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 not actually eaten at Brookyln Boy Bagels in Marrickville, though I hope to by the time this review has been published. I have, instead, had their Blueberry Bagel ($4.20) with an unusually expensive little tub of cream cheese (I think $3.50? – we spent a total of $7.85 for the pictured bagel and cheese) at one of their many market stalls around greater Sydney.
This bagel was pretty good, man. I don’t know if it was $7.85 good, but as someone who’s never been to New York and doesn’t actually know what a New York bagel should taste like, I was satisfied. I enjoyed the chewy texture, the not-too-sweet, almost savoury quality, and of course the thick layer of expensive ass cream cheese.
My partner went to their bakery in Marrickville the next day and had some kind of everything bagel with lox, inspired by the latest hotness out of A24. I’m told it was pretty good, though she relished the opportunity to eat without having to take a photo.
We don’t have that much experience eating Indonesian food so we never really know what we’re doing or if we’ll like it when we go. We recently had the opportunity for a quick lunch at this newly opened local joint, chosen at least in part for its tight pricing given that we are meant to be trying to be good to save up for a deposit on some kind of residential property. We’ve been saying this for years.
We had the Nasi Campur Kalimantan ($16), a plate of oily rice topped with a number of different animal products – charsiu pork, a lap cheong like sausage, soy pork, a sweet chicken drumstick, and egg – , as well as some pickles and some unadulterated sliced cucumber, which I can only assume was provided as an attempt to offset the sheer unwholesomeness of the rest of the oily and processed dish. Though I did think the rice was too oily, this dish was actually very yummy, with an enjoyable variety of components that kept us entertained throughout. I particularly liked the sweet marinaded chicken drumette, and though I wouldn’t have it again, can recommend it.
The other thing we had was this Nasi Padang B ($16), with a fried chicken drumstick and beef rendang. It came out immediately, wrapped in a thick brown paper, ready to go as a to-go portion.
A quick unwrap of the brown paper revealed a further layer of banana leaf which self-unravelled, leaving a layered serving of corn fritter atop beef rendang, a fried chicken drumstick (full-size this time), cassava leaves, curry sauce, and sambal sauce, better appreciated in the below slightly deconstructed photo.
I’m usually not the biggest fan of Western style corn fritters (a shame because my partner really is), but I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I think compared to your usual café fritter the batter was looser, with probably a smaller proportion of corn and a softer texture. The beef rendang and chicken drumstick were yum, but because the sambal is nestled in a pocket within the rice I accidentally gave myself a high-dose sambal mouthful at one point which significantly dampened my happiness for the next few minutes. My partner had no such issues.
Overall thoughts Good price, and good food. A low risk, low cost choice of Indonesian food for the less adventurous.
The promise and threat of Got Pho’s wagyu beef pho had loomed in my mind for a long time, and though it was not bad, I don’t think it really lived up to the price point or my hungry expectations.
The Phở Dặc Biệt ($26.50 pictured including $8 for the addition of some rare wagyu beef) was a modestly sized bowl of rare beef, brisket, and balls, with no mention anywhere of the possibility of adding even more special ingredients like tendon and tripe. The meat quantity and quality were both good, though at $26.50 inclusive of extra beef it was hard to justify for the price. I enjoyed the rich flavour of the soup, though had particular issue with the temperature, as it was served relatively warm but not hot enough to adequately heat up the bean sprouts and herbs that were delivered to us separately after we had to ask for them. Problematically we also didn’t know that the the wagyu beef was an $8 addition rather than a $5 addition, as the marker that had changed it from an extra $5 to an extra $8 on our menu had been rubbed off.
We had to ask for this. I don’t know if this is a standard thing or if it was just an oversight in our case.
The pork chop broken rice ($18.50) we were even less enthused about. The pork chop itself was a bit on the thinner side, and therefore drier than recent comparisons like at Ngoodle in Ashfield. The egg, whilst done very well and runny, was plagued by the fact that it had multiple tiny eggshell fragments in it which really made the texture quite unpleasant.
The hot chicken wings (6 for $15) were quite yummy, if ambitiously priced. They were nice and crispy, quite juicy, and also quite spicy. The pickles served alongside them were also very good to temper some of the spice, but I can’t see myself routinely wanting to pay this much for six wings.
