Kingsfood - Sunnybank

Being a regular at Market Square, friends have often found it unusual that I dont frequent Kingsfood very often. Having said that, I did go quite recently.

Some of the seating was outside, but as usual we opted to sit indoors. 

The menu was quite extensive, and contained a large selection of rice, noodles and other snacks and drinks.

Cutlery was brought to our table.

The one thing I really like about Taiwanese places is they have unlimited complementary soup. It goes without saying I had quite a few bowls.

Without much delay, or fried tofu came. We were very pleased at the generous portion. Whilst the tofu was nice and crispy, I would have liked the sauce to be put on the side rather than poured on top to ensure that the tofu stays crispy.

My companion ordered the Braised Beef with rice.  Again I was very impressed with the quantity of beef provided. It was cooked quite tender and the sauce was really tasty.

This is the signature fried rice. My companion could barely finish half of the dish, and had to have the remainder for takeaway. The rice was nicely fried and the grains didn't lump together, which was commendable. The rice to topping ratio was also rather generous. 

My other companion ordered the wanton noodle soup, which we were surprised to find it had a nice side addition of pork bits on the side, it really added to the dish. She said the portion of noodles was very generous, but she said that the meat inside the dumplings weren't well minced though.

I had the fried pork chop with noodles and soup. As my companion mentioned, the portion of noodles given was very generous and I found the texture to be very warm and well done but not overly soft. The pork mince was a bit oily, but I still found it acceptable. The pork was nice and crispy, but also not too oily. I also liked how it didnt have the strip of fat on the side.

Overall, I found it to be a very solid meal, and I can appreciate how Kingsfood has managed to survive so many years in the competitive food scene of Sunnybank. I would definitely go back.

Price Range: $10 - $15 per 

Taste: 8/10

Value: 8/10

Service: 6/10

Environment: 6/10

Ph By Pho Hung - Garden City

Without a doubt since the refurbishment of Garden City, one of the places I've always wanted to to was Ph by Pho Hung, but every time I go there, I either end up at Motto Motto, or 8 Street. But after my confidante had mentioned how good it was there, I decided that it was time to try it out myself.

There was a little bit of confusion at the beginning because we didnt know whether to order and pay at the counter first or last. Turned out it was pay last. Staff were quite busy that day and it took a while before we were given a table.

Cutlery was provided on the table.

The menu was split into drinks and food menu.

We shared the pork and prawn rice paper roll, I found the fillings to be very ample, and refreshing. The pork was tender and the prawns were fresh. My companion enjoyed it immensely.

Shortly after, our sprouts arrived for our Pho. I note they were also rather fresh and didnt have as many dead ends as other places.

My companion ordered the Special Beef Pho.

I ordered the Rare Beef Pho. I found it really quite delicious. The soup was light, but strongly flavoured, it was definitely far better than the offering at fat noodle, and probably on par with rice paper at runcorn, but not as good as trang's. I could definitely appreciate the herbs and spices in the soup. I found the noodles to have a really good texture, being really smooth and nicely cooked. I found the beef to be quite tender too, although I would have preferred it to be a bit more on the rare side.

Price Range: $10 - $20 per person

Taste: 7.5/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 8/10

Coffee Square - Sunnybank

One of the earliest Hong Kong Style Cha Chaan Teng to open in Brisbane, I have spent countless afternoons after school munching away at Coffee Square. I find it to be quite an iconic and irreplaceable part of Market Square.

It has all the hallmarks of a traditional HK style Cha Chaan Teng, there are signs for what the set meals are displayed on signs. Other than the set lunch and set dinner, I note they've also recently implemented an all day special, which offers a slight variation on the set lunch/dinner in offering a large range of entrees instead of the usual soup.

Since the recent renovation, they've put three tv screens in the store, which has often been a distraction for me during meals. My companions have often mentioned that I tend to ignore them in favour of the tv when I eat there, which is an unfortunate habit.

Cutlery and tissues are provided on the table. There is also complimentary water or Chinese tea available from the counter.

We shared quite a few dishes that day. First to arrive was the soups for both set lunches. Set A which is usually a more Chinese themed meal, comes with traditional Chinese soup, the soup of the day was Lotus Root and Carrot. It was light and flavourful, and really gets the appetite going. Set B comes with what is termed "Russian Soup", which is a Chinese take on Borscht. It has a tomato paste base, with significant amounts of cabbage, carrots and black pepper in it. I really like how it has quite a zing to it and is quite intensely flavoured. 

