A narrow, lantern-strung laneway off the restored Kensington Street, Spice Alley packs a cluster of hawker-style kitchens into a single cobbled courtyard. Each stall does one cuisine well — Malaysian, Singaporean, Vietnamese, Chinese — and you order across them and share at communal tables, paying by tap rather than cash.
It is cheap, fast and atmospheric after dark, when the lanterns come on and the university crowd fills the benches. Not fine dining, but a genuinely fun and good-value way to eat in Chippendale, and a short walk from the White Rabbit Gallery.