Category: Cuisines

Categories
Chinese

Chungking Malatang (渝人麻辣烫) – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

Chungking Malatang in Burwood, not to be confused for Chungking the formal sit down restaurant, has a few things going for it.

While I don’t have any photos of the fridges and freezers of base ingredients that one has to choose from (amateur move from me), I did feel like Chungking offered a wider than average selection, almost equal to a larger Yang Guo Fu Malatang outlet like the one in Kingsford. One specific innovation that caught my eye at Chungking was the use of not only fridges but freezers to hold ingredients, particularly the raw meat rolls, in order to maintain their freshness for longer. This approach really does make sense if you think about it – these meats generally come frozen regardless – and I’m quite surprised that I’m yet to run into another restaurant that does this. It sure beats watching staff smell the meat at Number 1 Malatang in Kingsford (now permanently closed).

The second thing that’s a bit different about Chungking is the availability of premium ingredients for a premium price – mostly seafoods like scallops and salmon – that occupy a separate fridge in plates akin to those at a sushi restaurant. Though I didn’t partake myself, this does add a bit of a high brow quality to this store.

We enjoyed both the standard spicy malatang as well as the preserved vegetable soup base. There’s no point really in commenting on the bowls themselves outside of the soup, as we essentially just got what w liked. Unlimited coriander garnish was on offer, which is excellent.

On a subsequent visit I had my meal stir-fried. It was alright, a bit spicier and saltier than I would have wanted, and with a degree of strictness of minimum portions even though my partner had ordered a huge wet one (pictured below).

THOUGHTS
Chungking Malatang in Burwood is a pretty strong contender for best Malatang in Burwood, especially as the Yang Guo Fu near the plaza has made way for a different company. Chungking’s extensive opening hours (closing for dine-in at 11:30PM most nights) and frozen meat fridge might just give it the edge over its nearby competitor Zhangliang.

Chungking Malatang (渝人麻辣烫) Burwood
158 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
(02) 8385 2444

Categories
Thai

Paste – Mittagong NSW Restaurant Review

Operated by celebrated chef Bee Satongun and her Mittagong local husband, Paste’s Southern Highlands venue follows Michelin-starred and otherwise successful ventures in Thailand and Laos. While I would argue that the vast majority of Asian restaurants in small rural towns in Australia are mostly visited by accident, Paste holds a distinction for being not merely an afterthought, but a destination.

The Tropical Pomelo Salad ($45) is an somewhat misleadingly named but delicious dish consisting of two slipper lobsters (I believe them to be Moreton Bay Bug) and a few wedges of pomelo in a deliciously rich citrusy sauce. While much of the promotional material for the overseas version of this dish shows the bugs deshelled, our bugs came split in half with shell on, somewhat hurting the appearance of this dish, but at the same time providing diners with the valuable choice of picking their own saucing coefficient. The protective layer of shell meant that the bugs could not possibly come oversauced, but that we were able to decide exactly how much of it we wanted – a touch we found very thoughtful. The de-albedod pomelo portions were fresh and mildly sweet, however they alone were not enough to make this a salad. Given the dominance of sauce in the dish we would consider this more of a regular main than a salad, and would recommend an order of rice to go along with it to soak up all the flavours. Ultimately though I longed for more bug meat at the end of this dish.

I’ve been on a bit of a duck hunt recently, and Paste’s Half Crispy Duck ($44) was my latest attempt at capturing a juicy, meaty duck with crispy skin. While not all of these criteria were fulfilled (I think I just need to go to a standard Cantonese BBQ restaurant), Paste’s duck was truly quite special in its own way. This half duck came bathed in a sweet, clear broth of herbs and aniseed, and while the broth itself soaked through what might have otherwise been quite crispy skin, the interesting and complex flavours imparted by it were more than worth it. The citrus flesh and rind were delightfully fresh, and I particularly enjoyed mouthfuls with them and the contrast they provided against the otherwise herby broth.

