Category: Chinese

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Chinese

Traditional Cantonese Taste 老广记石磨肠粉店 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

Traditional Cantonese Taste 老广记石磨肠粉店 unlocked for me something above and beyond what I understood cháng fěn 肠粉 could achieve.

We had the dried cordyceps flower with pork and egg rice paper roll 虫草花猪肉鸡蛋肠 ($16.50). While I’ve had a couple of different cheungs fun around the place, mostly from yum cha restaurants, I’ve never had anything like this in my life. Though it seems small in this photo, the thing was huge and bulging, of adequate size for the price asked.

It was absolutely packed with layers of tender pork mince, multiple layers of rice noodle sheets, as well as soft egg, with each layer melding into one another to form an ultimate combination of creamy umami. The egg component I think was a true winner, adding moistness, textural interest, as well as creaminess to a dish that may sometimes otherwise be a bit bland. Ultra-light soy sauce was available on-table, but unnecessary.

I did not love the pork and preserved egg congee 皮蛋瘦肉粥 ($12.80). While the bowl was large, I felt that it was too sparsely topped/filled, especially with regards to the only minimal showing of century egg, sliced ultra-thinly to maximise visual appeal without actual mass presence, making the bowl closer to a bowl of plain rice congee than a classical flavourful pi dan shou rou zhou.

The fried bread / you tiao / dough cruller 经典非凡油条 ($3.50) was excellent. Freshly fried, crispy, warm, and soft. It’s a shame that the congee was so unspectacular and bland, as it would’ve made a good accompaniment to a more flavourful zhou.

I really don’t know why I was expecting something different when I ordered the fried egg noodles with beef 干炒牛面 ($16.80). I had pictured, for some reason, some kind of saucy Hokkien mee, but instead what this actually was was just gānchǎo níuhé with egg noodles instead of rice noodles. The dish was large, with a mound of voluminous noodles and a weaker than average meat to noodle ratio. The flavour was light, and I regret not adding some of the tableside soy sauce to the mix. I don’t know if my lack of enjoyment of this dish was due to unmet expectations or the food itself, though it did taste better after a period of fridge time, microwave time, and resting and digesting on my part. Either way, there’s probably a good reason this dish is usually made from rice noodles, and it’s my own fault for being illiterate in Chinese.

My partner always orders a soy bean drink unsweet hot 石磨原味豆浆 无糖 ($3) from wherever it may be available. I did not care for it.

Overall thoughts (interim)
The rice noodle roll with egg and the fried dough crullers are my top picks from this restaurant, though I would be hesitant to recommend the other things that I had here.

Update October 2025
We rarely go to the same restaurant twice, unless it’s really good or it’s been a long time, but we went to Traditional Cantonese Taste twice in four months – not because it was truly amazing (though the rice noodle rolls are), but because there are truly quite few restaurants open for breakfast in Burwood. My wife gave me the opportunity to walk through Burwood for 15 minutes to find somewhere to have breakfast at, and all the places we walked past were either not that appealing, or we’d done them to death. Traditional Cantonese Taste 老广记石磨肠粉店 was the call that she made in her frustration of my indecision.

We had the dried cordyceps flower with chicken and egg rice roll 虫草花滑鸡蛋肠, which was pretty good, but probably not as good as the pork mince version. I thought about what the reason for this difference could be, and I think it’s because the chicken chunks were relatively large, whereas pork mince really lends itself to homogeneity and a melding in of flavours and textures between the egg, rice noodles, and meat.

The Rice with pork ribs, chicken and cured meat clay pot 大四喜煲仔饭（排骨, 滑鸡, 腊肠, 腊肉）*$25.80) was I think a new addition to menu, which since our previous visit has been upgraded from a single laminated sheet to a multi page booklet complete with photos. I enjoyed the rice, first and foremost, with the lightly salty soy sauce and the crispy but not burnt bottom section. The protein components, of which there were 4 different ones, were less enjoyable. I felt that both the chicken and the pork ribs had distinct but different ‘agricultural’ tastes, with a strong scent of the animal. It’s rare for me to ever have a problem with the gaminess of meat (especially unless it’s goat), but this was what I experienced. The two types of cured pork were yummy, and my wife graciously allowed me to have more than my fair share of this.

