Charlie & Co. (Sydney CBD)

By St 

Have you gone shopping for Christmas pressies at the new Westfields yet? After all that tiring walking trying to find a gift for that difficult relative (and trying to navigate the new retail landscape), you just want to sit down and grab a bite and feel accomplished as you tick "end-rumbling-tummy" off your list. 

One of my good girlfriends, Jo, has been raving about the parmesan and truffle fries, "the best" she claims so Timmy and I had to test it out. 

We stopped and admired the new eateries in the small food court (the level is not fully complete) and came to an end and there was Charlie & Co. It's not easy to miss when it is the only place with a queue system in place. Are you for real? It's just fast food after all... right? So at 7pm on a Thursday night we joined the queue which slowly moved up and I stalked out the burgers which we will try another time (this was Mission: Parmesan and Truffles Fries after all).

Like lining up at the bank ...

... but with better views!

The moment I've been waiting for, drum roll *brum*brum*brum*brum*. Ok the truth. Yes they were good, fat and crispy. The parmesan was a nice touch but I wouldn't have known there were truffles unless you told me. It was very oily and ultimately I found it too salty due to the abundance of sea salt (this comes from a girl who sometimes dips her strawberries in salt- it's a Vietnamese thing).  

Parmesan and truffle fries $8

So the fries were a bit disappointing and it didn't help that we had to queue for them, that just added to my great expectations. The Mission was over but Timmy had already put it in jeopardy when he ordered The Charlie Chilli Dog. And, we were having proper dinner afterwards. Containing pork sausage, green chilli, fried onions, mustard and sweet tomato relish on a baguette, the hotdog was something Uncle Charlie would be proud of, plus extra spicy from the chilli and mustard.

The Charlie Chilli Dog $12

I bet you're wondering, who is Charlie? I surely was. According to the pamphlet staff were handing out, "In 1885, 15 yo Charlie was selling meatballs at the annual Seymour Fair in Wisconsin... sales were slow, so Charlie decided to smash a meatball and some onions between two slices of bread so folks could eat and walk around the fair at the same time. Charlie called his sandwich a "hamburger"- and the rest, as they say, is history!". It might just be folklore but an creative concept, if not a bit Americanised, from Justin North.

Did someone just say "Justin North"? You might recall that I called him the Johnny Depp of cooking (http://wokyoutalkingabout.blogspot.com/2010/10/siff-becasse-sydney-cbd.html) so no wonder people were queuing up to eat at his new venture which has only been opened for 3 weeks. Eating burgers and fries from a 2 chefs hat chef is like watching a special screening of Pirates of the Caribbean in an empty cinema with only Captain Jack Sparrow besides you :p

In summary, the chips are good but not the best. I would love to come back and try the burgers. Here are some tempting choices:

- The hand-crafted chilli crab burger: infused crab cake with Asian salad, lime mayonniase and sweet chilli jam. ($15 takeaway/ $17 in)

- The maiden Marrakesh burger: premium lamb flavoured with parsley, mint and cumin served with harissa, tzatziki and preserved lemon. ($13 takeaway/ $15 in) 

- The rustic chorizo classic: pork burger with smoked paprika, chorizo, fennel, with soft peppers and fried egg. 

Charlie & Co. is trying to separate itself from fast food with its premium meats and fresh produce. You can also dine in (the decor is quite classy) instead of having take-away but sadly, there was a queue for this too.

Like Arnie said, "I will be back".

Wokking rating /5:

Charlie & Co.

Westfield Sydney, Pitt Street

Sydney 

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Hannibal (Surry Hills)

By St

Invite: Lyly and Karen’s joint 25th birthday at Hannibal, 7pm. I had to google the restaurant because the name was freaky. What are we eating? Humans? I know vampires are all the craze atm and I like Tru Blood but… Oh Lebanese food! I can stomach that.

