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.
We avoided the hustle and bustle of D’Penyetz & D’Cendol Burwood’s grand opening, only to land there a few months later during Ramadan, an equally peaky time.
The wait to order was a little bit longer than your average Asian restaurant on Burwood Road, but eventually we were greeted with the Iced Cendol Original ($5.90), a sweet, coconut milky drink which we did not love. The green wormy jellies on top, made of rice flour, had a mouthfeel and texture that was enjoyed even less than the drink itself. I am informed that this drink is quite popular in South East Asia, so perhaps it is just not for me and my partner’s East Asian-Australian palates.
We had the ayam penyet sambal mild ($12.90) and a more saucy version as well. Ever the lover of fried chicken, I can’t fault D’Penyetz’ rendition, though neither the fried nor saucy ones were as enjoyable as at ATL Ayam Tulang Lunak in Mascot. The side of fried tofu was fine, but I did not love the tempeh, which reminded me too much of natto, even though it did not taste as strong.
We rarely order fish out, but the ikan bakar aroma special (mild) ($25.90) caught our eye. It was moist and flavourful, with extra tanginess added by a liberal application of lemon wedge juice. Eating it felt like something my parents would approve of, ignoring for a moment that it was deep fried. This stood out to me more than the chicken, but was not reason enough for me to go back any time soon.
I’ve never been invited to dine at a restaurant in exchange for social media exposure, and I think this probably has to do with my general aversion to lying to people. I write this blog essentially for my own memory, so that I can look back and know which places I liked and which places I didn’t like, even if I develop some kind of cognitive impairment in old age. Ria Ayam Penyet’s newly opened Parramatta branch upheld the tradition of not inviting me for free food (and to be fair, my social media reach outside of this blog isn’t even worth a blip on anyone’s radar), but did get my business after I saw them featured on an old high school mate’s Instagram, who did get to eat for free. I guess the system works.
Ria’s front page dish is their Ayam Penyet ($11.90), pictured here with the addition of a Telur Penyet ($1.50 – fried egg). This is a dish of deep fried chicken maryland, accompanied by a piece each of deep fried tofu and tempeh, fried crumbs, fresh sliced cucumber, some garden salad, and sambal sauce. I thought the chicken itself was a little bit drier than I would have liked, though my partner had no problems with it. My previous experience of Indonesian fried chicken, at Ayam Tulang Lunak in Mascot, was more palatable, though to be fair a completely different dish. I enjoyed the fried tofu, and in particular its extremely thin batter, similar to what I’ve had at Vietnamese restaurants but haven’t been able to find in Chinese cuisine. We opted for the sambal ijo (green chilli) sauce over the classic sambal terasi as my partner is less spice tolerant, and enjoyed its varying and complex textures, as well as the sense of freshness it added to the dish. Overall, this dish had pretty reasonable flavour and variety, and was good value for the excellent price.
The telur penyet, fried egg, was nothing to write home about.
The Rawon ($11.50) was next up. It is a black beef soup with fried shallots, garlic crackers, and sambal. While I enjoyed the taste of the soup with its beefiness and black pepper flavour, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the quantity of the beef inside. I’ve taken this photo of the soup with two pieces of cutlery inside simply to prop up the small amount of beef available, otherwise you would not be able to tell from photos that it contained any meat. The beef itself wasn’t amazingly tender or special either, but I would’ve just liked more of it to chew on. The garlic crackers were alright, especially with the sambal which I liked better than the sambal ijo reviewed above.
This Basko beef bone side soup ($2.50) was quite nice, if extremely oily. It had a rich beefy flavour, and seems to normally accompany the full Basko dish with meatballs and noodles. At $2.50 it was very fragrant and delicious, and would be a good recommendation for your starving university student looking for something cheap, warming, and energy dense.
OVERALL I’m sad I didn’t get the full Basko experience, but it’s probably not really that good for me anyway. There are lots of things that I’d come back to try, were my metabolic profile not so bad.
