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Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
It's impossible to go wrong at this hatted Chinese restaurant, but these are our go-tos
Up the hill from Kew Junction, these premises have been Nihao Kitchen since 2018. Owner Jan Ho is from Hong Kong and has a 25-year career in hospitality, including at much-loved venues Dainty Sichuan, Kum Den and Lau's Family Kitchen. His co-owner and wife, Cleo Wang, is from Qingdao and ran NiHao Dumpling in Ivanhoe for seven years. At Nihao (Mandarin for 'hello'), they've coalesced their restaurant experience and cultural backgrounds to encompass both southern and northern Chinese cuisines. You could come here every week for a year and still not plough your way through the menu, a 30-page document with photos so attractive they actually make it harder to choose. The waiters offer wise counsel, though, and it's impossible to go wrong. Ho keeps a keen eye on everything parading out of the kitchen: if it's not perfect, it's not hitting a table. Spiced shredded chicken is a towering salad of poultry on the bone, the fat sitting sweet and cool under the skin. Tossed with raw red onion, celery, coriander, sesame seeds and chilli, it's a lively pleasure to eat. Winter melon – a large, fleshy gourd – is peeled, steamed and upturned to form a curved lid for wok-tossed chicken, duck, prawn and scallop. The winter melon is carved at the table to reveal the tender, juicy 'cangzhen' (hidden treasure) underneath.
The Age
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
It's impossible to go wrong at this hatted Chinese restaurant, but these are our go-tos
Up the hill from Kew Junction, these premises have been Nihao Kitchen since 2018. Owner Jan Ho is from Hong Kong and has a 25-year career in hospitality, including at much-loved venues Dainty Sichuan, Kum Den and Lau's Family Kitchen. His co-owner and wife, Cleo Wang, is from Qingdao and ran NiHao Dumpling in Ivanhoe for seven years. At Nihao (Mandarin for 'hello'), they've coalesced their restaurant experience and cultural backgrounds to encompass both southern and northern Chinese cuisines. You could come here every week for a year and still not plough your way through the menu, a 30-page document with photos so attractive they actually make it harder to choose. The waiters offer wise counsel, though, and it's impossible to go wrong. Ho keeps a keen eye on everything parading out of the kitchen: if it's not perfect, it's not hitting a table. Spiced shredded chicken is a towering salad of poultry on the bone, the fat sitting sweet and cool under the skin. Tossed with raw red onion, celery, coriander, sesame seeds and chilli, it's a lively pleasure to eat. Winter melon – a large, fleshy gourd – is peeled, steamed and upturned to form a curved lid for wok-tossed chicken, duck, prawn and scallop. The winter melon is carved at the table to reveal the tender, juicy 'cangzhen' (hidden treasure) underneath.
