Hot Star Large Fried Chicken, Sydney CBD

Having a love for most foods deep-fried, it was only a matter of time before I made a visit to Hot Star Chicken. Originating from Taiwan, it makes me question what the Taiwanese consider as a street snack - this chicken is the size of my face!

Queue at Hot Star

You can find Hot Star Chicken right near World Square. Their menu is small and is made up of deep-fried items such as mushrooms, chicken bites, sweet potato and of course the omega chicken which comes in spicy or non-spicy. There is normally a queue but service is efficient as they fry batches of orders at a time. Just not welcoming when you have to stand around in the cold during winter!

Sweet potato, normally $3.90

I went for the Hungry Combo ($10.90) today which gives you a slight discount compared to buying the chicken and a side separate by themselves. Sweet potato is one of my favourite carbs and super good for you. These were really addictive with that additional sprinkling of plum powder. Sigh, if only there was more. The serving size was quite small for the price.

Spicy fried chicken, normally $7.90

And now what we were all waiting for. Would you look at the size of that chicken! Am I wrong to say that it's pretty much a meal by itself? We all know how chicken breast tends to end up super dry but that wasn't the case here at all. Succulent? Tick. Tender? Tick. Deep-fried crunchy goodness? Tick. It started getting quite spicy by the end, but you may as well power through for delicious chicken. It's super hot after just coming out of the fryer and there are also bones and cartilage throughout the chicken so be a tad careful when chomping on it!

If you have a craving for fried chicken in the city, this may be the place to go. It's cheap and they use real ingredients which is reflective in the juicy chicken. The sheer size of the chicken being the size of your face will probably make your day if anything :P

Hot Star Large Fried Chicken
96 Liverpool St
Sydney NSW 2000

Opening Hours
Sunday - Thursday: 10:00am - 12:00am
Friday - Saturday: 10:00am - 2:00am

Chur Burger, Surry Hills

If there's one thing you cannot eat gracefully, it's got to be the burger. But there's just something about burgers that always hit the spot. Definitely not the healthiest thing in the world, but if you're gonna splurge on your health kick, it may as well be on something amazingly delicious like a good old burger right? Alas, I love food too much to ever think about dieting (as do my fellow food lover friends) and that is how my fellow friends Chef Meathead, Miss Dentist-In-Training and I end up at Chur Burger on a Tuesday night - lured in by the promise of $10 burgers.

Pulled pork, Chur BBQ sauce, red slaw & fennel mayo burger, $10.00

There was one burger and one burger only that I was going to order. I only had eyes for the pulled pork. It comes to you looking deceptively small, but this baby's packed to the brim full of pulled pork. Would you like some bread with your pork? Would I ever! The pork was incredibly juicy and wonderfully sweet and simply just worked with the slaw and mayo. Some flavour combos are just meant to be you know?

Crumbed fish fillet, pickled cucumber, lemon mayo & dill burger, $10.00

Miss Dentist-In-Training was ever so kind enough to give me some of her fish burger and I was pleasantly surprised that it was quite nice because I am not normally a lover of things reminiscent of fish fingers. However, my heart was stolen by the pulled pork burger very early on in the night. I gotta say, I think Chur's winning mayo is what makes their burgers so awesome.

L to R: Sweet potato fries, $5.00 / Crumbed fish fillet burger, $10.00 / Strawberry milkshake, $8.00

If you love that artificial strawberry flavour like you can get at those old school milk bars, go for the strawberry milkshake! I personally love it, though I know some people are quite against it, so I really loved drinking the milkshake and feeling like a kid again. Chef Meathead's salted caramel milkshake was also pretty good but he did say it started getting a little bit too sweet the more he drank it.

Sweet potato fries, garlic & lime, $5.00

I'm an avid fan of sweet potato, and I love them baked just plain BUT if I'm going to order them at a restaurant, I would expect more than just the same kind of sweet potato that I make myself at home. I was excited about the garlic and lime but unfortunately I didn't get a taste of either. And I know there's something nice about home style chunky cut chips, but some of the pieces were huuuge. I'm talking half a sweet potato per single chip...

Chips & chilli salt, $5.00

These were much more crispy than the sweet potato fries and don't worry if you can't handle your chilli because the chilli powder wasn't very hot. My friend ended up chucking on a whole tonne of tabasco sauce for that chilli kick he was looking for.

Chef Meathead happily demolishing his pulled pork burger

Seriously do not underestimate the size of the burger! It looks so small but there's so much filling that we all left Chur Burger in a semi food coma-esque state. But we also had a lot of potato to get through (with Chef Meathead ordering a whole batch for himself). I think our eyes are too big for our stomachs - I always want to order everything on the menu! And especially with my friend Miss Dentist-In-Training who has eyes equally as big... We are a bad combo :P

I really wanted to try the chicken wings here but we had nowhere near enough stomach space to do so. Ah, next time. So tell me, do you guys have issues with wanting to order everything on the menu like I do?

