Posts tagged Fusion

Full Mooning: Lunar Markets 2015, Pyrmont Park

Festivals Review
Korean Tacos from Poklol at the Lunar Markets

Korean Tacos from Poklol at the Lunar Markets

The moon is said to do strange things to people: it brings out the monsters, it brings out the crazy…and it brings out the HUNGRY.

Oh wait, that’s just a normal state for me.

But markets usually involve me getting up early in the morning, and honey child, I ain’t no morning person. Which is why night markets have always been a favourite of mine – from the annual Night Noodle Markets of Good Food Month, to the weekly Chinatown markets – and I’m so excited that NSW Food and Wine Festival has just started the inaugural Lunar Markets, to celebrate Chinese New Year!

They’ve selected a cool mix of seasoned market stall holders and food truck operators, newbies on the Sydney food scene, and even some favourites from interstate.

I haven’t eaten from Poklol before, but their selection of fusion foods certainly inspire an appetite. The tacos that we were given to sample were generously filled with marinated beef and pork, and had that distinct Korean mix of sweet and salty.

Poklol
Food Truck Location Varies Check Facebook
Sydney, NSW 2000
Phone: 0421 111 691
Website: http://www.poklol.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZOMGPOKLOL

Poklol on Urbanspoon

Crispy Dumplings from Fat NoodleCrispy Dumplings, Fat Noodle

Fat Noodle also joined the Lunar Market fray, offering up a mixture of crispy bites and stir-fried dishes. We were given Crispy Dumplings and Spring Rolls to sample, all hot and steaming from the fryer. It may not be knock your socks off amazing in terms of dumplings, but we already know that Fat Noodle produces consistent, reliable, quality food. So there’s that.

No Salt and Pepper Tofu on the market menu though. /sad face. That, you have to cross the road to The Star to get.

Fat Noodle
80 Pyrmont St Level 1
Sydney, NSW 2009
Phone: 1800 700 700
Website: http://www.star.com.au/sydney-restaurants/casual-dining/Pages/fat-noodle.aspx

Fat Noodle on Urbanspoon

Gyozas from ZagyozaGyozas from Zagyoza

All the way from their initial debut at the markets in Brisbane, and then interstate in Melbourne, Zagyoza has brought a variety of 9 gyozas for your sampling pleasure. As a base standard pork dumplings were pretty nice, their seafood dumplings – made with prawn and squid meat – were better, and their vegan black bean dumplings interesting. I personally am a bit so so about the texture myself, but it’s so much better than a LOT of other vegan food that I’ve tried.

Zagyoza
Shop 1/60 Vulture St West End
Brisbane, QLD
Phone: 07 3844 6696
Website: http://www.zagyoza.com/

Zagyoza on Urbanspoon

Pork Skewers from Daniel SanGiant Pork Skewer from Daniel San

Manly residents Daniel San has also put on a strong market face, serving up a short menu, allowing them to focus on quality. The giant pork skewers we sampled were nicely flavoured, and comes with the added bonus of allowing you to use the sticks for a bit of jousting afterwards! The pork that they used was quite lean though, putting them at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to this particular market, because…

Daniel San
55 N Steyne
Manly, NSW 2095
Phone: 02 9977 6963
Website: http://danielsan.com.au/

Daniel San on Urbanspoon

Skewers from Hoy PinoyPork and Chicken Skewers from Hoy Pinoy

HOY frickin’ PINOY is back in the building!!! Since I first tried them at the Winter Night Markets in Melbourne, I’ve been stalking them like a woman possessed, sniffing the air for that smoky smell of charcoal like a wolf.

See? I told you that the moon does strange things to people.

They are the reason I would seriously consider moving to Melbourne, and that is no exaggeration. Their menu is short, but it packs a punch. Their chicken skewers are coated in a sweet soy glaze, and their pork skewers in a banana ketchup glaze. Never in my life have I been such a fan of chicken.

And their showing at both the SMH Night Noodle Markets and The Age Night Noodle Markets shows amazing consistency – here’s hoping that they’re soon going to make a permanent expansion up to Sydney.

Hoy Pinoy
Mobile Food Truck
Location Varies- See Facebook
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Website: https://www.facebook.com/hoypinoybbq

Hoy Pinoy on Urbanspoon

Tammi eating Filipino skewers

Hoy Pinoy makes me happy.

