Categories
Café

Superfreak – Marrickville NSW Restaurant Review

We had quite a yummy and leafy brunch at relatively new spot Superfreak in Marrickville.

Taking a break from tradition, here’s a photo of an ultra-cozy shaggy booth bench to start.

The lunch plate ($32) allegedly with seasonal vegetables (in today’s case – carrot, cucumber, and strawberries), comte, LP’s saucisson sec, ham, sauerkraut, fig (where was this), whiped ricotta, butter, house pickles and bread was a medley of freshness and deliciousness on one plate. Each portion of the meal, apart from the comte, had its own fresh and non-overpowering flavour, layering upon each other to create a variety of mixed mouthfuls. The whipped ricotta was mild and delicious, the ham was similarly not too salty with a good mouthfeel (from Emilio’s butcher), and the bread was crunchy and excellent with a bit of butter and layered with everything else. The dutch carrots were served somewhat annoyingly with long stalks for no reason but display, but were fresh and cruchy, and the strawberries were very sweet. I didn’t have a strong adoration for the comte, especially in such a large quantity, but the sauerkraut was nice. Ever my partner, someone not generally in to cured salumis, enjoyed the saucisson sec from LP’s. This plate was overall a fun mixture of flavours.

Even better than the lunch plate was this trio of salads ($24), to which we added a side of gremolata encrusted Ora king salmon ($10). The pumpkin wedge salad was probably the best of the three, with a delicious sweet and moist wedge of roasted pumpkin in a green coriander and cashew cream dressing. The fioretto and lentil salad would be my second pick, not for the pulses, but for the mustardy leek, roasted fioretto (which soaked up so much dressing flavour) and dill, while the crunchy green salad made predominately of lettuce was quite missable, in my opinion.

The gremolata encrusted Ora king salmon ($10) was absolutely delicious, slightly seared on the outside and perfectly fatty and soft on the inside, served wiht a tangy leafy topping. It was absolutely a key component of the salad dish, if optional, and deserves to star in its own adventure on the menu on its next iteration.

Decor

The rare subsequent decor photo, they painted the air conditioner 1980s tobacco yellow to match the wall, as well as a ceiling fan and opposing wall air conditioner green. Kind of cute.

Overall thoughts
Yummy. Can recommend the salmon. Parking is OK around the corner.

Superfreak
Shop 2/333a Enmore Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204

Categories
Bakery Vietnamese

Nhu Y King’s Hot Bread – Ermington NSW Restaurant Review

Nhu Y King’s banh mis with double meat kept me going through never ending weekend ward rounds on the aged care inpatient team, and I thank them for that.

The size and price ratio was good, as was their 7-day opening schedule, something that XCel Roll could not compete with.

(I should note that as of 2024 the size and quality at XCel Roll Auburn has dropped off significantly, which is a shame, because they used to hold the crown. I don’t know if XCell Roll Parramatta has suffered the same drop in quality, as I’ve not been back in some time.)

Nhu Y King’s Hot Bread
23 Betty Cuthbert Ave, Ermington NSW 2115

Categories
Korean

Mapo Galbi Korean BBQ – West Ryde NSW Restaurant Review

We had a pork based meal at this West Ryde Korean BBQ restaurant allegedly known for its beef ribs.

The banchan offering was diverse for 4 and included marinated raw crab, which neither I nor my Indian gastroenterologist friend were game to eat. Our Korean gastroenterologist and intensivist were game. Banchan was not refilled through the meal.

We had 3 servings of marinated pork rib ($29 each) between the four of us. Cooked skillfully by a Korean born Korean, I have no complaints.

Perhaps the only thing is that when I eat with these guys we only ever get multiple orders of the one meat. See related review of Stoneage BBQ, also in West Ryde.

The miso stew ($17) with a bit of clam inside was a nice thing that I never get to eat when I eat with my partner, because she just hates anything clammy. I’m told not bad with rice, but it was also not bad without rice.

Mapo Galbi Korean BBQ
999A Victoria Rd, West Ryde NSW 2114
(02) 9807 2278

Categories
Chinese

Hot Pot And BBQ House – Wolli Creek NSW Restaurant Review

We ate here in early 2020, and I only just came across these photos accidentally on my Dropbox. This is now no use to anyone, as they’ve since gone out of business many years ago. I think it’s now an unrelated restaurant, which is quite a shame, as their hotpot focused fitout, with recessed boilers, was quite nice. I hope their equipment found a good home elsewhere.

The meal was good, if relatively expensive. I think I remember paying $100 for 2 for lunch.

I like to think that this business could’ve thrived if it were started today. It’s just a shame that they opened in late 2019 before everything closed down for the next three years.

Hot Pot And BBQ House Wolli Creek
Suite 1/8-10 Brodie Spark Dr, Wolli Creek NSW 2205

Now closed.

Categories
Chinese

Wonder Skewers – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

We spent $104 at Wonder Skewers in Burwood, which was definitely too much, and got us enough food to last two meals for two people.

The problem, kind of like in yum cha, is that everything came in groups of 3-5 skewers. This meant that to have any decent amount of variety as well as to not to eat repeats, you really need to come here with a few friends, not just one other person.

The variety of meats on offer was quite broad. We had lamb (5 for $13.80), beef tendon (4 for $12.80), ox tongue (4 for $13.80), pork with gristle (5 for $12.80), chicken wings (3, but really 6 wings for $12.80), beef ribs (5 for $13.80), and eggplant ($7.80), and scallops (2 for $13.80).

All food was cooked in the kitchen, and brought out to us once ready, rested on a bed which itself rested over a series of tealights, to keep the food warm as we ate. This is a pro gamer move, as oily, BBQ food tends to get much less appetizing once cold.

The chicken wings were in particular very juicy and tasty, with a crispy skin on the exterior.

A relatively special mention should also go to the beef tendon, which had a really gooey and fun texture, though was definitely too much to have all on my own, as my partner decided this was the day that beef tendon would be too weird for her.

The pork with gristle (at the left of the above photo), was really more like pork with soft bones, and quite yummy and good to crunch between the teeth.

The scallops were really overloaded with garlic, but at least had a different flavour to the barbequed meats, which to be honest all tasted very similar to one another.

Sadly the garlic eggplant was then the same flavour as the scallop.

My thoughts are these. The food was good, but definitely got quite repetitive, as essentially all of the BBQ meat had one flavour, and then the sides had another flavour. Two flavours over the $104 of food we ordered. As already mentioned, it is imperative to go with more than one person, unless you’re someone who really just wants to have 2-4 skewers of the same meat, and not try anything else.

Another interesting thing we noticed was that there was a notice on their ordering webpage (via QR code at the table) asking patrons not to abuse their staff for cooking slowly. No idea what that is about, we were served within 5-10 minutes of ordering.

Wonder Skewers
77 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
0413 735 979