Golden Century

Ph: (02) 9212 3901; 393 Sussex St, SYDNEY 2000 www.goldencentury.com.au

Chinese, $$ +, *** for Food
Open 7 days noon-4am; Licensed, BYO, Corkage $5 person; AE DC MC V EFT, Seats inside 600, Private room 120, Kids welcomed
Chef (Lee Ho, 2007-11-3) Owner (Eric Wong & Kevin Kam, 2007-11-3)

Mietta's Review
Cooking up some of the best Chinese in town, with city-never-sleeps hours, it is not difficult to see why Golden Century is an institution. They are all here, every possible demographic of the Emerald City, packing this 600 seat restaurant to the gunwales. The menu has been expanded, adding some welcome meat and vegetable dishes. You are here primarily for the seafood, however, and it could not be livelier. Look at the little plastic stand on the table for un-heralded specials, and opt for the pippies in XO sauce - a way of life for some. You can spend $8 on a bowl of congee or $800 on a few lobsters, and neither will disappoint. Also at Fox Studios Driver Ave Moore Park, 9358 4488.

Other published opinions

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 14/20 "Few restaurants in early-to-bed Sydney can match Golden Century's city-that-neversleeps buzz. Famed as the target of late night supper sorties by the city's top chefs, its tanks of live seafood attract a constant following at all hours"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "Not the cutting edge of Chinese dining in terms of decor or cuisine, the Golden C is nonetheless a Chinatown linchpin, and there's plenty of life in the old girl yet"

Sydney Eats 2008 "Around midnight, this is where Sydney's chefs eat, which must say something. Even if you're sick of restaurants, you could never tire of this slick, busy place and its vast array of teeming fish tanks - two dozen at last count"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2007 Score: 14/20 "The window tanks are filled with fish and crustaceans that look their last on Sussex Street. Of course, you might end up taking the escalator to the first floor of this huge empire, where you might never see a fish unless you order one and they bring it to you alive and introduce you before..."

Gourmet Traveller 2007 Restaurant Guide "When you're heading out for a Chinese meal at this Haymarket stalwart, be prepared to negotiate. First with the walkie-talkied frontof-house staff/secret-service types for a table (yes, even if you've booked ahead), then with your waiter."

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2006 score 14/20 "It pays to be in the know (or known) here then you might not have to queue when you have a booking and the service may be warmer rather than brusque and efficient. The vast menu comes in varied forms: from the big laminated number to the specials with a range of interchangeable sauces."

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "In the Chinatown before Golden Century, primal chaos reigned. Heaven sought order, but the phoenix can fly only once its feathers are grown. Now Golden C is the grand old restaurant of the Haymarket scene, equally beloved ofthe Cantonese nannas who bring their families here for lunch and the chefs who bring their teams here for congee after midnight."

Sydney Eats 2006 "Legendary is not too strong a word for this long-term player, which serves anything your palate craves until 4am, from a hearty beef brisket and turnip hotpot $15.80 to stirfried lobster tails"

SMH Golden Century Joanna Savill "Golden Century is an institution. Looking up from the street outside to its floor-to-ceiling facade of interlocking fish tanks gives you little sense of the spectacle that awaits on the other side. But climbing the stairs to the reception stand, you start to sense the nervous tension that's peculiar to this place. Even on a freezing winter's night, there's a gloomy huddle of waiting diners lining the harshly lit stairwell. Walkie-talkies hiss and crackle. A hopeful customer pushes forward to the lectern, only to drop back into the line. The anxiety goes up a notch. A walkie-talkie springs into life. Made to wait momentarily despite our booking, we are relieved to find ourselves suddenly pushed through to the roar inside, past metres of busy tables, dozens of scurrying waiters in gold and blue embroidered jackets, white platters and dishes flying by. ... Out of 10: Food 7, You come for the fish tanks. The rest is secondary. Atmosphere 7, Great if you're into spectacle and bustle. Service 6, Plentiful, but not always effective. Value 7, You pay dearly for live seafood (coral trout $98 a kilogram, mud crab $58), but the rest is quite affordable."

SBS Eating Guide to Sydney 2005 "Everyone loves a Golden Century seafood banquet, or its late-night congee. Every kind of seafood is swimming by you, ready to be caught and cooked the way you like it. Advice is available too; always a bonus."

SMH Good Food Guide 2005 One Hat Score 14/20 "This Chinatown mecca is a late-night hangout for chefs - partly because the kitchen doesn't close until 4am and partly because some of the best seafood in Sydney swims in the tanks lining the walls. Crabs as big as footballs, bug-eyed lobsters, coral trout and schools of prawns are fished out of their watery pens by waiters who weigh them and present them to you in a plastic bag."

Gourmet Traveller Australian Restaurant Guide 2005 Good Vegetarian Options "You don't normally find yum cha queues at dinner-time, but they seem to be a permanent fixture at Golden Century - with good reason. It's not surprising that this favourite chefs' haunt still pulls huge crowds, and is one of the few places in town where it can be hard to get a table for a bowl of restorative congee even at two in the morning."

Sydney Eats 2005 "You've got to like a place where you can get a feed at 3am if your heart (or stomach) so desires. This Sussex Street stalwart looks after punters at both ends of the spectrum at all hours, whether after just a cheap bowl of congee $9$15 (after 10pm) or an all-out seafood slap-up."

SMH GFG 2004, Score 14/20, 1 Hat-consistently very good,'True Cantonese food is a highlight of Sydney dining, thanks in large measure to culinary temples such as Golden Century that burn bright late into the night.This is no place for peaceful reflection; it's a barn of clattering chopsticks and crockery and some of the city's best seafood, scooped from the fish tanks and delivered to your table in a plactic bag, still flapping.'

Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004, Good vegetarian options,'There's plenty of good stuff on the menu here...But the really really good stuff is garnered by talking to your waiter, and through getting the lowdown can be like pulling teeth, it's the best way to the best seafood and specials.'