Ever since I had what was most possibly the best pies ever from Fergbaker in Queenstown, I thought I was doomed to ever find a product of similar quality within Sydney. That was until my friends introduced me to The Pie Tin, a small pie shop tucked away just off the main thoroughfare of Newtown, King Street.
Filed under Australian, Bakery, Fusion, Newtown, Patisserie, Takeaway
I’ve heard so many things about this chain in Melbourne, with fries that make fantastic midnight snacks due to the wide variety of sauces that they offer. So on my recent trip down to the city, I indulged myself with the guilty pleasure of fries and onion rings with their Parisian sauce. The Lord of the Fries stores are usually just simple counters with not much seating (if any at all), so it really feels like a street food experience.
Filed under American, CBD & Surrounds, Takeaway
I’ve heard a lot about the legendary El Jannah, home of some of the best barbeque chicken and garlic sauce that I will ever taste according to some people. Tonight is a cold winters night and some barbeque chicken is exactly what I need!
El Jannah is a relatively large charcoal chicken restaurant that is both eat-in and takeaway. The seating isn’t actually that plentiful but I am used to charcoal chicken places having no seats, so it is ‘relatively’ big in that aspect. When we arrive tonight, there are a lot of patrons already and a bit of a queue to order food. After we sit down, we notice that a lot of the queue were takeaway customers so finding seats wasn’t that bad. At the register, they also only take cash so make sure you bring spare change with you. Otherwise, there is a generic ATM in the corner or some bank branches just down the road.
Large Tabouli – $6.90
Large Garlic Sauce – $4.50
Whole Chicken – $10.90
We start off the night with a whole barbeque chicken. Along with this is a side of tabouli, garlic sauce and bread. Firstly, the chicken is well cooked and juicy, but pretty standard because most barbequed chickens are quite good generally. What takes this chicken to the next level is the garlic sauce. Rich and creamy, this sauce is garlic heaven and one of the most amazing garlic sauces ever. The method I used to eat this was to rip some off the bread, wrap it with tabouli and chicken inside and then smother it in garlic sauce. Delicious.
Skewers – $4 each
Tawouk (marinated breast chicken pieces)
Kafta (specially prepared minced lamb)
Lahme (small lamb pieces cooked on charcoal)
Soujouk (specially prepared spicy minced lamb)
We also ordered one of each skewer which was presented together on a plate with a side of hommous and chips. Our party of four deconstructed each skewer so that we could taste each one. Unfortunately, they all tasted like barbeque and I couldn’t differentiate between the 2 lamb ones, however they were all delicious so there is no problem with ordering either of them.
Large Chips – $4
On top of our meal, we foolishly ordered a bowl of chips not knowing that it came with the skewers. Despite this, these chips were fantastic. They were well seasoned with chicken salt and were crisp and crunchy on the outside, but soft in the middle. Really great chips.
Overall the food at El Jannah gets my two thumbs up. Highlights of the meal included the garlic sauce and the chips – best two menu items. I think next time I come back, I’m just going to stock up on garlic sauce so I can have a stash at home… >:)
El Jannah
4/8 South Street, Granville NSW 2142
Ph: (02) 9637 0977
Winter is upon us here in Sydney, which means that it is finally soup season! I love soup because it is the ultimate lazy person’s meal – there’s generally no need to chew, you still get to taste delicious flavours and end up with a full stomach.
I recently heard about a place in the MetCentre at Wynyard that is solely dedicated to different kinds of soup – the appropriately named Croutons Soup Bar, tucked away next to the Jamison Street entrance. I’m a sucker for crunchy croutons with my soup so how could I resist? I trekked over during one lunchbreak with a friend and we spent around 5 minutes wandering the MetCentre food court looking for it before I realised it was actually on the ground floor of the centre and not inside the food court itself.
Unfortunately for us, there was already a massively long queue when we got there during the lunch hour peak. But as a credit to the soup bar team, they worked very efficiently ladling the various different soup flavours they have and the line moved quite quickly.
I had my heart set on the Boston Clam Chowder while my friend decided to be a bit more adventurous and try the Indonesian Chicken soup with mixed vegies and pasta. You can upsize to a large, but we both opted for a regular and to fill up my carb quota for the meal, I added an extra piece of Italian Schiacciata bread for $1. You can choose from 4 types of bread loaves made by Brasserie Bread – sourdough, rye, schiacciata, quinoa and soya.
Breads for $1 per piece
You can choose extra condiments/toppings to go with your soup and while they have the usual suspects (croutons, shallots, parsley), they also have more wacky things like fried onions and wasabi peas! On a whim, I asked for the wasabi peas and it tasted just as I expected it to – like I was a kid again and decided to chuck whatever snacks I had into my soup. I appreciated the novelty factor even though it didn’t really complement the flavours of the soup.
The Boston Clam Chowder was quite chunky and filling; I couldn’t really see any clams on first inspection and when I eventually found some swimming amongst the diced vegies they were quite small. Based on the seafood chowders I’ve had before, I expected it to be cream-based rather than tomato based which it was but luckily, it still tasted hearty and flavoursome.
Boston Clam Chowder, Indonesian Chicken Soup, both $8 regular
My friend’s Indonesian Chicken soup was described as fragrant and was full of exotic herb flavours that spiced up the chicken broth base and had pieces of chicken and bits of pasta thrown into it too. It was also quite filling and fairly delicious, although not as thick as my Boston Clam Chowder.
If you’re out on a lunchbreak in the Sydney CBD and feeling like some soup, join the suited masses who already flock to Croutons Soup Bar for their interesting soup flavours and toppings. You can also mix your own soups and add in pastas/brown rice to certain soups if you’re after a more filling meal.
UPDATE 8/8/2012 – For those readers who were wondering why the Boston Clam Chowder was so red, it turns out that Croutons was experiencing a temporary issue with the red colouring from their carrots changing the colour of the soup. But rest assured that this has been fixed and the Boston Clam Chowder is back to its usual creamy coloured self now and the taste has even been tweaked a bit so that it’s even tastier than before!
Excuse Me Waiter dined as guests of Croutons Soup Bar for our Update.
Croutons Soup Bar
Shop g27/60 Margaret St
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: 0433 175 031
Filed under Australian, CBD - Wynyard, Food Court, Takeaway
Excuse Me Waiter is a documented food adventure run by two hungry Gen Y food fanatics DK & Yvn. We can often be found roaming Sydney in search of interesting foods from food courts to high-end restaurants.
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