Our Story

Our family’s journey begins across oceans — in Guangdong, China, and Papeete, Tahiti — and comes together in post-war Australia through food, family, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Kuen Cheng was born in 1922 in Guangdong. At just 16, he left China for Hong Kong, and during World War II he served as a cook in the U.S. Navy — reportedly even preparing meals for General Douglas MacArthur. After the war, ready to board a ship back to the U.S., a friend urged him to stay in Australia. “This is the land of opportunity,” they said — and he stayed.

Marjorie Lo, born in 1929, in Papeete, Tahiti, was raised in a proud Chinese-Tahitian family. Her parents ran a successful haberdashery and Chinese herbalist shop in Papeete, before relocating to Melbourne, where they opened a restaurant on Victoria Street in Richmond. Drawing on generations of knowledge, they established a dumpling-making kitchen using traditional techniques and family recipes — helping shape the area’s now-iconic Chinese food culture. Marjorie helped run the restaurant while raising five children, as Kuen worked tirelessly crafting the dim sims that would one day become famous across generations.

Circa 1947 – 1948, Kuen was making dim sims by hand during the day and night and selling them from a cart near the Caulfield Racecourse, outside the local pub, on race days.

Those early years were incredibly demanding. Kuen held a job at the restaurant, while also hand making dim sims in his own time, transporting them, setting up under the most basic conditions and packing up after a long days trade— it was physically exhausting. But Kuen’s drive and belief in what he was offering never wavered.

Eventually, in 1949, Kuen started peddling at the South Melbourne Market, there he was offered a stall at the South Melbourne Market. It was a humble setup — sheltering under a simple plank of wood from the rain, with very basic facilities. But despite these challenges, the delicious dim sims drew many customers. Over time and through generations, Kuen’s Dim Sim’s reputation grew, and enjoying a dimmie became a beloved tradition for families visiting the market. and the dim sim became synonymous with South Melbourne.
As the business grew, so did the family’s vision. One by one, their five children stepped in — not just to help, but to build. Each brought their own strengths to the table: from production to logistics, from customer service to expanding into new markets. With the same dedication and attention to quality passed down from their parents, they worked together to transform a once humble dumpling into a beloved household name across Victoria and beyond.
What began as one man’s recipe and a roadside cart has become a proudly family-run legacy — driven by love, community, and the belief that good food brings people together.

From hand-rolled beginnings to a family-run legacy — Marjorie Lo and Kuen Cheng passed on more than a recipe. Their five children carry their vision forward, keeping the tradition alive in every dim sim.

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