Arisun, Sydney Chinatown

 
After falling in love with Korean Fried Chicken at NaruOne, my friends and I were pretty keen on expanding our Korean Fried Chicken experiences and apparently Arisun is one that is pretty good in Sydney! The bar was already raised very high from my experience at NaruOne.

Wasabi mayo fried chicken, $30.00

First up is the wasabi mayo fried chicken. It came boneless and with a giant vat of wasabi mayo which only had a mild kick of wasabi so don't you worry for those of you who are not wasabi fans. While it wasn't bad in terms of flavour, I found the batter to be slightly soggy and was lacking that crunch factor I was looking for. And I tend to love my chicken on the bone as I find the meat more flavoursome. The kimchi had a nice spicy kick and was pretty good though.

Sun's fried chicken with soy sauce, $30.00

As you can see, we were very keen on eating fried chicken, and ordered two fried chicken dishes. There was a noticeable crunch when bitten into, unlike the previous one, but my preference would have to lie with the chicken with wasabi mayo. I was super glad to see wings within the mix and match pieces of the bird, but there were some grisly bits that were mostly bone and didn't have much meat on them at all - it was pretty much a lot of bone and batter and for $30, you would expect some good pieces of chicken in there. The pickled daikon is something that I could continue eating! I love pickled items :D

Fish cake soup, $15.00

One of my friends has a hankering for fish cake, so this soup was ordered. I was looking forward to something warming on the cold, rainy day it was. There were plenty of fish cake pieces floating around. It was alright, but nothing spectacular. A bit on the salty side.

Overall, my experience at Arisun was quite average. If I do get a craving for fried chicken, NaruOne I'm looking at you! I do have to mention that the staff were pretty friendly here though and we managed to score a normally priced $13.00 bottle of sake for $5.00, so that was a redeeming factor. So let me know, what has been your best experience of fried chicken ever?

Arisun
1 Dixon St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

El Loco at Slip Inn, Sydney CBD

I'm not sure when or how this trend happened, but there seems to be little Mexican restaurants popping up everywhere in Sydney! Everyone's getting on board the train for Mexican fiestas! One that has been around for a while already is El Loco. Hearing good things about Dan Hong's restaurants, I decided to visit the newly opened one at Slip Inn for a late birthday dinner with my friends. I've yet to visit the one in Surry Hills which has been there for a while, but one step at a time right guys? I'll try the hot dogs and tacos there next time!

BBQ chicken, $19.00

I stole some of my friend's BBQ chicken which had such a lovely charred exterior. The chicken with the chipotle mayo and salsa roja on the side definitely hit the spot. Chipotle mayo makes everything right with the world! I must emphasise how big this dish actually was. Just look at it!! My friend was incredibly happy with it as he exclaimed "The portion is perfect!" Well, as a dude, I suppose half a chook would be a perfect portion size... I can't say the same for us ladies!

Roasted pork belly, $19.00

As soon as I saw the pork belly on the menu, I knew I just had to order it. Look at all that fatty goodness! (This cannot be good for my cardio health). The crackling was so crunchy that I had difficulty cutting through it with the very sharp, pointy knife. It was succulent and juicy and eaten together with the much needed pineapple salsa, it was very good indeed. I loved the Mexican rice which had been spiced (though I'm not sure what they use) and the salad cleansed the mouth of any lingering fattiness so that you could pretend you're really not eating something that bad ;)

I also managed to try a few of the cocktails on the menu (courtesy of my lovely friends). You all must get the Pink Cuco - you won't regret it! It was like a grapefruit slushie! Because it was so refreshing, it was very easy to continue drinking :)

The staff were very friendly. Word of warning, if you do want to order the pork belly, get in quick and get in early! A friend of mine was disappointed that they ran out of pork belly, but they offered to replace his order with anything he wanted and didn't beat an eyelash when he asked if it was alright to order the pork torta and hot dog. The only downside was how cramped the table was, but we all didn't mind having our friends close by :D

I'm sure we'll be visiting more Mexican restaurants in the future - ole!

El Loco at Slip Inn
111 Sussex St
Sydney, 2000
http://merivale.com.au/el-loco-at-slip-inn/

Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday – 12:00pm til' late

Holy Basil 2, Sydney CBD

Wanting to see the Vivid Festival, my family decided to eat out in the city beforehands. Holy Basil always has great food and close by to where I work so I headed off there right after I finished to meet the fambam!

It was my grandparents' first time eating Thai food and they requested nothing be too spicy so I definitely ordered on the mild side of the menu. And of course little pots of green tea for them!

Kai Yang (Laos charcoal BBQ chicken), $13.90

 The first to come out was the grilled chicken which had a lovely marinade that had been grilled to little charcoal-y bits. Delicious on its own, but you could always dip it into the sweet chilli sauce or chilli sauce if you're after that kick. We didn't expect the bowls of rice we ordered o be quite that large - it could easily have served three people per bowl!

Pad see ew (with chicken), $12.90

After enjoying the pad see ew last time, along with the fact that it's a favourite of my sister's, it definitely was a must order! The smoky flavour that permeates the noodles is what makes it so special and I really do like it, albeit the fact that it's just a tad too sweet for my tastebuds.

Gang masaman (beef masaman curry), $16.90

Massaman curry is a very mild curry that's quite creamy from the coconut milk in the recipe as well as the final drizzle on top. It's the best stirred through rice!

Som tam (green papaya salad), $10.90

I definitely wanted to introduce my family to the Thai papaya salad, requesting it to be very mild. I love how my grandma still found it extremely spicy haha! They were surprised that it was actually green papaya, as it's not something they've ever tried before.

Crispy fish (with green mango salad), $44.90

This was what I was looking forward to all night though! I could seriously have eaten it forever...They fillet the fish, cut it into individual pieces which are then crumbed and deep-fried. Nothing is wasted as the head and tail is given to you as well! The batter was very crunchy and extremely moreish as they definitely weren't shying away from the pepper :D It went very well with the green mango salad on top which was my preference over the papaya salad. I thought it was the perfect balance of sweet, sour and salty. I didn't get any hit of chilli, but that wasn't missed with any of my relatives! The family also enjoyed how refreshing this salad was. I think they just couldn't quite get used to the slight pungency of the crab paste used in the papaya salad!

I don't think any of us were particularly in the mood for any dessert so we passed on their house special deep-fried icecream. I should probably check out the rest of their dessert menu next time!

Holy Basil
Shark Hotel 127 Liverpool St
Sydney NSW 2000
http://www.holybasil.com.au

Opening Hours
Daily
Lunch Hours: 12:00-3:00pm
Dinner: 5:00pm-12:00midnight