One of handful of Asian vegetarian restaurants in Sydney. All vegan except honey. Open Mon-Sat 12:00pm-3:00pm, Mon-Sat 5:00pm-10:00pm.
Category: Vegan-friendly, Chinese, Japanese, Asian, Taiwanese
One of handful of Asian vegetarian restaurants in Sydney. All vegan except honey. Open Mon-Sat 12:00pm-3:00pm, Mon-Sat 5:00pm-10:00pm.
Category: Vegan-friendly, Chinese, Japanese, Asian, Taiwanese
Reviews (41)
First Review by Aloo
Contributions +359
Traditional Taiwanese - Edit
Mother Chu's is a great spot for dinner. The service is quick and friendly, meals are affordable, but best of all are the flavours. My favourite dishes are the beans with soy slices and chilli sauce, and the soya bean rolls.
Contributions +1259
Good vegan options - Edit
Nice place , mostly Asian food , a bit pricey but it's Sidney . We loved the rice ,soups and wanton.
Contributions +17
very tasty - Edit
Great food, with lots of choice and friendly staff
Contributions +29
Not so great - Edit
My brother and I were looking forward to a nice meal but when we were in Sydney a couple of weeks ago but we were disappointed in this place. I can't quite remember what I had but it was definitely drowning in a salty, blah sauce. My brother had the birds nest something to other, just not very tasty. It is a pretty little place in a good location but we decided not to try it a second time while we were there. Maybe we hit it on a bad night!
Updated from previous review on 2017-03-26
Contributions +160
When in Sydney... - Edit
Whenever I am working in Sydney I always eat here at some point. A few years ago the food was very average but on my latest trip I had stir fried tempeh with snow peas, broccoli and nuts along with special fried rice. It was fresh and delicious.
Pros: Convenient location in the CBD, Great menu choice
Contributions +101
Yum! - Edit
Mother Chu's is always delicious and a favourite when I visit Sydney.
Pros: Great selection, Well priced
Contributions +32
cheap and easy - Edit
for a cheap feed this is quite a good restaurant. the food isn't anything to rave about but its pretty good.
Pros: vegan, cheap
Contributions +43
Good food, all vegan. Has desserts - Edit
Classic Chinese and Taiwanese veggie food.
Nice staff.
Old fashooned/budget decor.
Pros: Food
Cons: Mains expensive for size
Contributions +20
Don't waste your money - Edit
We went here on the basis of other reviews, however, I wish we had chosen one of the hundreds of other options that were located around this place. When you first order you have to pay straight away. This is probably to stop you from not paying due to the horrible food. I had tofu with vegetables which consisted of 10 pieces of old, deep-fried tofu sitting on what what seemed liked half a kilo of raw bean sprouts and topped with 6 slices of cucumber, with a tiny bit of soy sauce drizzled over top. My husband ordered stir-fried vegetables which came out swimming in some watery, flavourless sauce and appeared to have been cooked days ago and reheated. Same with the boiled rice which tasted like it was days old and reheated. I love rice, yet it was inedible as was most of our meals. I think we managed to eat around a quarter of each meal (and one mouthful of rice), only because we were so hungry, before we felt ill. We actually went and got a coffee somewhere else afterwards just to get the awful taste of the food out of our mouths. Greasy and tasteless food that was not cheap as I could get something delicious for that price elsewhere. SO disappointed, we definitely won't be going back.
Pros: Friendly staff
Cons: Terrible food, Pricey for what you get, Very cheap and nasty feel to the place
Contributions +26
love this place - Edit
Food is so so good
Contributions +21
Great comfort food! - Edit
I love this restaurant. It's food is consistently good, no matter what dish I try. The staff are always so friendly and helpful. I love the fact that there is often an elderly member of the family spending time in the restaurant just doing their own thing, the last time we went the grandmother was doing seated tai chi, which really gave us a sense of authenticity.
Highly recommend the avocado soup, the deep fried nori rolls, the fried pumpkin with gluten, and the tofu clay pots. The serves are generous and always filling. I haven't had a bad dish yet.
