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 such as chicken hearts and duck tongue. It’s quick, cheap and delicious, and crowds gather in Chinatown well into the night.

Skewers are just one of the emerging Chinese dishes that have popped up all over the city. Now, you can find restaurants serving food from nearly every part of China, including the provinces of Fujian, Shaanxi and Hunan, as well as the growing popularity of hand-pulled Lanzhou beef noodles, which are usually halal-certified. Here is our guide to the rise of regional Chinese food in Sydney.

Cantonese

Cantonese food in Australia is centred on cuisine from Guangdong and Hong Kong. Dishes are usually well-balanced and less greasy, with spices used sparingly. Going for yum cha (“drink tea” in Cantonese) is an Australian tradition, with staples including prawn dumplings, char siu baos and mango pancakes. Larger, banquet-style restaurants can be found all over Sydney, but smaller specialty yum cha shops (some takeaway only) carrying a smaller menu of items, including cheung fun (rice noodle rolls) have cropped up in the suburbs.

• Booming Dim Sum (Eastwood and Chatswood)
  Freshly made rice noodle rolls and selected dim sum favourites like har gow (prawn dumplings) and siu mai (pork, shrimp and mushroom dumplings) in a small but tidy shop that has a few tables.
  207 Rowe Street, Eastwood
• Sunshine Dim Sum (Riverwood)
  Brace yourselves for the lines (thanks social media) but Sunshine Asian Supermarket doubles as a yum cha takeaway stall on Saturdays. Barbecue pork buns, egg tarts and mango pancakes are all handmade.
  54 Thurlow Street, Riverwood, instagram.com/sunshine_sydney
• Sydney Best Dim Sim (Cabramatta and various locations)
  While takeaway is the main game, there’s a small hot bar with fresh buns and dumplings you can enjoy on the spot.
  40 Arthur Street, Cabramatta

• Delight Dimsim (Hurstville)
  You’ll likely spot one of the Chinese aunties expertly folding dumplings or wrapping baos at this takeaway spot. The frozen dumplings and freshly baked barbecue pork puffs are a must.
  121 Forest Road, Hurstville

Skewers

Now a staple on Instagram and TikTok, Chinese-style skewers, usually deep-fried or grilled, are having their moment. Broadly known as shaokao (barbecue in Mandarin), diners can choose from a range of proteins and vegetables before they’re dusted in cumin, five spice and chilli powder seasoning.

• Time for Skewers (Chinatown)
  With a “bunch” of skewers starting at just $6, choose your protein and spice level before they’re deep-fried and dusted in a fiery and umami seasoning of salt, chilli and cumin. The classic lamb or pork belly skewers are a quick and juicy snack.
  Shop D12A 56-66 Dixon Street, Haymarket
• In 1980s Skewers (Chinatown)
  Skewers are freshly grilled, with offal cuts including intestine and marrow, but also wagyu beef. Open until 2am daily.
  52 Dixon Street, Haymarket, instagram.com/in1980sskewers

• Kwafood Fried Skewer (Burwood and various locations)
  Upstairs at Burwood Chinatown, you’ll find food from all over mainland China. Pick your skewers from the fridge at Kwafood Fried Skewer, where the squid is excellent.
  ​​L1, K11 Murray Place Arcade, 127-133 Burwood Road, Burwood, kwafood-sydney.square.site

Shaanxi

Biang biang noodles – also known as belt noodles – are now found all over Sydney. Shaanxi cuisine is heavily influenced by the capital Xi’an, with heavy and strong flavours using lamb, beef, garlic, onion and Sichuan peppercorn. Must-try dishes include roujiamo – braised pork belly stuffed inside a small pita-like bun – and guokui, a flatbread that has a thin and crispy texture.

• Biang Biang (Chinatown)
  One of the first restaurants to put biang biang noodles on the Chinese food map in Sydney. Their roujiamo may also just have the flakiest pastry in the city.
  Shop 39, 1 Dixon Street, Haymarket, biangbiang.com.au
• Xi’an Cuisine (Chinatown)
  This hole-in-the-wall in Chinatown dishes up a textural delight with its cold spicy noodles complete with handmade noodles, bean sprouts, cucumber, gluten (a soft and sponge-like protein) and of course, house-made chilli sauce.
  Shop 4, 90 Hay Street, Haymarket
• My Aunt’s Handmade Noodle (Burwood)
  This might be the only noodle restaurant in Sydney (and perhaps Australia) that offers free noodle refills and free soy milk in winter. The signature “four in one” biang biang noodles is already a mammoth serving, with chewy, handmade noodles topped with pork mince, diced potato and carrot, egg and tomato and bean sprouts, plus a generous dusting of chilli powder.
  226 Burwood Road, Burwood
• Handmade Noodle Bar (Carlingford)
  There’s something therapeutic about watching a chef make biang biang noodles, slapping them on the kitchen counter before expertly slicing and cooking. The oil splashed noodles are al dente and drizzled with the housemade chilli oil. Every dish is made to order, but it’s well worth the wait.
  Carlingford Village, 372 Pennant Hills Road, Carlingford

