Delicious
The culinary legend’s Cantonese eatery with an Australian twist keeps delivering on the value front.
With food prices nudging higher and higher, the cost of going out has certainly gone up. Lucky for you, we’ve found a great little eatery in South Eveleigh that you can still enjoy, even if you’re tightening the belt.
Culinary legend Kylie Kwong opened Lucky Kwong last year in a bid to make nourishing food accessible to all. Twelve months on, after interest rate hikes, a cost of living crisis, not to mention a national lettuce shortage, the mission statement has never felt more relevant.
For a casual eatery, it’s a beautiful space.
Housed in a former gears workshop in the Locomotive Workshop in South Eveleigh, the historic shopfront has been transformed into a cafeteria- style setting, with a large open kitchen and a single row of benches like a long, family table.
Come any day of the week and you’ll catch Kylie Kwong manning the front bench, handing out bowls and greeting guests with kindness and warmth. Like its big brother Billy Kwong, Lucky serves up modern Cantonese cuisine with a native Australian twist. This time around, the focus is on simple, humble food without the fussy fine-dining twists. Ordering is done in-app, with a list of daily specials on the letter board menu.
The steamed prawn wontons ($17) come as a serve of four, the slippery skins submerged in a deeply aromatic Sichuan chilli dressing spiked with native bush mint. It’s classic Kwong cooking – loaded with complex flavours and invigorating to eat.
The black bean salt and pepper tofu ($17) has to be the best one in town. Forget that sweet cloying sauce – Kwong’s version is loaded with thickets of shallots and ginger, finished with a housemade chilli pepper paste.
Vegetarians can opt for a simple stir-fry of impeccable veg ($19) sourced from Palisa Anderson’s Boon Luck Farm, including gai lan, choy sum and Bower spinach, wok-tossed with tofu strips in a silky ginger sauce.
Kwong has also brought back a favourite from across the tracks. That’s right, the savoury pancakes from her former Carriageworks market stall have returned. Each pancake is a perfect bundle of joy, tucked up neatly with a Holbrook pasture-raised egg omelette, sticky pork belly and fresh Asian herbs, doused in a lip-smacking chilli caramel tamari. At $26, it’s the most expensive dish on the menu – and it’s generous enough to split between two.
The wine list follows suit with fancy boxed wines. Choose between an organic garganega from Veneto ($11 a glass) or a Piedmont barbera packed with red berries and spice ($11), both sourced by legendary Sydney importer Giorgio de Maria. If you’re due back in the office, there’s StrangeLove sodas and two Indigenous-owned craft beers to swill.
The biggest barrier to dining at Lucky Kwong isn’t the price, it’s the opening hours. The restaurant only opens on weekdays for lunch. The idea is to create a community of locals, which is why Kwong seems to know everyone’s name. In good news, they’ve recently relaxed their no-reservations policy so you can finally make a booking. You don’t have to worry about getting lucky any more.