I tried to get us more you tiao but they hadn’t started them at the time I ordered, and the woman who told me she’d let us know when they turned the deep fryer on failed to let us know. It’s ok. We were full anyway.

Overall thoughts (update – October 2025)
My thoughts remain the same. Rice noodle roll with egg good. Other things, not as good.

Traditional Cantonese Taste 老广记石磨肠粉店
101 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
(02) 8528 8962

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Chinese

Chao Shan Dry Noodle 潮汕干面 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve walked past Chao Shan Dry Noodle 潮汕干面 in Burwood Plaza quite a few times, but have never eaten here before due to a general lack of desire, as well as a general sense of cultural inaccessibility, with a somewhat confusing menu (for an outsider) and a paucity of reports online.

We therefore present the first published English language full length case report of a Western person eating at Chao Shan Dry Noodle 潮汕干面.

I had this dry noodle with pork soup ($14) with an added tea/soy egg for $1. The noodle and the soup was served separately, and indeed available to order separately. Available at the counter are self-served jars of Chinese pickled chilli, and zhejiang vinegar ( visible in the top left hand corner of the photo above.)

The meal came with no instructions, and through a process of trial and error I took alternating mouthfuls of noodle and soup. The noodle was chewy but not overly tasty, with the majority of the scallion oil flavour settling at the bottom. This persisted despite some pretty vigorous mixing on my part.

The soup was a clear soup, with pieces of lean pork meat and lettuce, ladled from giant vats at the back of the restaurant. Though I wanted to enjoy this, there was a faint gamey taste to it, which put me off a bit.

At a point midway during my meal, a stranger came and sat directly opposite me and started chowing down his noodles. We neither spoke nor made eye contact, but we were in quite close proximity that I’m quite confident that others in the West would also see this as unusual behaviour. But of course, Burwood is not part of ‘Western Culture’. The experience of sitting face to face with this guy, though strange, was of net benefit to me as I was able to watch how he ate his meal and adjust my own strategy accordingly. It didn’t make the food much more appealing.

Overall thoughts
Apart from a single comment on reddit, I have presented the only full English-language case report of a meal at Chaoshan Dry Noodle / Chao Shan Delights in Burwood. I did not love my meal and would not return.

Chao Shan Dry Noodle 潮汕干面
Shop 20/42 Railway Parade, Burwood NSW 2134

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Chinese

Mr. Buffalo BBQ 牛鲜生中式烤肉 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

The concept of a “Chinese BBQ” restaurant is a bit foreign to me, as to the best of my knowledge Chinese food culture doesn’t traditionally include a kind of setting where you sit down in front of your own hot plate and grill your own food. Chinese BBQ, up until now, referred mostly to Cantonese BBQ, where meats are pre-roasted by the restaurant and cut and served to order, whilst other forms of BBQing, like cumin-coated lamb skewers, have also existed, again being prepared in the kitchen prior to being served.

Calling what is essentially a Korean BBQ restaurant “Chinese BBQ” just because it is run by Chinese people seems to be a bit of a misnomer, otherwise 90% of the sushi restaurants in Sydney should be calling themselves “Korean Sushi”.

There were, nonetheless, some more “Chinese-esque” flavours to be had at this Chinese-themed Korean BBQ restaurant (mainly the aforementioned lamb and cumin).

The food was good and reasonably priced. The giant piece of squid that we barbecued was more of a novelty than anything else.

In some sense, this was more of a Korean BBQ+, and could reasonably fulfil the niche that Korean BBQ offers, with additional flavours on offer.

We waited an exceptionally long time for a table, and were rewarded with a round of free drinks, which was very nice.

