Hurstville Chinese Restaurant might be the most underrated and un-extraordinary looking of all of Sydney’s great restaurants. For over 30 years the restaurant has been a cornerstone of south-west Sydney’s Cantonese-speaking community – a regular choice for celebratory banquets but also an everyday stop for basic noodles and rice.

It’s often said that an extensive menu is a sign of low quality. For Sydney’s Cantonese restaurants, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, we’d argue it’s one of their greatest strengths: there’s something to fit every budget.

Hurstville Chinese Restaurant is a classic example. Just over $10 will get you an enormous congee if all you’re after is lunch. But maybe you’ve just gotten a job offer, or you’re having a birthday or engagement party? Then go for a several-hundred-dollar seafood banquet. It will arrive at your table loaded with XO clams, garlic-buttered lobster and shallot mud crab, all broken up over a sea of noodles. Of course, there are in-between mid-range weeknight options too (we recommend the fried quail).

The interiors are basic, but the suited-up waitstaff (most of whom have been here for 20-plus years) are topnotch, particularly if you speak Cantonese. It’s all utterly charming. No wonder it’s stuck around for more than three decades.