Categories
British

Kiwi Fish Shop – Mascot NSW Review

The need for salt and oil struck me again recently, and this need was fed by an evening delivery order from Kiwi Fish Shop, a fish and chip shop variably described as being in Mascot or Rosebery, and possibly part of the Newmarket Hotel operation.

The crumbed calamari (3 pieces for $4.50) provided a good initial hit of salt and umami.

The prawn cutlet ($2.50 each) were a bit overbreaded but still good

The sea scallops (2 for $2.50) were not as fresh as deep fried scallops can be, but still passable.

The crumbed oyster ($3.25) was not as good as at Kibuna, a Japanese restaurant also located in Mascot – however obviously in a different style.

The fish and chips ($12) were just that. I was not that into the chips, While the tyranny of distance is at least partially to blame, they just didn’t taste fresh to me.

An additional fish fillet was had for $9 already you can see this is too much food

I was sad to have been charged $1.50 each for small tubs of tartare sauce. You would think that some would be included.

The fish taco combo ($12) was delicious – mainly the fish taco. I liked the sauce and salsa. Could’ve gone without the mountain of chips and with a couple of dollars off the price to match.

The Juicy Scotch Fillet Burger optioned by my partner with egg and cheese ($13 base, $16 as shown) was pretty good actually, but expensive and also not the real reason you’re ordering from a fish and chip shop on a Thursday evening.

THOUGHTS

The food at Kiwi Fish Shop was not bad, and even probably quite good. I don’t really have a recent benchmark to compare it to, as fish and chips are really more of a once in a year or two thing given the wide variety of other delicious things that I have access to, that may not be as bad for me. I had strong regrets about halfway through the meal, but for some reason I powered through. I should have at least saved the food for the following day.

4/5 steamed clams

Kiwi Fish Shop
895 Botany Rd, Mascot NSW 2020
(02) 9667 2499

Categories
Asian Fusion Café

Chimichuri – Chatswood NSW Brunch Review

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a new mole on my left palm. This worried me for a number of reasons. The first of these is that you’re not really meant to have moles in areas of skin that are not exposed to the sun. The second of which was that this was new and therefore something potentially problematic. As someone with the baseline anxiety grade of 7 out of 10 I decided that I needed to have this checked and hopefully biopsied as we know that tissue is king. And thus we made it to the Upper North Shore for a two minute skin check, and took the golden opportunity to get some brunch as well.

We rarely have an excuse to cross the bridge and I had a number of restaurants lined up just waiting to be eaten at. Near the top of this list was Chimichuri, yet another Asian fusion brunch cafe.

My partner ordered the Earl Grey Latte (L -$5), also known as a “large fun milk please”. Unfortunately the fun milk was not as fun as expected as we found it to be too far too sweet. My soy latte (S/R – $4) was just a soy latte, pretty good, but no different to every other soy latte I have every other day. Drinks aside, I thought that the cups were particularly nice, as they had a large clear base that elevated the liquid holding portion and made the glasses seem bigger than they were.

Chimichuri – Black Benedict

The Black Benedict ($24) was basically a deep fried soft-shell crab together with a charcoal hamburger bun poached eggs and black dyed hollandaise sauce. There is also a very small amount of salmon roe which I found to have an odd taste and lacking in freshness. The Black Benedict is one of their signature dishes, however ultimately disappointing. My humble opinion is that the flavours were not very good or cohesive. I was also not a fan of the charcoal bun, and I believe the jury is still out as to whether or not this is good for your health or will actively cause cancer. Either way, I don’t think black bread really adds anything to the taste of food and I try to actively avoid it where possible.

Chimichuri – Scallop Shell

I enjoyed the Scallop Shell ($24) much more. I thought that the croissant had a great warmth and airy texture to it. It was so buttery and tasty and probably one of the best croissant I’ve had in recent memory. The scrambled egg on the croissant was also very light and warm on the inside and reminded me of the scrambled egg from Dopa. I thought that the scallop was not actually as special as I thought there would be. While the main advertised attraction, there were only three scallops for the entire dish and I didn’t feel like they had much flavour to them at all. My partner, if given the opportunity to speak, will tell you that scallop is normally quite a light-flavoured ingredient and that there is often a lot of potential for scallops flavours to be muddled up by for example croissant or egg. She said it was much better eaten on its own, however even in its own mouthful I found the scallop to be a bit lacking. We will have to beg to differ.

3.5/5 , hit and miss

Chimichuri
1/6 Help St, Chatswood NSW 2067
(02) 8084 5272

Categories
Japanese

Sanpo Japanese Restaurant – Rosebery NSW Restaurant Review

We ate at Sanpo in Rosebery in June 2020, at the height of the first wave of COVID-19 in Sydney.

We appreciated the strict hand hygiene and social distancing procedures, and understood that we had to wait outside for our table to free up. Safety was more important than comfort.

The beef sukiyaki hotpot was delicious.

The uni sashimi was some of the best sea urchin I’ve had in a while. Large, plump pieces.

The sashimi and sushi set was delicious.

The aburi scallop nigiri was also delicious, however as there was already some that came with the sushi and sashimi set we need not have ordered.

Overall I loved the dimly lit and quiet romantic vibe of the restaurant. I can recommend Sanpo as a nice date location to take your special person or feline (confirm with the restaurant ahead of time).

4.5 scallops, leaning 5.

Sanpo Japanese Restaurant
304/5-9 Rothschild Ave, Rosebery NSW 2018
(02) 8541 5867

Sanpo Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato