China Diner comes to Double Bay
When an eatery is so popular in Bondi, it has to expand and open somewhere else.
That’s what’s happened with China Diner.
It was such a hit in Bondi that it’s now opened a new spot in Double Bay.
The 120-seat restaurant is located in Kiora Lane, on the former site of Mistelle restaurant, opposite the entrance to Woolworths.
It means fans of the China Diner in Bondi have another spot, right in Double Bay. And it means the folk in Double Bay get a new Chinese food venue.
All of this is in keeping with revival of Chinese food in Sydney with chef Neil Perry’s latest project, a Cantonese restaurant called Jade Temple providing top Chinese food in competition with that other pillar of the scene Mr Wong and chef/restaurateur Andrew McConnell is getting into it with his Chinese restaurant Ricky & Pinky.
China Diner is not to be outdone and it’s right in the mix.
The menu still offers the dumplings, duck pancakes and other dishes that have already made it a hit.
But in keeping with executive chef Jack James Steer's take on Cantonese cooking, the Double Bay digs blends the traditional and the modern. Steer is also renowned for making his own soy sauce.
It means diners can get the same crispy pork bao with apple and carrot kimchi, or chicken and sesame 'chiko' spring rolls with blood plum sauce that they had in Bondi.
But Steer is offering new dishes: like his chicken and sweet corn soup topped with truffle foam.
The cocktail menu is also impressively creative, all designed to showcase Cantonese and Asian food.
Think of lemongrass and coconut sour, with lemongrass-infused Wyborowa vodka, citrus and coconut foam.
And then there are the share jugs of samurai Pimms (with Kirei sake, Pimms, mint, strawberry, orange and dry ginger ale.
by Leon Gettler, August 8th 2017
