the rice den

my rating for this place is actually 4.5 but unfortunately zomato does whole number ratings now :/ the ricedenwas a pleasant surprise! at the end of the day it is asian food, but the flavours and taste are so refined and on point! if you are looking for a place which doesn't disappoint this is it! it is on the north shore and a bit overpriced for the serving size, but the quality, taste and customer service is great which makes up for it making it an enjoyable place to dine, especially for a special occasion! it is a bit fancy but not fine dining and not totally casual, in between.

attended ricedenthe other day for our anniversary, had always heard great things about this place and the reviews did not disappoint. staff were very polite, informative, and very attentive throughout the service. food was fantastic and portions sizes were perfect.
will definitely be back again soon - high recommend

the ricedenis a nice cantonese restaurant situated in st leonards. they have friendly staff and serves up delicious asian fusion dishes. i have enjoyed everything we’ve ordered.

creative, modern chinese food is often either disappointing in flavour or grossly overpriced. ricedenhowever is moderately priced and a lot of their dishes are just simple twists on classics. food here is quality, i have been here several times and will definitely be back for more. great ambience for date nights, even though the food is better suited for sharing. service is also quite good

i’ve been here on multiple occasions. the food is very consistent fusion cantonese, above average although not spectacular.

the ricedencatered well for our table of 10 with multiple dietary requirements. we chose the 46pp banquet and there was enough food. the food was served at a good pace.

the wine list here is excellent without a huge mark up. cocktails were good.

service was very good until it got a bit busy and there weren’t enough waitstaff.

would highly recommend if you work or live in the neighbourhood.

as someone who have lived in hong kong for more than half of my life, the ricedenis a trendy restaurant in sydney that actually does traditional chinese food (+ a bit of a twist) decently.

we got the $46pp banquet menu for the night. the two dishes that really stood out are the bbq pork neck and the calamari rings. the biggest critic i have was that the chicken and the fish were slightly overcooked and the portion size should have been slightly larger.

i frequent the ricedenregularly. the food is excellent, the cocktails amazing and the entire team very professional and friendly. totally recommend it.

i was rather disappointed with the food at the ricedenafter hearing all the good reviews here.

besides the sesame cheong fun tasted interesting, the rest were badly done. for instance, the wanton was so badly wrapped that some parts of the wanton skin was hard and uncooked.

the fried rice should be called the charred rice. the chef was unable to control the fire and much of the rice became charred and tasted like soot.

the bbq pork was another dish which was badly prepared. in order to make nice bbq pork, it would be best to skewer the pork meat, marinate them longer and add a lot more honey, caramel and soy, and constantly turn them over a grill. putting inside an oven does not constitute to bbq!!

for those who really think the food here at ricedenis good, i would suggest that you make a short trip to bali, singapore, bangkok or any where in asia to try their home-cooked or street food. i bet they taste much better and 10 times cheaper.

ricedenis good, the dishes are nice and delicious, but i can't really tell the difference between them and those chinese restaurant in chatswood. they are not very outstanding. the theme is good, but a bit over priced.

it is a crime i did not write this article before the year’s end. realistically this venue should be in my top 10. it served me one of my favourite dishes of 2016. the good news is that so far it is my number one venue of 2017. 

the ricedenis affordable and in a great venue, although the area it is situated is a bit of a dull dead-spot at night. the staff are lovely and the food and drink game is some of the best i have eaten in the last year. get into it.

the ricedenis conveniently situated only a few minutes walk away from st leonard’s station, serving up an interesting take on cantonese cuisine. we’ve wanted to visit this small restaurant for a while and my girlfriend decided that my birthday would be as good an occasion as any so she made the booking on dimmi and we were set for the evening.

i used to love the the ricedenwhen they were in chatswood. it was casual & unpretentious yet, fun & social, and had the most amazing delicious food at reasonable prices. this new version in st leonard is like they have try to up-class themselves. the space is bigger (but still not big), more refine decor, better dressed staff, a modern bar & big window to look into the kitchen. the menu is also more refined, less choices, but look more like a western fine dining menu than the usual chinese fair, and with prices to match.

when you pull back all the razzle dazzle, the food are still delicious, not quite the high i was expecting, especially at the prices they now charge. the steamed barramundi was nicely cooked, great softness & retained the subtle sweetness, however we expected a bigger portion than just a singular piece of fillet. the crispy chilli pork was full of flavour, but not quite that spicy. the softshell crab was generous, a little bit oily.

overall on the food & value it's more a 3.5, but we were there for a girls catch up & we hardly noticed the time, ended up there for over 3 hours on a friday night. the staff were very accommodating & didn't try to rush us out or push us to order more drinks. so they deserve a 4 for being hospitable.

