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.
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
We had a really great meal at St Kai, a Japanese-inspired cafe with great food, but not that many Japanese people on its staff.
The tantanmen ramen with miso pork ($22) was a really good bowl of ramen. The broth was incredibly thick and rich, heavy on the umami and heavy on the creaminess, with the perfect amount of spice from Mama Liu’s chilli oil (thinking about this now, I might actually pick up a jar for home). The noodles were very jīndao 筋道 (a term which I think is being slowly eroded by the increasingly popular “Q” of Taiwanese origin) in texture, with great chewability and springiness. I enjoyed the included greenery (seaweed and bok choy), and there was plenty of meat in the bowl for neither of our two adult humans to not feel like we missed out. An additional thoughtful touch to our experience included the provision of a pre-warmed share bowl, which I have a photo of but will only post on request because that’s not why you’re here. Overall a great bowl, quite elaborate for a breakfast, but actually somewhat breakfasty in its flavour.
Next, the first of two breads. The folded dashi eggson soft milk toast ($21), allegedly with flying salmon roe as per the menu but thankfully with non-flying salmon roe in reality was a treat. The eggs were perfectly cooked, just a little bit runny but still with some of its own structure. The dashi and bonito powder added a high degree of umami to the meal, whilst the generous serving of ikura, juicy and salty, was perfect to flavour the dish. I don’t know if the shokupan is made in house or if it’s from elsewhere, but found it to be nice and sweet with a good toasting around the outside but still soft on the inside. Very good.
Next, a sweet dish. The french toast with black sesame butter& miso caramel ($18) was at its base essentially the same as the dashi eggs on toast, with what is probably bread cut from the same loaf. Where it differs is in its taste and execution, a real testament to how versatile bread as a vessel is. This was a sweet dish, highly buttery and decadent from the mass of butter served. The black sesame itself wasn’t particularly sweet, if at all, and indeed they also add some of it to the tantanmen for extra sesame-ness. Most of the sweetness of this dish came from the miso caramel, which all added up was just the right amount of sweetness (ie. not too sweet) for my mood that day. My partner actually got bored of all the bread, but I did not. Very good. Love bread.
The Ichigo Tokyo Milk ($4.50) tastes like steamed Big M and I have regrets.
STRAY THOUGHTS I don’t know who Peggy Gou is or why she features so prominently on St Kai’s promotional material. Do they have a commercial arrangement in place, or are they just fans? Another stray observation I will make is that during our one our stay at the restaurant, all tables inckluding our own were inhabited by Asians, but none of the locals who were just dropping by for a quick coffee were. Does this say something about Asian-Australian yuppies (another dead word) as a social group? Who knows.
ACTUAL THOUGHTS We enjoyed our meal and recommended St Kai to our friend and colleague BJCHC. Who would’ve thought such a place would exist in a small side street of Mortdale?
Update June 2023
We went back for another meal. Unfortunately, and I don’t know if it is just what we chose this time around, it didn’t really do it for us.
The wagyu cheeseburger donburi ($23.50) was a bit oily and didn’t feel the best, though the egg was great. Maybe it would’ve been better as an actual cheeseburger, possibly with the rice formed into “buns” a la Koku Culture (RIP).
The melon pan ($7.80) with jam and cream was like a scone but not.
The udonsama ($23.50) with black garlic with forest mushrooms, truffle oil & charred lemon felt really oily, and even my partner who is a big lemon fan didn’t love this. Maybe I’m just a lover of meat, which was noticeably absent from this.
A ghost coffee flight ($16), designed for someone more into their Hoffman-esque coffee content than me.
Second round thoughts: I think there are still things on the St Kai menu that are really good and worth a try, but unfortunately visit number 2 downgraded them from a strong recommendation to a mild recommendation from me.
What are the main attractions at Benzin Cafe? (2 marks) People go to Benzin in Dural for one of two reasons. The most important reason, at least for me, is Benzin’s innovative and creative Asian-fusion food menu, cooked with flavours drawn from the owners’ and operators’ East and South East Asian heritage. The second reason, completely separate from the food, is the cafe’s prominence in the local car scene. The cafe is decorated with car parts and racing memorabilia, and for the time being even features a borrowed vintage 911 project car. The cafe also hosts regular cars and coffee mornings, and while both of these fall within my interests I am probably too shy to go to one of these with my stock miata.
2. What did you eat at Benzin Cafe? Would you recommend it? (6 marks)
We had the Brekky Tacos ($18), with pulled beef brisket in gochujang sauce, avocado, small cubes of roast potato, and tomato salsa with a whole perfectly not-too-fried egg in each corn tortilla. These tacos were absolutely packed with flavour and filling, with all elements generous for tortilla size but commensurate with price. The meat was well cooked, not at all dry or stringy, and the flavours were strong but not too strong. The fresh avocado and tomato salsa did well to balance the meatiness, though I wasn’t a big fan of the kind of sad looking low-turgor potato bits, and I didn’t really think they added anything of value to the dish. Overall these were very good tacos – better than though also more expensive than those at Vecino.
The Mushroom Tempura Bowl ($21) was also qutie good. The bowl features tempura mushroom and asparagus atop a bed of quinoa, avocado, cherry tomatoes, kale, corn, cucumber, and sweet potatoes. We optioned this dish with a piece of chicken katsu for an additional $5, though this made the dish worse rather than better. The chicken katsu was a very large piece of chicken breast (great value), however not very well crumbed and a bit overcooked. The rest of the bowl, with its tasty and moist tempura mushrooms bursting with umami flavour was very good. I can recommend this.
The Knefeh French Toast ($20) was a sweet dish that was above and beyond what we should’ve had for two people. Its constituent fruits were lovingly arranged into two symmetrical sides, pre-empting any potential hostility between my girlfriend and me. My favourite part of this dish was the crumble, which was dusted around the dish. The raspberry sorbet was quite good, and the fruits were just fine, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the actual knefeh French toast itself.
Gabriel Coffee is served, befitting the first man to summit Everest.
The Rendang Nachos ($19) were legitimately solid, if a bit sweet. They were priced well, and made for a full and hearty meal on my second visit to Benzin.
3. Would you recommend Benzin to a friend or colleague? (1 mark) Yes. I can recommend Benzin to a friend or colleague. It is a leisurely 15 minute walk from the nearest MX-5 specialist mechanic.
Benzin Cafe 1/242 New Line Rd, Dural NSW 2158 (02) 9653 9370
