Chinese food is winning over our hearts and palates

Up at the Hydro Majestic Hotel in the Blue Mountains, traditional English high tea is under threat.

"Forty per cent of our customers now have the yum cha option," says group general manager Ralf Bruegger. With Chinese New Year upon us, it's a timely reminder of just how firmly etched Chinese food is on the Australian palate.

Scones and cucumber sandwiches are being elbowed out across Sydney – on Monday night, Surry Hills fine diner Marque restaurant benched eggplant profiteroles for an eight-course Chinese tasting menu that included pig's ear and black fungus.

Bruegger argues Chinese food suits our food temperament. "With yum cha you can enjoy a beer. But it isn't new. The Hydro had a Chinese chef in the 1920s and 1930s. Mark Foy was ahead of his time."

Neil Perry says it goes back even earlier, to Chinese migration in the mid 1800s. "We're part of Asia, and we love the food," says Perry who possesses the ultimate nod to the movement – a Chinese restaurant [Spice Temple].

Perry's Rockpool restaurant is often held up as a foundation stone of modern Australian cuisine. "Rockpool has a history of using master stock and stir-fry. We make our own soy and chilli paste. In many ways it is the most integrated Chinese fine dining in Australia," he says.