In Sydney’s Chinatown – the spiritual home of Chinese Australians for more than a century – the boom of Chinese international students living and studying nearby has meant a revolution in the style of restaurants catering to their tastes and budgets. Dining habits have changed, and larger Cantonese banquet-style meals are giving ground to quicker, cheaper one-dish meals. This has meant that restaurants are adapting by opting for smaller menus and less labour-intensive operations to keep costs and prices down.
There has been a string of closures from those unable to keep their prices down: Sydney has lost nearly 50 Chinese food venues in the past 20 months, according to Wayne Tseng, the president of the Chinese Precinct Chamber of Commerce. The list of closures includes Chatswood’s King Dynasty, Chao Kong Chinese Restaurant in Eastwood and Chan’s Canton Village, which opened in 1980 at Casula. Numerous high-profile restaurants have also closed, among them Redfern’s Good Food Guide -hatted Redbird , Crown’s elevated Silks and Lotus, which pivoted its Double Bay location to takeaway only .
But new businesses are rising in their place. Nowadays in Chinatown, you’ll smell the wafting scent of cumin-dusted, deep-fried skewers when you walk down Dixon Street. The precinct now includes six food stalls serving Chinese-style skewers, and counting.
Diners can order a la carte from a menu of skewers including lamb, pork and chicken, as well as more adventurous proteins su.