Peacock Gardens celebrates 40 years

It was the birth year for the mood ring and Sony Betamax, but 1975 also marked the debut for one of the great stayers of Sydney restaurant menus. It was the year Sydney first bit into the ubiquitous lettuce-encased sang choy bow with the opening of Peacock Gardens in Crows Nest.

Owner Matthew Chan says he ate the dish in Hong Kong before being packed off to boarding school in Albury in the early 1960s. Chan claims to be the first to serve it in Sydney, changing the recipe from pigeon to minced pork because he didn't believe 1970s Sydneysiders would order it.

Peacock Gardens notches up 40 years on December 1 and will offer a banquet menu featuring some of its classics. Chan was early to meet Sydney's budding appetite for Chinese food products, also setting up a fortune cookie factory in the decade of disco.