James O'Brien

The other week, you might recall, I asked for some advice about Chinese restaurants in Sydney where they spoke Mandarin, not Cantonese.

Thanks to Marcellous, who made a couple of suggestions we settled – well, I made the decision for – “Sea Bay” on Pitt Street.

At about seven thirty tonight, Andrew and I met there to farewell Damien who is heading off to China in the next couple of days.

As we walked in, it was rather busy to say the least, and we noticed the fluorescent lights had a slight Kings Cross “shooting gallery” feel about the place. “Fifteen minutes” we were told we would have to wait, although we were seated in less than ten.

It took considerably longer, however, to get the attention of the waitress when we decided we were ready to order.

“They’ve paced the arrival of the meals well”, Damien commented at one point tonight, though Andrew responded, wondering if it was intentional, or just co-incidental.

We had four courses: there was a chicken salad dish, a pancake dish, some braised dumplings and a jelly-fish salad. With the exception of the jelly-fish, we all thought the food was excellent. In fact, we thought it would be a great place to welcome Damo back to Sydney, unless of course he’s sick to death of Chinese food by then.

The food was both fresh and tasty. The dumplings, in particular, were the best I’ve ever had in Sydney.

Here’s hoping Damien has a great experience in China… and let’s hope the food he experiences in China comes close to what we had tonight at “See Bay”. Excellent…