Tag: hot chips

Categories
American

Yum Burger – Five Dock NSW Restaurant Review

One of the first meals we had in our new place was from Yum Burger, a convenient 0 minute walk around the corner from the Five Dock Coles, and a relatively price-conscious choice for two new mortgagees.

The Classic Aussie Burger ($12) does what it says on the tin. It features a single beef patty, a slice of American cheese, red onions, lettuce, tomato, and some barbeque sauce all sandwiched between a bun. It was of adequate size and flavour for the price – definitely a solid budget pick, but did not do anything to astound.

The hot chicken burger ($14.50) was a bit tastier, owing to the inclusion of jalapenos, chilli mayo, and hot sauce, which all matched well with its healthfully grilled chicken breast fillet. I would not mind having another right now (he says, as he has chicken in the air fryer going in the next room).

The hot chips ($4.50 – small) were thick cut and crispy but ultimately difficult to judge as I didn’t have them immediately after they were cooked (I finished my shop first).

Thoughts
The fit out is sleek, clean, and modern, clearly updated in the last few years comparing its current appearance to old photos from Google Maps, though a bit of the pictorial information has been lost from the backlit menu board.

Unfortunately there’s no double patty option on the menu – even the even the “man burger” option announces its manliness through a lack of vegetables and the addition of bacon, but no extra beef patty. Though the portions of meat in the burgers were adequate, a bit of extra meat often goes a long way, and something I feel many wouldn’t mind paying for.

The people working there seem to be the owners however so I suspect they have a bit of latitude when it comes to off-menu additions.

I’ll probably be back.

Yum Burger
Shop 5/133 Great N Rd, Five Dock NSW 2046

Categories
Middle Eastern

Brothers Kebab – Belmore NSW Restaurant Review

I suspect that these guys are completely separate to Brothers Kebab in Banksia, which is a place I was a fan of when I was a uni student but no longer so fond of. We came for a late night feed that was actually very good, and may just propel Brothers Belmore above CK Canterbury in terms of our favourite local kebab joints.

We had a lamb kebab with tabouli ($17 including $1 for tabouli) with garlic, chilli, and humus – a spin on our classic order of a mixed kebab but taking advantage of the rare appearance of ‘lamb’ on a Sydney kebab shop menu – something that has consistently dwindled in availability over the past two decades. The ‘lamb’ meat was actually very meaty and much more believable as a meat that came from a living animal’s good muscular bits than your average doner kebab mystery meat. It was tender and juicy, without a hint of floury extender making an overall very good kebab, if priced at the very top end of town.

Small chips ($7) were solid. Freshly fried to order, with a little tub of chilli sauce just because we asked for it, at no additional cost.

VERDICT
At a whole five dollars more than nearby competitor CK’s Kebab Canterbury, Brothers Belmore is clearly on the top side of the scale. Whether or not the allure of less-mysterious mystery meat is worth that to you I will let you decide. These guys earned a spot in the rotation for us.

Brothers Kebab Belmore
398 Burwood Rd, Belmore NSW 2192
(02) 9758 4408

Categories
American

Renegade Burgers – Greenacre NSW Restaurant Review

Renegade Burgers is one of many burger trucks on my way home from work, visited by my partner and I a couple of times after late nights and late ward rounds.

Strengths first. The Potato & Gravy Chips ($8) are kind of monstrous. Who would’ve thought that potato on potato would be such a game changer? The mash was creamy, the fries were crispy, and the gravy was just gravy. After having this once, my girlfriend did not allow us to come back without ordering it again.

The better of the burgers that I had was The OG ($13), which I got made into a double (no memory as to how much extra this was) because apparently I want Terumo to make money off my stent in the future. It’s pretty hard to mess up a traditional burger of pickles, American cheese, beef, mustard and ketchup, and this was a solid showing but also did not allow Renegades to differentiate themselves.

I have no particular memory of The Drip ($14), which in all honesty must be a good thing, given what I do remember about the next burger.

The Chilli Chicken Smash ($14) was weak in many ways, most problematically of all in terms of its structural integrity. Beef smash burgers tend to work as a layer of caramelisation and searing holds the overall patty together, however attempting this with a chicken burger did not achieve the desired effect of a cohesive patty. This chicken patty absolutely fell apart, and this, together with the copious saucing, made for a disappointing burger, in my opinion. This would’ve been better as a normal chicken burger.

