Chefs Gallery Restaurant: A Feast for the Eye and the Belly

The latest venture by restaurant entrepreneur Kaisern Ching (the bloke we’re all indebted to for bringing Din Tai Fung to Sydney), Chefs Gallery restaurant offers Sydney diners a room with a different kind of view. At Chefs Gallery restaurant, a northern Chinese speciality restaurant, the kitchen and dining room are separated by a lengthy wall of panelled glass, so that every table overlooks a mesmerising production line of white-clad cooks involved in the elaborate process of making Chinese dumplings and noodles, by hand.

Divert your eyes from the intriguing spectacle of hard-at-work chefs kneading, rolling, twisting and wrenching the phenomenally stretchy dough into shape, and you’ll discover a sleek, contemporary Asian space complete with plush fabric walls, leather banquettes and Chinese antiques displayed in museum-like glass cases. 

Appetisers like tataki wagyu beef with spicy Sichuan dressing highlight Chefs Gallery’s innovative fusion approach to Chinese cooking. Guo tie (pan fried prawn dumplings) are wondrously delicate and burst on first bite with firm, flavoursome whole prawns. There’s even a Chinese version of Malaysian roti (flat bread), crispy, fluffy and perfectly paired with spring onions and that addictive, salty and damned ingenious substance known as pork floss.

After watching the chef’s skills with the noodle dough, a sampling of the handmade noodles is a must. A dish of zha jiang noodles with minced pork, dried bean curd and soya sauce is satisfyingly sweet and salty, and the al dente noodles are perfection. Ordering fried rice can sometimes seem superfluous at a Chinese restaurant, but Chefs Gallery’s fried rice, with its three types of eggs (chicken egg, salted duck and century egg) is a revelation, full of creamy, yolky, salty flavour. Then there’s the sliced pork belly, punchy with dried fish, dark soy sauce and potent dried chillies, served with incredibly delicate pancakes, ready to be rolled up Peking duck style.

There are a couple of Chinese beers and wines on the menu, as well as a modest selection of local drops. If you haven’t laid eyes on them before, order the ‘piggy face buns’ for dessert. Filled with sweet sesame paste, the real treat here is the presentation – almost too cute to eat!

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