Emperors Puffs
96-100 Dixon St
Chinatown, Sydney
While we’ve had these balls of deliciousness many many, many times - did we say many - it’s hard to believe we have never written about them! So where do we start? If you’ve had them yourselves then you know what all the hype is about - understandably too!
If you haven’t had them - well you’ve been missing out. This place is accurately described as a hole in the wall. That’s because it is just that. On Dixon Street right in the midst of Chinatown, queues form to grab these sweet treats in high quantities.
You order at the hole in the wall (and don’t be conservative in the number either), wait while they are freshly made (which isn’t long) and then take them away to eat (while still hot - but be careful as they are very hot at first).
So what exactly are they, you ask? They are balls of soft pastry filled with steaming hot sweet custard. The machine that makes them churns them out quickly. Dollops of mixture get dropped in to the moulds, they are cooked and this creates the soft outer pastry casing. The mixture inside simply gets heated - very hot in fact.
This makes for a perfect treat that you can’t stop eating. The soft outer gives way to a hot sweet custard filling. It all goes so well together.
The one thing you need to be aware of is that there are often queues here. Don’t be put off though. The queue moves quickly and it is worth it!