After our little adventure exploring around Sydney CBD, it was time for dinner at Chefs Gallery. To be on the safe side, I made a booking for the three of us on Dimmi a few days before as I heard that the restaurant can be quite packed, even on a weeknight. We arrived at Chefs Gallery Town Hall at 8.30pm and the restaurant was quite busy indeed.

The menu had a wide selection of food. It was tough to decide what to order but in the end, we settled for a few dishes to share while leaving some room for dessert. We had the Chef’s Own Homemade Egg and Spinach Tofu ($15.90). The egg and spinach tofu was deep fried to crisp on the outside and the tofu was soft and silky inside.

Chef’s Own Homemade Egg and Spinach Tofu

Next up was the Chefs Gallery Dongpo Pork Belly ($25.90).  The Dongpo Pork Belly is an iconic Hangzhou dish whose origins date back to more than a thousand years. The pork is slow cooked for six hours with a medley of spices. It is soft, tender and melts in your mouth with a consistent layer of fat. The complimentary dipping chilli sauce on the side of the dish gives an additional spicy kick to the pork belly.

Chefs Gallery Dongpo Pork Belly

For our vegetable dish, we had the Chinese brocolli two ways, blanched and fried dusted with sugar, sweet and savoury ($19.90). The brocolli leaves were deep fried to crisp and had a sweet texture to it. It was crunchy with every bite. A great dish to suit those who are fussy with vegetables.

Chinese brocolli two ways

We also had the Barramundi Fillet grilled in banana leaves with spicy sambal sauce ($24.90). This dish reminds me of sambal stingray or sambal fish served with banana leaves at hawker stalls in Malaysia. At Chefs Gallery, the barramundi fillet was grilled to perfection. It was aromatic and full of flavour from the banana leaves. The sambal sauce which was a bit spicy gave a nice chilli kick on the barramundi.

Barramundi Fillet grilled in banana leaves with spicy sambal sauce

We had the wok fried medium grain fried rice with three kinds of eggs ($15.90). Hidden beneath the fried rice are pieces of chicken eggs, salted duck eggs and century eggs. The fried rice was soft and fluffy and the eggs complement each other well with a hint of saltiness from the salted duck egg. It was delicious.

Wok fried medium grain fried rice with three kinds of eggs

We did manage to finish our dishes but we also did reserve some space for dessert. We shared the Signature “Piggy Face” sesame bun and “Totoro” marshmallow arranged in an edible garden setting and served with ice cream, water chestnuts and wafer ($21.90). Could this be the cutest dessert ever? You bet it is! It was so beautifully presented with attention to detail. All three of us had a good three minutes staring and snapping photos of this beautiful dessert. It was too beautiful to be eaten!

Edible garden dessert

After finishing dessert, all three of us were extremely full and satisfied. Although I must admit that the prices are a bit steep but I guess it is worth it from the quality of the food. Would really love to come back to Chefs Gallery to try different dishes!

Mel’s Rating : mmmm (excellent)