31
2010
Chef’s Gallery, Sydney CBD
An article by obesebaby
| Ratings | |
| Food: | 5/10 |
| Atmosphere: | 6/10 |
| Service: | 5/10 |
| Value: | 5/10 |
| Average Price | |
| Entrée: | $8 – $10 |
| Main: | $15 – $20 |
| Dessert: | $5 – $9 |
| Degustation: | N/A |
| Corkage: | $10 per bottle |
| Cakeage: | Free |
| Others | |
| Ease of finding a car park: | Extremely Hard |
| Ease of finding the restaurant: | Easy |
| Brightness of restaurant: | Bright |
| Noise Level: | Noisy |
| Waiting time for foods: | 15 mins |
| Booking time require: | 1 days – 2 days |
| Child friendly/High Chair: | Yes |
My girlfriend and I decided to order 3 courses, one entree, main and dessert. The menu has a variety of savoury dishes and desserts, clear symbols for vegetarian and chef’s recommendation. We opted for all those that have a chef’s hat next to it.
Wok fried medium grain rice with prawn and diced Chinese olive, $13.90
The order were all mixed up, firstly the piggy face sweet bun came as a entrée and I told the waitress “shouldn’t that be arriving last?” so they took the dish back and next was the fried rice. Although I was hoping to have the entrée first which is the pan fried buns but anyhow, I was starving so I dag right into the fried rice. The fried rice was nice, buttery salty and little piece of olive, prawn, shallot enriched with stripes of eggs. The rice they used was a short grain which makes it a little bit different to the ordinary fried rice.
Lightly pan fried buns with pork, $9.90
The Zi Jian Bao was a little bit disappointing, despite the presentation was nice and the skin was silky smooth, the dough was chewy and the pork mince inside was mushy and a little too soft. After eating three of them I feel a little bit sick to eat buns again.
Steamed sesame "piggy face" bun, $5.90
We got attracted by the name of this dessert “piggy face bun” I never expected the bun itself looks like a pig. It was so cute and almost too pretty to bite into! I started with a bite to the pink pig nose, it was so chewy and taste like chewing gum. Inside was nothing special – black sesame paste but it has a weird taste. Not those sweet tastes that I used to eat. Looking around us was a couple that ordered some pumpkin alike desserts. I must say the chef here has a good art and food craving skills but when it comes down to taste, he needs to work harder.
Conclusion: Don’t get trick by the queues outside, it is not an indication of the popularity of the restaurant. The service we experienced was poor, we asked for a change of table because the wind next to the front door was too strong and because my friend and I just recovered from flu we would like to sit in a warmer place. However, we got rejected by the manager and was told that it is too unfair for the next customer. The food portions here is small and pricy, the chef’s recommendation dishes are not up to standard especially the buns. It was way too chewy to be under the chef’s recommendation menu. I don’t think I will come back again.
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Address:
Level Ground, Shop 12, 501 George Street, Sydney
opening hrs: Mon – Sun: 11:00 to 15:00, 17:00 to 22:00
Ph:+612-9267-8877
Web: N/A
Getting There:
Parking: Kent St
By Train: Town Hall Station
By Bus:
Tat’s exactly what my friends told me. They said not as good as expected, in fact it’s quite dissapointing…i guess i wont be visiting anytime soon
Shame about your bad experience
I’ve seen this place and the queues and wondered what it’d be like. The piggy face buns are really cute though 
I’m going here tonight. I’ve heard it’s alright, but your review says something different. Maybe they’re not consistent with their service. I will try and have a look for myself.
Hey yeah try it and let us know how you go ! I didn’t order any meat dish and only just the buns maybe that’s why !
Yes the service was quite terrible when I went and the food was not that great either. Would definitely stick with Din Tai Fung!
Hello fellow sydney sider!
I’ve seen photos of those little piggies floating around the internet. Am disappointed about the service and the taste of those piggies though =(
sounds very much like the Emperor’s New Clothes Sydney Syndrome. Popular because it’s new and gimmicky with the big face buns. sounds like they need to spend more time on service and food and less time making pretty buns for pretty photos. Give me Sea Bay Dumplings any day for value for money
obviously, most Chinese restaurant in Sydney offers unsatisfied dishes cos chefs are not properly trained or even not trained at all, pork buns are supposed to be very tasty while here are just pos. next go to China, any restaurant, big or small, would bring you fried pork buns (called sheng jia bao or sheng jian man tou) if they have totally different from those in China town, for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!