Grace and Steve Lau of the - Supper Inn
March 1997
Steve Lau and his daughter Grace
Photograph Tony Knox © 1997
In the kitchen, constancy of staff is even stronger. There is, of course, John, the co-owner with Grace's father, a younger brother, Can, the roast meat specialist, as well as a core of staff who have been at Supper Inn for more than ten years.
And this explains the wonderful consistency of the food at Supper Inn. It boasts one of the biggest menus in Chinatown (with over 200 dishes) and the dishes are always cooked the same way. Specials are introduced regularly and there are some ingredients (oysters, quail and live lobster) used now which did not feature twenty years ago. The food is mainly Cantonese, with an emphasis on traditional supper dishes (notably the congee - rice porridge) and a number of special dishes which, Grace describes as being, upmarket hawker style
The first of the Lau family came out in the gold rush and then travelled back and forth to China. Steve first came here 30 years ago and started to work, as a student, at the Victoria Market. He then worked in various Chinese restaurants before establishing The Supper Inn.
It was the first of its kind in Melbourne, a place which served freshly cooked food from 5.30pm until 3am, sometimes later. It was not really busy at the beginning because Australians were not used to late dinners but with the increase in the Asian community supper has become very popular now. Certainly it sustained us, after finishing in our restaurant as it has many of our staff and others in the hospitality and entertainment industry. You can usually spot someone famous from one of those worlds at The Supper Inn. Singers from Opera Australia, Vika and Linda Bull, cooking teacher and Chinatown identity, Elizabeth Chong, actors Ruth Cracknell and Garry McDonald, Denise Drysdale, Phil Ceberano and many others. We brought Ralph Willis, our former Treasurer, to crack his first King Island Crab here.
Steve and Grace have seen so many people over the years. But the regulars are always remembered and the children who have grown up at The Supper Inn's tables over the past 20 years. In that time not much has changed except the brick walls are now lined with timber boards and a lobster tank was put in. Tables were cut down in size so more could be added allowing seats for 90 upstairs and downstairs about 25.
That makes a lot of people in Melbourne who will be wishing Grace, Steve, John, Can and all the staff at The Supper Inn, to continue and prosper at Celestial Alley for another twenty years. The Supper Inn is at 15 Celestial Avenue.
Mietta O'DonnellPublished 25/3/97 in the Herald Sun Food & Drink Supplement
©Mietta's 1997