Chaco Bar and Belle's Hot Chicken - Barangaroo, NSW

Sometimes, I find myself thinking that I'm glad to be alive during this time of culinary vibrancy in Sydney. When I was much younger, good food just wasn't a priority to people (at least the ones I knew). It was often hard to say that we had any really good food offerings unless you were happy to pay exorbitant amounts of money for a meal. That's all changed in recent years as we've come to put much more emphasis on good food and wine. Generally speaking, we're still a bit slower than everyone else in importing new ideas but luckily, it seems that ideas are very happy to come to us! Take for example: Belle's hot chicken, Melbourne most famous fried chicken joint. A short walk from Wynyard station, Belle's is a great place to go and grab a bite to eat, especially since Chaco Bar had opened their ramen pop up right next door!

It's been some time since they've set up shop at Wulugul Walk in Barangaroo but they're still as popular as ever as the Friday night we decided to go, so much so that we could barely find a spot to sit and eat! Tip for those planning a visit: Don't go when all the office workers are there grabbing a bite to eat and drink...TGIF is a very real thing. Fortunately, we came early so whilst a lot of office workers had just started drinking, a lot of the late-to-midday session diners have just started finishing up. Since it was cold and I care about ramen more than I care about anything, we decided to start on Chaco bar's ramen.

We ordered as soon as one of us were able to find a tiny spot to sit down at. We were rather hungry at that point but fortunately, the ramen came out really quickly. I'd wanted to try Chaco's ramen for ages since there's been rave review from when they started serving Ramen at their proper location. After tasting the ramen that night, I can definitely understand why. I've been fortunate enough to sample most of the ramen shops in Sydney and I have to say, I'm definitely loving Chaco bar's rendition. I ordered the Fish Salt which was the lighter of the two we ordered: light and viscous but holding a smooth and delicate flavour, the broth had a really nice peppery kick to it...I really, really liked the simplicity of this bowl of noodles. The roast pork was thinner than I've had at other places and therefore was slightly underwhelming but the noodles...oh.dear.lord the noodles were GREAT. Long, slightly wavy and vibrantly yellow...they had the best snap I've had in Sydney...very toothsome.

The Mrs got to have the Fat Soy ramen which I have to admit would have been my preferred option (but I gave it to her cause I love her). The soup wasn't thick like the other popular ramen spots in Sydney but still had a deep, rich, umami packed flavour...especially with the abundant pork fat that sat on top of the soup like a thick blanket. If I had one gripe, it was that I didn't get my ramen in a proper bowl but an enviro-disposable cardboard bowl...loses a bit of the heat and effect if you don't dig in straight away...but not a huge deal since it'll return to their proper store soon and I can go have it there!

We also had the gyoza as well which was actually really nice! Big, juicy and plump dumplings with a nice curry-like spicy kick to it.

Right after we had finished our ramen, we wasted no time at all and went to order our fried chicken! And then again, in no time at all, we were seated with hot, freshly fried poultry in front of us. The Mrs and I decided to share a portion of the chicken wings at medium spice with a side of fries and Mississippi comeback sauce. The chicken was really, really juicy and as you bite down on it, the hot chicken juices encased in the crispy coating starts dribbling down making it a very messy (and potentially dangerous) yet fun eating experience. Though very, VERY delicious...I can't say that it's something I'd pine over. I think Sydney has well and truly caught up in our fried chicken game and we have our own competitive offerings which I think are equally as good. For me, though the chicken was very crispy, I found my wings a bit lacking in that I was looking for the crispy protruding nubbins of goodness as you would find in KFC's Hot and Spicy or BUTTER's fried chicken only to find a rather flat surface area. I think we also picked the wrong spice level...Medium was a little bit too mild for us. Not to mention, I found myself very dehydrated after which suggested to me that it was over seasoned. I almost felt like the spice powder coated the back on my throat in a thick layer of dry seasoning.

Wanting to complete the MUCHIES night, the Mrs and I (along with her younger brother who I neglected to mention was with us the whole time) headed to Regents Place for some dessert. Being a Friday night, the place was already packing but we still managed to find a seat at Choc Pot. I personally think that after all the delicious food we had, there's no better way to end the night than to blow out and have a decadent chocolate banana crepe. Overall, I really do think we had a great night...Wurugul Walk is a great place to go to grab a bite to eat though I would suggest going when no one else is there (during the day). There are just more options open during the day (Short Stop donuts...) and you're not competing for a spot to sit. I can't wait till ramen goes back to the Darlinghurst location so that we can go and grab a nice, proper bowl of noodles!

Instafoodies Event - Glebe, NSW

We're back! Back again! And this is true in more ways than one! It really has been more than a while since our last blog post and there's very good reasons for that: unfortunately, our computer needed to be re-formatted. With the recent release of Overwatch, my old tower wasn't capable of running the game so I had to spend weeks figuring out how to update my computer to the point where I could play the game. No regrets though since it's been heaps of fun playing online with my friends and in the heat of the new game, I've completely forgotten to write anything about our recent adventures!

