Mr Wong, Sydney CBD

The first time I've heard of Mr Wong was when they had a stall at last year's March into Merivale opening night. So it's no surprise that this has become one of the hot spots in the Sydney dining scene with lengthy waits to get a table. Owned by Dan Hong (Ms G's, El Loco), Jowett Yu (Ms G's) and Eric Koh (Hakkasan in London); this restaurant focuses on Chinese/Cantonese cuisine from yum cha to traditional Chinese dishes that you would usually find at Golden Century or East Ocean - but with a modern twist.
By the way, I should mention that I was pretty hammered and I only have my iPhone camera that night. Plus the lights were very dim at the restaurant. Many apologies for the poor quality photos.

Although it was only a Wednesday night, we had to wait for nearly an hour for a table for 3 people! Unfortunately, you can only do bookings for 6 or more people. We were still eager to try and went to the Establishment for cocktails to kill time (BTW drinking on an empty stomach is bad mmmkay?). We got a call from that our table is available about 45-50 minutes later. Imagine how busy it is on a Friday or Saturday night?

This restaurant is huge. 240 seats on two-levels huge. Located at the former site of Tank Nightclub, when you enter inside you can feel like you are back in time in the old colonial era in China in the 19th-early 20th Century in its wooden, warehouse-esque layout. You can also see various meats like duck and pig being roasted on display just like what Asian butchery shops do. Even the menu is as big as the restaurant with yum cha offerings, roasted meats, noodles, live seafood, a vegetarian menu, and those interesting desserts that reminded us of Ms G's. I was keen to try the mud crab but since we already ordered many dishes, we'll save it for another time.

Textual salad of poached chicken, jellyfish and pig's ear ($14)

I was instantly attracted to the this dish from the moment I saw pig's ear. While the pig's ear wasn't of the crispy variety, the salad on the whole is crunchy and quite refreshing. I also loved the sesame oil that was poured onto the salad. For me, the sesame oil just elevates the texture of the already crunchy salad.

Deep fried Dim Sum Platter ($32)

We weren't sure on whether to get the steamed or the deep fried dim sum platter. Eventually we settled with the deep fried because one of us wanted to try the vegetable spring roll. The platter consists of foie gras prawn toast, lobster mei si roll, crispy beef roll and the Morel mushroom and vegetable spring roll. They were all very enjoyable but I would love to try even more from the Dim Sum menu that is only available for lunch. It is a hit for our table since we gobbled it up really fast. Will come back for this, especially the succulent crispy beef roll and the creamy foie gras prawn toast. The vegetable roll is pretty chunky and full of flavour while the lobster mei si roll is earth-shattering crunchy with bits of crispy thin noodles flying everywhere although it seems to have a bit of stringy cheese inside.  

Steamed fish fillet with ginger and shallots ($32)

The mates seemed really keen to try the steamed fish so we ordered it as well. It's pretty tasty and reminded me of the seafood that mum makes at home. Ginger, shallots and broth included. Wasn't a stand out dish for me but I liked combining the fish fillet with the coriander and dipping it into the petite broth.

Black pepper beef with asparagus, snow peas and baby corn ($29)

While this is reminiscent of most Chinese take-out shops in Haymarket, I loved the flavour combinations in this dish. This version did not taste as stodgy and was quite light on the palate. We all enjoyed this so much that we all ate most of the dish before I realised that I forgot to take a pic...oops! It did look pretty when it was presented to us.

Mr Wong's Crispy Skin Chicken - Half ($28)

The de-boned crispy skin chicken was decent and filling in size but perfect to share for 3 drunken diners like us. It is tasty and moist to our liking and a perfect match with a splash of lemon with salt and pepper on the side to dip the chicken. 

Steamed Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce and Garlic oil ($12)

I cannot recall why we ordered this dish. I guess we needed some greens and opted for this. This tasted quite nice though it also reminded me of the same meal I've had at home including the oyster sauce. 

Roast white chocolate ice cream, yuzu curd, longans, and raspberries ($14)

We knew we had to make room for desserts especially since it is owned by the same chefs who originally owned Ms G's. The roasted white chocolate ice cream is a sure-fire hit for our table. The ice cream is so beautifully presented in layout and texture and tasted so smooth with a hint of sweetness from the longan and raspberries, and a slight tangy flavour from the yuzu cream. 

Mr Wong's deep fried ice cream with butter scotch sauce ($14)

Like many Asian restaurants lately, it is no surprise that Mr Wong has fried ice creeeaaammm. At the time we went, there was a choice of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. I chose the chocolate version but the latest menu on the website seems to only have vanilla now. It has a golden crust of crumbs like a shell covering the scoop of ice cream and placed on a pool of butter scotch sauce. It's always fun when you open the shell just to see the surprise element. When we broke it, the melted chocolate ice cream poured out and into the butter scotch sauce. It's a total guilty pleasure although it did get overwhelmingly rich and too sweet to handle.

Send in the ducks!

There are still so many more dishes that I want to try (mud crab, pippies in XO sauce, Mapo tofu, drunken chicken, Peking duck pancakes etc) so another visit is much needed with a menu of that size. Also the staff was really friendly that night. While the food is worth the hype, the prices are a bit expensive and the portion for some dishes doesn’t justify it. Not to mention, the waiting time of 1-2 hours for a table is a bit of a turnoff. Despite those shortfalls, I am still keen to brave the queues and try some more dishes when I get the chance.

Mr Wong
3 Bridge Lane, Sydney NSW 2000

(02) 9240 3000

http://merivale.com.au/mrwong/