Sun Sun Chinese Kitchen Flemington/Homebush West - and my first live soccer game (10th July '10)

        Going through my backlog I was reminded of a little local restaurant that Ryan and his family have been visiting. I kind of got inspired to pull this blog out of the closet and support a local gem because of a post by fellow blogger mademoiselle délicieuse about the hardships of running a local cafe. 

        This is Sun Sun Chinese Kitchen, a quaint little family run Chinese restaurant in the suburb of Flemington, in Sydney's inner west. According to Ryan, this restaurant has been there forever, as far back as his childhood memories take him. Ryan has told me tales of when his late Grandfather used to take him here as a bit of a treat. Since dating Ryan, I've eaten here only a hand full of times with him, sometimes dining in and other times getting take away. His family hadn't been visiting much either in recent times. It had been a long long time since we last ate here before this particular visit, but the owners had not forgotten about the Romero family.

        It was a Sunday night, and Ryan, Di and I were off to watch a game of soccer. My first ever time watching a live soccer game - it was the Sydney FC vs Everton friendly. Before meeting Phil at the stadium we needed to fill our tummy's with some food. We were a little tight on time so thought we would try and stay local and seeing as the little hub of restaurants in Flemington was only down the road from Ryan we thought 'why not?'. There's not a huge range to choose from, you have either Vietnamese, Chinese, Vietnamese or Chinese or even the possibility of a fusion of the two. We decided on Sun Sun as it had been a while since we last visited.

 

        As soon as we walk in the doors, Ryan is pretty much bombarded with questions from the lady behind the counter. 'Hi! Long time no see! How are you? Where have you been? How are your parents? How is your Grandfather?'. You generally don't get a whole string of questions like that unless the people really know your family. We take a seat at a table and decide over what we want to eat. Some complimentary glasses of tea are poured out for us, which is a lovely touch to a chilly night.

        Sticky Pork Ribs. This is a dish that Ryan and I absolutely love. The ribs are cooked until tender, the sauce is a lovely balance of sticky sweetness and savoury. And there is a nice portion of meat on each rib.

        Tofu stuffed with Pork Mince with Salt and Pepper. Another favourite of ours. This took a little while to come out, but it was worth the wait, even if we had a soccer game to catch. Piping hot, freshly deep fried fluffy puffs of tofu fried to perfection, with a nice filling of mince pork mixed with some diced fungus.

        Some fried rice to go with the mains. Lovely smokiness throughout the rice, a nice even spread of char siu pork, some vegies, egg, and seasoned with a bit of soy.

        I insisted that we had to have some vegetables, we needed some balance to the meal. A plate of stir fried vegetables was ordered., just done simply with a bit of soy and oyster sauce. It was quite a lot of food for 3 people, we ended up having a few pieces of tofu left over which we asked to take away (can't waste good food). Ryan ended up eating them during the soccer game later on.

        The food coming out of this place is always consistently good. It might not be the best ever Chinese restaurant in Sydney, but for a local joint it deserves it's loyal customer base.I havn't been often enough to work my way through the menu but the dishes that I have tried were all decent. And the owners are always super friendly to you. If you're a local I'd suggest you pay them a visit. I'm hoping that they'll be there for another while yet. It would be a sad day if they ever decide to close their doors.

*** Edit - Just had a friend on facebook say that apparantly they have changed owners, but it's still the same cook. I'll have to pass the news on to Ryan and make a visit back soon. Have to make sure that the food is still as good as it was! See, this is what happens when you don't support your locals!***

        Our friends wanted to go watch this soccer game because Sydney FC was playing against Everton. For someone who doesn't really follow sports it ended up being an extremely boring game for me to watch. There was just not enough action on the field for me. Give me an NRL match anyday!! Go the Roosters!! ;) It was a good night none the less, it's the company that matters.