Chinese Noodle Restaurant: Value on the grape vine

There are so many great little gems in Sydney's Chinatown for good value eating that I'm not sure I'll ever get to discover them all. One relatively well-known sardine tin of a place is Chinese Noodle Restaurant, which is down the Burlington end of Chinatown for those with 1980/90s memories.

Grape ceiling hangings at Chinese Noodle Restaurant, Quay Street, Haymarket

The place is packed on a Friday evening with all walks of life: students for a cheap feed, suits for a cheap feed and families for a cheap feed. The common theme is a strongly attractive proposition, but so too the plastic vines and grapes hanging from the restaurant's ceiling and complimentary Chinese tea.

There's another restaurant called Chinese Noodle House a few doors over, with similar signage (and Chinese name) - but no grapes, I think.

At the very busy and popular Chinese Noodle Restaurant, there's sometimes the need to share a table with another group, but the very efficient and kind of friendly staff manage it well.

Hand stretched noodles with lamb and vegetables

It would be weird to be at Chinese Noodle Restaurant and not order noodles. From my seat in the dining room, I could see the chefs at work - one pulling and stretching the noodles by hand to a thick, slightly uneven shape before a quick plunge into boiling water for our dish.

A soupy mix of lamb, capsicum, onion and celery join our rather overfilled noodle dish, not a pan-fried dish as seems the common order. The noodles have a blissfully chewy texture that's perfect for soaking up the spiced gravy, while the thin slices of lamb are unexpectedly tender. Ticks all round.

'Fish fragrant' stir fried eggplant in sweet sauce

This Sichuan style stir-fried egplant dish doesn't actually have any fish in it; rather it describes the type and style of sauce, which is mostly sweet with a depth of flavour that comes from vinegar and bean paste.

The thick, caramelly sauce covers chunks of lightly deep fried eggplant in what has to be one of my favourite ways of eating eggplant, which in turn is fast becoming one of my favourite vegetables.

Pan fried pork dumplings

And we can't resist an order of dumplings with a few options on Chinese Noodle Restaurant's menu. The piping hot, golden-bottomed dumplings are best left for a little while to save from burnt tongues, as they're straight off the heat.

The crunchy pastry bottoms and soft chewiness of the non-pan fried parts are equally enjoyable while the pork and cabbage fillings are tastiest when eaten with a touch of vinegar sauce and chilli oil.

Three dishes between three people was more than enough for quite a substantial dinner and the bill came to less than $10 a head. If that's not good value for a meal, I don't know what is - get that out on the grape vine.