Beat Kitchen's Fernando Benavides picks the best Western Sydney eats and beats
We don't just want you to go to more shows – we also want you to buy more music, support more venues, meet more people (if you're into that), enjoy more art, and know more spots. Because we're all well-rounded multitude-containers in one of the world's great cities, right? Enter our semi-regular feature, Pick & Mix – an anti-gatekeeping candy salad of quality stuff from Sydney and from elsewhere, endorsed and lovingly selected for you by interesting people.
This Pick & Mix had us giggling, kicking our feet and doing all kinds of complicated maths to work out if we could fit all of these recs in a single day.
It's courtesy of Fernando Benavides: "graphic designer, curator, selector and Sydney City enthusiast", and co-founder of the staunchest label / community collective out of West Sydney, Beat Kitchen Records. They've got plenty of iconic events to their name - including their BKR Rooftop gigs and parties, and unforgettable moments like Speed performing at an exhibition with Lad Street.
You can catch their latest manifestation, a free linkup with Close Friends Records, at Suite7a this Friday – so you'd better read on for the Chinatown pub just around the corner with 2011-priced jugs, the Sade album of the moment, a super good Latin supermarket, and plenty more.
Hammoud One Lebanese Restaurant
333B Macquarie St, Liverpool NSW 2170
OG Livo spot – boss man has the best hospitality and always chucks in a couple extra falafel. Recommendations are fatteh with meat, foule and falafel. They’ll chuck in some pickled veggies and Lebanese bread on the side. Cash only I think still?
[This restaurant doesn't appear to have a website]
Bankstown Markets
80-194 Eldridge Rd, Condell Park
One of the very few proper flea markets left in west Sydney (RIP Trash & Treasure). Proper mixture of second-hand electronics, car parts, clothing, fruit and vegetables, animals, cheap laundry powder, all the good stuff! There’s a hectic Vietnamese spot right inside if you're after a feed too, or else hit up Pho An in City Center, then cop an iced coffee from Cafe Nho.
Fortune8 Chinese Restaurant
34/47 Park Rd, Cabramatta
If you’re not in the mood to line up at Vinh Phat, hit up the yum cha at Fortune8 instead! Super quick service, no line and everything is served on paper plates. The family that runs the joint is always super sweet too.
Hey, Love
Sydney’s freshest! I’ve been waiting a long time for local jazz shit like this! Hey Love are a five-piece jazz band from Sydney that Beat Kitchen Records has been working with – they opened for Josef at the album launch and it was one of the most special things I've ever witnessed.
Market City Tavern
9-13 Hay St, Haymarket
One of the best spots in the city to drink – $16 jugs of Tiger and alfresco dining as you watch over Chinatown! If it had a pool table it would be the best pub in the city.
Sade – Stronger Than Pride (1988)
My current favourite Sade record – her bag is so deep tho! I feel like I go through phases with her albums. Funny enough, some Latino guy at Trash & Treasures (see above) sold me a 12” copy of the record for $10 a couple years back – I think original or 90s pressing?
Tierras Latinas
Shop 129/28 Smart St, Fairfield
One of the newer Latin grocery stores; a lot of the original spots in west Syd have closed down since I was a kid. Super good for all your needs. Hit up La Paula for barros lucos and tres leches cake afterwards if you’re hungry too!
Beatdisc Records
11/181 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150
OG area record store! Tucked right next to Parra station too. I really came up on Black Wire Records, Beatdisc, Poison City stuff when I was in high school but I was too young to ever attend the shows they were doing inside the store. They’ve been holding it down for west Syd for a minute – such a good collection of heavier guitar music, hip-hop and local releases.
Catch Maggie Tra live tomorrow, Friday March 28 at Suite 7a in Haymarket – plus DJ sets from Close Friends Records' Scruffs and the Beat Kitchen crew. Or catch something else! I'm not your mum!
- by
- Caitlin Welsh
- Published
- 27 Mar 2025
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