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Chinese Restaurants in Sydney


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This is a direct challenge/dare for Shalmanese... don't know why I"m picking on him, but I am... :biggrin:

Dude, can you whiz thru a sydney dining guide and pick out what you think are 'good' chinese restaurants???

Ugh, sorry PCL, I don't own a copy of the dining guide (or any dining guide for that matter). I only eat out maybe 1/2 a dozen times a year. I generally find when I go out that I either end up extremely disappointed with my meal or extremely poor, often both :(.

PS: I am a guy.

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I generally find when I go out that I either end up extremely disappointed with my meal or extremely poor, often both :(.

Smell and taste are in fact but a single composite sense, whose laboratory is the mouth and its chimney the nose. - Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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  • 4 months later...
BBQ King for me, was greasy. Greasy. Greasy. And I got the message, loud and clear.

I've just spent a few days in Sydney, and I went to BBQ King for lunch. I just ordered one of those mixed roasts with rice. The roast duck was dreadful with the meat having a floury texture and the flavour wasn't that great. The sweet roast pork was okay, but a little bit too sweet.

Nonetheless, Sydney's Chinatown craps all over Melbourne's. I stayed at the Carlton Crest, and , I found this little group of 3 or 4 Chinese food shops just a couple of minutes walk from the hotel (apologies for not remembering the street names). The food looked great, but I only managed to get to one of them. IIRC, it was called Tai Pei Food or Tai Wan food or something like that. It was packed full, it was very cheap, and it was delicious.

Daniel Chan aka "Shinboners"
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Interesting observation about food shops in Sydney's Chinatown. I'm in Hong Kong at the moment, kind of Chinese food'ed out... check out the Chinese forum soon for some observations of HK dining if interested.

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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Nonetheless, Sydney's Chinatown craps all over Melbourne's.  I stayed at the Carlton Crest, and , I found this little group of 3 or 4 Chinese food shops just a couple of minutes walk from the hotel (apologies for not remembering the street names).  The food looked great, but I only managed to get to one of them.  IIRC, it was called Tai Pei Food or Tai Wan food or something like that.  It was packed full, it was very cheap, and it was delicious.

The noodle joint I mentioned earlier in the thread is right next to Carlton Crest. Not with the little cluster of chinese places but on the right side of the road as you turn left from the hotel. Try it next time your in Sydney.

PS: I am a guy.

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The noodle joint I mentioned earlier in the thread is right next to Carlton Crest. Not with the little cluster of chinese places but on the right side of the road as you turn left from the hotel. Try it next time your in Sydney.

Thanks for that bit of info. I'll give it a try the next time I'm up in Sydney.

Just going off topic for a little bit, there was a Japanese place that was also near the Carlton Crest - I would have loved to given it a try, but it was so damn busy. It was on a corner, a tiny place, but packed. On Sussex Street, there was another Japanese place....it had a very cool interior. I don't know the name of the place, but most of the dining room was to the left of the door, there was the front desk, and a few tables on the right hand side. Again, it was cheap, the place was full, and the one time I ate there, the food was very good.

Daniel Chan aka "Shinboners"
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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree that Sydney does better daytime Chinese than Melbourne (and I think the Flower Drum is pretty overrated, for all that). Speaking of overrated: BBQ King. What's up with that? It hasn't been good for years. If you want good barbecue, check out the little places on Campbell between George and Pitt or, better still, Emperor's Garden Barbecue on Thomas. They've got a pork butchery attached to the restaurant, and they do the best Chinese roast, suckling and barbecue pork in town.

Still in Chinatown, I think the vaunted Chinese Noodle Restaurant has been a bit blah lately, but I'm really digging China Noodle King, on George just down towards the city from Railway Square. What it lacks in atmos (ie everything; no plastic grapes hanging from the ceiling here) it makes up for with interesting Northwestern Chinese. The Xi'an noodles are good, as are the dumplings.

