MissChu Bondi Tuckshop

It's my daughter Lulu's seventh birthday. She informs us, emphatically, that the whole week should be all about her. With 24 iced cupcakes delivered to her class at school, dinner out with the family and best friend Freya, and a "girls only" slumber party a few days later, it looks like she's got her way.

We've settled on MissChu's Bondi Tuckshop for the birthday dinner, rice-paper rolls (for which founder Nahji Chu is deservedly famous) and dumplings being high on the birthday girl's list of favourite foods.

The junior diners put our casual attire to shame: Lulu's in her prettiest party frock courtesy of her English godmother and Freya is gorgeous in silver sequins.

Tuckshop is an apt description of the Bondi eatery, which is bigger than Sydney's other MissChu outlets. With its raw concrete Besser Block walls, moveable timber benches and stools, plywood tables and cushions-on-milk-crates seating, the decor is somewhere between dive-bar cantina and half-finished pop-up. Asian accents make it fresh, pretty and lively, but the backless stools are clearly built for speed rather than comfort.

The house rules are written across the top of the paper menu: "No queue jumping, no real estate talk, no chopstick fights", and "you may need to move on to make way for those who are hungrier and thirstier than you". The kids love placing big crosses next to the dishes they want; we then collate them on one menu and hand it over to order.

The cocktail list is a pleasant surprise and my chilli-hito has a double kick - vodka followed by chilli heat. The short list of beers (Vietnam and China) and nine Antipodean wines are well matched to the food.

Dishes arrive quickly and are devoured almost as fast: a selection of rice-paper rolls - tiger prawn and green mango, roast duck and banana flower - and moreish deep-fried spring rolls, including a prawn and crab version wrapped in a crisp vermicelli pastry net - which are squired by cute little bottles of piquant dipping sauce.

Light and fluffy steamed buns filled with pork char sui, scallop and prawn har gau dumplings and salt and chilli squid nod to the Chinese influence in the menu. Banh xeo, crisp rice pancakes stuffed with minced pork and prawn, mushrooms and bean sprouts, are piled high with fresh herbs and come with thin sheets of rice paper so we can wrap up our own parcels. They're not quite as good as the ones I had in an alley in Ho Chi Minh City late last year but for today near enough is good enough.

The wait staff overhear that it's a birthday treat and present Lulu with a beach ball, branded with Miss Chu's face, and a chocolate cherry brownie as we leave. It's the icing on the cake for this seven-year-old.

Do … have a cocktail - at $10 they're a bargain.
Don't … be afraid to ask for a doggy bag to take leftovers home.
Dish … Banh xeo.
Vibe … Bright, breezy, vibrant and fun. Pan-Asian for every taste.