Category: Cuisines

Categories
Chinese

JML Dumplings – Wolli Creek NSW Restaurant Review

This place was really hard to find, owing to the fact that their Google Maps location points to a different and completely unrelated dumpling restaurant, whose staff were at least gracious enough to point us in vaguely the right direction.

We started with some soy/tea eggs ($2 each), for which unfortunately the marinade had not penetrated into the yolk, leaving a tasty white with a boring hardboiled centre.

The Shepherd’s Purse & Pork Wonton Soup ($12.80) had a nice filling (though not particuarly better than the frozen dumplings I’ve been getting from the grocery store lately) as well as a nice wamrth and lightly salty umami flavour to the soup, but suffered from an unusual and unpleasant thickness in the wonton skin, making it more of a meal and a chore to eat this meal than a wonton soup should be.

Though I failed to capture a photo of the Dumplings of Pork & Chive ($12.80) apart from a single cross sectional shot, I much preferred these to the wontons. They had a strong chive flavour to them, which is really what you want and often can’t be replicated by the frozen stuff. The skin was again a bit thicker than ideal, but this was not as problematic as it was for the wontons.

I did not think I would enjoy the Steamed Pork and Sticky Rice Dumplings ($9.80), but they came out first after the eggs, and I guess I was hungry. I’m glad the sticky rice wasn’t too densely packed, because it was a real I heard you like carbs in your carbs so I put carbs in your carbs so you can carb while you carb moment.

The Honeyed Pork Ribs ($12.80) were good, meaty, tender and juicy, but very sweet and sticky.

Overall thoughts
The price to performance ratio at JML Dumplings in Wolli Creek was good. I am a highly predictable rater, and any half decent pork and chive dumpling at a restaurant that offers them boiled will score high marks from me. Their menu is diverse, however, so even if you don’t like anything featured here there is probably something for you.

JML Dumplings
Shop 2/1 Brodie Sparks Drive, Wolli Creek NSW 2205
0481 863 226

Categories
Café

Frank & Chitch – Earlwood NSW Restaurant Review

This is a local-ish café that we saw spruiked on social media.

The Filet o’ Chitch ($18) was a pretty good rendition of what a fish burger should be, with a thick piece of battered fish, an adequate helping of tartare sauce, perfectly fake tasting American cheese, and some iceberg lettuce.

The Chili Oil Scramble ($20, $27 pictured here with grilled chicken supplement) was not as good. Though we enjoyed the housemade crispy potato hash, the egg was unfortunately not to our liking, with a hard and leathery texture rather than the softness that we were expecting. The chilli oil and other flavourings of this dish were also a bit too subtle for us, making this mass of dry egg a bit of a chore to get through. Unfortunately I would also have to recommend saving your $7 on this unspectacular grilled chicken addition.

Thoughts: Though the fish burger was alright, I have no plans to go back.

Frank & Chitch
2-4 Barnes Ave, Earlwood NSW 2206

Categories
Bakery Portuguese

The Portuguese Corner – Nowra NSW Restaurant Review

The Portuguese Corner doesn’t actually exist anymore as a restaurant, but they do still exist as a supplier of delicious savoury and sweet tarts to Nowra local coffee roaster and cafe Hyper Hyper, also known as the mother-joint of Punch the Ploughman, which has been extensively reviewed on this site already.

While Punch the Ploughman serves a variety of in-house and externally sourced (mostly from Sonoma Bakery) treats, their cohabitant venue Hyper Hyper has only a small pie warmer of delicious warm treats, with no cross-pollination between the two.

First, the Portuguese Tart ($5). A bit sweet, but served deliciously warm and gooey from the pie warmer, with an excellently buttery puff pastry that carries through to all of their savoury tarts. Pretty good, and preferred over Milkwood in Berry’s.

The Village Chorizo Tart ($6) was my favourite savoury tart. Again with lovely puff pastry, and a great umami filling. Good balance of flavours.

