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

The Carlisle, Potts Point

I don't find myself in Kings Cross very often but upon a tempting offer of trying out tapas and cocktails at The Carlisle's opening, I found myself venturing out to the Cross with Steph and Vanny!

Waiters serving champagne upon arrival

Candle

Interior

Bar area

Celebrity chef Chrys Xipolitas designed the menu, inspired by Asian and Mediterranean flavours while there was a modern twist of traditional Martinis, Manhattans and Old Fashioneds on the cocktail menu.

Carlisle plate

Dips, feta and marinated olives kept us bloggers satiated before the tapas were served.

Bartender making clover club cocktails

Grilled haloumi cheese, topped with purple grape and balsamic reduction

Seriosly, this was the perfect flavour combo! The grape really helped add a touch of sweetness to the haloumi.

Clover club, $18.00

Lightly floured and fried prawn cutlet, served with soy teriyaki & wasabi aioli

 Yum, deep fried prawn! The sauces were what really made these morsels delicious. I thought the wasabi would be too strong but it actually provided just the right amount of kick.

Eastside Fizz, $18.00

BBQ spicy marinated chicken thigh fillets

 I happened to get a fatty chicken piece which made it super delicious. I would like to know what's in that secret sauce on the side though!

South of border, $18,00

BBQ beef tenderloin rolled in mixed peppers with a bourbon jus and garlic chips

The beef was cooked to a lovely medium rare and was very tender to eat. What I couldn't get enough of were those garlic chips! Crunchy hit of garlic - such an ingenious idea.

Blood and sand, $18.00

Overall, I really have to thank Bonnie Wu for being a wonderful hostess throughout the night. It was lovely meeting all the various bloggers during the event - it was great to chat and put faces to blog names :D We had endless cocktails topped up throughout the night and we were definitely encouraged to drink more than our fair share ;) Word f warning though, these cocktails are mighty strong!

Crystal Noir attended the opening launch courtesy of Bonnie Wu of The Carlisle Bar however all opinions are her own.

The Carlisle Bar
2 Kellett Way
Potts Point, NSW, 2011
http://www.thecarlislebar.com.au/

Opening Hours
Monday - Wednesday: Closed
Thursday - Sunday: 6:00pm - late

El Jannah's, Granville

Hello hello from Crystal Noir version 2.0! I've decided to give my blog a little bit of a makeover, having kept things simple from the very beginning. Okay, it was a little bit of laziness that never saw me designing a header for my blog. But I threw in a little bit of time this past few days to revamp things a bit. How are you all liking the new look?

Anyway, onto my actual post!

What is it about the great flavours of food that just give you bad breath? The king of the lot would definitely have to be garlic. I love the initial hit of garlic when I'm eating it, but can't say I'm the biggest fan of the lingering after taste. But of course when eating garlic, you're not thinking about the after effects (unless you're on a special date :P). One place in particular where the garlic sauce is legendary is at El Jannah's in Granville.

Whole chicken with Lebanese bread, garlic sauce and pickles, $19.90

This serving size could definitely feed two hungry guys, and it's also damned cheap at under $20 for the meal. The chips come in a massive bowl just for a regular and it's only $4.00. Talk about bang for buck. I don't foresee anyone going hungry if you have $10 in your pocket to spend here. The chicken is a bit of a hit and miss, having been a few times. Sometimes it's cooked really well and the chicken is still moist and tender inside. But other times, the chicken is incredibly dry and the skin is a bit too overcooked, verging on the side being burned. What I would come back for again and again is the garlic sauce and the fresh Lebanese bread. Nothing is better than wrapping some chicken in the bread, smothering it with garlic sauce and topping it with a couple of pickles (word of warning, they are quite salty!). If you're not too big of a fan of eating in, you could easily take a tub of garlic sauce ($4.50 for large) home to eat to your heart's content without needing to worry about your breath :P

El Jannah's: Granville
4-8 South St
Granville, NSW, 2142

Opening Hours
Monday - Saturday: 10:00am - 12:00 midnight
Sunday: 10:00am - 11:00pm

Mancini's Italian Restaurant via Menulog, Belfield

Hooray for the ease of ordering via the internet! Technology really does make our lives easier these days. Thanks to Menulog, I was given the opportunity to test out one of Sydney's top online ordering systems with over 2000 restaurants to choose from. I was given a $25 voucher code and decided to use it on Mancini's Italian Restaurant as there are only certain restaurants that do deliver to your chosen location.

The system itself was very easy to use. Pick your dishes and then confirm details such as address, and then pay through your credit card and voila! Food will be on its way. Of course, there is a delivery fee.

I chose the double pasta deal where you receive two pasta dishes for $25.95 (save $5.95!) with an additional $5.00 delivery fee whacked on top. It would be nice to have a description of what the pastas were when you click to order the double pasta deal as it would save us the bother of having to go back and try remember the Italian names of the pastas - but it's no biggie. It also would've been better if they had a coherent list of all the pastas on the menu besides just the gnocchi and a few others in the list of main courses instead of having to go to their restaurant for descriptions as well. However, the great thing about this particular restaurant was that you could order the night before to receive it for an early lunch. That's a win I say! And it was exactly what I did.

