Master Dining, Surry Hills
With the rise of so many new cafes and restaurants in Sydney, it’s hard to keep up with them all! Having shared a wonderful meal here late last year, Master Dining has been on my to-return-to list, especially since I had missed out on their signature burnt cabbage. Garnering on a heavy Chinese influence, the dishes here are familiar but nothing like you’ve had before.
Scallop silk, XO sauce $4pp
The silky scallop cheong fun (rice noodles) are reminiscent of the seafood cheong fun you get at yum cha with a kick of spice from the house-made XO sauce.
Ox tongue skewer, imperial spice, lemon thyme $6pp
Seriously so bomb! Ox tongue is such an underrated ingredient and I’m so glad to see it popping on more menus these days. So incredibly tender!
Strange flavour pork neck $16
Slightly spicy, peanutty sesame flavour but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was though it was addictive and perfect to devour those succulent slices of pork neck over a steaming bowl of rice - the food of my people.
Roasted squid, snow pea sprouts $20
Another stellar dish! Noodles made from thinly sliced squid, cooked perfectly silky and al dente. The roasted squid seafood broth and creamy emulsion was just bursting with umami flavours and the freshness of the snow pea sprouts balanced the creaminess of the emulsion.
Salt and pepper veal sweetbreads $18
Complimentary biodynamic wine (forget which one it was) for the table, cheers guys! The sweetbreads were like chicken nuggets, and you can’t go wrong with that! Extra hot sauce was served with this already lip numbing dish which neither of us grabbed for haha.
Peking style pork jowl, pancakes, condiments $45
Actually really hard to decide on my favourite dish here but I think the pork jowl pancakes might take the crown! The pancakes were like buttery roti and oh man that pork jowl had everyone wanting to order another serving.
Congee, pear, coriander $10
An interesting dessert. I was intrigued when I read the menu and wondered how they would be making congee into a dessert. This was more of a rice pudding. The sweet fragrance of the pear was subtle and the coriander oil made this more of a palate cleanser.
A roasted potato $10
Because potatoes are awesome. Fried ice cream. Deep fried potato skin batter with potato ice cream in the center. Had doubts but this was quite enjoyable!
