Objectors argue it does not suit the character of the oldest Chinatown in Australia. “What I am proposing effectively is to plant some trees and put chairs around it and eat and drink under a tree in the city,” Mr Salt says. Maz Salt in the vacant lot he wants to transform into an open-air restaurant. Credit:Eddie Jim “It will have food and wine – it will be a much more sedate version of Section 8. This is going from a vacant car park to a park with trees. It’s a fantastic use of space. I don’t think there is any reason why a modern Chinatown can’t have a variety of design.” Melbourne City Council has received 18 objections to the proposal, with restaurants coming out against it including Shark Fin House, Westlake, Crystal Jade, Ants Bistro and the iconic Flower Drum.

Many objectors are concerned the open air venue, which would cater for up to 250 people, would become a noisy haven for drinkers and smokers. “It will be a nightmare for me to run a restaurant,” says Martin Chan, whose Shark Fin House is opposite the site. Martin Chan believes the development will hurt his restaurant business. Credit:Simon Schluter But with Chinatowns facing change and gentrification the world over, the key issue for consideration, according to a Melbourne City Council report, is “the appropriateness of the built form within the existing heritage context”. Local businessman David Yu is not directly impacted by the proposal. But as a Chinese Australian, Mr Yu is proud of the “history, elegance and quirkiness” of Chinatown, which unlike many major tourist strips around Australia had retained its character and integrity.

Mr Yu says Asian traders are often culturally reluctant to complain and don’t always know how to object. “I have been here 30 years, I don’t want Chinatown to be destroyed. You wouldn’t put that in the Paris end of Collins Street – why would you put it in Chinatown?” There's been a Chinatown in Melbourne for more than 150 years. Credit:The Age In 1868, after Victoria's heady gold rush, Australian author Marcus Clarke wrote that one half of Little Bourke Street was “not Melbourne but China”. “It is as though some djinn or genie had taken up a handful of houses from ... one of the Celestial cities and flung them down, inhabitants and all, in the Antipodes,” he wrote in The Argus.

One hundred and fifty years later Chinatown still has a distinctive character. The Chinese lantern-festooned precinct is crammed with Asian restaurants with fish tanks, dumpling houses, small bars and red neon signs. A grocery store sells durians and lurid green pandan gelato to homesick international students. There’s the Venetian Gothic revival-style Chinese Mission of the Epiphany. Even the ANZ branch has lion guardian statues in its window. Asian groceries sold in Chinatown. Credit:Scott McNaughton But not everything in the precinct is Asian – there’s a Target, an ugg boot shop and a Vintage Cellars for example. Melbourne City Council’s urban design team says “overall, we are very supportive of and excited by the proposal” for the new venue.

. Credit:Matt Golding The council’s heritage adviser says the outdoor restaurant – which is described as “effectively a pop-up” – would not have a negative effect on the heritage character or cultural significance of the precinct. The adviser acknowledges the character of its canopy, steel mesh fence and planting is “evidently not the same character” as that of the surrounding brick Victorian and Edwardian buildings. However the report notes the existing vacant lot has no heritage value and the proposal would make a “positive contribution” to the street. Some councillors, who will vote on the planning application on Tuesday night, disagree but say their hands are tied.

“I agree it would detract from the Chinese vibe but we can’t refuse a permit if it complies with the planning scheme,” one councillor tells The Age. “It’s going to be very tricky.”