Visiting Mascot

The scattegories wheel landed on “M” this week.  There are 18 Sydney train stations starting with M.  

I chose Mascot. 

I still forget that Mascot even has a train station which was built in 2000 when the Airport-City-Wolli Creek line was added to the network. But it's only since 2011 that you no longer have to pay an additional fare to use it.

Coming from the South, I changed at Wolli Creek for the Airport city line (T8 green) to get to Mascot. Coming from the city, any station on the city circle line will get you there and it’s just 2 stops from Central on the City to Macarthur via Airport or Sydenham line.  

Busy place. High rise apartments surround the block, planes fly overhead,(although not as many or as low as I expected), construction goes on all around – on the roads, on buildings, residences and shops; cement mixers, trucks, cars and buses on even busier roads. Being in close proximity to the airport, many hotels are clustered here and travellers are seen dragging their luggage as they head to and from the station.  This was kind of exciting to watch as I wondered where they were from and where they were going and it naturally brought back memories of my own travels.

My first choice of café, based on review ratings, was Coward’s Corner. But it had scaffolding all around it and although it was open, I decided to pass and go to Sugar Baby only to find that it too had been engulfed in some kind of construction with boards encircling it.  Boo. Refusing to settle for a chain café such as The Coffee Club, Michele’s or Oliver Brown, all of which were in easy reach in the retail precinct, I opted for Platform 62.  A wine bar/cross café. What drew me in was the advertised breakfast special promising avo, fetta and an egg on sourdough + coffee for $9. Well, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for….. (sourdough my arse, that was stale bread with the saltiest fetta that contaminated my cap)! Flies buzzed around and there wasn’t much ambience to be had as I sat outside regretting this choice.   

Cowards Corner under scaffolding

choose the precinct instead

Bourke st is the main road on exiting from the station but it isn’t really pedestrian- friendly. Instead, the shops are located in the Mascot Central Retail precinct directly opposite the station. Neat, clean, comfortable and modern but rather soulless. Grey pavements, grey planters, grey seats. There weren’t a whole lot of shops – Woolies, a florist, a Korean novelty shop, medical centre, chain cafes, but it was peaceful and calm. This is what I noticed throughout the residential high rise area, there were landscaped gardens, play equipment and benches throughout and it was surprisingly quiet and peaceful despite all the activity that surrounds it. Little pockets of oases amidst all that concrete.

I noticed there were plenty of restaurants that would shed a different light on the place at night and it definitely had a young person’s vibe. I have recently been to La Bufala for dinner and it was delicious Italian fare with proper light and fluffy pizzas with fewer but gourmet toppings, melt in the mouth eggplant parmigiana -definitely recommended. There were also Japanese, Indonesian and noodle bars seen.  

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The most enjoyable aspect of my visit to Mascot was venturing inside a giant antique warehouse, Lunatiques.  Wow! A vintage/retro/antique lover’s dream!  This place was sooooo big, that I had to take several rest breaks- luckily there were plenty of arm chairs to do so. The stock was beautifully presented and I really did immerse myself in a treasure trove of nostalgia. There was everything you could imagine here. Old stamp presses, chandeliers, tin locomotive toys, cameras, typewriters, butterfly specimens, crates, barrels, textbooks, maps, crockery, cabinets, suitcases, chests, planters and so much more.   

Some of the items reminded me of my parents’ things and had me thinking that the day will come when their things will be handed off to places like this for others to pore over.  Many of these items have become obsolete with progress and fashion and that’s part of our attraction to them, a glimpse into a bygone era, yet these items once belonged to individuals just like us from another time, who have now passed on- that’s kind of sad and touching to contemplate.

I didn’t wonder over to Botany st, which is probably the “real” Mascot, with a proper main street ‘cause quite frankly, my feet were knackered after spending so long in Lunatiques and as mentioned, the roads around Mascot are not really pedestrian friendly. However, from what I could gather on the internet, I don’t think there were any stand out shops there anyhow.

Summary:  Busy place with pockets of tranquillity. Not a whole lot of shops but plenty of restaurants in this airport-transfer suburb. Look out for Lunatiques- an antiques warehouse gem.