Category: Cuisines

Categories
Chinese

The Good Kitchen – Hurstville NSW Restaurant Review

I wanted to go to Canton Noodle House after work last night. I was so keen that I asked my girlfriend to drive me from work straight to the restaurant to optimise parking time. Unfortunately when we arrived at 8:45 the restaurant which had advertised itself to close at 9:45PM was already closed. So we went across the road to The Good Kitchen instead.

I was initially drawn to the Good Kitchen by a photo of 皮蛋瘦肉粥 on its Zomato page. This implied to me that it would be a quick and easy place to get a quick and easy feed. It was only until we were situated and tea had been served that I realised that The Good Kitchen is very much a legitimate restaurant, complete with its own live seafood tanks (more on that later), and not as accommodating for a quick and easy meal. My girlfriend will attest that I deliberated leaving after looking at the menu, but ultimately stasis was the basis of my decision.

Hokkien Fried Rice

I enjoyed the Hokkien Fried Rice. It was a large portion, with plenty of topping. The flavours were adequate but not what I was expecting from Canton Noodle House.

Spicy Eggplant with Minced Pork in Claypot

We felt that the Spicy Eggplant with Minced Pork in Claypot was somewhat middling. The eggplant we felt was not cooked enough and required too much biting and chewing. My girlfriend, who is the local expert in spicy eggplant and minced pork also felt like it was not spicy enough.

Eight Treasure Tofu in Claypot

I am an absolute sucker for combination braised bean curd hot pot and was sad and alarmed not see it on the menu. The closest I could find was “braised tofu in hotpot”, however upon asking the staff we were dismayed to find that this particular dish was tofu only. Taking a gamble on the Eight Treasure Tofu in Claypot was a great decision. I didn’t know if it would be what I wanted to be, as eight treasure soup is just eight different beans, but it was. And it was good.

It is important to mention that our meal was rudely interrupted by a lobster cage match which broke out in the left lobster tank. I think that when you are a Chinese restaurant your threshold for putting more aquatic animals into a tank is that as long as there’s water on 3/4 of the animal’s surfaces then it’s plenty of room and more can be put in there. While I’m not the world’s strongest advocate for the welfare of delicious crustaceans I do think that overcrowding may have been involved in the 7-way free-for-all that transpired during our meal. We were also witness to a vertical fish in a socially distanced tank far away from the lobsters.

Overall The Good Kitchen wasn’t what I was looking for, but it ended up being what I needed. A protip for new players is that eight treasures is literally combination. I would rate The Good Kitchen four angry lobsters out of five.

The Good Kitchen
171 Forest Rd, Hurstville NSW 2220
(02) 9579 1688

Categories
Indian

Indian Biryani Restaurant – Rockdale NSW Restaurant Review

This is going to be a quick one. We got delivery from Indian Biryani Restaurant during our last run of nights. I had the Chicken 65 Biryani ($19, pictured) and the Achari Chicken ($14, not pictured). Both were very tasty, and probably a bit too tasty to be eaten alone without any non-flavoured staple food. The Chicken 65 Biryani was very edible and safe. My colleagues had some chicken tikka salad and the butter chicken and allegedly all was good.

My overall impression is this: Not many places deliver to work. It really wasn’t bad and we’ll probably get it again before the year is through.

UPDATE
In 2024, we actually went to the store.

Everything was still quite good, and the prices are still really good too. I somehow managed to convince my partner to have mutton biryani ($18.99) which we normally avoid due to a fear of gaminess. Luckily, it was actually quite delicious, and not gamey at all.

The butter chicken ($18.99) was a very normal butter chicken at a very normal price. No complaints, though it’s a bit of an insult to one’s intelligence to end your prices with a .99 suffix. Just call it $19 mate.

The garlic and cheese naan ($5 ea, $10 pictured) was a not a standout, a bit less good than the best ones that we’ve had around the city.

No complaints about this juicy and tasty half tandoori chicken ($14.99), served on a reflective aluminium foil surface for extra ambiance.

Indian Biryani Restaurant
544 Princes Hwy, Rockdale NSW 2216

Categories
Café Modern Australian

A1 Canteen – Chippendale NSW Restaurant Review

Pegg asked me to find somewhere for brunch today. It’s our only day off together in 11 days so the stakes were high. After much deliberation we found ourselves looking for a park in Chippendale so that we could eat at A1 Canteen.

While we had previously had easy success parking for X23 Asian Fusion Cafe around the corner, today was not our day, and we ended up spending around 25 minutes circling the Central Park complex looking for a park. We finally found a 1-hour spot 10 minutes’ walk away, leaving us 40 minutes to get seated, order, eat, and leave. A true high-anxiety challenge, but one that we succeeded in.

A1 Canteen, I’m told, is run by the man behind Automata. Apparently is difficult to run two restaurants at once and thus this needs to be mentioned in every online review of A1, especially when they’re across the road from one another.

