Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Chefs Gallery, Sydney

Another night out in the city. This time it was Friday and we didn't book a restaurant anywhere. We settled on Chefs Gallery situated in the heart of the city - which was surprisingly not as packed outside. We waited for about 5 minutes till we got a seat. For me, this place is an old favourite when I started full time work last year. The menu has changed drastically by adding even more Chinese tapas-style dishes and serving yum cha during lunch time.


The restaurant was buzzing with clientele ranging from students to workers to seniors. On this occasion, I've noticed one of the waiters at the door screams out "Welcome!" as she leads the customers to their tables. I don't remember this happening in previous visits but it got a bit irritating eventually. Because it has been a while since going to Chefs Gallery, I wanted to try something from the new menu but D asked which ones are good and I couldn't help mentioning the three egg fried rice and the cutesy piggy buns. It was always enjoyable checking out the chefs in the kitchen showcasing their noodle skills through the glass window. It's a wonder how fast, precise and accurate the noodles were made. Unfortunately we were planning to share our dishes so we didn't end up getting any of the noodles.

Wok fried medium grain rice with three kinds of eggs (chicken, salted duck and century)

I was pretty surprised when this dish came out to the table first. Pleased as well. The serving size was a bit smaller than what I've had previously. With the different kinds of eggs and medium grain rice used in this dish, you get flavour balancing from the saltiness of the duck egg, the unusual texture and flavour of the century egg and the usual taste from the chicken egg. As it says on the menu - a must try dish! For me, this is the best fried rice dish I've ever had so far.


Steamed prawn dumplings

We wanted to get dumplings and settled for the steamed prawn dumplings which was less expensive that the pan fried dumplings (I was also sick of pan fried dumplings from eating them at every other visit before but I would still recommend this!). They were slippery to handle but we managed it. The dumpling skin and prawns were well cooked and complemented nicely with the soy sauce and vinegar. It reminded me of the dumplings at the Yum Cha places in Cabramatta but not as soggy.

Chef's own mini pork burger

This is one of the many new dishes on the menu. The first thing that came to mind when seeing this menu item is the mini banh mi sandwiches at Ms G's. So how does it fare to that? The bread roll seemed to be cooked using the deep fry method (oh noes!!!) as it had a bit of that oil and crunch. It also had a sweet and sticky taste which didn't appeal to my friend as much. I didn't mind it though. Despite the not so healthy factor in the entire dish, it was still pretty tasty.

Steamed sesame piggy face buns

Now on to the star of the dining experience...or so we thought. After finishing all of our dishes, we waited quite a while for the dessert then asked one of the waiters. Even though earlier we saw the person serving us including this this when making the order, they weren't able to find the piggy face buns in the list of orders! We had to double check and realised that it wasn't included in our order. By then we were a bit full so we told them not to worry about it but they added it to our order so we continued waiting for another 5 minutes. When it was delivered, let's just say it was worth the wait! Seriously how can you resist this cuteness?

We initilly thought the piggy buns look like the pigs from Angry Birds. It is always tough to devour it because it is just too adorable. The sesame paste was creamy while the bun was warm, soft and chewy. My only tiny issue was that I had to wipe my teeth alot so the black sesame paste filling doesn't stay there. Apart from that, this dish is a very enjoyable one for me.


I wouldn't mind coming back to check out more of the new menu dishes. It is definitely the best place to come for a work lunch as the meals are usually delivered fast. On this occasion, I was a bit disappointed that the buns were not taken into account in our order. The service wasn't the best that I've experienced either. I am willing to let it go as I have had many good times going here with mates in the past, there is still so much to sample and the food was very delicious. Is it worth the hype? I'll just say this: you can always try it for yourself at least once and see how it is for you.

Chefs Gallery
501 George St, Sydney 2000
Contact no: 02 9267 8877
http://www.chefsgallery.com.au/

Chefs Gallery on Urbanspoon

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