Category: Cuisines

Categories
Chinese

Princess J Ma La Tang (Jiao Gong Cooked Malatang) 焦功煮麻辣烫 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

This may really just be the uneducated opinion of one westernised Chinese guy, but I really didn’t have that inspiring an experience at Princess J (Jiao Gong Cooked) Malatang 焦功煮麻辣烫 in Emerald Square Burwood.

I found that the menu options and pricing structure was confusing and not well denoted on signage, at least in English, making it difficult to know how different items were priced, in particular the division between the fried foods and the self-serve malatang options.

I also found that the differences in soup bases was not well explained, not only by signage but also by the staff working there when I asked. In the end we chose two separate base options, one of which was pre-seasoned and one of which was similar but without a mix of seasonings, leading to a more choose your own adventure. We found that both options were overall less tasty and less enjoyable than the standard mixture of condiments and bases from, for example, Yang Guo Fu Malatang.

Whether or not this reflects poorly on this particular restaurant or poorly on our basic westernised palates remains to be answered, but our experience here wasn’t something that would lead me to come back.

At least you can tell from the photos that the place looked quite clean and well maintained.

Princess J Ma La Tang (Jiao Gong Cooked Malatang) 焦功煮麻辣烫
Shop 9 27/31 Belmore St, Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
American

Chicha Burgers – Petersham NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve only ever ordered delivery from Chicha Burgers in Petersham, so there’s not much I can tell you about the structural layout of what is essentially a food truck in a permanent location on Parramatta Road.

Over a couple of occasions I’ve taken advantage of delivery platform discounts to order their Classico Burger ($12), featuring a single smash patty, American cheese, ketchup, onion and pickles in a seeded bun.

This is actually almost a perfect little cheeseburger with a very generous serving of tomato sauce and pickles giving it a nice tang as well as moistness which balances out the cheese and the oily meat. The fillings cover the majority of the surface area of the bun with no useless empty buns left round the sides.

Its only problem is its compact size which makes $12 a bit of a difficult ask given Chicha Burgers’ close proximity to more value conscious places on Parramatta Rd offering similar fare, for example Cheeseburger Factory which offers double patty burgers for $13.

Luckily the delivery platform deals meant that I was able to get two of these burgers delivered for $17.70 making it cheaper than going in person and thus an attractive value option.

Cheecha Burgers
8 Crystal St, Petersham NSW 2049

Categories
Café Dessert French

Saltie Dog – Wollongong NSW Restaurant Review

My partner snuck off and got herself a coffee and a lemon crepe whilst I was waiting for my order of fried chicken at Rainbow Fried Delights.

This did not wow me, with only a very minimal suggestion of lemon within the crepe that if I wasn’t told about it I might not have noticed. FOr what it’s worth, she enjoyed it.

Saltie Dog
Level 1 food court, Wollongong Central, 200 Crown St, Wollongong NSW 2500

Categories
Chinese Fast Food

Chick Joy – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve always wanted to try orange chicken, made famous by Panda Express of California, but I’d never seen it on a Chinese restaurant menu until now. Though orange chicken wasn’t anywhere near Chick Joy’s best sellers, and was in fact not mentioned at all in online reviews, I knew I had to take the rare opportunity presented to me to live out my dream.

It turns out that the orange crispy fried chicken (8 pieces for $15) was really just generically fried chicken with a separate orange sauce to be lathered on by the eater. Though initially an underwhelming concept, I guess this does make sense as it gives control over how much of the sticky sweet sauce is desired.

While I had expected “8 pieces of chicken” to consist of perhaps the classically known half-bird with all its different pieces, what actually came (and what in retrospect was clearly pictured in the menu photographs) was 8 semi-identical drummettes. Whilst this was a bit of a disappointment, I must admit that the drummettes provided were tasty and crispy, I think previously par-fried and then re-fried to order.

The orange sauce was sweet and sticky and really not that orangey – more of a sweeter version of a sweet and sour sauce, but not bad and good to try once.

I think that if these guys actually had a half bird divided into thigh, wing, breast, and drumstick pieces then they might be onto something real.

I will list this restaurant as Chinese as the middle-aged man manning the fryer had to get his son or colleague to take my order in English.

UPDATE
In a comical series of events, my wife tried to go to multiple Taiwanese fried chicken restaurants in Burwood, which all ended up being closed even though they were still meant to be open. She ended up at Chick Joy again, and ordered some bird for takeaway.

The crispy fried chicken soft bone ($15) she ate almost all of in the car. She didn’t like it as much as the one she likes to get from Hot Star.

The crispy fried chicken wings ($15) were alright, but not special.

The plum sweet & sour crispy fried chicken ($15) was quite yummy, wiht a bit of a hidden five spice flavour to it that added an extra dimension of Chineseness.

Pecking House Sydney when?

Chick Joy
Burwood Chinatown Shop, 7A ground floor 127/133 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
Café

Angus – Marrickville NSW Restaurant Review

I finally got my wife to agree to go to Angus with me, having seen it mentioned multiple times online as a source of a good fish sandwich.

The fish sandwich ($27.39) was indeed good. The fish was soft and moist, with a crunchy crumbing. The tartare sauce was generous and highly dilled, with the brightness and tartness of capers adding additional flavour.

Though the housemade focaccia was high in volume, its airy and compressible structure meant that it didn’t feel like a burden to consume, and overall the balance of flavour, moisture, and bread was on point.

For our second sandwich my wife chose the crumbed chicken sandwich ($24.01), which is not something I would’ve chosen in addition to crumbed fish, but this is after all a democracy (sometimes).

Neither of us liked the chicken sandwich as much, both finding it dryer and less flavourful – attributes that the furikake, fermented chilli mayo, pickled cucumber, and slaw could not fix.

Overall
Prices were paid as written, inclusive of a 10% weekend surcharge – which on one hand makes sense because of penalty rates, but on the other hand I suspect weekends make up a disproportionate amount of their business. $27.40 for a fish sandwich is really too much, no matter how good it is, and $24 for a less good chicken sandwich is as well. Because of this, Angus will have to be one and done for me.

Angus
69 Meeks Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204