It's not all new museums and eels: Seven things I love about living in Parramatta

To those on the outside, Parramatta’s probably most famous for having a rugby league team named after a slimy river creature and being Sydney’s Western CBD. But my wife and I moved to Parramatta from the Eastern Suburbs a few years back and now we can’t imagine living anywhere else.

The promise of big things coming Parramatta’s way is constant, from hundreds of cranes building impossibly high towers to the mooted but yet undecided moving of the Powerhouse Museum out here. Still, it’s all the little things that make this part of the city a great place to live.

The wider City of Parramatta accounts for almost a quarter of a million people, with a wonderfully diverse population. While the central area is a constant bustle of building, shopping and dining, five minutes out of the heart of Parramatta is quiet suburbia, where we live in a top floor apartment.

Here are my seven favourite things about living in Parra (as the locals call it).

It’s actually pretty close to Sydney CBD

All those friends that we left in the Eastern Suburbs are pretty quick to groan when we invite them over. But Parramatta seems a lot further away from the city than it actually is, and there are all manner of ways to get here. Easiest is the 25-minute express train that leaves Central every half an hour.

If you miss that there’s pretty much a train every few minutes that will only take five minutes longer. Driving is as bad as it is anywhere else during peak hour but between the M4, the M2 and Victoria Road, it’s easy to find the least horrible route. Or you could cruise out this way on the Parramatta River Ferry, which takes you on a smooth journey from Darling Harbour to Parramatta Wharf in just over an hour.

The food’s good

I’m tempted to make every one of these points about how good the food is but I’ll try to restrain myself. There are some truly great eats out this way – although you’re best to venture beyond “Eat Street” (at the top of Church Street). Just off Church Street, you’ll find two of my favourite restaurants: Honey Persian, home to a wonderful biryani, and the Singaporean institution, Temasek, where you can get a mountain of chilli crab with a loaf of white bread on the side to mop up the sauce.

There’s great coffee at Circa Espresso, top pho at Pho Pasteur and even a fancy degustation meal over at Courtney’s Brasserie. And you will find something in Parramatta that you won’t find anywhere else in the city – a Gelato Messina that you never have to line up for!

It’s close to even better food

OK I lied – I’m going to rant about food again. Because Parramatta’s closest neighbour is Harris Park, where you’ll find most of Sydney’s best Indian food, including Haveli and Taj’s Indian Sweets and Restaurant. And from there, you can almost smell the famous charcoal chickens over at El Jannah in Granville.

Even legendary street food destinations such as Cabramatta, Fairfield and Canley Vale are just a 20 minute drive away. Don’t expect to cook much while you’re here.

It has a lake

Crazy right? Who needs the beach when you’ve got your own man-made lake? Hunts Creek was dammed in the 1850s for the area’s water supply but now you can swim in Parramatta Lake on those scorching summer days.

The lake also boasts a long and beautiful walking track and it’s perfect for picnics. One of the best examples of the multicultural make-up of Parramatta is how many different interpretations of a barbecue you’ll see at the lake on a hot day.

An abundance of parks

As the father of two kids, it feels good to know that I live within a 20 minute walk of about 10 different ovals. North Parramatta’s public park selection is serious, with a range of different sports taking place every evening.

And of course there’s Parramatta Park itself – 85 hectares of trees just next to the Parramatta CBD, with the World Heritage-listed Old Government House in the middle and a super futuristic playground next to Domain Creek.

Community events

Parramatta can’t quite compete with Vivid or The Sydney Festival (although recent years have seen a number of Vivid and Sydney Festival shows and exhibitions take place in Parramatta), but we have got an impressive amount of smaller events throughout the year. There’s the awesome Parramatta Lanes food and cultural festival, cramming the city’s smaller streets with food trucks, pop-ups and music.

At other points in the year there’s an ice skating rink set up in the park and a number of nights and weekends celebrating the multiculturalism of the city, including the boisterous Parramasala.

History and culture

Given Parramatta is Australia’s oldest inland European settlement, it’s no surprise that colonial history is easy to find – there are any number of heritage listed cottages, cathedrals and hospitals throughout town including the fascinating Elizabeth Farm. But Parramatta is also one of the few big Australian cities that has kept its Aboriginal name – the Darug people, traditional custodians of the area, named their home Burramatta, which means “the place where the eels lie down”.

There are a bunch of churches here, but there’s also Buddhist, Hindu and Murugan temples and the local mosque. It’s easy to celebrate multiculturalism by championing the many excellent food options we have access to but it makes me so happy to raise my kids in such a diverse apartment block and city.