The Bund - Walsh Bay — Restaurant in Sydney

Decided to eat here before we attended a show at the Roslyn Packer Theatre, I spoke to the waitress as my partner and I do not eat any seafood, so I made it very clear that we need to avoid all seafood items, and she also made some recommendations for non seafood items. So we ordered the Chinese Cabbage Spring Rolls, the Pork Buns, the Pork Dumplings and the pork Dim Sums. The lady assured me that the dumplings didn’t have any seafood in it as they can make pork dumplings for us. So the wait time wasn’t anything extreme, we waited around 15 mins, and got the springrolls sent to our table first, my partner and I took one bite and there were orange bits of shrimp, I told the same lady that served us that there’s seafood in our spring rolls and she said “you ordered the shrimp spring rolls” and I said “no, remember how I said that we can’t have any seafood so I ordered the vegetable ones” then she realised that she buggered up the order and I told her to just take them back and take it off the bill as we ordered enough of the other stuff anyway. Next up, the dumplings came to our table and I confirmed with the gentleman that they’re pork dumplings as they showed orange little bits in them, and he said “these are seafood dumplings”, I told them that they were supposed to not contain any seafood, the guy was looking all confused and doing the “umm” and “uhhh” thing, and I didn’t trust the lack of confidence the workers have in this place, so I didn’t say anything further, I just stood up and said to my partner “c’mon we’re going” and I walked off.. they buggered up our order (again) so I was happy to not screw around any further and just leave, we went to the next door convenience store and happily ate a Filo Pastry instead, which was better than anything offered by this dump of a place. We also saw the table of four (that was sitting close to us) leaving moments after we left, they also came into the convenience store and bought some pies, I asked them if they also walked out on ‘The Bund’ and they said they were ready to place their order and no one bothered to take their order for a long time. So they left. Considering both our tables had a show to attend to that started in 20-30 minutes, we couldn’t stuff around any further with the confused, puzzled and incompetent servers that made us waste time for a Friday night, they weren’t even that busy either. The only thing that was half decent from this place was the glass of tap water that we drank. Thankfully they didn’t get a cent out of us. No way would we bother to continue to eat there or ever eat there in future. A message to the owners. Please make sure you employ staff that can understand English, or take extra care when placing orders, because lucky for you that we just don’t eat seafood cause we don’t like it, but if we had allergies and had serious reactions, there would’ve been a court case for you...

(3.5 stars) The Bund is well placed for Walsh Bay’s theatres, and clearly aimed at folks who frequent them. Staff fly across the floor to get you in and out within an hour without even being asked. The restaurant is named after Shanghai’s famous waterfront stroll which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River facing the futuristic skyscrapers of Pudong. So it should come as no surprise that they employ red neon for their name and window art. The interior, which is more expansive than it first seems, is richly decorated in the Chinese Art Deco style with patterns, prints, ornate lacquer screens and “Shanghai girls” wallpaper.

The menu is succinct, captured on just two pages, as is the booze list. The bulk of wines sit under sixty bucks; and, from the by-the-glass selection, the Brookland Valley Verse 1 Chardonnay ($12/glass) proves quite drinkable. It cuts the sweetness of crispy eggplant ($19) in honey and tamarind. The pile of eggplant planks proved a little over-battered and sweet for me, though I did like the addition of hazelnuts. The Bund dumpling fusion ($22/4) quartet is colourful and flavoursome, if somewhat unwieldy.

Using Jack’s Creek Angus beef in their wok-fried flank and asparagus ($42) kicks it up to the next level, so long as you like black pepper. Wok-fried prawns ($40) with ginger and woodear fungus was simple but the kitchen did take care to ensure all the vegetables stayed nice and crisp. We ate it over pricy egg fried rice with vegetables ($24). While The Bund is unlikely to become your favourite Chinese restaurant, it does the job for those doing dinner and a...

Desperate for food and went there for quick pre-show dinner, was told at the counter by this elderly lady (which I suspect was the owner) that min order is $20pp so I ordered steamed prawn dumplings (3pcs for $16) and stir fry spinach ($20). Then she said rudely that's not enough! So I ordered small sparkling water which she charged me $6 to take me over the supposedly min order amount. Well where should I begin; firstly we found later on that min order was only $15 according to writing next to the door. Secondly, my steamed dumplings looked green so I opened it up to check. I found filling was full of chives, so I called one of the server over to ask. She came.. took a quick look and said 'oh sorry that's not prawn dumplings' and took the dish away. Two minutes later she brought my dish back wt this elderly lady storming behind her, the lady scream to me ' I've been in business for very long time, U look inside there's prawns inside!!'. I was dumbfounded, I shouldn't have to dig for pieces of prawns in my $5.3 per piece prawn dumplings. Never again, hate Rude...