Istana, Thornleigh

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teresa

25 February 2009

Dinner, Malaysian, Sydney, North

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Still nice, but not like it used to be

I remember in my younger years, Istana was a regular restaurant joint for my family… delicious chicken rice is all I can recall of this place. Even now, Istana is STILL known for it’s Hainan chicken + rice.

Strangely, just before my trip to Hong Kong and Singapore, I had a craving for CRAB (I think it was from all the food research I was doing…) My last visit to Istana was a few months back and I had an absolute FEAST!! All I remembered was that the crab was SO tasty and NOONE else ate it except for me. So I just had to return to satisfy this strange craving of mine.

Chilli soy sauce + 'sar char' sauce

At every Chinese restaurant, there is always a small dish of condiments. ‘Sar char’ sauce is what they call ‘Chinese BBQ sauce’ and is just minced dried shrimp with chili, oil, etc. One of my favourite sauces! More info here Wikipedia.

Prawn crackers - on the house

These are a ‘typical’ Chinese food snack. I haven’t had these in AGES but they were a great stomach filler. Quite prawny but a little bit oily.

The famed Hainan chicken

This is the famous chicken dish served at Istana. The chicken looked nice and juicy and the chicken rice was very tasty (but luckily not too oily).

The chicken is usually served with shallot+ginger in a salty oil. I love eating this with rice. It’s VERY tasty!

Kang Kong

This “Chinese Water Spinach” vegetable dish is a common Malaysian dish. I find it full of flavour and the spinach soaks up the flavour immensely! It has a prawny flavour due to the shrimp paste they use to cook this dish. mmm YUM!

Salt & pepper tofu

Mmm! I really like the flavour of salt and pepper anything… This was a little bit of a letdown due to too much batter on a little bit of tofu but the flavour was still nice. This was served streaming hot and best eaten that way!

Singapore Chilli Mud Crab

And finally, the dish I had been CRAVING for… crab! I’ve had this dish on many previous occasions to Istana and found that it tasted different this time round. The sauce wasn’t as tasty but good enough! The crab was full of meat, well maybe because I was eating the claw (my favourite part!). It’s fun eating crab with your hands because you can lick the sauce afterwards! nom nom nom!

In most Chinese restaurants, you usually find the chopsticks in a paper tube bag with instructions on “How to use chopsticks.”

I must admit, me being an Asian, I can’t use chopsticks the proper way but I get by using chopsticks the “holding a pencil way”. I’ve read and tried following these instructions many many times, but never seem to grasp the concept for holding chopsticks the “correct way. I’ll just stick to Teresa’s way of holding chopsticks.

I believe the quality has dropped at Istana in recent times as I remember the food being tastier and more flavoursome. I’d personally prefer to go to Alice’s if I was up in this area. But, if you ever need to satisfy a crab craving, make a visit to Istana. And maybe grab yourself a chicken too!

Istana

Shop 15a, 230-238 Pennant Hills Rd
Thornleigh NSW 2120
Ph: (02) 9481 8855

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11 Comments »

Umm I love Istana for their chicken rice…but that’s about it! If you love crab, have you tried King Crab restaurant in Carlingford? It was great the last time I was there!

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Karen || 25 February 2009 at 1:46 am

I love that salty ginger and schallot sauce, I always end up scraping the bowl and eating it with just plain rice. I just got back from Singapore and I ate chilli crab there that made me hallucinate it was so spicy, delicious, but trippy.
The food looks great! It must have been mindblowing in the past, then!

lili – pikeletandpie’s last blog post..Mamak, Chinatown.

lili - pikeletandpie || 25 February 2009 at 7:30 am

haha! i use my chopsticks so wrong as well somehow the “proper way” never works for me and i end up with rice all over myself. hmm.

sounds like you had a really good time (and ordered really well – kang kong is so the best, shoots bak choy in the foot any day!)

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shez || 25 February 2009 at 8:58 am

OOohhh I have been on a Hainan Chicken rampage recently. Hmm how would you rate this one compared to others like Temasek?

Oh they seemed to have put the soy sauce on the chicken already? Mmmm hungry now haha

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FFichiban || 25 February 2009 at 10:17 am

Haha for the chopsticks. My grandfather used to lecture us on using our knives and forks correctly, and that’s certainly easier than chopsticks.

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Arwen from Hoglet K || 25 February 2009 at 12:07 pm

Randomly I have that same 2 part sauce plate at home I also have crab and Hainan cravings. Look at how luscious that crab looks! BTW have you tried Ginger & Spice in Neutral Bay for Hainan chicken? I think that’s the best I’ve tasted here (although I haven’t tried this place)

Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella’s last blog post..Harry’s Bar de Ville, Bay Tinh, Marrickville

Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella || 25 February 2009 at 1:45 pm

food looks amazing!

chicken looks yummy and moist.. nom nom nom
and that kang kong dish *drools*

… and the crab… need i say anything? a picture says a thousand words and i think your picture just about covers it..

thanks for another mouth-watering blog EST

abercrombie || 25 February 2009 at 8:25 pm

you’ll have to order the Mango Chicken next time. it’s not on the menu but a house speciality i’ve had a couple times there and it’s yummy.

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Simon Food Favourites || 26 February 2009 at 12:03 am

Awesome food blog! I love your photos ^_^

I bought “boiled” chicken from local asian BBQ shop as a quick meal and I made the shallot and ginger to eat with it.. ^_^ I loveeeeeee eating shallot and ginger as a side garnish.. ITs soo yummy and simple I could eat it with plainnn rice only ^_^

mMmm I feel like tofu

Leona || 26 February 2009 at 10:07 pm

Karen: I actually went to this place after you mentioned it last time we met! You reminded me of it and then after that, I started craving for crab! haha! Will have to try the place in Carlingford then!

Lili: Istana has been around for SOOO many years! It was mindblowing and kinda still is…

shez: mmm I love how the spinach soaks up the sauce so well! MMM *licks lips!*

FFichiban: I haven’t tried it at Temasek before. Have a try for me! Temasek is pretty tasty too!

Arwen: To be honest, chopsticks are a lot more handier than forks and knives! You can pick up so much more with chopsticks!

Lorraine: Haven’t heard about Ginger and Spice before. I must try when I’m in the area scouring for food! I usually end up going to Maisy’s though if I’m there… haha…

abercrombie: the crab… was… so… satisfying! Probably more satisfying than what the photos shows…!

Simon Food Favourites: Mango chicken? *noted for next visit*

Leona: Thanks for the comment. I love the ginger and shallots too. Its super easy to make isn’t it! It goes with EVERYTHING. Just like that maggi soy sauce… haha!

teresa (author) || 2 March 2009 at 2:09 pm

Too bad the place isn’t up to scratch these days.. the food looks fabulous though. I get cravings for crab every now and then too. My favourite is salt, pepper and chilli crab.

Y’s last blog post..Daring Bakers Challenge : Chocolate Valentino Cake

Y || 4 March 2009 at 10:55 am

Hey guys,

I’m not really a fan of chilli crab but Istana’s Chilli crab is heaps better than Temasek.
and also, in response to the earlier question about the chicken, well Temasek’s hainan chicken is heaps better than Istana’s.

I find both Istana and Temasek have their stengths and weaknesses.

Next time at Istana you should try the fried prawn dish, can’t remember what its called in english exactly, but they are king prawns that are spliced length ways, then fried with lots and lots of seasoning.. its really tasty.. so crispy you can eat the heads.

Chris || 5 March 2009 at 11:34 pm