The Smoky Southern Crab Curry ($43) was again interesting and unexpected. Unlike the pomelo salad, the shellfish of this salad was completely deshelled, with Australian blue swimmer crab meat on show in the bowl, making it an ideal dish for people who are generally too lazy to excavate for their own crab meat. The placement of the crab meat was again surprisingly thoughtful, with it all lumped together so that not all of it was submerged in the sauce. Not only this, but the meat was even layered so that it was not lost in the sauce as flakes, but safely secured and edible in whole spoonfuls. Magic. Truth be told though I thought that they yellow curry sauce was pretty standard, no more than well-executed, but not so special. It was all in the construction.

Rice was rice but expensive.

The Tamarind Cheese Cake ($23) with jasmine cream was very good. The cheese cake itself was a densely packed bar, again with a lot of citrus flavour. The biscuit crumb was just a little bit salty, and the dessert overall was not too sweet. The jasmine cream, unbelievably light and delicate, contrasted well with the heavy cheesecake. Each spoonful of the jasmine cream was an absolute delight.

These chairs were something else entirely. Excellent comfort with a reclining feature.

THOUGHTS
I admit this was probably a bit rambly. I wrote it over the course of two night shifts, surrounded by pinging alarms and with inadequate rest. I haven’t proofread it, but if you take anything home from this review it should be that Paste’s food is not only very good, but thought and care goes into not only the cooking but also the plating every dish. Though their prices seem to have increased 30% since they opened six months ago, they remain worth a visit.

Paste Australia (Southern Highlands)
105 Main St, Mittagong NSW 2575
(02) 4872 2277

Categories
Chinese

Number One BBQ House (No. 1 BBQ House) – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

Just a few doors down from Yummy King BBQ Campsie is their biggest competitor, a Cantonese BBQ restaurant with a hyper-focus on Southern Chinese barbecued meats, with a distinct lack of faffing around with an extensive eat-in menu.

What No. 1 BBQ House does is all your classic barbecued favourites – from soy chicken to crispy roast duck, to BBQ pork and roast pork, as well as some other things in between. There is no in-house seating (this may be a COVID-19 thing, but it’s already January 2023, perhaps it was just for the afternoon that we went), and no need for it. Just meat.

Both the BBQ Pork and Roast Pork were $36.kg, about the going price up and down the road, and everywhere else.

The char siu was very good, with good flavours – a balance of sweet, salty, and umami, as well as good texture. It was cut in the traditional way, against the grain, with each piece having a good mouthfeel with no particularly chewy bits – more than I can say for Yummy King BBQ.

To contrast, the siu yuk (roast pork), was not as good as next door. It was certainly not bad, with again good texture, crispy skin even when eaten as takeaway, and a good amount of lean meat with a little bit of fat. The taste however was too salty for my liking, and I longed for the more mild but still tasty variety that I had had from Yummy King just days ago.

The ginger and shallot oil was clear, which in comparison is definitely a plus.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Though we’re yet to have any of the birds at No. 1 BBQ House, my opinion is that their char siu is superior to Yummy King, whilst their crackling roast pork is not as good. Seeing as they’re right next to each other, it’s not overly difficult to just get what you like from each place.

I will note that No. 1 BBQ house imposes no EFT surcharge for purchases over $10, and only a 50c surcharge for purchase under $10, which is both fair and extremely above board. I pay my income tax, and appreciate when others do the same.

Respect.

Number One BBQ House Campsie
152 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194
(02) 9718 6147

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Chinese

STIX – Marrickville NSW Restaurant Review

My partner and I have been eating a lot of good food recently, much to the disappointment of my healthcare team and our mortgage deposit. This morning’s late start for my partner found us at STIX, a farm to table café with a much appreciated all-day menu.

We started with the potato hash ($8). I couldn’t stop her. For what it’s worth, these were great. These were extremely buttery and luscious, multi-layered with a thin crispy of an exterior and a soft interior. Pretty tasty.

