Itaiwan

Very weak fried dumplings and beef cakes. Inattentive service and relatively high prices for the below average food ensure that I won’t be back.

So my friends and I decided to try our luck here as there were queues outside our usual haunts of Golden Century & Superbowl. We were hungry and famished after a day out celebrating the Fleet Review and itaiwan was busy but no queues yet at the time.
For starters, I didn’t know Taiwanese cuisine included so many dishes with cumin? And from there the menu got even more confusing so you could say this place was a mixed bag of all Chinese cuisines than just Taiwanese style.
Obviously this place was not used to big days as they ran out of congee. how can you run out of congee if you’re open late in Chinatown ?? Additionally they ran out of pearls for the pearl teas !
Now to the food itself, although I doubt the authenticity, the dishes we did order were pretty decent. My only gripe was that I think they got too excited with the MSG usage, we were very thirsty after eating which is normally a tell tale sign.
The spicy beef tendon entrée was pretty well done as were the pippies in spicy sauce. I didn’t think much of the salt and pepper squid, cumin lamb or veges in garlic sauce. The fried rice with sausage (dried sausage) was okay but the serving was tiny.
The total bill was pretty cheap which made the meal a little more palatable as I would’ve been dirty if I had to pay good money for this experience.

I’ve walked by this place several times and I’ve been sceptical because it’s a little too flashy for some good Taiwanese food. Ironic, I know… but when I took of good Taiwanese food I think of places in Tainan that resemble hole in the wall or food cart places, and this place is nothing like that.
iTaiwan (for iPad I presume?) uses touch screens like several other Chinatown restaurants which is a novelty, except those other locations have better food. The place lacks some famous Taiwanese dishes, and while I can’t recall the majority of the menu I blame this on how forgettable this place is.
Don’t bother, there are better Taiwanese places to eat at in Sydney.
Service is good though.

Having lived in Taiwan for a period of time I am sceptical about Taiwanese food in Sydney. It’s just nowhere near as good as what you get in Taiwan. So when a friend said he wanted Taiwanese for dinner I took a deep breathe and made myself open to the idea of finding a good Taiwanese place here.
Openness has now become closedness once more.
FOOD
I found the menu didn’t have a lot of my Taiwanese loves. We settled on the Mixed Seafood Fried Noodle ($ 12.80), Taiwanese Spicy Thick Beef Noodle ($ 10.80) and Hot and Sour Soup ($ 6.80)
Of the three the mixed seafood fried noodles was probably the best. I think that’s because I already have an expectation of what beef noodles and hot and sour soup is supposed to taste like and iTaiwan fails to meet the standard on both these dishes.
SERVICE
We were asked to wait for about 10mins because the restaurant was full. Yes it was full downstairs but later when we were escorted upstairs the place was half empty! The A/​C was also on a lot stronger upstairs which made it a little cold. Halfway during our meal they decided to turn off the lights in one section of the floor and slightly dim the rest of the lights. Very random.
Other than this the service was quick. They also have the wonderful button on the table service in case there is nobody upstairs.
OVERALL
I love Taiwan but not itaiwan.

I went in and had an super-​late-​lunch/​very-​early-​dinner at 4pm. The waiter seated me, gave me a menu and stood next to me waiting for me to order. I kind of felt like I was being rushed.
Anyways, I pretended the waiter wasn’t there and spent some time looking through the menu. I ended up ordering the vegetarian mapo tofu, which I liked. I’m not good at judging autheticity, but the dish did remind me of the one that my mom makes back home! I would like to come back and try other dishes if I’m ever around in Sydney.
The place is nice, bright, and clean.

I was really excited when doing my research for our Sydney trip that there was authentic Taiwanese food in Sydney’s Chinatown… I figured with the abundance of Taiwanese in Sydney, this HAD to be super authentic. Plus, Australia is not THAT far from Taiwan… and they must be able to get all the correct ingredients, right?
WRONG.
We were most definitely disappointed with the food at ITaiwan… especially since we could get the same quality food in New York. Don’t get me wrong, the food is okay, but it’s just not authentic.
The restaurant itself is cute and has good ambience, would be a great first date or date night type of place.
We definitely won’t be coming back the next time we are in Sydney.