CyberCity 2002

Ok you are probably looking at the title of this entry and saying to yourself, "Umm, why is he reviewing a game arcade?" Well, for any westerner in Brisbane it is quite difficult to find any decent Chinese food, without the help of some insider knowledge. The general western preconception with any chinese food in this country, comes down to a few dishes...Mongolian Lamb, Beef and black bean and the infamous Sweet and sour pork. This is rather sad as the Chinese possess probably the oldest and most diverse food cultures on the globe due to the nation's historic feudal history as well as due the country's diversity in regards to its size and numerous provinces.

Ok so...when it comes to Chinese food in Brisbane, the valley and sunnybank are your real options. And CyberCity 2002 (CC) falls into the valley category. To be honest I only discovered this place a few months ago, from a friend who raved about the placed due to the fact that it is byo and open until 4am on weekends..lol. The restaurant is located in a hidden arcade next to the "Elephant & Wheelbarrow" on Wickham tce, and when your walk in you think to yourself "how have I not been here, this place is huge!? It really doesnt make sense how this place continues to operate due to its prime location and sheer internal size but since discovering this place I have returned on numerous occasions as I believe it has some of the best chinese food in brisbane and the fact that since returning from a holiday to China, it does the job for me inregards to satisfying any withdrawl symptoms that i got from China.

CC is probably the closest experience to eating out in China you will receive from my experiences of travelling in China. This comes down to the fact that firstly the restaurant is open until 2am on weeknights and 4am weekends and it is BUSY at these hours, secondly that predominately chinese eat there, thirdly the decor is worn down but awesomely tacky as is seen in China, and finally the food is cheap, substantial and tastes great.

So last Tuesday I returned to CC at around 1:45 am after me my friend had been studying late at uni and were damnnn hungry. We walked in and was like "Sweet...this place is basically full, and its early wednesday morning" We ordered a few dishes that we had in China.

The first dish we ordered was sichuan dry fried green beans. This is a dish which I have had extensively throughout China and absolutely rocks! Its is not a vego dish that acts as a compliment to your meat dishes, its so F**#ing good that you can eat the whole plate as it is. Basically it just quickly fried green beans with sichuan peppercorns which gives an awesome numbing ,warm fragrant flavour. In addition a heap of garlic, ginger and chilli is added which makes it just perfect!

The Second dish we ordered is probably one of the most famous dishes in China, "Mapo Doufu" The dish is infamous as it has a long debated history about its creation, with Mapo meaning disfigured old womans face and doufu ,being tofu. The dish was created in Chengdu which is the capital of Sichuan province, which renowned for its highly spicy food. So the dish is an amazing tofu based thick stew that is cooked with pork mince, beans, and a heap of chilli and sichuan pepper corns. The stew has such an amazing deep savoury/spicy flavour that is basically as good as any mapo doufu I had in China.

Finally, we ordered a variation on the mapo doufu, which was a pork belly and tofu clay pot. The stew is cooked in a specialised Chinese Claypot called a "shaguo" which imparts its on unique flavour on the dish. The dish in extremely comforting due to the extensive amount of tender chunky pork belly and large robustly flavoured chinese mushroom. Btw iam a HUGE sucker for pork belly, and is the first ingredient i look for on any Chinese menu!! At the bottom of the claypot, the chef also added iceberg lettuce, which simmers down and its absolutely delicious as it takes on all the flavour of the delicious broth. Truly a dish that makes u tremble in delight!

So, CC is a place I would recommend for anyone that is looking to experience a taste of Chinese culture. The prices are awesome, the food is fab, and it basically does not close! OOhh and yeah why is it called cybercity?? Well, if you are after some entertainment after your meal, they also have an extensive range of vintage and new age gaming machines, karaoke rooms as well as 6 pool tables. You can basically make CC into a night out with friends as it is BYO and in addition they sell bottles of China's national beer Qingdao (750ml) for like $6.50!!

CyberCity 2002 - 206 Wickham St, Fortitude Valley