BUTTER - Surry Hills, NSW

I mentioned that I had a disappointing experience with southern fried chicken lately right? Worry not, this disappointment quickly disappeared when I had the opportunity to dine at BUTTER a couple of weeks ago. Ever since they opened up, I'd been dying to hit up BUTTER but I hadn't had the opportunity to (I'd walked past the outside heaps of times but never got the chance to dine there with the Mrs). We finally got our chance a couple of weeks ago when my sister invited us out for drinks in the city. We decided to head out and hour or two earlier to the city so we could grab dinner before drinks. Ever since the George St closure, the city has become a horrid place to try and find parking (it was pretty bad before but now it's just unbearable). Surry Hills still has some parking but if possible, I'd suggest avoiding the drive altogether.

We got to BUTTER around 5:30pm and despite being Saturday, it was still pretty quiet (in terms of the expected crowd).This place is in no way "quiet", as soon as you walk past the gigantic glass wall of flashy sneakers, you hear gangster rap fill the room with a strong bass line and the rapid succinct flow of the wordsmiths. Everything from the deliberate neon lights to the menu and beyond points to one theme: this place makes you feel like a baller. The same decadence can be identified in their menu.

Being just the two of us, we opted against getting the size 13s ($60 worth of fried chicken served in a shoebox) but instead, the Mrs left me to order the appropriate amount of food for the two of us. To that end, I opted to grab a 3 pac, chicken sandwich and fries. To quench my thirst, I also decided to grab a melon slushie. To be honest: I could have done without the slushie...it taste very much like the artificial watermelon lollies and whilst it was an interesting flavour to begin with, it lost its charm rather quickly and left me wanting a more refreshing alternative.

In my opinion, southern fried chicken needs to meet 3 basic requirements: the batter needs to be extremely crunchy (lots of little crunchy bits sticking out), the coating needs to have a strong taste of the spice mixture used and the meat needs to be white meat (I'm normally all for coloured but in this one case, it needs to be white meat). BUTTER definitely meets these requirements and more...in fact, I don't think I've had southern fried chicken as good as they make it at BUTTER (maybe Hartsyard?). The chicken meat is so wonderfully juicy and tender and it's covered in this spectacularly crunchy shell. You get four choices of hot sauce ranging from O.G to some super hot level I'm tempted to try one day. Since the Mrs was having the 3 pac, I decided to keep it light and pick the O.G. I'll be honest, I appreciate hot sauce with my chicken but this tasted wayyyy too much like the korean chilli sauce that you have with noodles. If it actually tasted a bit different, I think I could have appreciated it much more. The slaw was really good though! Creamy and crunchy, it does initially taste just like KFC slaw but as you continue to savour it, other layers come in and make it a much more interesting experience.

Now, the next dish I've been craving for ages. It perfectly encapsulates the experience that is BUTTER...decadent and excessive but in all the right ways...utter and absolute gratification born in the form of the chicken sandwich. The same delicious fried chicken is wedged in between a milk bun that's been soaked in this delicious dashi butter with a pickle or two. As you take each bite, the crunchy batter, chicken juice, succulent chicken meat, fluffy milk bread and smooth, savoury butter all intertwine and make this overwhelming reaction of deliciousness. This reaction extends and permeates your entire body until it hits your stomach...and eventually clogs your blood vessels. Seriously, if you love heavy, thick flavours then this is the ultimate sandwich for you.

We also had the fries which were great in that they were really well seasoned but I could have done with not having the smoked aioli...too tart in my opinion and didn't really add to my experience. Overall, I really, really enjoyed my night at BUTTER. In fact, in the weeks since, I've recommended it to everyone and a few have found their ideal restaurant in BUTTER. If you too, love fried chicken, champers and rap music...I'd definitely recommend giving BUTTER a try.

Paramount Coffee Project - Surry Hills, NSW

The Mrs has been wanting to go to Paramount Coffee Project for years but we've just never had the chance. I mean, with so many new and exciting places opening up all the time, our list of ever expanding options just grows and grows right? Luckily, a couple of Sundays ago, we had a little breathing space to go out for a shopping spree. Since a majority of Surry Hills eateries weren't open for business, you're effectively left with the ones that are. As if following some kind of god given sign, we walked in, put our name down and waited for a table.

Paramount has been a popular lunch/brunch destination for some time now and you really see why when you walk in. I remember this being one of the first places I saw the minimalist white and wood industrial outfit that's become so popular recently.  The wide open space gives it a really inviting atmosphere and despite the frantic pace, you can feel comfortable tucked away in a corner having a private conversation.

As with any brunch, we ordered coffee as soon as we sat down. Maybe owing to how busy it was that weekend, our coffees didn't come out until we decided to order food (which was sometime after we'd seated and got comfortable). I wasn't sure if it was just me or if I was losing my palate but I really couldn't taste anything special or outstanding about the coffee at paramount. Granted, I remember it being creamy and nutty but it lacked depth for me.

