Golden Century Seafood Restaurant, Haymarket Chinatown

If there's one dish that I've ever coveted, it would be the lobster sashimi at Golden Century.

Yep, you guessed it. My dreams came true.



Eight o'clock on a Friday night, and the reception area at Golden Century is more like the moshpit at yumcha. The lady with the walkie talkier is looking meek and harangued, the faces of the hungry and waiting are looking more and more stormy every minute.

After a twenty minute wait, we are finally given the authoritative nod to proceed upstairs.



We all receive menus but Veruca Salt has already done the legwork. She's been deliberating over our menu choices for weeks now, and despite tweaking via email in the preceding weeks, we still have the painful task of eliminating further dishes. We are a table of ten-- down from twelve--and no, we cannot possibly consume 14 dishes, I argue.

We have to call the attention of a waiter to take our order and within minutes he returns with two plastic bags containing our live pippies and one live lobster.


Our live lobster 1.8kg

There are stickers on the waiter's shirtsleeve confirming the correct weight and once we nod, he rushes off into the kitchen. Meanwhile we wander downstairs for a look at the amazing fishtanks.


Barramundi

There's a bountiful array of live seafood, and every few minutes a waiter comes hurrying up to a tank, scooping out the next victim with the pole of his net.


Live mud crabs


Live abalone

We return to our table and wait another five minutes before our first dish arrives: pippies in XO sauce are sweet and spicy, the fried bread sticks a perfect vehicle for mopping up the thick, slightly gelatinous seafood-infused sauce.


Pippies in XO sauces $62.20 ($40/kg)
with fried bread sticks ($3.00 per serve)

Our lobster arrives on a huge plate which is clouded in a dramatic white haze of dry ice. There's a collective ooooooooooohhhhhhhh around the table, and then of course everyone has to wait whilst I take endless photos.


Lobster sashimi $250.90 ($140/kg market price)
(includes second cooked lobster dish)

On one side of the lobster are slices of salmon sashimi; on the other side are a handful of Sydney Rock oysters. But it's the lobster sashimi that my eager chopsticks are seeking.


Lobster sashimi

The lobster sashimi is nothing like I expected. The flesh has been lightly scored and tenderised, the mass of white flesh sits in ribbons on a pile of ice cubes. The taste itself is quite mild, it has the subtle flavour of lobster with only a hint of sweetness. I'm more enamoured with the texture though, which is slippery and shiny on the tongue, and a little like jellyfish to the teeth (and I love jellyfish). It's not rubbery, but there's a definite chewy firmness to the flesh which I find very addictive.


Lobster mustard

Then we notice the little dish of lobster guts, more euphemistically known as lobster mustard. There is general trepidation around the table but I'm game and dip my chopsticks in.



It's quite a confronting tidal wave of flavour. It tastes of guts, but sweetly so, with a vague bitter aftertaste that lingers. On my second and third tastings (yes, the takers were few), I start to enjoy it, and I figure that just as oysters usually taste pretty nasty the first time, so too will lobster mustard. I say that it reminds me a little of raw sea urchin roe (which I adore) but Veruca Salt just thinks I'm mad.


Complimentary house soup

It hasn't escaped my attention that we haven't received the complimentary house soup, and given the amount of money we are spending tonight, I feel we are perfectly entitled to request its dispensation. A charming smile and a polite request, and it arrives on our table within minutes.


Fried rice $12.00

An onslaught of dishes has me snapping like crazy whilst Veruca does the official "photography clearance" signal as I complete each one. Never dine with a foodblogger on an empty stomach, is the suggestion I give :)


Crisp skin chicken (whole) $32.00

The crisp skin chicken is exactly how it should be: glossy thin skin fried to a crisp, with juicy sweet flesh within. The accompanying prawn crackers are also fresh, and stay crisp for quite some time.



I'm a little disappointed with the salt and pepper squid and salt and pepper tofu, both of which are distinctly lacking in both salt and pepper. I enjoy the Peking style pork ribs which are predictably sweet but rather meaty.


Salt and pepper squid $18.00


Pork ribs Peking-style $18.80


Salt and pepper fried bean curd $14.80

The second half of our lobster arrives, the shell and claws having been cooked in a ginger and shallot sauce and served with noodles (or you can elect to have the lobster deep-fried with chilli).


Lobster in ginger and shallots with e-fu noodles
(noodles $8.00)

There's a fair bit of lobster meat from the claws, although I can't help hankering for the sweetness of mud crab, which imparts a more intense flavour when cooked with e-fu noodles.


Cod fillet sauteed with vegetables $22.00

Cod fillet is a plain and unassuming dish, thick fillets of fish that have been sauteed with Chinese vegetables. Mongolian hotpot is a little sweet but then it isnn't usually one of my favourites, and as Veruca notes, at least it doesn't arrive smothered in onion.


Mongolian lamb hotpot $17.80

We're impressed with the complimentary house desserts: sheets of wonton that have been twisted and deep-fried and dusted with icing sugar in a Chinese version of crostoli. The cookies are also very tasty, crisp and crunchy with a caramelly glazed top and a taste of honey or golden syrup.


Complimentary house desserts

By the time we reach the watermelon, we are well and truly spent.


Complimentary fruit platter

A banquet for all the senses, and another gastronomic goal I can cross off the list.

Thanks Veruca for the fantastic birthday dinner (amongst other celebrations).

Apparently our next goal is the King Crab at $140/kg (bearing in mind that most weight at least four kilos). We might have to save up a little while longer for that one.





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Golden Century Seafood Restaurant
393-399 Sussex Street, Haymarket, Chinatown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9212 3901

Opening hours:
Open 7 days, 12pm-4am

Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Golden Century (Jan 10), (Oct 07), (Nov 06), (Oct 05) and (Jul 04)