Gungnam Spoon style Chinese

I was a bit saddened to discover one day that my favourite little northern Chinese eatery in Hurstville had disappeared, and in its place stood the oddly named Gungnam Spoon.

Easily one of the flashiest fitouts on the street, the bustling late lunch crowd seemed to indicate that Hurstville's main road is ready for a more modern food offering, even if it's still Chinese.

Pork and prawn wonton soup from Gungnam Spoon, Forest Road, Hurstville

With a dumpling craving that couldn't be swayed by the popular whole grilled fish offering that seems to be a signature dish of Gungnam Spoon, I had some of the best wonton dumplings I've had for a while.

Filled with a super-tasty coarse, pink mixture of minced pork and the occasional prawn, the egg pastry-wrapped wonton floated in a flavoursome broth topped with strips of omelette and seaweed, both adding flavour and texture.

Pan fried pork dumplings

The crisp-bottomed pan fried dumplings had a similar pork mince filling; perhaps even tastier than the soup dumplings. With exceptionally thin house-made pastry and vinegar dipping sauce, these went some way in easing the pain of losing a former favourite eating place.

Mapo tofu

However, there was pain to be had in the mapo tofu which we ordered with a side of steamed rice. It looked the goods on first appearance; a generous serving of tofu cubes with minced meat in a shiny, chilli-spiked sauce.

The first mouthful alerted us to the abundant presence of whole Sichuan peppercorns, literal handfuls of them. With more burning than numbing, it was painful eating as well as meticulous picking out of the peppercorns to get through the dish. Soy bean milk was also called for.

Leaving the restaurant a bit sweaty and pained, there was enough on the menu to tempt me back another time for Gungnam Spoon style Chinese cuisine.