Categories
Middle Eastern

Munoushee – Concord NSW Restaurant Review

I treated myself to breakfast at Munoushee which is basically a Western Sydney restaurant in the Inner West following a Western Sydney night shift. I had the chili, meat and cheese wrap ($14), and had quite mixed thoughts about it. I thought the wrap was good, the bread was thin and the the entire unit was flavourful but sadly I really had a lot of difficulty identifying any meat.

Completely uncharacteristically of me (call it a post-nights loss of frontal function) I went and asked the man working the counter if I had been provided the right meal. I really couldn’t find the meat in this chili meat and cheese wrap but he told me that yes this was the right meal, they just can’t put as much meat in the wrap as they do in a pizza and that the meat in a wrap would need to be quite thin otherwise it would be soggy.

Given that the only meat I could macroscopically identify is circled in the above photo, I absolutely would not have minded a soggy wrap.

I guess this is what I get for trying to have Western Sydney food outside of Western Sydney.

Munoushee
39 Majors Bay Rd, Concord NSW 2137

Categories
American Middle Eastern

Albeik Shawarma – Granville NSW Restaurant Review

One of the fellows I work with has never said no to some physically unhealthy but spiritually permitted fast food overnight. Though we mostly order from a few known locals, we do on occasion get to branch out.

The fried chicken pieces (3 for $11) were excellent – some of the best post-midnight fried chicken I’ve had in Western Sydney. It was perfectly crispy on the outside, and extremely juicy on the inside. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to get a photo of the meat inside, and my only complaint is that the spiciness of the spicy version could be a little spicier.

Unfortunately the chicken shawarma wrap ($13), which you would expect to be the restaurant’s specialty, was nowhere near as excellent. The wrap, though size-appropriate and chicken-filled, presented as dry, and could’ve used much more garlic sauce/toum than was provided. I’ve certainly had better in the vague local area, including Armani Restaurant in Parramatta, and Babylon Bakery in Fairfield Heights.

Albeik (Al Beik) Shawarma
48 Railway Parade, Granville NSW 2142
(02) 8626 9839

Categories
American

Extra Crispy – Merrylands NSW Restaurant Review

There is this rumour going around Western Sydney that the Extra Crispy group of fried chicken restaurants was originally a set of Broaster Chicken franchises that broke off and renamed themselves in order to avoid the licensing fees surrounding the Broaster name whilst continuing to use the broasting equipment. Whilst I cannot independently confirm nor deny this, it does seem like the chicken that they have is extremely similar to that which is provided by the Broaster chain, with the one exception that the level of salt at the Extra Crispy chains in Western Sydney varies considerably store to store – often a bit oversalted.

Whilst I normally avoid taking part in the night time Extra Crispy orders, one particular night I had a Crispy Classic Chicken Burger ($12) featuring a crispy chicken patty, halal beef bacon, lettuce, American cheese, pickles and spicy sauce. It was actually quite good. The size and value for money was on point, the flavour was good and for once in my life it was not extremely salty.

I also shared in a number of 10 Buffalo Hot Wings ($12.50) which I felt could have been just a little bit more buffalo than what we received. The photos on the electronic menu does make the buffalo sauce appear more substantial than what we received and if they were hoping to cater for customers who wanted only a mildly buffalo experience when ordering buffalo wings, they could have at least added more buffalo sauce on the side. Were I to order this again, I would at least try and add a comment asking to smother the wings in sauce.

Extra Crispy Merrylands
1/228 Merrylands Rd, Merrylands NSW 2160

Categories
Chinese Snacks

好丽友咸蛋黄流心派 Orion Salted Egg Yolk Lava Pie – Grocery Snack Review

These were actually good. The outer layer of cake was moist and chocolatey, though not too sweet – almost like a flat, less dense and less rich brownie.

The item is not advertised as dark chocolate, but I think is dark in the sense that most East Asian snacks just aren’t that sweet, which is a good thing.

The creamy ‘salted egg’ filling was hard to appreciate as a flavour, so if I were really keen on this dimension of the snack I’d stay away, but as a generic chocolate brownie-type snack it’s a win for me.

好丽友咸蛋黄流心派 Orion Salted Egg Yolk Lava Pie
6920907833379

Categories
American

John Belvedere – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

It’s been three years since I’ve ordered from John Belvedere, but I’ve only now found these photos on my hard drive and realised that I’ve never written anything about them online.

Unlike the majority of my long-forgotten meals, I can remember my specific feelings about John Belvedere’s burgers quite clearly. They are very good. The cheese burger ($10) – a simple affair of a smash patty, American cheese, onion, pickles and bread was absolutely perfect. The beef patty was tasty and juicy, the cheese American, and the pickles tangy. The bread was soft and compressible, not at all overpowering or bland, making this burger the perfect snack to consume either by itself or with another one (they were running a 2 for 1 special back in 2021).

The beef rib burger ($13) was honestly less good, and it’s probably no great shame that its price has ballooned to $19 over the last three years and it’s fallen off the daily menu. I remember it tasting just a bit drier than the excellent cheese burger, possibly too sticky from the sauce but not moist in the meat.

John Belvedere
318 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150