Close to public transport and the centre of the CBD
For the amount of food you get, i don't think the price is unreasonable. Decor nothing fancy, but if you want fancy decor, there are plenty of other restaurants that might suit your taste.
Pros: Friendly staff, Good quality and great tasting food, Take away relatively quick service.
Contributions +13
Chinese style veggies - Edit
The veggies are ok, the fries could be better.
Pros: Convenient, Cozy atmosphere
Cons: Food too oily n salty, Slower service, Pricey
Contributions +17
mother Chu's the best - Edit
Mother Chu's in Pitt st Sydney is awesome if you like Chinese/Taiwanese vegetarian food.
I recommend crispy tofu with miso sauce for starters, they have fresh juices by the way. Tofu roll with back beans sauce & ginger is my favourite
There is a multitude of choices.
Pros: cbd location , been there for years , always greater with a smile
Contributions +14
Nice Chinese food - Edit
Simple decor not flash. But nice friendly service and good classic Chinese food, done without meat. Lots of options so will definitely go back to try out some of the others.
Pros: reasonably priced , all vegan, authentic
Cons: simple decor, not flash, no free green tea (but water), in town so no parking
Contributions +16
Fresh And Great Value - Edit
Amazing amount of vegan options, some honey in a couple of the meals so watch out for those.
Tofu, noodles, gluten based mock meats and heaps of veges. Amazing flavours. More than enough rice for 4 people. Great friendly service. Yum ginger tea too.
Updated from previous review on Monday April 28, 2014
Pros: Great Flavours, Lots Of Options, Value
Cons: Didnt Open Till 5pm
Contributions +23
Love this place - Edit
I've been going to Mother Chu's for decades. The food is consistently fresh, wholesome and filling and there is a wide variety of choices.
Pros: Fresh, wholesome food, Friendly service
Contributions +19
Nice food in the heart of Sydney - Edit
I liked this restaurant. It has an extensive menu and the food tastes good. It's not the best food I ever had, but well worth having. I ate a sizzling gluten, which was a little too sweet for me, but good anyway.
Contributions +2100
Not bad but need more convincing - Edit
This is a place I've been to a couple of times on previous visits to Sydney but not for a while so my memory was a bit vague. It has a fairly plain setup with Formica tables in various configurations. The menu is extensive, although I noticed that some dishes had versions under different categories, such as the soy bean roll, which, in addition to its standard entry, also had variations under 'steaming' and 'clay pot'. We ordered the standard plus a miso clay pot with tempeh and steamed rice. The soy bean rolls were quite delicious, a little hot and accompanied by spring onions in a dark sauce. The miso dish on the other hand really didn't work for us: the broth was weak without much flavour and this left big hunks of crisp vegetable (including non-tender cauliflower and cabbage) to fend for themselves. The moral: be selective and look for recommended dishes (the soy rolls being one of which we took heed). We opted for a banana fritter (there are also apple and pineapple) with a scoop of mango soy ice cream plus one scoop each of passion fruit and mango soy ice cream. Very nice. All up this cost us $60 (including my freshly squeezed OJ and my partner's lemonade), which took me a little by surprise but is by no means outrageous. I'm not sold on this place yet but the menu's big enough that I'll come back and try it again
Pros: Decent-sized menu, All vegan including desserts
Cons: Some dishes are substandard
Contributions +54
Nice atmosphere - Edit
It's a good atmosphere, and the food is pretty good too.
Pros: Taiwanese, friendly staff
Contributions +24
Good - Edit
Quite yum. Good price. Friendly service. Highly recommended.
Contributions +21
Delicious vegan friendly food! - Edit
This is a great dairy free, egg free, msg free vego restaurant, lovely people as well and a huge menu.
Try the hot pots they are really delicous...no that is not a prawn on top!! :)
Contributions +180
hen hao chi! - Edit
Tastey noodles and Vegs. Curry puffs were very good too.
