The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
Renegade Burgers is one of many burger trucks on my way home from work, visited by my partner and I a couple of times after late nights and late ward rounds.
Strengths first. The Potato & Gravy Chips ($8) are kind of monstrous. Who would’ve thought that potato on potato would be such a game changer? The mash was creamy, the fries were crispy, and the gravy was just gravy. After having this once, my girlfriend did not allow us to come back without ordering it again.
The better of the burgers that I had was The OG ($13), which I got made into a double (no memory as to how much extra this was) because apparently I want Terumo to make money off my stent in the future. It’s pretty hard to mess up a traditional burger of pickles, American cheese, beef, mustard and ketchup, and this was a solid showing but also did not allow Renegades to differentiate themselves.
I have no particular memory of The Drip ($14), which in all honesty must be a good thing, given what I do remember about the next burger.
The Chilli Chicken Smash ($14) was weak in many ways, most problematically of all in terms of its structural integrity. Beef smash burgers tend to work as a layer of caramelisation and searing holds the overall patty together, however attempting this with a chicken burger did not achieve the desired effect of a cohesive patty. This chicken patty absolutely fell apart, and this, together with the copious saucing, made for a disappointing burger, in my opinion. This would’ve been better as a normal chicken burger.
ATOM Espresso is one of our local cafes that we pass by regularly on our grocery run but have never had food from until now. A combination of high promises (5.0 average rating on Google Maps with 332 reviews) and a lack of easily accessible alternatives in my immediate post-cholecystectomy state led us to having a sliced pork banh mi ($8), lauded online as one of the best, ever.
Though I have explored Hot Bread shops and Vietnamese restaurants far and wide, this was my first time having banh mi from what was primarily a coffee shop. Despite them NOT being a bakery, the bread was surprisingly warm, fresh and crusty, likely owing to some toaster oven magic out back. It had a great crumbly texture that was easy to eat and did not cut the mouth.
The fillings of the roll were however less than standard, with a lack of Vietnamese mayo, the use of margarine , an unfortunately small volume of pate (my UGI surgeon did recommend a low fat diet, but there’s no way the guy making the banh mi would’ve known this), and perhaps most confusingly the use of tomato. I actually had to Google whether or not tomato was a standard banh mi component as I was eating this, as it was so strange that I just wasn’t sure anymore. The fillings honestly wasn’t bad, with the use of extra salad and less fatty spread probably making it a bit fresher than your average roll, but just not what I wanted, nor what I expected.
The combination of ingredient deviations from what I’ve come to expect from a banh mi (and I suspect that once this is published one of my Vietnamese friends will read this and tell me that I’m completely wrong, and these are all perfectly acceptable substitutions and additions to make) mean that I probably wouldn’t come back.
Dulwich Hill Pork Roll is not far away, and is pretty goodl
ATOM Espresso Clemton Park Shopping Village, 60 Charlotte St, Clemton Park NSW 2206
As unfair as it is to eat a single item and use that one experience to formulate your entire opinion about a restaurant, I must say that BBQ Prince’s half soy chicken ($11.60) did not scratch the itch that I had. I’ve had a lot of soy chicken in my time, but unfortunately this particular soy chicken was lacking in both flavour and texture, with a slightly tougher meat than usual, and with too mild a taste, even for pieces basted in sauce. At least the ginger scallion sauce was good.
I’ll update this post for roast pork if I ever go back.
I almost didn’t go to Hong Kong Street Food after watching a negative review video from some online influencer. The Tiktok/Instagram people are notorious for singing the praises of literally any place in the hopes of getting a free meal, so I had erroneously assumed that any kind negative review would mean that the place would be truly very bad. Of course I didn’t take into account what kind of a review a place would garner if they refused to pay up.
I am indebted to my partner’s mother for making us give this Rhodes Central (to contrast to the similarly named restaurant around the corner) cha chaan teng a shot.
This is a milk tea ($4.50), strained probably over multiple runs through a silk stocking and mixed with evaporated milk from the Dutch. Ah, colonisation. Had by my partner’s mum and hence not me. Part of a set with food, so a bit cheaper than the listed price, but about $2-3 more than just the food dish by itself. Poured out onto the saucer, quickly replaced with an apology. Apparently it was not bad, but not memorable.
