grilled chicken Archives - PEGFeeds

I promise this is the last wedding related write-up even though it was the first meal in the series of wedding meals.

I went to KKO KKO on the eve of our wedding alone, because my then-girlfriend did not want to eat prior to the eat dinner prior to the big day. She will not like that I have written this online.

This meal was probably the one time in my life where eating in was worse value than takeaway or delivery. I’d originally reviewed the menu online via their Bopple site, and was keen for just half of a Balinese chicken. I arrived at the restaurant to find that not only was this not available on the eat-in menu, but that the Balinese chicken set that was available cost 25% more for the same thing for eat in compared to takeaway. While takeaway portions are generally smaller than eat-in portions, this was not likely to be a factor as the portion size was set by the piece of chicken and side condiments, and so I feel it would have been unlikely to be smaller.

I also did not expect to be charged an extra $2 for the Level 3 basting of the chicken, however I guess it must have been noted somewhere on the menu which I had simply missed.

Having aired most of my complaints about cost I must admit that the Wayan in the House ($27.95 with basting upcharge) was quite yummy. It had an excellent smoky flavour set at spice level 3 which was allegedly the least spicy spice level attainable (level 1 described as honey and level 2 described as savoury only without spice. ) Level 3 was perfect in my opinion and definitely enough for me.

The chicken was juicy and tasty, though I just wish there were more of it like I originally wanted to get.

The tofu was really good with a very crispy exterior, deep fried I think with some carrot and onion, and a savoury internal flavour which also featured some carrot stuffed inside. The internal texture of the tofu was similar to frozen silken tofu. The little dish sambal was creamy and yummy and would do well as a laksa base but I had nothing to really eat it with apart from the very inside of the tofu, as everything else in the meal was already quite well flavoured. The vinaigrette taste of the summer salad was good and it would have been well at home inside of a banh mi.

Stray observations
While I was sitting inside the restaurant a man near me was secretly eating Hot Star fried chicken, which was an absolute hero move. Though the restaurant is Balinese in nature, covers of various classic Chinese songs like I Can Fly by Joey Young and Tong Hua by Michael Wong played throughout my visit.

KKO KKO Balinese
U60 Building
Shop 1/60 Union St, Pyrmont NSW 2009

Yod – Haymarket NSW Restaurant Review

I wish I could have written just a nice little paragraph about my meal at Yod amongst a number of other Thai restaurants in Haymarket, but unfortunately one little thing made the whole experience turn a bit sour.

I had this Grilled Chicken Thigh Fillet (Gai Ping (ไก่ปิ้ง)) ($12.90), which was pretty good. It was nicely grilled, with a mildly sweet marinade that was not too sweet, and a tangy and spicy dipping sauce. There was nothing to complain about of the food at all, but the odd experience came when paying.

The point of service payment system rang up with a price of $14.90, even though both the large format menu clearly displayed outside the restaurant, as well as the menu handed to me when I ordered both displayed a price of $12.90. The woman working the till told me that $12.90 was the old price, and that I must have seen an old menu, but this was clearly the price on the menu that they had handed me. She wouldn’t let it go, and even when we called her supervisor across even she said the same thing. I must have seen an old menu. I realise that $2 is just $2, but at this point it became a sticking point for the two of us. She flipped in disbelief through at least six or eight other copies of the menu at the front counter, all of which said $12.90, all the while maintaining that these were all just old copies of the menu.

There were no new menus showing the “new” price to speak of.

Ultimately with some fight they relented and charged only the advertised and clearly printed price. It would’ve been a lot more graceful for them to accept that they were wrong immediately – if literally all of the menus in your restaurant are “old”, then they are the menu.

Despite the good food this whole process felt dirty to me and I will make a wholehearted effort to never go back.

And before you ask, I have the photos and the metadata.

Yod
462/40-54 Campbell St, Haymarket NSW 2000
0466 554 642