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New Circular Quay restaurant boasts live seafood, mud crab dumplings and Harbour Bridge views

Indoor-outdoor Cantonese restaurant Pearl is Lotus Dining Group’s most upmarket venue to date.

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Pearl, the latest venue from Sydney’s Lotus Dining Group, opens on Tuesday, September 26, at Quay Quarter Tower, with a Cantonese-leaning menu that references native ingredients and local produce.

Executive chef Steve Wu will mix a traditional Chinese dish of roasted pork belly with native riberries, and he has made some adjustments to the traditional way of making Peking duck. “In China, the ducks have a thicker skin and thinner meat,” he says. “The Australian ducks are very good. We cook them twice. I think what ends up on the plate is better. You get a better balance of meat and skin.”

Photo: Fortem Media

The menu is a collaboration between Wu and Lotus director of culinary Cheung Shui Yip. Wu says: “We have a tank. You’ll be able to order lobster, mud crab, abalone and fish. The seafood sauces are a little more traditional.” Pearl will also serve pipis in XO sauce. And there’s a large dumpling section to the menu.

“Making dumplings is a labour of love for the whole team. I hope guests enjoy the steamed mud crab xiao long bao. We peel it all by hand and mix it with house-made pork skin jelly before rolling them into perfect parcels,” Wu says.

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Designed by Darren Kong Architects, the indoor-outdoor restaurant has views of the Harbour Bridge from Pearl’s 30-seat balcony.

Prawn dumpling, egg white cloud, flying fish roe.
Prawn dumpling, egg white cloud, flying fish roe.Fortem Media

The Lotus Dining Group has a number of restaurants and dumpling bars across Sydney under the Lotus banner. The chef says the 108-seat Pearl is its most upmarket offering to date.

Lotus founder and chairman Michael Jiang says Pearl is something different for the Sydney dining scene: “We hope to deliver a fun and light-hearted experience, where diners can perch up at the bar for some after-work drinks, or settle in for a meal in our main dining room with those expansive Harbour Bridge views.”

Open lunch Tue-Fri; dinner Tue-Sat.

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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Original URL: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/goodfood/sydney-eating-out/new-circular-quay-restaurant-boasts-live-seafood-mud-crab-dumplings-and-harbour-bridge-views-20230922-p5e6t0.html