Chairman Mao restaurant relocating from Kensington to Potts Point

The curtain has come down at Chairman Mao, the celebrated Chinese restaurant on an inauspicious strip of Anzac Parade in Kensington.

The Chairman's pig ears and signature braised pork belly – which one reviewer described as "so indulgently wobbly it melts off your chopsticks" – propelled the restaurant to cult hit status a decade ago.

It was popular with a who's who of chefs, among them Neil Perry, who slid into a dining room of bold-coloured walls covered in propaganda posters.

Thankfully, Chairman Mao isn't slated for the same fate as its historic namesake, who was embalmed and left as a static reminder of history. Chairman Mao, the restaurant, has found new digs.

It will reopen in coming months at 8 Greenknowe Avenue, just off the restaurant-rich Macleay Street strip at Potts Point.

The restaurant's Hunanese menu, which balances hot, sweet and sour flavours through smoking, steaming and slow-cooking, will make the journey.

And word on the eat streets of Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay is the bare-boned original might make the great leap forward, with a few more luxury accoutrements second time around.