Chooksy’s, Nowra and Bomaderry’s answer to Wollongong’s esteemed Chicko’s, was on our must visit list during my partner’s recent stay in town.
First, the hot chips ($4). These were seriously good, next level. They were freshly fried with an incredible amount of crunch that persisted for well into half an hour after we got them. A colleague of mine had mentioned that she had thought about purchasing the restaurant (apparently up for sale at time of writing), but that perhaps she didn’t need to as her friend had worked at Chooksy’s and knew the secret recipe for the chip seasoning, though I suspect the actual secret to these chips are how freshly fried they are each time. Amazing.
The cheesy potato bake ($6) was really as described – cheesy and potatoey. Not too salty, which was good, but definitely one for my partner’s love rather than mine.
Interstingly, Chooksy’s does all of their burgers as either a wrap or a burger. We had an Extreme Chilli Chick ($13) as a wrap, which was actually extremely chilli. It was a chicken schitzel folded into a wrap with jalapenos, lettuce, onion, and two types of extremely hot sauce. I must admit that we underestimated just how extremely chilli this wrap was going to be, and it was nigh inedible for my poor weak tongue. Perhaps someone else would enjoy it.
This Salt & Vinegar Chicken Tender ($2.20) was quite bad. It didn’t give the impression of real meat that came from an animal.
Quite surprisingly, Chooksy’s fried chicken ($3.20 per piece) was actually unavailable the first time we visited, at around 2PM on a weekday. They were all sold out, and so we had to go back a second time to experience the promised delight. Their fried chicken was actually quite disappointing, perhaps moreso in light of our second journey, with a sad moistness after just ten minutes in the bag, and not much discernable flavour apart from saltiness. I would not rate this chicken above the Colonel’s.
The Chippy Chick ($13) as a roll I also felt like took some good ingredients and put them together only to make them worse. This roll consisted of a chicken schitnzel, hot chips, and liquid cheese and gravy. Unfortunately the combination of these winning ingredients, (especially their chips, which as mentioned above are usually great) made everything a bit moister, less crispy, and more mushy than desired. A surprising disappointment, though definitely much more edible than the Extreme Chilli Chick.
THOUGHTS
In the face of other options and in a somewhat health-conscious state, I would only recommend the hot chips at Chooksy’s, which I believe are of the top tier of hot chips in all of NSW.
Chooksy’s
1/429 Princes Hwy, Bomaderry NSW 2541
(02) 4421 8884