March 2013 eats here and there
Something else that is new to Sydney are these large piece of chickens which are bigger than most people's faces. I introduce you to Hot Star Large Fried Chicken. The franchise chain started in Taiwan and now they have finally brought these babies to us in Sydney. I am actually heading to Taiwan mid next month so I can't wait to check out the original store over there.
Spicy and original hot star large fried chicken - $7.50 per piece
The chicken comes in either original or spicy. Both flavours tasted pretty good but I love my food spicy so my opinion may be slightly biased. The chicken they use is the actual chicken breast and is locally sourced. Not only are these pieces of chicken insanely large but they are also really juicy and tender. They are also hot and I mean really piping hot so be careful when you bite into them. I recommend carrying the chicken in a plastic bag till it cools down because they are extremely extremely hot. I guess that's real fresh chicken for you lol.
Top left: Curly fries with spicy mayonnaise
Bottom left: Deep fried king oyster mushrooms
Top right: Chicken bites
Bottom right: Sweet potato fries
My favorite snack was by far the deep fried king oyster mushrooms. I love mushrooms. It is something I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for the rest of my life. The mushroom was super juicy and the crispiness from it being deep fried makes it become very addictive.
The chicken bites weren't as juicy as the large fried pieces of chicken but I really enjoyed the bits of basil that were thrown in at the very last minute. Although there weren't large amounts of basil on there, it still added an extra flavor and made the chicken bites taste refreshing.
The sweet potato fries as well the curly fries were as good as each other but we all know how much I love my potato (especially when deep fried) so I really don't think I need to explain myself here. Their sweet potato fries are one of their best sellers and I am not surprised they are such a hit.
The line outside Hot Star Large Fried Chicken and some inside shots to their kitchen
Hot Star is somewhere I would definitely revisit and you can see how popular they are. These guys sell approximately 200 KGS of chicken in one entire day... 200 freaking kgs????? and that isn't even their best seller. I can't wait to come back for more deep fried mushrooms and some face sized deep fried chicken breasts!
Beef Wellington
Another thing that has been lingering around Sydney is the Icon Park Competition where one lucky winner will be able to set up a pop up restaurant for 3 months. British India Trading Co were one of the groups top 6 groups which were chosen for a chance to be running in the competition.
Vegetable Bhajee
Palak Paneer
Chicken Tikka Wings
Although the competition is drawing closer to an end, I thought I would still share their dishes anyways as a lot of love and effort went into each and every single one of them. My top three favourites were definitely the beef wellingtons and the chicken tikka wings.
The beef wellingtons were well seasoned and tender. The mustard jus had a good kick to it which gave the beef wellingtons a real good twist. The chicken tikka wings were really heart and fun to eat. Forget the knife and forks, the best part was picking them with their hands whilst it was sizzling hot, peeling off the meat and dunking it into some of that rich butter chicken sauce. Freaking.Delicious.
Left: Jeera Rice
Right: Naan Bread
Top: Goan Scotched Egg with Okra
Bottom left: Saffron fries
Bottom right: Deep fried fish fillets
The garlic naan bread and saffron fries were also another two highlights. The naan bread was tasty by itself as it had a good chunk of garlic in it but even better when you I used it to wipe up all the spinach gravy in the Palak Paneer. The saffron in the fries were quite intense so you could have a small bit at a time. Needless to say, I could still polish off the whole place to myself as not a single chip goes to waste when they are presented right in front of me. *licks plate*
Mr Beak's sausages - original and smoky
The other thing that I am going to try to include in my monthly catch ups is a recipe or something that involves the kitchen. It's going be a motivation to get me to step foot into the kitchen at a minimum of once of a month and see how we go from there...
Mr Beak's sausages - smoky and original
With thanks to Mr Beak's chorizo and their recipe, I sizzled some chorizos, chopped up some capsicum, tomato and onions and whipped up some make-shit guacamole with MC (pretty sure a 5 year old can cook better than me but anyways, baby steps).Time for a taco party.
Cooking with Mr Beak's sausages, I noticed that the oil from the chorizo came running out but when I ate the chorizo itself, it wasn't oily at all. Mr Beak's uses grass-fed, 100% Australian beef in their sausages and you can definitely tell that the quality of the sausage was a lot better than the ones you would find produced by Woolies or Coles themselves. It didn't taste like processed meat. I also have a number of friends that allergic to certain ingredients but luckily Mr beak's sausages are gluten-free and free from additives fillers and MSG which is relieving to hear.
Taco party
Soft taco using Mr Beak's chorizo
I used soft tortilla wraps and also chopped up the chorizos so that it would be easier to share around and wrap up all the ingredients but any other type of taco shell would of also done the job. Normally I am not a big fan of dishes that are smoked but surprisingly, I preferred the smoky chorizo more than the original as it was a lot more flavoursome. There are currently only a few flavours available at the moment, I hope Mr Beak's release a whole range of flavours in the near future.
EMPIRE Spiegelworld
EMPIRE Spiegelworld
Annnddd finally we have almost came to an end. The last thing I want to share with you is my experience at Empire. I saw the advs when they were advertising tickets to this show and not long ago, they were doing a special where most tickets were $50. How could I not have said no to 50 buck tickets. The show was so good and they interacted with the audience even before the show had started. I was siting on the edge of my seat from the suspense throughout the whole show.
Anyways that's finally a wrap. Not sure if my monthly posts are going to ever be as long as this one but we shall see.
Gotta go eat!!
Food is our religion dined as a guest of Hot Star Large fried-chicken courtesy of Harvey PublicityFood is our religion dined as a guest of British India Trading Co.Food is our religion sampled Mr Beak's chorizo courtesy of Niche Marketing Group