So at 7pm, Jo and I were led downstairs to the special red cushion room. Since we were on time it was easy for us to step over the empty Persian cushions to sit against the wall. This later becomes a pain because you cannot escape to the bathroom unless you inconvenience your neighbours to get out, or you could step across the table but not recommended for the skirts and dresses. 

Red cushion room

We were finally placing our orders at 8 with the majority opting for the Hannibal Feast ($38 pp). Twenty minutes later out came baskets of Lebanese bread and dips: hommos, baba ganouj and tatziki. The hommus was of the rough, nutty kind; tatziki had a lot of garlic and slightly sour but the favourite of the night was the smoky baba ganouj.  

Lebanese bread

Hommos

Baba ganouj

Tatziki

The tabouly came out next but we were waiting for a replenishment of bread so just ate the tabouly on its own- fresh but wanting more juice and lime. 

Tabouly

The shish kebabs had big chunks of delicious soft lamb. Cyndi’s grilled shish tawook was fine but I found the chicken to be on the dry side and perhaps slightly burnt as the skewer kept on breaking when trying to slide the chicken off.  

Lamb shish kebab

Chicken shish tawook

The falafels were crispy and soft on the inside. I didn’t try the fried kebbe but with nobody being Lebanese at the party, the consensus was that they tasted similar to the falafel.

Falafels

Fried kebbe

Finally some sweets! I was telling everyone how nice lady fingers are as many were starting to get full and weren’t as willing to try things. First cut of the fingers made a liar of me. They were savory and contained mince, similar to spring rolls but not as crispy

Lady fingers

Rounding up to 10pm, the poor cabbage rolls kafta remained largely untouched. Cyndi and I braved the satiety and digged into the rice and spinach fillings- good with strange tangy saltiness, but definitely too heavy at this stage of the banquet. 

Cabbage rolls kafta

We didn’t care to notice on the night but we didn’t get the majadra as part of the feast. Instead listed as an extra $3 dessert, we were given baklava. Very sweet and I love my sweets so I had two pieces even though we were going to have some black forest birthday cake.

Baklava

A big low for the night were the uncomfortable seated cushions. I lost life in my left bum and had to resuscitate it with constant shifting. This was tricky as we had ~30 ppl packed shoulder to shoulder or legs over legs under low tables without much free room. Because people sat opposite to you across the table, you had to be conscious of your legs (footsies) and you couldn’t straighten them to stretch it. Pins and needles were the order of the night. 

Many thought the service was poor as we had to ask a few times for more bread and water to several different waiters. Having said that, there were 30 people and I couldn’t fault the delivery of the food- when they food came out. It was constant and quick and finding empty plates to discharge was no mean feat. It was usually 1 dish to share between 5-8 people, but they do bring second rounds for most dishes.  

The night would be incomplete without a 20 minute performance from a belly dancer. I warn you, if you choose to sit on the outside of the tables, you have a high chance (1 in 3) of being picked (in some cases pushed) to dance and of course suffer from pals who video record it :)

Birthday girls doing some belly dancing

A very festive and entertaining night with plenty to eat. The food was average-good. I have had better Lebanese food. You come here for the atmosphere and entertainment, making Hannibal a great venue for celebrations. Hooray, it’s BYO. 

Wokking rating /5:

Hannibal's Lebanese

557 Elizabeth St

Surry Hills

02 9698 8288

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Chefs Gallery (Sydney CBD)

By Boo_e & St

First of all we would like to say a full-and-fat THANK YOU to all who attended the launch dinner for this blog! Woohoo! It was a terrific turn out and we are very lucky to have such great colleagues supporting our mission. Thank you Biljana, Lana, Lucy, Greg, Paul, Ngaire, Ann, Will, James, Tammy, Mike, Tyrp, Becc, Nate and Daniel.

Other special mentions goes to Thanh and Wes who helped out with the blog’s designs. To Timmy and Daniel, thank you for your boundless support.

