Tag: bbq

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

Categories
American

2 Smoking Barrels – Wollongong NSW Restaurant Review

2 Smoking Barrels had been on my radar for about 12 months until I finally had the opportunity to go. Their quite limited lunch opening hours, number two hours (12PM-2PM) per day five days per week, meant that it took a couple of goes before I was able to time my post-nights nap and wake up early enough for the drive back from Nowra to Sydney, passing through Wollongong in the middle. I ate in the last fortnight of their location on Flinders St, though hopefully as they expand into their new premises next month (far past once this post is actually published), they might also expand their hours.

2 Smoking Barrels offers generally standard American BBQ fare, with a mixture of rolls (burgers), meats, and sides on offer. Like sister restaurant Babyface Kitchen, some classics here are enhanced by an Eastern influence, for example their pit smoked beef brisket roll ($19), served with a drizzle of miso ranch sauce along with the standard “Carolina” barbecue sauce, a combination that actually does work. Sauce aside, the brisket in the burger was deliciously juicy and tender, with a good ratio of fillings to bun, but what in my mind was a bit of an extreme price.

The hot links ($10 for 100g), again served with a mixture of sauces, were equally juicy and flavourful, so much so that I found myself dripping juice onto my shirt at multiple times throughout this meal (in my defense, I had just worked 13 hours, napped for two, and then driven for one). Despite the quality, again the value proposition seemed suspect.

COMMENTS My friend, colleague, and housemate asked me if I thought that 2 Smoking Barrels was “worth a detour” on the way up from Nowra back to the inner-West of Sydney. Worth a detour kind of implies something specific when it comes to restaurant reviews, in a two-star kind of way. That said, I do think it’s worth taking 15 minutes out of a 2 hour trip to go to this restaurant if you really want to go. What you’ll need to consider for yourself is if it’s worth the money spend.

2 Smoking Barrels
2/83 Crown St, Wollongong NSW 2500
(02) 4295 0135

Categories
Filipino

Smoky Cravings – Belmore NSW Restaurant Review

My nightly drive home from work is punctuated by a number of smells, and a recent addition to this olfactory journey is that of Smoky Cravings, a relatively new Filipino BBQ joint in the vicinity of Mcdonald’s Lakemba (where we parked). Though we normally look at distaste at people who do not order the culturally significant dishes at ethnic restaurants and only order what’s easy and safe-feeling, this was me this time. I just wasn’t in the mood for any kind of intestine. I’ve had them, and just don’t generally enjoy them and felt no need to again subject myself to them.

Instead, I went with some safe options, like these battered and deep fried quail eggs (kwek kwek – $5), which were not super special, but came out quickly and had a great batter for us to munch on whilst awaiting the rest of our food.

As far as grilled meat went, we had the Pork BBQ skewer, Chicken BBQ skewer, BBQ Chicken Wings, Adidas, and BBQ Lamb Cutlets. The skewers were $3.50 each, whilst the lamb cutlet was $5.

Most of their food actually had the same sweet and salty flavour from the basting, which was quite enjoyable and not too unfamiliar tasting. The chicken BBQ skewer was a bit more substantial than the pork in terms of size, but both were quite juicy and flavourful. The BBQ Chicken Wing was quite large, consisting of both a drumstick and the wing in a three-part type deal, and made for good value, probably the best of the bunch, especially with its semi-crispy skin. The adidas (chicken feet) came as two feet on a skewer, perfect for sharing with your partner or nursing colleague from the local hospital a few minutes down the road. The lamb cutlet was my least favourite of the bunch, with a different flavour that I no longer remember. I only remember that I didn’t like it.

The chicken inasal ($12) was really big and juicy and perfectly marinated and grilled. It was one of the best things we ate, good value, and really well cooked. Juicier and moister than other forms of BBQ chicken in the local area (dominated by Middle Eastern-style charcoal chicken), very worth a go.