OVERALL COMMENT I had high expectations and was ultimately honestly quite disappointed. They seemed super accommodating to a diverse population of patrons, and indeed we did see one large gathering where white kids happily ate their KFC on the same table as their parents’ pho, but issues with shell in the egg, as well as the general price to quality ratio of the food don’t make me want to go back.
And how much can it cost to reprint your menu, or at least properly alter the prices on them when prices change? Surely it’s worth avoiding the confusion? (You will note that the upgrade to wagyu beef option has also suffered an attempt of having its price changed on the menu)
We paid a visit to Faheem Fast Food’s Strathfield restaurant (they also have one in Enmore) after a day of medium-intensity primary study where I learned and promptly forgot about the determinants of cardiac output, amongst other things.
Though the very entrance of the restaurant had a bit of a uraemic smell, this was quickly overcome by walking deeper into the restaurant, and I’m glad we didn’t allow it to turn us back, because the food was pretty good.
The half garlic tandoori chicken ($14) came out of a fridge at the front of the restaurant pre-butterflied and pre-skewered and straight into an oven (presumably a tandoor, though I won’t pretend that I know what one looks like, nor did I pay close enough attention at whatever magic box turned the raw chicken into cooked chicken. Looking online it does look like commercial tandoors have an stainless steel exterior, so it was probably that). This chicken, though smaller in terms of muscle development to many other chickens, came out extremely juicy and perfectly tasty, probably owing to the lack of thick muscle to try and cook through evenly. It was overall a really well done tandoori chicken, with a superfluous but not unwelcome hint of garlic which I wouldn’t pay 50 cents for again.
It’s very tricky for my partner to walk past a restaurant and not order some kind of potato, and Faheem Fast Food’s aloo baigan ($15.50) was this night’s victim. Though by no means experts in South Asian food, both my partner and I enjoyed this very mild mix of potato and eggplant, though I think I still prefer aloo mutter more (my intern KP made me a very good one recently, and honestly this aloo baigan can’t compete at all. I doubt she will ever see this. By the time this post is published she will probably be a fully fledged psychiatrist.)
Haleem, the king of curries ($18), a mix of four types of lentils and some shredded beef was honestly just fine. I’m glad that they looked at our skin colour and modulated the amount of spice in this “red chilli level” dish, because I don’t think my partner could’ve taken any more. I know that the vibe is for it to be a bit of a thick stew rather than a meat dish, but my disappointment in not having actual chunks of beef to chew between my molars is unbound by actual culture and tradition. Not my thing, but again much appreciated by my partner.
I thought that the cheese and garlic naan ($6) was to cheesy. A lot of complaints, I know, from a guy who can neither pronounce nor make any of this food himself but it is what it is.
OVERALL THOUGHTS Faheem Fast Food’s tandoori chicken was the obvious standout, though the other dishes that we tried enthused my partner much more than they did me. Mazaidar Foods remains my go-to for late night Pakistani and Indian food in the general 10km radius of Parramatta.
My partner went to Hong Kong Yue Baby without me, but made the mistake of bringing home these delicious custard egg yolk balls, which I enjoyed so much that we had to go back.
These salted egg yolk tang yuan ($9.50) are really delicious, super oily, large balls of glutinous rice filled with a sweet salted egg yolk filling. Not too sweet and super umami, they are served warm on these weird spoons for seemingly no reason. This dish is probably their number one house specialty, and I think make them worth a visit even if that’s all you’re going to get from them.
The peanut & taro mini French toast ($9.80) combines pieces of their taro and peanut French toasts for those with poor decision making ability. Both are of course equally oily, and differ only in the type of filling inside. My strong preference of the two is the taro type, as the peanut butter type gave me a slight feeling of staleness, which my partner contests. Either way I don’t think this was particularly a good use of calories or serum triglycerides, I wouldn’t get either again.
The steamed veg rice noodleroll ($11.80) was not bad. Very vegetably. I hadn’t had lettuce steamed in some time. It was OK.
This baked durian with cheese ($6.80) was again not bad, but not like an all time star dish. It, like the other two desserts that we had, was quite oily and not the greatest picture of wholesome.
Rock solid drink though
COMMENTS There was nothing that we had at Hong Kong Yue Baby that particularly stood out as very good, except for the salted egg tang yuan, which stood out above very good and towards excellent. They open until quite late seven days a week, and so if you find yourself craving a sweet but warm snack it would be a thing to do to just go in for this one item alone. Maybe a drink too.
Hong Kong Yue Baby Burwood 35C Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134 (02) 8593 4828
