Earlier this year, Hulu opened up their second restaurant in the the King Street Wharf precinct of Darling Harbour. The restaurant offers up a modern twist on traditional Chinese classics by fusing them with elements of French and Japanese cuisines.
I was invited to try out their menu and this is my take on it in this post!
It was a quiet Thursday night when we ventured down to Hulu Restaurant. It is situated by the wharf with a beautiful waterfront view and two levels of dining to boast. Indoor and outdoor seating is available. The restaurant itself is very stylishly decorated with light wooden interiors, plush black and teal leather seats and large marble topped tables.
My invitation was a part of a larger invitation with other food bloggers and so together with we were seated in a slightly more intimate dining space (see the picture above)! Still with a harbour view though, so lucky us! Our lovely host had already planned out the menu for everyone to share so we all looked forward to trying some of the best dishes Hulu had to offer.
To start things off, some drinks.
Cosmopolitan
So elegantly presented! This was very nice and sweet.
And of course, Coca Cola
Its not long before our starters arrive and we have a generous selection to try out. They come out almost consecutively and I am a mess between trying to shove some food in my mouth and pulling out my camera for the perfect shots.
Nemo Dumplings, 3pc for $12.80
Starting off things with these adorable Nemo dumplings! I don't know about you but I spotted these on my Instagram feed and popped them into my "I need to go here" collection, so I was so ecstatic to be one of the lucky ones invited to try them. They are first of all, so so so cute to look at. Little orange dumplings shaped into Nemo fishies complete with some black sesame seed eyes and green pea pouts. Filled with prawn and fish. It was a tasty and tender dumpling but in my opinion, most of the appeal was from the way it looks.
Chicken Spring Rolls
Flat with a light yet perfectly flakey pastry encasing a hot chicken filling, these were pretty good I admit. I'm not a huge fan of spring rolls but I did not mind these at all.
Hulu's Signature Crispy cheese and prawn dumplings, 3pc for $12.80
I didn't know what to expect of these little parcels but let me tell you, it was my favourite entree hands down! If you go here, this is what you need to get. These dumplings have a thick and crispy yet kind of glutinous like skin which is very inviting. Inside we have a luscious mix of prawn and soft melty cheese. It doesn't sound like it goes together but the cheese in no way offsets the flavours, it really enhances everything and makes this dumpling a textural delight.
Poached Prawn Wonton with chilli sauce, $12.80
I'm really upset because I wish I knew what this tasted like. It looked so nice, plump and silky and I love wontons in chilli sauce.. someone on our table might have accidentally had two of these dumplings as in the picture there should have been enough. But oh well what's done is done. Patrick told me these were GREAT and the chilli soy sauce was just the right amount of salty and chilli so there's that to go by!
The entrees were all such a great way to start the meal and this left everyone keen and excited to find out what was next. We had six main meals coming up so lets get right into these!
Sweet and Sour Pork on Ice $29.80
The biggest "WOW" factor right here. Along with so many questions such as who, what, where, WHY and how. We asked our host a few times but I think a few things were lost in translation. But what I got from it was basically the ice is intended to help the coating stay crunchy, and the sweet and sour sauce to adhere to the coating. When you normally order sweet and sour pork it comes drenched in sauce on a plate and gets soggy very quickly. Additionally they have swapped out the traditional pineapples for grapes and strawberries.
My verdict? This looks extremely beautiful and interesting but in the end it had no real bearing on the taste. The pork coating was nice and thin and the sauce adhered well but it still got a bit soggy and eventually would get drowned in a bit of melted ice had there not been 5 other diners on that table to quickly devour it. I love sweet and sour pork, it is my favourite Chinese go-to dish but this was underwhelming.
King Prawn with Champagne and fruit dressing $48.80
Here I really tasted the stray away from traditional Chinese food! Juicy and deep fried king prawns dressed in a syrupy champagne and citrus sauce. The champagne and citrus flavours are very sharp and bold with a subtle fruity sweetness. To be honest I didn't really like this dish because it didn't work for me but I appreciate it. I find it very unique and can understand how its taste would appeal to other people. In fact, it was a favourite amongst our table!
