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EMPEROR PUFFS SYDNEY – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW GUIDE

INSIDE: Roam the Gnome’s Guide to Emperor Puffs, the Best Cream Puffs in Sydney!

Wondering where to buy cream puffs? 

There’s a little secret spot smack bang in the centre of Sydney’s Chinatown where you can find the sweet treat that will make one of your childhood dreams come true!

The vibrant Chinatown Bakery, the Emperor’s Garden Sydney, is located at the Paddy’s Market end of the Chinatown Mall.

This is the home of the Cream Puff, a ball of dough filled with sugary custard and piped into a giant waffle-maker style “Emperor Puffs” machine to cook to perfection.

The BEST CREAM PUFFS in Sydney are the EMPERORS PUFFS!

Read our guide below for details on how to find them and when to go to avoid the queues.  

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, we may receive a small commission at NO extra cost to you.

photo - emperor puffs sydney with Roam the Gnome

Guide to Emperor Puffs Sydney

The Emperor’s Garden Cake shop in Sydney is your one-stop shop for mouth-watering cakes and bakery goods originating from China.

Find the bright neon sign outside the Emperor’s Puffs Sydney – it says Emperor’s Garden Cakes and Bakery.

(It’s on the left as you face away from Paddy’s Market, and just a few metres walk into the mall).

When you find that, there’s a little HOLE-IN-THE-WALL serving window to the left.

This is Chinatown EMPERORS PUFFS, the secret place where you find all this golden deliciousness. 

Hot tip: Look for the LONG single file queue of people lining up outside Emperor’s Puffs Haymarket. The person at the front of the queue is standing at the window to be served. It won’t be long until you are in that prime position too! 


BOOK NOW: Visiting Sydney? Take a Sydney Harbour Cruise to Taronga Zoo & Ride the Sky Safari too!

photo - emperor puffs sydney line up

Emperor Puffs Chinatown Sydney – Open daily

The Emperor’s Cream Puffs shop in Chinatown is open from 12pm daily for Childhood Magic!

Buy one Emperors Cream Puff for 60c.

Or buy a takeaway container full of Emperor Cream Puffs.

$5 for 10 balls of custardy deliciousness.

**Prices updated Feb 2023, thanks to a fabulous reader who let me know. Ta! 

photo - emperor puffs Machine

The Emperor Cream Puff Machine

Eat them hot so they POP

… and fill your mouth with warm sweet vanilla custard, so full you can’t talk.

image - emperor custard puffs sydney custard filled

Just like the Enchanted Wood!

The “POP” sensation of these cream puffs Sydney style, takes me straight back to childhood, and all those late nights reading The Enchanted Wood, when I would dream of joining Jo, Beth and Fanny on their food adventures (ahhh, POP cakes!) with Silky, Moonface and the Saucepan Man.

“Silky was pleased. She sat there brushing her beautiful golden hair and ate sandwiches with them.

She brought out a tin of Pop Cakes, which were lovely.

As soon as you bit into them they went pop! and you suddenly found your mouth filled with new honey from the middle of the little cakes.

Fanny took seven, one after another, for she was rather greedy.”

The Enchanted Wood, Enid Blyton

Try them for yourself to see if you conjure up the same memory!


RELATED: Ultimate List of the Best Things to do in Sydney with Kids

photo - emperor puffs sydney - watching puffs being made

The Emperor Puffs machine in action

Emperors Cream Puffs Chinatown Sydney

Egg Puff, Custard Puff or Cream Puff?

While the consensus among the team at Roam the Gnome is that we’d call them Chinatown Custard Puffs, it seems the preferred name is Cream Puff.

But people also search for: 

  • Custard Puffs Chinatown Sydney
  • Custard Balls Chinatown
  • Chinese Cream puffs
  • Chinese Custard Puffs

I definitely wouldn’t call the custard inside a ‘cream’ but there you go. 

Join the queue for these Chinatown cream puffs – it moves quickly.


BOOK NOW: Take your kids to Luna Park with an UNLIMITED RIDES PASS! 

photo - emperor puffs sydney Ned stuffing his mouth

A mouth full!

