Golden Century, Sussex St, Haymarket

Golden Century, Sussex St, Haymarket
Friday 9 February, 2007

Tonight I took my Mum to see Il Divo - this was her birthday present and she loved every minute of it. To be honest I didn't know that much about Il Divo before the concert, other than the fact the group is made up of 4 men from different countries -France, Spain, USA and Switzerland.

Before the concert we grabbed some dinner at Golden Century - my favourite Chinese restaurant. I had booked a table upstairs (do this if you don't want to stand out on the sidewalk and wait for a table downstairs). We took the escalators to the upper floor and were greeted by a frazzled looking woman carrying a walkie talkie. She tried to seat us in the thoroughfare at the top of the escalators and I explained we had booked a table in the rear room.

It's amazing what you get when you ask politely - we were led into the rear room and welcomed by a lovely waiter. Scurrying around us were waiters carrying clear plastic bags full with live fish, lobsters and crabs - it's a sight and adds to the atmosphere. The noise levels are high, there's a calm chaos across the floor and there are an abundance of staff just waiting to serve you. I love it.

We read through the extensive menu and I asked Mum to order whatever she wanted. We kicked off with an entree of San Choy Bow - it was presented in the largest lettuce cups we had ever seen and tasted fresh, light with droplets of water hanging off the lettuce and the filling of pork, waterchesnuts etc was meaty, savoury and very, very good.

For our main dishes we ordered:

- Honey king prawns (massive prawns with a tempura coating on a plate of honey - sensational!)
- Braised scallops with asparagus (plump, juicy scallops served with crisp, inch long pieces of fresh asparagus)
- Crispy skin chicken (tender chicken strips coated with a cripsy skin and lightly salted)
- Fried rice

We enjoyed every mouthful and had way too much food. We tried to pace ourselves but had to admit we had over ordered. We settled our bill and left with plenty of time to walk down to the Entertainment Centre. There were night marktets in Chinatown so there was a great atmosphere with wonderful sights and smells. What a night.

Golden Century - 393 Sussex Street, Haymarket - (02) 9212 3901

http://www.goldencentury.com.au/