The Century - Pyrmont

A family friend had their 90th birthday recently and they invited us to attend their birthday dinner at The Century in the Star. The menu was pretty extravagant, the food was pretty tasty, and the waitstaff were pretty friendly and patient with us. And so, it was a good night all up :)

One of the first courses of the night was the lobster sashimi. It came on an impressive bed of smoking liquid nitrogen - just for the 'wow' factor, but it really didn't need it as the lobster sashimi itself was pretty 'wow' itself in terms of being sweet and super fresh tasting. Being so close to the fish market, we not only got pieces of lobster sashimi, we also got and oyster and salmon sashimi  - both of which were really tasty.

Course two was XO pipis on vermicelli. This was pretty steaming hot and well sauced. Everyone happily chomped on this and there were no complaints. So pretty good dish :)

Lobster braised with ginger and shallot was next. There was a pretty massive plate of lobster and had tons of meat. Funnily enough, this lobster had a more crab like texture - less chewy and more sweet - and so, I quite liked it.

The next course was abalone slices with veges. There was soooo much abalone. All thinly sliced and stir-fried. It wasn't chewy and tough like I expected but because it was so thinly sliced, it was subtly sweet and soft and delectable.

A steamed coral trout was next. Steamed really well, the meat fell off the bone. Pretty good for fish :)

Chicken and noodles, as well as garlic lettuce came next. These were pretty average compared to the rest of the meal. The noodles might have lacked a bit of flavour. Possibly needed a bit more salt or a bit more sauce? But noodles are noodles - and I eat all noodles.

Fruit, biscuits and Chinese 'birthday buns' came next. The birthday girl got the massive bun (which unfortunately was hollow) and the rest of us go the little buns which had red bean paste in it. Nice end to the night really.

The Century @ The Star
80 Pyrmont St
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Tel: (02) 9566 2328

Good Luck Chinese Restaurant - Enfield

After a super difficult and long long week at work, all hubby wanted was duck and so duck we ate. We'd talked about going to this Chinese restaurant in Enfield for years so I was pretty pumped that we finally could visit 'Good Luck Chinese Restaurant' for their popular Peking Duck.

Between the two of us, we couldn't really eat much more than the duck. (and remember to pre-order the duck at least 1 hr before you visit the restaurant). The duck comes in 2 courses - the pancakes and either the soup or deep fried duck. I don't know if we were tucked in a corner of the restaurant or if we looked young, but we were ignored for quite some time. When the duck finally came, it was gloriously crispy and good looking :)It was tasty and succulent and a little bit oily, but really deliciousness! The pancakes were definitely homemade cos it was a bit thick... and very often stuck together. But the yumminess of the duck makes up for the shortfall.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much the extent to which the yumminess ends. Our second course was the soup. It was a bit dismal. Lacked taste. A bit of duck bone, some shallots and a few bits of chinese cabbage... It was slightly not tasty and non-delicious.

We also ordered a small side dish of cold noodles. This was likewise a bit dismal and non-delicious and I would recommend against ordering it.

So I guess that this is a small Chinese restaurant that is really good for Peking Duck (but maybe order the fried version for the second course) and ask others for recommendations for what else to order here (definitely not the cold noodles).

Good Luck Chinese Restaurant
182 Liverpool Road
Enfield NSW 2136
Tel: (02) 9747 4625