As long as you are in Sydney, you are never very far from Golden Century. Depending on your age, your background and the time of day, what the multi-storey Cantonese restaurant in Chinatown means to you might differ. But through its endless opening hours, its influence on the food around it, and more than three decades of memories, it’s always there.
My mother told me it was the first restaurant she ever took me to in Chinatown, for what was my first Chinese New Year. On another visit, she ran into a friend. He was surprised to see a family eating there on a weeknight – he thought it was only for political schmoozing and big nights out.
In the 1999 cult classic film Two Hands, starring a young Heath Ledger and Rose Byrne, it’s there in the background as the two characters have their first date. Chefs eat there when their own venues close, touring rockstars are taken in pilgrimage and for those in politics, New South Wales Labor particularly, it is the place where deals are done and dreams come true.
With the venue in administration, its future in the same location is uncertain. Guardian Australia compiled some memories of the restaurant from the diners who knew it best.