Category: Chinese

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Taste Gallery – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

We’ve walked past Taste Gallery on Church St several times now, each time with the intention of going in but each time discouraged by the very limited menu printed on their window outside. We finally took the plunge tonight, guided by a previously quite successful delivery order which showcased Taste Gallery’s actually diverse menu, and made the decision to follow through and actually go inside.

The Special Vegetarian Spring Rolls (6 for $7.80) were actually quite special, and served very quickly. My partner was attracted to their netted exterior, and whilst I was not so keen on having vegetarian spring rolls their internal texture was actually quite meaty and had good flavour and mouthfeel.

My partner has spent years searching for the perfect Zhengjiang Vinegar Pork Spare Ribs ($18.80), and Taste Gallery finally delivered the goods. They had the perfect dark and tangy flavour, which is something that she tells me has been hard to find. The pork meat was tender, though due to the dark colouration from the marinade it was difficult to tell visually what parts were meat and what parts were bone. Be sure to order this with white rice ($2.50) or some other more bland carbohydrate, as the flavours are quite strong on its own.

The Thin sliced rib eye with tasty pickles served in hot pot ($17.80) was not what I expected, but ended up still being pretty good. It’s the third time in a week where I’ve ordered something meaty and ended up with thinly sliced hot pot style meat. Recent other offenders in this category include Costas Arepa Bar and Cafe Elation, though this time I admit I just didn’t read the name of the dish properly. The other difference between my expectation and reality is that I thought this would be a hotpot dish in the sense that combination bean curd hotpot is a hotpot dish, rather than a hotpot dish in the sense that shuan yang rou is hotpot. After getting over this letdown of my own doing I did find the dish quite enjoyable. The soup was a little oily but otherwise wholesome, flavoured with suān cài. The beef was unfortunately quite fatty and chewy, however there were those odd morsels that just melted in my mouth and were perfect. The mixture of vegetables and enoki made the dish feel like it could potentially be good for me. Overall I can recommend this dish.

VERDICT
We had an overall good time at Taste Gallery, despite the slightly shabbier appearance when compared to neighbouring Chef’s Gallery, and can’t wait to go back. Their food is well priced and delicious.

UPDATE – Very sadly, closed likely forever

Taste Gallery
133 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 8810 2082

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Chinese

Lilong by Taste of Shanghai – Hurstville NSW Takeaway Review

Our family has been a big fan of the Taste of Shanghai chain of restaurants since the mid 2000s, frequenting the Eastwood store back when we had family living in Epping. My mother has in fact been a VIP member of Taste of Shanghai for around the last decade, and I have in turn enjoyed dining at Taste of Shanghai with my partner and her family (who have been also going independently for a long time).

I was surprised, therefore, to be disappointed by the delivery service (via UberEats) from Lilong by Taste of Shanghai. I found the xiaolongbao, the shenjiang bao, and the pan-fried dumplings to be universally disappointing. At least part of it has to be due to the travel time (approx 10 minutes from Hurstville to Kogarah), but I do think that if a food is unable to be satisfactorily delivered then it shouldn’t be delivered at all.

Thumbs down. Possibly thumbs up if eaten in person, but until then we will not know.

UPDATE – November 2020

Despite my negative review above, and despite my strong preference to the contrary, my partner decided that she wanted to go to Lilong to eat in person. What we found was better – but not much better.

Unfortunately the first complaint needs to go to the cleanliness of the operation. Pictured above is the state of the booth seat that the diners sit on. It doesn’t look like it’s been cleaned in recent memory. The crockery we received was also dirty – the cups had a black sediment in them, as well as stains that could easily be rubbed off by hand. This is absolutely not good enough.

We started with the braised duck in special soy sauce ($12.80). This is some of the worst duck we’ve had in a while. The flesh was very tough, seemingly overcooked. The flavour was straight soy sauce flavour, with no interesting components. The salad that they served on the side looked like they came straight out of a Woolworths bag – mostly baby spinach, some shredded carrot, and other basic greenery.

spicy beef brisket noodle soup

The spicy beef brisket noodle soup ($12.80) was not special. I thought that the soup was very watery and in fact had a bit of a tap water taste. We ended up only finishing the toppings, leaving a lot of the boring noodles to spare. Not a specialty of theirs at all.

