How Vietnamese migrant restaurateur Nahji Chu WON her battle against City of Sydney Council over 30cm of footpath outside her Lady Chu eatery
A feisty restaurateur has all but won her public battle against the City of Sydney council over 30cm of contested footpath.
In an explosive showdown one Friday night earlier this year, rangers demanded Lady Chu owner Nahji Chu remove potted palm trees from the pavement out the front of her Potts Point eatery, or face the consequences.
Ms Chu erupted at the rangers, saying she would rather ‘go to jail’ than follow their orders, and used an expletive to tell them to go away. Her outburst was recorded on video, and it went viral, with Moore condemning her ‘torrent of abuse’.
At the centre of the dispute was a controversial council rule which decreed a clear 1.5m pathway between tables and the kerb. Three ‘illegal’ tables could only fit 30cm within the specified boundary, at 1.2m.
‘They’re near where the umbrellas are, it’s 1.2m,’ Ms Chu told the Daily Mail. ‘I’m not going to change it.
‘There are jealous people who complain to the council about anything and then a ranger has to come out.
‘But they’re going to turn a blind eye now – and I’ve put out a throne for Clover to come and sit on.’
Feisty restaurateur Nahji Chu has all but won her public battle against the City of Sydney council over 30cm of contested footpath
Lady Chu has been praised for its innovative revival of Sydney dining spaces with the owner’s spirited defence of her potted plants on a narrow street in the city’s Kings Cross
Ms Chu’s feisty rebuttal of the City of Sydney’s footpath rules has won her praise with diners and locals. However, when she challenged council rangers earlier this year, Lord Mayor Clover Moore was not impressed
Ms Chu’s willingness to feud with the council – and win – has in turn earned her the admiration of locals and diners.
Only a three-minute walk from Kings Cross Safe Injecting Centre, the strip of Roslyn Street occupied by her restaurant is a stylish and tranquil eating space which is expanding. She has transformed her street into what she calls the ‘Rue de Chu’ and dragged it out of post-Covid torpor.
The French-Vietnamese food is served on white tablecloths by wait staff in white uniforms with table-side preparation of special dishes.
Ms Chu has now extended her footprint with the purchase of an adjacent block on which Clover Moore’s ‘throne’ – a stylish cane sofa suite – seats guests or passers-by.
On the Lady Chu Instagram page, diners have posted their approval, one writing that ‘the Roslyn Street territory that Lady Chu has colonised is gorgeous — like a slice of Hanoi, it is lush with an abundance of greenery, beautiful lighting, outdoor tables.
‘She has truly transformed a grey, dull side street off the main drag of Kings Cross into a magical dining experience. The food is amazing, the ambiance is beyond.’
Former model and style icon Marty Thomas wrote after recently dining at Lady Chu that ‘when choosing a business to introduce Kings Cross Quarter I couldn’t get past Lady Chu…
‘I feel that this restaurant and its owner’s pioneering spirit epitomise the transformation that Kings Cross has undergone these past few years.
‘They have been hard years in many ways and it is the innovators that I most admire, as well as those icons that have weathered the storms and are not just surviving, but thriving.’
Ms Chu has installed a ‘throne’ at her restaurant and invited the Lord Mayor Clover Moore to come and sit on it, as she expands her eatery’s footprint
A screengrab is seen of Nahji Chu’s outburst at the council rangers (above) in which she said: ‘There is no fun in this city, you can’t do anything or you face a fine. ‘This is ‘f***ed up, this whole city is f***ed up. I’m not a f***ing naughty school kid, so don’t speak to me like that’
Nahji Chu (above, circled, at a refugee camp in Thailand in 1977) credits her entrepreneurial talents partly to her background, as a Vietnamese immigrant from Laos, and the journey her family made to Australia
Nahji Chu credits her entrepreneurial talents partly to her background, as a Vietnamese immigrant from Laos who lived in refugee camps on her journey to Australia as a child with her family.
Ms Chu is renowned for the humour she injects into her restaurant business, calling one dish ‘CHINKO spring rolls’, a take on Chiko rolls, ‘KFChu’ fried chicken and ‘crepes CHU-zette’.
Following her outburst at the council rangers earlier this year, Ms Chu lamented: ‘There is no fun in this city, you can’t do anything or you face a fine.’
She told the rangers: ‘This is ‘f***ed up, this whole city is f***ed up. I’m not a f***ing naughty school kid, so don’t speak to me like that.
‘I’m paying f***ing taxes and I’m paying your wages. I’m trying to activate this f***ing dead city, so don’t shut it down.’
Ms Chu said following her altercation with the rangers: ‘They wouldn’t leave, that’s why I went nuts. Drop a bomb at 7pm (on a Friday) then expect me to remain calm?’
Following the encounter in May, Clover Moore took to social media to unleash on Ms Chu for her treatment of her council staff.
Former model and style icon Marty Thomas (above with Ms Chu and one of her witty takes on serving food) says ‘this restaurant and its owner‘s pioneering spirit epitomise the transformation that Kings Cross has undergone these past few years’
Nahji Chu’s custom-made Jeep (left) opposite Lady Chu and her spring rolls named ‘CHINKO’, after the Chiko roll
‘We have repeatedly asked Lady Chu to remove some of the unapproved planters or the umbrellas to ensure there is enough space for pedestrians,’ she said.
‘It’s not a private courtyard, it’s a public footpath – people should not be forced onto the road, especially people in a wheelchair or with a pram.’
Moore said council had responded after receiving a complaint and visited Lady Chu to advise which items were an ‘issue’ and ‘respectfully ask’ for them to be removed as soon as possible.
‘Unfortunately they then received a torrent of abuse that was then published on social media,’ Ms Moore said.
The Daily Mail has requested a response to Ms Chu’s latest remarks.
