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2015: samantha eats her way through sydney, cities: sydney, cuisine: chinese, oceania: australia, photography: food
My parents can be quite particular about Cantonese-Chinese cuisine, which, for me, comes with the advantage of dining with them at all the super yummy Chinese restaurants. Since they’re regulars of Oriental Jewel, to which I’m also quite partial, some of the dishes were complements of the chef, and not on the menu. I’ve also no idea how much the entire meal was supposed to cost, but I do have lots of photos and thoughts on the deliciousness!
But first, some decor! I’ve always loved the Chinese theme–some of it might seem a tad kitsch or overdone, but I just love the lantern lights and the bamboo steamers.
Yay for getting there early enough to take photos of tables, not random strangers!
Yay massive bamboo steamers!
One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is an epic Cantonese double-boiled winter melon soup, which is made to order with prior notice, and, to my knowledge, is a rarity amongst Cantonese-Chinese restaurants in Sydney.
Amazing soup!
The soup has the thinner, broth-like consistency of Chinese soups, as well as the flavour of forever-cooked noms. There are all sorts of goodies within the soup, such as ham, mushrooms, and prawns.
Goodies in my soup!
A more easily available Cantonese dish is the sauteed mud crab with minced meat and vermicelli, one of my sister’s favourites. She loves the crab while I love the vermicelli, so it works out perfectly for us.
Mmm, crab and vermicelli, with bits of minced meat…! And more vermicelli! <3
Next were these deep-fried duck rolls and soft duck pancakes, which Wendy and I shared, since we knew there would be lots more food to come.
Naturally, I preferred the deep-fried ones. ;)
And yup, there was more food indeedy. Another of Oriental Jewel‘s signature dishes is their eight treasures braised duck, which is stuffed with eight ingredients. This has a Shanghainese origin, and I think can be found elsewhere in Sydney. I only ate a little, but golly, the flavours!
This mightn’t look like much, but yum!
I was getting pretty full, and only had a sampling of the next dish: braised barramundi with bitter melon and dry bean curd sticks.
There really is fish underneath all those veggies!
I honestly don’t know what this next dish was, nor did I have any since I was saving up for dessert, but hey, have a(n unhelpful) photo!
I think this was the vegetarian dish of the evening.
Desseeeeert! At Oriental Jewel, I always have the fried ice-cream with chocolate sauce, and it definitely hit the spot. Happy times! For those who haven’t had fried ice-cream before, it’s this heavenly concoction of ice-cream within a shell of deep-fried batter, topped with your sauce of choice. I love the contrasting crispy/smooth and hot/cold combinations—it’s one of the few desserts in the Chinese restaurant scene, and it’s perfect for me!
Wheeeeeeeeee!
We also got these red bean rolls/pancakes/deep-fried beauties, which I shared with Wendy because I was bursting by this point. They were both really good though, and I especially liked the deep-fried ones.
Notice a theme in the plating? ;)
Finally, we were presented with this amazing peanuty dessert soup, of which I had…more bowls than expected. I’ve had my fair share of dessert soups at Chinese restaurants everywhere, but I’d never come across this beautiful peanuty concoction before. I don’t think it’s on the menu, but if you’re interested in trying it out, perhaps you could give them a ring beforehand.
Again, it’s not much to look at, but I had…several bowls.
Visited on: Thursday, 24 September 2015. Dinner.
Spent: I’ve no idea–thanks, dad! All this food happily fed nine people, and we had plenty to take home.
Overall: One of my preferred Chinese places in Sydney, though I might be biased because of the amazing service and special dishes. Regardless, I’d definitely recommend it to anyone into Chinese noms! (No numerical rating, because it’s probably biased.)
Oriental Jewel
Level 1, No. 9 Bronte Road
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
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Lunch: Monday – Friday: 11:00-15:00; Saturday & Sunday: 11:00-15:30
Dinner: Monday – Thursday, Sunday: 17:30-22:00; Friday & Saturday: 17:30-22:30