Reviews Silk Road Chinese Restaurant

Hand pulled noodles

We had a great dinner here - lamb dumplings, spicy chicken and lamb skewers and stir fried chicken noodles (hand-pulled). The dumplings and skewers were unremarkable but the noodles were terrific - just so tasty and chewy!

Love this place. Uighur cuisine is quite different from the standard type of Chinese / cantonese which seems to dominate (slowly changing). The food is good, tasty and filling. Great place to come with mates as it's BYO and not formal, you can relax, have a few beers and feast on lamb.

+3 great food.
+2 the absolute best lamb skewers in town.

No more points to give but:
+ big portion sizes (bring a big bunch of mates)
+ warm flavour

Get the:
+ lamb skewers MUST TRY
+ flat noodles
+ potato and lamb stirfry (greasy goodness)
+ soup (if you need to warm up)

Noise level: quiet to normal voice for conversation

Hands down, blows all competition out of the water, 100% absolute best lamb skewers in Sydney. This is all you need to know. Go. You won’t regret it.

Best lamb skewers I’ve ever had - definitely hit this hidden gem up if you love your lamb ! Also tried the rice dish which was quite nice. This place is also BYO which is great :)

We came here last night and really enjoyed their food and service. No cork charges for the bottle of whiskey we brought in. Lamb skewers was definitely my favourite. Had a few kf noodles, dumplings and buns and they were all great.
Would definitely come back!

TL;DR
- Honest good tasting food, simple but good
- Un-attentive wait staff
- Reasonable-ish price
- Ordinary decor/atmosphere
My family came here for a meal with my wife's cousins who I had previously written about East Phoenix where their wedding reception was held. They went on a cruise for their honeymoon and upon returning to Sydney, we went out for a much less formal dinner affair.

They had never had Uygur food before, and it appeared it was not something in Calgary, Canada, where they are from.

My wife and I had been here before, many many years ago, so revisiting was an experience.

The atmosphere hadn't changed, still quite bland and blank in decor, very closely positioned table settings to maximise the number of patrons at any one time. Quite cozy especially when you want to put a baby highchair into the mix too.

The table was a little dirty and sticky, and when we asked the waitstaff to wipe it, he seemed a bit miffed at the idea, still, he did come and wipe it.

Menu's came out, and he was I suppose polite enough to answer our questions on how big the Large and Small sized portions were. To be honest, the portion sizes for a large looked very big, so for the dishes we decided upon, we asked for small portions when there was a choice.

The menu didn't look like it has had an update, but I guess that isn't necessary if you have great staples.

So we ordered a Polo (a pilaf with carrot and lamb), Lamb Skewers (a must for Uygur!), Marinated deep fried lamb chunks with bone-in, Laghmen (hand-pulled noodles), an eggplant dish, and a Naan bread.  

It was a bit strange because it appeared that while he had listened, he didn't appear to have been doing a lot of writing on the ticket. we weren't quite sure what was with that, and ultimately it was our fault for not checking and having the ticket read back to us.

Food started to come out, and then it stopped.  We did start eating, but it became apparent that they didn't get down all of our choices, as the lamb skewers and the noodles didn't appear at all! It wasn't really an issue as  there was plenty on the table, so we didn't go hungry, but unfortunate since the newlyweds didn't get the opportunity to try them.

Moving the attention to the food however:
- Polo was good, flavoursome, not too soggy or oily, good ratio of ingredients in it with the rice.
- Marinated deep fried lamb chunks were delicious. Well seasoned and a balanced blend of spices made this dish incredibly tasty, and the meat was cooked perfectly, it wasn't tough or chewy, and came off the bone with ease. Some pieces though were on a touch salty, but the heat level of the chilli/spices were spot on.
- Eggplant was okay, it was cooked well to softness, it wasn't bitter, but I felt it was a bit over salted. It was very saucy, and had a good medium heat to it in the chilli department.
- Naan was a bit disappointing though. It came out already cut up in weird sized pieces instead of it being in a whole piece. Almost like it was cut from a much bigger naan and they were trying to hide the portioning. It was very dry, and I guess thankfully we did have sauce from the eggplant to go with it, it felt almost it was stale though which was unfortunate, otherwise all of the dishes would have complimented fantastically.

