Category: Chinese

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Chinese

Yan’s Kitchen 闫记锅贴 – Waterloo NSW Restaurant Review

One of the best meals that we had as we were scurrying across the Inner West and Inner East trying to commit the next 30 years of our lifes’ savings on a piece of residential property was at Yan’s Kitchen in Waterloo. Cheap and delicious, I can highly recommend paying this Northern Chinese restaurant a visit.

Yan’s Slow Cooked Beef Noodles 闫记大块牛肉面 ($15.80) were excellent. They had a lovely soup flavour, with lots of umami, a slight bit of spice (don’t be scared by its red colour) and a rich beefiness. The beef chunks were tender, tasty, and plentiful, and the noodles, slightly alkaline, were perfectly tender and handmade in house.

Yan’s Signature Fried Dumplings 金牌虾肉三鲜锅贴 ($15.80) with pork and prawn and chive and egg were also quite good. The wrappers were very thin, allowing them to get super crispy on frying, with a bit of lace on one side to stick them together. The filling, four classical ingredients in Northern Chinese dumpling cuisine was tasty though ultimately still a few milimetres away from extra-ordinary.

The Pork Wonton Soup in chicken broth 鸡汤小馄饨 ($5.80) was the weakest of what we ordered. They were the kind that were predominately wrapper with only a small smattering of filling. We were asked if we wanted coriander, which of course we did, but I found the soup a bit soapy. I don’t know if these two things can be clinically correlated as I’m normally someone who loves coriander. Maybe it was the influence of the seaweed rather than the coriander? Either way, it was only about a third of the price of the other dishes, I guess not meant to be eaten on its own as a meal, and definitely not intended to be the star of the restaurant’s menu.

THOUGHTS
It’s been a while since I have written that I could recommend a restaurant to a friend or colleague, but this place fits the bill.

Yan’s Kitchen 闫记锅贴
Shop 102/15 Lachlan St, Waterloo NSW 2017
(02) 8958 1967

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Chinese

Nathan Road Hong Kong Cafe – Waterloo NSW Restaurant Review

In March 2024 we looked a few times at a little terrace in Waterloo, recently renovated, that had exchanged hands 3 times (now 4) in the previous 6 years, mostly in circumstances of relationship breakdown (according to the medical student neighbour). It was nice but felt a bit cramped inside, and though its location was very transit-centric due to the upcoming Metro development, the area just didn’t feel as safe for a couple entering their thirties. This is the story of the meal that we ate afterwards.

The traditional fried sticky rice ($23.80) was quite good. I had never had anything like this before, which seems odd to me since I had thought that I had eaten most types of fried rice by my fourth decade in life. There was plenty of umami little shrimp and bits of sausage inside, and the stickiness helped it to achieve a crispy char on most of the rice. Actually delicious.

The sizzling bean curd beef brisket ($33.80) would’ve been good with some normal steamed white rice, rather than just the already-tasty fried sticky rice. It was a bit expensive in comparison to other restaurants, though the size and flavour was good. The beef came complete with a lot of tendon, and the texture of the meat was soft and juicy as well. I will note that the bean curd it came with was not what I had expected (I had thought it would be fried soft tofu), but ultimately did match well with the rest of the dish.

We ultimately ended up paying about $100,000 more on a place that was more or less just as crowded as the one we looked at. At least the nearby streets feel safer. It is what it is.

Nathan Road Hong Kong Cafe
832 Bourke St, Waterloo NSW 2017
(02) 9194 3770

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Chinese Groceries

Best Flavour Dim Sims Australia Pork Bean Curd Roll 精美点心 鲜竹卷 – Grocery Review

I rarely ever do frozen grocery reviews (because of pure laziness), but this was actually pretty good. It is a pack of frozen bean curd roll / 鮮竹捲 / xiān zhú juǎn / sin zuk gyun that was only like $7 or something.

They were simple to steam, and though they came out relatively wet, all I had to do to eat them was fish them out with some chopsticks.

The flavour was quite accurate, the bean curd wrapper was soft, and they were packed with meaty filling.

They’re not a luxury meal, I don’t think they’re much worse than what you would get at yum cha. I’d have them again.

UPC 9337087000243

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Chinese

Xi’an Restaurant (西安风味小吃) – Ashfield NSW Restaurant Review

One of my favourite things about Xi’an restaurants is that they are almost invariably named “Xi’an Restaurant”. We ate here in the first week of having moved house, in a flurry of cheap and cheerful dines out whilst we were still unpacking our kitchen.

The food was generally good. This Chinese pork burger Roujiamo 肉夹馍 ($8) was moist and meaty, flavourful though lacking any visible vegetables or herbs.

The Pan Fried Chives Pancake 韭菜盒子  ($7) is a relative favourite of mine. This example had a good crispiness to the skin, which was kept thin so as to maximise the filling to pastry ratio. A good example in a sea of good examples.

The Rice with Yuxiang Eggplant 鱼香茄子 ($16) was a vegetarian version of the dish, well priced, tasty, and very filling. Something my partner enjoys and I am yet to make an edible version of.

Comments
Though readers will note that only the roujiamou was particularly Xi’an in origin, this restaurant executed good versions of Northern as well as Sichuan cuisine at good prices. I’m sure we will be back for more.

Xi’an Restaurant (西安风味小吃)
30 Hercules St, Ashfield NSW 2131
0426 092 275

Categories
Bakery Chinese

New Shanghai Workshop – Ashfield NSW Restaurant Review

PHOTOS TAKEN MOMENTS BEFORE DISASTER

We stopped at New Shanghai Workshop in Ashfield on our way to see a house that we ultimately locked ourselves into a $10,000/month mortgage on. Whether or not that was the right decision ultimately remains to be seen, but every day looking at my bank account and a series of consecutive interest rate rises I do wonder.

We had a number of pastries, that were all generally quite good.

Specific memories that I had include the egg yolk short cake with custard crisp ($5.50), which was rich, flaky, and not too sweet.

And the pan fried prawn bun ($5.80) which was only slightly above room temperature, didn’t have much flavour, and kind of sucked.

It’s just a shame we won’t be able to afford to eat here again for the next thirty years.

New Shanghai Workshop Ashfield
269 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131