Lunch is served! You have to move quickly or you’ll miss out.

Duck pancakes. I would eat these everyday if I could.

Little parcel of goodness.

The barramundi. Not the best, but the plate is cool.

Vegetarian hot pot. This was surprisingly a hit even with the meat eaters of the group.

Obligatory dumplings.

Eggplant up front and pork hock down back. Loved the pork hock.

Mr Wong is the new kid in town and has already become one of the most talked about restaurants this year. Set where Tank Nightclub and what I’m pretty sure where R’n'B Superclub was, it’s kind of funny being here and remembering what it was like when it was a club. Walking through the restaurant, I feel somewhat underdressed for what I thought may have been a casual post house party Sunday yum cha session. Note to self, next time try not to look so ratty.

The whole space is cool with equally cool looking staff and a trendy looking bar that would never ever feature at any of my usual yum cha haunts. Before I even got there I knew I wanted a whole duck. I have such a weakness for duck and thank god I got this because it was awesome. Lots of tasty, tasty duck served with steaming hot pancakes, this dish came first and was devoured by everyone in minutes.

After the duck came and went, the dishes came out thick and fast – the Sichuan style eggplant, dark soy and chilli ($18) was a small dish but had great flavour and wasn’t too gluggy. The hotpot of braised tofu and seasonal baby vegetables, served “Lo Han” style ($26) was popular even with the meat eating males of the group. Steamed chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and garlic oil ($12) is my staple dish in all my yum cha sessions and this was not so different from other restaurants, but I didn’t need it to be. Just stick with the simple recipe and you’re onto a winner. The crispy fried barramundi fillets with spicy salt ($32) was a bit of a letdown. It just looked like a few deep fried fish fillets on a plate and nothing more. Flavour was alright but nothing memorable. However, the sweet and sour crispy pork hock ($28) was recommended to us by friends who visited the day before and it was well worth getting. The pork was perfectly cooked, the sauce was a little spicy and could have been used as a sauce by itself on my steamed rice.

Servings aren’t massive here, so you should get a few more dishes than just one per head. Which isn’t so bad because you get to try more food. Just watch out, it may be tasty but you can rack up a mean bill pretty quickly if you’re not careful. But if you weren’t expecting this meal to be somewhat pricey before you got here, then you haven’t done your research.

So glad I finally got to try Mr Wong! Dan Hong, you’ve done well.

Mr Wong’s details:

Address: 3 Bridge Lane Sydney NSW 2000
Telephone: 02 9240 3000
Opening Hours: Open daily. Lunch: 12:00pm – 3:00pm; Dinner: 5:30pm – 11pm (Sunday til 10pm); Late Night: Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights till midnight.
Website: http://merivale.com.au/mrwong/




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