China Doll, Woolloomooloo

Firstly, not going to lie – I had to google how to spell Woolloomooloo and copy and pasted it into the subject header.

Jokes aside… China Doll is no joke. There’s a reason that it’s been successful for as long as it has been and why it remains an institution on the Sydney food scene. Even on a Tuesday, the atmosphere is pumping.

We definitely ordered way too much – and despite my expectations, the servings were ginormous and so the prices (mains are about $35-40 each though are really large share plates rather than individual mains) are completely reasonable. The great thing is that they offer some of the dishes in half serves so you can try more dishes if you are going as an individual or only a small group.

 

I can only start by talking about the famous tea smoked duck. I love Chinese roast duck so I was curious to see how the China Doll duck would fare in comparison. I’m not even sure it is comparable though! You are hit with the aroma of the smoke as soon as your nose comes within 10 cm of the duck. As soon as you bite into the duck, there is smoke smoke smoke everywhere in flavour. The duck has almost NO fat, which makes it very different to a Chinese roast duck from a bbq shop. It is moist, it is tender, it is soft and just tasty all the way through to the bone. I can’t rave about this dish enough. By the way, they don’t sell the duck as a half serve, so you do have to get the full serve but it’s totally worth it! I would go back just to have jasmine rice with the duck and some green vegies on the side.

My second favourite dish, that I had seen great reviews of prior to the dinner, was the crispy pork belly with chilli caramel, which I would describe as Thai in flavour. The pork belly comes in large chunks and is definitely crispy with a mild spiciness but a beautiful thick sauce on the outside.

The other great dish was the BBQ pork and prawn fried rice which I realise sounds daft as you can get fried rice at any Asian restaurant. However, this fried rice packs a punch in flavour – I am guessing there is sambal or something similar in the fried rice so it tastes shrimpy/fishy in definitely a good way.

I also really like the salt and pepper prawns. The batter is light and crispy without being greasy. It was a bit too salty and not enough peppery for my tastes though. It’s a cracker of a dish though – we got the half serve and that had about 6 large prawns so $39 for a full serve of 12 prawns seems like good value for quality seafood.

For dessert, even though we were absolutely stuffed, we decided to try a small dessert platter. Three items: sago pudding with passionate, a hot rice pudding, and sorbet. The fruit sorbet is very refreshing and I also really like the combined taste of the sago with the coconut milk and passionfruit (not a common pairing with sago pudding!)

The service is decent though they were definitely kept busy even on the Tuesday night. The food comes out at a rapid pace so you’re actually not waiting very long at all after ordering (good for the hangry!). We had also mentioned to them that it was a special occasion for us, so at the end, our waitress gave us free drinks on the house which tasted like a shot of vodka, lime and some sort of sweetener (not honey).

Details: 4/6 Cowper Wharf Rd, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011