Lotus Restaurant & Dumpling Bar, Sydney

Lotus at The Galeries has been open for almost four months and with Chris Yan at the helm, it looks like it will do reasonably well. Yan has gained years of experience behind the stove at bills and two of Sydney’s most well-known Chinese restaurants: Billy Kwong and China Doll. His cooking is heavily influenced by his grandmother’s traditional cooking but features a few unorthodox ingredients. There’s crispy tofu with salt and wild fire dukkah ($15) and wok-fried wallaby rump with sweet bean paste and salt bush ($29) on the menu. How many Chinese grandmas do you know who use salt bush or dukkah?

The restaurant is in a large space but does a good job of partitioning it with glass walls that make it seem cosy. Black metal lighting hangs from industrial-chic white walls and there’s a mismatch of wicker chairs and blue sofas. It seems like a place to meet your friends for an affordable “fancy dinner”. Sit down and enjoy a cleverly named tom yum yum cocktail ($18) – a fun mix of vodka, rum, coconut, and chili – before your meal.

Lotus’ dumpling menu may not be the longest in Sydney and it’s definitely not your average list. Forget the humble pork jiaozi, here it’s all about brightly colored steamed violet dumplings ($12) that are filled with beef and a slightly more luxurious steamed mud crab and pork xiao long bao ($21). However, the crab’s subtle flavour may be a little lost (and unnecessary) amongst the soup and pork. Can’t decide? Try a plate of mixed dumplings ($25) – fish, prawn, mushroom, and scallop – there’s two of each. My favorite was the siu mai with discernable chunks of scallop in a pleated skin.

In place of Peking duck, there’s crispy skin duck pancakes with sweet miso and cucumber ($45). The duck is crispy, as promised, but use the sweet miso sparingly; I found it could go from just right to too salty very quickly. I had high expectations of the red-braised pork belly with dark soy and shallots ($32) because it’s described as Yan’s favorite dish and it definitely delivered. The tender cubes of pork belly are covered in a sticky sauce that’s only a little bit sweet. It may be a little too rich to enjoy by itself, but definitely good with a bowl of white rice. I could finish a pot by myself.

There’s a certain kind of sinking feeling you get when you’re told the dessert you want is sold out and I felt it twice. The Lotus crème caramel ($12) was replaced by a jiggly vanilla pannacotta with balsamic vinegar, berry coulis, honeycomb, crushed pistachios, and herbs that was both pretty and delicious. The baked walnut puff ($12) somehow looks like an actual walnut and is filled with an earthy, sweet nut paste. There’s also assorted chocolates ($7/2 chocolates) available in case you only have room for a bite. Literally. My picks for the chocs are Szechuan pepper and dragonwell, a longjing green tea.

With Head Chef Chris Yan’s modern take on Chinese cuisine, Lotus is where you would head for something a little more upscale and non-traditional than Din Tai Fung.

Lotus Restaurant & Dumpling Bar
The Galeries, Lvl 1, 500 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
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