Sydney Food Diary: Good Luck Pinbone, Kensington

So, it would seem like you have until the end of July 2017 to get to the pop-up restaurant Good Luck Pinbone, which took over from a Japanese takeaway, and whose building will be demolished at a certain point.

I’ve mentioned to friends numerous times that I’m finding a delightful irony in some Sydney restaurants. When I was growing up in Vancouver, ALL the chefs were Chinese. You could be in a hotel restaurant, a Greek restaurant, or a local cafe: the chefs were Chinese. When restaurants starting getting more authentic in Vancouver, they demanded that the chefs had more than a passing training in the cuisine were cooking, so there were less Chinese chefs in non-Chinese restaurants! Here in Sydney, I’ve been amused that white Aussie chefs have fallen in love with Asian food, travelled to Asian countries and trained in Asian cooking, and now in Chinese (or Thai) restaurants, there are non-Asian chefs! Like at Good Luck Pinbone.

I’m not sure whether this makes the food better or worse (and am also reminded of being invited over to a Jewish friend’s for dinner in my university years, and he cooked me a Chinese meal far better than I could have made at the time). In the case of Good Luck Pinbone, the food is fantastic! It’s a mix of some very authentic Chinese flavours, with some interesting additions (like above, kingfish belly toast with bacon)

The four of us opted for the set menu. Also in the old days (I know, I know: I talk about the old days a lot): at Asian restaurants when you ordered the set menu, it was usually because no one could make a decision. You got the easiest dishes for the kitchen to make, and they’d charge you more for it. But here, almost everything on the set menu was on the regular menu; it just made sense to order it.

Where are the photos? Oops. I was too busy eating (and enjoying myself). Suffice to say, I thought mostly everything was terrific. Along with our BYO, it was a great night. They even gave us a complementary serve of the Scorpion Fish (if you’ve not seen one live, google it). It was a bit bony, but tasty, and when do you get to eat Scorpion Fish?

Decor is basic, but in an amusing hipster sort of way. The focus is on the food, and if the restaurant is only around for less than a year, let’s not worry about fancy furnishings, shall we?

Good Luck Pinbone Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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