Poor choice of Rice for Ashfield Noodle House

So I went to lunch in Ashfield today. I intended to visit a Uighur Restaurant but despite the fact that it had a open sign... it was closed. Was it because I was Han Chinese? Lord knows.

I went then to the place next door. It was called "Lao Fuk Xing" aka New Style Noodle House. The decor of the restaurant was very nice, and it made me want to try out some of its food. The construct was a clean, clinical white with sharp black chairs contrasting with white tables. The waitress was one of those modern looking Asian girls who are probably the girlfriend of the owner or something.

I listened while waiting to their conversation, and I garnered that the Owner was Taiwanese, the Chef was Pekinese, and the Waitress was from the Shanghai region. I was one of three customers in the restaurant. Why the racial discrimination you ask? Well for my Chinese readers, they will understand the significance of a cultural flavour restaurant ran by this mishmash of racial disambiguation.

The two dishes I ordered were "Fu Suo Duck" (Crispy Skin Duck wrapped with Rice Pancake) and "Qing Jao Fan" (Shredded Pork Rice with Peppers). The first of which was their signature dish - a pricy $17 dollars for entre`. The second I told the waitress 'tell me what the most popular dish you have here is.”; to which she pointed out this rice.

The Duck 4/10
It looks okay. It tastes like crap. The item I received looked more or less the same as the menu which I will give credit for. However, DUCK is a meat whose entire credit lies in its juicy nature. It should be a golden brown, greasy, tender and permeating that specific aroma of duck meat. However this one was fried to oblivion. The first piece of the duck was dry and tasteless, of which I was unimpressed, by the time I had gotten to the third piece there was not an ounce of moisture in the entire thing, and it had in fact fallen apart when I poked it. The sides for the duck were surprisingly well done. The shallots were fresh and well cut; the cucumber chilled, juicy and tender. The pancake was fantastic, soft and warm. Combined with the horrible duck however it was like eating ash wrapped in watered down seafood sauce. (Hoisein Sauce, for our Asian punters)

The Rice Dish 2/10
Before I blow this boat out of the water. What - the - fuck? I go to a NOODLE HOUSE; and she recommends for me a RICE dish. This waitress is either retarded or new, or both. The rice dish was the most horrible thing I had tasted in some time. My father makes better food, and for you guys who have tasted his explosively bad cooking, you know that’s an understatement. The capsicanium flavour of the rice was so strong that I could taste nothing else in the dish. The pork was so thinly shredded that it was flavourless and served no purpose but as a grease trap. Now, for me the most important aspect of a rice dish is the rice itself. Any self respecting restaurant will use Sun-Long, or at least Thai Jasmine rice. This was buck basic short rice – the soft, sticky kind you use to make porridge because the rice it makes taste like mashed rice-potatoes. As a result any of the grease in the meat on top became congealed in patches of brown soy sludge on top of the rice itself, and the overall effect was disgusting.

Would I go back to this place? Maybe to give its noodles some justice. Would I recommend this place to anyone? No. Pieces of crap like these so called restaurants are dime a dozen, and also close down more often than not given five to six month and a five percent annual rent hike.