Food Court Adventures

Food courts used to have the boring reputation of serving up predictable and cheap meals from fast food chains. But with the national taste buds becoming more demanding in the past few years, food courts have been elevated to a whole different level to keep them in the game.

Here are a few food courts which have been revamped into thriving hubs of gourmet food offerings with price tags to match.

Westfield Sydney

If you’re prepared to fork out a premium for sitting in the marbled halls of the sleek Westfield at Pitt Street Mall, you’ll discover that they have a fantastic range of foodie delights. There’s high quality hot dogs (Snag Stand), top notch pies in interesting flavours like Peking duck, as well as spicy Malaysian fare at Sassy’s Red. Of course, some chains have set up shop there too, but they’re not your usual fast food suspects – here you can grab a slice of Crust Pizza, Shanghainese dumplings from Din Tai Fung or some burritos from the Guzman y Gomez branch.

TGV Food Court

The newly renovated Galeries Victoria food court in the basement is barely recognisable – it’s now a funky hang out area with bright colours splashed on their furniture and modern fit outs for their eateries. The ever popular Chat Thai has an outlet here, so you can come here to sample their tasty dishes without braving a wait as long as the ones outside their other branches in the city. There’s also an express version of Ichiban Boshi ramen which is perfect for corporate workers with cravings but no time to wait in line upstairs at their original restaurant.

The Harbour Room at Westfield Bondi

This food hall is a little way out from the CBD area but is a shining example of how suburban shopping centre food courts can still impress diners. Although they have been open for quite awhile, The Harbour Room is clearly positioned to cater to more refined palates because there is not a single fast food chain in sight – only meals like freshly cooked seafood from De Costi’s or made to order Thai noodles from Thairiffic’s open kitchen are available here. The abundant plush chairs and tables provide a comfortable setting for you to enjoy your meal against the backdrop of sweeping views of the CBD skyline through their glass windows.

What spot do you consider the cream of the food court crop? Do you have a gem of a food stall at a food court near you? Let us know in the comments below!

3 Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.