We were seated right next to the little window where food went through the pass and so we could see when our dishes came out. The Mrs ordered the soft baked eggs which came out in a little clay ramekin. A good dollop of creamy labneh sat on top of a red chorizo sauce and green relish. This also came with a slice of sourdough toast, the Mrs at a bit and said that it wasn't suiting her palate as it was a bit too spicy. Good for me because I didn't much enjoy my dish so we swapped.

I ordered the southern fried chicken and waffles which on paper sounded like the most substantial and satisfying meal. I was rather disappointed with my first bite as the combination came across far too sweet for my liking. I suspect that there was maple syrup added to the waffles which in addition with the maple hinted gravy, overpowered the chicken a fair bit. I was also disappointed inthe batter of the chicken in that it lacked the crunch and spice you typically expect from southern fried chicken. The chicken itself was juicy and full of chicken flavour but the choice to use coloured meat may have affected the texture of the chicken. I knew I should have gone with my gut feeling and ordered the cheesesteak but, in the end, the Mrs ended up liking my dish more which meant it all worked out in the end.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I'm rarely this negative about food in general  (to be fair: it was still a good, hearty delicious meal) but I think the two years of anticipation really set us up for a bit of a let down. Though, that said, I'm also very willing to return since I'm convinced that the fault lied with me ordering the wrong thing. I've also recently had my southern fried chicken craving satisfied so if I do return, I'd be happy to try the other things they have on offer.

Grano - Wetherill Park, NSW

I did mention that the Mrs and I had eaten out quite a bit lately...in the midst of adapting to living with another person and enjoying married life, I really hadn't had the time to sort all my photos and write about places. I really should have written about this place ages ago but alas, here we are. For our Valentine's day celebration, the Mrs had come up with a suggestion for a place that she'd seen on Instagram. Since the Mrs rarely ever comes up with suggestions for locations, I took this opportunity immediately and booked a spot for two that day.


Situated on the corner of the industrial part of Wetherill Park, you'd never imagine from the surrounding location that such a well fitted out and romantic restaurant would be right there. They take that industrial fit out and run with it by overlaying a simplistic but charming old school italian vibe to it (complete with tomato cans and old cupboards). We start our night off with a couple of cocktails which is in my opinion: always the best way to start off a celebration. To me though, they were a slight bit too sweet as you couldn't really taste the alcohol. Great for a first date and getting your date talkative though.

For Entrees, we chose to have the zucchini flowers and polpette. The zucchini flowers were crispy and really nicely seasoned, sitting on top of a bed of simple bed of roquette and cherry tomatoes. A drizzle of balsamic glaze is then added with some freshly grated parmesan. The lighter of the two entrees, the crunch factor from the coating and the slightly peppery roquette gives you a really good palate cleanse.

Very shortly after we finished our first entree, our second order also arrived at our table: the polpette or calabrese style meatballs were delicious...plump, juicy balls of beef swim in this tart yet savoury tomato based sauce. The sauce is really simple: fresh tomatoes seasoned very slightly to bring out the sweetness and tartness with maybe just a bit of basil in it. The meatballs are cooked perfectly...red in the centre but definitely cooked through...they retain their shape and meatiness but have a certain tender elasticity. You also get slices of toasted bread to act as the "scarpetta" which means "little shoe", the piece of carb provided to help you sop up the sauce.

For mains, the Mrs and I were allowed to pick a dish each to which I picked the prosciutto e funghi pizza. I picked this because well...I love pizza, especially when it comes out of a wood fire oven. I don't know if my pictures are adequate enough to display how great this piece of pie is...smoky and delicate...the pizza crust is a perfect balance between doughy and crispy. Personally, there was a bit too much roquette on top which meant the thin, salty slices of prosciutto got lost amongst the green but I really, really didn't mind. It was definitely still a delicious pizza.

As Suze calls it...the "Upskirt" shot

The definite favourite of the night was this: the spaghetti al cartoccio. This was the dish that made the Mrs want to come here and boy, I'm so glad she found it. A paper bag is brought to the table on a wooden cutting board with a grilled chilli on the side. You may have seen it on Instagram but the does not compare to actually experiencing the spectacular unveiling in person. As you open that baked bag, the aroma of olive oil, seafood and garlic rise through the air, tempting you to look at the contents and salivate. Each strand of spaghetti is covered in generous lashing of this flavoured oil sauce and each bite yield this wonderful, al-dente snap...seriously, one of the most impressive pasta dishes I've had.

