Tag: halal

Categories
American

Extra Crispy – Merrylands NSW Restaurant Review

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

Categories
American

YG Burger House – Granville NSW Restaurant Review

I had this burger from YG Burger House at around 2am, and despite my generally lower standards when it comes to food at this hour of night, I didn’t particularly enjoy it.

The Burger House Special ($13.50, $17.40 delivery app), which differentiates itself from their original burger through the addition of cheese and special burger sauce as opposed to a mixture of mayonnaise and ketchup, didn’t impress me for the price that was commanded. In particular, I felt that the smash patty was quite thin and loose, and lacked adequate structure or meatiness, feeling more like a loose collection of mince than an actual burger patty.

There are certainly, in my opinion, there are certainly superior options in the local for the 2AM crowd, a few of which are cheaper, and so YG Burger House would be low on my list behind local favourites such as Chubby Buns.

YG Burger House
46 Railway Parade, Granville NSW 2142

Categories
Indian

Mehfil – Auburn NSW Restaurant Review

I don’t remember much about this Western Sydney Hyderabadi restaurant, even though it hasn’t been so long since I ate at it. I will instead attempt to entertain you with a few pictures, some scattered thoughts, and a fun fact that I learned from my Western Sydney North Indian friend (ES).

I enjoyed the chicken 65 ($15 – actually listed as $14.99, but they don’t carry 1 cent coins), though it was a bit wetter and saltier than others that I’ve had. I was surprised to find that my friend had never had this before. Maybe I’ve just had it a lot because there have been a lot of Indo-Chinese restaurants in the places I’ve lived.

My interesting fact of the day, relating to this mutton biryani ($16 – $15.99, who are they trying to fool?), is that mutton biryani can refer to biryani with meat from either goat or sheep, and it’s not possible to know which one it is unless you ask. Where in Australian English we always mean old sheep, mutton almost always refers to goat in the Subcontinent, and therefore in a Indian restaurant in Sydney it could literally be a flip of the coin. This mutton, whatever animal it may have been, was not too gamey (which is my usual concern with old sheep).

My not so interesting fact about this arachi chicken (let’s just call it $16) is that I’m not the only one who couldn’t recognise this based on the photo. See below a screenshot from a Google Review by ali rizvi838.

I don’t know what this is. I’m waiting on my friend to text me back at time of writing. (EDIT: it is ladoo) It was soft, sweet, and drowned in syrup. It was pretty good.

General comments
It’s weird that I don’t remember much about this place, but the general vibe was that it was good and affordable. Much more memorable was the weird fact that I learned about mutton.

Update – Delivery Order
I didn’t feel like this was worth a separate post, but I had a subsequent delivery app meal around 3am one night from the Mehfil branch in Merrylands. Both the Chicken 65 Biryani and the Chicken Tikka 4-Piece were excellent.

The Chicken 65 Biryani ($17) included not only Chicken 65, but Biryani rice with chicken inside it, a surprising outcome as some restaurants try to get away with a protein-free biryani if the meal is already topped with Chicken 65.

The Chicken Tikka (4 piece for $18) was tender, tasty, juicy and made me feel quite happy. The combination of the two things I ordered made me feel very satisfied and energised me to continue the rest of the night.

Mehfil
52 Auburn Rd, Auburn NSW 2144
240 Merrylands Rd, Merrylands NSW 2160
(02) 8123 8052

Categories
American

Little Weiner – Homebush West Restaurant Review

I’ve driven past Little Weiner’s playful, multicoloured sign many times on my way home from an extra-Western Sydney feed, and each time up until now I’ve been too full to stop. It’s taken, therefore, an actual plan and effort for us to finally cross this Western Sydney food truck off the list.

Service on this rainy Thursday night was brisk. There’s a tiny amount of awning to the food truck, but otherwise Little Weiner’s seating is fully uncovered, and we decided to eat our meals in the car.

Little Weiner’s signature Weiner Roll ($8) is served with your choice of halal certified beef, chicken, lamb, kransky, and lamb chorizo sausages, each freshly cooked to order. We chose the chorizo, listed elsewhere on their menu as their signature sausage. The sandwich was otherwise loaded with garlic, onion, and our choice of sauce and cheese. I thought this was a very adequate sausage sandwich, with all the requisite flavours and textures. My only regret is not adding an additional sausage for $4 to optimise the meat to filling to bread ratio.

Little Weiner’s beef burger ($10) was even better than their weiner roll. The patty, again freshly cooked to order, was extremely succulent and tender, whilst retaining a good, meaty flavour. The fillings were essentially the same as the weiner roll, except for the addition of fresh lettuce, which added a much welcome degree of wetness and freshness. If you can only order one item from this food truck, both my girlfriend and I would recommend you order this one.

VERDICT
It’s heart warming that the two guys at Little Weiner have taken their little weiners and made them work for them. Their weiner inspired food truck is a good, though quite unhealthy halal-friendly option that’s open late into the night. I don’t have any plans to go back, but if I did I make their snack pack with loaded fries my next target.

Little Weiner
199 Parramatta Rd, Homebush West NSW 2140