It’s been a tumultuous and disruptive decade for business operators in Sydney’s Chinatown.
Building work, light rails, the emergence of Sydney’s ‘new’ Chinatown, Darling Square, overshadowing its older Haymarket sibling, and then, to top it off – the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Sydney, Marigold and Golden Century have been the more well-known casualties in the past year, while others, such as 30-year-old Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet restaurant on Dixon Street, are hanging on by a thread.
“I think it’s very important to preserve and protect this place,” says Mother Chu owner Allan Chu, whose parents opened the eatery in 1991, which has become popular for its fragrant beef noodle soup and homemade soy milk.
The lack of international tourism and students in the area have hit the family business hard but Mr Chu says they are doing everything they can to stay afloat.
Allan Chu serving customers at Mother Chu in Sydney's Chinatown. Source: SBS Chinese
“We feel we have a responsibility because we’re a gathering place of Chinese people, history and culture.”
Open shut them
Jiu Long Ding Chongqing Hot Pot on Dixon Street in the heart of Sydney’s Chinatown has been open for three years but has been operational for a much shorter period.
That’s because owner Steele Duan kept his doors shut during the pandemic.
He only recently reopened but now says the spread of the Omicron variant threatens his restart.
“The business was fine then cases rose [in December] and we’ve lost customers as a result,” he says.
Mr Duan remembers when Sydney’s Chinatown used to be a bustling precinct before it became “deserted”.
But he doesn’t believe it will remain this way for long.
“For the next one to two years, we’re in for a bit of trouble. From there, our future is bright.”
Steele Duan of Jiu Long Ding Chongqing Hot Pot in Haymarket, Sydney. Source: SBS Chinese
Mr Duan says the pandemic has served up plenty of opportunities for restauranteurs willing to consolidate their position in the market.
Chinatown used to be a tourist destination so many owners thought they only needed to feed a thousand people once.
“Now they want improve food quality and attract the same customer back a thousand times.”
Out with the old, in with the new
Though many Sydneysiders are still lamenting the loss of the iconic Chinatown restaurant Golden Century Seafood Restaurant, they don’t need to look far for its signature favourites.
Why? Because just a short stroll away in Darling Square, the food offering is the same at the family’s newest restaurant XOPP, which got its name from customers’ favourite dish - XO sauteed pipis.
“We thought the name was funny, fun and it gave the restaurant a fresh appeal. It made it sound like a trendy place,” says owner Billy Wong, son of Eric and Linda who came to Australia searching for new restaurant opportunities and took over Golden Century within two weeks of landing in Sydney in 1989.
Second-generation restaurateur, Billy Wong of XOPP in Sydney's Darling Square. Source: SBS Chinese
Without tourists, international students and many city workers staying at home during the pandemic, businesses such as theirs in Chinatown were hit hard.
The Wongs couldn’t negotiate a new lease and so decided to leave the Haymarket site for good.
As a Hong Kong-born second-generation restaurateur, Mr Wong says tradition still lingers in their newer branches (the family owns another eatery at The Star casino).
The chefs are the same and there’s no tweak to the traditional Cantonese cuisines that have served customers at Golden Century from its earliest days.
"I hope that the new environment, new modern fit-out appeals to people as they eat traditional Cantonese cuisine.”
Downfall of the restaurant with a controversial name
In Melbourne, former restaurateur Jimmy Siu is lamenting over Shark Fin House – the popular restaurant that opened in 1989 but closed in February 2020 due to coronavirus fears.
For some, such as David Zhou, owner of Oriental Teahouse located in Melbourne’s CBD, outside of the Chinatown precinct, the writing was already on the wall for the restaurant’s closure.
The pandemic, of course, gave them pressure. But the crack was already there.
“I know [Shark Fin House’s part-owner] Martin. I have a lot of respect for what he achieved for that long in the business.”
Mr Zhou who arrived in Australia from Shanghai as a 29-year-old says a key to surviving in the hospitality industry is changing and experimenting with the menu, something Mr Siu admits Shark Fin House didn’t do for decades.
“Chefs are cooking all the time. It’s sometimes a struggle for them to look up and discover what the next trend is,” Mr Zhou says.
“Some of them are not evolving with the food, the menu offer, the [cooking] method, customer service etc.”
President of Melbourne's Chinatown Precinct Association Danny Doon says part of Shark Fin’s downfall coincided with the owners’ retirement plans.
“The younger generation don’t want to run a restaurant,” Mr Doon says.
Long-time Melbourne Chinatown Precinct Association president Danny Doon. Source: Tania Lee
Mr Siu says the trend of the small family-run restaurant is slowly ending.
“In the past, you’d have your own children helping after school. Now they’re no longer working in restaurants.”
Chinatown death spiral or comeback?
While many may see the COVID-19 pandemic as another thorn on the side of Sydney’s troubled Dixon Street Chinatown precinct, Melbourne’s Chinatown is experiencing something of a resurgence.
Mr Doon says part of the precinct’s recovery can be attributed to the local council’s food voucher scheme, which attracted diners back into the CBD, while the association’s vice president Eng Lim says its full calendar of events had the ability to entice swathes of people into the area.
“[The dragon] Dai Loong comes out once a month if not twice,” says Ms Lim.
Mr Doon says out of the 450 businesses located within the Melbourne Chinatown precinct, no more than 10 per cent are currently empty.
Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard during a visit to Chinatown ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations in 2012. Source: AAP
“Before COVID there were no empty shops,” he says.
He adds the secret to maintaining vibrancy in the precinct is welcoming diversity, particularly over the past 20 years when change has been more pronounced.
“We don’t preserve [the past],” Mr Doon says.
We welcome Westerners to open businesses in Chinatown. We have a Western hotel, a German restaurant, now we also have a newly opened oyster bar. We also have lots of Japanese restaurants.
Chinese cuisine has not remained frozen in time either.
“[There’s] more Sichuan, very hot food. Northerners [from mainland China] eat a lot of wheat, so they eat a lot of dumplings. At one stage [the trend] was noodles. But now, it is dumplings.”
Mr Doon says part of the reason why traditional Cantonese restaurants find it hard to survive in the current market is due to the competition it receives from fast-food eateries sustained by the beefed-up demand from international students.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison leaves an event at the Golden Century Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown Sydney in 2019 before it closed its doors. Source: AAP
“Some lunches cost $8. It’s very cheap. Cantonese food cannot be priced so low,” Mr Doon says.
Chinatown re-oriented
As diners chowed down their last har gows and barbeque pork buns following Sydney’s Marigold’s announcement it would end its 39-years of service last month, many in the industry reflected on differences between the two enclaves in Australia’s two biggest cities.
Many say business in Sydney’s Chinatown has fallen with the rise and promotion of neighbouring precincts such as Darling Harbour and Darling Square.
“We are better off. We are lucky to have Melbourne City Council who are very supportive,” says Ms Lim.
Were white tablecloths in Haymarket wearing thin? Did the precinct need reinvigoration to enhance the entire dining atmosphere?
Sydney's Chinatown under pressure. Source: AAP
According to the owners of Marigold and Golden Century, COVID-19 was the main reason that led to their eventual downfall.
But it also depends on who you talk to.
“That’s their excuse,” says Mr Doon.
