Sydney: Happy Chef

People interested in food often have a sixth sense when it comes to finding good tucker. Wandering around Sydney Chinatown my eye was drawn to a second storey window and an inconspicuous sign denoting “food court”. I pointed up, EG grinned and said “Let’s go”.

The Sussex Centre food court is a buzzy little place (at all hours) serving up a variety of cuisines such as Japanese katsu, Korean BBQ, Chinese BBQ, Chinese noodles, Vietnamese Noodles, Malay Noodles, Japanese ramen, Thai…well, you get the drift. We wandered around each stall, salivating at menus and spying what the locals were eating. After noticing that many were elbow deep in a bowl of laksa, and seeing a rabble of people milling around one particular store, we made our way over to Happy Chef.

One can not help but notice that this esteemed venue comes recommended by Luke Mangan and Martin Yan – or so the dirty big sign (pictured above) says. Despite the blatant attempt at marketing, it did appear to be a popular joint. Perhaps they were right?

Anyway, most restaurants who offer laksa do so with one house special. Happy Chef on the other hand is all about the laksa (and the noodle), and you can choose from a staggering range of additions and omissions – pretty much custom making your own noodles. Speaking of which, you’ll also get to choose what type of noodle you want, though our choice of laksa noodle didn’t eventuate – we got a thin vermicelli style.

I went with the fish ball/cake/slice with tofu and pork dumplings laksa. It was a sweet heady brew, chock full of spices and nicely coconutty/creamy (though somewhat thin). It was missing a vital element – that of some fiery chilli. I know it is safe practice to dumb down the heat for an untrained palate, but I think one should hold firm to the tradition of a dish, and at least ramp it up just a little bit.

The fish ball/cake/slice was all pre-packaged stuff, but decent. The deep fried tofu puffs, after having sucked up all the spicy broth, were divine. And the pork dumplings were just a little too gamey. Though it was not the best I’ve had, it was still a well satisfying bowl of laksa.

EG went with Luke Mangan’s recommended dish – the number 56 – BBQ pork, chicken, beef laksa. The base was the same, though his was punctuated with slices of rare beef and shreds of chicken and BBQ pork. Garnished with spring onions and crispy shallots, he drained it to the last drop.

On coming back to Melbourne and doing a bit of internet research, we found that this little place already had a bit of a name for itself. Grab Your Fork rates the rice noodle soup, and delaksa, of course, went a combination laksa. noodleoodle also recently had the pleasure of experiencing the Sussex Centre food court too.

I just wish I had a food court like this close to work