So we're back on the blog again! and this time, we find ourselves back at Hem Nine Nine! See, we had such a blast at Hem Nine Nine last time that when we got an invite to come back and attend an instafoodies event (organised by Robbie from it'd be rude not to), we knew we just had to come back. On the day, there were no markets on so parking was a bit easier to find than the first time we went. As we walked in, Robbie was there to greet us and it was so great to finally see him in person. The magic of social media is that you will get to know people rather intimately without ever having met them at all. I'd followed Robbie on Instagram for some time now but the event was the first time I'd actually met him. This becomes this sort of reoccurring theme throughout the event as I come to see a lot of people I follow of Instagram as well.

So as the place quickly starts filling up again, we found ourselves back on the table we sat at the last time. Since there were so many invitees and space was becomes scarce, we were seated with other instagramers and attendees (who we quickly got acquainted with...nice to meet you Erika, Mandy, Vee, Susan, Lily). As we get to know each other, the food starts rolling in dish by dish (which at that point was really exciting since we were starving!). Better still, we were presented with dishes that we didn't get to try last time! (we're only two stomachs...couldn't order that much even if we wanted to). Now, we were given a LOT to eat (we were SO full by the end of it) so I can't go into too much detail about each but I will give you a good run down of each dish (further descriptions can be found on our Instagram):

1. The duck rice paper rolls. Tasted like peking duck but with a little Vietnamese influence. I liked the addition of pickles!

2. Fish balls! you would not believe how happy I was when this arrived at the table. So reminiscent of my childhood trips to the home town of Hong Kong. Spicy, springy and delicious!

3. Wagyu Bo Luc Lac skewers. I mean, I love Bo Luc Lac (shaking beef) already but to make it with Wagyu and then put it on skewers? Ingenious! Super tender cubes of beef, char-grilled and served with sweet capsicum and slaw on the side.

4. Ox tongue: very tasty and savoury sauce that glazes these slices of tender ox tongue. A good squeeze of citrus really helped cut through the rich, beefy flavour and sauce.

5. A platter of soft, toasted bread rolls serverd with roasted bone marrow, chopped fresh chilli and pickled onions. Sort of like a...decadent and buttery do-it-yourself sandwich. Very delicious.

6. The grilled lemongrass pork skeweres we had last time. Still just as good! Still just as flavoursome and fatty.

7. Pork belly Baos. I believe these are also served on their "Mama Linhs" food truck and whilst the serving of pork belly in a Chinese bun is nothign new, Hem Nine Nine's rendition really stands out from the rest in that they pack in the sauce and the pickles that come with it are fantastic.

 

8. Crispy skin chicken! I mean, how can you not love this perennial Vietnamese favourite? Very crunchy deep fried skin that sits on top of the juicy chicken meat. It's really great how they chopped it all up and it had no bones in it at all so it makes for a great drinking snack.

9. Bo Kho...I can never pronounce it right whenever I try to order this at a Vietnamese restaurant but I love it all the same. Less sweet than most other versions I've had out there but definitely packing in the rich, meaty flavour. Love the addition of other cuts of beef and the general omission of the tendon (not a big fan of tendon).

10. By this point, I was well and truly stuffed...could not imagine handling more food. Then someone mentioned that the last dish was gonna be Pho...I almost freaked out! Luckily, it was Pho but not as we knew it. What we got was the Pho Banh Mi which was this bread roll stuffed with tender, fall apart beef that's been cooked in Pho spices and then served with generous amounts of sriracha mayo and other veges you typically find with pho. Very ingenious way of modernising one of my favourite noodle dishes.

Finally, after all the food that we gorged on, Robbie comes out to address the crowd. Kudos to Robbie for organising such a successful event! Additionally, for dessert, we got treated to a slice of the amazing cake from Desserts with Lynda! I've been a massive, MASSIVE fan of hers for a while and it turns out that she reads our blog too! Such a wonderful delight to know that someone you follow on Insta reads your content as well and it was amazing having met her...such a humble person for the amount of success she's accumulated in such a short time.

The cake was super moist and I loved the addition of the pandan cream! Would 10/10 love to eat something like this again! Overall, the Mrs and I had a blast attending this event. If I haven't said this before, I'll say this now: Hem Nine Nine serve up a fine Vietnamese fiest I'm honoured and glad to have been able to dine there twice already. I'm certain that things will only get better for them from now on and I do recommend giving them a try when you can! Thank you to Mama Linh, Chef Peter, Hem Nine Nine for the wonderful food and hospitality and thank you for inviting us to celebrate the birthday of the food truck! A special thank you to Robbie for organising as well!