Fujian

Fujian’s cuisine emphasises seafood including fish and shellfish, as well as mushrooms and bamboo shoots that are found in the surrounding mountain ranges. Prominent dishes include oyster omelette, five-spice meat rolls, fish balls with pork mince filling and the “Buddha jumps over the wall” soup.

• Min Nan Cuisine (Eastwood)
  Bring a group here as you’ll want to share as many of these specialty dishes, including the oyster pancake and seafood fried noodles.
  Shop 5, 13 Glen Street, Eastwood
• Fujian Shaxian Snacks (Eastwood and Chatswood)
  A plate of fresh noodles for less than a tenner? The peanut sauce clings to the wide noodles, giving a fresh nutty flavour. The steamed pork wontons are delicate and dainty, presenting a juicy and smaller bite than other Chinese dumplings.
  Shop 15, 1 Lakeside Road, Eastwood
• Yummy Street Food (Burwood)
  The glutinous rice balls are almost mochi-like in texture, before they burst with pork mince after you bite them. The handmade oyster cake is a crunchy, deep-fried snack.
  135 Burwood Road, Burwood

Hunan

While Sichuan cuisine is known for its numbing spiciness (ma la), food from Hunan province packs more of a spicy punch, with bold flavours and common cooking techniques including frying, braising and smoking. Try the fried chicken with Sichuan sauce (great with a Tsingtao beer) and Chairman Mao’s red-braised pork.

• Spice Paradise (Chinatown)
  As its name suggests, Spice Paradise does not hold back with the chilli. The deep-fried chicken with dried chilli is the perfect accompaniment for a cold Tsingtao.
  Shop 4, 203-209 Thomas Street, Haymarket
• Hunan Spicy Cuisine (Chinatown)
  A unique aspect of Hunan cuisine is the use of smoking meats – try the stir-fried sliced pork belly.
  Shop G108, 25-29 Dixon Street, Haymarket

Gansu

Unique in Chinese cuisine, food from Gansu province is slanted towards lamb and beef as it was historically close to the Silk Road, taking on a mix of Islamic, Arabic and Chinese influences. Lanzhou beef noodles are arguably the region’s most famous dish. They are hand-pulled noodles served in a beef broth, and often halal-certified too.

• No 1 Halal Beef Noodles and Kebab (Chinatown)
  The beef noodles have a deeply rich and aromatic broth, with the lamb skewers so tender they basically tear off the metal skewer.
  8 Dixon Street, Haymarket
• 1919 Lanzhou Noodles (Chester Hill and various locations)
  It’s 100 per cent halal-certified – don’t go past the deep-fried lamb chops.
  20/1 Leicester Street, Chester Hill, 1919lanzhoubeefnoodle.com.au

• 1915 Lanzhou Noodles (Burwood and various locations)
  Drive past this restaurant any night of the week and there’s likely a long line snaking along Burwood Road. But the queue moves quickly, and people are here for the signature beef noodle soup.
  168A Burwood Road, Burwood, instagram.com/1915lanzhoubeefnoodle

Tianjin

Located about an hour from Beijing, Tianjin is often referred to as the street food capital of northern China. Its cuisine is famously carb-heavy: think pork buns, jianbing (China’s breakfast crepe) and fried dough sticks.

• Tian Jin Bao Zi Pu (Chinatown)
  With limited space for dine-in, get some takeaway handmade dumplings or the jianbing – a Chinese crepe that’s traditionally eaten for breakfast.
  Shop 3, 90 Hay Street, Haymarket
• Tianjin Bun Shop (Campsie)
  Add some pork to your fresh jianbing, or try the large selection of handmade buns, with fillings ranging from pork to red bean.
  180 Beamish Street, Campsie
• Mamy Snack (Homebush West)
  They might serve the crispiest pan-fried dumplings in Sydney.
  8 Henley Road, Homebush West