Normally, the Mrs and I actively avoid desserts...as if we hadn't gorged enough, we avoid further ingesting additional sugar that we have no means of working off later. This time though, seeing that it's Valentine's day, the Mrs specifically requested that we order dessert...in particular, she wanted to eat the cannoli. They do it a little special here at Grano: it's all D-I-Y...what this means is that you get two freshly fried cannoli shells dusted in icing sugar, a piping bag packed full of that ricotta flavoured cream and some chocolate sauce. It's entirely up to your discretion on how much ricotta cream you pipe inside, a little or a lot...or just put the bag in your mouth and squeeze. All up to you.

I mentioned it again and again during dinner that night but nothing makes me happier than to see great places like Grano open up in areas that are out of the beaten path. Wetherill Park is a great place to expand and open up at the moment as the population in Western Sydney need more places like this where they can go eat out and enjoy life. It was a really, really enjoyable dinner and since the Mrs works so close to Wetherill Park, I'm looking forward to eventually taking our friends there.

Thai Riffic on street - Parramatta, NSW

If you follow me on instagram, you'll notice that I've been eating out at places without posting about it here. What's going on? Living with someone else (and taking care of an apartment) has simply meant that I've had less and less time to sit down and put pen to paper (so to speak). But now that I'm back in Australia, I plan to post as frequently as I can to try and catch up cause we've got some good things coming soon!

As many of you know, I've since moved from the southern side of Sydney to the west and I've become a proud and happy resident of Parramatta. Where we live, we're never too far from really, really good food which is absolutely amazing! One of the places that we've been lucky enough to try in recent days is Thairiffic on the street. Located underneath the Westfield cinemas, this conveniently located restaurant (which is a part of a larger chain of Thai Riffic eateries) offers the usual fragrant, delicious Thai fare but also brings many street eats to the west.

The Mrs and I popped in for lunch one afternoon after not being able the decide on what to eat (trust me, the abundant choices in Parramatta can get debilitating). After being seated, we skimmed over the menu and noticed quite a few dishes that you don't regularly find in Thai eateries around the area. So, we quickly placed our order and waited patiently for it our opportunity to sample the delicacies.

I ordered one of my favourite Thai street food items: guay teaw neua toon which is a rich and deep flavoured beef broth served with beef balls, thin rice noodles and tender chunks of braised beef. If you like pho, you'll definitely like this soup noodle as the flavour profiles are really similar: you have the aniseed from the cloves and star anise and the herbaceous aromatic smell of coriander. The springy beef balls provide that texturally pleasant meaty element which is furthered by the big, chunks of fall apart beef. It is significantly sweeter than Pho but you'll learn to relish this sweetness as you hastily slurp those thin strands of rice noodles.

The Mrs ordered the khao mun goong ob mor din which was a claypot rice of sorts with rice stir-fried in a spicy shrimp sauce and served with plump, juicy prawns, fish roe and an onsen egg. Be warned: when they say spicy, they mean spicy. Each grain of rice is coated in this moreish, fiery sauce which made my tongue tingle with joy. This dish isn't particularly generous with the prawns but they do give you really big ones that are cooked to perfection. This dish was also way too spicy for the Mrs so she had to switch with me.

She didn't really like my dish all too much either (too sweet for her) so for compensation, she ordered an extra order of barbecued ox tongue. The ox tongue was grilled really well and took on a charred, crispy exterior...really highlighting the rich, fatty meat but texturally speaking, this was one of the chewier ones I've eaten. Still, they do the dipping sauce really well here so it was a delight to dip the ox tongue in the sweet and savoury sauce.

Again, our apologies for not having updated the blog in a while but we've been kinda busy (really, we have!) and as we go out and explore all that this wonderful area has to offer, I'll be sure to double my efforts and post as frequently as I can to catch up! Stay tuned!

Song Fang Khong - Fairfield, NSW

Happy new year!!! Apologies again for the minor delays between posting content but between juggling christmas, new years and our upcoming event, it's been super hectic. I've had this one saved in my backlog of places to post about for a while now but I'm only just getting to it now that I have some 15 minutes to spare, The Mrs was finishing up work for the term and so we decided to grab a bite somewhere near where she works. When asked where we should eat, the immediate image that came to my mind was Song Fang Khong. I had previously had a wonderful dining experience at Song Fang Khong before when my friend took me here to grab a bite to eat prior to us attending a wedding and because of this, I wanted to replicate that experience for her.

When we arrived, we were super lucky to be able to still grab a table as although this place is small, it's super popular with the locals. As we sat down and looked at the menu, I let the Mrs decide (with my input) what to order. The lady at the counter then proceeded to promptly take down our order and gave us a bottle of table water while we waited...the Mrs then asked the lady for "iced tea". This thoroughly confused me as the Mrs would never order any bottled drinks (I had assumed the Mrs wanted a bottled drink from the fridge) but sure enough, the lady took our bottle of iced water and poured in this dark tea from a pot which looked like it'd been steeping for a long time. As the dark liquid mixed with the water, it turned into a bright, opaque orange which had a fragrance reminiscent of the Thai milk tea the Mrs loves so much. Super refreshing with a spicy bitterness, the water was enough to distract us as we waited for our dishes which arrived shortly after.

