Billy Kwong, Surry Hills, Australia

Billy Kwong on Crown Street

Here goes Kylie Kwong, the woman with a telly show on the Discovery Lifestyle Channel, cooking away talking about szechuan pepper and organic produce. I'd initially think that her restaurant would be a lot bigger and it would span a larger variety of food. But it was a quite exclusive, like you'd really have to wait outside her restaurant before 5pm, in time for the opening. The day we went, it was raining and it was quite a burden to wait outside.

Hand-written Specials Menu

Some dishes on the menu are said to vary from day to day since they try to buy locally grown, organic, and biodynamic food! I found it quite interesting and apparently they just use organic produce cause it's more expensive.

It was quite cozy and packed

The waitstaff were really accommodating, and they also explained the specials that were on for the day. We took a fair amount of time making up our minds on what to order since everything looked smashingly good.

OYSTERS

The Freshly Shucked Oysters with Ginger and Shallots were really mellow and subtle. They were yummy but tiny. Is that what you get for organic?

The oranges were so warm and awesome 

So I had the Crispy Skin Duck with Organic Oranges, the dish looked beautiful and the aroma of oranges just filled the air. The sauce was really intense and boy, you couldn't just swoop down a spoonful cause it was so concentrated with the star anise and oranges. But when it was drizzled over rice, it was such a good treat. The duck was really tender and thoroughly infused with the oranges. The skin was spiced quite crazy with what I would guess to be five spice. It just wasn't as crispy as I expected it to be. The big bonus was probably the serving size! The portions were huge and well worth what I paid for.

Epic Eggplant

Daryl ordered the Stir-fried Eggplant with Homemade Chili Sauce and Shallots. I had a couple of spoonfuls and it was bliss. The eggplant wasn't overcooked, and yet it melted in my mouth- easy. There wasn't so much chili action. The sauce was relatively mild and oh so tasty with all the soy. The shallots didn't play that much of a big part which was a little disappointing. I really wanted some brown crunchy shallots to go with it.

As for drinks, we had some Organic Herbal Lemongrass and Ginger Tea. I felt like it was sort of cleansing in a way? It got kinda disappointing when we asked for more tea cause they would just add more water and not change the tea leaves. In the end, the tea was literally flavorless!

Billy Kwong
355 Crown Street
Surry Hills
Sydney, Australia