Believe it or not, this is my first time to Mother Chu’s. For some reason or another, we always end up elsewhere yet I always stop and have a look at the women at the front folding and making dumplings. There’s something so rhythmically hypnotic about the process that keeps me entertained. Call me simple.
One Friday night we find ourselves hungry and in need of a good meal. We walk towards the main area of Chinatown and I see the red sign and say “Ooooh let’s go to Mother Chu’s!”. I have no idea who Mother Chu is, perhaps she’s one of the dumpling ladies. We opt for outside seating as the inside is crowded and try and make sense out of the two enormous menus we are given. It seems there is a section of small Taiwanese snacks and dumplings including savoury shallot pancakes, flaky pastries, and rice rolls.
There are also noodle dishes, rice dishes and meat dishes in traditional taiwanese flavours as well as cantonses style dishes. I’m drawn to the Angelica Mutton soup as I’ve only had mutton once in my life but unfortunately they are out of it. As my husband loves beef noodle soup, he orders a Szechuan version (spicy) $7 with suan choi (hand made pickled cabbage) $1 extra and I order a pork mince with rice $5 and we order some snacks to share including a pork flakey pastry $2.20, beef pancake $2.50, glutinous rice rolls with pork floss $3 and spicy seaweed salad $4. That’s $24.70 she says and holds out her hand. Oh and you need to pay when you order.
Before we’ve had a chance to even contemplate our surroundings, the soup, mince with rice and seaweed salad arrive. We have to ask for water a few times but finally get it fourth time lucky.
Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup $7
The Szechuan beef noodle soup has a slick of chili oil at the top and features shanghai noodles, thin slivers of roast beef and an spicy and indeed fairly fiery chili oil infused broth. The noodles are way too soft for me and whilst the beef is nice, the broth is a little plain and seeming flavoured mostly of chili oil. I leave this to my husband who confesses that it is too hot for him and unlike most noodle soups where he will finish every drop of the soup, most of this soup is left behind.
Suan choi (hand made pickled cabbage) $1 extra
The Suan Choi is a small side dish of cabbage, full of flavour and sesame oil and quite delicious.
Glutinous rice filled with pork floss $3
I try the Glutinous rice filled with pork floss -it’s wrapped in glad wrap, warm to the touch and cut in half to reveal the filling and presumably for easier eating. it’s about the size of one and a half sushi rolls. It’s a touch dry and could do with something a little more moist inside but I do love glutinous rice and am happy enough to polish this all off myself. Interestingly, inside is a stick of fried bread among the pork floss which adds crunch and that oily unmistakably fried bread stick flavour.
Ground pork mince and rice $5
Next I try the ground pork mince on rice. The rice is a little gluggy for my taste and the pork mince, although tasty could do with more of a ginger flavour. It’s nevertheless pleasant enough and filling and cheap at $5.
Spicy seaweed salad $4
The spicy seaweed salad is normally one of my favourite items on a Japanese menu. However, as Mother Chu’s is Taiwanese I expected some sort of difference and the difference here is the seaweed. In Japanese establishments, seaweed salad is usually bright neon green with ultra thin thread-like strands. Here, they’re a much duller green and thicker. I prefer the texture and flavour of the japanese version but for $4 and such a big plate this isn’t too bad.
Beef Shallot pancake $2.50
By now, our last two snacks have arrived. The beef shallot pancake $2.50 is like a mini pizza and thinly filled with shallots and ground beef. We ask for chili sauce which nicely rounds out the flavour.
Pork flaky pastry $2.20
The Pork filled flaky pastry $2.20 is a sizeable warm, sesame seed coated pastry bun which is indeed very flakey inside. The smart way to eat it would be to pick it up and take a bite unlike what I did which was to try to cut it with utensils which was difficult and messy to boot. The pork filling is similar to that of pork dumplings and if I weren’t so full I would’ve happily finished it.
Even though paying at the beginning of the meal at your table might seem a touch odd, when we’re finished we’re glad as there’s no hailing the waitress for our bill and paying, we simply get up and leave. But not without watching them make the dumplings at the front first.
Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet
Shop 1, 8688 Dixon St
Haymarket NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9211 0288
Open 7 days 8:30am-8:30pm
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15 Comments | Add your own
I’ll have to checkout this place next time I’m in chinatown. While walking through chinatown I’ve often wondered if any of those places in chinatown are any good or if they’re really just setup to sucker tourists into.
i ate here yesterday!
tried the fried pork buns….
which i didnt really like
but the fried dumplings were really fresh and yummy =]
great for a cheap meal
Hi NQN,
I always passed this chinese stall every morning and night when I was working around chinatown. I only ate there 2-3 times during these years. The congee was bland and too watery for me. Superbowl’s congee and the the fried bread stick are much better, soft and crispy, it’s not too oily & too dry like Mother Chu. If you love congee, maybe Superbowl is the best one among these restaurants or stalls on Dixon Street.
Nowadays, I’m working in North Sydney and I always passing the St. Honore’s new shop on Miller Street. I like to buy their breads and those cakes almost every week.
i’m enjoying the thought of your last two dishes. meat-filled bread makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
Hi Popeye-I’m not sure if this is a touristy place or not. I suppose all of Chinatown is fairly touristy. I always think of Darling Harbour as more touristy though?
Hi vivian-Oh ok so the pork buns aren’t so good? Thanks for the rec on the fried dumplings
It was very cheap, amazingly so!
Hi Lilia-I am planning on making some congee soon, with winter coming up it would be perfect. I find some people like thicker congee and some people like thinner?
Lucky you, I wish St Honore was that close to me!
Have you tried To’s Malaysian Gourmet? I love their food too but they’re only open during office hours and Sat lunch 
Hi grace-There’s nothing like that combo for comfort food
Such good value! I *love* Japanese seaweed salad too.. in fact when I go to the Sydney Fish Markets..(-when I’m in Sydney) I make a point of buying a plastic takeaway container full because it’s cheaper than what I pay here locally for it. Then when we sit down to eat lunch, my sister and brother-in-law always have some of my salad. It’s so more-ish!
When I read about the shallot pancake.. I could hardly wait to get to the picture.. I could virtually taste it.. honestly! It’s a favourite with me.. looove the texture and flavours.
The Suan Choi definitely had my interest too, it looks like something I’d love. Shame about your hubby’s soup being too hot..and the noodles even being overly soft :-/
I’ve never heard of that pork flaky pastry before – You could almost be fooled into thinking it was one of those soft buns.
I like the name of the place and also the red lanterns
Thanks for sharing your meals Lorraine 
Hi Maria-That’s a good idea to get a whole container of it. They always seem to sell it in such small containers and I always want more! Very moreish indeed!
Shallot pancakes are very good, I love the onioney flavour and texture.
Yes this was very flaky pastry, but not too dry. Quite nice actually. hehe yes the lanterns are very cute! You’re more than welcome Maria
Mother Chu’s! I’m a HUGE fan of their dumplings, which is what the ladies in the windows are making. They’re so good that when I met a friend for drinks at the pub next door last Friday, I went and got a serve of takeaway dumplings to go with the beer. Worked really well, too. I’ve been past this place really late at night and really early in the morning and I’ve never caught them taking a break from making dumplings, so I think they must be making them for wholesale. Makes sense, they’re SO yummy! You have to go back and have dumplings. Their bean curd dishes are also very moreish but essentially it’s just an excuse for dumplings, for me anyway.
Hi SydneyGal-I love dumplings so I’ll use any excuse to eat some more. I didn’t realise they were so into their dumplings there, there aren’t that many on the menu. Must go back for a try!
Great place for me to eat regularly, despite only a few dishes really hit my taste bud.
I love this place because you can spend $30 or as little as $3 or so. It’s variety in the selection of buns and breads is what makes this little place great for any time of the day. I can eat a whole meal or i can grab a snack to go. I usually order the beef noodle soup (spicy version) since I am a sucker for spicy food and the rest of the dishes just aren’t that special. Fairly economic for dining and oh yeah, I am starting to get addicted to their salt and pepper fried chicken.
Hi John-Yes I love the fact that there are so many little snacks to choose from. I wasn’t such a fan of the beef noodle soup though, I did like some of the other little snacks though
I ate at Mother Chu’s a long time ago with my aunt and her family.
My Mandarin-speaking uncle forgot what “straw” was in Mandarin, and in any case, the waitress didn’t understand it in English either.
We didn’t enjoy eating there, and let me assure you that we aren’t the toughest critics. (Maybe we didn’t order their specialties?)
Hi Kym-We missed out on the dumplings but I think there were some interesting choices that we got. But perhaps as the menu is so large, it’s hard to choose.
.. but u can still try it out on your 2nd visit
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