Katea

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  3      Value  3     

Perhaps, the worst Thai I have ever eaten. We had home delivery, and the driver was pleasant, but that's the best I could say.

The 'crispy' fish was soggy, overcooked and hideous. Our usual local Thai manages to deliver this dish still crispy. The chicken chilli basil was inedible, over half the dish was onion and bamboo which totally overpowered the dried out miserable chicken and overcooked sad little vegetables. Not even drowning it in soy and chilli could save this.

Apr 19, 2012

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  8     

Have only had take away, the bang xeo pancake is excellent, even delivered! The salt and pepper squid is also really good! The service is delightful, we also really like 'red cook'. On the whole the Vietnamese dishes are much better than tha Thai but all highly recommended,

Apr 19, 2012

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

Excellent Vietnamese food, worth paying a little more than you would in Marrikville for the quality, service, and very nice decor.

The servings are slightly small, but 3 entrees, 3 mains and side of vegetables among 4 adults was more than enough, and at $135 including corkage really not bad value. The ban xeo was very small, but delicious, fresh and not greasy at all. Salt and pepper squid still not as good as tre viet in Newtown, but excellent non the same.

Quail on papaya salad bursting with fresh flavours, a definite stand out.
Mains we had lovely tender flavoursome lemongrass beef, duck salad, and crispy pork. The pork, while delicious, was also fried like salt and pepper style, which wasn't what we expected and too much deep fried after the squid to start. The duck salad was spicy and a good accompaniment. Garlic beans were fought over they were so good. Will definitely be going back.

Aug 25, 2011

5.8 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  5     

I had really been looking forward to trying out this new place, I love Asian food and had been excited by some of the reviews I had read. We were a little disappointed. The place looks cool, almost too cool, in that Merivale trying too hard kind of way. Nothing is left to chance, but many of the little hipster touches didn’t feel that authentic.

The highlight of the food was the mini banh mi with crisp pork belly, a gorgeous little nugget of pork, with lovely pickles, spicy mayo and fresh herbs, really special but gone in 3 mouthfuls! The king prawns with sambal matah, spices and fresh herbs, wrapped in a lettuce leaf were really good but at $28 a dish, a little lacking.

The egg noodles with XO sauce and braised duck had me really excited but then I tasted it. My friend said ‘remember when we were at uni and we’d stir an egg through 2 minute noodles, this tastes like that’ and it did. The duck was lovely, but with only a very small spoon full, just didn’t go very far. We didn’t try the cocktails, instead had a very nice bottle of pinot noir.

Perhaps, if we had the food might have tasted better. We were also on a table the size of a laptop, which didn’t make the sharing very easy, more like a game of table tetris. For my money not a patch on Jimmy Liks across the road.

Jun 27, 2011

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  8     

Nakashima is a lovely local restaurant in the Rocks. Has a lovely outdoor eating area in a little pedestrian laneway, which is pleasant in summer and winter.

The food is excellent. The lunch boxes are great value, the main meals generous, teriyaki chicken or fish are my favorites. The gyoza are good, but could be crispier, even though you can tell they are cooked from frozen, I can’t have a meal here without ordering them. Sushi and sashimi serves are on the small side but beautifully prepared and presented.

The service is polite, but always slow and inattentive, though you get the impression it is not out of any sort of ill will – just a bit useless. That said, I happily eat there once a week and you come to expect the service.

Apr 01, 2011

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  3      Value  3     

Perhaps, the worst Thai I have ever eaten. We had home delivery, and the driver was pleasant, but that's the best I could say.

The 'crispy' fish was soggy, overcooked and hideous. Our usual local Thai manages to deliver this dish still crispy. The chicken chilli basil was inedible, over half the dish was onion and bamboo which totally overpowered the dried out miserable chicken and overcooked sad little vegetables. Not even drowning it in soy and chilli could save this.

Apr 19, 2012

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  8     

Have only had take away, the bang xeo pancake is excellent, even delivered! The salt and pepper squid is also really good! The service is delightful, we also really like 'red cook'. On the whole the Vietnamese dishes are much better than tha Thai but all highly recommended,

Apr 19, 2012

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

Excellent Vietnamese food, worth paying a little more than you would in Marrikville for the quality, service, and very nice decor.

The servings are slightly small, but 3 entrees, 3 mains and side of vegetables among 4 adults was more than enough, and at $135 including corkage really not bad value. The ban xeo was very small, but delicious, fresh and not greasy at all. Salt and pepper squid still not as good as tre viet in Newtown, but excellent non the same.

Quail on papaya salad bursting with fresh flavours, a definite stand out.
Mains we had lovely tender flavoursome lemongrass beef, duck salad, and crispy pork. The pork, while delicious, was also fried like salt and pepper style, which wasn't what we expected and too much deep fried after the squid to start. The duck salad was spicy and a good accompaniment. Garlic beans were fought over they were so good. Will definitely be going back.

Aug 25, 2011

5.8 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  5     

I had really been looking forward to trying out this new place, I love Asian food and had been excited by some of the reviews I had read. We were a little disappointed. The place looks cool, almost too cool, in that Merivale trying too hard kind of way. Nothing is left to chance, but many of the little hipster touches didn’t feel that authentic.

