Categories
Chinese

Hong Kong Street Food – Rhodes NSW Restaurant Review

I almost didn’t go to Hong Kong Street Food after watching a negative review video from some online influencer. The Tiktok/Instagram people are notorious for singing the praises of literally any place in the hopes of getting a free meal, so I had erroneously assumed that any kind negative review would mean that the place would be truly very bad. Of course I didn’t take into account what kind of a review a place would garner if they refused to pay up.

I am indebted to my partner’s mother for making us give this Rhodes Central (to contrast to the similarly named restaurant around the corner) cha chaan teng a shot.

This is a milk tea ($4.50), strained probably over multiple runs through a silk stocking and mixed with evaporated milk from the Dutch. Ah, colonisation. Had by my partner’s mum and hence not me. Part of a set with food, so a bit cheaper than the listed price, but about $2-3 more than just the food dish by itself. Poured out onto the saucer, quickly replaced with an apology. Apparently it was not bad, but not memorable.

This ice bear lemon tea commands a $2 premium on top of the set meal, or $6.50 if purchased separately. It was fine. It was more than I would want to pay for it individually, but was more palatable as part of the meal deal. The novelty of a melting bear didn’t do anything in particular for me.

Alright here we go. The meat of the review. The stewed beef brisket with radish ($9.80) is a side dish that comes as a topping on some of the cart noodles, but not the right ones. They were pretty good, with a mixture of fatty and tendinous pieces as well as lean pieces. A good variety that allowed each diner to have what we wanted. I’m a lean beef brisket fan.

The four treasures Hong Kong cart noodles ($21.90 in a set with a drink and not available separately) was pretty good. It was a choice between this, with its chicken wings, salt and pepper pork chops (the best part), curry fish balls, and beef stomach, or the alternative Supreme Hong Kong cart noodles, with radish, beef brisket, red sausages and luncheon meat. I chose the four treasures, mainly because I was keen on some of that beef stomach, and because we could get the radish and brisket as a side. I’m also not such a fan of luncheon meat. Despite enjoying this dish, it did pale in comparison to the cart noodles at Hong Kong Bing Sutt in Burwood, which were seriously special.

The baked rice with black pepper chicken steak and cod fillets in creamy corn sauce ($21.90 in a set but also not available individually, even though a bunch of other baked rices are) was really good. I think anything with this amount of cream and cheese and meat and sodium and carb is going to taste good, but damn, delicious. Both the chicken and cod were good, and the fact that it was like a half half pizza was great for the decision-impaired. So creamy. So good.

OTHER THOUGHTS
The decor, with neon lights and sections representing hawker carts and the HK MTR was a nice touch. I thought it was a bit weird that there were ads posted up for real estate in Hong Kong, but guess it makes sense that if Australian real estate is being advertised in China, that Chinese real estate is being advertised in Australia too. Don’t @ me.

Hong Kong Street Food Rhodes
Shop 204/14 Walker St (Rhodes Central), Rhodes NSW 2138
0433 836 628

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
American

BlackBear BBQ – Wetherill Park & Blacktown NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve enjoyed Black Bear BBQ ever since my first visit during internship; back whilst I was living and working in the Deep West. Their little restaurant in Blacktown’s industrial district was my first introduction to Texas-style BBQ, and even though it took a few attempts to try and go (their opening hours were very strange at the time) I finally managed.

My first bearlesque adventure in 2018 was with their Hungry Bear Breakfast Box, featuring big slabs of their beef brisket, pork belly, a hot link, two sunny side up eggs, and some baked beans. My memory fails me (it’s been three years), so enjoy the pretty picture instead. This item is no longer available on their menu.

I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a quick takeaway meal just as the Delta variant of COVID-19 struck Sydney, which is almost funny looking back at it and writing this in the early days of the Omicron strain.

These tater tots ($6) started off pretty strongly. Freshly fried and seasoned with parmesan and rosemary salt, each little tot came with a nice crunch and a warm centre. Unfortunately, as is often the case with deep fried starchy and cheesy foods, as these tots cooled down they started to taste a little bitter. Unavoidable.

The O.G Burger ($14), not to be confused with an O&G Burger, was pretty good. The beef brisket patty was moist with a good mouthfeel, while the salad added a good degree of freshness to balance out the fatty patty and associated cheese. It’s a good thing that this burger is essentially the same as the cheeseburger but with extra salad, as any other differences would have meant us ordering both.

The Hungry Bear Box ($32) is designed to satisfy not only a hungry, but also a peckish* black bear. While you can order Black Bear BBQ’s boxes with a choice of either beef brisket or pork belly for a slightly lower price, truly hungry bears are able to experience a tasting of both, along with a jalapeno and cheese hot link (sausage), some potato crsps, pickles, and coleslaw. Both the pork and beef were tender and juicy, though both my partner and I preferred the brisket over the pork. The hot link is quite tasty and nice, and at $4 a pop are great as a stand-alone or add-on order.

COMMENTS
Black Bear BBQ is a true friend to bearkind. I’d recommend every (non-vegetarian) bear that every there was to gather here.

I have been informed that the word peckish does not describe a bear who wants a little bit of everything, merely a bear who is a little hungry but not fully hungry. I refuse to look this up, and what I don’t know can’t hurt me.

