Chopsticks x B.R.A.D collaboration: Hello Kitty Diner - Chatswood, NSW

To the Mrs: by the time you read this, I should be officially standing next to you as your husband by that point in time. Theoretically then, it should be safe for me to post this to you without spoiling anything. Firstly, I'll have to apologise to you as I've gone and tried something without you again...but not without good reason this time. The B.R.A.D crew and I had dance practice and so, they invited me to dine with them at Hello Kitty Diner prior to going to practice...you can't be mad at me for that (smiley face).

I met up with the boys of B.R.A.D right after I finished work where I took the train from North Sydney to Chatswood and immediately bolted up to the diner to meet with them. They'd already ordered some "snacks" to start but once I arrived, we quickly proceeded to order the dishes we all wanted to eat. I found my experience at Hello Kitty diner to be...very reminiscent of when I used to watch Hello Kitty cartoons with my younger sister. She'd always demand to watch the Hello Kitty VHS we had so I'd begrudgingly watch it with her...but secretly, I did like watching it too. The titular mascot is sprawled almost everywhere in the diner making this Sanrio theme restaurant rather endearingly cute.

We'd all ordered an assortment of food items but the first of my orders to come was the fried chicken and waffles. A doughy waffle sits neatly on top of a few nuggets of crispy, southern fried chicken. A drizzle of syrup then glazes both items to complete the package. I'd say that I enjoyed the chicken much more than I did the waffle though as to me, the waffle didn't add to my experience but the chicken was spiced really well and came out rather juicy.

B ordered some sweet potato fries which came with a miso flavoured dipping sauce. He was very much confused by this mixture of flavours as the sweet potato fries would have been too heavy and starchy alone but the dipping sauce was also not too enjoyable to his palate. I on the other hand, very much enjoyed the sauce...the nuttiness from the miso really helped to cut through the starch of the fries. The boys seemed to enjoy the standard fries much more than they did the sweet potato fries.

Shortly after we'd finished the fries and chicken, our burgers arrived at our table. B ordered what I believe to be the crispy pork belly burger: pork belly with slaw, maple bacon and apple. From what I could tell of his facial expressions, I am led to believe that he didn't really enjoy his burger all too much. Although Chur Burger designed the menu and were consulted on the food, I feel as though the offerings at Hello Kitty diner don't really compare that well to the real thing. 

I had ordered the ebi (prawn) burger but as my one arrived, I was informed that they'd run out of milk buns and had to use the other, harder buns...bummer. The flavour of the bun was good however I don't necessarily think it matched my idea of what an ebi burger should be. From my experience, ebi burgers normally contain a patty of chopped prawns fried in a 'katsu' or croquette....this contained separate pieces of fried prawn which made the experience of eating it slightly harder. It also meant the crunch factor was less prominent as you don't have the crispy outer shell of panko to bite down on.

I'd say that if given the choice, I would personally return to Hello Kitty diner...but only under the provision that I'm going with someone who's never been. But for a place like this, I really don't think you really go for the food, food is but an afterthought. Instead, I believe the charm lies in the nostalgic feelings that are conjured when you're surrounded by this immensely popular icon of modern culture.

Mamak - Chatswood

The Mrs and I have been on a bit of a Malaysian food binge lately. I stand by my theory that my wife must have been a Malaysian in her past life because no matter how much we have it, she can never get enough. That is how we ended up at Mamak on Saturday night. As it was a Saturday night and we left for Chatswood quite late, the drive wasn't too bad. Parking though was horrendous....with the recent opening of Tim Ho Wan and all these other foodie joints, Chatswood really has become the hub of the North Shore.

After managing to find parking (all credit to the Mrs' keen senses and attention to detail) we headed over to Mamak and lined up in the cold. Although not nearly as ridiculous as it's other branch in the heart of the city, it was still impressive that they were pulling in a crowd at the hour that we arrived. We were seated almost simultaneously as another couple and although we were seated ever so slightly after them, we were the first to order because we already knew what we craved. Not gonna deny that we felt a bit pro.

The first things to arrive were our standard refreshments: Teh ice and Milo ice. The recipe is identical to the one they serve at Hawker (duh) and although it wasn't piled high with Milo powder, it was still creamy and refreshing. The Teh was as expected, absolutely delicious. Honestly wish they had an option to super jumbo size the drinks....I always polish my drink off in the first 5 minutes.

Next to arrive was the Kari Ayam (Curry Chicken). The curry itself was more viscous and spicy than we're used to but that's not to say it wasn't impressive. If I had an endless supply of that curry sauce and roti, I would be a very satisfied man. That said though, I personally wasn't a very big fan of the bony chunks of chicken, I prefer mine boneless.

When the next order came, we realised we may have overloaded on the chicken. We still gobbled up the Ayam Goreng (Malaysian fried chicken) all the same but it meant we neglected our curry quite a bit and had to take it home. This was my personal favorite meat dish of the night: the crispy exterior coated that juicy, succulent flesh perfectly with the delicious batter.

We each had an order of roti to ourselves (which was perfect because one dish of one type of curry as opposed to the other, no fighting over curry) and we ordered enough satay skewers to had 3 types of meat each. I still ended up having most of it though, not because the Mrs couldn't finish her portion but because she couldn't stand me constantly eyeing her food.

After dinner, we had thought about topping it all off at the choc pot. The Mrs fought hard to find the room for chocolate but couldn't do it. When we ascended the escalators though, our attention was immediately drawn to Miss Dipity. Ice cream was far too hard to deny. Good choice too as the Hojicha and Toasted Marsh mellow flavours were AMAZING.

I've very fond memories of Chatswood being that my father worked there for most of my life and I've had the opportunity to see it change again and again over the years. I'm happy to say I haven't lost any reason to visit. If anything, I've gained so much more reason to come back.