Category: Chinese

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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

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Café Chinese

Park Cafe – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

My PMR friend stopped by Campsie for an impromptu visit, and I found us a place to eat with record decisiveness and in record time. He very kindly allowed me to choose two Taiwanese dishes from their combination Western and Taiwanese menu, which is all available all-day long.

This Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice (卤肉饭 – lu rou fan) ($16.80) was really good, with a mixture of soy braised pork belly and pork mince, plenty of braising fluid as gravy, white rice, and a runny-yolk but solid-albumen sunny side up egg. The fatty pork belly was really soft and delicious, with the minced portions being more lean and providing textural contrast. The supplied braising liquid was enough to flavour the entire mound of rice, which was a generous serve and definitely enough if if you’re a rice lover. I enjoyed this, and may actually have to come back with my partner so that she can enjoy this too.

The Taiwanese Beef Brisket Rice ($18.80) was the lesser of the two dishes. It too featured an egg, which was not pictured on the menu photo, but lacked bok choy, which was. The meat was relatively tender, but the flavours and textures of the more lean beef and its composite sauce were less rich and indulgent than that of the pork belly rice. My friend agreed with me, but still enjoyed it. I will attach below a photo of the menu for photographic comparison of its components.

Park Cafe
Shop 5, 20-22 Anglo Rd, Campsie NSW 2194

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Chinese

Delicious Chinese Restaurant – Kingsford NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve been watching The Brothers Sun, part of a recent (and welcome) push by Netflix to get more Asian-American content on screen, and one of the jokes that they made early on was about a restaurant named the “#1 Seafood Restaurant,” which may or may not be the number 1 seafood restaurant of their local area. Named in a similar vein, Delicious Chinese Restaurant just happens to also be quite as delicious as it is advertised to be.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a combination bean curd hot pot (?$25) that I’ve not liked. It’s just one of the best things ever – so warm and comforting, always with such soft fried tofu and an assortment of meats and vegetables. This one was a bit heavier on the garlic than I’m used to, but still good overall. Good with rice.

The Hokkien Fried Rice was also very good. Great with combination bean curd hot pot once you’re done with the topping it comes with.

I think the salt and pepper pork chops were a bit more floury than they absolutely had to be, but they tasted good, and that’s what was important to my partner. I would’ve liked just a little bit less batter, but what can you do?

Overall a good option for a succulent sit down Chinese meal, in a formal restaurant that’s also fine catering to couples or solo diners, Chinese or otherwise. I think the next step for Chinese restaurant dominance would be to have actual photos on their menus.

Delicious Chinese Restaurant
291A Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032
(02) 9663 2853

Categories
Chinese

Golden Oceans Chinese Seafood Restaurant (文興海鲜酒楼) – Beverly Hills NSW Restaurant Review

This is not our normal behaviour, but we found ourselves at a formal Chinese seafood restaurant for dinner, just the two of us. We ordered a number of classics, at least one of which our parents would’ve been proud of.

The braiseds scallops with sugar beans and funguses with XO sauce ($38.80) were a total Chinese parent order. Super responsible, reasonably healthy, and a bit expensive. Clean feeling and delicious.

You tiao / fried dough cruller does not fit with the dinner meal thematically, but were a craving. They were fine, not mindblowing as they might have been straight out of the deep fryer on the side of the road.

We’ve been looking for zhenjiang pork ribs ever since our favourite Parramatta Chinese restaurant closed down in 2021 (RIP Taste Gallery), and Golden Oceans’ Pork Spare Ribs with Black Vinegar Sauce ($28.80) finally, finally hit the mark. I’m so glad we came here and I got to eat this again.

I like a good Shan Dong Chicken ($27.80), and though this one was a bit wet and a bit saltier than I like, it was still quite good. I imagine it would’ve been good with rice, but the you tiao were carb enough to compensate for the overflavour.

Overall I enjoyed. Take your family here.

Golden Oceans Chinese Seafood Restaurant (文興海鲜酒楼)
461 King Georges Rd, Beverly Hills NSW 2209
(02) 9580 0918

Categories
Chinese

Hot Pot And BBQ House – Wolli Creek NSW Restaurant Review

We ate here in early 2020, and I only just came across these photos accidentally on my Dropbox. This is now no use to anyone, as they’ve since gone out of business many years ago. I think it’s now an unrelated restaurant, which is quite a shame, as their hotpot focused fitout, with recessed boilers, was quite nice. I hope their equipment found a good home elsewhere.

The meal was good, if relatively expensive. I think I remember paying $100 for 2 for lunch.

I like to think that this business could’ve thrived if it were started today. It’s just a shame that they opened in late 2019 before everything closed down for the next three years.

Hot Pot And BBQ House Wolli Creek
Suite 1/8-10 Brodie Spark Dr, Wolli Creek NSW 2205

Now closed.