Insatiable Munchies dined as guests of the NSW Food and Wine Festival.

Drive-by Eating: Bing Boy, Chadstone

Drive-by Eating Melbourne Review Travel
Bing Boy Crepe being made

As much as foodies like to pretend that we eat fantastic food ALL the time, the truth of the matter is that sometimes we are driven to settle for the average; to see food as fuel/something to prevent us from embarking on a murderous rampage sparked by irritation borne of hunger.

And once in awhile, those food court solutions turn up something surprising, that make us feel a lot more foodie, and a lot less food victim.
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Win a $50 voucher to dine at Chi and Co!!!

Competition 10 Comments

But before that, the food.

I first visited Chi and Co as part of a Canley Height Food Crawl organised by Thang from Noodlies and the Fairfield City Council. We tried their signature tapas dishes – from pulled beef sliders to spanner crab on betel leaf – and were plied with expertly mixed cocktails.

So when they offered another chance to dine with them, I said

“HELLS YEAH!”
We knew that we wanted to order different dishes to what we had tried previously – can the rest of the menu stand up to the high standard that was set before?

Well the Son-in-Law Eggs (pictured above) were very cute, and very flavourful. I loved the savoury sauce on the top of the egg that lent a smoky spiciness to the deep fried eggs. What I wasn’t so crazy about, however, was the hard boiled egg yolk. Yes, I know that traditionally the eggs are hard boiled before they’re deep fried, and for these eggs not to have the grey ring of overcooked yolks shows finesse in execution. But really, I’m not a hard boiled egg person ordinarily, and I was really hoping to have a gold liquid centre.

Yolk porn man, YOLK PORN!

Duck Spring Roll
Duck Spring Roll

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We also ordered the Duck Spring Rolls. Pieces of savoury duck and juicy shiitake mushrooms are wrapped in an egg wrapper, then deep fried to crispy perfection. Now it might just be that I’ve got low expectations – I’ve never had spring rolls blow my mind before – but these were really good. It almost didn’t need the sweet syrupy plum sauce that it came with – there was a complexity and just pure yumminess that left me speechless.

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Salt and Pepper Squid

If a restaurant tells you that something is a signature dish, then you just gotta order it. And well, we just have a weakness for Salt and Pepper Squid. Our first impression was that the squid could be a touch crispier – yes it was a nice light coating, but there was a distinct lack of crunch – but the balance of seasoning was actually really sophisticated. Too often we’ve had this same dish in other eateries that have left us grasping for water, or popping a mint because of all the garlic, but this one was light enough on the salt that we were very happy demolishing the whole plate and fighting for the last piece.

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Braised Beef Short Ribs

Chi and Co. (Chi Chi) on UrbanspoonBesides all the share plates, we thought we might have enough space to squeeze in one more main. I’ve got a thing for beef anything lately, and these Braised Beef Short Ribs with pickles just called my name. We also ordered rice and roti to accompany it – and to mop up the sweet sticky glaze – and sat confident in our ability to be little piggies and eat all the food.

Well, no. The beef was rich, and which was artfully balanced by the pickles (we would have appreciated a larger serving of pickles though), but we really shouldn’t have ordered both rice and roti. I much preferred the rice to go with the beef, but the roti was quite pleasant on its own – those crispy buttery layers make this the puff pastry of South East Asia.

As always, it was a lovely experience, and we were well taken care of. If you drop by, be sure to try something off their tapas menu – you can read more about that in this post.

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And now, for the best bit. If you’ve read this long, I applaud and thank you. And if you’ve just scrolled to the bottom because you WANT THAT VOUCHER, I respect that too. Either way, you can enter below – leave a comment, tweet this post, or SHOW ME SOME LUUURRRRVE.

Good luck!

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Canley Heights Food Crawl, Part 2

Review 2 Comments
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Goodness gracious great bowls of noodles! 1.5kg Pho Challenge at Huong Xua

Three restaurants down, and three to go in the epic food crawl with Thang, Isaac, Amy, Christine, Jeroxie and Kate! At this point, we’re starting to breathe more heavily, and feeling that fullness that comes with a satisfying meal.

But are we done? NEVER!!!