We polished off all of the food, and came time to pay the bill, but even that didn't really add up, literally. We had calculated it to be X, but was charged Y, where Y was actually $7 cheaper than the menu prices.... not that we complained but, definitely something weird going on there with the server! We didn't get charged for what we didn't get at least.

In the grand scheme of things though, its the food that matters, and short of the naan, it was a lovely meal, nothing super special that blows you away, but great flavours and well cooked.

Stir-fried chicken and kawap. Taste the best ever!! So yummy!!
Even the kawap took so lonh to cook (i think i'v waited for almost 25min) but the taste is great, so doesnt matter 😂😋

It's been many years since I had proper Uygur food since the Silk Road closed down at the upper end of Chinatown and tried a few others since without being the same quality. There are many places serving the lamb skewers but they are half the size. After seeing some good reviews for Kioran, I thought I would try it again. I'm not even sure if the owners are the same as the name is same with "Kiroran" added to it. Anyway…. We ordered the:

Tohogoshi Narin - Stir fried chicken on the bone with potatoes, chilli, garlic and home made noodles. It's like a chicken casserole on steroids. I remember trying this at the old Silk Road and wasn't impressed initially as it wasn't what I had anticipated it to be in several ways but grew to like it. The dish here was excellent! It was priced the same yet contained far more chicken. There wasn't too much onions and capsicum like the old place and most importantly, it was properly spicy hot where the one I was use to wasn't hot at all despite it being called chilli chicken. It is not often that the dish you are use to is eclipsed entirely at a later point in time as you have formed expectations already. The dish was massive and justified the $35 price. The homemade noodles were chewy and soaked up the sauce nicely. 

The Lamb Skewers $10 (2) the meat was plump with the right amount of fat and meat ratio giving maximum flavour through the charring process over charcoal. Enhanced with cummin and chilli powder, this is the real thing for what many immitators try to copy but skimp on quality for a quick buck. Some diners may find it fatty or chewy but I personally love this cut of meat and it's the traditional cut thats normally used. For those wanting a better cut, there is the lamb rib option for $16 (2). For those who have never tried Urghur skewers and use to the chicken skewers at your local Malay or Chinese restaurant, I suggest you go the better cut. By for the connoissuers, go for the real thing!

The decor is very simplistic as is the dining room but it all adds to the authenticity of the place and the service is basic but friendly. I can easily see some pedantic diners criticizing this place for small things or not knowing that certain dishes are meant to be fatty or spicy but for me, this is better than the old Silk Road and very glad to have found a Uygur restaurant I can call on again!

the dining room is decidedly gaudy, but the flavours are close to original (oh so much cumin) and the handmade noodles have just the right chew. definitely a great place for carnivores but vegetarians have plenty of options too

Where do you feed a party made up of a gluten intolerant gym junkie, a bull***t intolerant diabetic, a Muslim who really just wants chips, and two pretentious ethno food nerds? Oh, and it's got to be cheap and filling, there's some big eaters amongst us. Kiroran Silk Road Uygur is a joint we've had on our radar for a few years but never quite found the right crowd to go with. Until now. Uygur food is hearty and homely and best suited to group feeding.

After climbing a flight of stairs you can see most of the customers are Chinese. Good sign. You can also see rugs and musical instruments hanging from the walls, which according to my sources are very typical as restaurant decorations.

Can't pronounce it but love it. This is what i have been waiting for. There is a very simple cucumber salad dish here that showcases the art of technique and simplicity. The hand made noodles are amazing. The spiciness goes off the charts in some dishes and this is what makes this authentic slice of Uyhur food such a hit with me.

Very good experience. Good lamb and glass noodle salad. The egg soup was hearty. Good price too. byo no surcharge.

One of my favourite restaurants in Sydney I have been coming here for years. I always have a fantastic experience. The food is exceptionally flavorful, and there is so much variety. If I could give ten stars to this restaurant, I would. The servers were also very friendly and accommodating. Great halal restaurant, will definitely visit again.