Beef Cubes pan fried with Black pepper sauce $32.80
We have a very similar, if not the same beef dish in Vietnamese cuisine called "Bo Luc Lac". So when I saw this I was like yaaaas I know what's next. Happy to say these were really delicious! Aside from the dark black pepper flavours which were enjoyed, the texture of the beef cubes were so divine. When I expected them to be a little tough and chewy they were the opposite being soft, tender and almost melting with each bite. Is this wagyu or just really well cooked? Who knows. Plenty of beefy flavour as well!
Duck smoked in Jasmine tea $48.80
This was Patrick and I's favourite dish! The duck retained its signature earthy sweetness yet also exhibited a subtle and fragrant taste of aromatic jasmine tea. It was so unique from the usual roast duck. The skin is on the soft side, not so much crunchy but still so juicy and fatty and we love it.
Homemade Tofu and mushroom with egg white sauce $26.80
I never thought I'd have so many compliments for a tofu dish but I see now it was all being reserved for this one. The homemade tofu is so outstanding. It has a light and thin deep fried exterior that encases only the softest and silkiest tofu ever. The egg white sauce with enoki mushroom and bokchoy is also the perfect compliment to the tofu by providing a rich savoury flavour and a much needed crunch.
Spinach in High soup with Eggs trilogy $22.80
A vegetarian soup to end this round of mains off! I love Chinese spinach and my mom sometimes makes a similar Vietnamese soup to this so it seemed like a very unique variation on it. The soup itself is very savoury which is a tasty contrast to the would-be bland spinach. The eggs trilogy (egg white, salted duck egg, century egg) provides extra umami to the soup and my favourite is the creamy century egg. It all looks very intimidating at first but I really enjoyed this.
Last round - desserts!
Osmanthus Cake $10.80
This was in no way a cake, but actually a jelly! The clear and golden coloured blocks sprinkled with osmanthus petals and for the lucky ones, also a goji berry were so pretty. The petals all appear to be floating around and completely trapped in the motion. The jelly is very light and almost tasteless with the only sweetness coming from the flowers. This is a nice dessert to end things if you don't particularly lean towards overly sweet and sugary desserts.
Deep Fried ice cream with chocolate syrup $16.80
Star of the show! The big plate with a giant and round white chocolate ball is placed on our table and we all wonder what it is and where to start. Our host comes back with a small jug of freshly melted chocolate and she begins to expertly drizzle it over the ball. The white chocolate then all at once falls back in a beautiful blooming motion and we are presented with the dessert. Deep fried ice cream.
The ice cream itself is very ordinary and vanilla flavoured but it is the thick breadcrumb coating that wins my heart. It takes me back to the traditional fried ice cream coating that I grew up eating (unlike the new style of fried ice cream that features a pastry coating). Overall, a delicious combination.
We asked our host if there was any other flavours of deep fried ice cream and currently they only have chocolate but might expand in the future. As for the size of this dessert, don't be deceived - it is actually really big. But not big enough that I would want to share with Patrick or anyone else for that matter. It's too good.
So there we have it.
I really enjoyed the entire experience of dining at Hulu. It is such a beautiful restaurant with good service, good food and good location. Some of the items that we tried today were a little underwhelming but overall it was a great eat and I would love to come back some time.
The prices I noticed at the time of writing this post all end in $0.80 which is really cool as I think in some way this pays homage to a Hulu itself. If you've been as curious as I am from the beginning of this post as to what a Hulu is then read on. A Hulu (葫 芦), also known as Wu Lou and or a calabash gourd is a good luck symbol in the shape of a number 8. It stands for good health, fertility, longevity and prosperity for many centuries.
I hope you had a good read and this opens Hulu restaurant up on your radar Be sure to let me know if you've been here or if you go as I would love to chat all about it!
Love, Kim xx
TL;DR:
Price: Expensive
Quality: Fresh and delicious
Service: Friendly, attentive
Ambience: Very good with an air of sophistication
Hulu at King Street Wharf
19 Lime St
Darling Harbour NSW 2000
Open 7 days a week
11AM - 9:30PM
Kimmiebites dined at Hulu as a guest. All opinions and thoughts expressed in this post are a genuine and honest representation of my true experience.
