Category: Chinese

Categories
Chinese Fast Food

Chick Joy – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve always wanted to try orange chicken, made famous by Panda Express of California, but I’d never seen it on a Chinese restaurant menu until now. Though orange chicken wasn’t anywhere near Chick Joy’s best sellers, and was in fact not mentioned at all in online reviews, I knew I had to take the rare opportunity presented to me to live out my dream.

It turns out that the orange crispy fried chicken (8 pieces for $15) was really just generically fried chicken with a separate orange sauce to be lathered on by the eater. Though initially an underwhelming concept, I guess this does make sense as it gives control over how much of the sticky sweet sauce is desired.

While I had expected “8 pieces of chicken” to consist of perhaps the classically known half-bird with all its different pieces, what actually came (and what in retrospect was clearly pictured in the menu photographs) was 8 semi-identical drummettes. Whilst this was a bit of a disappointment, I must admit that the drummettes provided were tasty and crispy, I think previously par-fried and then re-fried to order.

The orange sauce was sweet and sticky and really not that orangey – more of a sweeter version of a sweet and sour sauce, but not bad and good to try once.

I think that if these guys actually had a half bird divided into thigh, wing, breast, and drumstick pieces then they might be onto something real.

I will list this restaurant as Chinese as the middle-aged man manning the fryer had to get his son or colleague to take my order in English.

Chick Joy
Burwood Chinatown Shop, 7A ground floor 127/133 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
Chinese Groceries

Lucky Dumplings 品质王 饺 – Grocery Review

Don’t tell any of my local Chinese restaurants, but I would not be mad if I had these pork and cabbage dumplings 猪肉白菜饺 (500g for $10) served to me in a restaurant.

They were large, plump, tolerated well my haphazard boiling with no stirring of the pot, and most importantly, tasted good.

The filling of the pork and cabbage dumplings had a good texture with a bit of meat texture which made it seem like more than just your classic mystery slurry, and a light but enjoyable flavour that was allowed to shine by the addition of some extra vinegar for dipping. I can recommend them.

Lucky Dumplings Pork and Cabbage 品质王 猪肉白菜饺
EAN 9309002913068

Others:

Though I enjoyed the pork and cabbage dumplings, my experience with the country-style chicken 田园鸡肉饺 variety was less rewarding. I enjoyed neither the flavour, which I felt was lacking, nor the texture of the frozen vegetable medley.

Lucky Dumplings Country-Style Chicken 品质王 田园鸡肉饺
EAN 9309002913099

Conversely, the addition of a little bit of prawn (and I think a bit of chilli) in the chicken, corn, & shrimp 鸡虾玉米饺 dumplings, as well as the removal of carrot and peas, made them much more palatable.

Lucky Dumplings Chicken, Corn & Shrimp 品质王 鸡虾玉米饺
EAN 9309002913051

by FD Catering Service,
Unit 3/31 Ascot Vale Rd
Flemington VIC 3031

Categories
Bakery Chinese Dessert

Fujimi Bakehouse – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review


I had the opportunity to not enjoy this pearl custard/egg tart almost 2 years ago, not post about it, and have the photo sit on my computer until now.

I had in fact forgotten about the experience, until I revisited it when I was served baked goods from Fujimi during a recent echocardiogram course.

Clearly not learning from my mistake, I had again the same tart. My main criticism about this arises from the fact that I don’t actually enjoy the pearls in bubble tea that much, let alone on top of a tart. They’re OK one by one, surrounded by a large mouthful of bubble tea, but when clumped in a group together I think they’re just too sticky and flavourless.

I also had this purple tart, which I can’t identify, but was slightly better. My main complaint about the pastry was that it was soft, rather than crispy. Was this due to the travel-and-wait time, or is this a factor inherent in these tarts?

I don’t know, but I don’t want to have them again to find out.

Fujimi Bakehouse
Burwood Chinatown
Murray Arcade, 127 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
Chinese

New Shanghai Night 新夜上海 – Ashfield NSW Restaurant Review

New Shanghai Night 新夜上海 is the third in a line of consecutive Shanghainese restaurants running from West to East on Liverpool Rd and in our opinion the best. Though other sources will provide the rich history of these three related restaurants, I have not done any original research on this matter and to be truthful the lore does not interest me as much as the food, which was good, and better than the rest.

We started with these deep fried bean curd in salt chilli & pepper 椒盐豆腐 ($15.80). They were not bad, with only a light starched batter, true to our preference.

They were, however, served in this basket, which if you look closely at it and think about it makes you wonder how often it is cleaned. For this reason, I would not order these tofus again, and I would aim to avoid anything served in this kind of kitchenware.

The Pork with Chives Garlic in Dumpling 韭菜猪肉水饺 ($13.80 for 12, steamed) were really good. They had a green filling with a good density of chives and a high degree of fragrance and sweetness. I don’t know if the sweetness was the natural sweetness of the vegetables, or from added sugar into either the filling or the flour, but nonetheless the taste was good.

These dumplings are also available pan-fried (more expensive), or to take home frozen, and are some of the best I’ve had. There’s no option that combines pork, prawn, and chives, or pork, egg, and chives in a 三馅 style as apparently these are not Shanghainese in tradition, and though many dumpling would’ve suffered from the absence of a third ingredient, the cleanness of this two-ingredient combination was a winner for me.

The Pan Fried Pork Bun with Shallots 生煎包 (10 for $13.80) was another winner.

The dough was soft and airy but not too thick, and with perfectly fried bottoms.

The filling was moist, flavourful, and a little bit but not too soupy. Again I thought these shen jian bao had a bit of a sweet taste to them – possibly a house characteristic of either their filling or dough – but not problematically so. Absolutely elite tier.

Chilli oil you must ask for.

I think the tea was pu’er which is not my favourite but what can you do?

Other
The staff speak very good English and also seemingly no Mandarin, which I guess makes sense since they are a Shanghainese restaurant, despite general Mandarin hegemony. They were confused and unable to produce a tax invoice when requested. Service was generally good and nicer than at New Shanghai .

Overall the best Shanghainese restaurant in Ashfield. It is a wonder how the other two even have customers, let alone lines outside New Shanghai whilst there are still tables free at New Shanghai Night.

This is a cat we saw on our walk to the restaurant. Hopefully we can go for more walks to this restaurant in 2026.

New Shanghai Night 新夜上海
267B Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131

Categories
Chinese

Wok N BBQ – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

I had two things from Wok N BBQ tonight, purchased on the way home from visiting a friend and with the express intention of eating it slowly over the next few days. “Groceries”.

The crispy pork ($42/kg) had a good crisp to its crackling skin and a good mixture of fat and lean meat, as well as some soft bones which my partner would’ve enjoyed had she been around, however I felt it was unfortunately oversalted.

The soy chicken ($17 for half) was conversely undersalted, even when fully dipped into the sauce, though this was made up for but not balanced by the quite salty ginger and shallot mix. The texture was tender and silky, which is a plus.

Overall I did not feel that Wok N BBQ provided an exemplary experience and will hesitate to go back given multiple other superior options in the vicinity.

WOK N BBQ
174 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134