The chilli peppercorn chicken really ramps things up from the restaurant’s origins. Photo: Martin Conway.
Since purchasing Bungendore Chinese in 2022, restauranteur Bobby Kong has played a smart game with the popular eatery.
Knowing that small towns rarely embrace change overnight, he took a light approach, bringing in aesthetic and comfort improvements before touching the menu, which locals had loved for more than a decade.
When the time came to evolve, Bobby introduced dishes that felt familiar enough to win over country diners while evolving the flavours in new directions. Fillet steak in subtle sweet sauces; surefire winners such as a hearty warming laksa; a few fish fillet dishes with fragrant sauces and crunchy fresh vegetables. It was a measured approach that was well received in the town that appreciates what Bobby does so well.
Bobby Kong is ready to add his touch to the menu three years after buying Bungendore Chinese. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Over the course of a year, Bobby rolled out at least two new menus, each with small additions to the line-up while still preserving the favourites the town has shown time and again that they can’t live without.
Throughout all of these rollouts, there’s one topic that kept coming up in chats with Bobby. Spice.
When I say ‘spice’, I mean spice in two specific forms: Sichuan peppercorns and, of course, chillies. Not wanting to rock the boat, Bobby was unsure if Bungendore was ready to turn up the heat, so in true Bobby fashion he started testing the waters with unofficial, off-menu dishes that he would push through word of mouth.
Bobby’s latest menu confidently steps beyond the familiar Cantonese-Australian classics, introducing diners to bolder flavours without abandoning the dishes they’ve always loved.
The top of the list of exciting new additions is the chilli peppercorn chicken. A generous mound of lightly battered and fried pieces of succulent chicken tossed with dried red chillies, and scattered with tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorns, it looks fiery, but isn’t as lethal as you think. The dried chillies are there to perfume the dish rather than be eaten, creating a balanced heat that never overwhelms.
The chicken wings are a little spicy and pack a whole lot of flavour. Photo: Martin Conway.
The Chinese chicken wings are another dish that embraces a kick. Listed as a starter, I’d recommend ordering more than one serve if you’re dining with friends. Crispy, garlicky and flecked with chilli, they’re so good, you might end up fighting over them.
Bobby has also introduced a range of dishes in XO sauce, and his XO is the best I’ve had. Too often, XO sauce leans heavily into overpowering fermented flavours, but Bobby’s strikes a beautiful balance between fragrant aromatics, rich umami and restrained sweetness showing a deft hand with subtlety. Available with prawns, fish fillets, or chicken, I managed to eat the prawn version four weeks in a row before it had even hit the menu.
Bobby’s new XO dishes are deeply umami and delicious. Photo: Martin Conway.
The noodle offering has also expanded with a range of Hokkien noodle dishes, while seven dedicated vegetarian options provide welcome variety for our meat-free friends. Alongside these additions remain all the Cantonese-Australian favourites that have long made Bungendore Chinese a local institution – Mongolian lamb, beef Chinese style, rock salt squid, kung pao chicken and plenty more.
The overall effect is a wonderfully balanced menu offering something for every taste. As always, the exceptional service from the conscientious front-of-house team matches the quality of the food, cementing Bungendore Chinese as one of the region’s standout local Chinese restaurants. It’s also one I’m very glad happens to be just a stone’s throw from my front door.
Bungendore Chinese is located at 20 Turallo Terrace Bungendore and is open for lunch and dinner from Wednesday until Sunday.
