Category: Fast Food

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
American Fast Food Korean

Rainbow Fried Delights – Wollongong NSW Restaurant Review

We don’t eat at a lot of food court outlets, and the ones where we do are mostly out of desperation, rather than out of intention. Rainbow Fried Delights was an exception to this rule. The deep hankering for fried chicken, not satisfiable by their absence from His Boy Elroy’s breakfast menu, led us on a multi-level journey to actually find the location of the Wollongong Central Food Court.

We had the 8 piece boneless spicy chicken ($9.75), chosen strategically as it was one of the only options not available at time of ordering, meaning that we’d get it fresh out of the fryer a mere six minutes after we ordered.

The batter was light in texture as well as light in salting, reminiscent of a Korean fried chicken prior to it being sauced. Indeed, they offer “Korean fried chicken” separately on the menu, though I wasn’t sure how this would differ from what we had. The spiciness of this allegedly spicy chicken was very minimal, though there was an array of sauces on offer for an additional sum.

The meat was predominantly dark meat, with a bit of white meat mixed in. No bony thigh pieces were on offer (the most superior of all fried chicken cuts), and though this meant that Rainbow’s fried chicken was more user-friendly to eat, they did miss out on some optimal flavour.

Overall – consider adding to the rotation, for a less salty alternative to Chicko’s, but be aware that it’s not 1:1 comparable. I’m still searching for something to live up to the fried chicken I had on campus at uni in 2012.

Rainbow Fried Delights
L1 W216/200 Crown St, Wollongong NSW 2500

Categories
Australian Fast Food

Chargrill Charlie’s – Drummoyne NSW Restaurant Review

Our colleague from India is moving interstate to Victoria, and asked us for a suggestion of the pinnacle of Western cuisine to try in Sydney before he leaves. This was my friend’s suggestion. This review is from a visit to the Drummoyne store, but I assume can be applied broadly to any of the outlets in the chain.

The half chicken & chips ($15.90) was actually quite good. The chicken was very similar in flavour profile to that of a rotisserie chicken from Coles or Woolworths, but much moister and fresher. Charlie’s advertised smoke-free charcoal cooking technique did produce a less burnt product than for example El Jannah, whilst still retaining some charcoal flavour.

The chicken roll with mayo and gravy ($13.90) was very moist and flavourful, with enough tomato and lettuce inside to create a sense of healthiness similar to that of a KFC twister.

Full disclosure, I had this charlie’s chop salad ($7.90) after a day in the fridge. One of the problems I faced ordering at Chargrill Charlie’s was that very few of the online reviews actually mentioned anything about the chicken. Most reviewers raved only about the salad, but again without any direction as to which one to get. This was fine. I think it would’ve been bette rwarm.

I’d never had Chargrill Charlie’s before. It seems like Red Rooster for the Harris Farm crowd. The quality was pretty good, but I don’t know that I’d recommend it to a visiting cardiologist, dignitary, or ex-teen heartthrob Justin Bieber as a representation of peak Australian cuisine.

I’ve also been informed by my friend that her peak recommendations for this place are: “marinated chicken drumstick” and “avocado vinagarette salad”, and that I ordered the wrong thing.

Chargrill Charlie’s Drummoyne
172 Lyons Rd, Drummoyne NSW 2047