My partner liked the buko pandan ($5). It was not too sweet. Very viscous, our first ever with nothing else to compare it to.

OVERALL Smoky Cravings was a source of enjoyment. I haven’t always loved every Filipino restaurant that I’ve tried, but I’m glad that my nose led me to this one. The staff tried to talk to me in Tagalog, but despite deep workplace immersion neither my partner nor I have been able to pick up anything of note.

Smoky Cravings
851 Canterbury Rd, Belmore NSW 2195
0404 327 788

Categories
Brazilian

Brazilian Flame Barbecue – Zetland NSW Restaurant Review

Though there are many meats that I have tasted and loved in my lifetime, I had not, until today, ever had Brazilian barbeque. I found my way to Flame Brazilian BBQ after picking up a cake from nearby Black Star, and having read some quite good reviews on google.com decided why not.

Brazilian Flame offers five types of meat in various formats – on chips, on salad, in a roll, with some rice. The meats available are as follows:
– Pork
– Beef
– Lamb
– Chicken
– Chorizo
I had read great reviews about the chips from some chip fanatic on Google (he called them dangerous) and decided stupidly that it would be safer to get two lots with chips than to get some with salad (mostly as I did not know how to order the salad).

I had the BBQ meat snack packs of chicken and lamb on chips and beef and pork on chips. I can rate the order of meat enjoyment in the order of :

  1. Chicken
  2. Pork
  3. Beef
  4. Lamb

All meats but the lamb were quite moist and juicy. The chicken was the best. The pork was fully cooked through, but the fat and skin content were still there. The beef was in between medium and well done. The lamb was a bit dry. I had to give chorizo a pass but would risk it over the known quantity of lamb or beef next time.

Eating at peak period for Sunday lunch meant that the meat was always freshly roasted and constantly turned over. Wait time was a mere five minutes.

The quality of the chips were overstated. Admittedly they were eaten following a ten minute commute, but really good chips can usually withstand such a short amount of time. These did not.

The smoked sauce on top was just fine, there could have been more of it.

We only managed to finish around half the chips and meat between, so for $16 there’s a lot of food packed into these boxes.

Final thoughts

Not bad not good, should’ve had salad. Very cheap though.

3.5/5

Brazilian Flame
565 Botany Rd, Zetland NSW 2017
(02) 9167 3994

Categories
North American

Surly’s American Tavern – Surry Hills NSW Restaurant Review

We woke up to news of a Biden-Harris victory and then spent lunch at Surly’s American Tavern, an American themed pub and restaurant in Surry Hills, seeing off our favourite Kiwi anaesthetic colleague back across the pond.

sweet potato chips with poutine topping

The sweet potato chips with poutine topping ($14) was good. The sweet potato chips were crisp, despite being drowned in a fully adequate helping of gravy. The cheese curds were soft and not too hot.

BBQ Platter

The BBQ Platter ($45) was ordered as a result of my indecision. There were so many meats that I wanted to try, but so little time. It consisted of 18 hour dry rubbed beef brisket, 12 hour pulled pork, Smoked chicken thigh, Texas hot link sausage, and smoked chicken wings with pickles, onion and corn bread.

The beef brisket was not bad, quite moist.
The pulled pork was not exciting at all.
The smoked chicken thigh was nice, and it was nice that it was skin on
The Texas hot link sausage was quite tasty, good.
The smoked chicken wing I could’ve lived without – it would’ve been better as a normal wing.
I didn’t eat the corn bread. It gave me too many flashbacks to the weird frozen cornbread delivered from Third Wave Cafe in Melbourne.
The pickles were fresh and tangy and good.
The coleslaw was actually really good.
Chips were fresh.

Seatings are timed for 2 hour intervals
News coverage of Joe Biden’s presidential win was being played throughout our entire stay there.
4/5.

Surly’s American Tavern
182 Campbell St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
02) 9331 3705

Surly's Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato