Many hearts will be heavy when Caringbah Chinese Restaurant closes its doors at the end of this month after 41 years.
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For decades, the restaurant was one of the largest and most popular dining-out spots in Sutherland Shire.
But times have changed dramatically, with an explosion in recent years of eateries and cuisine options.
The restaurant and adjoining shops will be replaced by a seven-storey development with shops at the bottom and apartments above, subject to development approval.
Chinese has become obsolete with so many other foods, such as Thai and Japanese, available.
- Teresa Ng
The site adjoins the former Caringbah Marketplace, where Aldi’s plans for a large development have stalled.
Restaurant owner Teresa Ng is staging a farewell party on Friday and Saturday nights this weekend and, not surprisingly, bookings are essential.
The restaurant opened in 1976 and Ms Ng became a partner in the business in 1996 when her father-in-law retired.
She had worked for the previous 11 years for Qantas in IT and as a travel consultant for its division Jetabout Holidays.
Ms Ng bought out the other partners in 2001.
”It’s time to move on because the business is getting a bit slow,” she said.
”Chinese has become obsolete with so many other foods, such as Thai and Japanese, available.
“We have a lot of competition from the clubs and also the smaller restaurants, which have been shooting up like mushrooms.
”It is hard for a big restaurant to compete with all the smaller ones because out overheads are a lot higher.”
Ms Ng said another factor was her staff were getting older and it was hard to find expertise.
”The new generation of Chinese are English speaking and can get a job anywhere,” she said.
”The older generation didn’t have good English but they worked hard.”
Ms Ng said a lot of her older customers had retired away from Sydney and younger people were not going out as much because they had less time and mortgages to pay.
Ms Ng said, in the 1970s and 1980s, the restaurant would have 150 diners a night, with three sittings.
“I have enjoyed meeting so many people, and my staff have always been good,” she said. “But, the hours are long. I haven’t had a Mother’s Day in 20 years.”
