Thursday, July 05, 2007

Sky Phoenix


It has been a little while since I’ve been to the grandmother of the Phoenix Group’s restaurant. My recent outing to the baby, Rhodes Phoenix was quite good, so I was very keen to compare this to the original.

Food

We didn’t have long to wait, and were seated in a little while. Before we knew it, our table was full with plates and steamers galore. This time I didn’t see as many varieties as before, I think we came too late for the first lot, and too early for the second, but among the many things we sampled, here are the good and the bad.

highlights:

  • bbq pork rolls
  • honey pork
  • fried red bean dumpling
lowlights:
  • noodles
  • dumpling skins
The food has actually picked up since last time, but I was very disappointed with the dumplings today, as usually this is one of the things they do best, their skin was just not up to it so they probably changed pastry chef since I was here about a year ago.

Rating - 6

Atmosphere

The place was packed when we showed up, but we managed to grab a table. It was extremely noisy and you can’t even hear yourself talk!

In terms of clientele, mostly non Asians, business lunches and a few friends. This place is popular with Asian food lover who appreciates a bit of style and enjoys a drink or ten. This is the original on which all others are based, so feature wall, interesting lattice design, minimalist décor and mood lighting are the order of the day. I must say they’ve been very successful in that regard.

Rating - 2.5

Service

Usually Sky Phoenix has very good service so I have come to expect it by now. This time, a did get a few not very friendly trolley ladies, but nothing at all like Emperor’s Choice’s rudeness. They didn’t make a particular impression on me, which meant they did their job quietly but effectively.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

$20 p.p. We were pretty full but that’s because half our party didn’t eat much. Yes, you have to pay for style, but give me substance over style anyday.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 12

Info

Skygarden
Level 3
77 Castlereagh St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9223 8822
Website

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