Find “Thunderously Crunchy” Chinese Doughnuts at This Family-Run Haymarket Institution

When you bite into the fan tuan at Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet, the most surprising thing is the loud crunch. It seems impossible that something steamed should have a crisp centre. The glutinous rice roll is served sliced in half, so you can see the strata of its fillings: sticky rice, gossamer threads of savoury pork floss, pickled radish and a fine layer of bright yellow egg, the layers encasing an airy stick of youtiao (a fried doughnut) that gives each bite its thunderous crunch.

Second-generation operator Alan Chu laughs when I express my disbelief. “The chewiness paired with the crunchiness – it’s a symphony in your mouth,” he says.

Everything at this Chinatown institution seems to defy expectations. The bite-sized pieces of garlicky, five-spice-and-chilli-laced Taiwanese fried chicken are both juicy and crunchy; the deceptively simple stir-fried vermicelli noodles with bean sprouts and pork are deeply tasty, carrying the waft of wok hei. It’s all made from scratch: soy and rice milks that mix for a gently sweet, nutty drink; silky wrappers and filling for soup dumplings; the marinade for braised beef with gelatinous tendons.

“When my parents opened in the ’90s, Sydney’s Taiwanese community was small and my dad wanted to give them a place to enjoy homestyle cooking,” says Alan. “We still make everything from scratch, which takes a lot of time and labour. With the cost of staff and ingredients, it’s hard to keep up but I think it’s really important to be respectful of that original vision for Mother Chu.”

The restaurant has traded on Dixon Street since 1995, but its history began decades before in Taiwan. “They lived in a tight-knit community and people often ate my grandma’s food.  People would tell her, ‘Mother Chu, your food is so good, you should open a restaurant’.”

It took a move to Sydney to make that a reality. In 1991, the matriarch migrated with her youngest daughter and Alan’s parents (Paul and Aileen Chu), before opening Mother Chu’s Vegetarian Kitchen, which still trades on Pitt Street. Two years later, with his mum’s blessing, Paul and Aileen opened Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet in Dixon House – then moving to an arcade off Dixon Street after outgrowing the food court.

The restaurant was wildly popular. Tables set up cheek by jowl filled the narrow space to accommodate a flow of all-day customers. Alan reflects on those days with affection. “I remember running up and down the shop when I was little, bugging customers and staff, helping out delivering chopsticks and eventually food.”

That busy spirit carried through the 2000s. Mother Chu’s was one of the first restaurants I ate in when I arrived in Sydney in 2004, and it became a regular haunt. I’d walk with the crowds past the then-young Golden Water Mouth sculpture, anticipating the mellow heat of mapo tofu and the convivial energy of the restaurant as I sat shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers.

Times have changed, though, with the restaurant suffering a series of blows.

Paul Chu passed away in 2014, followed a few years later by his mum, Alan’s grandmother. Then the pandemic devastated Chinatown, many businesses closing permanently. The City of Sydney is a year into a Dixon Street revitalisation project, but Alan says he and his neighbours feel progress is slow and the construction noise makes trade even harder.

Today, Alan runs the operation with support from his brother Ashley, while Aileen handles things behind the scenes. On the Tuesday night Broadsheet visits, there’s a steady trickle of customers, all served by Alan. The menu – a multi-page tome I knew well – now fits on two sides of an A3 sheet. The hits are still there, though – the unctuous braised beef, wok-tossed noodles and those thunderous youtiao – making it clear that now is the time to visit (or revisit).

Alan shares they’ve had to make changes to maintain the handmade quality of the remaining dishes. He’s upbeat, but it’s clear the circumstances weigh heavy. I ask if he feels an expectation to keep his dad’s dream alive.

“I don’t think of it as negative. This restaurant was here before I was born; I’ve grown up alongside it. The level of expectation my dad would have for quality is something I want to aspire to,” he says. “I know I have big shoes to fill. My brother and I are working to keep bringing Taiwanese food to the new generation – both for the diaspora and for people who have never tried it before.”

Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet
1/86-88 Dixon Street, Haymarket
(02) 9211 0299

Hours:
Tue to Sun 9am–8pm

@mychumama