Asian Fusion, A Forgone Conclusion – Mountain Top Chinese & Japanese Cuisine

Mountain Top Chinese & Japanese Cuisine is one of the best places on Mount Tamborine to sate one’s craving for Japanese, Chinese, or anything in between. Cindy You, manager, shares what she feels makes this sushi train and Chinese restaurant combo so unique— and so successful. 

by Kyle Hitchmough

 

How long have you been working here?

I have been the manager for almost two and a half years. In the beginning I had a part time job here as a uni student just doing two or three shifts a week. Then when I graduated, I became a full time manager. As I’m Asian and this is an Asian restaurant it’s easy to communicate with the kitchen staff, and also my English is not too bad, so I’m able to talk to the customers.

 Do you know how the restau rant got started?

The owner wanted to open a business. He’d been working in Asian restaurants for a while. He is Chinese and had a Japanese friend: they decided to work together to open a restaurant with both sushi and Chinese food. People love both of them, that was the idea of the business. The owner had been searching for a good place and the mountain had many good opportunities. It did not have much Asian food so they decided to open the shop here.

What do you think is the most popular dish?

Most kids prefer sushi. The adults normally prefer dining with Chinese food, but they like both, because the Chinese meals you can share with a friend, and the sushi is a small-sized snack. The most popular item in the whole shop I think is chicken, like katsu chicken or karaage chicken rice bowl. In one day we sell almost twenty bowls. For the Chinese part, sweet and sour pork or honey chicken are the best sellers. Every order includes them. Even me, working here for a long time, I still eat it. I love it.

What goes into your role as manager here?

Actually, running a restaurant is a lot of work. My main job is to make sure all the staff have reasonable shifts, because we have a lot of mountain kids.  Then I need to check all the storage, drinks, kitchen to make sure they don’t run out of ingredients. Sometimes I help make the sushi, too, but not often because we have another sushi chef. Other jobs are to check the food quality. It’s quite important. When we serve the food, I’m very focused on the food quality. All the dishes have to be perfect to serve them to a customer. I think that’s a manager’s most important job. I have a good relationship with customers. Because I’ve been working here a long time, they’re not just like customers, they’re like friends. Regular customers come here once a week, maybe twice. I know most of the younger kids, and all the time they are growing. It’s interesting. There are little kids you cannot see over the counter, and after a few months they are so much taller. Lots of the kids are customers here and also looking for jobs. A manager’s job is quite interesting, and challenges me every day.

Do you find there’s a typical kind of customer?

We get a lot of regular customers. Most are just the local people. I don’t think there’s any particular kind of usual customer, but 80% of the customers I know. They just come in so often that I know what they like and what they want.

Are you a local? What’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain community?

I’ve lived here for a while. I think we should have a bus that travels to some of the more important points. I know a lot of kids and elderly people who, if the community does not pick them up, they can’t go shopping. I think if we got a public bus that went around regularly, maybe hourly, I think it would be very convenient. Some of the kids are not able to drive. Some of my staff live on the mountain, and a drive is five minutes, but walking the same distance takes half an hour and can be quite dangerous. I would prefer it if we had a bus.

What’s your favourite thing about working here?

I quite enjoy my job here. The mountain people are much nicer than the people in the city. Most of the people in the city are a little bit fussy, I think. Mountain people understand each other. They don’t complain as much. They always support your business. I think people on the mountain support each other. They know that when times are hard it’s for everybody, not just for one or two people, and they help each other.

Do you have any standout experiences or interesting stories from your time here?

I had a customer come in and say “Hello Cindy! Can I order sweet and sour pork without pork?” “Without pork?” She just wanted the vegetables stir-fried with the sweet and sour sauce, she loves the sauce, but she is a vegetarian. I checked with the chef to make sure we can do that, that we can still fry the vegetables. We could and she got it, but when I got that order I thought it was quite funny.

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Or email the writer at kyle.hitchmough@hotmail.com, and follow me on Twitter @realcasualrvws.