Red Chilli continues to rock my world, too. It's my favourite Sichuan in Sydney. Definitely have the "Deep Fired Chicken Dice with Very Hot and Spicy Dried Chilli"; not real hot, but certainly moreish. I'm yet to see better Ma Po tofu in Australia, the beef hotpot is suitably cauldronish, while the vegetable dishes are mostly outstanding. The preserved egg salad with green chilli is pretty as hell, there's a great steamed eggplant dish, and the pumpkin in salted duck egg yolk makes this vegetable worth eating. For once.

Still digging late-night pork and preserved egg congee at Golden Century, and still hitting the Marigold, East Ocean and Zilver (nee Silver Spring) for yum cha.

Beyond Chinatown is another post (or thread) entirely. What I'd really like to see in Sydney, though, is something like T-Chow or Ying Chow in Adelaide. There's a real paucity of non-Cantonese in this city, and if you're thinking Chiu Chow, forget it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Golden Century is about 1 block from BBQ king and mops the floor with it. BBQ king is for punters, I'm sorry. Golden Century has one of, if not the best, seafood selection going if you can afford it. Steer clear of the abalone and leave it to the wealthy chinese. GO for the Sichuan Mud Crab or Black Bean Mud Crab - about a 1-1.5 kg crab is a decent size.

Also scallops in the shell with ginger and shallots are great. Or a steamed fich like Rock Cod. Delicious.

Even the 'westernised' chinese dishes like mongolian lamb, etc., are superior. Oh and their Peking duck is as good as any in China town.

Plus they are open til around 4 AM on weekends - no better destination after getting tanked at a Sydney bar.

In terms of non-traditional Billy Kwong in Surry Hills is great and there is another small restaurant called Mahjong Room on Crown St Surry Hills which is very nice too.

If Longrain is Chinese then Tetsuya's is mexican. LOL.

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  • 3 months later...

How has this thread managed not to mention the Cabramatta area in South-West Sydney? Although Cabramatta is mainly a Vietnamese area, there are many ethnic Chinese among the Vietnamese, and that is reflected in the Cabramatta restaurants also. I think the choice is almost as great as in Sydney Chinatown, much less expensive and more authentic.

Problems:

* it is a bit of an excursion, about 1 hour by train

* beware of the drug dealers, but it is safe otherwise, unless you are a local shopkeeper and therefore need Mafia "protection".

In conclusion, go during the daytime and you will be fine.

It buzzes especially on Sundays, when other surrounding places are closed.

I won't recommend any particular restaurants. Just look where there are many Chinese customers.

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I've just returned from experiencing 4 days of Sydney restaurants.

Billy Kwong's was the absolute sensation. No bookings taken, but we went early Monday evening and were seated immediately. Back-less stools for seating which we thought would be a problem, but we became so focussed on the fabulous food that we didn't notice. Excellent, knowledgable and kind service. First rate ingredients. We will remember the steamed oysters and crispy skinned duck forever.

Kylie was at the table next to us experimenting with all kinds of interesting looking off-the-menu dishes. It's kind of nice seeing the owner-chef keeping such a direct eye on the place and continually working on her menu.

I don't agree about calling it "non-traditional". It's very Chinese. It's just that there isn't a hint of a crap bottled sauce or cornstarch thickener in sight.

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  • 1 year later...
Speaking of cheap eats, if you ever find yourself in the Haymarket, walk down quay street for a bit an theres an excellent hole-in-the-wall Xiamen noodle shop. They hand pull their noodles everyday and it's a great cheap eat in an area which seems to be rather devoid of decent food.

Rather delayed here, but what's the name?

As for my own recommendations, I quite like New Shanghai restaurant and Shanghai Night -apparently they're sister restaurants which I believe considering the menus are identical. New Shanghai, however, is newly furnished and appears much more hygienic.

Musings and Morsels - a film and food blog

http://musingsandmorsels.weebly.com/

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