Category: Kingsford

This suburb was known as South Kensington and changed in honour of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith

Sally’s Grill and Hotpot

Sally’s Grill and Hotpot Review:

Our friends told us that there was a new Halal Korean BBQ restaurant in Kingsford. We went to Sally’s Grill and Hotpot at the end of last month. The restaurant was actually owned by the same group who owned Halal Thai restaurant a few doors down the road.

The menu looks like a mashup between Korean and Japanese BBQ. Their two main offerings are the hotpot and BBQ grill. You have to spend a minimum of $30 for the BBQ grill. Just like in Korean restaurants, you get a few complimentary side dishes.

Cheese spring roll – $8 – 4 pieces – and Takoyaki – $8 – 7 pieces octopus balls

The cheese spring roll was quite the favourite here. The name ‘spring roll’ might be a bit misleading as it is just cheese coated with bread crumb and deep fried. With the takoyaki, I’m sure a lot of restaurants can make a decent takoyaki.

Braised beef short rib hot pot – $30 – cook on the table with vegetable and sweet potato noodle in homemade Bulgogi sauce

I am actually quite happy with the size of the hot pot.

If you don’t want the preset hotpot, you can also choose the shabu-shabu option, This way, you can choose your own ingredients for the hotpot.

Snow cheese fried chicken – $12 – 8 pieces

The snow bit is actually coconut shaving. Nevertheless, the fried chicken is interestingly sweet and crunchy.

BBQ Grill

They have assortments of meat and seafood dishes on offer. However, you have to order at least $30 initially. It’s not that hard to do if your choice goes to the wagyu meat.

Interestingly, the vegetables are pretty cheap in this restaurant. Everything is $3!

The final verdict for Sally’s Grill and Hotpot

Sally’s Grill and Hotpot automatically has a place in the mind of those who looked for halal BBQ restaurants.

Did you know?

As I previously mentioned, this restaurant is part of a rather successful Thai restaurants group: It’s time for Thai.

Rating for Sally’s Grill and Hotpot:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: minimum of $30 for BBQ

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

315 Anzac Parade, Kingsford 2032

+61 2 9357 6100

Sally’s Grill and Hotpot on Zomato

Jul 25, 2017
Manpuku Sydney

Review:

Unlike in the city, ramen restaurants are pretty rare in the Eastern Suburb. Manpuku Sydney is a small restaurant in Kingsford that sells ramen, almost exclusively! You can also get a small bowl of rice but it’s hardly a main course and more like an add-on if you are still hungry or need to finish the soup.

There are not a lot of varieties in the ramen, but here are a few that you need to know:

“Kono Deaini Kanshashite Aijyou to Jyounetsu Komete Issyoukenmei Tsukutta Uchirano Icchan Sukina Manpuku Shiawase” Ramen or Long Name Ramen – $12.90

I kid you not, that’s actually the name written in the menu. I usually refer to it as ‘long name’ ramen… it is easier to remember!

It is a ramen with soy-based pork soup, pork belly, egg, shallots, bamboo shoot, beansprout, and seaweed sheet.

Manpuku Red – $13.90

It is a ramen with soy-based pork soup, pork belly, sliced mushroom, beansprout, shallots, seaweed sheet, egg, dried shrimp powder… and hot chili flavour!

A word of advice: The ‘normal’ spicy level is already pretty hot.

Shio Gara – $11.90

It is a ramen with salt-based chicken soup, pork belly, beansprout, bamboo shoot, shallots, seaweed sheet, and egg.

Shio Gara is quite different when compared to the rest of the ramen. Instead of a thick soup, it is a clear soup with the usual ramen stuff. It is a lot lighter than the rest of the menu.

The next two ramen dishes are part of limited time menu. Although it seems to always be available, you might not be able to order it when you were there as they sell out quite quickly.

Double Impact – $15.90 – Heaps of shredded cha-shu, 2 eggs, beansprouts, shallots, mushrooms, 2 seaweed sheets.

This is the ramen that you must order when you have the chance! Instead of getting a sorry-looking piece of cha-shu, you are actually getting heaps of it. You also get double the eggs and seaweed sheets… and all of those are only $3 more expensive than the long name ramen.

Shinku-Hado Buta – $14.90 – Heaps of shredded cha-shu & 2 eggs

Shinku-Hado Buta is pretty similar to double impact. They just have a different soup and slightly less stuff in it.

The name is pretty similar to the big ball of energy from Street Fighter, isn’t it?

Manpuku Bowl – $2.90 – Cha shu, rice, egg, bean sprout, cabbage

Manpuku bowl is actually pretty small. It is the perfect addition when you are still famished after devouring the ramen and still have some soup left.

The final verdict for Manpuku

Double impact or shinku-hado buta are the two ramen you should be aiming for when eating at Manpuku Sydney!

Did you know?

This is the English translation for the long name ramen: Thanking to this wonderful encounter, this is our most favorite Ramen we make with our whole heart with lots of love and passion into it, so happy with being full.

