Creatives at Home: Nahji Chu in Her Kitchen
Take a look inside Misschu's kitchen in her Potts Point home and find out how she gets her creative juices flowing
In our new series, we get to know some of Australia’s talented creatives and the innovative spaces that allow them to let their imaginations run wild
Welcome to the kitchen of ‘The Queen of Rice Paper Rolls’. Situated on the second floor of her open and bright home in Potts Point, Sydney, Nahji Chu’s kitchen is not only a place for her to experiment with her own recipes at home but also a place to relax, entertain, host. You might recognise this space from our recent roundup on foodies around the world, read the full story below.
Creative Space at a Glance
Name: Nahji Chu
Age: 44
Occupation: Founder and Creative Director of Vietnamese tuckshops, Misschu
Location: Potts Point, Sydney, Australia
What’s made here: All types of cuisine, from Misschu recipes to pasta
Welcome to the kitchen of ‘The Queen of Rice Paper Rolls’. Situated on the second floor of her open and bright home in Potts Point, Sydney, Nahji Chu’s kitchen is not only a place for her to experiment with her own recipes at home but also a place to relax, entertain, host. You might recognise this space from our recent roundup on foodies around the world, read the full story below.
Creative Space at a Glance
Name: Nahji Chu
Age: 44
Occupation: Founder and Creative Director of Vietnamese tuckshops, Misschu
Location: Potts Point, Sydney, Australia
What’s made here: All types of cuisine, from Misschu recipes to pasta
Three years ago, Chu moved into the second and third floors of a three-storey Federation block. She runs the business from the second floor and uses the third floor for her living quarters, which she shares with George.
The kitchen is a bright and open space with all its original fixtures still intact. Open shelving provides Chu with plenty of space to store her crockery and pots. There’s also an opportunity to decorate here; interested in photography, she has pegged her favourite negatives at eye-level.
The kitchen is a bright and open space with all its original fixtures still intact. Open shelving provides Chu with plenty of space to store her crockery and pots. There’s also an opportunity to decorate here; interested in photography, she has pegged her favourite negatives at eye-level.
Cooking with fresh ingredients is very important to Chu. Vibrant green chillies are part of many dishes she prepares in the kitchen.
The open-plan kitchen features a beautiful dining table where dinner parties are often hosted. “I once had a ‘make-your-own rice paper roll party’ in here, where I laid all the ingredients out on the table and everyone had to build their own…it’s a great place for entertaining,” she says.
Above the dining table, Chu has decorated the original pendant light with more negatives. She also likes to place green apples and fresh herbs on the table which she says emit a lovely fragrance throughout the kitchen as they ripen.
Above the dining table, Chu has decorated the original pendant light with more negatives. She also likes to place green apples and fresh herbs on the table which she says emit a lovely fragrance throughout the kitchen as they ripen.
Being a rental, Chu kept most of the kitchen in its original condition, but added small updates including a curtain to cover the open pantry and a fresh lick of paint.
The tree trunk on top of the fridge isn’t the only one in her home. Chu says she enjoys having elements of nature surrounding her and often picks things up from the side of the street. This one wasn’t quite so heavy, but another larger trunk in the living room had to be lifted by three men into a truck to get it back to her home.
While Chu replicates some of her favourite recipes from the Misschu menu in her own home, she says she also loves to whip up Italian dishes. No matter which cuisine, it always has to be healthy and nutritious food; whipping up a vegan dish cooked in banana leaves before our interview.
The tree trunk on top of the fridge isn’t the only one in her home. Chu says she enjoys having elements of nature surrounding her and often picks things up from the side of the street. This one wasn’t quite so heavy, but another larger trunk in the living room had to be lifted by three men into a truck to get it back to her home.
While Chu replicates some of her favourite recipes from the Misschu menu in her own home, she says she also loves to whip up Italian dishes. No matter which cuisine, it always has to be healthy and nutritious food; whipping up a vegan dish cooked in banana leaves before our interview.
She is also one for roadside finds and has collected treasures throughout the years. “I found these beautiful crystal glasses on the side of the road during a hard rubbish collection,” she says. “You just wouldn’t be able to find glasses of this quality anywhere anymore.” She also found these beautiful Hermes cups during another day of pavement picking.
If there’s one element of the kitchen she wishes she could change, it’s the electric stovetop. “It’s really difficult to cook with and I need a wok flame most of the time,” she says.
To achieve this flame, Chu invested in a camper’s stove, which she says is one of her favourite kitchen appliances. “They’re really not expensive and can be easily stored, we used them at Betty Chu [Chu’s tuckshop in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney] to cook as we didn’t have the means for a built-in stovetop,” she says.
Chu’s other favourite kitchen appliance is her Breville juicer which she uses everyday as part of her morning routine, experimenting with different juice combos – it’s one thing she can’t live without.
George follows Chu around the home wherever she goes and never leaves her side in the kitchen, “he loves to watch me cook,” she says.
Chu has brought her steamer with her every time she’s moved.
Chu has brought her steamer with her every time she’s moved.
Another way Chu gets creative in her kitchen is with these DIY boat platters made from recycled paper and banana leaves. She regularly makes them for dinner parties to serve rice paper rolls to her guests and even uses them in the restaurant.
TELL US
How do you like to get creative in your own kitchen? Let us know in the Comments section.
MORE STORIES
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How do you like to get creative in your own kitchen? Let us know in the Comments section.
MORE STORIES
How to Nurture Your Creative Side at Home
14 Creative Home Studios Shared by Houzzers
Stickybeak of the Week: A Junk Room Gets a Crafty Makeover
Her career in food started as a one woman caterer from her then-home in Balmain in 2007. During this time, she specialised in making beautiful fast-paced Vietnamese meals for offices and events across the city. Her knowledge of Vietnamese cooking comes from her family who ran several Vietnamese restaurants across Melbourne where she grew up. She also picked up knowledge from her grandmother, who at one stage, cooked for the King of Laos.