Where are the Lemon Chickens?

Lemon Chicken while synonymous with traditional Australian Chinese Restaurants is not an authentic Chinese dish.

The Australian version, which usually is chicken with a coating of batter, fried and topped with viscous lemon sauce was created by the first major wave of Chinese migrants to suit western tastes.

By the turn of the 20th century with the general change of attitude towards foreign culture, popularity of Chinese cuisine was on the rise. These provided opportunities for Asian migrants to venture into Chinese Restaurant/Take-away businesses. Not long after, Chinese restaurants offering Guangdong/Cantonese cuisine can be found in most Australian suburbs and major cities.

Nowadays, these first-generation Chinese restaurants are considered old fashioned and out of touch. Shifts to healthy eating and new waves of Chinese restaurants offering other authentic regional Chinese cuisine like Szechuan, Fujian and Hunan provide more varieties and options than ever.

With business dwindling, the first- or second-generation owners are falling behind competition and keeping business afloat becomes increasingly harder. While the overall number of Chinese restaurants in Australia have increased over the last decade, traditional Cantonese restaurants/take-aways in contrast are in decline with closures one after another.

Time will tell if Lemon Chicken along with these old-school Chinese restaurants will be a distant memory. Or perhaps a more hopeful outlook – being revitalised by some venturesome soul to be the next big thing.