Category: Vietnamese

Categories
Asian Fusion Vietnamese

Hello Auntie – Darling Square Haymarket NSW Restaurant Review

We’ve passed Hello Auntie multiple times on our numerous trips to Darling Square, and felt it was time to pay them a visit. Given the limited COVID-19 seating situation, we booked ahead for the same night, which was not a problem at all on a Wednesday.

Hello Auntie has mixed indoor and outdoor seating, and provides blankets to snuggle up under for both indoor outdoor patrons. I can’t imagine that these are washed very often, and thus with the COVID-19 context in mind draws allusions to Christopher Columbus.

As lovers of fried chicken, we were unable to see past the Ga Chien Vi Pho ($32). 500 grams of fried chicken in a pho-flavoured batter could not simply be ignored. We were surprised with three large pieces of juicy, tender chicken in a fluffy golden batter – I had imagined more numerous, smaller pieces. The chicken was tasty and not faultable – a definite recommendation. Despite being listed in the menu I didn’t realise the dish came with a large amount of salad – lettuce heart in plenty of ceasar-like dressing. A relatively heavy and oily salad but a nice and surprising addition.

The other dish we had was the Mi xao bo birria ($21). Supposedly angus blade ragu in biang biang noodles, this dish was very similar to the pappardelle with lamb shank ragu at Flour Drum, but nowhere near as good. The angus blade ragu amounted to little more than connective tissue with only a vague hint of actual meat. It was a very chewy affair. We also found that the biang biang noodles had an odd stale-like taste, which just piled onto the dish’s inadequacies. It was ultimately a poorly executed noodle dish that I wish we had avoided.

While I enjoyed Hello Auntie’s chicken, the ragu was a big letdown. I would return to Hello Auntie to try some other dishes, but probably not in the near future. Hello Auntie earns a rare 3.5/5 chickens. Bok bok.

Hello Auntie Darling Square
Darling Square, Shop 2/16 Nicolle Walk, Haymarket NSW 2000
(02) 8072 8838

Categories
Chinese Vietnamese

Pho Pasteur – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

Across the road from Parramatta’s Lee Chef is Pho Pasteur, a long-lived, almost 30-year old Vietnamese restaurant that’s since extended tendrils across Sydney.

We had the Large Special Beef Pho with extra meat ($20). The flavour of this pho was good, with a lighter tasting but still umami-packed soup, a mix of rare beef, beef tendon, beef rumen, and beef balls, and a garnish of freshly chopped shallot. Like the rest of the bowl, the serving of bean sprouts, Thai basil, and chillis was fresh and adequate. Though the flavour was good, we thought that the balance of meats did skew heavily towards the rare beef side, with our large bowl only featuring one solitary beef ball cut in half, even though we had optioned it out with extra meat. The bowl, overall, is almost matched punch-for-punch with its cross-street neighbour, but I think that given the filling imbalance I’d lean slightly towards Lee Chef’s.

Though a big fan of quail egg in meals like malatang, I’d never actually eaten quail the bird until this visit to Pho Pasteur. I had seen my parents order it occasionally at Chinese restaurants as a child, however I was always too spooked by the small size of the bird to eat them. To be honest, after trying the quail at Pho Pasteur I don’t think I really missed out on much. The two whole quails ($18) were deep fried, and quite salty, served with a zesty dipping sauce. Though the quail pieces might have looked juicy from certain angles, a quick flip around revealed that the opposite service was positively concave – these were lean birds indeed. It took quite a bit of t to harvest the meat from these quail, which didn’t really taste that different to duck or chicken. I don’t think I’d order this again – I’d go straight for the crispy skin chicken which is also on offer at Pho Pasteur – but this may very well be a comment on my personal preferences rather than the restaurant’s ability.

I was not a big fan of this eggplant and pork mince hot pot ($17). Though the taste and size of this hot pot was good, it was just filled to the brim with oil, making it very difficult for me to eat without hating myself. Rice is a necessary evil whilst eating this dish, but perhaps a course of orlistat or plasmapheresis would be better accompaniments.

VERDICT
Pho Pasteur’s offerings have a great deal of crossover with nearby Lee Chef’s. One of Pho Pasteur’s strengths is its actual printed menu, which features photos of many of their dishes, hence not leaving things up to the imagination as Lee Chef does. I think that ultimately both restaurants provide good quality Vietnamese and Chinese food, and the restaurant of choice will be up to whichever one is open at the time (Lee Chef is closed on Sunday nights, but open later on other days).

Pho Pasteur Parramatta
137 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 9635 0782

Categories
Chinese Vietnamese

Lee Chef (利記中越餐廳) – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

Lee Chef is your friendly neighbourhood ethnically ambiguous Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant. Open until 10PM, they have, on multiple occasions, patiently remained open as we slurped up our post-shift pho and eaten our fill of authentic Asian classics.

