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.
King of Skewers is a small basketball themed Chinese BBQ skewer restaurant in Kingsford. It is co-located with Beautea, which is my favourite bubble tea place in Kingsford.
The walls are adorned with basketballs, NBA memorabilia, and posters. There is a hoop over the window that peers into the kitchen at the back of the restaurant, but I dared not to shoot as 1) the balls were too high up for me and 2) there was no telling the cost of repairing the excellent fitout by Keeyuen.
Ordering was via the nondescriptive tick a box next to the food on the piece of white paper method. We had basically no idea how our foods would look until they came.
After a reasonably long wait we indulged in these beef, lamb, and pork skewers. They were delicious.
The scallops were too salty and we felt they were overpriced. Often oversauced seafood, especially in Asian cuisine, is a mask for low quality or less fresh ingredients.
We really thought this expensive chicken wing would consist of more than one chicken wing. It was yum but a poor spend of money.
I literally can’t imagine someone painstakingly threading each corn kernel onto a stick, let alone 10 sticks. A+ for effort.
Overall: King of Skewers in Kingsford is the place to be if you’re looking for a basketball themed Chinese BBQ skewer restaurant. I’m still unclear on the relationship between basketball and skewering, but the staple foods were delicious, while the less staple foods (scallops, chicken wing) were less delicious and more overpriced. Make sure you grab a drink from Beautea on the way in.
I am glad to tell you that I think Brother Restaurant is actively bad.
We had the pork dumplings ($16.80), the small braised chicken – not pictured ($30), and the beef fried noodle XO Sauce ($16.80).
The pork dumplings were small and had strong frozen supermarket dumpling energy. I don’t want to slander them but if you set me up with a bowl of dumplings that were from the frozen section of your ocal Asian grocery tsore and these dumplings I would not be able to tell you which one was $16.80 from a restaurant and which one was $4 from the supermarket.
The beef fried noodle in XO sauce was very salty with minimal meat.
The braised chicken had a reasonable flavour with chicken and potato, however was a very small quantity (a takeaway box) for $30 – did they just make this number up? – and the chicken was very bony.
I cannot recommend Brother Restaurant at all. Skip the graded escalation and just tell me to STOP if I try to order from them again.
One time when I was 14, back when the restaurant was named some permutation of Eastwood garden peking seafood restaurant, my parents were attending an open house in Eastwood and left me here to have lunch here by myself.
I went back a few weeks ago (June 2020) with my partner for dinner, just as the COVID-19 restrictions in NSW were relaxed to allow 50 patrons in a restaurant. I think there must have been 100 of us inside by the time we were done with dinner, which gave me a sense of unease.
The Shandong chicken was a standout.
The deep fried salt and pepper tofu was in surprisingly big pieces but yummy.
The tofu and salted fish hot pot was not what I expected (you can see from the photo it was white).
This chicken mushroom soup was also very good and wholesome.
Overall the food was good but the disregard for public health regulations lost this restaurant points, and perhaps should lose this restaurant its license to operate. Keeping people safe is more important than making money.
I had a bit of an odd experience ordering from Canton BBQ Restaurant in Maroubra. For starters no one I spoke to was able to actually speak Chinese. They didn’t have a good understanding of their menu which is posted online, so much so that when I asked for a specific dish they told me they didn’t have it – only to have it when I arrived at the store.
Mixed vegetables with tofu in hotpot – I called to order this dish and they told me it wasn’t on the menu. Upon arrival they told me that they looked at the menu again and found it. Was only fine.
Singaporean noodles – a disappointment
Lamb and cumin pancakes – very oily but actually tasted quite good.
Roast duck – This must have been the most lean and athletic duck ever! Supermarathonist duck, with minimal fat or muscle. Very bony.
Spring rolls – hard to mess up. Just fine.
I wouldn’t recommend going to Canton BBQ Restaurant in Maroubra. It ended up being very expensive and not very good. There are better alternatives out there. 3/10.
Slurp Slurp! That was the sound I made as I tucked into my lunch at this Chinese noodle and dumpling restaurant in Rosebery today. Spoiler alert, it was excellent.
