Taste of Shunde 順德味道 Hurstville — Restaurant in Sydney

tldr: The dishes we ordered were unique and authentic, they follow the restriction quite strictly so in order to dine in, it is highly recommended to book in advance. Was shocked when one of the dishes that was suppose to be served with broccoli was changed to wombok without mentioning. The place is worth for us to go back to keep on trying their other dishes. Original: My partner has mentioned this place before the pandemic lock down, but were too far from Kogarah. Lately we started craving 双皮奶 (a canton milk dessert) so we went anyways once the restriction loosened. We were amazed how many specialty dishes there were on the menu, but since it were the two of us, we ordered less (A fish skin appetiser鱼皮, Fried stuffed fish煎釀鲮鱼, 1 bowl of rice, and the canton milk dessert) Food: All the dishes were above standard and quite authentic. The fish skin might be intimidating to some people, but it is basically a crunchy jelly! It is a blank canvas and should work with stronger flavours complimenting its unique texture. It worked great with the toasted peanuts and scallions. Fried stuffed fish was crunchy on the outside, so crunchy that I ate the tail like a chip. It also had a bit of chinese preserved sausage taste to it (in a great way). The only thing we wanted to talk about it is that they changed the vegetable to wombak from broccoli without our consent, and we thought the dish looked smaller than advertised. But we weren't feeling confrontational today. We had the milk dessert served at the very end, which was really nice, and took me back to my years in Guangdong. We were right to share one, since we were stuffed at the end. I can definitely say it is a bit pricy but with the dishes they were selling, it is well worth the price. So far I enjoy how clean the place is and how nice the dishes are without breaking too much of a sweat with our wallets. I always believed canton restaurants don't have the best customer service and seem to be nice only to cantonese speaking customers. This may or may not be true since I've have my fair share of experience with both types of service and luckily I speak native canton. I would say their service is so far leaning towards the good side, since if service is as bad as other reviews have mentioned, they WILL treat customers badly despite speaking canton or not. But again, so far I feel like the service is pretty decent. We really enjoy goose but never found it in Sydney before this restaurant. We will definitely come back with more man power to try out...

Great and pleasant surprise in Kogarah. Just 24 hours after 3 weeks from HK, a Chinese dining is not what we long for! Our host has taken us here and it was a feeling that we were still on HK having a meal. There was ample parking available. On arrival at 6pm, only 2 tables were occupied. When we depart 90 minutes later, it was full with Chinese diners. We had a variety of dishes, one dish stood out very pronounced is the roast goose. We patron Yuen Kee restaurant in HK, and the goose were great alternative for Australia standards. Though not as lean and piping fresh but good for outside HK. Service was fast and efficient. Table setup and general decor was great, clean bright and welcoming. Will definitely revisit.

Going Sat coming to re evaluate my experience, with quests. Would like to have a good experience. Will update, WITHOUT bias.

Here we are,days after my visit last Saturday. With a total of 14, we all agreed that it was one of the better roast goose joint in Sydney. For the record, most of us said it's not too far from top notch Hong Kong fine dining roast goose offerings here in Kograh. We arrived at 12.15 on Saturday and it was half full. By the time we depart about 1.45, it was full. Noted that almost all the tables had roast goose and that confirmed that it's their most sought after dish. The goose was moist, succulent and the spices were not overbearing. It was served room temperature and the sauces were ample. Another dish we have and goes highly recommended is braised chicken, baked in covered foil. The corn fed chick was marinated and spiced like "made in heaven"! Comes not off the bones, so some may feel an obstacle to eat, but we love it. Service was fast and efficient but would prefer a more "friendly" body language and facial expressions on the staff members on the serving room. Maybe they have been overwhelmed by the customs? Not completely upset as the food was great and will come again (will be my third). Surprisingly my first visit we have a well presented fruit plate, that was on an evening experience. However on this Saturday lunch event, there were not to be, I only saw a lady chopping the watermelon and oranges up and putting them again for the evening, would have been a good wrapped up for a warm Saturday...

Update: Revised review. Went 3 more times after the incident below and didn't have issues with the service nor the food. Advice is probably do not go during busy festive seasons.

Ridiculous service. We booked a table for 7pm and when we got in, there was a huge crowd lining near the counter to pay mixed with a crowd who are waiting to get seated. The lady with all the booking details got a bit frustrated with the manager and said she is not too sure which tables were available and where to direct people. Then the manager just directed us to the 2nd floor. The staff on the 2nd floor was shocked with the crowd coming up as there were no communication what so ever and said they don't have small tables for us. After a long saga we finally got a table at 7:30pm. Took another 30min before a waiter was freed up to take our order on paper. At that point there were so many other customers cancelling their orders and leaving, and staffs were frustrated with the mess and started quarrelling with each other.

After another 30min we were told 2 out of the 5 dishes we ordered was not available. It was only then they entered the order into the system. So we changed our order and they kept coming back saying they don't have it. So I pretty much asked what they have then.

Our first dish came out at 8:30pm and it was cold, we suspected it was a dish cancelled by another customer and they took time seeing who also ordered the same and pass it to them. Whenever people cancelled, they didn't update the system so the chef was still cooking those cancelled dishes causing further delays.

We overheard the tables behind and next to us cancelled their fried rice so when we saw that the fried rice didn't have an owner, we walked up and told the staff that we ordered it too and to just give it to us else we have no idea when ours will come out.

At the end we had to cancel one of our dishes as it was past 9:30pm and it has not come out yet.

Overall it was a terrible experience, feel sorry for all the staffs as we know it's not their fault but the fault of the manager for overbooking than what they can manage. The manager didn't even bother to check up with the staffs and the staffs had to deal with...