Shanghai Turnip Croissant

The Shanghai Turnip Croissant ($10.89) was actually the reason we came to Lilong by Taste of Shanghai at all. My partner had a big craving for these, but was disappointed. I personally didn’t mind – I thought the pastry was light and fluffy, and the ham filling inside was tasty, but not enough to justify the 30 minute drive.

Pan-fried pork buns / Sheng jian bao 生煎包

The pan-fried pork buns (sheng jian bao) (生煎包 – $12) is one of Taste of Shanghai’s top specialties. The shengjianbao today were mostly bald and naked – I wonder if there is some kind of global black sesame seed shortage going on. At the very least the bao were still excellent. The filling is still the same, with plenty of fresh hot soup bursting out with each bite. The bottoms were perfectly fried to a crisp. Overall, eating the sheng jian bao at the restaurant was much, much better than getting them delivered.

Wontons in Red Chilli Oil Sauce

If the sheng jian bao was one of the stars of the meal, the other would be the Wontons in Red Chilli Oil Sauce ($12.80). This is something that we almost always get when we eat at Taste of Shanghai, and one of the dishes I remember loving from my childhood. The filling is housemade pork and chive. The wonton skins are quite springy but not too undercooked. The red chilli oil sauce is, as always, delicious. I personally like to eat the wontons with a spoon in order to get a good amount of red sauce with every mouthful. This is an oft-imitated dish (for example by Dumpling Queen in Eastgardens), but only Taste of Shanghai seems to be able to execute it perfectly.

Overall I would say that dining at Lilong by Taste of Shanghai was better in person, however there are still a lot of misses on the menu. Stick with what they do best, however, and you will not go wrong – unless you are disgusted by the environment and general uncleanliness.

Lilong by Taste of Shanghai (Hurstville)
Rooftop, Westfield Hurstville
1 PA Park Rd & Cross St, Hurstville NSW 2220
(02) 9570 9051

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Chinese

Dim Sim & More – Mascot NSW Restaurant Review

My partner recently spent $125 on very middling delivered Chinese food, locking me into eating it for the rest of the week.

I will put the same amount of effort into this review as they did cooking it.

Steamed Pork Shumai 猪肉烧卖 ($8.80). Not bad, a bit salty, and a bit dry. The addition of flying fish roe on top gave it a fun crunchy fish roe texture and fish flavour.

Steamed Vegetable Dumpling 韭菜鸡蛋蒸饺 ($7.80) is actually a chive and egg and vermicelli steamed vegetable dumpling. The flavours are quite light, with only a weak chive flavour. Not great but not bad.

Boiled Pork Dumpling 猪肉水饺 ($11.80) had a very meaty taste with strong pork flavour and good chive flavour also. Actually quite good, but she accidentally ordered two servings. (Why?)

Pan Fried Turnip Patty 香煎萝卜糕 ($7.80) had a bit of a too-greasy taste to it to enjoy.

Steamed Black Bean Pork Rib 豉汁蒸排骨 ($9.80) was actively bad. Overcooked, formless meat. The wrong flavour for black bean pork rib. Don’t get this if you’re expecting the yum cha classic. Actively bad.

The Pork and Preserved Egg Congee 皮蛋瘦肉粥 ($12.80) was actually quite good. It was very accurate to the Platonic ideal of a 皮蛋瘦肉粥, and for $12.80 they actually gave us two large takeaway boxes worth.

VERDICT
Most of the food from Dim Sum & More was quite disappointing.
I wouldn’t recommend it to even a casual acquaintance.

Dim Sum & More
Shop 2, 8 Bourke Street, Mascot NSW

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Chinese

JC Dragon Fusion – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

When you think about Asian Fusion cuisine you normally think about Asian inspired meals cooked with a mixture of both Asian and European cooking techniques. JC Dragon Fusion in Parramatta flips any such expectations on their heads and serves Chinese food fused with Chinese, cooked with the traditional Chinese techniques of steaming, boiling, deep frying, and stir frying.