First to arrive was the rice and papaya salad. Rather than go for the thai version, I had asked the Mrs to try the authentic Laotian version available on the menu. Fair warning: this dish isn't for people with weak stomachs as it does pack a very funky (yet delicious) taste. This exotic flavour stems from the primary difference between the Thai and Lao versions of the dish: padaek or fish sauce. This ominously dark paste gives the salad it's signature black dressing and funky aroma. Uber delicious with coconut rice and meat but for those who don't like the flavour of fermented fish, stick to that Thai version.

Quickly after our salad arrived, our order of grilled Lao sausages also arrived at our table. By now, everyone should know how much I love sausages...and I have to say, this is the epitome of an amazing sausage. The casing is grilled until it's charred and almost crunchy which it an amazing textural experience as you bite into it, allowing the sausage to release the fatty, spiced meat inside. The meat is flavoured with all sorts of aromatic, southeast asian items of which, most prominent is the lemongrass.

Finally, the plate of grilled ox tongue arrived after the sausages which completed the Laotian feast we had ordered. My usual experience of eating ox tongue is generally restricted to Japanese yakiniku restaurants where they slice the meat rather thinly but in this case, each piece is cut into thick, finger sized pieces which gives it more chew. This also means though that it has a deeper beef flavour and more of a rich, fattiness that it can release when you eat it.

When trying to describe Song Fang Khong to someone who's never been, I find that you can only really describe it with the words "pleasantly surprising". Surprising in that such delicious food and amazing hospitality is hidden away in this gem behind Fairfield station and surprising in that this place has managed stay away from public attention for so long. I would definitely recommend anyone wanting an authentic Laotian dining experience to go try this place.

Roastville - Marrickville, NSW

The Mrs has been a bit busy this weekend with the in-laws heading off on a holiday for a few weeks so she this morning, she had to get up early and help drive them to the airport. Knowing the Mrs, she wouldn't have been all too happy about that (she loves her sleep) but one definite benefit of going to the airport is that you're extremely close to where all the brunch action is. That's exactly what the Mrs had planned and as soon as she dropped off her parents, the three of us (the brother-in-law, her and myself) all headed off to Marrickville to checkout a place we've been hearing about: Roastville.

 

The original plan was to go there and check out their fried chicken and waffles which has been circulating instagram lately but unfortunately, upon arrival we'd learned that the waffles were only available from 11:30am onwards...shame. Still, that didn't deter us from having a great meal there so we promptly ordered coffee and food. The coffee beans are roasted in house and therefore, it's obvious that you have to try what they have on offer. The Mrs looked impressed so that's a good sign but I'll be honest, despite being great there really wasn't any outstanding or notable differences...then again, I'm really no coffee connoisseur.

Well, I really didn't come here for the coffee but for the epic looking food. The brother-in-law and I both ordered the dirty bird benedict (which I didn't actually know was their signature dish) and I have to say...it was amazing. The excessiveness of the dish is the first thing you'll notice...when you look at the dish, the first thing you ask yourself is "how am I even eating something like this in the morning?" but it totally works. There isn't too much hollandaise (a crime a lot of other eggs bennys are guilty of) but what you get really helps to accentuate the dish. It's a perfect amount of moorish creaminess and tartness with what a really delicious kick from that mild harissa. The chicken is super tender and juicy (so juicy) with ample tonkatsu-like crunch (the Mrs said they probably use panko bread crumbs). Finally, that bread...it was so moist and flavoursome that it was almost biscuit like in texture...definitely my highlight of the day.

The Mrs wanted to be different and ordered the eggs on toast with a side of chickpea, kale and tomato ragout as well as some chorizo...which surprisingly, totally worked. The toast is nice and rustic (just the way she likes it) and the beetroot relish really helped cut through the butter egg yolk and give it some sweetness. The ragout was delicious in it's own simplistic way with crunchy kale, chickpeas and a slight tartness from the tomato which to me, tasted like there was almost a middle-eastern spin on the ragout. The chorizo was also great in that they didn't use the smoked variety which at times, ends up a bit dry when cooked. Instead, they opted for the unsmoked kind which made it really sweet fatty and meaty.

Although I am admittedly slightly disappointed that I didn't get to try the fried chicken and waffles, today was definitely no loss as I got to try their spin on my favorite breakfast and we are extremely impressed with their execution of the food. They strike a very fine balance between healthy, raw ingredients and excessive yet satisfying and soulful dishes. Marrickville was already an amazing foodie destination but I believe it's now gotten even better with it's addition of this delightful cafe.