The Golden Century: A Swan Song in Chinatown

On my last night in Sydney, the Gotsis family took me for one last meal in the city that I had grown to love over the last 16 days.  They picked a rather lovely Chinese restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown neighborhood.  The Golden Century became the setting for our tearful goodbye.

A brisk walk down Sussex Street with Rachel, Bill, Isaac, and Charlotte stood between us and the finest food this side of Aberdeen Harbor.  The restaurant reminded of a classic Chinese restaurant; giant fish tanks filled with lobsters, just ripe for the picking!  Clean, white tablecloth, an extensive menu so big, you need about half-an-hour to read through the laundry list of eats!

Bill ordered me up a Chinese beer, while Rachel and I split some hot tea.  I watched as Isaac practically ate his way through my entree of spring rolls (remember folks, entree in Australia is actually your first course!).

The main meal was a rather modest banquet of noodles, peppered beef, honey-battered chicken, squid, shrimp chips, fried rice, and tea.  What was cool was that I ate noodles out of a small bowl that looked like something you’d keep candies in.  Sort of a small sugar bowl.  A few servings later, and I was stuffed!  But to tell the truth, I was too nervous finish every last morsel.  I had a big flight the next morning back to New York, and I was worried that I wasn’t going to make it; I had to be at Kingsford Smith Airport by 7 am, and I didn’t want to oversleep.  But in reality, I wasn’t just nervous, but blue.  I mean, this was my last meal in Sydney, and who knows how long it would be before I’d be back?  I tried to not let it fill my mind, as I was too busy trying to fill my belly!

 

If you find yourself wandering the streets of Sydney with a hankering for some excellent, and rather authentic food from the not-too Far East (you are in Australia, you know!), head for the Golden Century!  You won’t wanna miss the lobster pickings!