the rice den

i was pleasantly surprised by my visit to rice den. seeking a nice place for a work lunch, we had walked past this place a few times. but the small and seemingly overpriced menu deterred my patronage on more than one occasion.
when we finally went last week, i was met with courteous, attentive staff.
the food: though a small menu everything was delicious and of a high quality. we ordered soft shell crab w vermicelli, smoked chicken n glass noodle salad, chicken croquettes, cheong fun. my favourite was the soft shell crab.
overall: pricing is steep but we used an entertainment card which made it very worth while for the quality of the food. i would consider returning and would order any of the abovedishesagain.

tucked away in st leonards, not far from the train station us this amazing restaurant. we had a group of six and had the best table in the house. the staff were incredibly
friendly and helpful with selecting the wine from the extensive menu.

we ordered lots ofdishesand each and every dish was amazing, especially the lobster.
by the end of a very long lunch we were all certain to visit again.

st leonards may not be the culinary capital of sydney but this restaurant is definitely worth the detour off the pacific highway.

creative, modern chinese food is often either disappointing in flavour or grossly overpriced. rice den however is moderately priced and a lot of theirdishesare 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

we ordered some simpledishesand they were tasty. the staff were friendly & good looking too ; ) i liked the fitting of the restaurant. just a fyi the pipi needs to be ordered 48 hours in advance (i think)

as someone who have lived in hong kong for more than half of my life, the rice den is 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 twodishesthat 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.

rice den is good, thedishesare 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.

i wouldn't describe thedishesi had here as canton cuisine. very much fusion. lots of things to like about this place (service, decor, presentation of food), yet i left dissatisfied with my dinner. can't quite pinpoint why though. maybe a little because of the serving sizes, especially that of sake and ponzu salmon and beef tataki (i should mention though that the salmon was delicate and beef soft, dressing on salmon was well balanced, herbs and onions in beef tataki gave it beautiful freshness). maybe because the kung pao chicken and chilli sesame pork was described as having vegetables yet there was only a tiny amount of diced bits, maybe because those 2disheswere so sweet when i expected more chilli/ spice (the pork did have a nice crunchy batter and the chicken was well cooked). the spring rolls were nicely fried and the lamb filling was tasty but a little too much spring roll pastry to filling for my liking. rice was also done well. perfect consistency (not too dry, not too stodgy), but not enough ingredients through it. would like to give this place higher score but for some reason it just didn't do it for me as an overall experience.

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 favouritedishesof 2016. the good news is that so far it is my number one venue of 2017. 

the rice den is 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 rice den is 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 thedishesseemed 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.

was visiting some friends close by, checked zomato
and found this place.

came here as 6 people, so we ordered the set menu. which is 45/ppl (desserts not included)

the portion is a little bit smaller than we expected, but taste is quite good. i do feel somedishesare pretty salty. i like the beef cheek the most.

we added the desserts at the end, which was quite good. i like the sago the most. very refreshing at the end.

hard to fault. i've eaten here three times, as a couple and with a group. looks enticing from the outside and is just as good inside. warm, inviting, not too noisy. food is outstanding, cantonese-with-western-influence. delicious small and largedishes-we always share. changing menu so there's always something new. the service is way beyond what you'd expect from a suburban restaurant. fast, efficient, friendly. spot on and priced just right for such a high quality product in this area. big fan, i'll keep going back.

tasty modern cantonese cuisine with great customer service to match. indoor and outdoor seating available. 
dishes we sampled were: 
- hand made cheong fun
, peanut sesame, hoisin sauce,
-stir fry roast duck san choi bao (2 pieces),
-rice wine cured ocean trout
with pickled fennel, ginger and soy sauce
- broccolini with preserved mustard green
-vegetarian fried rice
 pickled radish

vanilla coconut cream sago
, fresh passionfruit pulp, macadamia almond meal 
- french toast dulce de leche, peanut crumble, mascarpone with matcha green tea 
- hong kong milk tea crème brûlée with wafer crisps

alldisheswere delectable and presented beautifully!  
big thanks to naomi and the team at rice den for such an enjoyable experience and to will and yasmin for joining us for dinner :)
i have already made plans to go back!

this place is amazing. located on a corner in st leonards .. bossman roy has a wonderful restaurant serving up innovative modern cantonesedisheswith innovative twists that has his customers lining up at the door for a table. the cocktails are fantastic here too. i highly recommend the soft shell crab on mung bean vermicelli and the smoked chicken salad!!! i wanna go back asap!

the rice den is a modern cantonese restaurant that was formerly located in chatswood. it is now open at st leonards housed under an apartment complex along chandos street. expect affordable cantonese and tastydishesgreat for sharing. their menu opens to their banquet options (minimum 4) and that’s priced at an attractive $40 while the vegetarian option is only $35.

{ _anne_with_an_e // review }
i've been keen to try the new rice den at their new st leonards restaurant after relocating from their former chatswood pad. we decided to duck in for an impromptu dinner. even without dinner reservations we were accommodated without any fuss. we were kindly greeted and seated promptly near the indoor heaters (nice and toasty). the decor is beautiful and ties in very nicely with the cantonese theming.

i remember their older menu offered a fusion and variety of asian dishes, so it was refreshing to see a more specified cuisine offering. for mains we ordered the canton style barbeque pork neck with molasses and honey glaze, roast duck breast with savoy cabbage, chilli and leek plum sauce, and the rice den fried rice with chinese sausages and shiitake mushrooms. thedishesare beautifully presented, particularly the roast duck. everything was tasty and refined. the pork neck was succulent in the middle, but was slightly crunchy and sweet on the outside - delish!

for a mid-week impromptu dinner we don't usually order dessert. but we were oh so glad we did! i had my eye on the ovaltine pannacotta and we also ordered the french toast with dulce de leche, peanut crumble, mascarpone. the pannacotta did have a distinct ovaltine flavour but there was a hint of bitterness on the plate, (which i can't remember what it was), but overall was a lovely dish. and i can rave all day about their french toast which was the favourite dish of the night. it was like eating a half-cake half-donut like dessert - all the good things in one! it was warm and fluffy on the inside, and crunchy and sweet with a sugar coating on the outside. the crumble added a nice textural crunch and the mascarpone gave it a refreshing kick.

must haves // french toast
also try // canton style barbeque pork neck, roast duck breast
pros // refined quality dishes, lovely decor, great and friendly service
cons // can get expensive

food: 4/5
ambience: 4/5
service: 4.5/5