The highlight of the food was the mini banh mi with crisp pork belly, a gorgeous little nugget of pork, with lovely pickles, spicy mayo and fresh herbs, really special but gone in 3 mouthfuls! The king prawns with sambal matah, spices and fresh herbs, wrapped in a lettuce leaf were really good but at $28 a dish, a little lacking.

The egg noodles with XO sauce and braised duck had me really excited but then I tasted it. My friend said ‘remember when we were at uni and we’d stir an egg through 2 minute noodles, this tastes like that’ and it did. The duck was lovely, but with only a very small spoon full, just didn’t go very far. We didn’t try the cocktails, instead had a very nice bottle of pinot noir.

Perhaps, if we had the food might have tasted better. We were also on a table the size of a laptop, which didn’t make the sharing very easy, more like a game of table tetris. For my money not a patch on Jimmy Liks across the road.

Jun 27, 2011

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  8     

Nakashima is a lovely local restaurant in the Rocks. Has a lovely outdoor eating area in a little pedestrian laneway, which is pleasant in summer and winter.

The food is excellent. The lunch boxes are great value, the main meals generous, teriyaki chicken or fish are my favorites. The gyoza are good, but could be crispier, even though you can tell they are cooked from frozen, I can’t have a meal here without ordering them. Sushi and sashimi serves are on the small side but beautifully prepared and presented.

The service is polite, but always slow and inattentive, though you get the impression it is not out of any sort of ill will – just a bit useless. That said, I happily eat there once a week and you come to expect the service.

Apr 01, 2011

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  8     

I ate here on the weekend, in the middle of Ashfields Big Yum Cha festival, even with all that going on the service wasn't too bad! Yes my bowl was dirty but you get that, with a big box of tissues on the table it was easy enough to give it a once over.

The Xiao Long Bao was amazing, a very close second to Din Tai Fung (and better than Shanghair nights), thin lovely wrapping, and nice tender pork soup inside. We also had the pan fried and boiled dumplings, as well as the Szechuan chilli chicken, this was insane! more chilli and pepper than I have ever seen on a dish but the tingling sensation it left you with, inside your mouth, and on the top of your head, was quite amazing. The rice was lovely, so often rice is badly cooked but this was excellent. Heading back only 3 nights later!

Oct 26, 2010

5.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  4     

Packed on a Tuesday night, as it has been since it opened. I had the Rendang hake but it was lacking any Rendang! there was some nice garlic and ginger flavour, but very little else. The fish was fresh and tender but nothing to rave about. My partner had the ling special, with Lebanese spices, which he liked but was such a small serving, for $27, he had to order chips on the side. This wasn’t suggested when we ordered.

The most disappointing thing was being charged $5 a head for corkage (outrageous for a small cafe style place, regardless of the chefs 'celebrity' status in the UK), only to have to open, pour, and top up our own wine.

Sep 15, 2010

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

There is enough good chinese in Sydney to never have to eat here again. We waited for over 2 hours after ordering home delivery at 8.20 pm on a Wedneday night. I called after an hour and 15 and they hadn't even started cooking.
It seemed the same guy took the order, cooked it and delivered it.

The only good thing were the steamed prawn gow gees, at least they were hot. Everything was just a little odd and at over $50 for a couple of dishes And they forgot the rice, what Chinese chef forgets rice? At that stage we were so hungry we would have eaten anything.

Jul 29, 2010

5.5 Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  8      Value  4     

Oh so disappointed! I had waited weeks for a table on a Saturday night, and am a true lover of Chinese food. The best bit about the evening was the cocktail upstairs at Rockpool, special setting with great cocktails (though my partners mai tai was so bitter it was hardly drinkable, my classic daiquiri was great).

I should have had the set menu, looked like a good variety, with decent value but I had to have the dumplings, I had to see how Mr Perry would produce my favourite. It was not good, little northern style lamb and pumpkin pot stickers, with so much cumin they could have been cumin and sawdust, you couldn’t taste much else. The so called ‘hot’ dishes did not have the punch I expected, barley a tickle. Prawn and duck dishes both really average, ok at best. The pork ribs were delicious, but when walking away from $250 dinner for 2 (excluding cocktails), you don’t really expect to rate ribs as the top pick of the night.

While I liked the very eclectic music, my boyfriend said it sounded like the waiters ipod on random, very little thought put in. Staff were great, but the food was just not special enough to rate highly at all.

Nov 16, 2009

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  9     

There is a reason this restaurant has been awarded as the best dumplings in the world again and again because they are. The complainers below claiming it is mass produced, you can see the cooks making the dumplings in the front, by hand.

There are only pork, vege and prawn dumplings, all with the most divine and silky casing, that doesn't break, with heavenly soup spilling from the inside. If you want fried, or different fillings, go elsewhere. I can't understand people complaining about the price, the dumplings here are only $2 extra a serve than those in Ashfield, and are so superior I wouldn't bother with Ashfield again, esp when you also consider the decor and cleanliness.

Oct 19, 2009