Chef's Gallery

Dr. R and I meet up in various cities around the world and tonight's city was Sydney.  We were joined for dinner with our old college neighbour Dr. A who dragged along Dr. X, her fiance not the guy from X-Men.  

After first contemplating Din Tai Fung, Dr. R said he'd eaten there just recently overseas and so I suggested Chef's Gallery.  The Drs. were easygoing for anything but I had an ulterior motive - I wanted to eat the Piggy Buns.  I first came across these when someone posted it on my FB feed.  

The Piggy Buns!  With a sweet, black sesame filling.  One is a boy, one is a girl.  So much effort.  The eyes are black sesame seeds and are probably placed in position with tweezers. 

So happy to finally eat these.  

They were nice and exactly what it was - a sweet, steamed sesame bun.  The rest of dinner was pretty average.  The zhajiang mian was below average of any that I've eaten.  Some of the dumplings were undercooked and the rice flour wrappers a bit hard.  Maybe we didn't order the right stuff.  

The restaurant has an open window into the kitchen where you can watch the chefs make handmade noodles and dumplings.  All chefs wear a clear, plastic mouth guard to emphasise 'We are a clean Chinese restaurant and we will go to extremes to not spit and breathe on your food'.  (See this review for pics.)  A bit over the top and pretentious if you ask me.  If this was really a huge issue in the restaurant industry then why doesn't everyone wear one?  Maybe Chef's Gallery should concentrate on churning out better and consistent dishes, rather than being distracted about the 'clean' appearance of the staff.  They might be wearing a mouth guard but did they wash their hands after using the toilet or cigarette break?!

I'll come back but only for the Piggy Buns.