- Sweet-toothed fans of a Sydney Chinatown delicacy were shocked when Chinatown’s cream puffs suddenly disappeared.
- Now the cream puff balls are back, and so are the queues.
- We reveal the new location where you can get the little balls of heaven.
Sweet-toothed Sydneysiders can stop mourning. The city’s little golden balls of happiness are back in Chinatown.
Emperor’s Cream Puffs have returned to Haymarket, and as word spreads, the queues are already forming.
The cream puffs are a tiny, warm pancake pillow filled with yellow custard. The outside has a delicate crust; the middle delivers that glorious, gooey reward. Eating one requires enthusiasm, a little patience and respect for the temperature of freshly cooked custard.
For decades, a tiny window at Emperor’s Garden was a delicious fixture of Chinatown’s Hay and Dixon Street precinct. The mechanical puff-maker, claimed to be a world first, supplied both the snacks and the entertainment, turning out bite-sized treats that sold for just 70 cents each.
The Emperor’s Garden story stretches back to 1979, when the restaurant opened. It began a relationship with Chinatown that would last almost half a century. Over time, its takeaway puff window became a destination in its own right.
Chinatown’s beloved cream puff (Picture: ABC)
The backbone of Chinatown food
Their place in Sydney life even made it into the City of Sydney’s Haymarket community consultation. One respondent described the custard-filled snacks as “the backbone of Chinatown food”. Others celebrated the window as a longstanding landmark and an affordable favourite. When your dessert gets a mention in a council vision report, you have officially moved beyond snack status.
Then suddenly, in August 2026, the shutters came down and the city went into shock.
A repossession notice appeared at the Hay Street premises. The restaurant and bakery stopped trading, and the familiar puff ritual abruptly disappeared.
Behind the closure were serious financial problems: Federal Court documents showed the Australian Taxation Office was seeking to wind up the operating company over a debt exceeding $845,000.
For regulars, the disappearance felt like losing a small piece of the neighbourhood. Sydney’s food community reacted with dismay. A closed restaurant is sad enough, but the disappearance of the cream puffs sent the food media into a frenzy.
The ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald both carried stories on the disappearance and the sense of loss in the city.
On October 1, the ABC reported that the company had agreed to repay more than $1 million to the ATO, with about half already paid.
Chief financial officer Valentine Yee said a family disagreement over handling the debt had contributed to the closure. He also cited light rail construction, COVID and cost-of-living pressures among the business’s challenges.
Then came the news hungry Sydneysiders wanted: the puffs were cooking again.
The family brought them back at a temporary Thomas Street location, at its Emperor’s Garden BBQ & Noodles premises at 213–215 Thomas Street, Haymarket, a short walk from the original window.
The Broadsheet website reported daily hours of midday to 8pm, with queues already returning.
Work towards reopening the original Hay Street spaces is continuing.
Food blogger brandneweats announces the news on Facebook (below).
