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. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
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
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 GalbiKorean BBQ 999A Victoria Rd, West Ryde NSW 2114 (02) 9807 2278
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
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 $104 of food we ordered. As already mentioned, it is imperative to go with more than one person, unless you’re someone who really just wants to have 2-4 skewers of the same meat, and not try anything else.
Another interesting thing we noticed was that there was a notice on their ordering webpage (via QR code at the table) asking patrons not to abuse their staff for cooking slowly. No idea what that is about, we were served within 5-10 minutes of ordering.
Look, this is really a review of a cookie that I had at Blair St Dairy, because that was closest to where we were and had to be again within a 45 minute window (some kind of magnesium sulfate floaty thing in Bondi Junction – my partner’s idea, but I agreed to go because she wanted me to, and magnesium sulfate is probably my most used drug). It really doesn’t matter though, because it’s only a cookie, and both places are run by the same people.
So what can I tell you about this chocolate chip cookie ($?6.50) that you can’t tell just from the photos? It was big, it was thick. It was warmed up for us before serving, which made it quite nice and soft. It was initially though to be not-too-sweet based on cookie, but opinion was changed to too-sweet once the taste of chocolate chip was established. The oiliness and sweetness of the cookie didn’t quite fit with the overall vibe of The Bondi Local, but these are probably the people who have some extra calories to spare anyway.
We had fun looking at all the Halloween displays outside the homes between our car and the café. You don’t get that as much when your house is worth less than $3 million of inter-generational wealth.
Anyway if you want the cookie and have an acceptable Trigs/HDL/LDL/HbA1c it’s probably more efficient to buy their cookie dough from the shops and bake your own.
