The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
I’ve been wanting to try Monkey’s Corner for a long time, but it’s been difficult to get our work schedules to sync up with its limited Thurs-Sun 5PM-9PM opening hours. This afternoon I finally got the call – to come try out Monkey’s Corner to see if it’s good before bringing the wider group.
Monkey’s Corner, located next to its sister restaurant KOI, is a Japanese-influenced eatery run by the Poernomo brothers. Its menu consists of doburi, noodles, and other japanese inspired dishes, and patrons are free to order desserts and coffee from KOI next door.
I had the Uni egg noodle with dashi cream, sea urchin, salmon roe ($27). The first thing to mention is that the portion was absolutely tiny. The photos on instagram and even the photo that I’ve taken don’t do justice to the miniscule size of the portion. Perhaps the best measure of the size is the spoon in the background of the image. This dish was about three spoons long and one and a half spoons wide.
What I think was most disappointing was that this dish was clearly pasta, rather than noodles. Noodles in an Asian context does not describe super-al-dente noodles in a heavy cabonara-like sauce. That’s what this was, and it caught me off guard. Pasta was not what I was expecting, and pasta was not what I wanted. The portions of uni seem large in this photo, but were actually very small in person. I had high hopes for this dish, but it was not meant to be.
I really wanted to enjoy Monkey’s Corner, but it was not meant to be. I would not bring a friend or colleague.
“The Best Dumplings in Kensington” is a big claim to make for this small, pan-fried-only dumpling restaurant. While I can’t directly refute this claim given I’ve never had dumplings at any other Kensington restaurant, I can tell you with certainty that their dumplings are not the best in the Randwick-Kensington-Kingsford Anzac Parade area (that crown is currently worn by the Northeast Restaurant in Kingsford).
I had a selection of dumplings and Chu’s fried chicken wings.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT – Egg, Chive, and Prawn; Chicken and Mushroom; Crayfish and Pork; Pork, Chive, and Prawn
Each type of dumpling is offered in 6 or 12 piece portions, and only come pan-fried. They were on average not bad – very juicy and with fresh ingredients, but a bit underflavoured for me (which is unusual).
The Egg, Chive, and Prawn dumplings (6 for $9) and the Pork, Chive, and Prawn dumplings (6 for $9) both had large and generous pieces of prawn inside which provided a good mouthfeel and taste. Both could’ve used a bit more flavouring, however there was ample soy sauce and vinegar for adjustment to personal taste.
The Chicken and Mushroom dumplings (6 for $8) were also mildly flavoured – I had this meal two days ago and it is not memorable at all.
The Crayfish and Pork dumplings (6 for $13) were a bit more expensive given the addition of seafood. These tasted vastly different to the other three, with a strong spicy flavour.
The chicken wings (6 for $9) were moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. They were deep fried in a thin but very eggy batter and dusted with a seasoning similar to that used in Taiwanese Fried Chicken. These wings were different to any other wings I’ve had before, and definitely a highlight. The guy who came in after me also asked for wings, and after a brief conversation in Mandarin between the guy at front of house and the lady in the kitchen it was revealed that they only had 5 wings in stock. He was told that they had sold out of chicken wings and opted for some diced fried chicken instead, although I wonder if he would’ve been happy to have just five wings (he was alone, after all) at a discount. We’ll never know.
VERDICT Does Chu’s Dumpling House really have the best dumplings in Kensington? I don’t know – I guess they’re the best I’ve ever had in Kensington, a low bar as they’re also the only I’ve had in Kensington. I think that despite what I suspect is a bit of hyperbole Chu’s Dumpling House is still worth a visit. Their dumplings are fresh and juicy, and their chicken wings are different and special. I only wish they did their dumplings boiled.
We’ve been on a bit of a Vietnamese food journey recently, and when Kinhboy popped up on my radar last week with good preliminary reviews online we knew we had to try. Unfortunately they did not quite live up to their hype.
The banh xeo tacos with crackling pork belly (2 for $16) were pretty unextraordinary. While the filling of crackling pork, vietnamese slaw and sauce was tasty, juicy and fresh, the “banh xeo” exterior shell was a letdown. Taking our experience at Banh Xeo Bar as a baseline we would characterise this banh xeo taco shell as too hard (but not crispy) and a bit stale tasting.
Short Rib Pho
Kinhboy’s beef short rib pho ($18) was actually very good. The meat was very juicy and tender, cut into bit sized pieces and rearranged on the bone. The broth was rich and tasty. My one complaint would be that this dish was served with the bean sprouts within the soup, meaning that we did not have the opportunity to add our own at our own pace. This meant that they got quite soft and cooked by the end of our meal, while we like them a bit more crunchy and less cooked.