We mosey along two doors down to Huong Xua – which means ‘fragrant home’ – home to the 1.5kg pho challenge.

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Clockwise from top: Huong Xua signboard, poached chicken served with herbed salt and pepper and lemon, 1.5kg pho challenge, pork in betal leaf, deep fried spring rolls. 

But before we talk about the massive bowl of deliciousness, Huong Xua very nicely brought out other plates of food that were chef’s recommendations. Their cuisine is very much more that of Northern Vietnam, with lighter, more delicate flavours, as opposed to the hard-hitting flavours of the South.

Huong Xua Vietnamese Restaurant on Urbanspoon
Their deep fried spring rolls uses rice paper instead of egg wrappers, causing it to puff up in a way that reminds me of the most delicate of pork rinds. Carrot and woodear mushrooms add texture to the filling, and the dipping dunking sauce provided was so much lighter and thinner than most Southern Vietnam sauces that I’ve been exposed to, and contained pickled radish and carrots.

The poached chicken reminded me of the Hainanese Chicken that is signature to Singapore, except that it was much leaner and more delicately flavoured. The typical accompaniment to this dish is a wedge of fresh lemon, and a salt, pepper and herb mixture that is deceiving in its simplicity. The salt had a dill aroma to it, bringing out facets of poached chicken I’ve never tasted before. There’s something curiously comforting about it. If you prefer, you can also get a ginger sauce to go with your chicken instead.

But the main attraction has got to be the Pho challenge.

phochallenge
Photo courtesy of Thang from Noodlies

500g of beef is first stir-fried with celery, garlic and onion for flavour, then added to 500g of flat rice noodles, and then topped with hot beef broth. The bowl is larger than the size of my face – and I have a pretty wide face – and I can’t stress how much food it actually contains. For reference, an average Australian portion of food is about 750g. So this bowl could probably feed a small family.

If you think you can down this bowl of Pho – all the ingredients and soup – in 11 minutes, you get to eat for free, and keep the bowl! The current record’s for 6 minutes, so good luck with it!! I believe in you!!!

And just when we felt like we couldn’t eat a single bite more, we headed down to Chi and Co. The concept behind Chi and Co. is that the owners wanted to bring the trendy style of Surry Hills to the west, and offer something that is a bit different to the rest of Canley Heights. They offer a fusion of Thai, Malaysian and Vietnamese cuisine, and have built up the restaurant in an old industrial warehouse, keeping the original exposed brick walls and open ceiling. Trés chic!

chiandco1
Clockwise from top: sign that greets you as you enter the front door, Seared Scallops, Chi Chi’s Tapioca Shot, Pulled Beef Slider, Spanner Crab on Betal Leaf
chiandco2
Clockwise from left: Lemon and Thai Basil Cocktail, Mocktails, Lychee-tini, Liquid Pavlova

One step into this trendy bar and you’re instantly transported to Surry Hills. It was like teleportation travel it was so cool. We were first welcomed with a variety of drinks, fruity and nicely balanced. Well, from what I can tell from my little sip of each. The most interesting of the drinks to me had to be the Lychee-tini. A sweet lychee liquor fills the bottom of the glass, topped with a fragrant foam on the top. And you know me, I love a good foam.

Chi and Co. (Chi Chi) on UrbanspoonAnd because there were some of us who couldn’t drink – *ahem* me included – they also very generously presented us with a selection of cocktails as well.

I had the Coco loco, which had fresh coconut, lychees and strawberries. Even though I don’t like coconut flavoured things, I absolutely LOVE fresh coconut and coconut juice. And this was absolutely my kind of Mocktail. Refreshing and not too sweet, this was actually quite thirst-quenching, which helped immensely all the food that we’ve eaten so far.

There were also the bite sized cuteness on plates! The Spanner Crab on Betal Leaf had a rich toasty coconut sauce over the top that slightly masked the natural sweetness of the crab, but was still quite morish. The Grilled Scallops nicely showcased fresh juicy scallops, and the Pulled Beef Sliders used tender wagyu beef sandwiched between soft, fluffy sweet mantou buns to create an interesting fusion of cultures and flavours. The Tapioca Shots were creamy, and the palm sugar syrup over the top made it rich and sticky sweet. Perfect to finish a meal if you have a sweet tooth.

