Category: Chinese

Categories
Chinese Malaysian

Hokkien Kia – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

My visit to Hokkien Kia was foretold by both Malaysian and non-Malaysian friends alike, who knew I could not resist a strong recommendation for some good Asian food.

This Duck Egg Fried Kuey Teow ($15.80) is the thing of legends. My friend BCSY, a real life Malaysian, describes this as the closest thing to Penang-style CKT as you can find. I had an extraordinarily large amount of char kway teow during my first two years of med school from a small restaurant near to campus called Pinewood Noodle & Sushi Bar, and while that was a formative culinary experience for me at the time, this CKT clearly blew that and every other CKT I’ve had out of the water. Highlights of this particular char kway teow were the huge prawns and the excellent wok hei flavour, but the most impressive part was the addition of deep fried pork lard, adding crispy and deeply umami morsels into each mouthful. I don’t know that the duckness of the egg was a particular must have, but I’m told it’s part of it. Either way, this is certainly an impressive char kway teow and a must try from Hokkien Kia.

I’ve never had roast pork in laksa before, but Roast Pork Curry Laksa ($15.80) was actually quite good. The laksa had good curry flavour, while the crackling roast pork was of a high quality, with good crispiness to the skin and worthy to be sold on its own at any Cantonese/Hong Kong style BBQ restaurant.

The Kam Heong Pipi ($22.80) is another specialty of the restaurant, with pipis stir fried in an excellent umami and seafoody sauce of dried shrimps, curry powder, shallots, and garlic. It was very fragrant and a little sweeter than XO pipis, with a good pasty texture to the sauce that added an extra dimension.

My partner thought this iced teh tarik ($4.80) was a bit too sweet and not her favourite teh tarik ever, not that she’s had that wide experience with the drink.

COMMENTS
I really enjoyed Hokkien Kia’s duck egg fried kuey teow, with its excellent wok hei quality and the absolutely delicious deep fried pork lard making it extremely dangerous to anyone looking to avoid an early cardiovascular death. Whilst the other dishes we tried didn’t wow me so much, Hokkien Kia remains a strong recommendation from me for the strength of its char kway teow alone.

Hokkien Kia
254 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194
0403 889 139

Categories
Chinese

New Hunan Noodle Bar 一呷一嗦 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

Quick one.

Slow cooked braised beef tenderloin in a special chili sauce ($14.80) – There was much meat, which was good, but much of the meat was quite fatty. The flavour was slightly umami and slightly ma la, but ultimately I didn’t feel like these noodles were anything to write home about.

Succulent chicken feet with chili garlic toppings ($6.80) – The taste of these with fresh chili was good, but sadly the paws were skinny and not very meaty.

COMMENTS – Would I come back? I don’t know that I would. There’s so much variety in Burwood that unless a place is very very good it tends to be a one time visit.

New Hunan Noodle Bar 一呷一嗦
Shop 1, Clarendon Place, 38-40 Railway Parade Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
Chinese

Memory Tongue – Chatswood NSW Restaurant Review

I drove through local flooding on the M2 recently to bring you this review of what is possibly the best train station hot pot restaurant north of the Harbour Bridge.

For the reasonably sane price of $266 we were able to fully feed six grown adults ($45 per person), without really skimping on anything that anyone wanted. We chose a centralised large pot format with two options of Chongqing Spicy Soup and Oxtail and Tomato Soup, though individual pots are also available at this restaurant. Despite the fact that all six of us were of Asian descent and likely exposed to spicy foods from a young age, only my colleague WKS was able to fully enjoy the spicy soup. The rest of us quickly gave up and essentially only had the non-spicy soup for the majority of our meal.

Both the standard sliced beef and lamb options were of good quality. We ordered a mixed plate of beef and lamb ($29.50) and additional beef ($16.50). The beef was tender, with a bit of marbling but not much fat external to the muscle. The lamb was also good, with less fat than most other places.

The large golden ball to the left of the image is the giant deep fried glutinous rice ball ($13.50), a sweet deep fried snack similar to the much smaller, usual variety. Though large in volume, the skin of this ball is actually very thin, so the ball is not as substantial a food as it may look. It is a nice snack.