The Muffuletta ($20) is a vertical sandwich slice consisting of pressed meats, cheese, greens, artichoke, and olive salad. It is served with cutlery, and thus a dare to the patron to eat it with their hands. I enjoyed the Muffuletta as I would any other sandwich which would typically cost $7. It was meaty and cheesy, but otherwise not that special. The vertical cut of the sandwich meant that the filling to bread ratio was excellent, but the pedestrian taste did not justify its high asking price.

slow roasted lamb shoulder

The slow roasted lamb shoulder ($27) was significantly more interesting. It is served with small grilled flatbread, brocollini, cauliflower, chickpeas, and yellow chili pickles, each adding an additional dimension. The yellow chili pickles were particularly juicy and delicious, and added a nice tang to it. The price again is a bit steep for what it is. Looking at an older copy of the menu it looks like the lamb shoulder was previously $24 with a choice of two salads.

A special mention needs to go to the service at A1 Canteen. The kitchen was speedy and our waitress very observant to our hydration requirements. The room was spacious and decor nice. I personally felt a bit underdressed and outclassed in my T-shirt and trackpants.

Overall A1 canteen was passable but overpriced. I would not recommend the Muffuletta and would not have it again myself. One of the ladies next to us had some curried scrambled eggs which looked amazing, so I think we will probably end up going back at some point to try them. Three and a half overpriced weighted sandwiches out of Five.

A1 Canteen
Ground 2/10 Kensington St, Chippendale NSW 2008

NOTE: A1 Canteen is now permanently closed – Click here to read what I thought when I went back for a last hurrah.

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Malaysian

X23 Asian Fusion Cafe – Chippendale NSW Restaurant Review

A few weeks ago I went to 101kissa, an Asian fusion brunch place in Chippendale. This week I went to X23 Asian Fusion Cafe, an Asian fusion brunch place In Chippendale.

My girlfriend drove me to brunch after one of my night shifts. We had thought about going for a couple of weeks, and finally the opportunity arose for me to sacrifice some sleep for some food. I wore sunglasses the entire time to limit my blue light exposure and posting these photos up is the first time I’m seeing these foods in their normal colour.

The shroom room shrooms ($16.80) were quite shroomy. The eggs were well poached, and most of the shrooms were enjoyable, particularly the enoki. One particular mushroom had a strong Vegemite-like taste which I was not a fan of. Maybe my palate is not developed enough. But maybe I just know what I like and this particular long shroom wasn’t it.

The X23 red eggs ($22.50) are very similar to but not as good as the chili crab scrambled eggs at 101kissa. In comparison with the similar concept eggs at 101kissa they did not have as much crab. They’re overall not bad, but when you have a better option just a few minutes away they’re hard to recommend.

I have no idea what the sriracha bacon ($4) was meant to go with. It was probably my mistake to buy it.

L: Matcha Latte, R: Cappuccino

Drinks were fine. I liked the dual wall glasses.

Overall impression: I want to like X23 Asian Fusion Cafe but I just don’t. Nothing was really special for me, and its unfortunate proximity to a better competitor makes it a miss. Six out of ten stars. Will probably go back.

X23 Asian Fusion Cafe
102/18 Park Ln, Chippendale NSW 2008
(02) 9056 5138

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Japanese

Meet Mica – Surry Hills NSW Restaurant Review

I think I have a type. Meet Mica is another Asian-fusion cafe in Surry Hills.

The Breakie. Rice. Bowl ($18) was extra good. Don’t let the name fool you though, it’s more of a congee than a normal bowl of rice. The wetness was very welcome, and in fact I think it could have done with a bit more soup. The Chashu melted easily in the mouth. The onsen egg was perfect, and the mushrooms added an extra dimension to the dish. Overall a legitimate 10/10 dish which I would recommend to everyone.

The Teriyaki Dog Roll ($12) was not bad. A lot of okonomyaki-style toppings and an egg omlette over an Arabiki hot dog sausage. The bread to filling ratio was reasonably good, however still weighted a bit heavily on the bread side. The excess bread was used to mop up the matcha from the dessert dish.

The Matcha. Lava. Toast ($20) is perhaps iconic to this cafe, and indeed iconic to the brunch section of Zomato where it holds the lofty position of thumbnail of a number of recommendation lists. The wet matcha lava is certainly aesthetically dramatic (you can probably find a video online), however in our opinion falls short on the taste component. The bread and matcha itself was somewhat bitter, not at all sweet. I can only describe the texture of the matcha sauce as dry, despite it being reasonably wet. The dish was saved by the condensed milk, gelato and especially fruit, which added a crisp wetness to an otherwise arid dessert.

Meet Mica Hot Chocolate

The sunrise ($8) was yum but not much fluid with a lot of ice for the price. The Hojicha soy latte and hot chocolate were also good.

I would come back to Meet Mica and eat the Breakie Rice Bowl again. The other two I would skip.

Thanks for listening to my TED talk.

Meet Mica
Shop 5/492-500 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 8018 7370