At this point, we were rolling along, clutching our full bellies. But there was one more stop to go, and being full will not stop us!

holybasil

Holy Basil on UrbanspoonHoly Basil was our 6th and final stop, and out came a massively large serving of their signature Fried Ice Cream. A wedge of vanilla ice cream is coated in a thin crispy crust, sitting atop a dark syrup, and garnished with toasted coconut and a sprinkle of icing sugar. And just when we were prepping ourselves to share the portion, out came five more.

Yes. We had one of these babies each. Bowled over by the generosity and the sheer amount of food, I don’t think we actually finished the whole thing. Well, except Isaac, who powered through it all. Much more appropriate to the mood – I felt – was the strawberry smoothie, with its fresh fruit flavours adding a much needed finishing note to a full lunch on a hot day.

Above the absolute feast that we had that day, what really struck me was the friendliness and hospitality of everyone. They were all so proud of the cuisine and the food, and really welcomed us like family. It’s definitely opened my eyes to certain dishes that I wouldn’t otherwise know to order, that are so much more special than the usual fare.

Hidden foodies gem? I think so! Definitely would love to go back some time soon.

Note: Tammi of Insatiable Munchies and the other bloggers mentioned in this post dined as guests of Fairfield council and the restaurants listed. 

Golden Fields, St Kilda

Melbourne Review Travel 5 Comments

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Kingfish, Avocado, Fresh Wasabi, Konbu, $8 (half portion)

“You’ll remember me when the west wind moves/ upon the fields of barley
You’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky/ when we walk in fields of gold”
Sumner, G., Bogdanovic, D. (1993) Fields of Gold [Recorded by Sting]. On Ten Summoner’s Tales [CD]. EMI Music Publishing

If you are into your food, you can’t go to St. Kilda without stopping by Golden Fields. This trendy eatery has been popping up on many an Instagram feed, accompanied by cries of, “Lobster roll! LOBSTER ROLL!”

What? Did you just name a tasty crustacean? Why, of course I would like to eat it!

Needless to say, when a restaurant is making such waves, there is bound to be more than one interesting thing on the menu. We are informed by the lovely waitress that the menu is designed to share – my favourite kind of menu! – and that some dishes even come in half portions.

First on the table was a half portion of Kingfish, Avocado, Fresh Wasabi and Konbu, $8. Fresh slices of kingfish was paired with delicate greens and creamy avocado puree, and while thoroughly enjoyable and balanced in its simplicity, didn’t hit any particular high notes for me.

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Grilled Octopus, Kimchi Bean Sprouts, $12

Next on the table was the Grilled Octopus with Kimchi Bean Sprouts, $12. Being a huge fan of both kimchi and octopus, this dish of tender octopus tentacles, shaved cucumber and tangy, crunchy bean sprouts was a dish I could see eating as a main for a light lunch. I loved how the bean sprouts were just lightly pickled and had a much subtle flavour than cabbage kimchi – the traditional kimchi recipe calls for a period of fermentation for the cabbage, bringing forth a much stronger sour flavour that can be an acquired taste.

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Rolled Pork Belly, White Kimchi, Yuxiang Sauce, $15

My aunt had actually visited Golden Fields ahead of me, and the Rolled Pork Belly with White Kimchi and Yuxiang Sauce, $15 came highly recommended. White kimchi is basically cabbage kimchi that has been picked without the kochukaru, or red pepper flakes, which contribute to its red appearance. It still retains all of its sour fermented glory, minus the spice. Yuxiang sauce (鱼香) is literally translated to “fragrant fish” sauce, and doesn’t actually contain fish! Instead, this salty, sour and peppery sauce with Sichuan origins is commonly used to flavour eggplant and pork. You know the eggplant dish in Chinese restaurants labelled as “fish flavoured eggplant”? Well this would be the sauce that they’re talking about.

The sauce, combined with the tangy kimchi and delicate slices of pork belly creates a mouthful that I truly enjoyed. I love how the different flavours – salty, spicy, sour – balance each other out, and yet maintain a certain sense of identity.