Back to business. Some people prefer panoramic views of the ocean or hills, while some people like Lucy, enjoy views of the kitchen hands at work. Come in early and you can see them make their signature “piggy face” bun as one chef was nice enough to model for us. Otherwise catch them folding dumplings or winding up seriously never-ending strings of noodles (see handmade noodles below). If you want some free cooking lessons, I recommend sitting down at the table top benches around the kitchen and observe until you think you can replicate the dishes at home or until you make the chefs feel uneasy and there is a good chance they might call security on you :p

Lucy making sure the chefs are hard at work

You will feel like a superstar working in this kitchen *snap*snap*

We split into a few groups and each ordered a few dishes to share.

Pork belly rolls with carrot, cucumber, garlic and vingerette dressing $8.90

Zheng bao zi steamed buns with cabbage and pork $5.90

Thick handmade noodles wok fried with shredded pork and black fungus $13.90

Wok fried rice with 3 types of eggs (chicken, salted duck and century egg) $13.90

Chao shao pork and prawn wontons in a Shanghainese style spicy sauce $8.90

Congratulations for persevering. While all the above were good, (perhaps except the wontons which were not spicy when you bite into them), some dishes were obvious stand-outs and popular with all.

First of the food-stoppers is the fluffy Chinese roti with pork floss. I’ve had pork floss before with rice (you can buy them alone in jars) but how nice was it mixed with some roti? These roti are light and easy to rip apart, unlike the heavy ones you might get from other cuisines. 

Shou zhua bing fluffy Chinese roti with pork floss $6.90

It’s a good thing we listened to Lucy and ordered two of the noodles below. No wonder these are her favs. As mentioned earlier, these handmade noodles stretch for miles. When you think you’ve swooped them all, you see another noodle still dangling with no sign of its end. You feel like asking for some scissors so you can dig in quicker. It’s essentially a dry noodle dish with the spicy sauce heavily infused. Unlike the wontons above, these noodles were smothered in a perfect amount of spiciness that make your lips tingle but without the need to gush litres of water afterwards.

Prawn and pork wontons with handmade noodles in a Shanghainese style spicy sauce $12.90

If you don’t think dumplings and noodles will fill you up and prefer some meatier stuff, try the pork ribs. This was the star of the night as agreed by most from Boo_e’s side of the table. It was deliciously sticky with a sweet caramelized soy flavour. It gained comments on the night along the lines of “finger licking good!” so I think it’s safe to say that it is a dish worth trying if you’re going to visit Chefs gallery. 

Sweet and dark pork ribs $18.90

I wonder what the best dish on Steph’s side was? What dumplings? You got to be kidding!  The dumplings shells were thin and moist and then you had parts that were crispy. Tammy called them “immaculate” and it sounded like she was having some sort of religious awakening. Biljana’s trick to eating more dumplings when one is full is to burp! These were so good that everyone became too polite and not daring to grab the last heavenly piece. 

Guo tie lightly pan fried prawn dumplings $11.90

As with most Asian restaurants, it seems that we are destined to be disappointed with the dessert selection and it seems that Chefs gallery was no exception, granted the little piggy desserts were cute to look at but in terms of taste it was rather lacking.  It would have been a brilliant idea if they had options for fillings such as green tea, mango, custard or like Tammy said, oozing warm chocolate. They, Mr and Ms Piggy, at least are good for taking photos of.

Steamed sesame “piggy face” buns $5.90

James and Tammy had the strawberry ice cream which they thoroughly enjoyed. Greg also enjoyed the strawberry ice cream after giving up on his bland combination of green tea ice cream.

