Chinese Noodle House to close in Haymarket in December, not to be confused with Chinese Noodle Restaurant
Have you ever wondered why one block of Haymarket has so many restaurants with grapes on the ceiling and similar menus? We have answers.
Stop the clocks, lower the flags to half-mast, bring out the violins and put out your signature roasted eggplants. Chinese Noodle House, a beloved institution on the south end of Chinatown, is closing up shop, and the devastation is real.
and in a statement posted on the window of his restaurant on Thomas Street. on Instagram this weekOwner Eric Zhang announced the closing and thanked customers for their continued support. “It has been our honor and pleasure to serve you, and we are deeply grateful for your friendship along the way.”
Why? Zhang’s landlord decided not to renew the lease, prompting tearful tributes in a place where friendships were forged over hot eggplant and dumplings.
“If the world is against the Chinese Noodle House, then I’m against the world,” one Instagram user wrote. “What’s the point of anything?” someone else asked.
When it ceases trading in December, it will join Marigold, Golden Century and BBQ King in the list of Sydney Chinatown restaurants to close since the pandemic. Far from being a death knell for the area, the latest statistics show that Chinatown is actually in the midst of a $44 million revitalization project and growing.
“In financial year 2025, Haymarket had the highest annual spend of any region in the City of Sydney economy, at $630 million. To put it in context, that is almost double the Potts Point,” says Kevin Cheng, project manager at community organization Haymarket Alliance.
“In terms of returns, spending at Haymarket is up about 44 per cent on pre-pandemic levels, so the numbers are very strong.”
Regardless, the confusion surrounding the closure of Chinese Noodle House has become extreme this week; that’s because the restaurant, fondly remembered for its signature fried eggplant and plastic grape garnishes, was one of several restaurants scattered throughout a complex of buildings with nearly identical menus, décor and names.
So which one is best? Can you still BYO? What happened to the man who played the violin in one of the restaurants? We sat down with a plate of Xinjiang noodles and set out to get to the bottom of these burning questions.
I know Chinese Noodle House! The guy with the plastic grapes on his ceiling and playing the violin, right?
Actually no. But in a way. This is where things get complicated. There’s no shade on Chinese Noodle House, but the restaurant you’re probably thinking of is Chinese Noodle. RestaurantIt was founded in 1991 by Xiao Tang Qin, who grew up in China’s Xinjiang region and was a concert violinist before moving to Sydney in the early ’90s. Before opening the Original Chinese Noodle Restaurant, he worked as a kitchen attendant; Here he spent 19 hours pulling noodles and shaping dumplings, entertaining guests with his violin while they ate.
Okay, Chinese Noodle House is closing, but I can still go to Chinese Noodle Restaurant, right?
Of course it can. It’s about 10 meters from Chinese Noodle House, which has plenty of outdoor tables, umbrellas and a BYO-friendly policy. However, it is stated that Qin and his wife Helen Sun are no longer involved in the incident. According to their daughter Jenny Qin, they sold the original years ago, then systematically relaunched it with similar concepts and menus before selling it again.
At various points they also owned the Chinese Noodle Restaurant and the Chinese Noodle House on Thomas Street, as well as another Chinese Noodle Restaurant on the corner of Quay and Thomas Streets, as well as a sister restaurant next door. They have also opened in Pyrmont, Neutral Bay, the CBD and most recently at the Lemon Grove shopping center in Chatswood, trading under the name Chinatown Noodle Restaurant.
That’s a lot of Chinese noodles. So who owns OG now and who took over Chinese Noodle House?
The original is now owned by Qin and Sun’s niece, Annie Zhang. He kept the menu essentially the same and shared a slice of the ample outdoor seating.
Chinese Noodle’s lease House – the one at the close – is reportedly in the hands of Qin and Sun’s nephew, Xin Jiang Sun. He ran the place but later sold it to Zhang before starting a similar concept in Newtown. He bought a property somewhere there and became Zhang’s landlord. When Chinese Noodle House closes, Sun is said to be planning to go back to where he started.
I understand So why then did the founders keep selling and relaunching? Isn’t everyone undermining each other’s work?
Jenny Qin explained it well: “We’ve had former employees travel all over Sydney and open similar Northern Chinese-style restaurants using our recipes. This doesn’t actually cut it: the places are so small, there are so many people coming to eat, that if you can’t find a seat in one place you can find it in another restaurant, so it’s never a problem.”
Your choice of Chinese Noodles largely depends on where you’re having the best times.
Even the Good Food office has a difference of opinion on which is the best of the four at Haymarket. The original stays true to the recipe, but the site around the corner offers breakfast and Uyghur-style lamb pilaf. Ultimately, your choice of Chinese Noodles largely depends on where you’re having the best times; whether it’s sharing a table with your college friends, meatballs and cheap beer, or a first date with BYO chardonnay.
Okay, I really need correction. So the Chinese Noodle Restaurant around the corner Good Food reviewed in 2022Where will I find the original owners?
You would. But in 2023, while actually selling to former kitchen managers, the pastry chefs took over the Chatswood branch as well as another Chinatown Noodle Restaurant (seriously) on the corner of Quay Street and Thomas Lane. Xiao Tan Qin is approaching 80, so this was her last rush.
I don’t mean to dismiss the real feelings surrounding Chinese Noodle House’s closing or to trivialize Zhang’s dilemma, but if there’s a bigger story, it’s that the founders quietly left the scene a few years ago and most of us missed it.
So that’s it? No more violins?
Don’t trust this. Qin is teaching his grandson to play, and Jenny has seen him retire several times in the past, only to come back to work again, so he might have one last dance. “Last one or three,” he says. “He never wants to retire.”
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David Matthews is a food writer and editor and co-editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2025.
