Taste: How to help our Chinese restaurants in their hour of need
With Chinese restaurants at risk of closing due to coronavirus boycotts, we look at how to save these suburban favourites and identify Queensland’s best eateries, write Anooska Tucker-Evans and Cloe Read.
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QUEENSLAND’S Chinese restaurants are hurting and they need our help.
Despite the cuisine booming across the state in the past two years with a flurry of high profile restaurant openings, fears over the coronavirus are threatening to devastate the previously thriving sector of the hospitality industry.
From tiny, food court eateries in Sunnybank to prime Brisbane riverfront restaurants in the CBD, they are all reporting a drop in patronage and booking cancellations, with business down by up to 60 per cent according to the National Retail Association.
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Experience Sunnybank resident chef and food tour host Tony Ching says there’s been a considerable downturn in customers frequenting Asian eateries in the southern Brisbane culinary hotspot.
“Some of the restaurants have said it was disastrous a couple of weeks ago,” Ching says.
“With any restaurant you have a bad week or have a couple of bad weeks and it takes six months to get over that.”
Chef at Stanley at Brisbane City’s Howard Smith Wharves Louis Tikaram says they too are feeling the flow-on effects of coronavirus.
“We’ve seen a lot of big groups cancelling and postponing events due to that scare,” he says. “We get a lot of corporates and they’ve got offices in Hong Kong or China and travel arrangements have been cancelled. That’s been quite a massive hit for us.”
Jake Nicolson at Brisbane’s Donna Chang reports similar effects, with groups of up to 20 cancelling bookings in the wake of the outbreak.
“We can definitely see a big downturn,” he says.
“Our feeling is it’s Chinese people don’t want to be around other Chinese people in groups (and) it’s had a ripple effect with the Western customers.”
But that ripple effect is not just impacting restaurants, but also growers and farmers who have had their orders for produce slashed by restaurants who have fewer diners to serve.
“We use all local ingredients so the onwards effect is that the producers are taking a hit too,” says Nicolson.
So what can we as diners do to help?
Simple: go back to eating at Chinese restaurants.
University of Sydney associate professor Adam Kamradt-Scott, who has worked for the Australian Government in pandemic preparedness, says diners have nothing to fear.
“Given there is no evidence of localised community transmission of the COVID-19 virus in Brisbane or other parts of Australia there is no reason to avoid dining out in Chinese restaurants or elsewhere,” he says.
And with that in mind, here is our list of Queensland’s best Chinese restaurants.
BRISBANE
GLAMOROUS WOK
342 McCullough St, Sunnybank
“Glamorous Wok is one of our real favourites when we go out as a family,” says Tikaram. “It’s leaning a little bit more to Taiwanese style so it’s a little more refined and delicate and there’s lots of great cold cut meat dishes.”
LITTLE HONG KONG
Shop 23a/341 Mains Rd, Sunnybank
“It’s very traditional Hong Kong-style cafe food,” says Tikaram. “I love the milk tea and I love the morning cafe dish with pork and rice.”
The egg tarts and custard buns are also a must.
HAOKE SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
223 Calam Rd, Sunnybank Hills
A favourite with chefs around Brisbane, this suburban eatery specialises in dumplings and is said to do some of the best in the city.
“With the dumplings, there’s a bit more technique and they taste really, really fresh,” says Tikaram.
STANLEY
5 Boundary St, Brisbane City
On the edge of the river at Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves, this dark, super moody restaurant serves modern Cantonese and Chinese using some of the best ingredients in the country, including ikejime-prepared coral trout from North Queensland, Stockyard beef and Moreton Bay bugs.
“It’s the dishes everyone knows and loves but you’re getting some of the best ingredients in the world,” says Tikaram.
DONNA CHANG
3/171 George St, Brisbane
Positioned in a stunningly restored heritage building, Donna Chang is easily one of the most glamorous Chinese restaurants in the country. Serving modern Chinese with a native Australian twist, the restaurant prides itself on using only the best ingredients.
“We definitely don’t have the heavy thick sauces. We have more contemporary Chinese food that showcases local ingredients with great flavours,” says Nicolson.
They also roast all their own ducks in-house.
VIETNAM CORNER
Sunnybank Plaza, McCullough St, Sunnybank
For the best seafood with a Chinese-Vietnamese slant, it has to be the always lively and very noisy Vietnam Corner, says Ching.
“They have the best whitebait. They wok fry it after it’s been dusted in rice flour. They also have great whole fish and my personal preference is the flounder,” he says.
“They do it half-Chinese, half-Vietnamese served with fried chilli, fried onions and lettuce and it’s that combination of sweet lettuce, crispy (fish) skin and hot chilli that makes it outstanding.”
