Chinatown's six must-try dishes, according to my Chinese-Indonesian family

If you want to experience a slice of Cabramatta in the city, Tan Viet Noodle House in Darling Square is your spot. Their original restaurant on John Street in “Cabra” first opened in 1993 and has a cult following. It still draws long queues, just as it did when it first opened back in 1993. Tan Viet’s signature crispy skin chicken is a marriage of Chinese and Vietnamese cultures, that somehow keeps the skin impossibly crunchy whilst the meat beneath remains moist and succulent. If you’re after something more substantial, team your chicken with a steaming bowl of tomato rice. Otherwise, the signature egg noodles are a tasty accompaniment.

Honourable mention: Pork chop with broken rice

This was my grandpa’s number one spot when he was visiting from Jakarta. After one of his marathon baccarat sessions at Star City (now known as The Star), we’d swarm this neon-lit Cantonese eatery for a late-night feed of chicken congee and a serving of youtiao – win or lose. A popular breakfast food in China, youtaio is an airy and chewy, deep-fried doughnut, perfect for dipping and soaking up your bowl of congee or hot cup of soya bean milk. After rolling down their shutter door during the height of the pandemic early last year, this 40-year old Chinatown institution reopened under new management a few months later. Thankfully, you’ll still find the same chefs working their magic in the kitchen.

Honourable mention: XO pipis

Yang San Park ticks a whole lot of boxes when it comes to Korean barbecue joints. It serves good quality meat for a reasonable price, and outdoor seating means you won’t smell like meat afterwards. The friendly Korean waiters not only do the cooking for you, they also act as cultural guides, on hand to answer my parent’s burning questions about Korean dramas and soju. Barbecued ox tongue has been a long-time family favourite, and Yang San Park offers quality, locally sourced slices. Once barbecued over the coal grill and dipped in a bit of sesame oil and salt, the juicy meat oozes with umami. As the tender meat melts in your mouth it tastes like a milder version of a flank steak or filet mignon. Char the meat a little longer on the grill for an ultra-crisp texture. 

Honourable mention: Mul naengmyeon (cold noodle soup)

My parents, who grew up eating chicken rice from the iconic hawker stalls of Singapore, are hard to please when it comes to finding local substitutes of their childhood favourites. But Ho Jiak’s version has their tick of approval. Servant-class immigrants from Hainan, an island province in southern China, brought this dish over to Malaysia and Singapore. From its bones to its fat, they used every part of the chook to infuse flavour into each element of the dish. It comprises three core parts: slow-poached chicken, rice cooked with the stock and fat of the chicken as well as aromatics like pandan and ginger, and a chilli, ginger, garlic and sesame sauce. It's served with chicken broth and fresh cucumber and bean sprouts to cleanse the palate between delightfully oily, spice-coated mouthfuls.

Honourable mention: Char hor fun with king prawns

Even on a sweltering summer’s day, you’re more likely to find my family and I slurping a bowl of tom yum noodle soup at Do Dee Paidang than cooling down at the beach. There’s a mind-melting amount of heat, sourness and texture packed into a single bowl of this– it’s a thirty-year-old recipe, which originated from the streets of Bangkok, so I guess it’s been finessed over all that time. You can taste lime, galangal, fish sauce and lemongrass in their punchy signature broth and the crushed nuts add a satisfying texture to the silky glass noodles. Order the Do Dee M16 noodles with fishballs, or the Do Dee Monster with combination meat if you’re after a little more heat.

Honourable mention: Ice snowflake with jelly and syrup

This café serving north-eastern Thai or Isaan food sits unassumingly in a modern Asian grocery store, so you might have walked past it without even knowing the jewels it hides. Located in the heart of Sydney’s bustling “Thai town”, Boon Café is the brainchild of restaurateur Palisa Anderson, whose mother opened the first Chat Thai in 1989. Given the heat and humidity of Thailand’s north east, Isaan food leans heavily on fermented dishes loaded with lots of herbs and spices like laab (minced meat salad) or som tum (green papaya salad). This cuisine also holds pleasant surprises like this hearty pork-rib, rice noodle soup. The clear broth sings with spicy and sour flavours which are soaked up by a bath of pork ribs and tendons - best enjoyed when the juicy meat is sucked right off the bone. Rainy day comfort food: check. 

Honourable mention: Crab fried rice