The potato and gravy chips are nuts though.

Renegade Burgers
20 Norfolk Rd, Greenacre NSW 2190
0491103970

Categories
American

Chooksy’s – Bomaderry NSW Restaurant Review

Chooksy’s, Nowra and Bomaderry’s answer to Wollongong’s esteemed Chicko’s, was on our must visit list during my partner’s recent stay in town.

First, the hot chips ($4). These were seriously good, next level. They were freshly fried with an incredible amount of crunch that persisted for well into half an hour after we got them. A colleague of mine had mentioned that she had thought about purchasing the restaurant (apparently up for sale at time of writing), but that perhaps she didn’t need to as her friend had worked at Chooksy’s and knew the secret recipe for the chip seasoning, though I suspect the actual secret to these chips are how freshly fried they are each time. Amazing.

The cheesy potato bake ($6) was really as described – cheesy and potatoey. Not too salty, which was good, but definitely one for my partner’s love rather than mine.

Interstingly, Chooksy’s does all of their burgers as either a wrap or a burger. We had an Extreme Chilli Chick ($13) as a wrap, which was actually extremely chilli. It was a chicken schitzel folded into a wrap with jalapenos, lettuce, onion, and two types of extremely hot sauce. I must admit that we underestimated just how extremely chilli this wrap was going to be, and it was nigh inedible for my poor weak tongue. Perhaps someone else would enjoy it.

This Salt & Vinegar Chicken Tender ($2.20) was quite bad. It didn’t give the impression of real meat that came from an animal.

Quite surprisingly, Chooksy’s fried chicken ($3.20 per piece) was actually unavailable the first time we visited, at around 2PM on a weekday. They were all sold out, and so we had to go back a second time to experience the promised delight. Their fried chicken was actually quite disappointing, perhaps moreso in light of our second journey, with a sad moistness after just ten minutes in the bag, and not much discernable flavour apart from saltiness. I would not rate this chicken above the Colonel’s.

The Chippy Chick ($13) as a roll I also felt like took some good ingredients and put them together only to make them worse. This roll consisted of a chicken schitnzel, hot chips, and liquid cheese and gravy. Unfortunately the combination of these winning ingredients, (especially their chips, which as mentioned above are usually great) made everything a bit moister, less crispy, and more mushy than desired. A surprising disappointment, though definitely much more edible than the Extreme Chilli Chick.

THOUGHTS
In the face of other options and in a somewhat health-conscious state, I would only recommend the hot chips at Chooksy’s, which I believe are of the top tier of hot chips in all of NSW.

Chooksy’s
1/429 Princes Hwy, Bomaderry NSW 2541
(02) 4421 8884

Categories
Middle Eastern

CK’s Canterbury Kebabs & Burgers – Canterbury NSW Restaurant Review

Probably unrelated to CK Kebab in Westmead, CK’s Canterbury Kebabs & Burgers provides a high-mid tier mixed kebab for a hefty $12. The salad is fresh without any hint of weirdness, the meat used is good, and the service is fast.

There is no additional charge for tabouli or multiple sauces, though I would’ve preferred a 50 cent surcharge or something to get an actual quantity of tabouli worth mentioning. I will ask for this the next time I go.

UPDATE
We’ve had probably ten kebabs over the course of the year since I first drafted this post, and they have been repeatedly high quality. The bouli to bab ratio has improved without us asking for anything in particular, and the kebabs have remained plump, juicy, and tasty. Unfortunately I don’t have any recent cross-sectional imagery to prove this.

Other things we have eaten from CK’s Canterbury include burgers, snack packs, and chips. See below.

This beef burger with egg was probably $9-10. It was really only OK, with the patty too soft and untextured for my liking.

I don’t know how expensive these chips with chicken salt were, but they were pretty good, fresh, and sogged only by tomato sauce.

The snack packs were also good, I’ve had a few, uncaptured, that I shouldn’t have. CK’s is just so convenient on the way home from the city after an expensive meal that we often find ourselves topping up on it.

VERDICT

Not gourmet, but not everything needs to be.

CK’s Canterbury Kebabs & Burgers
280 Canterbury Rd, Canterbury NSW 2193