located on Mahogany Avenue near the new Macquarie Park Public School, which opens next year. The restaurant is aiming for a mid-2027 launch.

The wait won’t be as long for Jin Guk, with the 35-seater opening from lunch on Monday, October 12. Jin Guk takes its name from the Korean broth of pork, beef or seafood, and the restaurant’s specialty, gomtang, which is served with rice.

“Jin guk is similar to ramen, but we don’t use the bones, only meat,” chef Jay Lee explained. Lee skips bones in his version with an eye to producing a clearer soup.

Lee, the long-time head chef at Soul Dining, said he is enjoying the switch from an exacting chef’s hatted restaurant kitchen to the simpler yet still precise preparation of the soupy cornerstone of Korean cooking. “[Jin guk] is a deep, comforting broth, you can have it any time. For me, twice a week,” he said

He admits to early trial and error with the cooking time of the different cuts of meat in the broth, and the rice proved equally challenging. They trialled rice from around the world, but couldn’t match the high moisture content and “sweetness” of Korean rice. So the broth at Jin Guk is served with rice from Cheorwon, a region near the demilitarised zone.

Lee said the amount of rice added to the broth in Korea is up to the individual taste, similar to the way some Australians love lots of Vegemite and some a light smattering.