the ricedendoes a modern take on cantonese style cuisine. the chef was telling us that creating the menu provides him with a sense of nostalgia as he channels his time growing up in hong kong and adds a modern twist to these dishes. the restaurant is decorated in the same manner, modern with a touch of old world. the restaurant and its staff were friendly and accomodating.
much like the design of the restaurant, the menu is traditional with a modern twist. the small eats on the menu will have you salivating and whet the appetite for the bigger eats that follow. the smaller bites we shared included classics such as duck pacakes and harvey bay scallops in xo sauce. for tasty, progressive modern bites; the delicate sichuan pepper beef, the zing of sakè and ponzu infused salmon salad and round it up with the refreshing flavours of the rice wine cured ocean trout.
for the bigger bites my favourite the xo pipis, the sweet hot kick of the kung pao chicken, also the succulent beef tenderloin and a side of stir fry broccolini and mustard greens all worthy dishes. so rice den? why yes... the delicious ricedenwith chinese sausage and shiitake mushrooms. they also have some delicious cocktails!
i know alot of people might like traditional cantonese cuisine and may turn their nose at modern cantonese cuisine. the response 'don't knock it till you try it'' a great restaurant giving cantonese cuisine a new lease.

the ricedenis so very pretty, but wasn’t as big of a space as i had imagined. they had one large long table and maybe a handful more tables for small groups or twos. best to make a booking regardless of the day just in case. takeaway system seemed to be in order too.

we ordered quite a few dishes; mushroom pancakes, cheong fun, xo scallops, barramundi, veg fried rice, stir fried broccolini, veg singapore noodles, and one off their specials menu – pipis. the running theme with all the dishes seemed to be that yes they were all really tasty, but they were also all in very small portions, factoring in the price and the fact that some of them were meant to be “bigger eats”. we went with the recommended quantity, possibly even more, and still none of us were actually full. oh well, i guess quality over quantity is what they’re striving for (although if i was to be really nit-picky i’d say it’s not quite that level of incredible, amazing, mind-blowing taste either).

nonetheless, as a whole every dish ordered was tasty with a couple of standouts. it was nice to have every dish come out and be reliable and not let you down. the mushroom pancake was my favourite by far and i highly recommend this, although you do only get one each which was a little sad 🙁. $11 for 2, so wasn’t about to go ordering some more. pipis were also delicious, so would recommend them too. everything else was tasty as well, although the scallops were a tad overcooked. i enjoyed the cheong fun as well, seemed simple enough but worked well with the rest of the meal.

service for the most part was really, really amazing, they even discounted the entire cost of my red lotus mocktail (which was also delicious btw) when we went to look at the bill. not sure why so can’t comment if it was some sort of offer or deal. the aspect of the service which was a slight let down was just one extremely inexperienced staff who was completely clueless about everything and taking away plates unnecessarily and even trying to take our cups of water halfway through the meal. it was slightly distracting because it happened more than a few times, but it really was just down to lack of experience, not nasty service.

honestly, i was quite sceptical about the supposed modern take on canton food because i was brought up with the traditional way of eating. this trip was spontaneous and sudden which enhanced my experience here. despite that we didn't make any bookings, we were able to find a seat outside. first off, the staff are attentive and well trained; any questions that i had, they were able to answer with great detail and
it was evident that they knew and were proud of the food they serve. the whole restaurant was beautifully decorated with a fusion of decor from modern day and tradition.

we started off the night with cocktails and beer with orders of bruce lee and a tap beer called hangman. both were amazing in taste and i found myself having to resist drinking more. the bruce lee cocktail was sweet and light whereas the hangman had a strong hint of citrus; essentially reminding me of the spring weather.

moving on to the food. we ordered the special menu for the night which as an entree and main - unfortunately i forgot to note it down so i can't remember the exact name. nonetheless, it was a beef tataki and kung pao chicken. the beef tataki was beautifully prepared and melted in my mouth while bursting with flavour. another order we made was the ricedenfried rice - i didn't find this extraordinary or different to the fried rice i usually eat at home. furthermore, we ordered the stir fry snake beans. i love snake beans so this dish was a double thumbs up for me, especially since some restaurants tend to make them too salty and oily.

after the meal, we ordered dessert, the vanilla coconut cream sago with passionfruit pulp, macadamia almond meal crumble. this dessert was brilliant. not too sweet but light and fresh. i wish i could have tried the other desserts but we were too full from food -- and beer.

after leaving the ricedenfeeling completely full and satiated, i realised that i had just discovered an amazing restaurant that i will, with absolutely no doubt, recommend to anyone i know. even though the prices are pushing to the expensive side, i believe it was worth it for the balanced, well thought out good. i will be coming back to try out the rest of the extensive menu. well done!!

(also apologies to my blurry photos, i had my horrible iphone 5 camera only)