边城记忆 · 一呷一嗦Eastwood- Old Town Story — Restaurant in Sydney

Exploring more of Eastwood led us to Old Town Story. Set at the front of an attractive medium density residential development, the restaurant uses the height and glass frontage to good effect. From the red painted ceiling a series of dangling red poles distract from the exposed fittings. They match the pole wall-mounts of dainty red lamps dangling over booth-like red banquettes. It’s cosier in the rear where the ceiling height is lower and horizontal blonde wood poles give it a more homey vibe. For Sydney’s Hunanese population, the focus on the spicy dishes of Hunan will no doubt also be comforting. Eaten from attractive crockery sets, newcomers will find the dishes here drier and less saucy than Cantonese dishes.

Hunanese cuisine differs from Sichuan cooking by not using the numbing hot (ma-la) Sichuan peppercorn. To my palate Hunanese dishes are bigger on garlic and straight chilli heat. Smoked beef shank stir fried with fresh chilli ($20.80) is a good exemplar. Studded with brightly coloured red and green chillies, the thin slivers of shank meat are tasty and enjoyable over Hunan-style soy sauce fried rice ($9.80). Keep your eyes out for fermented black soy beans (dou chi) which provide big bursts of earthy, Vegemite-meets-black garlic flavour.

Crisp boiled eggs stir fried with chilli ($14.80) are a winner! Sliced into rings, the boiled eggs is lightly coated with corn starch and fried with minced ginger and garlic, garlic shoots, chilli, soy sauce, sesame oil and Chinese rice wine. Eaten over rice, they’re particularly delicious and quite unique proposition. I’m equally enamoured with a generous serve of potato slices with pork and fresh chilli ($14.80). Kept sizzling hot on an at-table burner, the crisp-edged silky potato slices are the star of this dish. In terms of fire-quenching beverages, the iced lemon tea ($5.80) is a good option, arriving in transparent cans accented with fresh...

We had dinner at this place recently and ordered two dishes i.e. the stir-fried cauliflower with pork belly in chilly sauce and the fried carp fish fillets in chilly sauce. On second visit, we ordered smoked beef shank with chilly and scrambled eggs with chilly oil.

Don't be surprised if the menu here has many dishes with chillies since the place specialized in dishes from Hunan province of China which is famous for spicy food. However, if you're used to spicy food from Thailand / Vietnam / Indonesia then the level of spiciness in Chinese food is considered 'mild'.

The dishes we ordered are of good quality and value for money. The place ambience is OK for casual restaurant in a suburb like Eastwood. Services from floor staff is reasonable also. However, there is one big minus for customer service that takes one star off their final rating i.e. the credit card payment surcharge is big rip-off of 2.5% while the reasonable range should be between 1 to 1.5% maximum. They either want to rip you off or encourage cash payment to cheat the tax office, which is big turn-off for...

Authentic Chinese food!Spiciness was great for my family regarding the low level chilli taste in other restaurants.

Food is good quality,fresh chillies and vegetable!My family ordered Egg Fried Rice which was just about the most delicious friend rice I had ever experienced.Food came quite fast except for vegetables,was understandable since customers started pouring in soon after our orders.Drinks are good too,the Honey Moo drink is really good!Highly recommend!

Customer services are great,I waved mr hand politely and a staff immediately came to my request and was fast with my orders too!

Interior is really nice,cushions with chairs and lots of lighting,big space for eating,nicely done interior with wood to compliment,very clean environment too with nice plates.

Overall highly recommend,food might be on the pricier side for around $15-18 but it comes with large portions (especially egg friend rice) and is delicious.Service is quite slow when there’s around 20 people in total,if the employer employs another chef it...