It's getting hot in the kitchens, but Malaya marks 50 years

At a time when Sydneysiders thought Asian food meant sweet and sour or lemon chicken, the Malaya arrived to prove otherwise.

The dining institution, which celebrates its 50th birthday this month, was the first restaurant to bring south-east Asian cuisine to our tables.

''I can remember my father was worried if the food would be accepted by the public,'' says owner Lance Wong. ''It took a few years, but eventually it caught on.''

The family-run business was opened in 1963 at the southern end of George Street by Mr Wong's father, Wong Tai See, a merchant seaman who had recently migrated from Hong Kong.

He was a food pioneer, says Mr Wong, who served up traditional laksa, curry and spicy sambol. The restaurant quickly attracted loyal followers, many of them students, crooks, journalists and detectives.

Mr Wong and his wife Givie Wong took over the business in 1996 and moved it to its present location in a glass-fronted building on King Street Wharf.

''We've always been true to our food,'' Mr Wong says. ''Our Malay and Indonesian flavours haven't changed. We have customers that have been coming in for 50 years and they still eat the same dishes.''

It is that consistency and dedication that are crucial to survival in the restaurant business, says Beppi Polese, who opened one of Sydney's oldest restaurants, Beppi's, in 1956.

''I haven't changed my menu much at all,'' he says. ''It took a long time for me to get established. But if you change the menu all the time you can lose customers quickly.''

Both Beppi's and the Malaya have remained stalwarts on Sydney's food scene, while others such as Claude's, Pier, Becasse and Guillaume at Bennelong have fallen victim to the city's move towards mid-range restaurants.

More than 3500 restaurants closed in NSW last year, says John Hart, the chief executive of Restaurant & Catering Australia. ''These days we are seeing a lot more top-end restaurants closing … It's more difficult to run fine dining restaurants than ever before.''

He says much of the Malaya's success is its strong customer base. ''They have kept their customers and they have the right price point. The key is putting good food on the table for a reasonable cost.''