Mama Mulan — Restaurant in Sydney

👀 A favourite with work, we dined in their private dining room. Located in the quieter end of Chatswood at The Concourse. Mama Mulan modernises Chinese food their menu includes a range of familiar Chinese staples, fresh seafood, dumplings and inspired desserts...all with a modern culinary twist. They do a yum cha lunch which would be amazing.

💥 Mama Mulan has a very impressive space which features an open kitchen as the focal point, welcoming guests to observe the theatre of Chinese cooking during their dining experience. The subtle, yet striking decor represents a playfulness, very rugged, yet minimalist, a lot of arches, exposed concrete yet playful marble and beautiful unique lighting.

💁🏼‍♀️ Service was amazing, they really took care of and probably why its a work favourite. The private dining room is beautiful and perfect for large groups, it was almost like an event with the exceptional service.

🍷 They offer an extensive range of Chinese teas as well as a full-service espresso bar. They have a beer and wine list, as well as signature cocktails.

🍴 San chow bao with duck, sesame, garlic,onion, green peppers & chilli (4)................................................. $23 I personally didn’t love this because of the chills and capsicum, I hate capsicum.

Vegetable spring rolls (4) (V) ....................................... $10.50 I don’t normally like spring rolls and I can make better myself, but these were a great size and very flavourful for veggie spring rolls.

Kung pao chicken with dried chilli, capsicum, peanuts, vinegar & soy sauce ........................................................... $31 love a Kung pan chicken dish, again didn’t love it because of the capsicum but it was a crowd favourite

Mama Mulan fried rice…………………………………………….$27 Asparagus, baby corn, snow peas, coriander, spring onion, egg & BBQ Duck with XO sauce - absolutely delicious & unique, the bbq duck really makes it and the baby corn, it was fresh, made with purpose and delicious.

Wok-fried wagyu beef with asparagus, mushrooms & black pepper sauce ...................................$39 this was my fav of the mains, the wok fried wagyu was plump, crispy and paired perfectly with the vegetables

Mango crepe with chocolate sauce ............................... $11.50 I cannot believe it took me this long to discover Mango crepes, I cannot believe I was 31 years old. Why did I go so long without trying it? Yes i’ve seen it on the menu and thought nothing, but I never knew it was mainly cream and I love me some cream. It didn’t need the chocolate sauce but its a welcomed addition. Mango crepes for life.

✨ I would definitely come back to choose what I ate instead of coming here with a group and I would love to try their yum cha lunch. I recommend for large groups, for Chatswood dining...

Very shocked with the customer service. I went with my partner to celebrate landing a new job, and it was our first time booking a table here. Judging by the price and reviews we expected it to be a great place to unwind and celebrate.

From the get go the customer service was terrible - we waited 5 mins to get seated despite multiple staff and bar staff walking past us. We didnt even get a nod or look of acknowledgement from the 5 staff that presumably saw us. A couple (that saw us waiting as well) came in after us and went onto the right side to call to a waiter whom looked like a friend of theirs. He gave them a seat straight away then only came to serve us after I told him we've been waiting and made a table reservation. We were directed to a table but it was the one right next to the pillar, which frankly felt extremely awkward because one chair is faced so that you are staring directly at the pillar. There were other open tables, and we requested to move there, but was just dismissed very passively aggressively. The waiter said that the table had been open since 6:30 pm (our reservation was 7:15) and that if we didnt want to sit there, we should write a note the next time we book that "we dont want to sit next to the pillar". Didnt help that it was our first time there and we didnt know the layout of the restaurant. Luckily we were able to move because another couple left, but we were considering leaving before even looking at the menu.

Next, the staff that took our order was incredibly dismissive and looked extremely annoyed to take our order. From not talking as soon as she got to our table (a little "what would you like to order" wouldve been nice), to her facial expression & stance/manner, and finally the way she answered my questions, all of it felt that we were not wanted there, being rushed to decide and to not even dare ask questions.

Next, the food is mediocre at best, especially for the price you are paying ($140 for my partner and I). The main dish we ordered was unpalatable. We got the braised pork belly, which was incredibly tough and dry and the sauce/herbs mixed together in an almost metallic taste. The "mama's special soup" (which was around $28) was tiny, and did not have any of the abalone taste come through. The only thing that was good was the sweet and sour eggplant.

The $11 lychee mocktail I got as well was also overpriced and not anything special. It tasted exactly like the lychee sparkling drink ($7) you can get at Khao Soi.

Anyways to summarise; Food was bad and expensive Customer service was disgusting The only thing they have going for them is the interior design, which you can't admire if you get put on the table where your dinner partner is the pillar x

Never...

(3.5 stars) Hovering above The Concourse, Mama Mulan is a contemporary Chinese restaurant dishing up yum cha to the masses, 180-odd at a time. The lime-washed concrete walls and angular lighting with exposed Edison bulbs (the work of DS17) are on-trend for when it opened back in 2018. The concrete bunker aesthetic is softened by wrap-around dark green banquettes and pale blonde table settings. Being the base of a small tower planted on a plinth, natural light seeps in from three sides. Mama Mulan is too cool for roving trolleys but marble lazy Suzans keep the Cantonese through-line. Servers are a tad more sophisticated, but at least with the trolley dragon ladies it was never too much trouble to get your rice noodle rolls cut in half for ease of sharing. Here when prawn rice noodle rolls ($15/3) and BBQ pork rice rolls ($13/3) arrived as trios for a table of nine hungry people, we were told: they’re soft, cut them with your spoon.

Prawn potsticker dumplings ($17/6) are excellent exemplars with diaphanous crisp skins that partially reveal firm-fleshed crustaceans. The steamed version, har gow rebadged as Mulan prawn dumplings ($15/5), are equally good. Pork and prawn shumai ($13.50/4) are corn-topped mouth-poppers, with the gossamer thin wrappings continuing through pyramids of mushrooms and vegetables ($12.50/4) and plump purses of prawn and chives ($13.50/4). Mama Mulan are fond of updates. Some—like steamed BBQ pork buns ($12/3) with pops of diced pineapple—eat well, while others may have you pining for the original. Replacing the usual pork and shrimp mix in a ham sui gok with chicken makes the deep fried chicken puff ($11.50/3) taste unbalanced: without the saltiness the glutinous rice is way too sweet. An additional flavour spike works in the red-tinged steamed pork ribs with garlic and taro ($13.50).

Wrapping rice noodle around a crisp vegetable spring roll ($14/3) was a textural winner; though deep-fried shallot pancakes ($11/3) lost the pliable pleasure of this dish. Mango pancakes ($11.50/2) were a bitter disappointment arriving lashed with chocolate topping that did nothing for their flavour. With food oscillating between good and average, it’s hard to justify the higher spend—we paid about fifty bucks apiece—over other yum cha venues in the area. Keep an eye on the bill: we didn’t order pork and cabbage potsticker dumplings ($14.50) so sent them back to the kitchen but were billed for...