Washed Out: North Ryde

A lot of people are really in to brunch culture. I am not - with one exception. 

North Ryde

North Ryde is the next suburb in the Ryde Empire that I'm (sort of) exploring today.

I say sort of because do you remember the week of monsoons not long ago? Well I had a lunch appointment at 11:00am on this rainy Sunday, and figured I'd be able to sneak a suburb or two in beforehand. 

The rain was a little bit worse than I expected. 

I was still early however, and so I went here.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my tour of North Ryde RSL.

North Ryde RSL doesn't do anything too differently to other RSLs you may have visited over the years. Take the lifts up from the car park,

head past the bowling lawn,

a hallway of many posters,

for meal specials, 

tribute bands,

and the afformentioned bowling,

to make it inside. 

If you wanted to go to Taronga but its raining, consider stopping by here instead. You see, they have an aviary,

with all sorts of fun birds, overlooking the wet outdoor carpark. 

They also have more classic options, including massage chairs,

and bar-cafes with that timeless RSL styling. 

This one is the very chic sounding Marble Bar. 

It does have outdoor seating, okay if you brought your raincoat.

But Mrs Completing Sydney and I chose to stop for a quick (indoor) coffee, served in giant mugs and spilled on the way back.

This coffee was enjoyed with prime views overlooking the casino,

some documentary about golf, 

and not far from where Neil Diamond presumably plays. 

Other North Ryde RSL highlights include a function centre,  

children's sweatshop,

with funky painting,

and bar-bistro. 

Not yet open,

but with a fairly nice view of the wet outdoors. 

This globetrotting tour passed enough time where we were at liberty to head to our early lunch - also in the RSL.

Do you remember how I said I had an exception to my general disinterest in brunch? Well that exception is yum cha. North Ryde RSL has you covered here with the House of Tong, a restaurant that serves yum cha at lunch.

Our party were the first keen beans in,

getting a window seat with views of the Lane Cove River, what I think is Chatswood skyline, and the tin roof. 

Due to covid, ordering is from a menu rather than the ladies walking around with trolleys. This changes a couple of things about yum cha. Firstly, it's less stressful than constantly scanning the floor for that one trolley with the dumplings you want,

secondly, you end up overestimating how much yum cha you need. We ordered these things for our party of five - I particularly recommend the 餃子.

Here's a quick succession of yum cha pictures to make you hungry. 

Spring onion pancakes,

Shanghainese soup dumplings, 

vegetables,

assorted crispy things, 

assorted steamed things,

fried prawn won tons, 

this weird thing that was fried bread wrapped in a noodle,

and finally, more dumplings. 

After eating an entire school of prawns, I took a quick stroll around the restaurant while waiting for the mandatory yum cha dessert. 

I got to visit some doomed sea creatures - strangely there wasn't a tank full of dumplings to fish out. 

And also noticed that the place had now completely filled up, with the good people of North Ryde and surrounding areas obviously knowing good yum cha when they see it. 

Finally, the afformentioned dessert - 

mango pancakes. If you've somehow never consumed mango pancakes, what the hell are you doing with your life? Get on it. 

All in all, a very successful brunch. 

With that done, we conclude our tour of the North Ryde RSL. 

I was satisfied to end the post there, but the rain had calmed down while we overconsumed prawns, so I took an opportunity to take a few outdoor pictures as a brief addendum to the main course.

I present to you:

a wet sports field,

a heritage listed electric substation,

and a really tall bit near the station - which I headed to to look at in more detail. 

It turns out that by North Ryde station, a stack of new apartments have been built. 

These back out onto the industrial park of North Ryde, featuring offices for some heavyweights like Microsoft. 

There's not too much to say about these, apart from calling out some colourful plastic sculptures, 

and pointing out this plaza of sorts by the station entry. 

That's all. See you Thursday.

North Ryde: Sydney's best brunch.