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.
King of Skewers is a small basketball themed Chinese BBQ skewer restaurant in Kingsford. It is co-located with Beautea, which is my favourite bubble tea place in Kingsford.
The walls are adorned with basketballs, NBA memorabilia, and posters. There is a hoop over the window that peers into the kitchen at the back of the restaurant, but I dared not to shoot as 1) the balls were too high up for me and 2) there was no telling the cost of repairing the excellent fitout by Keeyuen.
Ordering was via the nondescriptive tick a box next to the food on the piece of white paper method. We had basically no idea how our foods would look until they came.
After a reasonably long wait we indulged in these beef, lamb, and pork skewers. They were delicious.
The scallops were too salty and we felt they were overpriced. Often oversauced seafood, especially in Asian cuisine, is a mask for low quality or less fresh ingredients.
We really thought this expensive chicken wing would consist of more than one chicken wing. It was yum but a poor spend of money.
I literally can’t imagine someone painstakingly threading each corn kernel onto a stick, let alone 10 sticks. A+ for effort.
Overall: King of Skewers in Kingsford is the place to be if you’re looking for a basketball themed Chinese BBQ skewer restaurant. I’m still unclear on the relationship between basketball and skewering, but the staple foods were delicious, while the less staple foods (scallops, chicken wing) were less delicious and more overpriced. Make sure you grab a drink from Beautea on the way in.
South Dowling Sandwiches is a local sandwich joint well known for its massive packed sandwiches. A protip is to order online for pickup, as it minimises your wait time and therefore exposure to potential airborne pathogens in COVID-19 2020.
The sandwiches are overall quite good. They generally run around $9-$12, with more asked for the more full featured sandwiches. They are normally loaded with savoury flavours, with their caramelised carrots being a house specialty.
I thought that their tuna salad with lemon chive mayo ($13.50) was actually quite wholesome and delicious, and enjoyed it more than their salads. Can definitely recommend this one.
Overall would recommend giving South Dowling Sandwiches a go. I’m still on the fence about it personally, I think I enjoy the sandwiches at Two Fives a bit more, but they are generally the same concept.
When my partner was a wee lass working in Concord she would always try and drag me to Auvers Cafe in Rhodes for brunch. “Why?” I ‘d ask her. “Why do you keep wanting me to go with you, even though you can go by yourself for breakfast after a night shift?” Her answer was always that she wanted to share this delicious food with me.
A few of nights ago we happened upon Auvers Dining in Darling Square. It was amazing for my partner to see her favourite local cafe all grown up into a legitimate French-Asian fusion restaurant in the big smoke. It also happened to be part of Auvers’ 1st birthday celebrations, and as such we got to have a free cocktail each.
Starry 75
Death in the Afternoon
Starry 75 – Good. Bubbly. Not too sweet
Death in the Afternoon – Quite sweet. Also good
Lobster on Souffle
I had the Lobster On Souffle ($38) with caviar, bonito creamy sauce, and black garlic. It was a dish of a few firsts for me – first caviar and first souffle. I enjoyed how light and bouncy the souffle was, and we both really liked the creamy sauce. The fact that it was bonito based was not immediately clear, as it didn’t taste fishy at all, just umami. There was a reasonable quantity of lobster for the price, as well as a sneaky serving of scallop which wasn’t listed in the menu. I don’t normally care much for black garlic, however my girlfriend liked it. I also enjoyed the kumquat – it was the first time in a very long time I had tasted it.
Piggy Roulade
My partner chose the Piggy Roulade ($28) with poached saffron pear, celeriac remoulade, apple yuzu puree, Tonkotsu sauce. You will see that the word “pork” is not listed in the menu, and my partner was kind enough to double check with our waiter to make sure there was some meat involved. The meat that was involved was juicy and well cooked, however felt a bit stagnant towards the end. There was probably just too much of it in the same style for one dish, something that was apparent even as each of us was eating only half of it. The apple puree and the poached pears stood strongly on their own, but I felt like they did not pear well with the flavour of the pork. My partner disagreed with me on this and she liked that they brought some acidity into the mix.