Black Bear BBQ Blacktown
11/27 Forge St, Blacktown NSW 2148
(02) 9672 3353

Black Bear BBQ Wetherill Park
93-97 Newton Rd, Wetherill Park NSW 2164
(02) 9756 1117



Categories
Café

Lil Miss Collins – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

Lil Miss Collins, with its inventive, road-less-trodden menu and all day alcohol options ticks plenty of boxes for intrepid brunchers looking for a high quality alternative to nearby Circa Espresso. We’ve been twice now – once on New Years Eve 2019 (I will leave you photos but not really any comments from this visit), and once more recently after a run of night shifts with our nights crew.

These Sweet Potato Fries ($9.80) were quite good, with a soft texture on the inside but a crispiness on the outside. They retained heat well, remaining warm for the duration of consumption. A good choice by my junior colleague DTC.

The Beef Brisket Sandwich ($17.50) was good, but only good. The toasted sourdough was crisp and adequate. The beef brisket filings were good, though taken as a whole, the sandwich, with its beef, American cheese, cabbage slaw and spicy mayo was just a bit too tasty for me. Each bite was a bit of an onslaught of saltiness, not adequately tempered by the bread. This is one situation in which the bread to filling ratio probably leant too much to the filling side of the equation – that is, this sandwich was a bit overfilled. It was by no means a bad toastie, but probably not one I’d get again.

I really enjoyed the Salmon with Miso Black Rice & Citrus ($25.90), though neither my girlfriend, nor my junior colleague MC did. The salmon was pan seared to medium perfection, neither overdone nor underdone. The miso and jalapeno rice soup had a nice umami flavour. The radish, golden beets, and pomelo citrus salad was just fine. I had never had a beetroot that was not red before, but I didn’t really think they tasted as special as they looked. I don’t know that the salad and salmon were really synergistic in taste or texture, but at the same time having a bit of freshness did not hurt. Overall good.

The Phoenician Kafta Bowl ($22.80) is a reasonably low carb option for those on a shred, if you ignore the very ignorable pita. The main component of this meal is essentially a gardenlike salad, spiced up with some pomegranate, flat bread crisps (a la fattuosh) and yoghurt. The two grilled lamb kaftas are the dish’s star ingredients, bearing a juicy, warm meatiness that don’t quite match with the coldness of the rest of the dish. While the kafta are very good, the fact that you can actually order them individually for a mere $3.75 each would lead me to suggest giving this bowl a miss and adding a couple of kafta to a different main .

The following items were consumed sixteen months prior to the writing of this post. Recollection is hazy at best.

I remember nothing about these Ricotta and Sweetcorn Fritters ($18.50), though my partner says that she remembered liking them. She’s generally much more of a fritter fan than I am, and she even enjoys many of the fritters that I straight out dislike.

I think I remember enjoying this Crispy Skin Barramundi with Braised Fennel ($23), or at least the barramundi component. I was and still am confused by the inclusion of a giant piece of white wine braised fennel, which I had never had before and wasn’t a fan of.

This is obviously some kind of elaborate French Toast, no longer served, and not identifiable through any secondary sources at this time.

AUGUST 2022

Back from our look into the past, we shall discuss this Squid Thai Pasta ($24.90). It straddled the line between “not bad” and “not good”, a pad thai-like creation with an unusual focus on tomato sauce and unclear identity as to if it wanted to be a stir fried Thai noodle dish or a pasta. It was not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but at the same time not something that I’d like to ever eat again. Most unusual was the addition of Turkish bread on top of what was clearly already a carb-loaded noodle based meal. The squid was at least succulent.

VERDICT
Lil Miss Collins, overall good. You should go, and let me know if I’m wrong.

Lil Miss Collins
13 Wentworth St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 9635 3273

Categories
American

Lenny Briskets – Botany NSW Restaurant Review

I lived in Botany for an entire year, but it was six months after I had left that Lenny Briskets set up shop in their Botany warehouse location, and another six months of mouth-wateringly looking at Instagram posts before I was able to go and see what all the fuss was about for myself.

The strengths and weaknesses of the food truck business model are centred, unsurprisingly, around its mobility. While having your restaurant on wheels might mean that you’re able to service geographically diverse populations and get your product in front of more hungry eyes and mouths, the itinerant lifestyle also means that it’s difficult to establish a home base with a loyal local following and reliable opening times. It’s the balancing act that’s birthed a million SWOT analyses – but eventually we took ourselves to Botany and got our mouths around that beef.

This Pastrami on Martin’s ($17) was perfection. The meat was so incredibly juicy, tender, and flavourful, not to mention generous, absolutely overflowing the soft, tumeric-coloured potato buns. The yellow theme was continued with just a bit of French’s classic yellow mustard, enough to add a second degree of flavour interest, without being overpowering. The three simple flavours of smoked meat, a bit of mustard, and the sweet bun all worked in perfect harmony, so much so that I found the included side pickle (happily not too salty, but ultimately not needed). While Lenny’s offers a similar sandwich with 500g of pastrami, I think the bread to filling ratio of just the regular one (I think it might be 250g?) is the sweet spot.

The New Amsterdam ($18) of BBQ brisket, American cheese, sweet red peppers and Russian dressing, again on a Martin’s potato bun was my second favourite, but still good. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, though I thought that the red capsicum made it just a bit too wet and sweet for my liking. The flavours of the pastrami sandwich just hit the right spot for me. The cheese was nice, and I wonder if it could be added to the original pastrami sandwich.

This samoyed, known as Bibi, is hyper friendly and super soft, and though we ate our meal with our hands we could not resist giving Lenny’s mascot some well-enjoyed pets.

COMMENTS
Good. Catch them if you can.

Lenny Briskets
9 Margate St, Botany NSW 2019
+61 492 907 215