This ice bear lemon tea commands a $2 premium on top of the set meal, or $6.50 if purchased separately. It was fine. It was more than I would want to pay for it individually, but was more palatable as part of the meal deal. The novelty of a melting bear didn’t do anything in particular for me.
Alright here we go. The meat of the review. The stewed beef brisket with radish ($9.80) is a side dish that comes as a topping on some of the cart noodles, but not the right ones. They were pretty good, with a mixture of fatty and tendinous pieces as well as lean pieces. A good variety that allowed each diner to have what we wanted. I’m a lean beef brisket fan.
The four treasures Hong Kong cart noodles ($21.90 in a set with a drink and not available separately) was pretty good. It was a choice between this, with its chicken wings, salt and pepper pork chops (the best part), curry fish balls, and beef stomach, or the alternative Supreme Hong Kong cart noodles, with radish, beef brisket, red sausages and luncheon meat. I chose the four treasures, mainly because I was keen on some of that beef stomach, and because we could get the radish and brisket as a side. I’m also not such a fan of luncheon meat. Despite enjoying this dish, it did pale in comparison to the cart noodles at Hong Kong Bing Sutt in Burwood, which were seriously special.
The baked rice with black pepper chicken steak and cod fillets in creamy corn sauce ($21.90 in a set but also not available individually, even though a bunch of other baked rices are) was really good. I think anything with this amount of cream and cheese and meat and sodium and carb is going to taste good, but damn, delicious. Both the chicken and cod were good, and the fact that it was like a half half pizza was great for the decision-impaired. So creamy. So good.
OTHER THOUGHTS The decor, with neon lights and sections representing hawker carts and the HK MTR was a nice touch. I thought it was a bit weird that there were ads posted up for real estate in Hong Kong, but guess it makes sense that if Australian real estate is being advertised in China, that Chinese real estate is being advertised in Australia too. Don’t @ me.
Il Locale’s extremely limited business hours meant that we ate at Berry’s The Garden Berry (apparently their official name) for lunch instead.
This scone ($7) with cream and jam was quite expensive, but actually really very delicious, better, in my opinion, than some cafes that might do scones as a main attraction. The scone was warm and fresh and soft, and the jam was just out of this world. Just take a look at those chunks of berry. The value proposition is better if you order two scones for $10 (with an appropriate increase in the quantity of cream and jam), and it is a regret that I will have to live with because I really wanted another one.
I can’t say that I loved this Chicken Cotoletta ($26), self-described by the restaurant as “a fancy chicken schnitzel”. Though the sourdough breading is clearly and visually greened up by garlic, parmesan and parsley, I couldn’t really taste a huge difference in quality compared to just a normal schnitzel. The meat of the chicken itself was also not exactly top tier in terms of moistness, and I know it’s going to sound like I have a complaint about every element of this dish, but for some reason the chips just didn’t hit right – perhaps undersalted? (Recognising there was salt on the table for us to add ourselves)
Back to a happier state, this trout salad ($25.50) was excellent. My resident at work (JDK – seriously a great guy and a great future doctor for the local area) had recently made me a hot smoked salmon salad, and I wanted to replicate that experience at The Garden Berry. This house smoked Tasmanian ocean trout was equally wonderful, moist and appropriately oily and smoky, with a generous serving to boot. I loved the crispy capers and roasted leak which added textural and taste interest to the underlying greenery. I didn’t love the random tiny potatoes, which I felt didn’t really have any flavour do them, but my partner did and was happy that she got to eat more than her fair share of them. The dill and horseradish dressing was not particularly perceptible, but did add to the flavour of the potatoes. Overall and excellent salad.
COMMENTS
We chose to sit outside (in the garden, in Berry), so I guess I shouldn’t complain at the random spider that we saw climbing up the pole next to us. During our lunch we had no less than four groups of people rotate through the table next to us, including a couple who moved to an indoors table, and another couple who left without ordering. Their server was kind enough to offer them suggestions as to where else to eat in Berry. Super nice of him.
