As Sydney grows and grows, so the spread of great food grows too. Chatswood in Sydney’s north is becoming a hub of amazing cuisine, and the Asian food secrets you can find here are the best of all.
Living south of the Bridge, we don’t head north for lunch or dinner that often. We do have friends living that way though. And we’ve learnt to rely on their food recommendations in their neighbourhood with complete confidence.
Wanting to extend our repertoire north, we looked into filling 3 essential categories we have in Asian food:
Malay food – especially Hainanese chicken rice and roti
Thai food – especially choo chee curry and pork ribs
Chinese food – especially dumplings
I think we’ve hit the jackpot!
PappaRich Malaysian Delights
We like PappaRich for several reasons. Of course there’s the food. The roti here is excellent, the chicken rice is great too. They also do some great laksas and there’s a fried chicken skin dish that’s better than pork crackling… and I never thought I’d ever say that about anything.
Another reason we love PappaRich is it’s authentic. Its restaurants started popping up in Kuala Lumpur 2005 but now there are outlets all over the place. But they still make the food the same as when they first started.
The final (and best) reason to love this place is PappaRich’s new ambassador Poh Ling Yeow from the first series of Australian Masterchef and SBS show Poh’s Kitchen. What a sweetheart she is!
Koa Plah Thai
Literally meaning ‘rice and fish’ this place is much more than just that. Recommended by a Thai friend, this place rocks. The food’s delicious and – though we’ve only had the takeaway from here – the recent renovations make us want to pay Chatswood another visit.
Picks from the menu are indeed the pork ribs, the crispy tofu and the grilled fish mousse wrapped in banana leaf.
Shanghai Stories 1938
Recommended by Sam from TheAnnoyedThyroid.com – this place does superb dumplings. Sam is a real dumpling nut and goes all over Sydney looking for the best. I do wonder how these guys will stand up to the newly opened Chatswood branch of the very popular Din Tai Fung… perhaps it’s time for a ‘dumpling off’!
The xiao long bao, which are soup-filled steamed pork dumplings, and the fried pork buns are stand-out. In fact, just writing this makes me want dumplings right now!
Where are these places?
PappaRich Chatswood
Open: 11:00-21:00 Mon – Wed, 11:00-22:00 Thurs – Fri, 10:00-22:00 Sat & Sun
1/63A Archer Street,
Chatswood 2067 NSW
PappaRich.net.au
PappaRich on Facebook
Khao Plah Thai
Open: 11:00-22:00 Mon – Sun
7/370-374 Victoria Avenue
Chatswood 2067 NSW
Khao Plah on Facebook
Shanghai Stories 1938
Open: 11:00-22:00 Mon – Sun
Shop 4 & 6 The Concourse, 409 Victoria Ave
Chatswood 2067 NSW
Shanghai Stories 1938
Shanghai Stories 1938 on Facebook
What food finds do you travel for? Tell us in the comments!
Nick Deane
I am so hungry after reading this post! PappaRich will be on the top of my list of restaurants to visit. Sharing this post.
Mr Romance
Do it, Nick! They’re great places and there are a few around Sydney now. But I think the Chatswood one is the best.
Let me know what you think.
J
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