Crispy Chicken Supreme ($21), Jasmine Rice ($4)
I had very high expectations for the Crispy Chicken Supreme ($21), cooked in the French style in nuoc cham buerre blanc. Unfortunately my expectations were not met. The chicken itself was dry, and the skin hard but not crispy – a significant downgrade from the chicken I recently had at Khoi’s in Surry Hills. The sauce, while tangy and creamy, didn’t really go well with the chicken. Even when dipped the chicken had difficulty holding onto the sauce, and my partner felt like the flavours did not match well ( I don’t feel as strongly about this.) While the Jasmine Rice ($4) was a good suggestion from our waitress (like at Banh Xeo Bar, all of Kinhboy’s waitresses were White while all the Asians were kept in the kitchen) to soak up the sauce, it ultimately just didn’t cross the line into P+ territory for us.
Cherry Bomb
My partner wanted me to leave some good vibes about this Cherry Bomb ($18) cocktail.
VERDICT
While the beef short rib pho was a hit, our other two dishes were a disappointment – sad because I really wanted to like it. Despite a pretty average time at Kinhboy we did dine at sister restaurant Tokki a couple of days later – keep your eyes and noses peeled for that review soon.
A man sits in a dark room, lit only by the warm f.lux glow of his curved computer screen. A bead of sweat runs down his face. He’s opening up a new restaurant and the business side of things wants a name to get to the promo and design guys as soon as possible. He loads up cafenamegenerator.com. He selects the two word setting – it’ll roll off the tongue more than a longer name – and hits enter.
“SOCIAL” is the first word.
The computer thinks for a second.
“SOCIETY” is the second word.
He looks at the time. 11:59PM. Just one minute until his deadline.
Good enough.
//ONE YEAR LATER//
The first thing you notice walking into Social Society is just how pink it is. This small cafe in a recently developed area of Zetland is set out like a movie cotton candy store, all baby pink, with internal seating in a U shape around a central coffee preparation area (there’s also outdoor seating for the COVID wary.) It’s noon on a Friday but the cafe is bustling with patrons. It looks like mostly young professionals on their day off. One pair, we imagine, is a medical registrar on her day off having lunch with her mum.
Social Society – Seafood Indulgence
The Seafood Indulgence ($28) is first and foremost, fantastic. A generous serving of salmon is grilled to be perfectly crispy on the skin, and perfectly tender and medium rare in the centre. The grilled prawns, one of which is head one, are sweet and tasty. The roe is creamy, not too salty, and adds a nice third dimension of seafood flavour. The Parish mash potato is rich and creamy, and delicious mixed with or dipped in the mouth-wateringly umami saffron seafood reduction, which itself has a strong prawn head taste. The gremolata and cherry tomatoes add a degree of zest and sourness, providing a foil for the rich seafood sauce. It’s been a week since I’ve eaten this and I’m still thinking about it. I really can’t get over this sauce. It’s so good.
Bone Marrow
We thought we would enjoy the beef shank Bone Marrow ($16) but unfortunately we did not. It was a bit too oily for our tastes, however we don’t have much of a reference point to compare it against. I was grateful for the serving of charcoal garlic toasted bread, which helped to mop up the fattiness from the bone marrow. The herb and pickled eschalot salad on top did double duty in providing a different flavour and a further foil for the fattiness of the bone marrow. This dish was not personally to my taste.
The R-Rated Eggs & Beans ($18) + Chorizo ($5) was my partner’s choice of main. The R-Rated Eggs & Beans by themselves are similar to a vegetarian shakshuka with a large portion of sumac flavoured whipped goat’s cheese, so I’m not sure why it is restricted to adults only. It may be the two chilli symbols on the menu, however the spiciness of the dish was far overstated – it was more tomatoey. My partner thought that the goat’s cheese was too goaty, but otherwise enjoyed this. My personal opinion, not being a connoisseur of shakshuka, was that it was OK but nothing to write home about. I didn’t really like the taste of the chorizo, but understand that its course texture was a hint that it was more authentic and perhaps housemade compared to the Don Chorizo you get from the supermarket.
The chocolate milkshake ($6) was thin and watery and not so good. We didn’t add the extra dollar to turn it into a thickshake, but even then I think a milkshake should not be this loose.
UPDATE 8/12/2020
We went back for a second round. The gentleman who appears to be running the place greeted us with a “welcome back”, but I’m not sure if he really recognised us. If he has I’m sure he hasn’t yet linked us with the blog.
Pannacotta
Social Society’s Pannacotta ($14) is quite a large and elaborate dish for the price. The vanilla based pannacotta was nice and bouncy with a flavour that was not too sweet. The lemon meringue and lemon curd was however a bit sweet for me, but provided a nice sourness to the dish which was nicely offset by the salty pretzels. I quite liked the preserved slice of citrus as I thought it had good depth of flavour, but my partner thought i was intolerably sour. Overall this was multiple times better than the $16 panna cotta at Ripples Chowder Bay in Mosman.