The little copper pot rice noodle ($12.80) with pork mince and an additional tea egg ($2.50) was delicious. The flavour of the soup and mince were the right amount of saltiness, and helped along by the copious serving of shallot. The tea eggs were perfectly cooked and a real treat. We had a small amount of chilli added in as well. The rice noodles themselves were very bouncy and 筋道. Definitely easy to slurp. Overall a great dish. My only regret is that I had to share the one egg with my partner.
I quite enjoyed the Pan Fried Shrimp Dumplings (6 for $13.80) the filling inside was light flavoured with a lot of prawn and ginger. It was almost the same as a 蝦餃 but inside of a fried dumpling. Even my partner, who hates prawn, finished an entire dumpling. The dumpling shell was fried perfectly and crispily. I do wish that they had offered a boiled variant however.
The Pan-fried Pickled Chili Coriander and Beef Dumplings (6 for $12.80) are part of their limited seasonal menu. I found the fillings tasty, with a strong coriander flavour. Again the dumplings were well pan-fried, and again I wish there would have been a more wholesome option for this one, like boiling or steaming.
The Steamed Pork and Chives Dumplings (10 for $11.80) were cheap and wholesome. My partner liked them more than me, but I did appreciate that they didn’t drench these ones in oil.
The Fried Pork Buns (6 for $8.80) were really cheap and filling. Like everything else at the restaurant they came out piping hot and fresh, and gave a good splash of the juices inside!
I think that overall Slurp! Slurp! was a very impressive, small, and clean Chinese restaurant. Their noodles were the star of the show, and if I were to go back I’d definitely try and make it through their extensive noodle menu. Their dumplings are good, but their over reliance on pan-fried dumplings over boiled or steamed dumplings makes it less impressive than if they were able to deliver delicious and wholesome boiled dumplings.
The service at Slurp! Slurp! was perfect for my liking. Attentive enough when you want things, but not so attentive like at a Western restaurant where they ask you how your food is every five minutes. Thanks for leaving us alone to enjoy our delicious meal.
5/5 dumperonis.
UPDATE 23/12/2020
We went back to Slurp! Slurp! last night to try a few more items. Our meal, whilst good, was not that great. My partner remarked that if we had had this meal the first time we probably wouldn’t have gone back for seconds.
Minty Beef Rice Noodles
The minty beef rice noodles ($13.80) were, true to their name, quite minty and beefy. I enjoyed the broth with its beefy flavours, and thought that the serving of beef was reasonably generous (however if ordering this again I would option it with extra beef). The addition of a tea egg ($2.50) is an absolute must. While not as good as the copper pot noodles, these minty beef rice noodles had the same kind of noodles, which remained tasty when paired with the broth even after the meat and other toppings were eaten. I can recommend this dish.
The unforgettable ghost chicken ($8.80) ended up being quite forgettable and neither spooky nor very good. It was cold chicken in a salad of onions and cucumber with a tangy vinegar dressing. Though billed as two chillis in heat the dish wasn’t really very spicy at all. The quantity of chicken was small, though I guess just on the cusp of reasonable given the dish’s low price. Don’t get this.
The pan fried shrimp and bamboo shoot dumplings ($13.80), distinct from the prawn-only dumplings from last time, were again a very strong dish. Given my goal of trying new dishes I wasn’t going to order these dumplings, however the lady ahead basically incepted me with her order consisting of two servings of these babies. The dumplings were perfectly pan fried, this time in a reasonably open wrapping as opposed to a fully sealed wrapping. The flavour of the filling was good, though I thought not as tasty as the prawn dumplings from my previous visit, and not as prawny. My partner, hater of prawn, ate two whole dumplings – perhaps as she also agreed that these weren’t as prawny as before.
The big wonton in chilli sauce ($10.80) was pretty good but pretty standard. They were indeed quite big, with a large and generous meaty filling. Compared to other similar dishes that I’ve had – for example at Lilong by Taste of Shanghai – this dish was a bit more spicy, with its heavy smattering of chilli paste. Pretty tasty, but wasn’t a standout.
The cabbage and pork dumplings ($11.80)were pretty standard fare. More wholesome than the more fancy pan fried dumplings. I think of equal quality to their pork and chive dumplings.
