There’s nothing Australians love more than a succulent Chinese meal, as witnessed this week by the outpouring of grief following the announcement that beloved Sydney staple Chinese Noodle House will be closing in December.”I was really sad, it’s all over Instagram,” Hope, a Sydney University student, told SBS News. “Sydney won’t be the same.”But news of the end of the Haymarket casual dining staple, famed for its cheap and delicious dumplings and hand-pulled noodles, has also sparked confusion. At its location on the ground floor of a drab building on Thomas Street, there are no fewer than four similarly titled restaurants, and more can be found across greater Sydney. All share near-identical menus, and at least two have plastic grapes dangling over the heads of diners. So which restaurant is closing? Will another take its place? And what’s the deal with the grapes on the ceiling anyway?

It turns out that underneath the surface of the Chinese Noodle House saga is what appears to be a Succession-like struggle of intertwined restaurants and one ageing patriarch.

Which restaurant is closing?

If you’re facing the strip mall from the street, Chinese Noodle House is the restaurant on the right, closest to Thomas Street.To your left, you’ll find Chinese Noodle Restaurant, which also has grapes on the ceiling and a similar menu.

These restaurants share the popular outdoor dining area in the courtyard.

Current owner Eric Zhang spoke to SBS News outside his family’s restaurant. Source: SBS News

Current owner, Eric Zhang, told SBS News his family had been running Chinese Noodle House since 2016.

“Our landlord sold the business to us 10 years ago,” he said.

Why is it shutting down?

A post on Chinese Noodle House’s Instagram page said the restaurant was closing “due to the landlord’s unilateral decision not to renew our lease”.

This is where things get tricky, because the tenant for the past 10 years has been Zhang’s mother-in-law, a former employee of the eatery across the way, Chinese Noodle Restaurant.

Both Chinese Noodle Restaurant and Chinese Noodle House were founded by now-retired patriarch Xiao Tang Qin, better known to patrons as the violinist of Thomas Street. Over three decades as a restaurateur in Sydney, Qin started 12 Chinese Noodle outlets, according to the ABC. The current landlord at Chinese Noodle House is reportedly Qin’s nephew, Xin Jiang Sun.

Zhang’s mother-in-law, the former Chinese Noodle Restaurant employee, bought the lease from Sun to operate Chinese Noodle House.

What’s with the grapes?

The connection between the restaurants explains the similarities. But it doesn’t explain how the iconic plastic grapes got there in the first place.

Back in 2017, SBS investigated why dumplings might taste better when there are plastic grapes on the ceiling.

The answer lies in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where real grapes dangle from the trellises above many eateries in the north-western province. Xiaotang Qin, the original owner of Chinese Noodle Restaurant and famous for his violin, migrated from Xinjiang to Australia in 1991.

SBS reported that many north-western Chinese eateries added the plastic grapes as a tribute to home.

When will it close?

The current Chinese Noodle House will shut in mid-December. Zhang did not comment on the rumour that the landlord was considering opening their own restaurant in the same spot, one that would presumably share a similar name, menu, and decorations.As for the current owners, Zhang told SBS News they hope to open a new shop in a different location. “We’ve been here for 10 years and I haven’t had much time with my family or my kids. So we’ve decided to take a break for now.””If there’s a new shop, we’ll let everyone know.”This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Chinese.

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