This ingredient with a 9000-year-old history is pulling queues at a fast-food kiosk

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Hoa Hung has crowd-generating power. People flocked to Hurstville when the tofu shop finally opened there in October – repeating the pattern set by the store’s original Belmore location and Cabramatta outpost. Sydney’s frenzied appetite for Hoa Hung’s soy milk, tofu puddings and golden bean curd is obvious from the constant queues. Alex Ly, who runs the business with cousin Kevin Ho, remembers when the Cabramatta location launched in 2024 and two customers attempted a divide-and-conquer strategy. One planned to wait it out; the other drove to the Belmore shop, more than 30 minutes away, for tofu. He returned to Cabramatta with his haul “and his friends still lining up”, says Ly.

It’s heartening how an ingredient with a 9000-year-old history is driving Hoa Hung’s popularity. Soy is key to many Asian dishes (from laksa’s bean curd puffs to blocks of agedashi tofu), but it’s sometimes dismissed as “bland” in Western contexts, and “soyboy” still thrives as an online insult. Hoa Hung is driven by Ho’s attitude-changing motivation: he wanted his vegetarian daughters to know how great tofu could be. Learning traditional methods in China, Vietnam and Japan helped him level up enormously. In 2011, Ly assisted his cousin by frying tofu and packing products as a high-school student; Hoa Hung’s production scale is now “100 times” bigger he says.

I had encountered so many people recommending Hoa Hung before I entered any of its shops. The loudest endorsement came from chef Omar Hsu. He worked at two-hatted Aria before launching his Ommi Don restaurants (now in Redfern and Chatswood), where he fills Taiwanese bento boxes with Hoa Hung’s excellent tofu. I’ve been anticipating Hoa Hung’s Hurstville opening since its March announcement.

The kiosk, inside a Westfield, has fast-food-style efficiency even though everything is artisanally prepared on site. “You can’t make good tofu using machines,” says Ly. “It’s all done by hand.” From soaking soybeans to frying curds until they puff, the process takes about nine hours and you can watch staff prep tofu before you buy pieces by the kilo. I’ve tried the plain blocks, which I’ve simply seasoned with soy sauce at home and tofu “chips” I’ve added to stir-fries. But the tofu triangles, which are so snackable and spongey, are my outright favourite. Eat them fresh out of the bag.

Hoa Hung’s grab-and-go set-up features soy bubble teas and desserts, too. Tangy passionfruit yoghurt with rainbow jelly is fun, as is the mango version with fruity pearls. Some drinks (strawberry soy milk; guava yoghurt with sakura pearls) come in colours reminiscent of my favourite primary school highlighters – stuff I loved as a kid, but my adult tastebuds prefer the matcha bubble tea with jammy red beans, and tofu pudding with black pearls and the dark, tannic hit of jasmine tea syrup.

The adult versus kid me divergence is strongest with Hoa Hung’s bestselling soy pudding with ginger syrup. At my grandma’s house, I’d watch vats of wobbly tofu being prepped for this dessert; as a kid, I rejected its soy blob and ginger sting. But nowadays, dipping a spoon into its refreshing, cloud-like curds is reviving. The ginger syrup has the intense sweetness of caramel, with a jagged left turn that’s menthol-sharp and spice-barbed with a lingering finish.

Kid-sized me also loved sweet soy milk at Vietnamese restaurants, but Hoa Hung’s hot version isn’t so sugary. It’s like drinking warm liquid popcorn. And that’s why I line up here: Hoa Hung transforms local soybeans into something worth savouring or sipping, and conveys it with all-ages charm.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.

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