Hulu at King Street Wharf
19 Lime Street
King St Wharf, Sydney CBD
You’ll find Hulu’s Chinese Restaurant down in the bustling precinct of King Street Wharf. It stands out straight away with it’s light wooden interior and fluorescent lights at the front of the restaurant, sprouting a modern Chinese décor which reflects the establishment perfectly. Owner and head chef, Johnny has spent two years experimenting and perfecting the menu in the Chatswood location before venturing into the CBD. His restaurant strays away from the more traditional menu found in Chatswood and has incorporated European (particularly French) influence into his menu to reflect his years of training as a young chef in a French restaurant.
We left the menu ordering to Johnny to showcase the dishes he was most proud of. To begin, we had a mushroom and truffle dumpling which was absolutely delicious. This was made with three kinds of mushrooms to create a delicious plump filling, and the amount of truffle was just enough to make these next-level.
Next was a true French-Chinese fusion dish with cheese and prawn dumplings. A variation on the traditional pork and prawn, the chase and prawn worked so well together, adding an extra layer of creaminess to an already great dish. This is not something we would have ordered on our own, but definitely recommend trying this one! It’s a winner.
The next dish we were served was a Japanese style beef with wasabi mayonnaise. This was quite simple, yet stunning dish. The rib eye steak was so tender and juicy and stir fried with capsicum and mushroom, it was fresh and light and seasoned perfectly with Chinese spices. The wasabi mayonnaise wasn’t overpowering, but had just enough of a kick to remind you it was there.
We were lucky to try the house made pork belly next, which is one of their signature dishes and only a limited number served each day, and in a minute you will know why. The Hulu team go out each day and source the pork belly to bring back to the restaurant which is boiled for 4 hours, then wrapped in banana leaves and slow cooked for another 4 hours, covered in clay and cooked for another 2 hours. Needless to say, it was absolutely decadent and was so tender it just fell apart. Covered in a sticky hoisin sauce, this dish was an absolute treat which we would highly recommend.
The house made tofu served with egg white sauce and enoki mushrooms. This silken tofu is made by the team at Hulu because they couldn’t find a piece of tofu big enough for what they wanted. Served with deep fried garlic and spring onions, and the enoki mushrooms were tender and a delicious addition. For someone who doesn’t usually like mushrooms, the Viscountess thought this was an absolute winner.
Finally, the show-stopper was dessert. Deep fried ice cream in a white chocolate dome with hazelnut and chocolate sauce. What more could you want in a dessert? The Hulu team put on quite the show with this one too, pouring the hot chocolate sauce over the dessert, melting away the dome and revealing the deep fried ice cream underneath. Definitely a dish shared between two or more, especially if you’ve eaten as much as we did! It was a perfect, sweet end to the evening without being too decadent. Johnny explained to us that he has been slowly tweaking the chocolate sauce for quite some time, but we think he’s got it just right!
This was such a great dining experience at Hulu. Johnny and his team have taken a traditional Chinese menu and breathed new life into it. He incorporates flavours others wouldn’t think of doing, but it works so well. His passion for great food, and trying to bring great Chinese food to the Sydney market is evident and it was clearly such a pleasure for him to showcase his food to us. A huge thank you to Johnny and the team at Hulu for having us as their guests.