China Doll, Chinese by the waterside

http://www.chinadoll.com.au/

It's very rare that I get to Sydney, I prefer Melbourne as a destination, but recently had to travel down to Sydney to visit the US Consulate to apply for a Visa.  SC and I want to go to New York City for a holiday next year and the hoops we are going through to get a visa, well, its a long story for another time.

One of the benefits of visiting Sydney (or Melbourne for that matter) is meeting some of SC's interstate friends.  I get to meet many of the people that SC knows and also get to check out the many exciting restaurants around the country.  On this occasion we went for a trip down to Woolloomooloo to visit China Doll. 

We were a little early, so we took the opportunity to have a look around Woolloomooloo.  There is not a lot there, just a few decent restaurants and some pubs.  We did see some awesome boats at the marina and had a nice stroll around the headland.  By the time we slowly wandered back to the restaurant it was just starting to move into dusk (I love daylight savings).

China Doll is an award winning traditional Asian influenced restaurant steeply rooted in traditional techniques and flavours.  I has a great reputation and is one of our companions' favourite restaurants.  In the style of many asian restaurants the idea is to order many dishes and share.  As we were the newbies to Chinadoll, we asked them to recommend options from the menu and came up with a fabulous cross selection of entrees and mains

First up was Sashimi of Hiramasa Kingfish & Ocean Trout with Blackened Chilli Dressing.  I'm a big fan of sashimi normally so had no fear of this dish.  The kingfish was delicate and sweet and the ocean trout was subtle, both went really well with the chilli dressing, with just enough heat to make it interesting, without taking away from the delicate flavours of the fish.  A great start to the meal.

Next course was the dumpling special, this was a mixture of prawn [and other seafood I did not catch] with a sweet chilli sauce.  The dumplings were really large and deep fried.  While I really enjoyed the dumpling and the mix of ingredients went well together, I found this to be a little doughy in consistency. 

Next on our exotic food journey was Duck Pancakes with Hoi Sin Cucumber and Shallots.  This was sensational.  The components of the pancakes came out individually and the idea is to build your own stack.  The duck was really well cooked, with crispy fatty skin on the outside and a wonderful gamey duck flavour.  Very simple in building, grab some cucumber, duck and sauce, roll up in the pancake and enjoy.  I was a bit greedy here and accidentally took two pancakes to wrap my ducky goodness in, luckily the waiter noticed this and brought out another round for SC to snaffle up the last of the duck.  Everyone loved this dish.

My absolute favorite dish of the night was next, Crispy Pork Belly with Chilli Caramel and Nam Pla Phrik.  The name sounds a bit rude when you read if fast, but the pork belly was anything but.  Small bite size portions of pork belly, cooked to perfection offset by a wonderful caramel chilli that was quite mild but full of flavour.  The pork belly was crispy all over, but still retained that succulent fatty feel through the middle.  I was able to have about 5 pieces of this and was dismayed to note that SC left a portion of this on her plate the rest of dinner.

Following the star of the night was my least liked selection.  I normally love prawns and when the Grilled Butterflied Jumbo Prawns with Lemon Chilli Garlic came out I was quite excited.  They were indeed jumbo prawns and butterflied as promised, however they were a little difficult to get out of the shell, even with the specially designed fork.  After a number of attempts I got the hang of it and was getting the delicate white meat out quite easily.  I found the texture of the prawns to be a little grainy & the combination of the lemon chilli and garlic didn't sit well on my palate.  I ended up having an extra serve of this due to one of our dining companions not being a prawn eater and by the end of the last prawn was pretty happy they were gone.

Like a true asian feast the food kept coming and up next was the Penang Curry of Slow Braised Wagyu Beef Shin.  I don't normally like slow braised anything and was quite surprise to really enjoy the wagyu.  There was a deep, rich and satisfying curry with the beef, which was cooked to perfection and fell apart as soon as you touched it with your chopsticks.  This was another well loved dish at our table, but you could tell that we were starting to slow down as we did not quite get through it all.

We had completely forgotten about the duck!  So it was a bit of a surprise when the Tea Smoked Duck with Tamarind & Plum appeared.  As you may have gathered around the duck pancakes, I am a big fan of duck and tucked straight into this.  I think I was the only one that had a real crack at the tea smoked duck.  The flavours with this were quite subtle and the plum sauce was good.  This plate hung around for quite a while and I picked at it over the next 15 minutes while chatting away.

By the time the mains had been taken away the table cloth was a mess, but I think this is a good sign in an Asian restaurant.  We contemplated desserts for some time before agreeing that we would have a look.  SC and I ended up sharing a selection of sorbets & ice cream, as well as a sago pudding with passionfruit.  One of our companions went with a lovely looking chocolate and peanut butter ice cream dessert.  After tasting all three, I was pretty stoked with the sago pudding with passionfruit and pretty much devoured it in record time.

I was really happy with the suggestion of Chinadoll and the service was superb all night.  The wait staff were friendly and really enjoyed explaining about the dishes as they came out.  It was also great getting to know some new friends in Sydney, I think its fair to say that a great time was had by all.

No dining experience in Sydney would be complete without a short tour around the city and after accepting a ride back to our hotel, took a fantastic detour across the harbour bridge and back.  After thanking our hosts for a fantastic night, it was back to the hotel in preparation for our Consulate visit.

 @FoodMeUpScotty