The noodle soups at Happy Chef Noodle Restaurant have been lauded as some of Sydney's best by top local chefs like Dan Hong, Neil Perry and Luke Mangan. And it all began with a family of southern China origins.
Second-generation owner Phil Ty's grandfather left China for Cambodia where Ty's father was born and raised. Ty's father travelled to Hong Kong and then Paris, France, and that's where Ty was born.
His parents bought Happy Chef in 1995, shortly after moving to Australia, and 28 years later it's still going strong in the same food court inside Sussex Centre on Chinatown's Dixon Street.
Ty, 34, says the shopping mall has largely stayed the same over the years. "It was really busy back then," he says. "I remember sitting here, having food. I remember people smoking here.
"[The food court] still has the same tables, and the same floor."
These days, people make the pilgrimage to the dated food court to enjoy Happy Chef's nourishing bowls of laksa, wonton noodle soup and fish ball noodles.
Ty's parents bought the food stall with a childhood friend, David, and his wife, Judy – the Lees.
"My sister used to help out [more] in the shop - I didn't really want to go into the food business," he said.
Ty has strong connections to Chinatown. He grew up in Haymarket, living above the Market City shopping centre and around the area. But taking over the family restaurant was not something he had planned to do.
"We were about to sell the business; I think I was the only one [in the family] that wanted to keep it," he said. "I was like, 'don't sell it'."
Ty, who studied computer science at university and bounced around jobs after graduation, officially took over Happy Chef in 2010. "Stepping up was a big change for me."
Ten years later, here I am, still trying to make it better.
"[I told my parents], 'let me try and do this'. The business wasn't doing too well, it was running at almost a loss and I thought maybe I could make it better. Ten years later, here I am, still trying to make it better."
Ty says the secret to Happy Chef's decades' long success is its master stock, fresh noodles and commitment to original recipes, which came from David Lee and his brothers.
"They were very knowledgeable in food…our family never worked in the food business before this," he says. "For me, it was very much a learning experience and I treated it like a laboratory: what goes in, how it changes the flavour. Just breaking [the process] down. I tried to make little changes. I only wanted to improve the product."
Pegs to identify food orders. Source: Supplied
Happy Chef's master stock, which forms the base of all of its noodle soups, is prepared daily.
"It's a basic soup but you can't really make it at home because we use quite a lot of bones, whole chicken, pork, and also roast the onion, ginger," he says.
Fresh rice noodles are delivered every day, and the egg noodles arrive every second one.
But arguably, Happy Chef's most famous noodle bowl is its laksa, with 12 different variations and featuring various topping combinations. These include beef tripe, tofu, prawn, chicken, fish ball and scallop.
Ty says one of the old-time chefs, Michael, shared the story of how Happy Chef’s iconic laksa came to be.
"We're all Chiu Chow people so we speak Chiu Chow, so in our downtime we just chat, and I like to listen to stories from the past so I asked, 'What did we used to sell?'"
“Michael told me a story where laksa came from Mr Lee's friend from Malaysia who worked in a five-star hotel. Everyone back then was having a laksa craze; it was trending so we infused how he made laksa with our soup. I think that's how it made it work," Ty said.
We infused how he made laksa with our soup. I think that's how it made it work.
Ty says the curry paste in Happy Chef's original laksa was not as punchy as it is now.
"The biggest change I made was the laksa. When I took over, it wasn't selling as well as it was now. I asked the chef to make the laksa taste stronger in terms of the curry paste," he said.
Ty recognises that while running the restaurant hasn't been all smooth sailing, everyone has different journeys to take in life.
"Mine was to go up and down, and over the course I learned a lot.
"I think [my parents] are proud of me. I hope they are."
MORE CHINESE RESTAURANTS
Life has been far more sweet than sour for this long-standing Chinese restaurant