Mr. Buffalo BBQ 牛鲜生中式烤肉
Shop/6 Unity Pl, Burwood NSW 2134

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Chinese

Taikoo Li 太古里 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

We were the only diners at Taikoo Li at 4PM on a Tuesday, which was weird to us at the time because there’s quite a bit of real estate for just two Asians, but less weird to me now that I think about the way our schedule differs from that of the average Burwood human.

We had this very good braised pork belly with preserved veggies & chilli with rice ($15.80). The moist fattiness and umami flavours of the pork melted into the rice, stretched and complimented by the pickled chillis and other green pickles. Though the helping of rice was relatively large, the dripped through braising liquid from the pork belly, as well as the selection of delicious pickles meant that there was enough yummy flavour for us to finish it in its entirety.

The braised sweet duck (half) ($20) was not bad, though nothing in particular to write home about. I think I would still prefer your average Cantonese roast duck, but it’s good to have some variety once in a while.

The spicy boiled beef (Sichuan boiled beef) ($17.80) was a huge serving for the price, and great with rice, which was an additional $2.50. Can recommend for 水煮牛肉 fans.

The pork dumplings with chilli on side 8pcs ($10.80) tasted good, but were disappointing in their own way. They had a meat only filling, which was flavourful, as well as a dipping sauce that was savoury, oily, and not very spicy, which were all winning ingredients for success. What made me sad however was that some of the dumplings still had raw dough in them, which made it difficult for me to want to eat them, despite their good taste. I also dropped two out of eight, which was completely my fault, but this meant that the ratio of cooked to raw dumplings available for me to eat decreased even further.

Overall thoughts: I agree with my friend PMR that this is good quality, Chinese cuisine. Oddly enough, he and his partner were also the only customers when they ate, also at 4PM on a weekday.

Taikoo Li 太古里
47 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Note 2025: This restaurant may have moved to 150 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

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Chinese

牛百岁 BFC Fast Food – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

We’ve walked past this restaurant in Burwood Plaza so many times in the past few months, that we had to give it a go.

BFC’s menu is predominately noodle based, and we of course chose the premium beef combination with vermicelli 精品牛杂粉丝汤 ( $16), their most expensive menu item and one with the word premium in it. We did not expect, though I suspect people who are able to read Chinese may have known, that the combination aspect referred to the combination of several different types of offals and tripes, which we were not so keen on. Indeed, even the beef muscle, which was interspersed with yummy gooey tendon, had a bit of an over-gamey flavour to it which we did not enjoy. The soup, and the noodles, however, were quite tasty, with a mild spice and a lot of umami.

The cumin lamb ribs 孜然羊排 ($14) were decidedly less challenging for our unrefined palates, and quite delicious, especially with a bit of chilli oil on takeaway lid.

Overall thoughts
ONLY WHILE WRITING this review did I realise that I had the exact same meal at NBS Big Bowl OUTSIDE Burwood Plaza a couple of years ago. Because I am absolutely illiterate in Chinese and must only rely on English text, I did not make the connection that it’s actually the same store. I don’t think my tolerance of offal has changed over the past couple of years though – I think this version in 2024 is simply more offally and gamey and less delicious than it used to be.

Update 2026
Speaking of offal, I ordered some takeaway beef, ox tendon and tripe hot pot set meal ($63), with a soy braised chicken and crispy cumin lamb ribs for my ailing mother, as she was having a craving.

The set meal came with a large bowl of meat and offal, and two cups of soup base, which were quite strong, and designed to be eaten diluted with water.

The instructions to put together this do-it-yourself hot pot were helpfully in Chinese, and even though my parents can clearly read Chinese, I failed to give them the instruction card. We boiled the soup on an induction cooktop along with some externally sourced greens. The flavour was very strong, almost overpowering, and clearly would have been better had the soup been diluted with water as designed.

I wasn’t so fond of the soy braised chicken, expertly cut into pieces by my father, and found the white meat in particular rather dry.

The cumin lamb ribs, not pictured this time, were a winner as always.

牛百岁 BFC Fast Food
Shop 18 Burwood Plaza, 42 Railway Parade, Burwood NSW 2134