Fries (truffled with parmesan)
The truffled fries with parmesan ($12) are a monster serving. The fries are mega thick and large, crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The parmesan was a welcome addition, however towards the middle of the dish I felt like I was fenced in by the sheer volume of potato. This is definitely one to share between 4-6 people, not just two.
Magic Mushrooms with thick cut bacon
The Magic Mushrooms ($21) with thick cut bacon ($5) was a stunner. The real star of the dish, strangely absent from its name, is the delicious truffle infused folded eggs. It is a very thick egg omelete, cooked to a medium degree and delicately folded. It is extremely moist and buttery, and topped with mushroom and chives. The assorted sauteed “forest mushrooms” that the dish gets its namesake from were juicy and not overcooked, but the folded egg was definitely the best part of the base dish. The thick cut bacon was a very welcome add-on. The bacon was essentially 3-dimensional, a bacon so thick that I’ve provided a cross section. It was more like rashers of pork belly with a deliciously caramelised taste. This dish, along with the seafood indulgence, make what is in my opinion Social Society’s “must tries”.
UPDATE 17/12/2020
Salmon ramen with hot smoked salmon and crispy salmon
My third visit to Social Society was alone. I took the opportunity to go by myself to try out the Salmon Ramen ($28 with crispy skin salmona nd house hot-smoked salmon) whilst my other half was at work. The salmon ramen is generally offered with a choice of the crispy skinned grilled salmon or the house hot-smoke salmon, but not wanting to go again I asked for both. The promise of an 18-hour seafood broth was alluring, and I had expected something similar to the sauce that was on the Seafood Indulgence, reviewed above. Unfortunately what I found was a thin and quite sour soup, which didn’t have the rich seafood flavour that I had been expecting. The fried onions were soggy on serving, and the thin soba noodles were a bit floury. While the crispy skin salmon was good, I didn’t enjoy the smoked salmon so much. Unfortunately I had high hopes for this dish but I was well disappointed.
VERDICT
Despite the silly name, Social Society really does do a good brunch. The seafood indulgence is my pick of the bunch, but there are several more dishes I’d like to go back and try. While I didn’t take advantage of this, I also like that there is no additional charge for non-standard milks. As a genetically inferior lactose intolerant person I’ve never enjoyed paying an additional 50 cents for a soy milk that is not really much more expensive than normal milk. I’m glad that these guys are leading the way for the bean rights movement.
4.5/5. Can recommend. This place offers something special.
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Social Society 7 Ebsworth St, Zetland NSW 2017 (02) 7903 0693
This is not a criticism of Amuze at all, but as I was driving to Amuze in one of Sydney CBD’s many 40 km/hr zones a man in a white Porsche Cayenne aggressively tailgated me, beeped his horn at me, then ultimately did an illegal U-turn through double lines. As I was looking for parking near Amuze I once again saw this man, still in his car, parked adjacent to one of the only free spots directly outside the restaurant. As I didn’t want to be assaulted by this bad man I had to keep driving and eventually park around the corner.
Amuze salmon steak
I had the salmon steak ($19.50) consisting of a piece of pan-fried salmon atop salad with spiralised zuchini, sun dried tomatoes and carrot and a side of potato. The salmon itself was delicious, with crispy skin and a partially cooked inside. I’m surprised how much I enjoyed the spiralised zucchini salad – it was really tasty with its zesty flavours. The potatoes had a nice fried exterior however I felt the interior was too starchy.
While I ate outside, the interior of the restaurant looked really nice. There’s plenty more on the menu that I’d like to try – the cafe pride itself on a number of Korean inspired dishes, and has a few Korean chefs.
Will come back soon I hope.
UPDATE 15/11/2020
So I did come back, five days after my initial meal – this time with my partner and one of our emergency medicine friends.
Amuze cream cheese pancakes
The cream cheese pancakes ($17.50) were good. The pancakes themselves were soft with a complex slightly sourdough-like flavour, and not too sweet (yum). There was a huge serving of cream cheese topping (yum), compote (yum), and fresh strawberries and blueberries (standard).
Amuze spaghetti white truffle ragu
The spaghetti white truffle ragu ($19.50) was delicious! The sauce was creamy and flavourful. The sausage mince added additional bursts of flavour atop the sauce. The spaghetti was cooked a bit too al dente for me, but still yummy.
Coffee ($3.80 for a latte), was unfaultable – very good.
Closing comments – while Amuze bills itself as Korean-Italian fusion, my impression is that their menu consists of either Korean or Italian dishes. The three dishes that we’ve tried (and the chicken parma that my ED colleague tried – not pictured or reviewed) were all firmly in the Italian camp of things, with no real Korean touches. I wonder if the other half of the menu – which consists of kimchi ramen and bibimbap among other things – have more Western elements in them. Not a complaint – just an observation.
