r/foodies_sydney

I know this is a bit like flogging a dead horse now, but I found it interesting that one of the owners of Avenue Group, Mr Barbaro, states that the fees he’s paying for use of merchant terminals across his business are a ‘big hit’. I may be mistaken as I only did a quick online search, but it appears that Avenue Group own five Sydney establishments across Sydney: Avenue Group establishments.

So, 150k divided by five businesses comes to 30k annually, right? Less than $90 per day, per business.

Link to article: ABC article

Stopped by the Frites Atelier pop-up on a whim and got their parmesan and basil mayo.

Are they good chips? Yes
Is it worth waiting more than 10 or 15 mins? No
Is it overpriced? A little bit - the one I got was $16. A few others are $12 or $14. Their beef stew one was $22 (comes with ceramic souvenir bowl)

The pop-up runs until tomorrow (11 Oct).

Hello everyone, it's Laksaturday

Friend sent me a really good Instagram post by a bloke who has had dozens of laksas in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Singapore and Malaysia and did an excellent analysis and comparison. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link it here, basically it said Australia has a pretty homogeneous laksa culture which is wildly different to the Malaysian and singaporean offers. I'd love to travel there eventually to try some hawker food. Apparently there's a huge variety, whereas Australia tends to be mostly the curry laksa option.

Fortunately, that's is my favourite kind. Thick, rich, and spicy and oily broth heaping with seafood or chicken and various toppings. (crunchy bean sprout a must. Tendon and tripe at happy Chef!)

So, I chose a location I've heard mentioned several times. ALBEE'S delight in Campsie. I've been putting this off because I find parking in Campsie an absolute nightmare. However I was in the mood one day this week and felt it wouldn't be a super busy time.

Well it was still very busy in Campsie but I found some timed parking.

The seating is limited downstairs but there's more room upstairs. I was able to get the last table downstairs.

The menu is massive. Really big menu with lots of options, desserts, sides, I'd love to try more of this menu eventually. They even have what looks like a korean fried chicken menu with different flavours.

However today due to timed parking I hurriedly chose the seafood laksa, Hainese chicken laksa, and roti canai with beef rendang. I needed to recover from the desert dry chicken at Makan.

Was tempted to get one of the huge curry puff in the display case but resisted.

Food came out quickly, maybe around 10 minutes.

First the Hainese chicken - YESSSS this is what Hainese chicken is supposed to be like. Full of meat juices, moist, tender and plenty of the seasoned chicken skin. Pieces were on the smaller side but very delicious. Tofu sponges were also tasty and soft, and loved the plentiful crunchy bean sprouts.

The noodles were perfection. I thought it was just Vermicelli but there was Hokkien noodle hiding underneath. This is my favourite noodle texture so far. Perfect bouncy firmness and tons of it too (no up size option).

The broth LOOKS really good, but it's surprisingly a bit on the watery side. It's as if they made a really good broth but ran low of it so added a bit too much water to dilute it.

Personally I love intense salty and fatty flavour, for example I love Gumshara back fat broth. So for others this might be just fine.

Seafood laksa was also satisfying, really big fat prawns, squid tubes, fish bites, lots of it.

Roti was so so. I think i made a mistake having roti for the first time at uncle hungs because i didn't realise how good it was, not every other roti is a little disappointing. But again, I love intense rich buttery taste, so others might find this one fine.

The rendang was beautiful! Meats were tender and good portion. I also really liked their custom serving plate for the roti canai, with the bowl crafted into the plate.

Sauce station provided extra chilli and sauce options to add extra flavour to dishes.

The service is very old school Asian style. Get in order eat get out. In fact the food came out faster than the 'express' option at Ho jiak. To access the bathroom you walk right past the chefs preparing food through the kitchen.

If you're in Campsie, check them out! I will definitely return for some curry puffs and ckt.

🍜

Best overall : HAPPY CHEF Haymarket

Best broth: Malacca straits Campbelltown

Best noodle : ALBEE'S delight Campsie

Worst laksa but everything else on menu is great : DJ'S VIETNAMESE PHO

Best roti : UNCLE Hung MALAYSIAN RESTAURANT Padstow

This place is one of the institutions of the eastern suburbs. Been open for at least 30 years serving some amazing HK style Chinese food

I rate their wonton noodles as one of the best in Sydney. My other go to dishes are the pork spare ribs in plum sauce and the Shandong chicken

Must be doing something right to be open for this long