Food has always fascinated chef Victor Liong, and the deeper he delved into his Chinese heritage, the more he realized there was an ingredient missing.
After training in some of Australia’s leading European-style kitchens, the 41-year-old realized he knew surprisingly little about the cuisine that had marked his childhood.
His Chinese family left Malaysia and settled in Brunei before emigrating to Australia in the early 1990s, when Liong was six years old.
“As a chef, I realized that the food I loved and grew up eating had no connection in terms of technical ability,” he tells SBS News.
So, Liong set out to discover the flavors of China, traveling to different regions and exploring cuisines firsthand. The trip helped crystallize his culinary identity.
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“My style is based on a flavor memory from my childhood and cultural heritage and then I try to interpret it in a modern Australian cultural and gastronomic context,” he says.
Liong’s pursuit of these flavors reflects a broader evolution in australian chinese food. From gold rush cooks adapting recipes for hungry miners to a new generation of chefs reinventing regional dishes with local produce, reinvention has long been a part of culinary history.
Now, as rising costs force some traditional restaurants to close and diners seek new experiences, industry insiders say Chinese food in Australia is entering another period of transformation.
A kitchen in transition
Chefs like Liong are adapting dishes to appeal to a new generation of diners, fusing European techniques with local produce while preserving traditional Chinese flavours.
The change comes as Australia’s Chinese restaurant sector faces significant challenges.
In recent years, several high-profile Chinese restaurants have closed, including in Sydney and Melbourne.
New data from CreditorWatch highlights the pressure the industry faces. Privately owned cafes, restaurants and takeaways recorded a closure rate of 12.2 per cent in the year to May 31 – around one in eight businesses – compared to the national average of 6.7 per cent.
According to the fintech, the sector has been hit by rising wages, energy bills, rents, insurance premiums, interest rates and food and drink costs. At the same time, cost-of-living pressures are leading many consumers to stop dining out or stop doing so altogether.
“We expect conditions in the foodservice sector to remain challenging until consumers begin to feel relief from cost of living pressures, which is not in sight at this time,” CreditorWatch said in a statement to SBS News.
Sophie Loy-Wilson is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney and a historian of Australian Chinese communities. She says tastes are also changing, as well-traveled modern diners look for “something new and different.”
“Customers want more sophisticated food, more experimental, more unique, that combines European techniques with Asian techniques. I think that’s the future,” he tells SBS News.
Liong says his Melbourne restaurant has spent the last 13 years exploring different interpretations of Chinese cuisine.
Celebrating local produce is a way to stand out in a crowded hospitality market while offering diners something distinctive.
In the kitchen, Liong explains a new version of the traditional Peking duck.
“The challenge is keeping the skin crispy without drying out the meat. So we use a moist brine that keeps some of the moisture in the breast. Then we dip it in a maltose-vinegar glaze to keep it crispy as it roasts.”
Reinventing tradition
Liong may be a culinary innovator, but he’s far from the first.
For almost two centuries, Chinese chefs have adapted traditional dishes to Australian tastes. The process began when immigrants from Hong Kong
and Guangdong province in southern China came to Australia during the gold rush of the 1850s and began feeding hungry miners.
“They grew and cooked fresh vegetables for malnourished European miners who lived on a diet of lamb and moisture,” Loy-Wilson says.
“Chinese chefs found really clever ways to take cheaper meat and cook it to retain moisture and keep it succulent and fresh,” says Loy-Wilson.
“They adapted to local customs. For example, roast beef is like Australian barbecue, but on a small plate.”
She says the early Chinese diaspora was “not elite.”
“They were mostly male workers, some women and some contract workers,” Loy-Wilson says.
“They built working-class communities and cooked food efficiently, serving all parts of the animal with home-grown rice and vegetables.”
Loy-Wilson says orchards and restaurants also became cultural refuges for Chinese immigrants, some of whom faced discrimination.
A restaurant became a “safe haven” where culture could be displayed, families felt protected and could keep things private from the surveillance of white Australia.
Adapting food was also a survival strategy employed by generations of Chinese cooks.
Knowing that Europeans liked sugar in their tea, many prepared “sweet sauces to make the meat tastier,” Loy-Wilson says.
What Australians want to eat
More than 60 years after his grandfather opened a restaurant in Canberra, Gavin Chan still asks himself the same question: how much should a dish change to suit Australian tastes?
“Honey chicken is still by far our best seller,” the restaurant owner tells SBS News.
“However, we have students who come here from China to attend university and they would never order honey chicken because they find it too sweet,” Chan says.
When you live in another country, then [local] Customers dictate what works and what sells as a business to survive and evolve.
Chan’s grandfather opened the restaurant in 1962 and is proud to still serve some of the original dishes.
“The Australian Chinese cuisine we know is authentic Australian. It comes from China but has been adapted to the Australian palate.”
It’s a process that continues today, Liong says: “The way we ate 20 years ago is different to the way we eat now, and it’s still in motion.
“Historically, sweet and sour pork was a northern Chinese classic that was reinterpreted. Many traditional vegetables and fruits were swapped for locally available products, such as pineapple or strawberries.”
As Australian Chinese cuisine continues to evolve, Liong believes the possibilities are only expanding.
“Australian produce is some of the best in the world. I’m proud to highlight what’s in season.
“The Australian food scene remains very exciting and truly deserves its place on the world stage.”
This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Chinese.
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