Categories
Chinese

Harvest Foodie 聚丰源 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

Panned by both the NSW Food Authority (1) (2) and Google Maps reviewers alike, Harvest Foodie sits adjacent to the Burwood Chinatown arcade and somehow became our choice of a second breakfast meal one morning, after a salty visit to Cha Dim House.

While the majority of negative Google Reviews seem to be about the attitude and communication skills of the aunties working here, my partner and I found no problem with this. I actually thought they were pretty chill, even taking my beef noodle order through me showing them a photo of what I wanted from the placard outside. Sadly the food was not as good as I had hoped.

This is a soy milk ($3). How can I really describe essentially the same soy milk made by a couple of similar machines across Burwood? Why does my partner always order them? Should I buy a soy grinding machine for home?

This is a soy egg ($2), not the same as a soy milk. It was fine. Totally adequate.

These pan fried dumplings 鲜肉锅贴 (8 for $10) were very cheap, but not particularly good. I felt that the wrappers were far too thick, with a leavened texture to them, which is the opposite of what I like. Dumplings, I feel, should be filling forward.

This homemade beef noodle soup 红烧牛肉面 ($15) was deeply disappointing. It was very salty, but had none of the spiciness that the menu picture implied. We didn’t finish it.

Other thoughts
Commenters on Google Maps seem to feel that the restaurant offers a dynamic pricing model, based on how much cash the aunties think you have in your pocket. Whilst this would be hilarious if true, and would be supported by the lack of prices on the placard outside, I just feel like it would be too much work to put into practice.

Harvest Foodie 聚丰源 Burwood
135 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
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