Life.Culture.Discovery.

How Sydney’s Hong Kong-style cafes provide a nostalgic taste – and feeling – of home for city migrants in Australia

Neon signs, a replica minibus and tram, familiar dishes – Hong Kong-style cafes in Sydney, Australia, are a reminder of home for migrants who move there

The homesick take comfort in the food and details of these replica refuges, but their owners want to make Hong Kong cafes mainstream like other imported cuisine

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Kowloon Cafe in Sydney’s Eastwood neighbourhood has a replica Hong Kong tram you can eat in. Another branch has a replica city minibus. Such Hong Kong-style cafes, with their look and food, take Hong Kong migrants Down Under on a nostalgia trip. Photo: Kowloon Cafe

Published: 11:15am, 27 Aug 2023

Since moving to Sydney in 2022, I have made it my mission to explore the city, and one weekend I went to check out the markets in Burwood, a multicultural suburb in Sydney’s Inner West.

On my way there, I swear I spot a red Hong Kong minibus … inside a cafe. I double back, and confirm that I’m not seeing things – there is indeed a red minibus in a restaurant called Kowloon Cafe.

I ditch the plan to head to the markets and excitedly slide into a booth next to the minibus.

The menu features all the cha chaan teng (Hong Kong-style tea cafe) classics, as well as some street food items such as curry fish balls and steamed rice rolls.

The Burwood branch of Kowloon Cafe features a replica of a Hong Kong red minibus. Photo: Kowloon Cafe

It’s been a while since I’ve eaten at a cha chaan teng, and this one pulls out all the stops with Hong Kong memorabilia.

There are advertisements for Eagle Brand condensed milk, as well as nylon red, white and blue tarp on the ceilings; the fridge is full of Green Spot orange juice cartons, there are Plumber King (a cult Hong Kong street-art icon) stickers on the wall, and an orange bin by the door.