Sydney Winter Holiday 2014 (Day 2): Emperor's Cream Puff and Superbowl Chinese Restaurant ~ Review

After a fine morning in Newtown, we headed to Chinatown.

Chinatown Gate Entrance

We were there to get some glutinous rice dumplings as it was the start of the festival (my family follows this kind of tradition). We got ours at the Emperor's Garden Cake & Bakery and while I don't have a picture with me (sadly), what I can tell you is I've had way better tasting glutinous rice dumpling (aka bak chang). This bak chang is so bland and the rice is not soft and sticky enough -.-

While we were there, we also decided to check out the Emperor's Puff.

Emperor's Cream Puff on the middle with the Restaurant on the left and the bakery on the right

I've seen long queues for the Emperor's Puff many times during my previous visits and I promised myself that I would get one of those when the queue is not crazy. Lucky for me, there were no queue that Monday afternoon. One pull factor I notice is this thing is quite cheap.

The Review
This puff is definitely not the crispy-kind. It has a very soft dough with vanilla custard filling in the middle. This is served warm at best. To be honest, I am a person that prefers the crispy puff so this thing unfortunately did not make me jump off my seat in excitement. The custard filling here is also not that sensational in my opinion, it's okay (I think if it were sweeter and thicker, it would've taste better). In summary, I don't think it's worth the queue.

Our next stop is Superbowl Chinese Restaurant. A bit of a fun fact: I don't think there was a time when my family and I visited Sydney and we skipped this restaurant. We just love their food, especially...

The Review

This plain congee is not straight plain with no taste - it has a hint of savoury salty-sweet taste (upon further research, I realised it's pork broth). We just always find it perfectly seasoned and pairs well with just about any dish. We like it so much that we usually ordered 2 large bowls for 3-5 people, like this time around.

Their deep fried fritter is also really nice. It's really crispy and warm :) It's a tad too oily so be prepared to blot it with some tissue.

This time around we also got their Fried Pippis with XO Chilli Sauce and this thing taste soo good - the saltiness, sweetness and hint of spiciness. The fresh pippis was also another plus. Do get one when you're in a large group. It's not too spicy so even my sister who's not a fan of chilli can eat this.

Their homemade mapo tofu is also really nice - one of my favourite dish. I usually have problem with mapo tofu dish as it can be too bland but this definitely wasn't one of those. The combination of the tofu, the sauce and the minced meat is just right. I can eat this just about any day :p




Now for the so-so dish..

The Ginger Shallot Steamed Fish is pretty so-so for me. I mean it's nice and the fish is quite fresh but it does not taste any different from any other restaurant's take on such dish. I'd save my tummy next time for more mapo tofu or pippis.

I gotta be honest and say I am in general not a fan of lemon chicken because I find it most of the time has too much sauce and too sweet to mask the sourness of the lemon. This dish didn't escape those violation too in my opinion. Another thing is I find the chicken too oily (I think Superbowl in general need to watch the amount of oil they use for deep fried stuff). The only 1 perk - I find the chicken portion pretty generous and the meat is cooked nicely (not raw and easy to chew).

The salted egg prawn is also a bit of a letdown mainly because I tasted better. The taste of the dish was border-lining bland in my opinion, they should have used more salted egg. Also, I think the prawn is slightly overcooked as it not crunchy enough in my opinion.




In summary, I would recommend this place if you're in a Chinatown area, especially if you're looking for a quick fix of congee and deep fried fritters :)

Superbowl Restaurant: 41 Dixon Street Chinatown, NSW 2000.