Lotus Dumpling Bar
3/16 Hickson Rd.
Walsh Bay, Sydney
Lotus is a name that is well known across Sydney in the food scene. We were attending yet another one of the wonderful Sydney Theatre Company shows at Roslyn Packer Theatre at Walsh Bay. We go there regularly and try out different eateries each time. This visit it was Lotus Dumpling Bar’s turn! It’s a smallish place with s few outside tables with heaters for those cooler evenings. While they obviously have dumplings, they have lots more too.
Pre-theatre dinner means a drink or two to start - but not so many that you’ll nod off in the subsequent show! This negroni was a variation on a traditional theme. It was a Davidson Plum Negroni made with Tanqueray, Campari and House Davidson Plum Vermouth. It turned out to be a very tasty variation too!
We always like at least a few - or one - spicy dish when eating dumplings. The szechuan spiced prawn and pork wontons seemed to nicely tick this box so they were the first thing on our order. It was a great choice with plump tasty pork and prawn dumplings swimming in a spicy sauce that had really nice kick to it without destroying our mouths.
We can’t resist Peking duck pancakes - well Sir can’t - so these were an easy choice too. They come pre-made in a serving of four and they disappeared quickly!
On to the mains and the salt and pepper prawns with chilli and shallots leaped off the page at us. It was a generous sized serving too with plenty of plump prawns and quite a subtle salt and pepper flavour. We really enjoyed this.
Our seciond main was the crispy chicken with shandong sauce. The whole chicken pieces were nicely crispy too with tender juicy meat inside and the sauce had a lovely sweet and sour flavour that soaked nicely into the boiled rice we also ordered.
If you are attending a show up the road then the pre-theatre menu gives you a great selection of dishes for two or more people.
We left Lotus Dumpling Bar very satisfied, and it was only a short waddle down the road to the theatre. There’s lots more there on the menu for us to try on another visit too!