The smoked trout rillettes ($24) with fennel and kohlrabi remoulade, celery, pickled eschallot, apricot jam and sourdough toast was next. I enjoyed the taste and texture of this dish, as something I could not dream of making myself. The base of sourdough bread was nice and crusty, with good structural integrity and able to carry the weight of its toppings with ease. The brightness, freshness and crunchiness of the celery was excellent with the more creamy textures of the remoulade and trout rillette. The taste and texture of the rillette, something difficult to make or find outside of a restaurant, were both good, and a reasonable volume was provided with our order.

The poached egg was comically small, though we do understand that when you’re raising the hens yourself there is a spectrum of eggs produced, and it’s not possible to only have 58 gram eggs. Unfortunately the small size of our poached egg may have contributed to its overcooking – I have no photos but it was 0% runny compared to what a normal poached egg is.

The last thing to mention would be the apricot jam, which was just a little bit sweet but added so much to the overall flavour of the dish, complimenting the saltiness and savouriness of the rest of the meal. My partner particularly liked that it was dolloped on in discrete bits, so that some mouthfuls would have some sweetness and others would not.

The very good chicken and sweetcorn congee ($21) was a dish that I felt I could probably make at home, and am in fact probably ethnically and genetically obliged to make at home at some point. It was a really tasty and hot bowl of congee, with a bit of spiciness from some tamari chilli relish, some sweetness from the corn, some ginger, and some saltiness from what I presume is just plain salt. The texture of the rice was very nice and soft, and has prompted me to freeze a bit of washed and soaked rice in my freezer just now so that I can make something similar soon. The chicken was not particularly plentiful, with a shredded grocery store rotisserie chicken kind of quality (though I do not mean to defame – I’m sure it was much fancier than this), but enough for enjoyment. This was ultimately a simple but very well executed dish, one that will inspire me to be a better Asian this week.

I made my partner wait a full twelve minutes after the end of our meal to decide if she still wanted this tea and toast croissant ($9.50). $9.50 is a lot to pay for a croissant. I thought that the earl grey tea cream filling of the croissant was plentiful in volume, but sadly not so in taste. It felt highly calorie dense, fatty and thick, but without the taste payoff that such expenditure should entail. I would’ve much preferred a stronger earl grey taste in this situation, preferably also without as much volume of cream. Filling aside, the marmalade glaze on this croissant was enjoyable, although in my imaginations of Beverly and Betty tea and toast diets (I am, for these six months, a geriatric medicine advanced trainee after all) I had always assumed it was plain toast straight out of the toaster that they were eating. I doubt you would get too malnourished if this croissant were your staple meal.

OTHER THOUGHTS
I don’t know how I feel about a place that only takes card, with a mandatory card surcharge for all payments. It feels like any mandatory, unavoidable surcharge should be built into the menu price from the start, but I guess the gods of the ACCC disagree with me. Pretty good food. Worth a visit.

STIX
20 Chapel St, Marrickville NSW 2204
(02) 9550 2772

Categories
French

Frencheese – Spotswood VIC Restaurant Review

We didn’t actually have this meal in Melbourne, but rather a food stall by the Frencheese people at a very small Christmas market in Sydney.

We had, among other things that day, this raclette traditional ($17) with melted raclette cheese poured on butter sautéed potatoes, rosemary and thyme, shaved pastrami and ham with some mixed lettuce, vinaigrette, and baby gherkins. The odour and umami taste of this mixture was just incredible, with such a strong cheesiness and creaminess from the mixture of cheese, meats, and potatoes. It was a taste I’d never had before, and I’m glad I got to try it before the heaviness of it all put me in the ground.

Frencheese
Grazeland Melbourne, 20 Booker St, Spotswood VIC 3015 (Permanent stall)
Multiple stalls around the place. Check soicals.