Rating for Manpuku:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $12 – $16 for a bowl of ramen

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

482 Anzac Parade, Kingsford 2032

+61 2 9662 1236

Manpuku on Facebook

Jul 13, 2015
Shalom Indonesian Restaurant
I have been going to this Indonesian restaurant since they opened their doors in Kingsford! The name is Shalom Indonesian Restaurant. To be honest, it is quite an unusual name for an Indonesian restaurant.

The menu is pretty much everything you see on the wall above the counter and you have to order and pay the food at the counter. Despite the number of pictures, the menu can actually be divided into four sauces:
- Rujak sauce: This is the default non-spicy sauce
- Hot & sour sauce: Despite the three star logo, this sauce only has a fleeting hint of hotness. I said this as a person who doesn’t like spicy sauce!
- Balinese sauce: This one is probably best suited for people who enjoy occasional hot food.
- Shalom sauce: This one is for the hard core chilli lovers!
Btw, if you are unsure about any of it, just ask to separate the sauce from the dish.

These are the four dishes that we ordered almost 90% of the time.

Beef / Fish Ball Soup – Bakso Sapi / Ikan Kuah – $5

It is a very simple beef balls in a soup. We usually order this for the little one. Add some sweet soy sauce to the warm rice and you got yourself a decent dish to feed your kid!

Deep fried tofu with peanut sauce – Batagor – $5

Although the description said ‘batagor’ (the famous fish-based dish from Bandung), it is actually not that batagor. It is just deep fried tofu that was coated with flour. I’m pretty sure there is no fish involved in it (or probably very little, hardly-visible amount).

However, I still enjoy the dish and have always been my staple when coming into the restaurant. I love the peanut and sweet soy sauce!

Fried beef ball with Hot and Sour Sauce – Bakwan Penyet – $8

This is another extremely simplistic dish. You get sliced and fried beef balls and a boiled egg with the sauce and a plate of rice.

I particularly love to combine this dish with the tofu dish above. It reminds me a lot of food in my hometown.

Grilled beef ribs with Balinese sauce – Iga bakar bumbu Bali – $12

The grilled beef ribs is probably the most decent-sized option in the menu. There are not a lot of places in Sydney that served grilled beef ribs for only $12.

Happy Soda – Soda Gembira – $3

Happy soda is actually just a combination of soda water, condensed milk and rose syrup. But when I was younger, it is pretty much my top three drinks (along with Durian and Avocado juices).

Indonesians love sweet drinks and happy soda is no different. They usually put quite a lot of condensed milk and rose syrup. However, happy soda is served unstirred. So you can adjust the level of sweetness to your liking.

The final verdict for Shalom Indonesian Restaurant

Whenever I need an Indonesian comfort food, I usually go to Shalom Indonesian Restaurant. They may not have the best décor or the fanciest of dishes, but it is the one restaurant in Sydney that felt closest to home for me.

Did you know?

There is another Indonesian restaurant that everyone in Sydney seems to love going to, called Ayam Goreng 99. It is located three shops down the road from Shalom.

Rating for Shalom Indonesian Restaurant:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $9 – $15 for main dishes

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

Shop 2 / 458 Anzac Parade, Kingsford 2032

+61 2 9662 4455

http://www.shalom-restaurant.com/
Jun 23, 2015
Petaling Street | Malaysian Hawker Food

Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7 / 10

Price: $11 – $18 main course

Place: 7 / 10

Review:

When I heard that Petaling Street opened in Kingsford, I was so happy. The first time I went to Petaling Street, I tried its Steamed Fish with Radish ($15.80). A whole fish for $15.80 (rice included) was actually quite rare in Sydney! You can actually stop reading here and just order that fish when you go there next time.

They have quite a few options to choose from and luckily I went with quite a big group once. This way, I can showcase what they have. For the entrée, we ordered Vegetarian Spring Rolls ($5.8), Roti Kosong ($6.5) – Malaysian roti with curry dipping sauce, and Chee Cheong Fun ($7.80) – a popular breakfast food that has a combination of rice noodles, fish balls with chilli and special sweet sauce. This is the essence of Malaysian Hawker Food.

If you would like a traditional Singaporean/Malaysian dish, you could always go for Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice ($11.50) – Traditional hawker steamed chicken with chicken flavoured rice and soup. The Hainanese chicken was as expected. We also ordered another traditional Malaysian dish in Petaling Street, the Penang Fried Koay Teow ($11.50).

My favourite dish in Petaling Street (after the fish) is the Mar Mite Chicken Ribs with Rice ($11.80) – Steamed rice served with Chicken ribs in Mar Mite sauce. I tried this dish out of curiosity and it turned out to be pretty good. I love how the marmite actually gave a unique sweet dimension to the ribs. They also gave you the main dish option for $ 16.8.

You could also order Laksa or Mee Goreng ($10.80) but on this occasion, I did not really try them. Unfortunately, just like many other Asian restaurants, service was its weakest element.

The final verdict for Petaling Street: Malaysian Hawker Food

Petaling Street offers plenty of Malaysian food choices. If you can overlook the service, the food they served was actually pretty good and affordable. I love their Mar Mite Chicken Ribs, but I think most would appreciate the $15.80 whole fish more.

