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.
We ordered a number of items from their electronic menu. Interestingly, the online menu provides an indication of what items are popular that given day, helping customers to choose not just what the restaurant believes to be its house specialties, but also what the customers think is good.
We had this fried dough 油条 you tiao ($3.50), which was fine, not the best, definitely not particularly crispy or fresh, with a bit of a self-raised taste to it.
This BBQ pork rice roll 叉烧肠粉cha shao chang fen $15.80 was OK at the time, but pales in comparison to a better one that I had at Traditional Chinese Tate in Burwood about 6 weeks after this meal. The one here at Steamup was in comparison less bulgingly full, with a char siu that wasn’t as good as the standard of char siu you’d get at most Cantonese BBQ restaurants.
We ordered also this chinese bacon & chinese sausage claypot rice腊肉腊肠煎仔饭 ($18.80), into which lightly gingered soy sauce was poured by the server, tableside with resultant sizzle, in an act of showmanship. I didn’t love it at first, particularly not enjoying the flavour of the preserved meat, but it did grow on me.
The bottom of the claypot rice was lightly charred and crispy, as it should be.
The egg tarts 蛋挞 (2 for $5) were terrible. The pastry wasn’t flaky, and the filling was too set and solid rather than soft, and also without an eggy flavour. The freezer aisle at your local Asian grocery store has better options. I would be embarrassed to sell this.
Unlimited refills of ginseng tea was also on offer, with the tiniest cups and the longest walk to the urn to minimise wasteage.
Overall the food was OK, and enjoyed much more by my partner than me. What this trip really did open our eyes to was the deep variety and availability of Chinese foods in Eastwood, a place we haven’t really been to much given we’ve always lived in a relatively Southern part of the city. Perhaps one day when our financial circumstances improve we’ll be able to go back to Eastwood.
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 unsweethot 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.
It’s rare to find stir fried pho in Sydney, and for our first tasting we had a simple medium special beef pho ($19), with beef brisket and stir fried beef. The beef, stir fried before being mixed in the broth, added a heightened degree of oiliness to the bowl, not normally seen. A degree of tenderness that normally accompanies rare beef pho is lost with stir fried beef, and the flavours somewhat overpowered by the liberal helping of onion. The lack of bean sprouts also hurt me, and so whilst I respect that some people may prefer this version of the bowl, it’s just simply not for me.
The red wine beef with bread roll ($18) felt a lot less like the Vietnamese food I’m used to and a lot more like a beef bourguignon. I say this as a non-Vietnamese person, though and if I am told in the comments I’m wrong then I guess I will be wrong.
This donut / fried dough cruller / you tiao ($2) was quite good, freshly fried, crispy, and probably better than a lot that I’ve had at actual Chinese restaurants. A surprising strength.
The salted coffee ($8) was an interesting and valuable experience. It was a bit salty, a bit sweet, and actually quite enjoyable for someone who doesn’t normally go for a salted caramel type thing. Something to try, even if not something I’d have on a regular basis.
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
Sun Ming’s been around in Parramatta for as long as I can remember, with my parents frequently buying shāo kǎo (烧烤) from this and nearby barbecue restaurants throughout my childhood. Though frequenting the BBQ counter, I had never been further inside the restaurant until now.
Complimentary soup was served with our meal. It was light and a bit sweet with a bit of pork bone, similar to many entree soups at larger Cantonese restaurants. I certainly wasn’t expecting this from a neighbourhood BBQ restaurant at 3PM in the afternoon, but it was a nice surprise.
This chicken congee was warm and delicious, with light flavours of chicken and ginger, and crispy fried wonton bits on top. I feel like I could drink one of Sung Ming’s congees every day – they just feel so wholesome.
While it’s not strictly against the law to have congee without Fried dough sticks – Yóu tiáo (油条 – $3.70), it’s definitely unwise to forego them if available. Sun Ming’s dough sticks are freshly fried, warm throughout, and crunchy on the outside with a softer inside, perfect for dipping into congee. Whilst nothing out of the ordinary, these sticks are special just for being ordinary – a perfect rendition of what they are meant to be.
