Food is constantly on my agenda. If I’m not eating it I’m thinking about what my next meal will be or which restaurant to try next. Sydney is full of so many amazing cafes, casual eateries and fine dining restaurants that it can often be difficult choosing which restaurant to try out next!
As I was in Parramatta Thursday night, my boyfriend and I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try out a restaurant in the Western Sydney region as it’s not often I find myself here. After much contemplation, we decided to grab some food at Chefs Gallery as we had a 25% off voucher through our Entertainment Book.
Chefs Gallery is a small chain of restaurants and we keep meaning to go here, so this was the perfect excuse to try it out. There are currently four restaurants: Town Hall, Macquarie, Bankstown and Parramatta. This Chefs Gallery in Parramatta has actually only recently opened a few weeks ago, making us even more eager to try out this brand new restaurant.
We arrived just after 6pm and surprisingly, we managed to get a table even though it was a late night shopping night. Chefs Gallery is located on the ground floor of Westfield Parramatta and was pretty busy when we got here, but our waitress led us to a table near the window overlooking the shopping centre.
Chefs Gallery is renowned for its handmade noodles and is a multi-award winning Chinese dining experience like no other, having been voted as the Top Rated Asian 2016 by Dimmi as well as being The Entertainment Card’s Hall of Fame Winner 2015 and Gold Award Winner 2012, 2013 & 2014.
If you are lucky enough, you could be seated by the glass-walled kitchen where you can watch the theatre of hand-made noodles being pulled and stretched, making your dining experience even more memorable and unique. On this occasion though we were not near this area, but I was happy enough people watching and watching other people’s food arrive.
Our waitress soon brought out some menus, which were just like a hard-cover book and were full of a wide variety of dishes to awaken the senses. Choosing some food could become difficult!
Types of dishes at Chefs Gallery include cold dishes, soups, seafood, meat and poultry, vegetables & tofu, as well as their specialty hand-made noodles, which are served dry, in a soup or wok fried. You can also try out the fried rice dishes as well as the gourmet dim sims. And if that’s not enough then there are plenty of tasty looking desserts to try out as well.
So you can see where I’m coming from when I say choosing a dish would be difficult! It all sounded so wonderful and I suddenly became extremely indecisive which wouldn’t be the first time!
As I love dumplings and dim sims I decided it would be a crime not to try out these small parcels of absolute pleasure and after some serious deliberating I decided to go for the Chicken and Prawn Shui Mai (4 pieces for $9.90). As Chefs Gallery is also renowned for its handmade noodles, I also decided on a noodle dish and finally chose the Prawn and Pork Wontons handmade noodles served with minced chicken and chopped lettuce in a Shanghainese style spicy sauce for $15.90. This was also one of their signature dishes.
My boyfriend decided upon the Steamed BBQ pork buns alongside another Signature noodle dish which highlighted duck.
Chefs Gallery would be a great place to come in a group as it would allow you try many more dishes. My boyfriend can’t eat shellfish so we couldn’t share my dishes, but there was lots of choice and plenty more dishes I would want to come back and try out.
Our waitress took our order and came back with the receipt which they tick off as the dishes come out. Dishes come out as they are cooked so if you are wanting food in a particular order then this might not appeal.
The first dish that arrived at our table was my noodle and wonton dish. This looked and smelled amazing and was full of colour. There was plenty of heat running through the dish from the chillies and spicy sauce and the wontons were well-crafted with plenty of filling and there were approximately five wontons. The noodles were delicious, extremely moreish and plentiful.
As I was devouring my way through my yummy noodles, my boyfriend’s steamed bbq pork buns arrived (2 pieces for $6.90). He had to wait a while as they were quite hot, but when he dug into them he enjoyed the juicy and tasty contents against the dough of the buns. I quite like steamed bbq pork buns, but on this occasion I was unable to get a taste of this for myself! He simply devoured them too quickly!
Next out were his handmade noodles. He ended up going for another of the Signature dish as well – Handmade noodles wok fried in premium soya sauce with shredded roast duck, Chinese shitake and king brown mushrooms. Topped with omelette strips and sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds ($17.90). This was quite a nice dish with the duck, but I preferred my dish, due to the heat from the chillies.
Finally, as I finished my own noodle dish, my Chicken and Prawn Shui Mai came out. These four dim sims arrived in a bamboo steamer and were of a generous size. Normally, when I have had Shui Mai before they are quite small, but these were large and tasty full of flavour with the prawn at the top. I had to wait a while before I ate these as they came out steaming hot! However, they were well worth the wait and were simply delicious.
Whilst we were eating I saw other people order dishes with the handmade spinach noodles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen green noodles served before and these looked amazing and so strange at the same time! I would be tempted to see what these tasted like though.
Overall I loved every bit of my meal. The Shui Mai were better than I had hoped for and the noodles were so tasty and moreish especially when combined with that spicy minced chicken, sauce and wontons. Definitely would order both of these dishes again and would highly recommend Chefs Gallery to others.
The restaurant itself was inviting with colourful bottles lining the walls and shelves adding to the theatre and experience. Wooden tables and chairs were comfortable and the hustle and bustle of patrons busy eating and ordering adding to the excitement and energy.
Thanks again Chefs Gallery for fast, friendly and efficient service. I can’t wait to come back and try out more of your wonderful dishes, dim sims and handmade noodles!