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New England Lobster Roll, Hot Buttered Bun, Cold Poached Crayfish, Watercress & Kewpie, $15

Ahh and so we meet. When we order a portion of the New England Lobster Roll, $15 the waitress politely asks us if we’d like to have our roll cut in half, because the portion is just that: one roll. We decline, and she thoughtfully brings us out a knife with our order in case we’d like to split it anyway. This roll is somewhat smaller than I expected: the whole bun is about the size of my palm. A rich buttered roll sandwiches chunks of cold, poached crayfish that is lightly dressed is Kewpie mayonnaise and adorned with delicate sprigs of watercress. Tasty? Sure. But worth the hype and the $15 price tag? Well let’s just say that I would have been much more satisfied ordering another portion of the pork rolls (above).

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Grilled Beef Intercoastal, Korean Chilli, Fried Shallot, $16

Cuts of beef that require long cooking times have become my absolute favourite – when a muscle works hard, thicker muscle fibres and more flavour is created. And you know what I say, bring on the beefiness! For the flavour, you’re paying the price in tenderness, so these cuts require a longer cooking time in order to break down connective tissue (collagen) into gelatine, which then coats the strands and provide you with a juicy mouthful.

Golden Fields’ Grilled Beef Intercoastal with Korean Chilli and Fried Shallot, $16, has brilliantly upped the ante on this cut’s natural beefy flavour – the salty spiciness of the chilli and light crunch of the shallots combine with the mildly charred pieces of meat to transform into a flavour-packed diet-busting mouthful. Total beer food.

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Marinated Eggplant, Silken Tofu, Coriander, Chilli Vinegar, $14

I have a love-hate relationship with eggplant. This vegetable can take on so many different textures and flavours depending on how you prepare it, that you never quite know what you’re going to get. It also has the easy ability to become hideously oily, which means that you can end up with a mouthful of oil with not much flavour if you’re not careful.

This Marinated Eggplant with Silken Tofu, Coriander and Chilli Vinegar, $14 was no slack in the flavour department, that’s for sure, but the silken tofu was actually what stole the spotlight for me. While the eggplant was pleasant, and provided a certain heft to the overall dish, the tofu provided a delicate pillow of lightness which, when combined with the acidity and spice of the chilli vinegar, completely lifted the dish to a whole other level.

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Pan Roasted Flathead, Clams, Spinach, Seaweed Butter, $36

In order to sample a dish from every section of their menu, we ordered the Pan Roasted flathead, with clams, Spinach and Seaweed Butter, $36. While there was nothing to fault – the fish wasn’t overcooked, and the clams were fresh and juicy – the dish was a touch lacklustre for me, especially when compared to the other items that they had on offer. I love the umami flavour of seaweed, but the butter component seemed to have provided no richness to the dish, so everything fell just on the bland side of things. I think I would have much rather ordered a few more small plates.

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Buttermilk Sorbet, Yuzu Curd, Tapioca, Soft Meringue, $13

Sometimes, having a good dessert can be vital to ensuring that all the hard work a restaurant has put in to making a good impression, isn’t ruined in the last run. And this Buttermilk Sorbet, Yuzu Curd, Tapioca and Soft Meringue, $13, really hit it out of the park for me. There seemed to be varying degrees of tanginess – from the sharp freeze-dried raspberries to the soft tartness of the buttermilk sorbet – juxtaposed with comforting textures – silky yuzu curd and chewy tapioca pearls – to create a fantastic note to end the meal with. Light and somewhat palette-cleansing, this dessert convinced my already-full stomach that maybe we could do with more food.

And we can always do with more food.

On other notes, the service was attentive and the decor was trendy, but nothing spectacular to remark about. I really liked how we had our plates changed between the waves of food that were brought out, and how the waitress provided helpful bits of information about the food when we were ordering. That being said, we went on a weekday lunch where it seemed like it was just us and three other groups, so I can’t accurately comment on what the service would be like during a rush.

Go to Golden Fields if you feel like grazing – it’s small tasty bites aren’t built for people looking for serious comfort food – it would be great for Friday gatherings after work.

We ate at:
Golden Fields
03 9525 4488
2/157 Fitzroy Street
St Kilda, VIC

Golden Fields on Urbanspoon

What I ate: Cheat’s Chilli Crab Pasta

what i ate 4 Comments
A cheat's way to enjoy Singapore Chilli Crab without all of the work!