Details:

Shop 4, 438-448 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032

02 9662 8880

http://www.petalingst.com.au/

Mar 18, 2014
Sinma Laksa House

Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7/10

Price: $401 for 8 people

Place: 6/10

Review:

For those of you looking at the price tag on this week’s restaurant, Sinma Laksa House, it might seem very excessive, especially if you know the restaurant inside out. Truth be told, I actually took quite a gamble when I invited my close group of friends to have a dinner here.

The main reason why I wanted to eat in this restaurant was this solitary dish, Singapore Chilli Crab. I am comparing this dish with the original one in Singapore, chilli crab from Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. There were quite a few differences between the two. In Sinma, they use Mud Crab for the dish (at around $86 / kg). Ours was 2.6 kgs of Mud crab and it was gigantic! They also dumbed down the spice. I guess it would make it edible to the local tongue. I was actually very pleased with the crab (until I received the bill ^_^).

The second dish was a dish recommended by the waitress, Fried Chicken (?). It’s a very ordinary looking deep fried chicken dish with prawn crackers. The portion was also quite big tho. In contrast, the third one, Beef and Chicken Satay, was very yummy. They were grilled perfectly with sides of rice cake, pickles and onions.

Our next highlight (and second most expensive dish) is the Steamed Barramundi with Ginger and Shallot. Together with the crab, they contributed to 2/3 of the total bill! However, they were really the top two dishes of the night. The soup base of the fish was fantastic, and the fish itself was succulent.

As you might know, I am not a big fan of the green stuff, but I think these next two were okay. Long Bean Belachan is a staple food in many Asian restaurants in Sydney. There was really nothing wrong with it, but nothing special as well. I quite like the Stir fried garlic asparagus for its crunchy and tasty asparagus.

Last but not least, we ordered a dish that might need an acquired taste: Sambal Prawns and Petai. Petai (known also as stink bean) has a very unusual smell and was a perfect match for the sambal prawns. The only downside for this was the dish was brought out very-very late in the service (when everything else was practically finished).

The final verdict for Sinma Laksa House

Sinma Laksa House has a very nice Singapore Chilli Crab. Is it worth the value? It would if the restaurant and waitresses were nicer. The rest of the dishes were also nice and presentable.

Did you know?

Without the chilli crab, it would only cost us around $20 per person!

Details:

391 Anzac Parade, Kingsford 2032

02 9313 7663

Oct 1, 2013
Kingsford Chinese Restaurant

Rating:

7 / 10

7.5 for the trinity!
Taste: 7/10

Price: $8.5 – $12 per person

Place: 5.5/10

Review:

This week’s review was arguably the hardest review I have ever done in my life. Kingsford Chinese Restaurant is iconic in many ways and I might be risking the wrath of hundred thousand UNSW students who had no doubt tasted the food in this restaurant during their uni years and beyond. This might be the cheapest restaurant you could ever get in Sydney! For the price, the food was arguably the best amongst the rest of ‘cheap’ restaurants in town.

So what’s the catch: Service! In this place, the owner is the queen. If you ever expressed your discontent to her, the most she’d reply would be ‘Meh’. I guess she doesn’t need snobbish customers when people still line up for her food. So, anyone from owner to waiters/waitresses doesn’t really care about you.

Anything else you need to know? The restaurant is tightly spaced on the first floor. If you come with seven or more people, the second floor is pretty spacious. You might also want to dry/clean up your cutleries as they might not be properly dried.

Let’s get down to business. Why do people want to come to this restaurant are they still willing to queue outside? It’s because of the trinity; the three dishes that 90% of visitors would at least have one of them.

The first one was the infamous Sang Tung Chicken ($11). I particularly liked this one because of the portion and also the sweet taste. They were seriously overabundant and tasty. The top part of the dish was actually boneless meats and the bones spread out under them.

We called the next one Long Bean Belacan ($11). On the menu it was called Braised Green Bean with Malaysian Chilli Sauce. Don’t worry; it’s not a spicy dish! Belacan is a fermented shrimp paste that usually comes with chilli and garlic. This was one od the few vegetable dishes I didn’t mind eating.

My favourite would be the Salt and Pepper Calamari. It is officially named Deep Fried Calamari with Pepper Salt ($11). It was the most awesome(est!) Calamari I have ever tasted. They were incredibly crunchy but still soft in the middle. Hint: Don’t eat this without rice!

Since we had a bit more people, we ordered two more dishes: Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup and Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Beef. The soup was so-so but it only costed us $3.5. The stir-fried noodles dish was acceptable for a dish under $10.

The final verdict for Kingsford Chinese Restaurant

Kingsford Chinese Restaurant provided the best tasting food for its price. There are three staple foods: Salt and Pepper calamari, Sang Tung chicken and Long Bean belacan. If you want very fast service, order those three and nothing else! Oh, and try not to complaint too much…

Why do I give a seven?

I feel that I need to justify my scoring system here.

Kingsford Chinese Restaurant might not give you the perfect dining experience. It might on the other be your worst nightmare if you were a difficult and picky customer. However in terms of quality and what you get for your dollars, it was an exceptional value.

Details:

426 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032

+61 2 9663 1728

Mar 7, 2013