The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
My partner went to Hong Kong Yue Baby without me, but made the mistake of bringing home these delicious custard egg yolk balls, which I enjoyed so much that we had to go back.
These salted egg yolk tang yuan ($9.50) are really delicious, super oily, large balls of glutinous rice filled with a sweet salted egg yolk filling. Not too sweet and super umami, they are served warm on these weird spoons for seemingly no reason. This dish is probably their number one house specialty, and I think make them worth a visit even if that’s all you’re going to get from them.
The peanut & taro mini French toast ($9.80) combines pieces of their taro and peanut French toasts for those with poor decision making ability. Both are of course equally oily, and differ only in the type of filling inside. My strong preference of the two is the taro type, as the peanut butter type gave me a slight feeling of staleness, which my partner contests. Either way I don’t think this was particularly a good use of calories or serum triglycerides, I wouldn’t get either again.
The steamed veg rice noodleroll ($11.80) was not bad. Very vegetably. I hadn’t had lettuce steamed in some time. It was OK.
This baked durian with cheese ($6.80) was again not bad, but not like an all time star dish. It, like the other two desserts that we had, was quite oily and not the greatest picture of wholesome.
Rock solid drink though
COMMENTS There was nothing that we had at Hong Kong Yue Baby that particularly stood out as very good, except for the salted egg tang yuan, which stood out above very good and towards excellent. They open until quite late seven days a week, and so if you find yourself craving a sweet but warm snack it would be a thing to do to just go in for this one item alone. Maybe a drink too.
Hong Kong Yue Baby Burwood 35C Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134 (02) 8593 4828
Chungking Malatang in Burwood, not to be confused for Chungking the formal sit down restaurant, has a few things going for it.
While I don’t have any photos of the fridges and freezers of base ingredients that one has to choose from (amateur move from me), I did feel like Chungking offered a wider than average selection, almost equal to a larger Yang Guo Fu Malatang outlet like the one in Kingsford. One specific innovation that caught my eye at Chungking was the use of not only fridges but freezers to hold ingredients, particularly the raw meat rolls, in order to maintain their freshness for longer. This approach really does make sense if you think about it – these meats generally come frozen regardless – and I’m quite surprised that I’m yet to run into another restaurant that does this. It sure beats watching staff smell the meat at Number 1 Malatang in Kingsford (now permanently closed).
The second thing that’s a bit different about Chungking is the availability of premium ingredients for a premium price – mostly seafoods like scallops and salmon – that occupy a separate fridge in plates akin to those at a sushi restaurant. Though I didn’t partake myself, this does add a bit of a high brow quality to this store.
We enjoyed both the standard spicy malatang as well as the preserved vegetable soup base. There’s no point really in commenting on the bowls themselves outside of the soup, as we essentially just got what w liked. Unlimited coriander garnish was on offer, which is excellent.
On a subsequent visit I had my meal stir-fried. It was alright, a bit spicier and saltier than I would have wanted, and with a degree of strictness of minimum portions even though my partner had ordered a huge wet one (pictured below).
THOUGHTS Chungking Malatang in Burwood is a pretty strong contender for best Malatang in Burwood, especially as the Yang Guo Fu near the plaza has made way for a different company. Chungking’s extensive opening hours (closing for dine-in at 11:30PM most nights) and frozen meat fridge might just give it the edge over its nearby competitor Zhangliang.
Just a few doors down from Yummy King BBQ Campsie is their biggest competitor, a Cantonese BBQ restaurant with a hyper-focus on Southern Chinese barbecued meats, with a distinct lack of faffing around with an extensive eat-in menu.
What No. 1 BBQ House does is all your classic barbecued favourites – from soy chicken to crispy roast duck, to BBQ pork and roast pork, as well as some other things in between. There is no in-house seating (this may be a COVID-19 thing, but it’s already January 2023, perhaps it was just for the afternoon that we went), and no need for it. Just meat.
Both the BBQ Pork and Roast Pork were $36.kg, about the going price up and down the road, and everywhere else.
The char siu was very good, with good flavours – a balance of sweet, salty, and umami, as well as good texture. It was cut in the traditional way, against the grain, with each piece having a good mouthfeel with no particularly chewy bits – more than I can say for Yummy King BBQ.
To contrast, the siu yuk (roast pork), was not as good as next door. It was certainly not bad, with again good texture, crispy skin even when eaten as takeaway, and a good amount of lean meat with a little bit of fat. The taste however was too salty for my liking, and I longed for the more mild but still tasty variety that I had had from Yummy King just days ago.
The ginger and shallot oil was clear, which in comparison is definitely a plus.
OVERALL THOUGHTS Though we’re yet to have any of the birds at No. 1 BBQ House, my opinion is that their char siu is superior to Yummy King, whilst their crackling roast pork is not as good. Seeing as they’re right next to each other, it’s not overly difficult to just get what you like from each place.
