jane's kitchen @ pennant hills rd.

You can hardly tell from the outside just how many people that can fit into this tiny restaurant that's on Pennant Hills Road (squeezed between Carlingford Court and Carlingford Village). My family had come here years and years ago; hadn't been awfully impressed with the food but under a friend's recommendation recently, revisited the place and gave the food another go. I daresay there's been a change of management and/or cook since we were last there and really, you're probably not there for spectacular food, but you do get some rather nice, home-style cooking which is a point of difference to the often heavily styled, colourful Chinese food you get when you eat out. And the bonus - it's actually quite reasonably priced.

Bookings are highly recommend on a Saturday night as by 6pm, the restaurant was completely filled up and bustling. I watched as my friend's family came in just after 6 and were turned away as tables had already been filled up; even the 2 seater tables were all sitting 3 plus that table right in the doorway which caught every wave of wind that blew through when the door was swung open was fully occupied.

The soup that came at the start of our meal - sweet with the natural flavour of corn.

Chicken that's been cooked with a Clear Soup. Have it with the crushed garlic, shallot and oil dip and it's superb.

Our assorted dishes including salt and pepper squid, beef on a hot plate, duck's feet with sea cucumber and a sweet and sour pork. Serving sizes aren't overly big, nor are they too small.

I thought this was quite nicely presented. Tofu stuffed with prawn paste and sitting on a bed of lettuce.

Chrysantheum fish. At first I thought this dish had chrysantheum in it but apparently that's the name of the fish.

Beef and beef tendon hot pot (which was slightly on the bland side).

Dad's quite taken to this place and reckons when he retires, he'll come here and eat on a daily basis. Over the course of dinner, I can't even remember how many uncles/aunts and family friends we bumped into (and it was a mix of people eating in, trying to eat in or grabbing take away) which is probably why dad's happy to spend his retirement eating here.

You'll probably find that the population dining here is your middle aged + families + the really old. Probably where it's located lends itself to this and plus it's in a suburb with a huge Asian community. Anyhow, coming back here again was a far cry from what it was back in the times and it looks like dad's made it a bit of a regular already.