Jilin Family Chatswood

"The Jilin family Chinese restaurant is one of the northern Chinese restaurants located at the ground floor of Regency building near chatswood concourse, it is about 5 mins walk from chatswood station. It provides take away or dinning in, there are many different types of traditional northern part of the Chinese food. The favours foods are sweet and sour deep fried pork slice, the inside is crispy with juice outside. Few different types of cold side dishes are very huge, it suits families or groups of people. There are some jumbo size steam cookers about 1m meter of with custom made dishes,suits to minium 4-6 people, you'd better book 2 hours ahead if you decide to order the big pot."

"Very interesting experience with this restaurant. Ok let’s start with the actual food. It’s pretty ok, certainly on par with other Northeastern Chinese cuisine. It’s famous for its “Tie Guo Dun” which translates to Steel Pot Stew, which you have to order 1 hour in advance as they need to precook it. The meat was not tender after 1 hour of stewing but acceptable. The taste was nice. Other dishes were also nice. Now.. the interesting bit… The Steel Pot Stew comes with 5 polenta steamed buns. When you sit down at your table, your preordered stew is already bubbling away in the steel pot, the waiter comes around and makes the steamed buns in front of you by lifting the lid of the pot and placing the dough on the sides of the pot and then letting it steam to cook. So along comes one of the waiters without saying a word, makes us the buns without saying a word, places 2 empty plates on the side of the table without saying a word, leaves without saying a word. He makes 13 buns. We didn’t know why there was 13 buns or how long it’s meant to cook for as he “didn’t say a word” He comes in after about 15 mins or so without saying a word, proceeds to lift up the lid and takes out all the buns except for our 5 buns without saying a word, puts it on the empty plates he left previously and leaves without saying a word. Now all this happens while others were coming in and out bringing us dishes, cutlery, plates, tea we ordered etc etc so really didn’t have time to ask him anything and also we actually thought it was just part of the service and he was plating it up for us before it was too late and buns were outta the room. Apparently they use your steel pot to cook extra buns..??? It would have been good to get some communication as we could have quite easily lifted the lid ourselves while everything was cooking and touched or eaten some of the steamed buns but hey I guess that isn’t important to them. Overall it was weird. It didn’t make sense and definitely not the norm compared to other Northeastern Chinese restaurants."

"Authentic China Chinese Dining family experience. Be sure to reserve your table if you want the family stew pot experience. Chicken hot pot cooking with fresh corn bread to soak up all that sauce. The stir fried dishes are fantastic addition for the little ones. This restaurant gets very busy and other diners will order the hotpot specialty, so don't get surprised if the the restaurant needs to borrow the 2nd hotpot on your table to cook for other diners. Delicious and lots of fun, brings us back to China."

"If you're looking for an authentic taste of Jiling cuisine in Chatswood, then this restaurant is worth a visit. The fried pork with a sour and chili taste, cold noodles with peanut sauce, and candied sweet potato were all delicious and flavorful. The rustic decor with drying chilli, corn, garlic, and onions hanging on the walls added to the ambiance of the restaurant. While the pricing was average, there have been recent increases. Additionally, the staff was a bit brash and the restaurant did not have any special deals or promotions during our visit. It's also worth noting that the tables fit 4 people and we were asked to share a table with 2 others. However, if you speak Mandarin and want a unique dining experience, especially with built-in woks at the tables, this restaurant is definitely worth considering. Lastly, its location near the centre of Chatswood makes it easily accessible."

"The most traditional food come from north of China. We went there at 7pm, It so crowded. But, anyway, we reserved before, and no need to wait. The food is so nice, not spicy, and it's a big size for us, we still take away a lot after dinner."