I haven't been to Chatswood in a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of new and affordable restaurants open, The Rice Den. The interior inside is a combination of Asian-fusion-slick and Sydney-hipster-dom; note below, the Chinese teapots and cups. Yes, it's an Asian restaurant, but they're using it for its aesthetic look rather than because they bought it in Chinatown. It wouldn't look out of place in Shanghai, Hong Kong, or inner-city Sydney - but here it is in Chatswood!

Tea, $3 per person.

I went with a friend who recommended it (she had come for dinner and liked it) so we shared all our dishes - more bang for buck, and I got to try more food too!


School prawn stack, $12.

Roast duck wonton soup, $7.

Angus steak with black bean chilli, $22.


My favourite dish was the school prawn stack. How can one not enjoy fried school prawns? They were light, crunchy and fresh. The duck wontons were tasty too and had a distinctive roast duck flavour - they were a close second. The weakest was the Angus steak, but maybe because it was a bit large to share between two and after a while, we were tiring of the big plate of meat. 



Breakdown
Cost: $47 in total.
- $12 for the school prawn stack
- $7 for the roast duck wonton soup 
- $22 for the Angus steak
- $3 each for teas

Value:  Fair value. 

Speed: We were the first customers at 12pm on a weekend there so service was quick, polite and pleasant. The restaurant soon filled up though. Really A+ for service as they didn't rush us and let us linger over our teas after we finished our meal. 

Tip: I think next time I'd rather try more of the smaller dishes rather than venture to the mains.

Recommendation:  Highly recommended. A definitely highlight of Chatswood. It's got an amazingly high 97% rating on Urbanspoon.



The Rice Den on Urbanspoon