Henry Lee's Redfern — Restaurant in Sydney

Appearances can be deceiving — and Henry Lee's exemplifies this well.

With a pretty courtyard setting and admittedly beautifully-presented food, it's no wonder that this place is a hit on social media where visuals are all you have to go off of. However, the high expectations this sets up is to its detriment once you realise that it falls short in the most important aspect of the dining experience: taste.

We ordered the Vietnamese coffee, truffle fries, sushi bites, and pistachio waffle. We visited without booking at around 1pm on a Saturday and had to wait for about 30 minutes, which wasn't too big of a deal. The staff seemed polite and the food arrived quite quickly after ordering, so that's extra points for service.

Vietnamese coffee ($6.50) – This was my first time having Vietnamese coffee, so I don't have any baseline to compare this to. I'm also not much of a coffee drinker in general, so take my opinion of this with a grain of salt. However, I did enjoy what I tasted ! I'm a person who enjoys coffee on the heavily sweet and diluted side (basically so that it doesn't actually taste like coffee lol), so this was great for me as it contained sweetened condensed milk which masked much of the actual coffee taste. A good 7.5/10 for me, but this one is heavily dependent on personal preference. My friend prefers bitter coffees and did not enjoy it.

Truffle fries ($14.00) – The best of the food dishes, but not good enough to justify its very high price. The fries were thin, crispy, and salty — all qualities that I enjoy in fries. The top pieces were especially nice with all the sauce and cheese, though it started to become a bit much after a while. A respectable 7/10.

Sushi bites ($25.00) – This just didn't taste like anything special to me. The crab and salmon mix honestly didn't taste much different from regular imitation crab sushi filling and progressively became more and more intolerable to eat. Perhaps I stuffed myself too much or just don't like crab that much, but by the time I finished it, the mere imagining of the crab taste in my mouth made me feel sick. Everything else, including the rice, eggs, and seaweed were completely average. I would give it a 5/10, but the high price knocks it down further to a 4.

Pistachio waffle ($25.00) – I have to rinse my mouth every time I think about this again. It may look small, but this thing is an absolute monolith of sugar and nausea, which surprised us due to the restaurant's Asian-inspired flavours. My friend ordered this because she figured that pistachio isn't usually a very sweet flavour and Asian desserts are usually light, airy, and most-importantly not too sweet, right ? WRONG. Every bite of this felt like getting waterboarded with pure melted sugar. The waffle and ladyfinger were barely perceptible under the torrent of cloying mascarpone. Not that that was even much of a loss, since the ladyfinger was very dry anyways. The first bite or two were alright, but it quickly became way too overpowering. I honestly have no clue how we managed to finish it but we probably shouldn't have because I started having diarrhea as soon as I got home. Sorry, but this has to be a 2/10.

You're probably reading this because you want to decide whether it's worth it to come here for a meal or not. Personally, my answer is a no. But hey, maybe you'll like it if you have a more Western taste, since it feels like the food caters...

Food is OK. I have been twice and it's mainly for the gram. First time I got the crumpets with crab. The crumpets were so so dry(!!!!), and the dish was essentially flavourless that I didn't want to bother ever come back.

Second time, I'd forgotten the places name, and as my mate had already waited in line (you'll be waiting at least 40 mins if you don't book ahead on Saturday) I figured I may as well give them a second chance. Mistake.

We shared dishes. Firstly we got the crab croissant, it was verrrry light on flavour (be smart, don't fall for the descriptions. It's crab, avo and egg on a croissant...not much of a flavour profile in that) Note - the mango does nothing. It's an odd addition, but it gave me respite as something to taste at least. A better alternative would be to add something pickled. Or, I dunno.... More zest in the Mayo???? Secondly we got the rice dish with egg, crab, seaweed salad, furikake and nori - so tasty. Would recommend that highly, as it legit had flavour. Lastly, we regrettably got the waffles. They were sooooo dry. The coffee finger biscuits made it taste stale... It was such an odd consistency as the waffle wasn't fresh either by the taste if it. Nothing was crispy. like cutting through a brick. We both ended up removing the biscuits entirely as they didn't add a thing to the dish at all. They were like eating chalk. Please remove... Or crumble them for a better texture at least.

Aka don't get the crumpets or waffle. Dry as. And only go...

Day Off Delight

Finally got my day off, and since I didn’t make a reservation, I was initially seated at the long table near the entrance. Luckily, within five minutes, a table for two opened up, which was much more comfortable than the high stools, plus the inside seating was brighter.

❤️ Still In Love The name is just too romantic! The picture looked refreshing and delicious, and the bowl was packed with variety: cucumber, seaweed, carrot, cabbage, and half a super fresh avocado 🥑. The ponzu dressing was tangy, and you could add it to your taste. On a hot day, this light Japanese noodle salad was so satisfying.

🤎 Benny Munro It looked like a burger but tasted like takoyaki (octopus balls) with a teriyaki twist! Loads of pulled beef paired with BBQ sauce and Japanese pancakes. The bite was so rich in flavor – highly recommend for meat lovers!

💜 Purple Latte This was a taro latte with an easily recognizable sweet taro flavor. It seemed caffeine-free and had a great presentation. If you enjoy sweet things, give it a try.

😬 My friend mentioned this place feels a bit more basic than a few years ago, haha. The fried mushrooms I really wanted to try were sold out, so I guess I’ll have to come back next time! The portions aren’t very large, so if you’re quite hungry, two people might need to order...