Let’s go back in time to before you had seen the above photo. I want you to close your eye and picture for me “steamed prawn and pork dumplings” ($8.80). Now open your eyes. Is this what you imagined?

While Chinese-literate punters would immediately recognise the 燒賣 on the menu as shaomai, the English listing of this item on the menu leads in and traps members of the Asian Fusion diaspora like myself. As shaomai these are pretty good, in no way better or worse than you would get from your regular yum cha restaurant. As dumplings they are a bit lacking.

The pork ribs with black bean sauce ($8.80) was exactly as you’d picture them, though I felt that they did not have such a strong black bean flavour as the shadows cast by pork ribs with black bean sauce of past.

Ever the intrepid explorer, my girlfriend saw a distant table enjoying an aromatic hot pot with their lobster meal, and asked if we could have the same sans lobster. The traditional free range chicken hot pot ($39.80) is not generally offered on the menu, and I’m pretty sure the owner just made up a price for it on the spot. It features half a raw free range chicken (also known as a chicken who walks in Chinese), which is boiled at the table in an aromatic bak kut teh like broth. I thought that the soup tasted and smelled good, however did not find that the chicken added very much at all. The chicken was a skinny triathelete chook, cut up with lots of bones included inside the chicken, making it quite difficult to get any actual meat. Though a large portion I did feel that spending $40 on this presumably more legitimate bak kut teh did not provide much better a result than $5 bak kut teh packet mix soup. My girlfriend stuck to her guns and said she enjoyed it but I wouldn’t get it again.

SECOND VISIT, VIBE CHECK ONLY

I quite enjoyed these special pan fried stuffed bean curd ($16.80), like what you would find in a combination seafood hot pot, but not in a hot pot, and with some kind of animal combination attached to the tofu. Pretty delicious to be honest.

The Spicy Chicken with Chinese Wine Sauce ($17.80) was solid in taste and price, but I just don’t love chopped up bones in my chicken. Personal preference.

The battered and salt and pepper fried eggplant was a HUGE portion. Pretty tasty, but super unhealthy. Definitely more than we bargained for.

VERDICT

JC Dragon Fusion Restaurant’s only claim to fusion may be that it fuses yum cha lunch items and dinner items into an all day menu. I do appreciate the availability of dim sum for dinner, and can therefore recommend paying them a visit if you do too.

4 yums/5 chas

JC Dragon Fusion
Shop 4/115 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 9635 8333

Categories
Chinese

Thumbs Up Hot Pot – Hurstville NSW Restaurant Review

Thumbs Up Hot Pot in Hurstville provides an authentic Chinese hotpot all you can eat experience for the very affordable price of $32 per head.

Ordering is by circling options on a piece of paper. There are English and Chinese translations, however if you are after bok choy that is the only option that is not translated to English.

There are also multiple options for soup, with the option of single or double soup bases or triple, or quadruple choices for an additional fee. We chose the Chongqing Spicy Hot Pot Base and the Bone Broth Base. All hot-potting is done in a large communal hotpot, although if you’re keen to have your own private pot that’s also possible provided you sit by yourself. There were a few solo diners in the restaurant with us.

We had quite an eclectic selection of ingredients, drawn from the tastes of myself and my three colleagues. We definitely circled much more than our stomachs could handle, and the restaurant staff only brought out as much as they thought that we could eat. While we missed out on many of the items that we had ordered, it turned out that they knew us better than we did. We were absolutely full by the end of our meal.

The lamb and beef rolls are quite fatty. Overall the menu had quite base level ingredients, with frozen fish balls and probably not really anything made in house. You get what you paid for, however, and at $32 the price is right.

VERDICT
$32 for all you can eat hot pot is excellent. Thumbs Up Hot Pot reminds me of all those hot pot places on Clayton Road in Clayton VIC where my partner and I would go while she was staying with me. While the quality of ingredients is definitely not premium as some other competitors like YX Mini Hot Pot, I’d definitely recommend Thumbs Up to a price-conscious friend or colleague.

5/5

Thumbs Up Hot Pot Hurstville
164 Forest Rd, Hurstville NSW 2220
0415 338 539