The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
This place was really hard to find, owing to the fact that their Google Maps location points to a different and completely unrelated dumpling restaurant, whose staff were at least gracious enough to point us in vaguely the right direction.
We started with some soy/tea eggs ($2 each), for which unfortunately the marinade had not penetrated into the yolk, leaving a tasty white with a boring hardboiled centre.
The Shepherd’s Purse & Pork Wonton Soup ($12.80) had a nice filling (though not particuarly better than the frozen dumplings I’ve been getting from the grocery store lately) as well as a nice wamrth and lightly salty umami flavour to the soup, but suffered from an unusual and unpleasant thickness in the wonton skin, making it more of a meal and a chore to eat this meal than a wonton soup should be.
Though I failed to capture a photo of the Dumplings of Pork & Chive ($12.80) apart from a single cross sectional shot, I much preferred these to the wontons. They had a strong chive flavour to them, which is really what you want and often can’t be replicated by the frozen stuff. The skin was again a bit thicker than ideal, but this was not as problematic as it was for the wontons.
I did not think I would enjoy the Steamed Pork and Sticky Rice Dumplings ($9.80), but they came out first after the eggs, and I guess I was hungry. I’m glad the sticky rice wasn’t too densely packed, because it was a real I heard you like carbs in your carbs so I put carbs in your carbs so you can carb while you carb moment.
The Honeyed Pork Ribs ($12.80) were good, meaty, tender and juicy, but very sweet and sticky.
Overall thoughts The price to performance ratio at JML Dumplings in Wolli Creek was good. I am a highly predictable rater, and any half decent pork and chive dumpling at a restaurant that offers them boiled will score high marks from me. Their menu is diverse, however, so even if you don’t like anything featured here there is probably something for you.
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 PorkBurger ($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
One tried and true formula for naming a Chinese restaurant is rolling the dice on different combinations and permutations of the words “Golden”, “Empress”, “Dragon”, “Jade”, and finishing off with ” Seafood Restaurant”. Another familiar technique is to name a restaurant after one’s hometown and append “Taste of” in front of it. Taste of Shanghai is one famous example. Taste of Nanking is another.
TASTE OF NANKING is located on Gadigal Avenue in Waterloo, a recently developed strip of Asian (mostly Chinese) restaurants and groceries with quite a few gems to find. It is somewhat down the street from U STORE, an expensive but fun Asian grocery store with a wide array of snacks and a good mix of not only Chinese but also Korean and Japanese goods.
Taste of Nanking’s Mixed Noodle with Scallion Sauce and Minced Pork ($13.80) was really good. It is a dry noodle dish with a delicious sauce base and a generous helping of mince. The serving is huge, and I enjoyed the addition of the steamed bok choy which provided a fresh and moist counter to the thick saucy noodle dish. There’s a chilli symbol next to it on the menu, but it has more of a sweet taste than a spicy taste. I can definitely recommend this one.
Crayfish topping on steamed rice (Luxury)
The Crayfish Topping on Steamed Rice dish comes in three different grades – Original, Luxury, and Supreme – denoting the quantity of crayfish topping added. I had the “Luxury”, level with 120 grams of crayfish topping, coming in at $22.80.
My feelings about this dish were a bit mixed. This was my first time having small crayfish like this, and I appreciated the small prawny flavour but wondered what kind of hell it was to have to hand peel these tiny crayfish that I was eating multiple of in each mouthful. Apart from the yummy crayfish, the sauce that swam in was a bit too salty and tasty for me, and in this sense the rice definitely came in handy. The egg was yummy, and the dish did benefit from the addition of extra egg. The preserved vegetables added a sweetness to the otherwise quite salty dish. Again this was quite a large serving and like the mixed noodles we took what we couldn’t finish home. If I had one alteration to suggest I would either only get the Original variation (assuming that with only 90 grams of crayfish topping there would be less salty sauce) or add some additional rice.
Nanking Special Egg
The Nanking Special Eggs ($2) were a little bit special. They are your classic marinated soy/tea eggs, served cold, and really good eaten with the mains.
Braised Jumbo Meat Ball in Brown Sauce
The Braised Jumbo Meat Ball in Brown Sauce ($6.80) have a maximum order of 1 per customer, which I don’t really think makes sense unless there is a good reason for scarcity – normally more orders mean more income for the restaurant. They are a large ball formed out of minced pork. My partner quite enjoyed their soft internal texture, however I thought that they were a bit too salty to have on their own. They’re not bad, but if you are ordering these balls I’d highly recommend you have them with some rice.
Signature Nanking Soup Dumplings
The Signature Nanking Soup Dumplings (6 for $7.80) were pretty much Xiao Long Bao but without the folds in the pastry. I’m not really sure what else is different – perhaps a difference in the filling, but given the reasonably wide variation of XLB fillings in general I think it still fits in the same spectrum. The soup of Nanjing soup dumplings is also meant to be more prominent, and while these were quite soupy I think again they fall within the same spectrum as the XLBs of Sydney. They are cheap, juicy, and cheerful.
CONCLUSION
Taste of Nanking is not generally well-rated online, but I’m not too sure why. One one star review on Google Reviews was because their air conditioning wasn’t cold enough one Summer day, which I don’t really think is enough to poo-poo an otherwise good meal. Service seems to be another common complaint I thought the guy running front of house was really enthusiastic, although agree that it was a bit odd that we were given one cup to get water from the water cooler between the two of us.
Overall I think the food was good, and any of my gripes about it being too tasty could have been solved by ordering some extra white rice. Portions were huge and the meal was generally quite good value.
4.5/5 – Not for a business lunch or romantic date, but good for a quick casual meal or takeaway.