Overall I had a really good time at Auvers Dining. There are still quite a few items on the menu that I’d like to try, and I’d ideally like to try them this month to take advantage of their free drink offer.
UPDATE 28/9/2020 – We went back
Whiskey sour
Spring special sour
Whiskey sour – enjoyed more
Spring special sour – enjoyed less. Bit too sweet.
The Ox Tongue Soba Cabonara ($22) was quite good, and well priced. I liked the creaminess of the cabonara, but thought that the ox tongue was a bit tough. My partner didn’t mind this however and happily ate the ox tongue pieces in one bite. I did like the addition of reticulum, which I thought provided a fun texture and taste. (My partner, though Chinese, does not like weird animal parts).
Wagyu Beef Skewers
I really enjoyed the Wagyu Beef Skewers (2 for $18), although I thought the price was a bit steep. The beef was tender and juicy, and I liked that shallots and mushrooms skewered between the pieces of meat. While it was quite a price to pay for merely two skewers the taste of these skewers really sets them apart from the competition. I’m still yet to find a nice, quality but cheap yakitori place in Sydney (let me know if you have a line on one!)
The Szechuan Calamari with salted egg mayo ($15) were a reasonably priced starter with good taste. I liked that they weren’t too salty, and I think that this is actually one of my favourite salted egg dishes I’ve had recently (and boy have I had a few – I think it must be in vogue.). I also liked the half lime that they gave us to drizzle over the calamari, although I can’t figure out why they decided to blacken it.
Dragon Well Tea Creme Brulee
The Dragon Well Tea Creme Brulee ($15) I could’ve lived without. I thought it was quite sweet, and I couldn’t really appreciate the green tea flavour. My partner liked it quite a bit. More power to her.
I am glad to tell you that I think Brother Restaurant is actively bad.
We had the pork dumplings ($16.80), the small braised chicken – not pictured ($30), and the beef fried noodle XO Sauce ($16.80).
The pork dumplings were small and had strong frozen supermarket dumpling energy. I don’t want to slander them but if you set me up with a bowl of dumplings that were from the frozen section of your ocal Asian grocery tsore and these dumplings I would not be able to tell you which one was $16.80 from a restaurant and which one was $4 from the supermarket.
The beef fried noodle in XO sauce was very salty with minimal meat.
The braised chicken had a reasonable flavour with chicken and potato, however was a very small quantity (a takeaway box) for $30 – did they just make this number up? – and the chicken was very bony.
I cannot recommend Brother Restaurant at all. Skip the graded escalation and just tell me to STOP if I try to order from them again.
Armed with months of insider parking knowledge, we booked ahead and found street parking early in the day. This was a much less awful process than last time.
Curried scrambled eggs
While visually arresting, the curried scrambled eggs ($19) were ultimately a bit of a disappointment. The dish basically consists of three elements – egg, sausage, and muffin. The egg is meant to be the star of the dish, but I found it the weakest component. Despite its orangey look, the eggs were in fact not that curried. The curry flavour was quite weak, and did not live up to the expectations set by the eyes. They were cooked just fine, but definitely were not as light and perfect as those at Dopa. The muffin component was superb. They were toasted to a crisp ideal of perfection, contrasting synergistically with the runniness of the eggs. The sausage, which is from local delicatessen LP’s, was complexly textured and enjoyable. My partner specifically remarked how nice it was to get a normal sausage as opposed to a chorizo which she feels is a bit overdone in the brunch scene.
Panna Cotta
A1 Canteen also served me my first ever Panna Cotta ($13) with stewed rhubarb ( I thought it was strawberry), long pepper, and olive oil. I thought it was fine. My partner was more enamoured with it than me, so I will let her explain in her own words: “The olive oil added a lot to it in a surprising way. It was creamy and yummy and I really liked the olive oil and it was not something I thought would go with it, but it really brought out the flavours. I never experienced such an olivey flavour before.”
Overall I was again a bit disappointed by A1 Canteen, but I would’ve been equally disappointed if they had closed down without me every trying the curried eggs. Go if you want.
