Taste of Xi’an (西安风味) is a nice and clean Chinese restaurant serving up Xi’an favourites in the middle of the Wollongong CBD. I arrived in scrubs on a Saturday morning (borrowed from my girlfriend, having forgotten to bring clothes from Sydney) and was greeted in friendly Chinese. I responded in kind, but to the disappointment of everyone (including, I imagine, my parents) had to order in English.

The Five Spicy Egg ($1.30) is a low cost boiled egg, with a slightly cracked shell that promotes the absorbance of tea, soy sauce and spices. This particular egg had absorbed a good amount of tea scent, but its absorbance of soy sauce flavour or saltiness could’ve been greater. It was fully hard boiled.

The Xi’an Style Pork Burger ($6 – roujiamo) is a sandwich of long-stewed pork in bread. Legend has it that this particular dish is one of humanity’s original hamburgers. I enjoyed the fragrant flavours of the meat, as well as the generous meat to bread ratio. The addition of some fatty meat within the mixture of mostly lean pork added a nice juiciness to some bites. My last roujiamo was at least three years ago in Hurstville, and thus I cannot compare this directly with any others that I have had.

The Pork Minced Noodles with Soup ($11) was nice, umami, and warming. The noodles had a pleasant “Q”like texture, and I suspect though have not confirmed that they are handmade on site, The soup was nice and moist, and synergised well with the roujiamo. I have read online commentors complain about the quantity of meat (though to too little) and soy sauce (thought to be too much) in this noodle dish, though I think both are quite appropriate, as someone who enjoys meat and dislikes too heavily flavoured foods. This noodle bowl straddles the line well. In terms of greenery, this bowl offers some undisclosed leaves, as well as a quantity of peas, and diced carrot and potato, in a manner reminiscent of a supermarket frozen diced vegetable mix, though surprisingly not to its detriment. Not bad.
COMMENTS
I will return for the dumplings at a later date.
Taste of Xi’an (西安风味)
230 Crown St, Wollongong NSW 2500