Bamboo Dumpling Bar, NSW

BAMBOO DUMPLING BAR

The other night my BFF Miss Sunshine and I were going to go see a play over at the Belvoir Theatre in Surry Hills, a community theatre that we've attained seasonal tickets through-out the past year and a few. To highlight, my favourites so far have been The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, I'm Your Man and The Diary of a Madman starring Geoffrey Rush - we were two rows from the front for Madman and I was in a subtly celeb-struck state from seeing Mr. Rush on stage.

For today we wanted someplace new and local to eat before the play. Miss Sunshine suggested we use the Urbanspoon iPhone app because it randomly searches for restaurants under categories like: cuisine, suburb and price range. She locked in: Chinese, Surry Hills, Any Price (Otherwise it's: $, $$, $$$+) and so we went for it and she found Bamboo.

When we got there I soon discovered it was next to the local pub, the Royal Albert Hotel. My guess would be that it could've been a courtyard or garage previously and is now like it is - an oriental themed restaurant with a tiny kitchen and just enough space for communal style dining. 

Stepping on in, you notice the chopstick bundles on the walls along with the random birdcages that have faux birds, pufferfish and other little creatures that hover over your table. When we got there the place was still awakening with only two other ladies who were just getting settled into their own dumplings dishes.

BBQ Pork w/ Steamed Chinese Greens

A slather of BBQ pork slices with some steamed bok choy was our next focus accompanied with a bowl of hot, steamed rice. This was an average meal, with chunky sweet BBQ pork pieces that were pale pink and not too overly drenched in a light sesame soy sauce.

5pcs of steamed pork dumplings

We ordered some steamed pork dumplings to try out the "dumpling" part of this adventure from the only staff on duty who dutifully took our orders, cooked, served and gave us the bill at the end. When the dumplings arrived I had to say I was disappointed by the lack of taste and dryness of the filling inside but having these two dishes were quick, simple and made us ready to go see our play.

Now, the discerning question arises - would I go back in a hurry?
I think not, sadly. The food was only average and in comparison to the many Chinese dumpling joints over in Chinatown that I know and love, it just doesn't seem to have the same authenticity or asian flair as it really is more westernized and it didn't impress me as much as I'd have hoped.

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Bamboo Dumpling Bar
www.bamboodumplingbar.com.au