Whenever I mention that I’m from Singapore, the first thing I get asked is, “Do you make Singapore Chilli Crab?” Well, the answer is that I don’t yet, but in the meantime, I totally have a cheat’s method of enjoying all the shiok-ness of Singapore chilli crab without all of that work!

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Alan Wong’s, Hawaii

Hawaii Review Travel 2 Comments

If you’re into your fine dining, then Alan Wong’s would be a must-go stop when you visit Hawaii. Alan Wong is one of the top chefs synonymous with Hawaii fine dining, and his clever use of unique local ingredients with international knowledge and techniques really impressed me when I visited his other restaurant – the Pineapple Room.

So with the amazing experience from the Pineapple Room still flowing through my veins, I arrived at Alan Wong’s with anticipation bubbling in my belly.

When I head to a restaurant like this, I always try and go for the fanciest tasting menu they have to offer, because I figure that the food on there would be thoroughly representative of the dining establishment. The Chef’s Tasting Menu – featuring eight courses – really caught my eye, but I was informed that they required the whole table to order the menu, as the number of courses would leave some at the table waiting for me to finish eating while they had no food, which would not contribute to the dining experience. Fair enough.

So the next best thing that I could order was the six course “Tasting of the Classics” ($85 per person, $125 with wine)

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First and second courses: “Soup and Sandwich” – Chilled Hamakua Springs Tomato Soup with a Grilled Mozzarella Cheese, Foie Gras and Kalua Pig Sandwich, and Chopped Ahi Sashimi and Avocado Salsa Stack – Stacked on Crispy Won Ton, Spicy Aioli and Wasabi Soy

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Third course: Butter Poached Kona Cold Lobster – Keahole Abalone, Hamakua Heritage Abalone and Eryngii Mushrooms, Green Onion Oil

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Fourth course: Ginger Crusted Onaga, Long-tail Red Snapper – Miso Sesame Vinaigrette, Mushrooms and Corn

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Fifth course: Twice Cooked Short Rib, Soy Braised and Grilled “Kalbi” – Gingered Shrimp, KoChoo Jang Sauce

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Sixth course: “The Coconut” – Haupia Sorbet in a Chocolate Shell, Tropical Fruits and Lilikoi Sauce

The food was of a high quality, and utilising fresh, flavourful ingredients. Standout dishes for me were the Kona lobster (it’s hard to go wrong with fresh lobster as long as you don’t overcook it), the Twice Cooked Short Ribs (surf and turf! And short ribs always carry lots of hearty beefy flavour), and “The Coconut” showed an immense amount of creativity and technique. A balloon was used to create a chocolate shell, and rolled in desiccated toasted coconut while it’s wet. Then when it’s set, the balloon is popped, and it’s filled with haupia (coconut) sorbet, and an indent is made with a small bowl or ladle. Once that’s set, the edges are hand-carved with a knife, to create the cut-open-coconut look. Incredibly impressive.

One of the courses impressed me a little less, like the snapper course. I’m not the biggest fan of snapper to begin with – it’s a fish that dries out wayy too easily, and has a tendency to be ‘squeaky’ when it’s overcooked. The fish here wasn’t squeaky, but it definitely left me reaching for the water after a couple of bites. I would much prefer they included the butter cod that was also on their menu, but I understand that it’s not within their theme of the ‘classics’.

In all, I much enjoyed my experience at the Pineapple Room better. At Alan Wong’s we were seated at an incredibly noisy area where the waiter had to constantly yell at us in order for us to hear him. He was also a little abrupt with one of us. Another waiter who brought us our food rattled through the description as though he couldn’t wait to leave, and didn’t bother waiting to see if we had any questions about what we ate. Then finally, when they decided to do damage control with my offended friend and asked her how her meal went, they asked her about a meal she didn’t have, which really made things worse.

Not the best experience although the food was decent enough. Maybe next time.

We ate at:
Alan Wong’s
+1 (808) 949-2526
1857 S King St
Honolulu, HI 96826

Alan Wong's on Urbanspoon


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Real A Gastropub, Hawaii

Melbourne Review Travel 1 Comment

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Gastropubs are not entirely a new beast of eatery, but it definitely ticks all the boxes for being trendy. It’s usually got creative, pub-styled food, and a large selection of gourmet and/or flavoured beers to go with this interesting grub. One such place that was recommended to me by my new found friends during my stay was the Real A Gastropub in Honolulu.

