Categories
Korean

Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

Not to be confused with the very similarly named Se Joung Korean BBQ Restaurant on Evaline St near Woolworths!

Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet is a Korean BBQ buffet charging $38 per person for 2 hours for dinner. They have your usual selection of meats, however the during the COVID-19 respiratory pandemic they have changed to a menu ordering system as opposed to a self serve system.

Their meat was the usual fare. Nothing special. Don’t fall for the trap of getting the “waygu”. Regardless of the genotype the phenotype doesn’t impress.

Side dishes were actually not bad. The noodles were good.

I don’t think I’ll come back to Se Jong. Nothing stood out to me, although it would be a good place for a couple of hungry lads to optimise their returns. They have a sister store in Carlingford which we went to a couple of years back, which we enjoyed less.

Eight out of ten cows

Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet Campsie
8 London St, Campsie NSW 2194
(02) 9787 7126

Categories
Indonesian

Ayam Goreng 99 – Kingsford NSW Restaurant Review

Ayam Goreng 99, I’m told, is perhaps the top Indonesian restaurant in all of Sydney. It also happens to be within a 15 minute drive of where I live, and so I felt obliged to try it.

Paha Goreng Kalasan (left), Kweatiau Goreng (right)

On the advice of Zomato denizens I tried the Paha Goreng Kalasan (deep fried chicken maryland, $7) and the Kweatiau Goreng (stir-fried thick egg noodles, $13).

The Paha Goreng Kalasan, along with its grilled friend Dada Baker, is meant to be one of the standout items on Ayam Goreng 99’s menu. Many reviews exist online praising its taste, although a similar number seem to decry the price. As somewhat of a connoisseur of fried chicken, the paha goreng kalsan didn’t really do anything for me. I thought it was too salty, and the cooking which I’m told is perfect didn’t stand out.

Kweatiau Goreng, as I’ve recently come to know, is an Indonesian analogue of char kway teow, modified to exclude non Halal friendly meats to cater to the large Muslim population in Indonesia. Ayam Goreng 99’s Kweatiau Goreng was very salt and fishball heavy. I enjoyed the scant greens, which were a welcome reprieve from the salt of it all, but they weren’t enough.

Overall I found that Ayam Goreng 99’s food was too salty for me. I also wasn’t offered any water, and it was only when paying that I saw a sign saying jugs of water were no longer being offered due to COVID-19. I guess washing jugs is not within their scope of practice.

I didn’t enjoy Ayam Goreng 99, and I’m not convinced that you would either.

Ayam Goreng 99
464 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032
(02) 9697 0030

Categories
Bakery Vietnamese

Chillilime Matraville – Matraville NSW Takeaway Review

I have never had a worse roll.

Chillilime Matraville bills itself as an Aussie take on the Vietnamese banh mi. After trying 3 of their offerings after a night shift I think it’s safe to say that they should’ve let what was good just be.

In general I found their rolls very bready. The bread was thick and not light like a banh mi baguette should be, and it was neither crispy nor soft, just hard. The rolls were also very overpriced, and I paid a steep $37.49 delivered for 3 rolls.

The #2 five spice pork roll was $9.50 at base, with an extra $0.10 each to add tomato, onion, and sriracha chilli sauce, as if the first two weren’t already essential components of a banh mi. The mild flavours unfortunately got lost in the bread, which you will find is a recurring theme of food from Chillilime.

The #4 meatball roll with tomato, beetroot, carrot, chilli, coriander, onion and cucumber came to a staggering $10.20. Each of these listed ingredients attracted a $0.10 surcharge on top of the $9.50 base price.

The #10 breakfast roll was $9.50. The bacon, egg, tomato, cheese & mayo made this roll the tastiest of the bunch, but again it was let down by the sheer volume and blandness of the bread.

It would seem that the “Aussie twist” that Chillilime advertises is just being overpriced and overbreaded. Do yourself a favour and get your next banh mi from one of the many many better alternatives in the area. Hong Ha is just a couple of suburbs down.

ChilliLime
513 Bunnerong Rd, Matraville NSW 2036
(02) 9661 6665

Categories
Japanese

Izakaya Goma – Maroubra NSW Restaurant Review

Izakaya Goma in Maroubra is one of my go-to restaurants for delivered sushi and Japanese food before a night shift. They have a good price to product ratio, and have yet to fail to hit the spot.

The Kaisen Chirashi Don ($19.80) was excellent. A good serving of all our favourite sea animals on top of top notch sushi rice. The salmon roe was yum.

The Wafu Mentaiko Cream Pasta ($14.80) tasted as you would expect and was priced well for what it was. I know I’ve definitely paid more for mentaiko pasta in the past.

Abura Soba

The Abura Soba $14.80 was delicious and made my colleagues jealous when reheated in the tea room microwave. Don’t be fooled like I was though, it already comes with more than enough Chashu – no need to add more!

Sushi Moriawase Shiro Goma

I rarely get assorted sushi packs but took a leap with the Sushi Moriawase Shiro Goma ($13.20) and was rewarded. The serves of fish were thick and generous, and even though I don’t normally like tamago I enjoyed this one.

Pork Katsu Curry

The Pork Katsu Curry ($17.80) was not memorable for me. My girlfriend enjoyed the potatoes.

I enjoy Izakaya Goma and can recommend for some quick and well priced Japanese food. It’s down the road from and perhaps overshadowed by Kokoroya, but ends up being a better value proposition., while making no sacrifices.

Izakaya Goma
693 Anzac Parade, Maroubra NSW 2035

Categories
Chinese

The Northeast Restaurant – Kingsford NSW Restaurant Review

The Northeast Restaurant is a small group of restaurants serving North Eastern Chinese cuisine throughout Sydney. The Kingsford store is open relatively late (until 10PM), and was a great option for a quick dumpling-based meal after work.

Ordering at the Northeast Restaurant was via an app on their instore iPad, and service was quick and efficient (although we were the only ones there at around 9PM).

We really enjoyed all of their dumplings. The pork mince, egg, and chive dumplings are very similar to the ones that I grew up with. The pork mince with Sauerkraut was also very good, as was the pork mince with cabbage ones. All were very juicy and well cooked. I have a personal preference for boiled dumplings and was glad to see them make an appearance, as I feel like too many Chinese restaurants only offer the option of steamed or pan fried.

The pig ear with bean curd and chives was good but I think by the time we got to them we were a bit too full. They are probably too salty to eat without rice, so if you’re keen to try them make sure you eat them with rice. We still have some leftovers in our fridge.

Overall I can highly recommend The Northeast Restaurant for your Kingsford dumpling needs. Their food is much better quality than Chinese Dumpling & Noodle Restaurant across the road, which is a place I never want to go back to. Five out of five dumplings.

The Northeast Restaurant Kingsford
436 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032