There are country towns where the local Chinese restaurant is part of the landscape, offering reliable – if not extraordinary – food at reasonable prices.
Springwood has one of those restaurants, Diamond Chinese in Watland Road, which is tucked away in an ageing shopping strip, but trusted by locals to deliver the type of food they’ve been expecting for more than 20 years.
“Just a humble little family-run Chinese restaurant in the suburb of Springwood,” they say on their social media.
And when it comes to community connections, humility goes a long way.
As we sat for more than an hour over a meal, the phone rang constantly for takeaway, and a few people came in to order, seemingly on their way home from work.
At the front of the restaurant, there’s a single fish swimming around in a tank which we were told contributed to positive “feng shui”.
There’s an obligatory lucky cat at the cashier, basic tables with gold table cloths, and the sounds of the kitchen in the background.
If dining in, it’s certainly a no-frills approach. But the majority of people who visit Diamond Chinese are there for the food which generally hovers just under the $20 mark for a large serving of beef, pork, chicken or a variety of crunchy noodle dishes (chow mein).
To be fair, there aren’t a lot of surprises on this menu, with most of the favourites you’d expect from a Chinese takeaway – oyster, plum, chilli, satay or Szechuan flying the flag as they have for generations.
Duck has come into vogue in high-end restaurants and gained in popularity as a tasty alternative to the staples. Here, you can get fried duck with your choice of sauce for a reasonable $23.
To get two whole fried quail in spicy salt for $17 is very good, and the flavour is subtle with an occasional kick of garlic and shallot.
Something I haven’t seen on a Chinese menu for a long time is the “shandy”, a term more commonly used for a beer with lemonade. My grandmother used to drink them, but that’s another story.
In this case, it’s a taste of a few things – sweet and sour pork, chicken with cashew nuts, fried rice and a couple of spring rolls. Good if you can’t make up your mind.
The “Diamond” special is the house sauce smothered over a mixture of all meats and seafood.
Flavours here have worked for the Australian palate for decades. If you like your food with a “zing”, ask the chef to add a bit of extra spice.
