XO, Sydney

The tea-smoked duck with Mandarin pancakes. Picture / Kate Barker

XO is always on our pick list for when we're in Sydney for business and pleasure. Neil Perry, famous in Sydney for Rockpool Restaurant and who was here last year to film Food Source New Zealand, has recently re-opened and relocated XO to the corner site where MG Garage used to be and the conversion is slick but workable.

The name XO plays homage to Hennessy XO cognac, a beverage so popular in Hong Kong that Cantonese chefs created an extravagant condiment with this name. A mixture of dried scallops, Yunnan ham, dried shrimps, red chillies, shallots, soy, garlic, pepper and spices, it is also referred to as the Caviar of the Orient. XO sauce is usually served with dumplings or used to season wokked dishes.

The restaurant has effectively three dining spaces and a long lingering bar down its length.

Either be taken by the hand and fed by the Banquet menu — exceptionally good value at A$65 per person for a tasting of seven plates plus stir-fried vegetables, Jasmine rice and a choice of ginger pannacotta with blood plum or salty peanut toffee icecream — or order Rockpool signature dishes. Choose the stir-fried spanner crab omelette with oyster sauce and tea-smoked duck with Mandarin pancakes and you'll enjoy the titillation. These are two truly masterful dishes. The omelette is crammed with moist crab meat and the omelette fluffy, light, tender and crispened on the exterior, each mouthful is as the Cantonese say "song hau", a pleasure in the mouth.

The duck dish was suggested between starters and mains. The tea-smoked duck breast is a clever derivation of classic Peking Duck, and though served with all the traditional elements of young spring onions, cucumber batons, hoisin sauce, and steamed flour pancakes, we could appreciate that the enhancement of the tea smoke, gave another dimension to a classic.

Our Rhode Island colleague Al, likes flavour and food in abundance so despite warnings from waitress Briony that we indeed had enough food, we went for broke.

I ordered three starters to share: steamed sea scallop dumplings anointed with black vinegar and chilli oil were mouthfuls of sweet scallops in silky wonton wrappers. Don't be shy, as the best way to consume these is in one or two bites straight from the Chinese soup spoon. If you are not entertaining guests, these exquisite mouthfuls would be a perfect fed to your lover.

The third, a hot and spicy salad of ocean trout and green mango, is a punchy pile of flavour comprising salted ocean trout, fresh and fried shallots, julienne of green mango (or green pawpaw depending what's at the markets), cherry tomatoes, mint, coriander and Thai sweet leaves, roasted cashew nuts, roasted jasmine rice, dried prawns and nahm jim.

Al favoured the fried Malaysian-style son-in-law eggs and asked if they would be hard or soft-boiled, I ordered them on the promise that they would be soft, runny and rumpled with Asian herbs, chilli and tamarind.

We chose several mains, our crab omelette; the lucky eight treasure organic chicken, filled with glutinous rice, lup cheoung, ginger, shallots, peanuts, pickled radish and mustard greens and shiitake and cooked with aromatics, Shao Hsing wine; steamed silken tofu with shiitake and cucumber in a pool of light soy-flavoured broth; plus David's favourite cut of meat, crisp pork belly with Sichuan hot, sour, sweet and salty dressing served over cool wedges of iceberg lettuce.

Our choice of Waipara Hills Gewurztraminer 2001 meant that we were staying loyal to our New Zealand vintners and a wee taste of XO's salty peanut toffee icecream sent us on way.

WHERE: XO, 490 Crown St, Surry Hills, Sydney (612) 9360 7007
OUR MEAL: A$340 for 3 (includes 2 bottles of wine); entrees A$12-27; mains A$26-35; desserts A$8-12.
OUR WINES: by the glass A$9-10; by the bottle A$30-1650 (1970 Chateau Latour).