Yin Li Sichuan Restaurant
Level 1, 71 Dixon St
Chinatown, Sydney
This is a split level place right in the heart of Chinatown on Dixon Street and as a result it can sometimes confuse you. There's a smallish outside area at street level that some may see as the whole restaurant. However upstairs on the first floor is the main restaurant.
As it was a blustery night we went upstairs. It certainly is a Chinese restaurant - with the look and feel that you'd expect. The tables all seemed to have a hotplate that looked like a giant record stuck there in the middle, but we didn't order dishes that ended up using this device.
We were in a dumpling mood - well Mlady was - but we still started with something crispy to kick the meal off. The prawn spring rolls served this purpose nicely, with a crunchy outer over a single large whole prawn inside. Seafood and crunch - just what we wanted!
Dumpling time then kicked in with a nice serving of an old favourite - steamed prawn dumplings. These are a fairly standard and safe dish at any establishment and this was no exception. They arrived hot and plump with prawn meat and disappeared fast.
The final dumpling dish was a more substantial one. The vegetarian dumplings come in a serving of ten - making it a big feed for one but perfect to share - as we did. We enjoyed them and they went well with the dipping sauce that came with them. They certainly filled us up too!
The decor is probably exactly what anyone would expect inside a typical Chinese restaurant - somewhat loud and proud. But then this was a typical Chinese restaurant in Chinatown!
There have been some mixed reviews of this place but to be honest the food we had was fine. The service was efficient and the food arrived fast and hot and for the quantity we had it wasn't expensive.