Istana - Thornleigh

Hubby and I wanted to try Alice's in Thornleigh. Unfortunately, as it was a public holiday, this popular makan @ Alice's was closed :( Next best option for a Malay fix in the Thornleigh area was Istana.

We ordered a Hainan Chicken Rice (1/2 chicken) and a homemade fish cake with egg noodles. When it came out, we were like... zomg. The chicken was much bigger than we had expected. Luckily, it was really tasty and tender and yummy. Also, when we asked for more shallot and ginger mixture, we were given a massive bowl of it, bringing a huge smile to hubby's face :) Though the chicken rice was slightly less tasty than normal, it was still deliciously satisfying.

Hainan Chicken Rice (1/2 chicken)

The handmake fish cake with egg noodle was also interesting. The fish cake was really quite fishy and relatively hard and tough. I can't say it was to my liking. The egg noodles were as normal, so nothing extraordinary here.

Handmade fishcake with egg noodles

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance- 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 26/40

Istana
238/230 Pennant Hills Road
Thornleigh NSW 2120
Tel: (02) 9481 8855

Lee Central Park Chinese Restaurant - Thornleigh

Lee Central Park Chinese Restaurant

Looking for a quick late lunch, my partner and I headed for Lee Central Park Chinese Restaurant in Thornleigh, initially because he wanted steamed rice noodles or wonton noodle soup. However, when we got there, my partner changed his mind and ordered something completely different.

One of my favourite dishes is the chicken feet in vinegary sauce. This restaurant used to serve humungousness plates of these for a mere $3.80 but the plates have since shrunk. It also used to come swimming in vinegary garlicy marinade with a hint of chilli but as you can see, that has dissappeared also. Nonetheless, these disgusting-looking chicken feet are still super duper tasty and yummy.

chicken feet in vinegar marinade - $3.80

My choice was a simple thousand egg and pork congee ($6.80) with chinese deep fried donut ($2). As it came out, both my partner and I were thinking... 'yea - nowhere near as awesome as the one in Singapore'. And that was true. But for Sydney standards, this congee was pretty average. Nothing bad about it. On the otherhand, the chinese donuts came out warm and crunchy - which was pretty good. Nothing worse than soggy cold chinese donuts :)

chinese deep fried donut - $2

thousand egg and pork congee - $6.80

Now instead of opting for noodles, my partner decided that he wanted a clay pot rice ($9.80). Taking a good 20 minutes to come out, I decided that this place probably does it the traditional way - ie. cooking the rice in the clay pot - instead of shoving rice-cooker rice in it and pretending it came from original clay-pot cooking style. However, digging into it, I had my doubts. For one, the rice was super duper soggy. Like REALLY REALLY soggy (so maybe possibly they put too much water into it? or maybe they didn't cook it for long enough?). There was also no crunchy "burnt" rice sticking to the bottom or the edges. Topped with decently tender chicken, yummy chinese sausages, chinese mushrooms and a few lonely bits of shallot, I would have preferred it to come with at least a bit of vege. Nonetheless, when topped with soysauce, clay pot rices tend to be quite palatable (to me atleast).

Chicken, mushroom and chinese sausage clay pot rice - $9.80

As it was nearing 3pm, the time that they close, we were given the bill before we finished our meal. Not that we could finish it anyway. Coming to a grand total of $21.40, feeding both of us with leftovers, it felt like quite a bargain.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 5.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 27.5/40

Lee Central Park Chinese Restaurant
4 Central Ave
Thornleigh
NSW 2120
tel: (02) 9980 7942