China Lane is to be found below a myriad of bird cages, next door to the City Recital Hall on Angel Lane. It is the third restaurant to open as part of the China Doll and China Beach family. We went as a group of 7 and grabbed a table in the outdoor area, which was generously heated. Would definitely recommend booking ahead of time, especially for larger groups – the restaurant was completely full on a Thursday night. Service was wonderful and attentive.
- What we ate:
The food is helpfully divided into cooking styles or main ingredient type.
菜 – Salad: Slow roast pork belly, prawns, pomelo & jellyish with nuoc mam ($21) – a refreshing salad with mint leaves, the pork belly was well cooked
蒸 – Steamed: Prawn dumpling with Chinese red wine vinegar ($16)
Pulled pork, steamed bao, sriracha mayo & crispy shallot ($16) – see image above. Amazing deconstructed version of the typical pork bun. Slightly on the spicy side, but tasty nonetheless.
Duck pancakes with hoi sin, cucumber & shallot ($24) – A great staple, never-fail.
煎 – Grilled: Barbecued lamb ribs with lemongrass, tamarind, chilli & peanuts ($20) – This dish came with four ribs, but the meat was a bit tough, making it difficult to cut into smaller pieces and share.
Grilled Dory with coconut sambal ($24)
斋 – Vegetarian: Salted eggplant with turmeric, tomato & long pepper ($16)
Dessert: these were definitely a highlight.
Banana and cardamon pudding with chocolate sorbet ($14) – more like banana and cardamon cake! plus there are some surprises not listed in the menu.
Pumpkin & peanut dumpling, mandarin and coconut ash ice cream ($14) – slightly too sweet, but interesting nonetheless.
Petit fours of mah-jong chocolate and mandarin mochi ($10) – beautifully crafted chocolates brought to you by the Kakawa chocolatiers. A non-traditional take on mochi that matches the chocolates beautifully.
China Lane
2 Angel Lane
Sydney 2000
www.chinalane.com.au
