The other reason I am writing this, in addition to sharing with others of the good (or bad) restaurants I’ve visited, is to remind me of what I had so that I can order (or NOT order) the food again next time.
I am not paid to write for the restaurants so I can only sample the dishes via multiple visits. The photos will therefore change over time as I take better pictures and try new dishes.
Hope you enjoy them.
Instagram @bevanfoodieChefs Gallery Macquarie
| Name: | Chefs Gallery Macquarie |
| Address: | Macquarie Shopping Centre, Shop 407, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia |
| Telephone: | +61 2 8040 7483 |
| URL: | https://chefsgallery.com.au |
| City: | Sydney |
| Country: | Australia |
| Type of food: | Modern Chinese |
| Summary: | Fusion while maintaining the "Chinese" taste! |
| Date Updated: | 24th February 2018 |
Their flagship restaurant is in Sydney's Town Hall.
The address says George Street but it's actually on Bathurst Street.
Just get to corner of George and Bathurst Street and walk down towards Kent Street. It's on your left.
I normally shy away from "non-authentic" Chinese restaurants. If I'm eating Chinese, I want it to be authentic.
The traditional view is that "non-authentic" Chinese food is food westernised for non-Chinese tastebuds. Yuck.
In recent years, many "modern Chinese" restaurants popped up and stayed popular not just amongst non-Chinese but Chinese as well!
One such restaurant chain is Chefs Gallery.
Looking at their website, they have restaurants in suburbs with high concentration of Chinese population. They even have a restaurant in Xi'an, China (of the Terracotta Warriors fame)!
We visited the Macquarie Centre restaurant and we were pleasantly surprised!
What surprised me even more is we've been back quite a few times since!
So here they are - a picture gallery of Chefs Gallery:
Chinese broccoli blanched and served with vegetarian “oyster” sauce
Cucumber salad marinated in chilli oil, sesame oil and garlic.
Fujian style blue swimmer
crab, dried and fresh
scallop fried rice with
housemade XO sauce
Note: This may not look like fried rice but it's fried rice covered in the sauce.
Shredded Peking duck with cucumber, hoisin sauce rolled inside a flaky Chinese roti
Lightly battered king prawns served with wasabi mayonnaise, flying fish roe and black tobiko
Handmade noodles served with slow cooked beef brisket and minced beef with diced fresh chilli
Wok fried Jasmine fragrant rice with roast duck strips, asparagus and mustard seeds.
You MUST try this!
Water spinach wok fried with chilli prawn paste
Handmade noodles in chicken soup, omelette strips and vegetables served with signature fried pork chop
Pan fried pork and cabbage pot stickers
My take on "modern Chinese":
I had to think about what I mean when I ask people "is the food authentic Chinese?"
I concluded that a dish can only be "authentic" if it's based on the traditional / original recipe - of course over the years, chefs have modified them to make them taste better etc, but it's still basically the same taste: when you eat Peking Duck, you expect a certain taste and texture etc.
So with modern / fusion Chinese, one has to take an open mind - it may or may not be based on a traditional dish. It may look different.
But the bottom line: does it taste good?
Chefs Gallery's food certainly does.
For me, if the name of the dish fits the taste of the dish (e.g. pot stickers looks and tastes like pot stickers regardless of what fancy filling they put inside) and it tastes delicious, then I'll recommend it.
The boring stuff:
The Macquarie Centre restaurant is easy to find - it's up at the same level of the Event Cinema.
Plenty of parking.
It's very busy so take a number and wait. The wait is usually not that long.
I'd imagine it's the same at the other locations.
Chefs Gallery: a gallery of delicious modern Chinese food. https://t.co/KZyjVPiERP#ilovesydney #foodie #foodporn #foodphotography #foodblog #chinesefood pic.twitter.com/FrsCgTs0mM
— Bevan Ting (@BevanTing) February 24, 2018
