Review: Golden Century, Haymarket

It's not everyday that you get to pick up a 6kg crab.

After spending a day at the marriage registry for JX and AD, the group of us were well and truly dying for some good food. It was a small group of people - according to JX it was the perfect number to divide a King Crab with, and seeing as it was his day, we all happily obliged.

I was tempted to call this baby Clyde. Don't ask why, but it was simply the first name that came to mind. I think he was 5.6kg or something thereabouts.

In retrospect I don't think it was very wise to have subconsciously named him...

First course was a Hot and Spicy Crab Royal Soup. The first thing anyone noticed was the bright orange colouring coming from the crab royal. At first I had expected the soup to taste somewhat fishy, but luckily the soup was far from it. There were shreds of black fungus, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and shrimps floating around in the thick orange soup, with a light egg flower tossed around. Definitely a great starter to the evening.

Judging by the extended silence from everyone on the table as they drank this, it was definitely welcomed by all.

Next came the Ginger and Shallot Crab which I found to be a tad on the bland side. Adding to our misfortune, despite the size of the giant, there was very little meat (which caught JX by surprise as he assured us that it was not so on the previous occasions where he came here). Lady Luck just wasn't on our side that evening.

The salt and pepper crab was more flavoursome that evening, and the crab came out hot and crispy.

A simple sauteed spinach with garlic was ordered to appease the ladies' need for vegetables. They're a good source of iron too!

AD ordered this Taro in Coconut Milk thinking that it was something complete different. Taro was still very hard in the centre, and as such, became the only dish left over on the table in the end.

The roast duck was definitely a highlight for me on the night. Being a person who could practically demolish half a roast duck by herself, this definitely hit the spot. Skin was crispy, meat was tender and sweet - perfect with a dash of plum sauce served.

Lastly we received complimentary buttercake and fried wonton wrappers coated with icing sugar for sweets, as well as a bowl of red bean soup for all to enjoy. I absolutely loved the wonton wrappers.

So simple, and yet so perfectly light and sweet to end the beautiful evening evening.

Golden Century Seafood Restaurant
393 Sussex Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9212 3901