An Eatery Serving Dumplings, Yum Cha and Mud Crab is Coming to the Chinese Gardens

There’s an inner-city oasis that isn’t getting as much attention as it should: The Chinese Garden of Friendship. One of Sydney’s best-loved dumpling houses wants to change that. The Lotus Dining group is taking over the garden’s teahouse, which sits among exotic plants, waterfalls and ponds in Chinatown.

The Gardens by Lotus will operate as a Chinese teahouse during the day, serving a contemporary Chinese high tea, and will switch to a Sichuan-style eatery from 6pm. On weekends it will serve a yum cha menu of squid-ink dumplings, leek pancakes, Hainan chicken and mango pudding.

In the evening feast on Sichuan specialities such as cured duck with garlic shoot and celery, chicken fillet with mustard seed and triple chilli, and the excellent-sounding fried chilli mud crab. Lotus’s dumplings will also be on the menu – they might include favourites from the group’s other venues, including pork xiao long bao, jade prawn, and vegetable and tofu.

“We are honoured to be located in the iconic Chinese Garden of Friendship in
Sydney and to be able to share our interpretation of Chinese cuisine with a
modern Australian touch, a true reflection of this multicultural space,” Lotus founder Michael Jiang said in a statement.

Lotus was founded by Jiang in 2012 as an attempt to recreate the Chinese flavours of his childhood. The first Lotus opened in Walsh Bay and has been followed by venues in the CBD and Barangaroo under the same name, as well as Barangaroo’s Fujisaki, Madame Shanghai in Darlinghurst and the casual Bing’s Bao and Beer, also in Barangaroo.

The Chinese Garden of Friendship has been a Chinatown staple since 1988. It was opened as part of the Australian bicentennial celebrations to symbolise the relationship between Australia and China and was designed in Guangzhou, Sydney’s Chinese sister city.

For Chinese New Year, the restaurant will host two share banquets. Both will have eight courses (an auspicious number in China), with the regular menu costing $88 and a seafood menu (which includes chilli lobster) for $128.

The Gardens by Lotus is slated to open on February 1.

lotusdining.com.au