Seabay Handmade Noodle Restaurant

Little did we know, dining here would have been such an experience....

It started off with walking into the restaurant and the waitresses yelling at us in Mandarin and pointing outside. We weren't too sure what was going on and assumed we had to wait. We walked out to find some people signing a receipt sticky taped to the window with a pen they left on the window sill. We added our names to the list and stood there. In a few minutes, she called us in using Madarin again and we got a two seater towards the back of the restaurant.

After reading the reviews, we were excited to try their handmade noodles and some dumplings. We started off with a Cucumber Salad (my wife's choice not mine). It was essentially cucumber and tomato in a watery, tangy and spicy sauce. It was quite refreshing as a dish to break down the carbs (and eventually became a dish that saved our meal).

Next out was the Chicken Soup with Hand Made Noodles. What I loved about this dish was the fact it really reminded me of the kind of food my mum cooked for me when I was sick. The chicken was shredded, the noodles had a nice bite to it (which I enjoyed but can understand the starchiness and chewy complaint from others) and the soup was very peppery and well seasoned. Enough so that I can imagine some people might find the pepper sensation too "in your face".

Next out came our Steamed Dumplings. Unlike many dumpling places where you have the choice of the dumpling filling... this place does not. It just says steamed dumplings. The dumplings were quite average as Sydney is now full of great dumpling options. What I did like was they put our dumplings into two steamers, giving the feel of better value.

Though before the dumplings arrived my wife, in preparation, decided to pour the vinegar into her bowl. That's when I notice the spider webs on the bottle and a baby spider on it as well. Completely disgusted, I killed it and would have told a staff member... but they had two waitresses working the entire place and they both looked like they couldn't care less. Though to be fair, they have a health and hygiene rating (stuck to the wall) of three stars and a rating "Good" which basically implies... we're just clean enough to serve food without being shut down. Luckily we still had the sauce from the Cucumber Salad to pair with the dumplings.

I know I go on about Asian restaurants with horrible service and this place is a prime example. When the waitress took our order and she spoke decent English... I wonder why she refused to speak to us in English when we entered. I guess serving mainly Mainland Chinese people (like the guy pictured below eating his meal with this shirt lifted up for the entire meal) they make an assumption that's the only type of customers they expect.

The food portions was decent but the quality was not impressive enough for me to overlook the spider incident and poor customer service.