Miss Chu

This Vietnamese hole in the wall offers some of the best rice paper rolls in the city.

If you’ve taken a walk up William Street lately, you’ll have seen a Bourke Street shopfront decked out in potted banana trees and colourful little table settings, while dogs of all shapes and sizes sun themselves on the footpath. This is Miss Chu – Darlinghurst’s worst kept secret.

Make no mistake: you’ll want to have your order ready and your money ready to hand over. Miss Chu herself, equipped with a megaphone fashioned from a paper cup, doesn’t suffer indecision. No small wonder, though; this is one of the busiest places in the area, where seating is prime real estate. More likely you’ll be standing up, eating your Peking duck pancakes (at a mere $2.20 each).

As cheap as the food is, it’s also quite filling, so unless you’re a total glutton or just like seeing a lot of stuff like we do, limit yourself to perhaps a serving of dumplings, a serve of Vietnamese rice paper rolls and a young coconut juice. They often mix the flavours of these up – go the young coconut and cucumber if it’s on.

Make sure to try one of the salty-sweet desserts such as the sticky rice with caramel with a super-strong Vietnamese coffee topped with condensed milk. You’ll be bouncing off the walls for the rest of the day.

Miss Chu has become a firm favourite with inner east locals and it’s no wonder. Get down there and see what all the fuss is about. Myffy Rigby