Canton palace delights at Silks, Crown Sydney, Barangaroo

So far, so international, upscale Chinese hotel restaurant. There is inoffensive music, plush carpet, fine bone china, dazzling harbour views, an array of private rooms, and all the muted elegance of a classic Cantonese menu.

Welcome to my happy place. While I really miss the street-food experiences of travelling, I also miss these splendid, chandeliered, high-status palaces and their craft.

They have people who can turn the skin of a chicken into crisp gossamer, fashion delicate dumplings out of crab and lobster, and fillet and serve a whole steamed fish tableside in 30 seconds flat. It's a level of skill that can only be maintained and underwritten by a large organisation that makes its money from something else.

So here we are at Silks at Barangaroo, owned and operated by Crown, facing a menu of wagyu steak, whole greenlip abalone, southern rock lobster, snow crab and truffles, and a wine list full of Grange Hermitage. There are also noodles and barbecue meats, but it's not the sort of place you drop in to for a bite to eat on your way home.

When Silks opened in early 2021, I found the lunchtime dim sum oversteamed and the service scattery. It's better now, with seemingly 28 be-suited people per square metre looking after well-spaced tables over several split levels.

Even the dumplings on the dinner menu's dim sum trio ($28) are light, luxurious and well-made, especially scallop-topped siu mai. Note to self: it's safe to come back for lunch.

My table scores the adroit restaurant manager, Amy Wang, who helps wrangle a meal that starts with dim sum and barbecue meats, and ends with an old favourite, beef hor fun, from executive chef Sebastian Tan.

Silks' barbecue platter ($58) is a must, and the lacquered, roasted duck breast and honey-glazed, five-spiced pork belly char siu are just ridiculously good. Roast pork, cut into small cubes and roofed with the crunch of crackling, is a direct descendant of the great dishes I recall from Hong Kong.

But then I want to cry, because the family next door has ordered XO pipis with a mountain of crisp-fried noodles ($88 for 500g), and I haven't.

Instead, the psychology of the high-end Canto palace kicks in, and I feel duty-bound to order something stonkingly expensive, like lobster. But what? In spring rolls with truffle? Instead of pork in a clay pot of "ma po tofu"? (Very tempting). Stir-fried with ginger and spring onion, XO sauce, or salted egg yolk and chilli?

What the hell, how about the house specialty of sang choy bao – a single leaf of cos lettuce topped with a fine dice of southern rock lobster with the soft crunch of water chestnut and bamboo shoot ($28 a head). It's exorbitant, but then, you know the price of lettuce these days. It's also fairly delicate in flavour, and keeps falling off the leaf.

Instead of desserts – which look rather dramatic – I finish with noodles, feeling nostalgic for good old beef hor fun. This is a flash version, with tender slices of wagyu – so much wagyu – tossed with floppy, silky white rice noodles and bean shoots.

You can play it straight as a dry and smoky stir-fry, or add a thickened, smooth egg gravy ($48), which the noodles soak up like a bath sponge. Either way, the best thing is the silky, stretchy freshness of the rice noodle itself, hand-made on the premises by dim sum chef Ming.

Wine service is just as smooth, transitioning from a balanced, citrusy Coldstream Hills chardonnay ($20/$98) to a lush, lively, layered 2019 Oakridge pinot noir ($80), both from the Yarra Valley.

Silks is completely over the top in its opulence, use of luxury ingredients and expense. But the world that has traditionally sustained such restaurants is changing fast. While it's a slightly surreal setting for some very good Cantonese eating, I'm glad that it still exists.

The low-down

Silks

Vibe Big on lobster, snow crab, wagyu and glittering chandeliers

Go-to dish Barbecue meat trio, $58

Drinks Classic cocktails and distilled Chinese spirits, with plenty of Penfolds Grange and chardonnay on the substantial Australian/French list.

Terry Durack is chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and senior reviewer for the Good Food Guide.