Last night Pete took me to dinner at Billy Kwong. Yes, the famous Sydney restaurant from Kylie Kwong. Pete had been raving on about the house speciality Crispy Duck and Beef Brisket ever since I had met him. I have always been convinced that I could probably find the same quality of food from Billy Kwong served at some Chinese restaurant in Chinatown for about 1/2 the price. So I had always refused to go there.
But since Pete is paying.... why not ?!
The restaurant itself is actually pretty small. The miniature tables and stools make the place seem very cramped. Which actually made it quite hard for everything to fit on the table. As usual with fine dinning places the dishes the food gets served on is about twice the size of the portion of food. Therefore, the two person table we were sitting on was barely able to hold the teapot, tea cups, bowls and bone plate settings. And the food was yet to arrive.
The waitress that was serving us managed to accidentally drop and break one of the serving plates she was handing out. So it seemed hardly surprising that we heard someone drop some plate or chopstick every two to three minutes. Although all of this, kinda added to the fast moving atmosphere of the restaurant.
Just to satisfy Pete, we ordered the famous Crispy Skin Duck with Blood Plum sauce and the Beef Brisket (Wagyu Beef). Yes, Wagyu beef brisket. The Crispy Duck was a bit too much on the sweet side, but the beef brisket was good. I personally think anything made from Wagyu beef would be good. You can't really go wrong with that type of high grade beef. I mean, it would have taste great raw!
We also ordered the stir fried mixed mushrooms. But due to the size of our table, they did not bring out the mushrooms until we had finished off one of the dishes. So by the time they did, we were 3/4 full already.
Setting itself to be a Chinese eating house, Billy Kwong missed out on a very important detail. That is to keep their patron's teapot full. We had the lid off our teapot for the majority of the time. But the staff there failed to notice this little Chinese custom.
Overall, the food was pretty good. But I still think I could have found something of a similar quality in Chinatown. And yes, at 1/2 the price as well.
But since Pete is paying.... why not ?!
The restaurant itself is actually pretty small. The miniature tables and stools make the place seem very cramped. Which actually made it quite hard for everything to fit on the table. As usual with fine dinning places the dishes the food gets served on is about twice the size of the portion of food. Therefore, the two person table we were sitting on was barely able to hold the teapot, tea cups, bowls and bone plate settings. And the food was yet to arrive.
The waitress that was serving us managed to accidentally drop and break one of the serving plates she was handing out. So it seemed hardly surprising that we heard someone drop some plate or chopstick every two to three minutes. Although all of this, kinda added to the fast moving atmosphere of the restaurant.
Just to satisfy Pete, we ordered the famous Crispy Skin Duck with Blood Plum sauce and the Beef Brisket (Wagyu Beef). Yes, Wagyu beef brisket. The Crispy Duck was a bit too much on the sweet side, but the beef brisket was good. I personally think anything made from Wagyu beef would be good. You can't really go wrong with that type of high grade beef. I mean, it would have taste great raw!
We also ordered the stir fried mixed mushrooms. But due to the size of our table, they did not bring out the mushrooms until we had finished off one of the dishes. So by the time they did, we were 3/4 full already.
Setting itself to be a Chinese eating house, Billy Kwong missed out on a very important detail. That is to keep their patron's teapot full. We had the lid off our teapot for the majority of the time. But the staff there failed to notice this little Chinese custom.
Overall, the food was pretty good. But I still think I could have found something of a similar quality in Chinatown. And yes, at 1/2 the price as well.
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