Bistro Hulu, Crows Nest

For several months, my work colleagues (hereby nicknamed Catman and Robin) and I have been wanting to visit the new Chinese dumpling store close to work and we finally organised a date to visit. Located on the busy Willoughby Road within the Crows Nest food hub, Bistro Hulu stands out from the crowd with its bright red sign and decor:

Street Appeal

Cooks Busy at Work

Upon entering, there are a series of booth tables along the side wall opposite the kitchen, before the restaurant opens up to a room filled with round tables and comfy red chairs. Given that Robin is vegetarian, we were limited in what we could order and so picked from the few vegetarian dishes available along with some meaty options.

Pan Fried Mushroom Dumplings (6pc) ($9.80)

The mushroom dumplings were a surprise as they were wrapped in a triangular shape (rather than the usual moon-like shape that you normally see) and were filled with various diced Asian mushrooms like enoki, shittake, and straw mushrooms. I initially had issues picking up these with my chopsticks as there was no way to get a solid grip on them and after a while, the dumpling pastry gradually opened up like a flower.

Poached Beef and Pork Dumplings in Chilli Oil (8pc) ($11.80)

These dumplings were placed on a bed of minced garlic, drizzled in soy sauce and chilli oil, before being topped with tenkasu (tempura scraps, a.k.a. agedama) diced shallots and sesame seeds. The tenkasu was an interesting addition to provide some crunch to the dish but I would have liked to have seen more chilli oil/soy sauce so the dumplings were slightly immersed in it, as I have seen at other Chinese restaurants. If you were so (un)lucky to pick up a small amount of minced garlic, it provided a massive kick along with the chilli oil.

Canton Steamed Combination (8pc) ($16.80)
- Prawns/Pork/Vegetarian Dumplings, BBQ Pork Bun

We had to query the waiter about this dish since the description didn't provide much information. The pork 'dumpling' was really a normal dim sim. Catman was surprised that the prawn dumpling actually included a whole prawn inside - obviously has been deprived and been eating at dubious Chinese yum cha places that supplied prawn dumplings filled with just minced prawn. The pork bun was rather big and wholesome so I was full soon afterwards.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls (4pc) ($7.80)

These spring rolls were freshly made (read: served hot!) and filled with julienne carrots, cabbage and Chinese black fungus.

Steamed Vegetable Dumplings (4pc) ($9.80)

We actually ordered outside of the menu - surprisingly they don't offer steamed vegetable dumplings on their own (only as part of the Canton Steamed Combination) -, and given the limited vegetarian menu, Robin ordered four more vegetable steamed dumplings. Given that we were charged $9.80 for these, they were some expensive dumplings.

Bistro Hulu is definitely targeted at local Westerners (which formed the majority of the customers on the day of my visit). Though the dumplings were good, I wasn't particularly amazed by the food and there are probably better options out there at more reasonable prices... but this is what happens when you eat in Crows Nest.