One of the main purpose of this trip for us is to re-unite with Jelloman's family in Sydney. Jelloman is very close to her aunt's family after spending more than a decade with them. She's been itching to visit them in recent years but due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, we were unable to hook up in the last two years. So, once the travel ban was lifted and we felt it was time to re-start our travel, we have made this our first trip since early 2020.
A lot has changed since the last two years. Jelloman's eldest cousin grew from a family of three to four. Her younger cousins have graduated from university and are now in the work force already.
I didn't pick the venue for dinner tonight. After all, I know nothing about the city's dining scene. But I will be fighting for the bill. That's for sure.
Another demonstration that "The Earth is round"! We started off our day having lunch here at Market City and here we are again, having dinner at The Eight Modern Chinese Restaurant Haymarket (八樂居) which is situated in the same shopping mall.
I always thought that Chinese people living in the western world tend to have their dinner early. This was at full display tonight as the restaurant was already full at 6pm! In Hong Kong, it would be impossible since most of us were still in office.
Sweet and Sour Pork with Pineapple (美味咕嚕肉) – Always a crowd pleaser.
Honey Glazed King Prawns (蜜糖蝦球) – You can't go wrong having king prawns in Australia, can you? This was so meaty and the honey glaze, I thought was perfect.
Peking Duck Served in Two Ways (烤北京填鴨兩食) – This was supposed to be the highlight of the meal.
Crispy Duck Skin Served with Pancakes and Hoisin Sauce (北京片皮鴨) – I love the fact that our servers did it all for us. No need to get our hands dirty at all. The duck skin was pretty crispy but the pancake was definitely way too chewy for my teeth!
Diced Duck Meat in lettuce wrap (鴨崧生菜包) – Again our server prepared this before serving it up. I am always a sucker for lettuce wrap.
Steamed free range chicken with secret Chinese herbs (八樂瑤柱貴妃雞) – Some of us wanted chicken and this came highly recommended by our server as it's a signature dish. I didn't get the chance to try it out myself as I was too busy engaging in different dialogues across the table. But this looked pretty good to me.
BBQ Tasting Platter (八樂皇朝拼盤) – I thought they forgot all about this dish but it showed up at the last minute when we were looking at the dessert menu. I don't know how someone could serve a tasting platter as the last dish of the meal when everyone is already done.
This came with BBQ pork, roast duck, soy-sauce chicken and jelly fish salad. A very disappointing dish (especially the char siu which was so dry!) and the plating was just very messy. It looked nothing like the photo shown in the food menu.
My apologies for the poor quality of these photos. I was way too busy tonight and obviously, my heart wasn't entirely in it.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Level 3 Market City Shopping Centre, 13 Hay Street, Haymarket NSW 2000, Australia
Closest Train Station: Central
Tel: +61 2-9282-9988
Website: www.theeightrestaurant.com.au
Opening Hours: 10:00am - 3:00pm (Mon - Fri), 9:30am - 3:30pm (Sat - Sun), 5:00pm - 11:00pm (Mon - Sun)
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