Category: Chinese

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Chinese

Taste of Xi’an 西安风味 – Wollongong NSW Restaurant Review

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

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Chinese

Ma La Xiang Guo 麻辣香锅 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

Basic vibe review only, my friend and colleague SCKW paid and didn’t let me see the receipt so I don’t really know what anything is or how much it cost. I transferred him a completely random amount of money.

These beef in black pepper sauce was pretty good. Probably the thing that I ate the most of during the meal. Good flavour, tender beef. Would’ve been good with rice, not that I had any.

The steamed and fried mantou with condensed milk, not really my go to dish, but I did have a couple. I don’t really know what to say. They’re quite standard, there’s not a lot of room for success or failure.

This is some kind of fish fillets in tomato soup, with bok choy and I think possibly basa? The fish fillets had a soft consistency and intrinsic flavour which is why I think basa. Not bad.

It turns out that SCKW is a big vegetable fan, and will order vegetables at every meal. This cabbage was cooked well, no complaints. Not what I would’ve ordered, but that’s why this guy is so much more healthful than me.

Dumplings, possibly pork and chive. I have very high standards for dumplings, coming from a Northern Chinese family, and these were not the best. I don’t think they were really better than frozen dumplings from the local Asian grocer. I won’t go so far as to imply that they are one and the same. I’m done with being threatened with legal action.

OTHER THOUGHTS
I would’ve liked to have the Ma La Xiang Guo that Ma La Xiang Guo is named after. Maybe next time.

Ma La Xiang Guo 麻辣香锅
152 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
0478 827 868

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Chinese

Sun Ho – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

As someone who is neither a gambler nor a returned serviceman I’ve seldom had the opportunity or desire to visit my local RSL club, but a recent move to Campsie and the promise of weekday yum cha at the local RSL was reason enough to change this. Being a recent transplant to the club’s 5km radius I was asked to sign up as a member for the year – a very nominal fee for a nice card with a horrible photo of me, 20% off my meal, and presumably voting rights, though I can’t find a copy of the club’s constitution online.

What struck me as I gazed at the wall of powerful faces in the club’s lobby was the very interesting racial and age make-up of its board of directors. Though at the last census in 2016 the median age in Campsie was 34 and the largest group by ancestry was Chinese at 31% of the local population followed by Nepalese at 6.9%, the distinguished gentleman (and they were all gentleman) who steer the RSL were of a distinctly more Caucasian (the club is located on Anglo Rd) and more experienced vintage than what you would expect. While the club doesn’t publish a racial breakdown of its membership, a glance around the dining hall’s patrons suggested that 31% Chinese ancestry could even be a bit on the conservative side, as far as estimates go. This of course wouldn’t account for the proportion of the membership who remain part of the club for its other facilities.

A diverse board is generally thought to be a safe board, and as I waited for my food to arrive at my table I reflected that whilst the club’s board of directors may not be as diverse at face value, it is extremely possible that they are diverse in other ways. I joked to my partner that I perhaps I should at the next election – after all I have a name and face similar to the membership, as well as a few years of non-profit directorship experience under my belt – but she told me to stop talking about nonsense and focus on my primary exam instead.

And now to the food. These durian pastries were really pretty good. The actual pastry of it was quite buttery and flaky and nice in that regard, though the durian filling was a bit too sweet for me.

These egg tarts met the critical criteria for being egg tarts, but I did not feel that they went above and beyond. Stronger candidates in this area might feature a flakier crust, though perhaps my enjoyment of these was tempered by both the excellent pastry of the durian cake and the fact that I had to have both egg tarts as my partner does not like them.

I was not a fan of these black bean pork ribs, unusual for me, but my partner found nothing wrong with them.

The chive and prawn dumplings were good, though (and I don’t know if this is seasonal) I felt that better 韭菜饺 have a greater level of fragrance to them.

I enjoyed these chicken feet. These met the standard set by my extensive yum cha training a a child growing up in Western Sydney.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the beef rice noodle rolls, the filling felt like the difference between a party sausage roll from the freezer aisle at Coles and an artisanal sausage roll baked on site.

I can’t comment on the turnip cake as I’ve never been a fan, but my partner was satisfied.

OTHER THOUGHTS, CONTINUED

Ultimately while I like to daydream about a get out the vote campaign leveraging the local Chinese community via WeChat, ultimately being a director of an organisation with such a significant involvement in gambling just isn’t what I’m looking for right now. Some inspired soul could potentially stand for election and use their position to reduce gambling in our clubs.

