Hong Kong Bing Sutt is an eatery in Burwood. Bing Sutt literally means "ice room" and is named after a Bing Sutt, a traditional Guangzhou and Hong Kong style casual eating house that serves uniquely Hong Kong style food. And there was nowhere else that my father wanted to eat on his birthday this year!
Historically when Hong Kong was a colony, the local Chinese people couldn't afford to eat Westernised food so they developed their own food, a mix of the two cultures that resulted in the style of food being served at Bing Sutts. That's why you'll see things like cheesy rice and seafood bakes, Swiss style chicken wings and pineapple buns wedged with thick slices of cold butter.
It was my father's birthday on January 1st and he wanted to eat food from Hong Kong. Many of you have been asking me asking how he is doing which is very kind of you. His recovery is going well although there are some quirks to his personality. He is much more childlike than before, he is a bit more enthusiastic and less in his own world and he also likes to say "No" to anything offered. He also loves to repeat things that you say.
When Mr NQN and I went to pick my parents and sister up for his birthday dinner we chimed in with a "Happy Birthday!" and he repeated "Happy Birthday!" back to us.
Hong Kong Bing Sutt is a small restaurant with booths on either side and one table for a large group much in the style of a traditional Bing Sutt. Fans cool down the temperature a little overhead and service is actually really lovely. You can't book there and when we walked in as a group of five they didn't want to squash up in a booth and instead add on another table so that we've got plenty of space.
The menu is on the table under a layer of glass. There are codes-"pepperazzi" means that it's photogenic and there are also signature dishes marked (although this makes for quite a lot of the menu). There's also whole sections devoted to tomato soup items and "chilli and garlic" and the menu is rather eccentrically Hong Kong. Mr NQN piped up and suggests a drink called "Hot boiling eggs" or a Coke with preserved lemon (actually quite nice, I've had it in HK) or a Coke with chocolate ice cream but we go for a Hong Kong milk tea, a Horlicks dinosaur and an Ovaltine dinosaur - latter really hitting the spot. I mainly ordered the Horlicks dinosaur because my Hong Kong grandmother used to have it every night.
The menu is enormous so it's hard to narrow things down but we start with a pineapple bun with luncheon meat and egg. I guess I would describe it as a Hong Kong or Asian version of a bacon and egg muffin. The eggs are sunny side up and the pineapple bun is fresh and soft and the luncheon meat is like a slice of fried SPAM or similar.
The chicken wings are similar to the chicken wings that my mother makes except perhaps with Shaoxing wine added or something similar. These are good and comforting, the sauce especially good to add on top of rice.
The baked seafood and rice with white sauce and a blanket of cheese is satisfying and rich. There's plenty of seafood that is cooked just right.
I love it when things are served in bread and this was hands down my favourite dish. It's enormous and served as a hollowed out cob loaf filled with plenty of saucy curry rice, curried chicken pieces and roast potato wedges. I love the pockets of moist curried rice at the bottom and how the curry seeps into the hot, crusty bread too.
And my father's favourite? The plain boiled rice dish with soy sauce, slices of char siu and two fried eggs on top. "We could have stayed home for this!" says my mother to my father to which he shrugs. "Stay home" he answers.
I saw a whole lot of wooden containers stacked up near the register and remembered how much Mr NQN loves tofu fa, a dish of warm tofu with sugar syrup or brown sugar. It takes 20 minutes to prep it and the tofu comes out all wobbly and hot with brown sugar and sugar syrup on the side. We all help ourselves to scoops of it in our little bowls. It's a comforting and mild flavoured dish.
And the bill? Just $20 a person which meets with my father's approval.
So tell me Dear Reader, what sort of places do you tend to go to on your birthday? Fine dining establishments or casual favourites? Have you ever been to a Bing Sutt?
This meal was independently paid for.
Hong Kong Bing Sutt
Shop 8/11-15 Deane St, Burwood NSW 2134
Monday to Friday 11am–10pm
Saturday & Sunday 10am–10pm
Phone: (02) 8387 1820
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