By Franz Scheurer
Despite the Viennese Tea Room atmosphere the Peking Inn in Lindfield is a fully licensed Northern Chinese restaurant. Specialising in Peking and Shanghai cuisine with a few Szechuan dishes thrown in for good measure. The dishes obviously appeal to the mainly local crowd, as it is hard to get a table any night of the week.
The “Peking Duck” is the best I’ve had in Sydney, although the second course of San Choy Bow is bland und texturally uninteresting. The “Braised Eel” is wonderful, as is the “Salt and Pepper Tofu” but the “Pot Sticker Dumplings” and the “Steamed Vegetarian Dumplings”, obviously frozen, lack both texture and taste. The “Thousand Layered Winds”, a cold entrée of spiced and thinly sliced pigs’ ear is excellent and the Szechuan dishes, although marked on the menu as “hot” are bland and floury.
A curious mixture of superb and very average food matches the erratic but friendly service. The wine list, albeit small, is perfectly suited to the food and they have a good range of local and imported beers. Believe it or not, but the infamous “Mateus Rosé” is a perfect match for the food.
Value for money is reasonable.
Score: 5/10
For more information of bookings:
The Peking Inn
02 9416 3509