Traditional Cantonese restaurants have given way to yum cha restaurants in Sydney. Far and in between, my usual experience with them is during work lunches at Emperor’s Garden BBQ & Noodles in Haymarket. Closer to home, though, is Sun Ming BBQ Restaurant, which has been around Parramatta for as long as we can remember. We usually opt for more modern-style restaurants, but the steady stream of customers occupying its tables on every evening we’d walked by was sufficient to persuade us to give it a go.
Once seated, customers are given glasses of tea. It’s black and watered down, but we don’t mind.
Shortly after placing our order, a complimentary bowl of pork soup arrives. There’s no explanation from the waitresses about any of this — it just arrives on your table. Thankfully, we know it’s a distinctly Cantonese-style pork soup with a prominent porky flavour and a chunk or two of lotus root. It tastes healthy and wholesome.
Now, for the real reason we’re here: Honey Chicken ($19.50). D has a near insatiable craving for honey chicken (second only to chicken wings) and after talking about it the week before and being teased by the offerings of work earlier that day only to have it taken away by another colleague who was unwilling to share, our defences were sufficiently worn thin. Prior to this, our experience with honey chicken consisted solely of food court and take out joints where the food is precooked, so we were excited to try honey chicken cooked fresh to order at a restaurant.
The dish comes out piping hot fresh from the fryer and garnished with sprigs of coriander and sesame.
The morsels of chicken are covered in a crispy batter and coated in a sticky honey sauce that delivered a surprisingly light and juicy flavour. Paired with steamed rice and coriander, it’s lightness and sweetness are balanced just right. Now that we’ve tried freshly cooked honey chicken, though, how are we ever going to go back to the precooked stuff?!
Steamed rice ($3.50 per head) comes in a canteen.
Many of the reviews online are unimpressed by the customer service here. I admit we have very low expectations of either quality in this kind of restaurant, so we weren’t the least bit bothered. The waitresses aren’t effusive in creating a welcoming atmosphere, but they’re efficient in getting customers seated, handing out menus, taking orders, delivering food. That said — and it is surprising even to us — the atmosphere at Albee’s Kitchen in Campsie is more welcoming for a similar level of customer turnover.
Sun Ming BBQ Restaurant is located at 125 Church Street, Parramatta NSW 2150.