‘Rather go to jail’: Potts Point restaurateur’s explosive feud with council rangers
A restaurant owner in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has unleashed on council rangers for treating her like a “f***ing naughty schoolkid”.
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An Eastern Suburbs’ restaurant owner’s feud with Sydney City Council has come to a head in an expletive-laden rant over the position of the venue’s plants.
Nahji Chu runs popular Vietnamese eatery, Lady Chu, on Potts Point’s Roslyn Street.
The hospitality veteran — who was born in Laos and moved to Australia in 1975 — previously operated the thriving Miss Chu Vietnamese tuckshop chain – which had eight locations across Sydney, Melbourne and London before it was placed into administration in 2014.
Since opening Lady Chu in late 2021, Ms Chu’s colourful nature – and no-nonsense attitude – has made her something of a local icon. The venue, Ms Chu has said, transformed “what once was a tired, overlooked stretch” into “a vibrant artery of culture and community – and I fought for that transformation tooth and nail”.
That fight continued on Saturday night, when Sydney City Council rangers rocked up to Lady Chu — in the middle of dinner service, “freaking me and my customers out” — to address neighbours’ complaints that the restaurant’s plants were impeding pedestrian access to the footpath.
In the above video, provided to news.com.au by Ms Chu, she confronts the two male rangers, telling them: “I’m trying to activate a dead city and you’re trying to f***ing shut it down.”
“I’m not a f***ing naughty school kid, so don’t speak to me like that,” Ms Chu continued.
“I’m simply trying to speak to you —” one of the rangers began, before Ms Chu interjected.
“I need respect. And respect what I do, please,” she said.
“I’m paying f***ing taxes and I’m paying your wages, so f*** off. I’m trying to activate this f***ing dead city, so don’t shut it down.”
In a statement to news.com.au, a City of Sydney spokesperson said its staff advised Ms Chu “which items were placed outside its approved areas and respectfully asked they be removed as soon as possible, with no expectation dinner service would be interrupted to resolve the issue”.
“Despite this respectful approach, the City staff received a torrent of abuse,” the spokesperson said.
Since March, City of Sydney has approved two outdoor dining applications that expanded the restaurant’s existing outdoor dining area to a total of 53m2 — without impeding the walkway — along Roslyn Street.
“However, the City has received ongoing complaints about additional furniture, umbrellas and planters beyond the business’ approved outdoor trading area, obstructing the footpath in one section of Roslyn Street, and causing difficulties for pedestrians,” the spokesperson said.
“We always work collaboratively with the businesses to balance desire for additional items and the needs of the community to access this public footpath.
“The City of Sydney has had several meetings with the business owner to explain the issues and encourage it to remain in its already extensive free outdoor dining area.
“These proactive attempts to resolve the issue took place outside restaurant rush periods.”
Ms Chu, however, remained “really upset” over the interaction “about the f***ing plants” — accusing City of Sydney of “being really pedantic and petty” and standing by the robust language she unleashed upon them.
Though she acknowledged “the plants aren’t supposed to be there, they’re only outside of where they’re supposed to be by one metre”.
“And (council) won’t approve it where I would like to place them — which makes more sense to me — and they keep going on about the two-metre clearance thing,” Ms Chu told news.com.au.
“It just makes more sense that they’re right up against the kerb because it creates a barrier, and then the cars can see that that’s where the kerb finishes and starts.
“And also, two people (walking) hand-in-hand can still get past. They can get past if the plants were further in. But if the plants were further out, it’s actually still exactly the same amount of space.
“They’re being really pedantic and petty.”
She disputed City of Sydney’s claim it had only attempted to resolve the issue outside busy periods at the restaurant, and said she had asked the rangers to make an appointment with staff to discuss the matter at another time.
When Ms Chu was told the discussion wouldn’t take long, “I basically blew up”, she said.
“Like, do not speak to me like that, I’m sorry. I’m not a naughty schoolgirl. Don’t gesticulate with your little finger, coming in here,” Ms Chu said.
“(City of Sydney) need to respect me and what I’ve done for this community. I’m the one paying taxes and their wages, if you don’t mind. So do not speak to me like (I’m) a naughty schoolgirl. (I told them to) please make an appointment to see me and come back when it’s not so busy.”
‘It’s kind of like a war zone’
Ms Chu said the ongoing complaints against her business — and her behaviour — are “just water off a duck’s back for me now”.
“That’s what happens when you become high-profile and successful,” she added.
“If I was a dead, quiet, little, tiny cafe, there’d be no problem. But unfortunately, people love to target me because I’m successful, I suppose, and I’m a Vietnamese woman — and there are some white people in this area who just don’t like that.
“I think the people who are making these complaints are old men, or just old people in general. They’re born and bred Potts Point and there’s a Vietnamese refugee doing well in the area and they don’t want a bar of it.”
Ms Chu is no stranger to receiving foul-mouthed abuse herself — albeit from “people who are drug dealers and wayward types who just don’t want gentrification”.
“They walk past and they go, ‘You’re a f***ing idiot’, ‘What’s the white tablecloths, you c***t?’,” she said.
“It happens to me every day. They go, ‘My rent went up because of you, you f***ing c***’. And I just go, ‘Oh, just so you know, I’m actually the one paying taxes so that you can be on the dole’ … This area is littered with crazies.”
Her only option, Ms Chu said, has been to fight fire with fire.
“Kings Cross is just littered with (people who use) profanities — and so I become that woman (who uses) profanities, too,” she said.
“Now I’m just swearing all the time like they are, and it just becomes a normal, everyday language … And the council comes out, then I go, ‘Get f***ed’. It’s kind of like a war zone.”
It’s a state of mind Ms Chu said she’s also employed in her dealings with council.
“I don’t care if I get into trouble,” she said of speaking out about Saturday night’s run-in.
“I’ve made you look bad because you made me look bad. Game on. If (council’s) going to pick on me, I’ll on you back. Like, you don’t poke a bear and expect it remain calm.
“And then the council’s going, ‘Well, our staff have remained calm whilst you blew up and explicitly told them to get f***ed’. I said, ‘Yes, I did actually, because you dropped a bomb on me and then you asked me to remain calm’. No, f*** off.”
The City of Sydney spokesperson said: “We commend our staff for remaining calm and professional throughout the process and we request the community act respectfully when interacting with all City of Sydney staff.”
Since November 2020 — when the council first waived outdoor dining fees — nearly 1000 outdoor dining applications have been approved, the spokesperson said, benefiting over 800 businesses.
“The total value of support we have given businesses by waiving footpath and on-street outdoor dining fees since November 2020 is around $20 million, and its real value to our city is immeasurable,” they said.
“We will continue to work with this business to ensure it can enjoy the free use of city footpaths while understanding its obligation to maintain sufficient space for others, including those pushing prams or for wheelchairs.”
A defiant Ms Chu said she has no intention of moving the plants from their current position.
“I would rather go to jail than remove the plants,” she said.
“So (council can) give me the fine and I’ll either pay it or, preferably, I will dispute it in court so that I can change this draconian law once and for all.”
Originally published as ‘Rather go to jail’: Potts Point restaurateur’s explosive feud with council rangers