The fried chicken wings were great. They were lightly battered and freshly fried, seasoned with 椒盐 (jiao yan), which is a traditional Chinese salt and chilli pepper seasoning. Each wing was crispy on the outside but moist on the inside – perfectly executed.

The vegetarian spring rolls were not great – in fact they teetered on the edge of actively bad. They were brought out very quickly and didn’t really feel like they had been heated all the way through. The filling inside the spring rolls were lukewarm at best, and displayed a mushy texture. We didn’t end up finishing these spring rolls – they were simply calories for punishment.

The Combination Beef Pho was wholesome and authentic. All elements were good. The protein component consisted of rare beef, beef balls, tendon, and beef rum. The soup was full of umami flavours and not too sweet or salty – just right. The side of Thai basil and bean sprouts was not only adequate but generous. I am blessed to live near a restaurant that can deliver such consistently good pho, and I have ordered it as takeaway roughly 12 times in the last six months

I was less impressed by the Hainan Chicken Rice. I found the chicken too bland and tasteless and the rice a bit too hard, though I did appreciate the soup and the generous serving of chilli and ginger and shallot condiments. My partner was a much bigger fan of this dish than I was.

The combination bean curd hot pot was of quality and taste commensurate with its price. I do love myself a combination bean curd hot pot.

VERDICT
Quality neighbourhood eatery
Hits all the classics right in the bullseye
Wouldn’t travel for it, but will keep coming back again and again this year.
4/5

UPDATE (2023): Closed. A loss to the local area.

Lee Chef (利記中越餐廳)
1/140 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 8677 4425

Categories
Bakery Vietnamese

Marrickville Pork Roll – Marrickville NSW Banh Mi Review

Embattled Marrickville banh mi store is basically three Vietnamese women working in cramped quarters in the Up house. The recipient of frequent fines for food safety and cleanliness, Marrickville Pork Roll has been variously described as the best or second best pork rolls of the inner suburbs.

Sliced pork banh mi ($6). This banh mi is not faultable. The bread was fresh and soft. There was a good variety and quantity of both salads and meat. The pate was applied generously. This pork roll ticked all the boxes.

Crackling pork belly banh mi ($8). The review is essentially the same, with the change in meat. Great crispy texture. Lots of delicious pate. Can’t go wrong.

VERDICT

Overall I think Marrickville Pork Roll produces some pretty unfaultable banh mi. The problem is that banh mi has developed to so much of an art form that there are multiple equal-level competitors vying for first place.

I wouldn’t travel for this pork roll if there’s a suitable competitor nearby.

Marrickville Pork Roll
236 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204
0479 000 445

Categories
Vietnamese

Khoi Eatery – Marrickville NSW Vietnamese Restaurant Review

Khoi Eatery has a strong social media game – so strong in fact, that I ate there after initially intending to have lunch at Khoi’s in Surry Hill – a completely different business.

Unfortunately the COMBINATION PHO PHỞ ĐẶC BIỆT (Regular – $14) was pretty standard. It was not bad, but there was nothing standout about it. The rare beef was not particularly rare, and the brisket, tripe, and tendon were all good but not amazing. The beef balls were probably the only part that was better than average, with a special texture to it. The soup was not a standout either.

Chopped fresh chilli was served inside this jar with no utensil, which given the current COVID-19 climate (this meal was eaten in late 2020) I was hesitant to touch. I would have felt much safer had this been served on a plate – who knows how many people have had their grubby hands in here?

The CHARGRILLED PORK SKEWERS (NEM NƯỚNG LỤI – $10) were not bad, but not what I expected. Not being Vietnamese I did not know that these would be minced meat, like kofta or seekh kebab. They had a sweet taste, similar to char siu.

The other half was busy studying for her ANZCA primary and unwilling to leave her cave. I brought home a serving of BBQ PORK CHOP BROKEN RICE (CƠM TẤM SƯỜN) ($13) as takeaway. This was actually quite a good dish – the BBQ pork was tasty and nicely marinated, and there was a good quantity of it. The sunny side up egg was cooked to a perfect degree of runniness. It also happened to be extremely cheap. I suspect that had I eaten this at the restaurant my overall impression of Khoi Eatery would be better.


OVERALL
My overall impression is that Khoi Eatery is fine, but not great. There’s nothing particularly wrong with their food, but also nothing particularly right. I ate at Khoi Eatery so that you don’t have to. See what else might be available up the road.

3.5 porks

Khoi Eatery
310 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204
+61 (02) 8385 0060