THE INSIDE SCOOP: Emperor’s Garden Sydney Cakes and Bakery

Correct at time of publication on Roam the Gnome. Please check with venue for updates. We apologise in advance if there have been any changes we are unaware of. All prices in AUD dollars, unless otherwise stated

Address: Emperor Puffs Haymarket can be found at Emperor’s Garden Bakery, 75 Dixon St, Haymarket. It’s next to the popular Emperors Garden restaurant. 
Telephone: (02) 9281 5989

image - chinatown custard puffs ned and holly

Emperor Puffs Sydney Hours

Looking for the Emperor Puffs Chinatown opening hours? 

Opening hours: 12pm lunchtime, until late. 

photo - emperor puffs chinatown sign

Emperors Puffs Haymarket

This is the current price of the Chinatown Puff at Emperors Garden Sydney. 

  • 1 Emperor’s Cream Puff for 35c.
  • 3 Emperors Puffs for $1 
  • 18 Emperors Cream Puffs for $5

NB: Please let us know if you find the price of these Chinatown puffs has changed. Email: [email protected]

photo - emperor puffs sydney Jack custard eating

How to get to Chinatown in Sydney

First, find your way to Chinatown Sydney.

Next, specific instructions for how to find Emperors Garden from Chinatown are below. 

By Train: 

  • Take the train to Central railway station, then walk 15 minutes downhill to Chinatown, or board the light rail service from Central to Haymarket, just outside Chinatown. 

By Bus:

  • Take the Sydney Explorer bus to Chinatown. Disembark at stop number 17.

By Car: Click here to enter your current destination and get directions to Chinatown

photo - emperor puffs sydney cream puffs in container

Cream Puffs Chinatown Parking 

  • There’s some paid street parking in the Haymarket area if you are lucky enough to find a spot.
  • Find secure parking at one of the parking stations around Chinatown and near Paddy’s market. Try Market City in Sydney here.

Hot tip: Book the parking garages in advance to score a discount.  You can also enter after peak hour to save money. 

paddys market chinatown sydney by brian giesen

Image credit: Brian Giesen via Flickr CC BY-2.0

How to get to Emperors Garden Sydney from Market City

It’s a two minute walk from Paddy’s market at Haymarket to Emperors Garden.

From the main entrance of Paddy’s market, walk along the pathway to the pedestrian crossing at Thomas street.

Cross the road, then turn left onto Hay Street. Walk 70 metres along Hay street, then turn right into Dixon Street. 

The shop is on your left, about 50 metres along. 

hay street chinatown by philip mallis

Image credit: Philip Mallis via Flickr CC BY-2.0

How to get to Emperors Garden from Darling Harbour

How far is Chinatown from Darling Harbour?  It’s 1km between Chinatown and Darling Harbour. It’s an easy walk. 

From Darling Harbour playground, walk towards the Chinese Garden of Friendship.

Turn left after the gardens onto Darling Drive.

Walk until you hit Pier Street/Harbour street intersection.  

Turn right and walk along Harbour street.

Follow it around the corner onto Hay street.

Turn left into Dixon street.

The cream puffs Chinatown shop is on the left, 50 metres along. 

Emperor’s Garden Map

MORE Things to Do in Chinatown Sydney 

Planning a visit to buy Chinatown Sydney custard puffs?

Make a day of it with these top 5 things to do after your Emporer Puffs treat.

darling harbour playground climbing nets pic 800

No.1: Play at the Darling Harbour playground

Grab a tub of Emporor puffs and wander over to The Children’s Playground at Darling Quarter called Tumbalong Park Playground (pictured above)

This playground at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour is the spot for HOURS of fun and water play.

Bring towels, and a change of clothes for the kids.

The water playground is super fun, with:

  • moats, and
  • channels, and
  • dams to direct the flow of water. 

Hot tip: Go early.

This Sydney playground gets VERY VERY busy! 

paddys market sydney

No.2: Paddys Markets at Market City

Visit Paddy’s Markets at Chinatown.