Their food menu consists of nearly 30 interesting dishes – some beer inspired – ranging in price from $3-$12. Three of us girls ordered 7 dishes, but that was mostly because we had piggy eyes – there was wayy too much food to finish and we had to take some of it home.

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Fire pickles, $3

These babies are HOT HOT HOT!!! When we first ordered them, the waitress made very sure that we didn’t mistakenly think that we were ordering fried pickles, which would have been a complete disaster. But no, I saw the words ‘ghost chilli’ and I was sold. Ghost chillies, also known as Bhut Jolokia, rate at about 1,000,000 on the Scoville scale and are fiery to say the least. Slices of cucumber are pickled with these peppers, which are sliced open to let the capsaicin mingle with the rest of the ingredients. The result is a pickle which I couldn’t eat more than a piece at a time, all the while enjoying the intense prolonging burn in my mouth. This is not for the faint hearted, and I chickened out from eating the actual ghost chillies included in the pickle, as much as I wanted to try.

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Beer Braised Brisket Poutine, $8

Have I mentioned how cheap I think all these dishes are. At $8, we got a whopping serving of fries, meat, gravy and cheese, topped with a sunny side up egg. While I love a good poutine, this particular dish didn’t quite cut it for me, and was a touch on the dull side.

Or maybe my tastebuds were just numb from the Fire Pickles.

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Garlic Candied Bacon, $4

Bacon? Yes. Garlic? Double yes. Candied? GIVE IT TO ME NOWWWWWW. Just looking at the it I knew that the road to hell and heart disease had to be most definitely paved with candied bacon. This was sticky and salty all at once, and I especially appreciated how the waitress noticed that the bacon was darker than usual, and got the kitchen to prepare another serving for the table. This is everything that it promised to be – addictive and rich at the same time, and I had to take some home for breakfast the next morning.

FYI, it was just as delicious cold and out of the fridge as it was fresh from the kitchen.

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Pipikaula Poke, $7

Pipikaula is, to my understanding, a sort of moist Hawaiin beef jerky. Lightly spiced, it’s mostly served as one of the sides to a main meal. Poke is a kind salad, usually made with raw fish, and seasoned. So what happens when you put the two together? A refreshing, funky, tangy mix that is perfect for a warm balmy night in Hawaii. One of my favourites, this one is also fantastic out of the fridge the next morning.

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Chicken and Waffles, $7

A Southern classic, chicken and waffles usually consist of deep fried crispy chicken and warm fluffy-on-the-inside waffles, both drenched in a hearty serving of maple syrup. An epitome of the sweet salty tightrope that the South tread so well. This particular version unfortunately fell a little flat for me, especially when faced with all the other delicious food that this place had to offer.

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Duck Confit ‘Corn Dog’, $7

I had no idea what to expect when I ordered this. Corn dog, one of the iconic foods of fairs and carnivals, usually consists of an ingredient, like a hot dog frankfurt, coated in a cornmeal batter and deep fried. On a stick. So I imagined that maybe they would just take a whole confit of duck leg and just coat it in batter and deep fry it.

Wrong.

The result was wayy more mind boggling than that. One bite into these delicious mounds on sticks revealed tender shreds of moist duck, and to be honest I’ve got no idea how they shaped them onto the sticks and battered them, because this literally fell apart in my mouth. And that Guinness mustard on the side? Genius. A must order dish.

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Buffalo Fried Devilled Eggs, $7

These little bites were a great take on buffalo wings. Little crumbed devilled eggs were fragrant with tangy buffalo-wing aromas, and were topped with blue cheese ranch dressing and bits of celery to give you the essence of buffalo wings in a bite. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Besides all the food, there were also plenty of different beers to try and to choose from. Unfortunately, I’m not a drinking sort of girl, but I highly recommend the Real A Gastropub from a food perspective. Especially fun with friends, try to go after 11pm to take advantage of their late-night menu, which we ordered from.

We ate at:
Real A Gastropub
+1 (808) 596-2526
1020 Auahi Street, Building 1
Honolulu, HI 96814

REAL a gastropub on Urbanspoon


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