China crisis: Why is Double Bay dumping the dumplings?
Two more Chinese restaurants desert the shopping strip 24 months after the Double Bay Chinese Restaurant shut up shop. So why has Sydney’s top eating spot lost its taste for Chinese?
Confidential
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What is happening to Chinese restaurants in Double Bay?
One of the area’s notable restaurants, China Diner, has closed its doors. And up-market Lotus, which opened in 2020 in the retail precinct underneath The Intercontinental Hotel, has closed for dine-in customers. Now it is open only for takeaway.
Contemporary China Diner began in Bondi before opening the Double Bay spin-off six years ago. It has been a mainstay in the area next to The Sheaf.
However, owner Kingsley Smith told Kitchen Confidential it made the decision to not renew its lease because “the precinct had not been looked after”.
Smith said he’d been trying to get awnings approved to put over the venue so it could cater for all weather, but that hadn’t happened.
“We decided we couldn’t grow the business in the area any further,” he said.
Smith still has the venues in Bondi and Tramsheds Forest Lodge and is looking for another place in the eastern suburbs. Lotus, on its website, said the takeaway-only decision was made because of tough economic conditions.
“The current climate is a challenging one for the hospitality industry and we have had to make the sad decision to close our Lotus Double Bay location for dine-in services,” it said.
The upheaval comes two years after the famous Double Bay Chinese Restaurant, which had been in the area for 50 years, shut up shop.
Apparently the only Chinese restaurant Double Bay enjoys is Neil Perry’s.
The industry veteran has announced the opening date for his new $12m Australian/Cantonese venture Song Bird.
Located inside the heritage-listed Gaden House, mere metres from his famous Margaret, the restaurant will open on Friday, August 30, and Perry has opened up bookings. Perry has not even released a menu, but already the opening weekend is booked out. The following week there are tables only available for late-night dining.
The website has described the restaurant as an “upscale culinary experience across three levels, blending the delicate flavours of traditional Cantonese cuisine with Neil’s modern Australian spin”.
Perry will also open a New York-style cocktail bar, Bobbie’s, in the location.
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