The kids love the dress ups and seeing all the new onesies designs, and choosing a fresh ipad cover from one of the many phone stalls.

Look out for the wig shops – they are rib-tickling fun for the whole family!

Want to know where to eat in Sydney with kids?

There’s a fabulous food court in Market City upstairs.

It’s great for a budget lunch in Sydney before stuffing yourself with Emporers puffs . 

Check opening hours of Paddy’s Markets here

chinese gardens sydney by wyncliffe PD

Image credit: Wyncliffe via Flickr CC BY-1.0

No.3: Visit the Teahouse at the Chinese Garden of Friendship

Visit the Teahouse at the Chinese Garden of Friendship at Pier Street in Darling Harbour to see the Walled Chinese garden featuring:

  • pavilions
  • exotic plants
  • ponds &
  • waterfalls.

The Garden was designed in 1986 by landscape architects and gardeners from Sydney’s sister city, Guangzhou.

The design was founded on the Taoist principles of ‘Yin-Yang’  and ‘Wu-Xing’, making the park an unexpected quiet oasis in the middle of Sydney city for a bit of post-playground solitude and serenity. 

According to Wikipedia, Yin Yang is:

“a concept of dualism, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.”

In simple terms, it means harmonising polar opposites and finding the balance between things such as light and dark, fire and water, and expanding and contracting. 

Wu Xing is the harmonious combination of the five elements:

  • wood
  • fire
  • earth
  • metal, and
  • water

This Sydney park is easily accessible by:

  • train (a 10 minute walk from Central and Town Hall stations)
  • ferry
  • bus
  • light rail

Or you can park your car securely within Darling Harbour itself. 

image - yum chat by pexels-mackenzie-ryder

Image credit: Mackenzie Ryder via Pexels

No.4: Yum Cha in Sydney

Eat the best Yum Cha in Sydney at Marigold Citymark

The Marigold Restaurant has been delighting Sydney-based foodies and visitors with Cantonese cuisine for 39 YEARS! 

Find over 100 varieties of dim sums, including these popular ones:

  • Prawn dumplings
  • Pork dim sum
  • garlic chive and prawn dumpling
  • spinach and prawn dumpling
  • snow pea leaf and prawn dumpling
  • steamed barbecue pork bun
  • baked barbecue pork bun
  • vegetarian or chicken spring roll
  • deep fried prawn toast
  • sesame prawn rolls
  • pork sparerib with black bean
  • chicken feet (yes!) with garlic and chilli
  • deep fried squid with spicy salt
  • poached seasonal green in oyster sauce
  • stir fried noodle in superior soy sauce
  • honey glazed barbecued pork
  • chinese roast duck

Don’t forget these sweet treats too: 

  • flaky egg tart
  • mango pancake 

(Book before you go. It’s popular)

capitol theatre sydney

Image credit: Anastasia Kotycheva via Wikipedia CC BY-1.0

No.5: Book a Matinee Performance at the Capitol Theatre

Sydney’s historic Capitol Theatre plays host to:

  • world class musicals
  • ballet, and
  • opera​.

Catch a matinee performance of the latest musical at the Capitol Theatre.   

(Hot tip: Look out for the showing of CINDERELLA!) 

This theatre is one of Sydney’s most elegant buildings, having been designed by the council architect, George McRae who also designed the QVB building.

It’s definitely one of our favourite historical buildings in Sydney town and if you are in town, you definitely need to see the beauty inside. 

This heritage listed theatre was built in 1892 and completed in 1928.  

It began life as the New Belmore Markets.  

But in 1916, the building was converted to a hippodrome for the Wirth Bros circus. 

It even had a specially designed concrete water tank for performances by seals and polar bears! 

Yes. 

In Sydney city!

Fun fact: This tank still exists but is covered by the new floor.

PIN emperors puff sydney

Toadstool Rating – Emperors Cream Puff Sydney

Sadly, the Emperor Puffs recipe is a well guarded secret so you’ll have to make the trek to eat them hot off the skillet. 

emperor puffs review

Looking for More Things to Do in Sydney This Weekend?

Click the blue links for more Sydney city attractions


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