The next morning, I received a call at around 11 to confirm my order and then not long after, a text message as well. It was nice of them to ensure it was what I had ordered. My delivery arrived at exactly 12:45pm on the dot. How precise is that? The delivery man was friendly as he took our pastas out of delivery bag - it was quite amusing being delivered such a small looking box from his delivery bag. The pastas were still steaming hot as we opened up the boxes.

Left to right: Penne Crema Al Pollo  & Gnocchi Sorentina, normally $15.50

The gnocchi came with a napolatana sauce topped with basil and mozzarella cheese - a lot of melted mozzarella cheese! Whilst the gnocchi wasn't house made and albeit a bit stodgy, I still enjoyed this dish and was my preferred one out of the two we ordered. It was a very standard pasta and the napolatana sauce was very flavoursome.

The Crema Al Pollo was supposed to come with fettuccini but they accepted by request to substitute for penne as I find fettuccini messier to eat. The creamy sauce turned out to be the napolatana sauce with the addition of cream, which toned down the flavour a fair bit but I prefer a stronger flavour! And I think I have a preference for my avocado to be raw after trying avocado cooked for the first time. There also wasn't quite enough sauce yet it was oilier in comparison to the gnocchi.

Overall, Menulog is an incredibly easy to use online menu ordering system that is convenient and saves you the trouble of having to leave your house. Because let's face it, sometimes you really don't want to :P I'll gladly order through Menulog again to try other nearby restaurants.

Mancini's Ristorante Italiano
21 Burwood Rd
Belfield, NSW, 2191

Momofuku Seiobo, Pyrmont

As an extremely belated birthday present from my dearest younger sister, she treated me to a dinner at the Momofuku bar - what a darling :) Dining at the bar is as easy as 1, 2, 3. There is no need to go through the rumoured frustrating online reservation process. Just stroll right in after 6:30 and you could be eating pork buns in as little as 15 minutes without having to fork out for their degustation menu! I have desperately been wanting to try the pork buns here after really enjoying the ones from Ippudo :D

Our eyes were clearly bigger than our stomachs and we managed to order majority of the menu minus the pickled items. Shame because I really am interested to see what a pickled egg is like!

Pork buns, $15.00

The pork buns come as a serving of two and looked ever so inviting with two pieces of pork belly sandwiched in the middle with cucumber and hoisin sauce. Give a little squeeze from the sriracha bottle depending on how spicy you like it and it was perfect. The pork was so tender! The bun was so soft! It felt like biting into a pillow hehe. The flavour profile is completely different to that of Ippudo, so I really wouldn't compare the two at all.

Confit chicken wings, $16.00

Though the menu said wings, it came as a serve of three mini drumsticks and three wings. The chicken was deliciously succulent and coated in a super flavoursome sauce. Tried to keep it classy by eating these with our chopsticks :P

Spanner crab roll, celery salt chip, $22.00

While the crab brioche roll was nice, I wasn't particularly enamoured with it, instead being incredibly wowed by the celery salt chips on the plate! I would not have picked up on the very subtle celery flavour if it wasn't mentioned on the menu. I only paid careful attention because I was aware of it. That aside, I loved the chips! Thin, crispy, delicate. What's not to like?

Roasted rice cakes, xo, lamb, $17.00

I've had this dish twice now, with my friend ordering it when I came back for a revisit. When I first tried it, the ginger completely overpowered the flavour of the lamb. Was the mince beef? Pork? It was hard to tell, despite trying to get past that ginger hit. There was also a tad too much spice however, I still quite enjoyed this dish. It was quite addictive with the crunch of the outside of the rice cakes giving way to a soft, chewy centre. The balance of flavours on the second time around were spot on though! I enjoyed it much more that time. I'm just a bit surprised at the huge inconsistency in flavour at this high end establishment though.

Fried brussel sprouts, fish sauce vinaigrette, $15.00

I used to hate brussel sprouts but these mini cabbage-like vegetables have grown on me over the years. I generally enjoy them with bacon! However, this version won me over all over again. Slightly tart from the vinegar yet there was a strong salty kick from the fish sauce. Not to mention that crunch you get from the popped rice and the vegetable had slightly crispy outer leaves from being fried. I would've been happy with just this and a bowl of rice.

Top to bottom: bread & butter pudding, pear & almond, pecan danish, caramel au buerre sale, pineapple, caramel banana balsamic, salted butter caramel on toast, popcorn, lychee & coconut, fingerbun

And the sister and I could not resist getting a box of macarons from Zumbo right opposite of Momofuku. Special mention goes to the caramel banana balsamic which stole my heart! I was very wary about this one, despite the store assistant raving about it but boy am I glad we decided to get it after all. There was none of that artificial banana flavour crap, and it melded extremely well with the dot of reduced balsamic glaze in the centre of the macaron. Delicious! All of these were gone much too quickly. They were all way too delicious. I had my heart set on trying out the zonut, but apparently they are all gone by 1pm already :( Better luck next time I suppose.

Momofuku Seiobo
The Star, Level G, 80 Pyrmont Street
Pyrmont, NSW, 2009
http://momofuku.com/sydney/seiobo/

Opening Hours

Lunch
Friday + Saturday

Dinner
Monday - Saturday

Bar
Monday - Saturday: 6:30pm – 10:00pm
Friday + Saturday: 12:00noon – 2:00pm

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