Chur Burger
48 Albion Street
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010

Opening Hours
Monday: 11:30am - 5:00pm
Tuesday - Saturday: 11:30am - 10:00pm
Sunday: Closed

Mr Crackles, Darlinghurst

"Crackling you say? That you can buy in cups? I am so there!!"

That was my reaction upon first hearing about Mr Crackles a few months prior. After all this time, I finally found myself there, eager to try their pork crackling.

The stop itself is merely a storefront with a few stools inside. We managed to get in right before a massive line started, with most getting takeaway. There are only eight seats in total after all.

Because of the small store, you'll probably have to run off elsewhere to eat your purchases :)

My friends and I got pretty excited by just looking at the crackling on display. Look at the huge curls of it just sitting there!

Crackles classic - pork & salad, $10.00 for a small

After meandering off to a nearby area to eat our goodies, we dug into our pork salad with gusto, savouring the satisfying crunch of the crackling. The pork meat hidden underneath was also deliciously tender. I was glad that the salad was pickled, really giving that extra zing and balancing out the meat which was surprisingly not that fatty.

Crackles classic roll, $10.00

My friends who ordered the roll were also extremely happy at the fresh bread and generous fillings!

Sweet potato wedges, $7.00

The sweet potato wedges were very addictive and moreish. I believe the sweetness makes these wedges easier to eat more of and the fact that sweet potato isn't as starchy as potato is, I found myself munching on these quite easily. It also came with a delicious spicy aioli on the side that offset the sweetness!

Chilli cheese fries, $8.50

Like nachos, but with fries instead of corn chips! I find this combination better, as I tend to become quite sad when the corn chips get soggy underneath the beef mince and cheese. Potato is soft already, so I don't mind it becoming softer while soaking in all the flavours from the sauce in the beef mince. The melted cheese on top was like the icing of a cupcake - it just makes things that much better!

The man-servings did get to us in the end, though we managed to finish everything despite it all! It was too yummy not to. So are you all fans of pork crackling? And do you prefer sweet potato or potato wedges?

Mr Crackles
155 Oxford St
Darlinghurst, Sydney, 2010
80682832
www.mrcrackles.com.au

Opening Hours
Monday - Wednesday: 11:00am - 8:00pm
Thursday: 11:00am - 9:00pm
Friday: 11:00 - 3:00am
Saturday: 12:00noon - 3:00am
Sunday: 12:00noon - 9:00pm

Healthy Sweet Potato Muffins

In our every day lives, who reaches for a muffin without second thought of what is actually in them? Yes, they are an easy breakfast food that you can take on the go but there are so many carbs, so much sugar and fat in them that any idea of having a nutritious breakfast goes straight down the drain. I've been on a bit of a baking craze lately and after a fail attempt at making a healthy chocolate cake using rice syrup (don't use rice malt syrup in baking unles you are making bars - it gives everything a chewy texture), I decided to have another go. And what resulted was a delectably spiced muffin that's perfect for the holiday season (who am I kidding, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia). And best of all, it's an awesome guilt-free muffin that is wheat free, low in sugar, and low fat! Yep, you heard me, no added oil or butter! Now you can all have muffins all day, every day ;)

Healthy Sweet Potato Muffins
Makes 8 

Ingredients

Dry
1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
2/3 tbsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp ginger
1/3 tsp nutmeg
1/3 tsp all spice
1/2 tbsp chia seeds (optional)
1/2 cup choc chips or dried fruit or whatever you want (optional) I personally didn't add anything and thought they turned out great :)

Wet
2 egg whites
1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup sweet potato (or pumpkin!)
1/8-1/4 cup stevia / granulated sweetener depending on taste (I found 1/4 cup too sweet so I will tone it down next time to less than 1/4 of a cup)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C and line 8 muffin cups with paper cups or spray with nonstick spray. If you use muffin cups, make sure to spray the inside of the cups.
  
2. In a large bowl mix flour, oats, pumpkin pie spice baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chia seeds together. In a separate bowl combine sweet potato, stevia, almond milk, egg whites and applesauce. Add the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture and stir to combine. Gently fold in choc chips/dried fruit/anything you want

3. Divide batter between muffin cups. Sprinkle a tiny bit of oatmeal over each top of the muffins. Place into the oven and bake for 23-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of muffins comes out clean. Muffins are best served warm. Reheat in the microwave for 20 seconds and spread with topping of your choice!