SUNRISE ORIENTAL
Sunnybank Plaza, McCullough St, Sunnybank
If you've been put off congee by bad hotel versions, you must try the rice porridge at this Sunnybank eatery, says Ching.
“They do it very authentically in an earthenware pot over gas and it’s dusted with white pepper and you don’t stir it in, you just sprinkle it on top,” he says.
LANDMARK
101/358 Mains Rd, Sunnybank (also at Westfield Chermside, Hamilton Rd, Chermside)
A Brisbane institution, this large, buzzy restaurant is said to serve the best yum cha in Brisbane.
“Nowhere else in Brisbane has egg custard tarts like Landmark – they are just sensational,” says Ching.
Rather than pulling dishes purely from the yum cha trolleys, order from the special menu at the servery counter, which includes specialties like pork buns, custard buns and red bean buns, gai lan in oyster sauce, Shanghai soup dumplings and pork bones in black bean.
“You’re missing out on 50 per cent of the good stuff unless you go up to the counter,” says Ching, who also notes the restaurant has seriously upped its game on the service front.
SUNRISE BBQ & BUTCHER
Sunnybank Plaza, McCullough St, Sunnybank
If it’s roast duck and crispy pork belly you’re craving, it doesn’t get better than from Sunrise BBQ, says Ching.
In the food court at Sunnybank Plaza, the butcher and eatery roasts everything on-site and has “the absolute best” pork belly, and sells whole ducks for the bargain price of just $33.
HAPPY BOY
East St, Fortitude Valley
It’s loud, echoey and distinctly hipster-cool, but at its heart is great food. Highlighting regional cuisine, the restaurant’s dishes are all authentic, flavour-packed and generously portioned. Also check out its sister bar next door, Snack Man.
CHINA SEA
60 Park Rd, Milton
A Brisbane institution, this Park Rd eatery is famed for its Peking duck. Eat it as part of the signature two-course feast, and follow up with their acclaimed lobster with ginger and shallot or chilli mud crab.
LITTLE VALLEY
6 Warner St, Fortitude Valley
Modern, sleek and vibrant, this smartly appointed venue led by a well-drilled service team delivers tasty dumplings and accessible share plates alongside a cracking wine and cocktail offering.
ENJOY INN
167 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley and 28/8 Harbour Rd, Hamilton
With restaurants in both Fortitude Valley and Hamilton, this family-run business is loved for its mix of Westernised and traditional cuisine.
TOOWOOMBA
QI’LIN
29/187 Hume St, Toowoomba
The winner of Best Chinese Restaurant in Queensland in the Restaurant and Catering Awards for five years running, Qi’lin is loved for its authentic, full-flavoured oriental dishes and excellent Peking duck.
CAIRNS
CAFE CHINA NOODLE BAR
The Reef Hotel, 6 Abbott St, Cairns
Don’t expect five-star decor, but it’s the noodle artistry that counts at this local institution. Always consistent and reliably quick, Cafe China offers a mix-and-match menu of 90 items, including signatures such as Peking duck salad and Sichuan chicken fried rice.
TOWNSVILLE
MISS SONGS
67 Sir Leslie Thiess Dr, Townsville
Tucked into The Ville Resort-Casino, this contemporary Chinese eatery offers a glamorous and refined space with service to match. Let the well-drilled team treat you to Chinese classics like Peking duck pancakes and sizzling beef.
ROCKHAMPTON
EAST STREET BUFFET
145 East St, Rockhampton
Opened by Sue Su and her family in 2017, this all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant is prized for its tasty food and terrific value.
GOLD COAST
IMPERIAL AT THE STAR
The Star, Casino Dr, Broadbeach
This award-winning restaurant run by internationally trained chef Song Yao Su, offers crowd-pleasing fusion dishes, but it’s regional delicacies from Guandong, Beijing, Sichuan, Shanghai and Hunan that confirm its culinary credibility.
GRAND DYNASTY
G54, Oasis Shopping Centre, Victoria Ave, Broadbeach
Decked out with lanterns, Chinese ornaments and tanks of live seafood, this contemporary, expansive eatery serves an extensive menu stretching from crisp pork belly and sweet and sour chicken to shredded fillet steak with honey and black pepper sauce and steamed oysters.
SUNSHINE COAST
SILVER PHOENIX
27 Howard St, Nambour
Dubbed the best Chinese food on the coast, Silver Phoenix is praised for its flavour, efficiency, good portions and value. Chef suggestions include the Mongolian lamb, kung po king prawns and Shanghai beef.
BAUHINIA CHINESE RESTAURANT
15 Brisbane Rd, Mooloolaba
Along the Mooloolaba coastline, Bauhinia offers fresh and authentic Chinese, including home made spring rolls, dim sims and curry puffs, traditional soups, curries, stir fries and noodle dishes, with indoor and outdoor dining.
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