Given my obsession with North Eastern Chinese BBQ, it was inevitable that we would find ourselves in Runcorn, checking out Mr Peng, one of the most popular Chinese BBQ places in Brisbane. Last time we walked past, I saw a bunch of Chinese uncles squatting outside the restaurant smoking cigarettes and I knew it would be authentic.
We made a reservation for date night but quite a few friends joined us for the meal and it became quite a party.
We ordered online via the QR codes and went all out, ordering a bit too much.
After our beer came, the crushed cucumbers showed up. These were fairly standard, refreshing and crisp. Portions were generous and there was a large amount of fragrant sesame oil.
As with all Chinese BBQ places, the skewers were grilled in the kitchen and the food was placed on a central serving plate. First to arrive were logically items that were not raw and therefore quick to cook so long as it was heated up and so the grilled dried tofu showed up first. These were very tasty and offered a good amount of surface area for the cumin and chilli seasoning.
Next were the fish cakes. I'm almost certain that they were sourced from the same asian grocery store as the pack in my own fridge. Either way they were chewy and tender, coated in the same cumin and chilli seasoning.
Quite a few came after that, including scallops, chicken wings, and beef tongue. Of these, the stand out for me was of course the beef tongue with its lightly chewy texture. Seasonings were the same as above.
Dr L is a big fan of enoki mushrooms. We ordered it in two variants, in a foil tray and also grilled. The grilled one was seasoned with the same bbq flavours but the foil tray offered a super strong garlic hit as well as some tender vermicelli.
Eggplant came with a similar flavour profile to the foil enoki, with an abundance of garlic and vermicelli inside of the tender eggplant.
A massive hit of protein arrived when our pork belly, lamb and beef arrived all at once. The lamb was more tender and fatty than the beef. The pork was also fatty and that rendered well to result in a nice crisp. These were well done but by that point I had started to get a little bored of the repetitive nature of the seasoning.
By the time we were finishing up with some squid tentacles, I was fairly bored of the same flavours again and again and welcomed the end of our meal. The squid itself was done well with a tender texture. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it came earlier on in the meal, but at that point I was fairly tired of it and would really have enjoyed a level of variety.
Overall I wouldn't say I had a bad time at Mr Peng's, each skewer was generally well grilled and tasty, its just that the lack of variety in tastes made the meal fairly tedious by the end. I would still come back but would prefer it as a snack more than a main meal.
Price Range: $50 - $70pp
Taste: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment