Excellent Chinese Restaurant - Carlingford

It was after church one Sunday - and I had a craving for siu mai (pork and prawn dim sims). It was 2pm and my hopes of going yum cha were expecting dissappointment - that is, until we rock up to Excellent Chinese Restaurant in Carlingford and find a line of awaiting patrons. A line at 2pm??? seriously?

We wait nonetheless and were seated not before too long. First thing I flagged down was the har gau (prawn dumplings). The skin of these dumplings were slightly broken - evidence of slight over steaming - but the prawn filling was yummy, tasty and elasticy texture (of freshness) inside. Not bad for a hungry stomach.

har gao

The dish my partner flagged down was the lo mai gai (lotus leaf rice with chicken and pork mince and chinese sausage). This was a good and bad choice. Good choice in that the thing was hot, the rice was cooked pretty perfectly and the portion of filling/rice/sauce was almost perfect. Bad in that it was sooooo filling that we pretty much couldn't eat anything else afterwards LOL.

lo mai gai

Hence, our last order for the day was what we initially came to yum cha for... the siu mai. YUM. Super super tasty and yummy (maybe because I just like all siu mai - especially freshly steamed ones) and I would sooooo go for 2nds and 3rds but my stomach was protesting in lotus leaf rice fullness :P

siu mai

All up, food here is good. Service and ambiance? it's a Chinese restaurant - you get what you think you get.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 27.5/40

Excellent Chinese Restaurant
Carlingford Rd (cnr Carlingford Rd & Rembrandt St)
Carlingford
NSW 2118
tel: (02) 9873 6113