Strawberry ice cream with chef’s own strawberry sauce and fried sweet potato ball $7.90

Green tea ice cream with steamed pearl dumplings and almond flakes $7.90

The service was slow with one half of the table waiting for 10 minutes to place their orders. In the meantime, the other half had already started eating. So cruel when one is starving. The waitress had limited English which made asking for anything without pointing it out on the menu a little difficult. (This shouldn’t have come as a surprised as St spent 5 frustrating minutes on the phone trying to make a booking.)  We had to ask several times for more wine glasses and they tried to charge us corkage on an unopened bottle. The final straw was a mix up with the bill which was handled very poorly by staff and one of the managers and had put a damper on an otherwise great night out with good friends and good food, which is what Wok You Talking About is all about.

Wokking rating /5:

Chefs Gallery

501 George St

Sydney
02 9267 8877

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Glebe Point Diner (Glebe)

Retro-review from July 2010 by St

I always struggle trying to find a restaurant that will astound Timmy. I decided on GPD because it was on The Gourmet Traveller’s top 100 list and I know Timmy hasn’t heard of it so the surprise element was heightened (proportionate to a possible disappointment factor too....). 

As you know, there is a plethora of restaurants on Glebe Pt Rd just off Parramatta Rd. I expected GPD to be around here but you must drive all the way down towards the harbour and it’s nestled between residentials. Adopting the name, the diner is fairly small (seats ~40), modern with a chilled, smart-casual vibe.

Thirlmere goose liver pate with onion jam and toast $18

Birthday boy Timmy chose this cos he likes his pates. (Pate transports me back to year 4 when my mum used to make strong pate sandwiches for lunch almost every day… my stomach is screaming illllllll.) Like their pasta and butter, the bread is made on site and this toast was crispy and great for slathering on the pate. Onion jam was superb and went well with the pate which wasn’t overwhelming in taste or smell.

Macleay Valley rabbit braised with pearl barley, pancetta, chestnuts and sultanas $30

Hearty hearty stuff matey. Timmy says the rabbit tastes like chicken. A bonus for the dietitian was the nutritional value of the stew- pearl barley, chestnuts, sultanas. A different main to what we usually order but he thoroughly enjoyed it describing it as heavy and wholesome, drawing a similar comparison to a risotto.

Coorong angus scotch fillet with red wine butter, hand cut chips and cavolo nero $35

Hold the press! Let it be known that I am the biggest sucker for any mains that comes with chips. And that is also my downfall. The scotch fillet was satisfying, cooked medium rare to perfection but it was like any other fairly good steak. All along I thought I was eating spinach but actually it was cavolo nero, also known as black cabbage- great for accompanying meat/fish. You could also pay an extra $5 for some truffle supplement.

Watching the room, many people were ordering the Winter pie for their mains (roasted pumpkin, goats’ fetta, onion lyonnaise and sauteed cabbage). It must have been really good or else every second diner was a vegetarian. Something else I should have tried (but it didn’t come with chips!) was the roasted Burrawong chook (sautéed brussels sprouts, bread sauce and pancetta). I read the desserts are great here too but Timmy and I were going to head back up the road to Badde Manors for some good coffee and apple rhubarb pie and cannelloni!

Funnily, when Timmy walked into GPD, he thought it reminded him of Cumulus (http://wokyoutalkingabout.blogspot.com/2010/10/cumulus-inc.html) in Melbourne. This was echoed in the bathroom as they too had Aesop soap! Nb- I’m sorry diners, I love good food but also love clean, polished amenities that go that extra mile. The Aesop theme strikes again. Now, if only I can get Aesop to sponsor this blog, sigh... my life would be complete :p 

GPD did have one chef’s hat in 2008 and 2009 but lost it this year. Having read a few reviews on it, I know many people adore the place and it’s easy to see why. Ingredients are sourced locally and fresh (some grown in the GPD’s backyard) and most of the food is organic. Also, for any north-shorers, GPD just opened in Neutral Bay in July. 

I’m positive my rating would be higher had I ordered the pie or chook for my mains.
Wokking rating /5: 

Glebe Point Diner
407 Glebe Point Rd
Glebe
9660 2646

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