A conversation with David Chan – Sun Ming Hurstville

The city of Hurstville is fast becoming a reliable food hub, especially when it comes to Chinese cuisine.  One of the most popular destinations is a place called Sun Ming Restaurant and like many other Hong Kong-style venues, you’ll find yourself in a restaurant with a traditional fit-out and a long menu. However, you can guarantee you’ll be in for one of the most satisfying feeds ever with mouth-watering favourites like their Stir Fry Sticky Rice, the Signature Baked Pork Chop and the peanut butter French toast – to name a few! I had the wonderful pleasure of talking to David Chan who is the owner and head chef of the restaurant.

D: “So, how did you get started and how did you come to be a chef?”

David: “I guess to really tell my story and that of Sun Ming’s, I have to start with my dad. My Dad was born in Hong Kong and he dropped out of school when he was 10. Started working immediately for his family by pushing around the sticky fried rice cart and he did that for 5-6 years.

He eventually met my mum at 19 and they came down to Australia together. My grandfather owned a Chinese restaurant down in Guildford and my dad cooked there for a few years. He then started his own restaurant and it got really successful. He would then keep opening and selling his restaurants to his relatives. I remember he told me he kept selling these restaurants because they were particularly specialised in Western Chinese food. My dad wanted to cook authentic Chinese food.”

D: “So how did he go about opening the more authentic Chinese restaurant?”

David: “He partnered up with my Uncle Sun – the Sun to the Min in Sun Ming – and they went on to form the first Sun Ming restaurant in Paramatta. They finally got to cook the food they wanted to cook. Unlike most restaurants, their restaurant was selling all the baked goods like custard tarts and pineapple buns in the store. An opportunity came up in the 90s to open another store in Hurstville which is how the store we’re speaking in now. My Dad looked after the Paramatta site, and my uncle would look after the Hurstville store. So that’s our two main flagship stores, the Parramatta and Hurstville restaurants. Now, on to me!”

D: “Yes! What about you? How did you get roped into all this?”

David: “Yeah basically I started working in the restaurants when I was 10 years old. I started off as a dish washer. Thankfully, we had a dishwasher so I wasn’t sitting there cleaning the dishes individually. I then learnt to make desserts like bomb alaskas and fried ice creams – this was when I was 12! I then worked as a waiter for a while and after I turned 16, I was like ‘I’m done I’m never doing this again’. I worked a few jobs after that and I went to Japan for half a year.

My dad reached out to me after I came back and he said to come back and work with him. I wasn’t really doing much at this point so I agreed. So I learnt to cook and I started off with the barbecue. This was at a different restaurant in Kogarah. We eventually sold the Kogarah store and we bought back the Hurstville store. I started from the bottom again and started with chopping vegetables. I then started getting on the wok and it was such a slow process. I was so slow and all the chefs used to get annoyed at me. But they can’t say anything!”

David and I laugh hysterically about how slow he was when he started. None of the staff could really complain as he is the boss’s son after all!

David: “Yeah so it took me 2 years to get really good with the wok. One to really know how to toss with it, and another year to really find my pace with it, as well as, learn how to cook things like seafood properly. I actually did Teppanyaki for a while too but that was during COVID. That really helped me with cooking in front of people. Thank god because I think I would’ve struggled cooking in front of the SBS crew otherwise.”

D: “On that note, tell me about COVID. How did you survive through the pandemic during that time?”

David: “The community helped us so much! We couldn’t have people eating in during that time. Our takeaway was taking off! There was a huge push for people to eat local and support local business in social media. So people were getting so much takeaway from us. Lobster was cheap too so we had these epic lobster deals for $80 and people were going absolutely nuts over that! We weren’t making money, but we were keeping afloat. It was crazy but we made it.”

D: “When it first came around, were you nervous?”

David: “Yeah man! We were freaking out because we didn’t know long it would last. Every time a new case popped up it would be like a ghost town. Asian people are just so superstitious in general so it’s tough man.”

D: “What’s your favourite thing on the Sun Ming menu?”

David: “What’s my favourite? Oh, that’s tough. I love everything. I think it’s the Baked Pork Chop. People go nuts for the  Baked Pork Chop. It’s basically fried rice on the bottom and it’s topped with our Pork Chop on top and you have the option to put cheese on it. Everyone puts cheese on it though. It’s like a Chinese Pizza if I had to compare it to anything. It’s the signature of this place.”

D: “Is there anything you hope to do in the future for you?”

David: “I really want to open a second store. Most of the stuff we cook here is mainly my Dad’s style. I’ve developed my own style and I think I want to showcase that too. We’ll see how it goes! You just don’t know where the market is going sometimes. I do really want to open a second place to showcase what I bring to the table.”

The interview ends there as the smell of the big table of food next to us is too tempting for us to ignore anymore. It was an absolute pleasure talking to David and getting to know his story. If you get the chance, head down. to Sun Ming to get your hands on some of the best Hong Kong food in town. Hopefully, David can open up his own store one day and showcase his talent and what he has to offer in the art of Chinese cuisine!