I had my first taste of Fujian (Hokkein) Fried Rice as a child in the early 2000s, in a small Chinese diner in Burwood called Canton Noodle House. Since then, I have travelled the world trying Fujian Fried Rices from all over Sydney and Melbourne. Some have been better, many have been worse, and out of all of these Sun Ming’s ranks within the top tier. The fried rice component of the Fried Rice Fukkien Style ($17.80), as it is known at Sun Ming, is less fried than its counterparts across Sydney, more resembling a normal rice that has been tossed in oil. The size of the toppings is greater than what I’ve experienced elsewhere, with both vegetables and seafood coming in larger chunks rather than minestrone-sized pieces – a point of differentiation rather than a point of advantage or disadvantage. The toppings themselves were warm and full of umami flavours – not too heavily salted but salted just right to add flavour to the rice, and of adequate quantity that no grain of rice was left untopped and boring.
The beef brisket in hot pot ($18.80) was exactly as stated on the label. It is a more strongly flavoured dish, with a huge amount of nice, fatty beef brisket and wombok cabbage in a hot pot. It’s a bit too salty to eat on its own, but just perfect with rice, which is how it is designed to be eaten. I liked this very much – I only wish that there could’ve been an option to mix beef brisket and tofu within the same hot pot.
I’ve recently discovered that most BBQ meats from Chinese BBQ shops aren’t actually made on site, due to the significant difficulties in small spaces and therefore the significant advantages of economies of scale when it comes to roasting entire ducks and huge slabs of pigs. Whilst I can’t confirm where Sun Ming Parramatta gets their roast duck from, (or perhaps they actually do do it in house), I can confirm that it is very delicious, plump, juicy, and not too salty.
Char siu is char siu. There is generally a good mix of fatty and lean pieces.
I’ve always wondered what these sausages were, and it took the help of my girlfriend speaking in Cantonese to actually order a little bit to try. Though I still don’t know what they’re called (the English-speaking internet is divided on this topic – perhaps siu cheong), I can describe them for you in reasonably good detail. They are a thick sausage with a soft internal structure and a sweetness similar to that of cha siu or your standard dried lap cheong. The thickness and softness however give it much more presence in your mouth than just chewing a twiggy-stick-esque lap cheong, and while I enjoyed it by itself I think it would also be great with rice.
UPDATE MARCH 2023 We went back. Of course we did.
The combination and bean curd in hot pot ($22) hit every single mark it was meant to, with a generous serving size, jam packed with fried soft tofu, beef, chicken, some prawns, vegetables, and roast pork belly. This is a universal classic dish that the restaurant pulled off with no problem.
I have been searching for a good Sang Tung Chicken (Shandong Chicken – $20) for what feels like many years now, and none has come as close to what I remember and enjoy as Sun Ming Parramatta’s. This chicken was crispy skinned on the outside whilst remaining moist on the inside, with a deliciously sour, sweet, and savoury sauce and topping of chillis, garlic and shallots. This was exactly what I was looking for.
The BBQ Pork and Roast Pork with Rice ($16) was sadly not as good at the end of the day as when we usually get takeaway from them, with only a limited portion of roast pork still available by around 8PM. I also didn’t love the char siu this time around, which I found to be more fatty but also with a bit of a porky aftertaste – not as good as what they usually have on offer.
UPDATE MAY 2023
Between stroke calls at the end of the day when essentially all other nearby restaurants had closed their kitchens I inhaled this Roast Pork and Soy Chicken with Noodles ($16), which wasn’t particularly spectacular (especially the noodle soup, I think rice might be a better option), but came with this excellent complimentary soup of the day.
This soup of the day, free, was unlike any other I’d ever had. Though the day was generally bad for me (7 stroke calls in a 24-hour period), the soup of the day was good, with a nice tomatoey and slightly spicy flavour. I liked it much more than the noodle soup that I actually paid for.
UPDATE, in retrospect, May 2021
I just found this photo from a delivery order 3 years ago on my computer. (writing now in October 2024). It’s a photo of Baked New Zealand Rice ($20), although that pricing is probably historical and might not be accurate any more due to rampant inflation since peak COVID-19 times. The rice, as I remember was delicious. Super cheesy and creamy, lots of umami flavour from the seafood and ham, and overall a terribly unhealthy delight. Maximal HK-Portuguese fusion.
VERDICT Sun Ming BBQ in Parramatta is a centre of excellence for authentic, well-priced Chinese food in the heart of Parramatta. They are my pick for Cantonese/Hong Kong BBQ meats over the nearby Mr Ping’s, which in my opinion is not as nice and also a bit more pricey. Recommend.
Sun Ming BBQParramatta 145-149 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150 (02) 9689 2178
