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

Mancini's Italian Restaurant via EatNow App

With everyone's busy lifestyle these days, it's sometimes hard to spend a lot of time creating meals at home. Personally, I would rather make my own meals so I have a healthy option but sometimes, I find that I really don't have the time. With the launch of EatNow's app, available via the Apple App Store, ordering in has never been so straightforward.

It's seriously as easy as 1, 2, 3. First you search your suburb and a list of restaurants that deliver to the suburb come up in a list which you can filter by either cuisine or closest restaurant, etc. Once you pick your restaurant, the menu will come up with all their deals and dishes they have on offer.

I chose a meal deal with was easily customisable and I could even change up pizza toppings if I wanted. After everything's all done and decided, you simply pick how you are going to pay - either with cash or card and then it's done! A text is sent to your phone to confirm your order and letting you know when it'll arrive and then you simply wait for the arrival of your hot and ready meal. How easy is that? All within the confines of your own home! I can imagine how convenient it'll be to just order whilst going home from work and having it delivered to your door as soon as you're home. Too easy.

Pizza al mare

The gourmet pizza deal was actually quite a good bargain at $50.45 for two pizzas, a pasta and chicken wings. Pizza choices time? Let's try out the seafood on pizza.Whilst salt and pepper calamari is awesome, I think it best let meat be the king of pizza toppings :P

Casalinga

This one was the preferred pizza because prosciutto on pizza is a tick in my books.

Pear and gorgonzola gnocchi

Had to order the gnocchi when I saw it was a creamy gorgonzola sauce. The gnocchi was a tad stodgy but the sauce was every bit as rich and divinely artery clogging as we expected and wanted it to be.

Overall, the app was extremely easy to use and for those of you looking for an easier option of ordering take out food with delivery, EatNow does give you plenty of choices!

Crystal Noir tested the EatNow app thanks to Christie Byrne of The PR Group. All opinions however, are her own.

Twisted Yogurt, Bondi Westfield

Frozen yogurt has been a thing that sort of hit an insane all time high last year but I feel as though the initial craze has died down a lot since then with a lot of chain stores closing down. One that hitched a ride off the American bandwagon before the craze started is Twisted yogurt which has been open since 2010 by mother of three, Cass Spies, who was kind enough to invite me to try out her new Superfood menu.

L to R: Rise & Shine, The Green Machine, Muscleberry, $8.50 each

Smoothies are such an awesome way to get in your daily dose of fruit and veggies and they always taste so delicious too!

Rise & Shine was the first smoothie we tried of the day. We all know how much of a sucker I am for all things tropical so I thoroughly enjoyed this concoction of almond milk, pineapple, coconut, mango, froyo and of course, a scoop of protein because we all know our muscles love that stuff.

The Green Machine is for the health nuts out there and is completely dairy free. The coconut water, mango nectar, spinach, mango, banana and passionfruit makes me feel like I should reward myself by having something so healthy!

The last of the smoothies was the Muscleberry which was a blend of skim milk, blueberries, bananas, froyo and protein. I enjoyed this one even though the predominant flavour was the protein :P

L to R: Pink Pitaya and Acai smoothie bowls

Aren't the colours absolutely stunning? And the best part is, it's all natural from the pink pitaya and acai! The pink pitaya was super refreshing and I felt like I was eating a super thick smoothie - the best kind really. Except with no added sugar whatsoever and is completely raw. So the sweetness is all from the 100% natural coconut water and fruit she uses to blend this baby up.

Frozen yogurt tubs

Twisted Yogurt also sells their frozen yogurt by the tubs and they have skinny flavours for you health conscious out there. Sweetened with only stevia, you barely taste any difference in flavour. It was definitely icier and more reminiscent of sorbet, though that may possibly be because of the lowered fat content. My sister and I both agreed that the coconut was the clear favourite. They use coconut cream to make it and it was lusciously creamy and indulgent.

Date and cacao slice, coconut truffle, chocolate truffle, sesame truffle

We also got some goodies made by Jess to take home! These are the perfect little sweet snacks to eat on the go and are vegan-friendly. Me being me loved both the coconut and coconut truffle :P

I'm digging how Cass Spies is catering towards the healthier end and is promoting a healthy balanced lifestyle. Her passion towards creating a menu that is made by real and authentic ingredients is really evident in what we ate. With her latest health additions to the menu, I really think Twisted Yogurt is spicing themselves up from the stock standard froyo chains. Time to get your health on!

Crystal Noir sampled Twisted Yoghurt's new menu as a guest of Cass Spies. All opinions however, are her own.

Twisted Yoghurt
Shop 307A (opposite Woolworths)
Westfield Bondi Junction

Opening Hours
Monday - Wednesday: 9:30am - 6:30pm
Thursday: 9:30am - 9:30pm
Friday: 9:30am - 7:30pm
Saturday: 9:00am - 6:30pm
Sunday: 9:30am - 6:30pm 

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

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

Melbourne Alleyways

Wow I have just realised I am not yet done with blogging about Melbourne! I am so sorry, dear readers, for the snail pace in which I am distributing my Melbourne adventures :( It's good to look back on this trip and realise that it was actually Melbourne that converted me into a little bit of a coffee fanatic. All those wanderings through the alleyways to discover a lot of cute cafes with quirky names really couldn't scream hipster at me any louder.

Skim latte, $4.00?

Gingerbreadmanne and I wanted to go to eat buns at Wonderbao but they weren't open yet so we sat down inside a cafe just around the corner called A Little Bird Told Me. How adorable are the ceramics here? That pretty shade of aqua that is reminiscent of Tiffany's and the little blue flowers that held the brown sugar were too pretty for words. The latte was definitely a good one. Sigh, I miss you Melbourne coffee.

A Little Bird Told Me
29 Little La Trobe St
Melbourne, VIC, 3000

Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 7:00am - 4:30pm
Saturday: 9:30am - 4:00pm

Wonderbao's menu is short, concise and straight to the point of what they sell best. Buns. You can get open buns, closed buns, meat buns, vegetable buns, even sweet custard buns for those feeling like a little bit of dessert afterwards.

L to R: roast pork belly gua bao / braised pork belly gua bao, $4.20 each

Check out the glorious pieces of fatty pork belly and that generous lashing of sauce on top. Whilst the braised pork belly was already really yum with its pickled mustard, coriander and crushed peanut topping, it was the roast pork belly that really made my tastebuds sing with happiness. It was as though the Vietnamese pork roll secretly had a love child with the Chinese man tou. Definitely Vietnamese inspired with its pickled carrots, daikon and cucumber but also Chinese with the hoisin sauce.

Why oh why do you not exist in Sydney, Wonderbao?

Wonderbao
Shop 4/19-37 A'Beckett St
Melbourne, VIC, 3000

Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 8:00am - 6:00pm
Saturday: 11:000am - 4:00pm

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