I will note that No. 1 BBQ house imposes no EFT surcharge for purchases over $10, and only a 50c surcharge for purchase under $10, which is both fair and extremely above board. I pay my income tax, and appreciate when others do the same.
Respect.
Number One BBQ House Campsie 152 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194 (02) 9718 6147
My partner and I have been eating a lot of good food recently, much to the disappointment of my healthcare team and our mortgage deposit. This morning’s late start for my partner found us at STIX, a farm to table café with a much appreciated all-day menu.
We started with the potato hash ($8). I couldn’t stop her. For what it’s worth, these were great. These were extremely buttery and luscious, multi-layered with a thin crispy of an exterior and a soft interior. Pretty tasty.
The smoked trout rillettes ($24) with fennel and kohlrabi remoulade, celery, pickled eschallot, apricot jam and sourdough toast was next. I enjoyed the taste and texture of this dish, as something I could not dream of making myself. The base of sourdough bread was nice and crusty, with good structural integrity and able to carry the weight of its toppings with ease. The brightness, freshness and crunchiness of the celery was excellent with the more creamy textures of the remoulade and trout rillette. The taste and texture of the rillette, something difficult to make or find outside of a restaurant, were both good, and a reasonable volume was provided with our order.
The poached egg was comically small, though we do understand that when you’re raising the hens yourself there is a spectrum of eggs produced, and it’s not possible to only have 58 gram eggs. Unfortunately the small size of our poached egg may have contributed to its overcooking – I have no photos but it was 0% runny compared to what a normal poached egg is.
The last thing to mention would be the apricot jam, which was just a little bit sweet but added so much to the overall flavour of the dish, complimenting the saltiness and savouriness of the rest of the meal. My partner particularly liked that it was dolloped on in discrete bits, so that some mouthfuls would have some sweetness and others would not.
The very good chicken and sweetcorn congee ($21) was a dish that I felt I could probably make at home, and am in fact probably ethnically and genetically obliged to make at home at some point. It was a really tasty and hot bowl of congee, with a bit of spiciness from some tamari chilli relish, some sweetness from the corn, some ginger, and some saltiness from what I presume is just plain salt. The texture of the rice was very nice and soft, and has prompted me to freeze a bit of washed and soaked rice in my freezer just now so that I can make something similar soon. The chicken was not particularly plentiful, with a shredded grocery store rotisserie chicken kind of quality (though I do not mean to defame – I’m sure it was much fancier than this), but enough for enjoyment. This was ultimately a simple but very well executed dish, one that will inspire me to be a better Asian this week.
I made my partner wait a full twelve minutes after the end of our meal to decide if she still wanted this tea and toast croissant ($9.50). $9.50 is a lot to pay for a croissant. I thought that the earl grey tea cream filling of the croissant was plentiful in volume, but sadly not so in taste. It felt highly calorie dense, fatty and thick, but without the taste payoff that such expenditure should entail. I would’ve much preferred a stronger earl grey taste in this situation, preferably also without as much volume of cream. Filling aside, the marmalade glaze on this croissant was enjoyable, although in my imaginations of Beverly and Betty tea and toast diets (I am, for these six months, a geriatric medicine advanced trainee after all) I had always assumed it was plain toast straight out of the toaster that they were eating. I doubt you would get too malnourished if this croissant were your staple meal.
OTHER THOUGHTS I don’t know how I feel about a place that only takes card, with a mandatory card surcharge for all payments. It feels like any mandatory, unavoidable surcharge should be built into the menu price from the start, but I guess the gods of the ACCC disagree with me. Pretty good food. Worth a visit.
This will be a quick play by play of our yum cha lunch at The Eight, chosen because sadly Marigold is no more, and The Eight had 2 hours of free parking (though we overstayed by like 20 minutes and paid $9 for the privilege).
These pork spare ribs in black bean sauce were fine. Pretty meaty, not super fatty. Flavour I thought was a bit too mild.
I think these steamed chicken feet could’ve been steamed a little bit longer, but the flavour was good.
I actually also thought these bean curd skin rolls could’ve been more flavoured.
The steamed chive dumplings were fine, not extraodinary, and could’ve used more chive taste. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my specifically, things just tended towards blandness.
The shu mai were good, and adequately flavoured.
The texture and flavour of this this doufu fa was good.
The steamed custard buns were really good! My first one burst hot liquid all over me and the table, and our friend MP gave up hers so I could have an extra.
Overall We had a pretty decent and well priced meal, spending around $32 per person for yum cha, with 2 hours free parking down below during the day, and unlimited free parking after 6PM (important for CBD lunch considerations). My partner had had dinner with her mother and brother the previous week and had a similarly good experience.
Not bad (though I think Marigold was better. RIP.)
The Eight Market City Shopping Centre, Level 3/13 Hay St, Haymarket NSW 2000 (02) 9282 9988
