Great Eastern Hakka, Mount Waverley

Some food combinations really work, like bacon with anything (savoury). Or a hot pizza topped with a squeeze of Japanese mayo and bonito flakes. Or McDonalds fries dipped in soft serve ice cream. While I love the above combos, others may look at it, scrunch their noses and shake their heads. But this combination of cuisine we found yesterday may appeal.

Gaz found a place for us to try yesterday - Great Eastern Hakka at Mount Waverley. The restaurant is run by Chinese who spent some time in Sweden before migrating to Australia. The restaurant offers Swedish pizza, and Chinese food like sweet and sour pork, fried rice, fried noodles. Such a unique offering!

We were greeted by a large Swedish flag as we entered through the back of the restaurant (car park was at the back). The interior of the restaurant was painted red, a typical Chinese colour. There was a shrine dedicated to Kwan Gung near the front. Chinese paintings hung in intervals on the wall. All in all, it looked like an unassuming Chinese diner. That is, if you did not notice the pizza oven and the Swedish flag at the back.

We ordered a quattro pizza ($16), and a chow fun or fried noodles ($16).

First to come was the pizza. Each quarter of the pizza had different ingredients - mushrooms, olives, capsicum, ham, artichokes, mussels, shrimps. I really liked it because it is not oily at all, unlike other pizzas. Also, the crust is quite thin, and it is not lathered heavily with commercially made, acidic tomato sauce. The ingredients are of good quality. We enjoyed the pizza very much.

Now, after we'd tucked into the pizza the fried noodles arrived. It didn't look very much. I thought to myself, 'Oh here we go... it's probably a Westerner's version of fried noodles and wouldn't taste very good.' The first mouthful set me straight. It was full of wok hei or literally translated, the breath of the wok. It was tasty, and delicious. It tasted better than the msg and oil laden food in other Cantonese joints. Very pleasantly surprised.

Our order came with a complimentary coleslaw, Swedish style. No mayo, but still tasty.


As we busily stuff ourselves with food, a family of three generations came through the doors. It was pizza for the kids, and Chinese food accompanied by wine for the grown ups. What a fitting combination!

Gaz and I are quite impressed by Great Eastern Hakka's unique menu and enjoyed our dinner very much.