Accompanying the new daily meal was the dish of entrees. I found it an exceptionally good deal, considering it came with salad, egg, hash brown and toast. The hash brown was really crispy, and the garlic toast was cooked to near perfection by my standards. The toast was crispy on the outside, but warm and fluffy on the inside. The egg was also nice and crispy on the bottom, and the salad added a nice light touch to the plate. Needless to say I am very impressed by this addition to the menu.

 

In terms of drinks, they offer the usual plethora of Hong Kong Style drinks, such as lemon coke (one of my personal favourites), red bean ice, and Hong Kong style milk tea. In my opinion, Coffee Square and Chakee probably do the most convincing traditional milk tea in Brisbane. Its definitely got the strength, and they correctly know to use evaporated milk instead of regular milk. 

Set A of the day consisted of chicken and veges with fried noodles. My companion said that the noodles were fried nice and crispy, the sauce was very agreeable. The chicken was done very nicely and the vegetables were fresh. His only complaint was that the noodles could have been more springy.

The daily special of the day was Singapore Noodles. It was done really quite well, having all the required essentials, prawn, bbq pork, egg, and most importantly curry powder. My companion commented that it needed a bit more flavour though.

The one thing that I would say that Coffee Square is absolutely the best at, is their Congee. I am of the opinion it has the best texture of any congee that I've had in Brisbane. What sets it apart from the rest of the other options in Brisbane is that its really well cooked to the point where the rice is really well cooked. My preferred version is the century egg and pork congee, but today we had the beef and egg congee, which added more of a yellow tinge to the usually white porridge. I really enjoyed it.

That day I had Set Lunch B, which consisted of a deep fried chicken wing, two slices of ham, a fried egg and veges served with spaghetti and black pepper sauce. I found it to be a nice combination of numerous comfort foods, which made the dish very comforting indeed. 

Another dish which I got to try was the Wanton Noodle Soup. I can say without a doubt, that this is probably the closest one can get to a proper Hong Kong Wanton Noodle Soup. The noodles were just the right texture, but could be a bit more springy, the dumplings had the proper thin egg-y skin with ample portions of prawn inside. The broth was also very light and appetizing. 

Price Range: $10-$15

Taste: 8.5/10

Value: 8.5/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 8/10 

Warawara Izakaya - Brisbane CBD

On my search for new restaurants to try at, a friend suggested that we try out Warawara Izakaya, which is upstairs on Elizabeth Street, near Maru and Sushi Edo. We headed upstairs to a rather large eating area. I would have preferred to sit inside the carrels with the cushy chairs, but we were given a table near at the centre of the restaurant.

The menu is quite extensive, and I liked how there was an illustration for every dish. Despite the restaurant claiming to be a Japanese and Korean restaurant, I was quite convinced that most of the dishes were more skewed to a Korean palate than a Japanese palate.

Cutlery is provided on the table.

Water is provided on request, but I found the cup design to be quite shocking. Looking from afar, I almost thought that it was the cup edge having grown mould. Upon closer inspection we then realised that it was the design of the cup.

Our banchan arrived shortly. There were only two options at Warawara, being the usual Kimchi and Konjac. Both were alright, the kimchi was very spicy and the konjac very refreshing, but I really missed the usual creamy pasta salad. 

My two companions got the pork katsu rice and chicken katsu rice respectively. They both agreed that the serving size was generous, although the meat was a bit overly fried. The one thing we all agreed on though was that we disliked the pink salad dressing quite a bit.

I ordered the Kimchi Fried Rice as per usual. I found the kimchi to be lighter on flavour, but stronger in spice than Madtngsan. Again, I really didnt like the pink salad dressing, it smelt like artificial fruit. I also found it very surprising that they had rather large pieces of quite fatty pork in it. Overall, I'd definitely say that the kimchi fried rice at madtongsan is far more agreeable with me than the one at Warawara.

Additionally, we tried what I think was called the Spider Roll. It had deep fried soft shell crab, seafood stick as well as cucumber, as well as quite a lot of seasoning on top. I found the roll itself to be very strong on the added flavours, which completely overwhelmed any opportunity for me to taste the crab and cucumber. I couldnt say it was unenjoyable, but I would really have preferred to be able to appreciate the lighter flavours to the dish.

Price Range: $10 - $20 per person

Taste: 5/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Environment: 7/10