Chopstick schtick: What’s not to like about a Chinese restaurant with a mini-golf course?

When Chinese-Australian writer and comedian Jennifer Wong heard about a Chinese restaurant in Horsham that had traded for almost half a century and boasted a mini-golf course, she had to visit. It became one of the establishments featured in her upcoming book Chopsticks or Fork? A celebration of Australia’s regional Chinese diners and their quirky characters.

“Instantly, it’s like, well, how can we not do that? It’s begging for attention,” she says. “This place also had its own ‘Great Wall of Horsham’ that the owner built, and an entire Chinese garden inspired by Suzhou in China; it was epic!”

The book, co-written with Lin Jie Kong, follows the pair’s ABC TV show of the same name and includes new road trips the COVID-19 lockdowns previously thwarted.

The book is just one of many projects Wong has on the go – she’s bringing her food-themed stand-up show, The Sweet and Sour Hour of Power, back to the Chatswood Concourse in October and is hosting FEAST at the Sydney Fringe Festival.

The latter event includes dinner for each audience member while Wong’s guests (comics Michael Hing and Frida Deguise, broadcaster Happy Feraren and author Benjamin Law) recount tales of growing up on classics like Mongolian lamb and deep-fried ice-cream.

Wong says having creative outlets across different mediums is partly a reality of working in the relatively small arts scene in Australia, but it’s also satisfying. “They’re all about the same thing in the end, entertaining an audience and maybe showing them something they hadn’t seen or considered before and making them feel connected or less lonely.”

Food is a constant theme. She’s long been fascinated by how the way we eat gets woven into memories. “What we eat when we’re little stays with us,” she says. “All our senses are alive when we think about the colour of the curtains, the way the light falls into the room, that kind of thing.

“For people who grew up in regional Australia, they go into the Chinese restaurant when they’re a kid, and it might often be the only restaurant in town. And not only is that a novelty, but often the decor is really memorable and just so different from a typical Australian living room.”

Visiting these community hubs brought home how many Australians mark the milestones of their lives there. At South Australia’s Gawler Palace Chinese Restaurant, she asked a group gathered for a 21st celebration when they had last visited the restaurant. For most of them, it was the previous week when there was a big 18th birthday party.

These days, it’s important to Wong to celebrate community in her work and to inject levity into her projects. In 2018, she was hospitalised with depression and lost her love of performing. It took her some time to get back into the swing of live shows. “But coming back has reminded me how much I love performing and getting to spend time with an audience.”

One way she keeps her comedy upbeat and playful is by including a range of thigh-slapping puns (she recently suggested the best food for Malaysian grandparents is “Hi Nan” chicken). She first became interested in wordplay as a kid. “In Chinese, we have a lot words that sound the same, but mean different things, so that’s been drilled into me ever since I knew what sentences and words were.

“Sometimes, we have to think of very serious things and make very serious decisions. And other times we just feel like, ‘Oh, that word sounds the same; how amusing!’

She’ll often make a pun on stage and her audience will groan knowingly, or she’ll drop some wordplay on social media and her followers will respond with their own puns.

“It’s just so silly, but it’s a connection and an invitation to play, and adults don’t get to play enough.”

Feast: Chopsticks or Fork? is at Hurstville Library, September 19. Chopsticks or Fork? is out through Hardie Grant on September 3.

Five other comedy shows to see at Sydney Fringe: (all Factory Theatre)

Demi Lardner: Hot Stink From Bag
Lardner recently crushed her support slot for legendary alt comic Maria Bamford, where her typically bonkers set included the weirdest version of the Macarena you’ve ever seen, a phone call with her Dad and some self-penned erotica. A previous nominee for best show at Edinburgh Fringe, Lardner is an endlessly creative oddball.
September 26 to 29

Nick Sun: Things I Think About While I Lay Awake at Night
A legend returns. One of Sydney comedy’s ultimate cult figures, Sun has recently rejoined the circuit after taking seven years off to study as a shaman. His experimental approach explodes the idea of what stand-up can be.
September 28 to 29

Community Notice Board
This cult podcast is based on a simple but cracking idea: old mates Alex White, Jamie Kirk and Drew Bensley get together with a comedian friend for a freewheeling conversation on where their guest grew up, with a focus on the questionable drinking holes and eccentric local characters. The likes of Luke Heggie and Bec Charlwood have appeared on the show, which they’re taping live for the first time this festival.
September 7 to 8

Harry Jun & Jamal Abdul
One of the fringe’s staples is the double-bill, with roughly half an hour of new material each from two comics. Here, you’ll see Jun, a rising star with a warm, cheeky stage presence and Abdul, whose punchy stories of living with blindness have real freshness.
September 18 to 20

Fabiola Valtolina: Emotionally Intense
One of the joys of Sydney Fringe Comedy is seeing fresh talents make the jump from short club spots to their first full hour. They don’t get much fresher than Valtolina, who is only a few months into her comedy journey but has a natural facility for fish-out-of-water stories and observations.
September 11 to 13

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.