Sun Ho
Campsie RSL Club, 25 Anglo Rd, Campsie NSW 2194
(02) 9784 0200

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Chinese

Jinwei (Jinweigu) Food 津味谷) – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

My mother doesn’t approve of my dining out habits and related financial insecurity, but Jinwei (Jinweigu) Food has the rare distinction of being one of the few places approved by my mother. Their offering of Northern Chinese breakfasts foods is attuned almost perfectly to my tastebuds as an ex-Northern Chinese kid, and I must say that I enjoyed almost everything on offer.

This triangle pork pie ($6.80) is a best seller, and one bite is enough to tell you why. The pork filling is juicy and tasty, and the thin pan-fried flour pastry is perfectly proportioned for that optimal filling to carb ratio. This isn’t something that I remember having growing up, but I wish it were.

The shitake mushroom and pork pie ($5) was in a form more similar to what I’m used to, adhering to the standard filling enveloped by dough xian bing formula. Like the triangle pork pie this filling of mushroom and pork was also new to me, but thoroughly enjoyed. I do wish that the dough were a little bit thinner to optimise the flour to filling ratio though, and you can see from the cross-sectional imagery that one layer of dough was unfortunately much thicker than the other.

The mashed potato and beef roll ($3.50) was not bad, but certainly more potato than beef, with an overall creamy taste and texture with a hint of meat umami. It was a favourite of my partner the potato fiend, though as I have been in a carb-avoidant state I tried to only have a little bit.

The mung-bean powder wrap with deep fried dough sticks ($7.50) or jianbing guozi (煎饼馃子) was the memory from childhood that I had been chasing, which sadly will remain just a memory for now. I had incredibly high expectations from this, jianbing guozi being perhaps my favourite food in the world before the age of four. While there are specific points for improvement (the dough cruller (you tiao) was not particularly crispy and they used another sauce other than tian mian jiang)) I think that ultimately much like your Italian nonna’s bolognese it’s probably just not physically possible to reach the pinnacle of expectation that your four year old self with an undeveloped frontal cortex has set for you. Nothing is ever as good as you remember, though in this case my mum agrees.

In mid 2023 I had this eggplant pie ($3.50), which tasted exactly the same as it looks – oily, juicy, crispy, meaty, with some pork mince and eggplant surrounded by a light batter and deep fried. Delicious and terrible for you at the same time.

THOUGHTS
Overall Jinwei Food is a winner for me, directly invoking memories of growing up and eating food at the hawker stands under our apartment building in Northern China. Many of their foods are delicious and well priced, though sadly the one thing that I was really looking forward to (jianbing guozi) did not quite live up to my expectations. Despite this I am glad to live so close to such a fantastic restaurant, and hope that they can open back up for dining in at some point soon.

Jinwei (Jinweigu) Food 津味谷
277 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194

Categories
Chinese

Chef’s Gallery – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

My first ever encounter with Chef’s Gallery was outside their Sydney CBD store back in 2012 or so. My friend ACYL and I were looking for a place to eat, and even though I don’t remember if we ultimately went inside I distinctly remembered reading this high-gloss white menu in the midday sun, and having the afterimage of it seared directly into my optic nerve for many minutes after.

Flash forward almost a decade to 2021 and I’m sitting in Chef’s Gallery’s Parramatta branch, and not for the first time in mere weeks. Their food is good, reliable, though perhaps on the expensive side with more of a focus on presentation than strong value. Throughout the course of the lockdowns in Sydney in 2021 I order takeaway several times from Chef’s Gallery, though to be honest I prefer Taste Gallery across the road for their more homely fare.

My partner loves some good deep fried tofu, and these Spinach Tofu with Soy Sauce ($17.90) fit the bill. These tofu were large and plump and soft inside, with a dusting of what I can only assume is eggy batter on the outside. The soy sauce was not overpowering, though the effect or benefit of the spinach was a little lost on me. Though in itself a solid dish, I feel $18 was perhaps a little too much to ask for it.

The Wonton in Chicken Soup ($11.90) was appropriately priced, warming, and delicious. The wontons were meaty with no signs of skin breakdown, and the soup clear, light, and wholesome.

The Dice Pepper Wagyu Beef ($29.90) was alright. Definitely a more expensive dish, that perhaps did not really live up to expectations set by its price and “Wagyu” flag. I feel like this is another one of those dishes where being Wagyu is more of a glamorous name and less of a meaningful attribute taste or texture wise. The black pepper sauce was good.

I have mixed feelings about the Dan Dan Noodles with Pork Chop ($18.90). I enjoyed the pork chop, but after enjoying the pork chop I found that the noodles by themselves were a bit plain and difficult to finish. Perhaps better optioned with an extra chop.

COMMENTS
Chef’s Gallery is not bad, and a known quantity. The food is definitely Chinese, but I do feel that they focus more strongly on the presentation and the price to value ratio therefore takes a hit.

Chef’s Gallery Parramatta
Shop 2184/159-175 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 7805 2303