Emperor’s Garden, Sydney’s Iconic Custard Puff Vendor, Shut Down

The business behind Sydney Chinatown’s iconic “Emperor’s Puffs”, hot custard-filled buns sold for just 70 cents from a door-sized hole-in-the-wall, has closed its doors. Paper notices fixed to both the bakery door and neighbouring Emperor’s Garden Restaurant, owned by the same business, stated the premises had been “lawfully re-entered and possession taken”. 

Emperor’s Garden had been a Chinatown staple since it first opened in 1979. Tourists and locals alike were often seen lining up in droves to purchase a still-steaming sweet treat from the famous vendor.

“Loved this place,” one reddit user commented, “severely burnt my tongue many a time. Seriously such a shame, we’re losing a lot of Sydney cities heritage recently.”

“I remember in my teens we’d be out as a big group in the area,” recalled another, “all pool our change together to get as many as we could and just share this giant pile of them. Everyone ended up ridiculously full.”

What Forced Emperor’s Garden To Close?

According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), such property confiscations are often undertaken when a company has both failed to pay its debts and has not successfully entered into an approved payment plan. However, according to the Daily Telegraph, owner Stanley Yee doesn’t know what happened, a question that is all the more complicated by the property’s split ownership with an extended family member. 

Despite the closure, Emperor’s Garden playfully described the interruption as “a short break” via its official Instagram page on Monday, claiming that they were making “a few moves behind the scenes”. The post, captioned “THANK YOU SYDNEY”, told followers that while they waited for the vendor’s iconic puffs to reinflate, the page would “start having a little fun”.

This was followed by a meme featuring a screencap from The Office of star John Krasinski smiling deviously through a set of blinds, captioned: “other yum cha restaurants in chinatown after finding out about our break”.