The Kale and Goat Cheese Tart ($6) is a relative masterclass on how to make a vegetarian quiche, and with its interesting mix of sourness from the goat cheese and vegetable flavours it is far superior to the quiche from Punch the Ploughman next door.

I did not feel that the Bacon and Spring Onion Tart ($6) was quite as good as the Village Chorizo Tart, though they clearly both come from the same school of meat-supplemented quiche. The bacon strips on top were a bit hard and difficult to eat in my opinion, though overall it was still better than the aforementioned vegetarian quiche next door. The egg was also better.

In summary these expensive little tarts (really mini quiches) are all quite good (though I don’t know how Portuguese the savoury ones are), and I can only hope that one day they may rise again and spread their joy from a place that isn’t the pie warmer of someone else’s cafe.

For now, they’re available at Hyper Hyper.

The Portuguese Corner at Hyper Hyper
85 North St, Nowra NSW 2541
0424 551 509

Categories
Indian

Chill N Grill – Harris Park NSW Restaurant Review

How can I call this a review? I have no recollection of eating here, but the photos are present on my computer to prove that I did. I don’t even know what we ate. Evidently some kind of garlic naan (a staple), some kind of curry, and some kind of chicken on a sizzling plate.

It looks like this meal was eaten with my partner after a particularly long day at work, the same day during which I got into a fight about putting enteral magnesium down a nasogastric tube, and also the same day when we got bubble tea towards the end of the day with the other registrars and interns and sent a group selfie to my then consultant, who was appalled at us all still being there at that time.

Looking back at this selfie, I think adapalene has made my skin demonstrably worse over the last 9 months.

PEGFEEDS, a food blog, but the food and the blog components are separate.

Don’t worry, I think there’s some regular content scheduled to be posted tomorrow.

Chill N Grill
67 Wigram St, Harris Park NSW 2150

Categories
Bakery

Milkwood Bakery – Berry NSW Restaurant Review

I went many times to Milkwood Bakery but with varied levels of enjoyment.

The Portuguese Tart ($4.20) had a nice and crispy and crunchy pastry, but I didn’t enjoy the (lack of) warmth to the filling and found it overall to be a bit oily for my taste.

The Vegan Carrot Sesame Cake ($5.50) was chosen as they had run out of their far superior regular carrot cake (reviewed down below). I liked that as compared to their regular carrot cake a small portion was available, and though it did not taste as rich or as good as the standard option it was ultimately not bad, especially as they had hamstrung themselves with the strict avoidance of any dairy.

I enjoyed the pastry component of the Beef and Pork Sausage Roll ($7.20), which was oily and flaky. The meat was thick and well textured, but in my opinion too salty to tick every quality box.

The Wagyu toastie ($13.50) had a pastrami like wagyu meet with cheesse and beetroot. It was alright, but not the best toasted sandwich of the Shoalhaven area.

I enjoyed the chocolate exterior of the Lamington ($3.50) but really quite hated the texture and taste of the sponge.

This carrot cake is actually very good. The cake itself was nice and moist with an unusually large helping of walnuts, with good flavour, and I also quite enjoyed the frosting. It is certainly much more pleasant than the vegan version also sold at Milkwood. I only wish that this could be sold in a smaller portion, though we had no difficulty inhaling this delicious cake in its entirety.

The Beef Bourguignon Pie ($8) was pretty good, though I’m not sure it was exactly $8 good. It was quite mushroomy, and perhaps I would give it a higher rating if I were a paid shill for Big Mushroom, who look like they’re splashing out on the social media influencers these days.

And finally, the Blueberry Custard Tart ($6.50), with its shortbread crust. I’m sure it is clear by now that I have a lot of opinions for someone who can’t bake himself, but this crust felt just a bit floury for my liking. Was a big fan of these huge juicy blueberries though.

Milkwood Bakery
109 Queen St, Berry NSW 2535
(02) 4464 3033