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.
One of the fellows I work with has never said no to some physically unhealthy but spiritually permitted fast food overnight. Though we mostly order from a few known locals, we do on occasion get to branch out.
The fried chicken pieces (3 for $11) were excellent – some of the best post-midnight fried chicken I’ve had in Western Sydney. It was perfectly crispy on the outside, and extremely juicy on the inside. My only regret is that I wasn’t able to get a photo of the meat inside, and my only complaint is that the spiciness of the spicy version could be a little spicier.
Unfortunately the chicken shawarma wrap ($13), which you would expect to be the restaurant’s specialty, was nowhere near as excellent. The wrap, though size-appropriate and chicken-filled, presented as dry, and could’ve used much more garlic sauce/toum than was provided. I’ve certainly had better in the vague local area, including Armani Restaurant in Parramatta, and Babylon Bakery in Fairfield Heights.
There is this rumour going around Western Sydney that the Extra Crispy group of fried chicken restaurants was originally a set of Broaster Chicken franchises that broke off and renamed themselves in order to avoid the licensing fees surrounding the Broaster name whilst continuing to use the broasting equipment. Whilst I cannot independently confirm nor deny this, it does seem like the chicken that they have is extremely similar to that which is provided by the Broaster chain, with the one exception that the level of salt at the Extra Crispy chains in Western Sydney varies considerably store to store – often a bit oversalted.
Whilst I normally avoid taking part in the night time Extra Crispy orders, one particular night I had a Crispy Classic Chicken Burger ($12) featuring a crispy chicken patty, halal beef bacon, lettuce, American cheese, pickles and spicy sauce. It was actually quite good. The size and value for money was on point, the flavour was good and for once in my life it was not extremely salty.
I also shared in a number of 10 Buffalo Hot Wings ($12.50) which I felt could have been just a little bit more buffalo than what we received. The photos on the electronic menu does make the buffalo sauce appear more substantial than what we received and if they were hoping to cater for customers who wanted only a mildly buffalo experience when ordering buffalo wings, they could have at least added more buffalo sauce on the side. Were I to order this again, I would at least try and add a comment asking to smother the wings in sauce.
Extra Crispy Merrylands 1/228 Merrylands Rd, Merrylands NSW 2160
I’ve always wanted to try orange chicken, made famous by Panda Express of California, but I’d never seen it on a Chinese restaurant menu until now. Though orange chicken wasn’t anywhere near Chick Joy’s best sellers, and was in fact not mentioned at all in online reviews, I knew I had to take the rare opportunity presented to me to live out my dream.
It turns out that the orange crispy fried chicken (8 pieces for $15) was really just generically fried chicken with a separate orange sauce to be lathered on by the eater. Though initially an underwhelming concept, I guess this does make sense as it gives control over how much of the sticky sweet sauce is desired.
While I had expected “8 pieces of chicken” to consist of perhaps the classically known half-bird with all its different pieces, what actually came (and what in retrospect was clearly pictured in the menu photographs) was 8 semi-identical drummettes. Whilst this was a bit of a disappointment, I must admit that the drummettes provided were tasty and crispy, I think previously par-fried and then re-fried to order.
The orange sauce was sweet and sticky and really not that orangey – more of a sweeter version of a sweet and sour sauce, but not bad and good to try once.
I think that if these guys actually had a half bird divided into thigh, wing, breast, and drumstick pieces then they might be onto something real.
I will list this restaurant as Chinese as the middle-aged man manning the fryer had to get his son or colleague to take my order in English.
UPDATE In a comical series of events, my wife tried to go to multiple Taiwanese fried chicken restaurants in Burwood, which all ended up being closed even though they were still meant to be open. She ended up at Chick Joy again, and ordered some bird for takeaway.
The crispy fried chicken soft bone ($15) she ate almost all of in the car. She didn’t like it as much as the one she likes to get from Hot Star.
The crispy fried chicken wings ($15) were alright, but not special.
The plum sweet & sour crispy fried chicken ($15) was quite yummy, wiht a bit of a hidden five spice flavour to it that added an extra dimension of Chineseness.
We don’t eat at a lot of food court outlets, and the ones where we do are mostly out of desperation, rather than out of intention. Rainbow Fried Delights was an exception to this rule. The deep hankering for fried chicken, not satisfiable by their absence from His Boy Elroy’s breakfast menu, led us on a multi-level journey to actually find the location of the Wollongong Central Food Court.
We had the 8 piece boneless spicy chicken ($9.75), chosen strategically as it was one of the only options not available at time of ordering, meaning that we’d get it fresh out of the fryer a mere six minutes after we ordered.
The batter was light in texture as well as light in salting, reminiscent of a Korean fried chicken prior to it being sauced. Indeed, they offer “Korean fried chicken” separately on the menu, though I wasn’t sure how this would differ from what we had. The spiciness of this allegedly spicy chicken was very minimal, though there was an array of sauces on offer for an additional sum.
The meat was predominantly dark meat, with a bit of white meat mixed in. No bony thigh pieces were on offer (the most superior of all fried chicken cuts), and though this meant that Rainbow’s fried chicken was more user-friendly to eat, they did miss out on some optimal flavour.
Overall – consider adding to the rotation, for a less salty alternative to Chicko’s, but be aware that it’s not 1:1 comparable. I’m still searching for something to live up to the fried chicken I had on campus at uni in 2012.
The first time and only time we ate at Mary’s would’ve probably been somewhere between 2015 and 2018. I remember first hearing about the place on the now-defunct platform Zomato, (which was still alive when this blog first started), and waiting in line a non-insignificant period of time to have our promised fried chicken. Though almost ten years have passed since that visit, I still remember going upstairs, the dim lighting, the loud music – all things that were there for people who were not us. All we wanted to do was have what was allegedly very good fried chicken. And I think it was good.
Now, around ten years later, we’ve once again eaten Mary’s fried chicken, this time skipping the grunge bar vibes and consuming it from the safety of our own home. The half bird ($24) has increased in price, but remains very good, with a craggly batter. The thigh piece was really juicy and excellent, though the breast piece, less so.
The fries ($5) were fries. No better worse than those from your local global fast food chain.
The gravy ($3) was truly terrible. It had this extremely burnt taste and was nigh-inedible. I hope it was a problem with the batch rather than their standard recipe, because I would not be able to put my name to this gravy had I made it.
Overall thoughts The fried chicken was good, but avoid the gravy. Ordering online means that you won’t have to subject yourself to the darkness and loud noises inside.
