Crystal Seafood, Strathfield

Out for a family and friends meal, we found ourselves at Crystal Seafood in Strathfield. With a strong multicultural mix of locals (almost half its population was born overseas), Strathfield is overflowing with Chinese, Korean and Sri Lankan eateries and shops.


I've been to Crystal Seafood twice before for yum cha. Both times I was rather unimpressed with both quality and service. But we thought we'd give it another go. This time for dinner.


The place is almost full, and it's only 7pm on a Wednesday night. Families of three generations take up most of the bigger tables and there's a happy cheerful buzz to the place.

We end up getting the Chinese banquet. An indecipherable scribble of dishes equating to roughly about $38 per person. Ah... why not... sure beats having to make painful menu decisions.


House soup (pork and vegetables)

This one's okay. A little heavy-handed with the sugar and disappointingly cloudy (someone wasn't watching the pot!). Not enough meaty bones to scavenge on either =(


Steamed scallops with ginger and shallots $28.80 per dozen

Ooh hello! *Excited hands clap with glee*


I'll have the two biggest ones please!
...Pretty please?


Unfortunately I found my scallops a little over-cooked a rubbery. As always though, the sweet soy sauce marinade was very good. Next time I must be more assertive and nab the leftover sauce before it's cleared away--perfect for drizzling over my rice.


Lobster $40 per half kg

Normally when we go out for Chinese we order crab. With ginger and shallots. And extra e-fu noodles.

However the special menu was lobster, and sure it's easier to eat, but it's not as tasty a crab. The flesh isn't as firm nor as sweet. And the whole thing is drenched in some crazy Chinese-style mornay sauce.


Chinese bread rolls

Ahhh now these I did like. I've never had these before but they were most delicious! Inside is a steamed wad of Chinese bread "spaghetti". The bread is light and fluffy and ever-so-faintly sweet. You can get this type of bread very easily in the chiller section (or on the counter) of most Asian grocery shops.

However the best bit was that the whole bread roll had been rolled in some type of egg-flour batter and then deep fried to a golden crisp brown. Kind of reminiscent of the coating on pluto pups I guess (in a good way!).


This stuff was perfect for mopping up that creamy "mornay" sauce.


Fillet steak with black pepper sauce

Typically sweet and heavy on the bi-carb *shudder*
But good for those who like fillet steak this style I guess.


Stir-fried baby bok choy

Yum. Vitamins!


Pork spare ribs Peking style

Ooh back to deep-fried goodness.

These had a healthy handful of rock sugar but (*sigh* like a lot of things in my life) strangely addictive.

Until your teeth started to hurt.


Silver perch with ginger and shallots $28.80 per kg

The guest of honour. What a pity it tasted like whoever cleaned it had burst the gall bladder *weeps* I love steamed fish but all I could taste for much of this was metallic displeasure.


Prawns steamed with egg white and vegetables

This was good. Although apparently they had run out of scallops so they served it to us with prawns.

Steamed egg whites with seafood and vegetables is such an unknown pleasure. Healthy, cleansing and very tasty.


Red bean soup

We tucked into our red bean soup and waited with greedy expectation for our little platter of Chinese pastries and biscuits, as promised on our menu.

But none came.

Only the plate of fruit. Which was good, but we needed closure! Sugary closure!

We made polite enquiries only to be told that "You took too long to eat your meal and now we've run out of pastries."

Full stop.

Riiiight. No offer of compensation. A replacement dessert? Extra fruit? Reduction off the bill?

Nope. Nada. Nothing.

Which pretty much summed up the level of service all evening really. We had to almost stand on our chairs to get our rice bucket delivered; to ask for an extra fork (we ended up getting it ourselves); to get our rice bucket refilled.

So it wasn't the greatest dining experience.
Which left me very disappointed, as I do like to find great suburban restaurants.
I like supporting Mum-and-Dad style eateries.
I like the option of parking.
I like eating in the suburbs.

Maybe this one's out for a duck.

The pictures look good though...


Crystal Seafood Restaurant
Shop 29 / 11 The Boulevarde, Strathfield
Tel: 02 9763 7738