16 January 2011

Lao Zhao Good Luck Chinese Restaurant: Peking Duck Pancakes, Enfield (15 Jan 2011)

180-182 Liverpool Road, Enfield NSW 2136
Phone: (02) 9747 4625


Peking around Enfield

Thanks to Richard for organising a casual dinner catchup with some other fun-loving foodies Amy, Josh, Rhonda, Marlina and Olivia. The unassuming Good Luck Chinese Restaurant located next door to a petrol service station has been on my wish list for a long time which was originally recommended to me by a friend who loves their pre-ordered Peking Duck. Entering the restaurant is like entering Dr Who's tardis — it's deceptively larger inside than you'd think.

The main dish which possibly everyone comes here for is the Peking Duck Pancakes and duck soup ($60) which could nicely serve 6-8 people as a starter. The head is ceremoniously cut in two for those loving a bit of head inners (not for me) and the meat is fairly moist although it's sliced in a way which includes a bit of skin. I was more expecting the skin to be sliced off in crispy slivers and the meat served separately. The overall crispiness of the skin could have been better for my liking but it was decent enough. Be sure to separate your pancakes which seem to be stuck in twos. It was funny how we wondered why the pancakes were quite thick until we realised this. The duck soup had a nice depth of flavour served with cabbage and mostly duck bone left overs — apparently they don't do Sang Choy Bow. I liked the Yellow croaker in chili sauce ($22) which had quite a bit of flavour and the skin was quite crispy in parts which was what I was hoping for. The Sauté lamb and shallot with cumin and chili ($17.50) certainly had a curry taste to it and a bit of a heat kick. I really enjoyed the Chinese pastry ($2 each) apparently also known as Sher Ping pancakes. They were fairly large in size with a very tasty filling — I'd happily order again.

The decor and seating is simple although the touches of cheesy posters and wall decorations covered in plastic gives that air of tackiness — each to their own. Ordering was a little comical as it seemed speaking English was sometimes met with blank and confused looks depending on who you got. It was like we were unwittingly speaking an exotic foreign language they couldn't understand although they were helpful and friendly. Tonight the restaurant was filled with Asians being a good sign and Richard was the only full Anglo — he did a great job ordering for us with his list of recommendations from a colleague whose a regular.

Other reviews of Good Luck Chinese Restaurant:

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Reasonably priced, Friendly service although ordering in English sometimes was met with blank and confused expressions, Tasty and interesting dishes
CONS: A bit of lost in translation service, Wall decorations covered in plastic, Cheesy poster (but could be a good thing too), Only cake of soap in toilet
MUST TRY: Chinese pastry, Peking Duck Pancakes to compare to others you've tried, Other dishes from the menu

Peking Duck Pancakes and duck soup ($60)

Peking Duck head is split into two in case you love eating the head I guess — not for me

Pancakes — be sure to separate for a thinner pancake

Slice of Peking Duck with meat and skin


Peking Duck pancake with hoisin sauce, shallot and cucumber

Sauté lamb and shallot with cumin and chili ($17.50)

Yellow croaker in chili sauce ($22)


Chinese pastry ($2 each) aka Sher Ping pancakes
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Bill $130.50 for 7 people is pretty cheap — not sure what the $4 and $6 was for but possibly suspecting for extra serves of pancakes and maybe tea?

Simple seating

Plastic wrapped wall images — very tacky

A very cheesy Tsingtao Beer poster — does this mean only tanned Aussies that own expensive boats that drive around the Circular Quay ferry wharf drink it?

They need to upgrade their cake of soap in the toilet :-(

Apparently the Peking Duck ceremonious cutting table as you walk in

Opening hours



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10 comments:

Maria said...

I'm sorry I couldn't join you guys! But to be honest, I'm not sure how I would've reacted to that duck head on the plate...

Richard Elliot said...

I'm glad you had a good time Simon, it was great to see everyone and enjoy some good food together.

Olivia and I were trying to decipher the bill when we left too! We decide the $4 was for the additional pancakes and the $6 was for the rice. We could be completely wrong though...

joey@forkingaroundsydney said...

No duck head for me either! The Chinese pancakes look really good though. And I never knew Enfield was next to Strathfield until I googled it.

john@heneedsfood said...

Looks delicious! Sorry I couldn't make it :(

Viv said...

i love peking duckkk! great review...i like how you're so observant too...haha cheesy poster and cake of soap ><

thang @ noodlies said...

I see what you mean by the decor but looks not too bad! And it's sooo cheap

Melissa said...

delicious looking peking duck! and it's definately cheap for a group of 7! i think the $6 is refering to the rice. :)

Simon Leong said...

hi maria, hopefully we'll catch up next time :-)

hi richard, the extra prices were a bit of a mystery. would have thought it was divisible by 7 in any case for rice.

hi joey, i never knew where it was too :-)

hi john, hope you get to try it one day

hi vivienne, it's all about the details ;-)

hi thang, certainly was a cheap night out of tasty food

hi melissa, the $6 is still a mystery because there was 7 of us :-)

Unknown said...

I must say, I went to this place this week based on these reviews and was terribly dissapointed.

The duck of the skin was not crispy and the pancakes were too thick, and the texture of the pancakes were chewy.

We also ordered sweet and sour pork. It is the worst sweet and sour pork I've ever had. The sauce was made from honey and chinese vinegar - not a good combination, and left an awful aftertase in your mouth. A bottle of Kanton sweet & sour sauce from the supermarket would taste much better than what we had.

We were told that their fish was their specialty so we ordered that. Once again, appalling. It was not fresh.

The food at this restaurant is one of the worst places I've been to. My overall experience with their food was very dissapointing and would not recommend this.

Simon Leong said...

hi sheena, i'm so sorry to hear it was a bad dining experience for you. the fish dish we had was quite nice so wondering if you had the same one? in terms of the sweet and sour pork my warning bells go off because i actually don't think that would be a traditional chinese dish to start with. a bit in the same league as lemon chicken, beef in black bean sauce and mongolian lamb — western created dishes i've always thought. in saying that you'd hope that it would be decent anyway but sounds like something to avoid. did you try the chinese pancakes, i thought these were the best of the night when i went :-) ps. did you make sure you separated the pancakes as we noticed two stuck together which if not separated made them seem very thick.

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