Chefs Gallery (Sydney CBD)

By Boo_e & St

First of all we would like to say a full-and-fat THANK YOU to all who attended the launch dinner for this blog! Woohoo! It was a terrific turn out and we are very lucky to have such great colleagues supporting our mission. Thank you Biljana, Lana, Lucy, Greg, Paul, Ngaire, Ann, Will, James, Tammy, Mike, Tyrp, Becc, Nate and Daniel.

Other special mentions goes to Thanh and Wes who helped out with the blog’s designs. To Timmy and Daniel, thank you for your boundless support.

Back to business. Some people prefer panoramic views of the ocean or hills, while some people like Lucy, enjoy views of the kitchen hands at work. Come in early and you can see them make their signature “piggy face” bun as one chef was nice enough to model for us. Otherwise catch them folding dumplings or winding up seriously never-ending strings of noodles (see handmade noodles below). If you want some free cooking lessons, I recommend sitting down at the table top benches around the kitchen and observe until you think you can replicate the dishes at home or until you make the chefs feel uneasy and there is a good chance they might call security on you :p

Lucy making sure the chefs are hard at work

You will feel like a superstar working in this kitchen *snap*snap*

We split into a few groups and each ordered a few dishes to share.

Pork belly rolls with carrot, cucumber, garlic and vingerette dressing $8.90

Zheng bao zi steamed buns with cabbage and pork $5.90

Thick handmade noodles wok fried with shredded pork and black fungus $13.90

Wok fried rice with 3 types of eggs (chicken, salted duck and century egg) $13.90

Chao shao pork and prawn wontons in a Shanghainese style spicy sauce $8.90

Congratulations for persevering. While all the above were good, (perhaps except the wontons which were not spicy when you bite into them), some dishes were obvious stand-outs and popular with all.

First of the food-stoppers is the fluffy Chinese roti with pork floss. I’ve had pork floss before with rice (you can buy them alone in jars) but how nice was it mixed with some roti? These roti are light and easy to rip apart, unlike the heavy ones you might get from other cuisines. 

Shou zhua bing fluffy Chinese roti with pork floss $6.90

It’s a good thing we listened to Lucy and ordered two of the noodles below. No wonder these are her favs. As mentioned earlier, these handmade noodles stretch for miles. When you think you’ve swooped them all, you see another noodle still dangling with no sign of its end. You feel like asking for some scissors so you can dig in quicker. It’s essentially a dry noodle dish with the spicy sauce heavily infused. Unlike the wontons above, these noodles were smothered in a perfect amount of spiciness that make your lips tingle but without the need to gush litres of water afterwards.

Prawn and pork wontons with handmade noodles in a Shanghainese style spicy sauce $12.90

If you don’t think dumplings and noodles will fill you up and prefer some meatier stuff, try the pork ribs. This was the star of the night as agreed by most from Boo_e’s side of the table. It was deliciously sticky with a sweet caramelized soy flavour. It gained comments on the night along the lines of “finger licking good!” so I think it’s safe to say that it is a dish worth trying if you’re going to visit Chefs gallery. 

Sweet and dark pork ribs $18.90

I wonder what the best dish on Steph’s side was? What dumplings? You got to be kidding!  The dumplings shells were thin and moist and then you had parts that were crispy. Tammy called them “immaculate” and it sounded like she was having some sort of religious awakening. Biljana’s trick to eating more dumplings when one is full is to burp! These were so good that everyone became too polite and not daring to grab the last heavenly piece. 

Guo tie lightly pan fried prawn dumplings $11.90

As with most Asian restaurants, it seems that we are destined to be disappointed with the dessert selection and it seems that Chefs gallery was no exception, granted the little piggy desserts were cute to look at but in terms of taste it was rather lacking.  It would have been a brilliant idea if they had options for fillings such as green tea, mango, custard or like Tammy said, oozing warm chocolate. They, Mr and Ms Piggy, at least are good for taking photos of.

Steamed sesame “piggy face” buns $5.90

James and Tammy had the strawberry ice cream which they thoroughly enjoyed. Greg also enjoyed the strawberry ice cream after giving up on his bland combination of green tea ice cream.

Strawberry ice cream with chef’s own strawberry sauce and fried sweet potato ball $7.90

Green tea ice cream with steamed pearl dumplings and almond flakes $7.90

The service was slow with one half of the table waiting for 10 minutes to place their orders. In the meantime, the other half had already started eating. So cruel when one is starving. The waitress had limited English which made asking for anything without pointing it out on the menu a little difficult. (This shouldn’t have come as a surprised as St spent 5 frustrating minutes on the phone trying to make a booking.)  We had to ask several times for more wine glasses and they tried to charge us corkage on an unopened bottle. The final straw was a mix up with the bill which was handled very poorly by staff and one of the managers and had put a damper on an otherwise great night out with good friends and good food, which is what Wok You Talking About is all about.

Wokking rating /5:

Chefs Gallery

501 George St

Sydney
02 9267 8877

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