I would not recommend the spicy beef ($13.90), which is very heavily spiced with cumin and chilli, nor would I recommend the shrimp meatballs ($17.80), which I didn’t feel were as special as those at The Dolar Shop.

Beef and coriander balls ($9.50) weren’t really that great. Most of the coriander melted off into the pot, and there was not much of a beef texture within. They also took a really long time to cook, which in itself presents a form of opportunity cost. I wouldn’t get these again.

Similarly to competitor Spice World, Memory Tongue offers some of its meat options draped around naked barbie dolls. There is a price differential between the Barbie Pork Belly Slices ($14.50) and the regular Pork Slices, however no mention of the quantity provided with each order. Though as a group we are well known for ordering things purely for the meme value, it still would’ve been nice to know exactly what we were paying for this display.

VERDICT
There’s much of the meal that I haven’t directly mentioned. Those elements – the vegetables and tofu offerings – were absolutely fine, with good range and value. $45 per person at Memory Tongue left us feeling satisfied and full, and though they posted a closing time of 10PM they let us stay until 11. It was a good meal, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back.

Four tongues/five.

Memory Tongue Hotpot Chatswood (舌尖記憶重慶火鍋)
Shop 66, Podium Level 3, Chatswood Interchange, Chatswood NSW 2067
0420 437 880

(Diners: JW,PX,WKS,BC,JZHW,AL)

Categories
Chinese

Lovin’ Lamb – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

I didn’t really love Lovin’ Lamb. I had their signature lamb skewers, and I just didn’t feel like I connected with them. I did ask for them in a mild heat level because my girlfriend is a spice-o-phobe and because we had already eaten that night so I couldn’t justify getting two sets at differing spice levels, but I just felt that they didn’t have much flavour. Even the mild lamb skewers at competitors such Lamb & Cumin have some salt and cumin flavour, if not explicitly chilli flavour, but these ones at Lovin’ lamb left me wanting.

I’m always willing to give places like this another shot, just in case it was my order that was to blame, rather than the restaurant itself.

I’ll edit this post if I ever end up back there.

Lovin’ Lamb
125 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
Chinese Groceries

Big John Jumbo Pork Meatballs Classic Shanghai Style – Grocery Review

I am glad that I turned down Big John’s offer to comp me a bag of their fab frozen dumplings after my stellar review, because it leaves me free to write a less gushing review about one of their other products. As someone immersed in the Sydney foodie social media scene, it always makes me feel uncomfortable how many of these influencers are taking money or freebies from industry. I understand that for some this is a job rather than a mere stupid hobby, but I find it very difficult to trust recommendations from anyone who might have a conflict of interest. Even when a review is not directly paid for or comped, there’s a general understanding that if you’re someone who’s a negative Nancy you’re less likely to be invited to collaborate with other brands.

So I’m glad to say that I have no conflicts of interest to declare when it comes to reviewing Big John’s Jumbo Pork Meatballs, Classic Shanghai Style. I had been craving a lion’s head meatball ever since I was reminded of their existence in some kind of Youtube video. My last such meatball was from Taste of Nanking in Waterloo, two years ago, and it was time to have it again.

These meatballs were cooked as per the instructions, in a light broth of ginger and light soy sauce, though I forgot the ginger. I also later cooked them steamed and then another time boiled with just plain water.

No matter how I cooked them, I felt like they were too wet and too loose in their structure. Perhaps it’s because my view of what these balls should be like are coloured by my last experience. Perhaps they’re not even meant to be the same kind, as these are Shanghainese and those were from a Nanjing-themed restaurant. Who knows, not me, for I do not read Chinese. I invite commenters to tell me that I’m comparing them to the wrong benchmark if that is the case.

I also felt, probably related to their structure and texture, that there was too much ginger in the meatball itself, let alone for it to be boiled with ginger as per the instructions. Perhaps if the ginger was minced more finely the ball would stay together better.

Ultimately though, while some may like these, they were not what I was after.

UPC 9356993000017