Nice staff, good location, all around good spot.
Probably not the most healthy thing in the world, but super tastey.
Pros: lots of options, friendly staff
Cons: the tea was average
Contributions +16
Mother Chu's - a Sydney vegan haven - Edit
We went to Mother Chu's for both dinner and lunch the next day during a recent trip to Sydney. The food and vibe was fantastic both days. The serves were good size but not huge - we had three dishes plus rice to share between the two of us which was plenty! In particular I loved the way the veggies were cooked.
All meals are vegan except three which contain honey which is a real plus for a travelling vegan!
They don't serve or allow alcohol there which may be an issue for some. We look forward to returning next time we're in Sydney!
Pros: excellent food, nice vibe, friendly
mother chu's - Edit
Nice place very friendly people food excellent
Pros: quick, priced moderate, quick service
Cons: none
Contributions +50
An institution in veg*n dining in Sydney! - Edit
Of all the vegan/vegetarian restaurants I've ever been to, nothing quite compares to the food at Mother Chu's. I have been going to Mother Chu's for 14 years and I have never left disappointed.
Granted, there have been a couple of dishes over the years that were a bit too strange for me (both times, mock fish dishes), but even these were still tasty and my partner (who is not vegetarian) enjoyed them. However, this is only two dishes out of probably hundreds by now. All the others have been a joy to savour, and we have never left anything uneaten.
You must try the salt and pepper tofu, which is my favourite. Also the crispy gluten, flat rice noodles, tempura sweet potato, and the tofu with shitake mushrooms. The seaweed and moss soup, as a starter, is also a delight.
It can become very busy, but the food usually comes out fairly quickly. It is easy to rack up a bit of a bill, but then again, people who don't usually eat at vege restaurants think I am mad for thinking it is slightly expensive - it really is cheap compared to most places. We are always a group of 4, and we usually spend about $75.
Mother Chu is always sitting in the corner, keeping an eye on things. I would go so far as to say Mother Chu's is a bit of an institution in the veg*n dining world of Sydney, and I cant for the life of me understand why it has only 4 cows for a rating! 5 cows from me and long live Mother Chu!
Pros: Delicious food, Great range of choice, Reliably great food
Contributions +69
Tasty Food But Not Great For Gluten Free. - Edit
As a westerner with little experience of Chinese Food I found the menu over whelming, ordered Tofu with cabbage and Curry Rice, which was really tasty!
Only problem was trying to work out what to order for my Gluten Free partner, as their menu doesn't suggest GF options. A separate GF Menu would be helpful!
This meant the Tofu was Steamed not Fried so it absorbed none of the sauce flavour and was a bit unappetising. Also were charged an extra $2 for the sauce to be made GF.
I think it was a little pricey for a backpacker (The conversion from GBP to AUD isn't good)
But the food was very tasty and seemed like popular place.
Beware the opening hours Closed between 3pm-5pm and Sundays I think.
Also I asked if the food was vegan, and was told it is all vegan, but I saw they use Honey in lots of the Dishes, so this might be a consideration for Vegans to think about!
Pros: Very Tasty, Huge selection of Food, Location
Cons: Opening Hours, Little Gluten Free, Pricey
Contributions +62
Fabulous food for hungry vegans on a budget - Edit
During a recent trip to Sydney to celebrate my 30th birthday with 6 other friends (my husband & I are vegans, our group included 2 veggies, 1 ex-veggie and 2 omnivores) we all tried this place out on the first night when starving and a little drunk - and were delighted with our find! The food was wonderful with so much variety - the omnivorous ones loved their cheat meats and the rest of us reveled in delicious, simple but amazingly tasty stir fried veg, tofu and gluten in a variety of spicy sauces with yummy fried rice and noodles on the side. We liked it so much we all went back again before we left! Highly highly recommended. Prices very very reasonable too,e specially given it's central location.
Pros: Variety of food, Taste, Low prices
Cons: Doesn't stay open late, No byo alcohol and not licensed
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