sylvia weng-chung, played by rachel hiew, is introduced on 1 april as kathy mitchell's (gillian taylforth) waitress in her café. when ian beale's (adam woodyatt) catering business is closed down, his wife cindy (michelle collins) turns to kathy for help. kathy employs ian to work in her café, but as a result, she becomes overstaffed and is forced to fire sylvia in november 1993. sylvia is extremely angry and says several unpleasant things about kathy and her café before departing. sylvia's surname is never mentioned on screen, and only stated on her official cast card. this has caused some confusion as another character named mrs weng-chung worked in the café prior to her appearance.