September 2018 - ♡ Kimmie Bites | Food blog, Sydney Australia ♡

Belles Hot Chicken, Barangaroo

Who's in the mood for a chick flick? 🐣 Guess we're staying in tonight! 🐤

My food review for Belle's Hot Chicken is made possible thanks to Uber Eats. I really enjoy using the delivery service because it is so convenient to have a night in without the worry of having to go out and buy food, queuing up for food, or cooking food. Throwing back today to the time the girls and I babysat Dallow's apartment (Dallow is a cat)!

The apartment was located close to Sydney's CBD. This meant we had a tonne of interesting Uber Eats options! Such a perk of living close to the city center. Of course more out to the west where I live, we're really lucky to still have Uber Eats but the options are much more limited by what is available in the surrounding suburbs.

Anyway the huge variety of options can get a bit overwhelming but together we settled on Belle's Hot Chicken. Few of us had tried this and we all heard that Belle's is a very popular choice for spicy fried chicken over at Barangaroo/Tramsheds.

We had been snacking earlier so the huge Baller Bucket special seemed like the perfect thing to order, share and call a night with. Delivery was nice and easy, no delays from the restaurant or driver, and the only thing we had to do was meet the driver downstairs since he did not have access inside the apartments. Very fair and happy with the process!

Baller Bucker $65

Lo and behold, the huge Baller Bucket which includes 16 chicken wings, 4 sides and sauces!

This is the perfect deal if you have a large group to feed/share between and or you are extra extra hungry. If I added up the costs of ordering each of these items individually, it would equal over $70 so this bucket is the way to go.

(4 x wings at $17, sides at $6/7, sauces at $2)

8 x Chicken Wings w/ Southern heat

+ 8 x Chicken Wings w/ Hot heat

The bucket wasn't full all the way but don't be fooled because it was a pretty huge bucket and these chicken wings spanned all the way from tip to drummette! I loved the generous handful of crunchy pickles scattered all the way through which were perfect with the chicken. The chicken itself seemed to had lost a bit of its original crunch during the delivery process but it was still so tasty, juicy and tender nonetheless. My go-to was the southern fried chicken as I am very bad with spicy foods and the girls opted for 'hot' heat on the other 8 wings. However I did end up trying one and it was so so so good!!! I am understanding the hype around this chicken now. It is Nashville style hot chicken so unlike hot and saucy buffalo wings, the heat comes from a dry blend of spices and seasonings coated over the fried chicken. Absolutely loved it. Absolutely reached for the nearest drink.

Sauces pictured above: Belles Ranch Dressing & Peach BBQ Sauce

Sauces not pictured: Mississippi Comeback & Belles Blue Cheese

Such an interesting selection of sauces! My favourites with the chicken would have to be the cooling ranch and Mississippi comeback (a spicy mayo).

Old Bay Fries

Thick crinkle cut fries dusted with a generous hand of Old Bay seasoning. Really tasty but I suspect the fries also got a bit soggy through the delivery process as they had a bit of a flop to them.

Pickled Vegetables

Super crunchy, slightly sweet, very vinegary - I loved these paired with the fried chicken! I also loved that there was baby corns and cauliflower florets in this. Such a strange thing to accompany with pickles but it really worked!!

Roast Yam Salad

Not sure if they offer this anymore/if it was seasonal but it was a side option! I didn't even take much notice of it when eating. The tender yams seem to be seasoned with dill, red onions and capsicum. Sorry I don't have a review for this!

Mac and Cheese

This costed us an extra $1 to add on and even if you are dining in at Belle's, it is also an extra $1 add on to the standard $6 for sides price. Unfortunately this was a let down for me. The cheese sauce was very creamy but I found to be quite bland.

Overall I can see why Belle's Hot Chicken is so hyped up and so loved by so many people! I love that we can get this taste of America through some really amazing Nashville style fried chicken in Sydney. Even with a little bit of sogginess from the Uber Eats delivery, Belle's really came through and the food was still super delicious.

TL:DR;
Price: On the pricey side but the Baller Bucket is a really good deal
Quality: Very good
Service: N/A
Ambience: N/A

Belles Hot Chicken

5/33 Barangaroo Avenue

Barangaroo NSW 2000

Open 7 days a week

Sun-Thurs: 11:30AM - 9:30PM

Fri, Sat: 11:30AM - 10:30PM

3 comments

, by Kim

BBQ

Yakiniku Yokocho, Sydney

In a city full of never-ending choices for where to eat, Yakiniku Yokocho is one of the newer up and comers here to stay. It is located downstairs in the popular Regent Place centre and of course, on a Friday night after work it is no wonder that the waiting list is massive.

On this night I'm here to catch up with a group of six friends and we're advised that the wait would be an hour and half from 6:30pm. The waitress at the front overlooking the list assures me she will definitely have our table ready by 8pm, As we are a larger group, we need to be seated at one of their larger tables in the back. Yakiniku Yokocho doesn't take bookings and while we called around, this wait time seems to the standard in Sydney. I'm so lucky my friends didn't get mad at me for choosing a place like this on a Friday night! 😭

There is a lot to admire and marvel at while you wait. A peer into the entrance reveals a Japanese alley/izakaya themed seating area with various Japanese signs and brands overhead and empty cartons for decoration. Fitting as "Yakiniku Yokocho" literally translates to "grilled meat in an alleyway off the main street". There are plush seats made out of bottle carts and a gas bbq at each table. For the smaller bar seats, there are little rectangular and portable bbq's. Really cute and makes sitting at those seats seem just as fun whether you're alone or in a pair.

Look at the massive groups of people all waiting for their turn to eat!

To the left side of the entrance you can see into the larger communal seating area where the Japanese theme strongly continues with the overhead signage, lanterns, artwork and neon signs. It is really cool and makes us even more keen to get our table.

Wedged in between the entrance and open seating area is two authentic Japanese style vending machines. They have lots of interesting drinks from Japanese brands such as Pokka, Suntory and Sangaria. You can even buy a drink from the machines (they're not just there for show) with the prices being in yen and ¥100 = $1 AUD.

We decide to head over next door to have a few drinks at Assembly Bar due to the guarantee from the waitress that we would definitely have a table ready at 8pm. Sad to say we headed back over at that time and the table was not ready. 10 minutes past and the waitress again assured us it would only be another 5-10 minutes as they were waiting for the customers to pay and then leave the table. It gave us some hope but the truth was it wasn't until around 8:40pm that we finally were seated.

Would any of us do it again? Absolutely not. My advice is come here on a quieter weekday or with a smaller group. Otherwise, it would be worth it to take your group somewhere where you can make a booking or wait for a lot less. 2 hours is pretty much a nightmare. Your friends will get hangry. And then so will you 😭

A problem we noticed on the way out is that the servers here don't interact with groups much. So if a group has finished their meal it is up to them to call staff over for the bill, and then once again to pay. This is good for you when you're dining as you feel more relaxed because there is no pressure or rush. But bad for the people waiting outside, so in the end it is what it is.

A view of the back of the restaurant which you can't see from the outside.

Everyone quickly made their way into their seats and we began our reckless ordering spree. There is a handy tablet on each table for this purpose which is really great because orders are sent instantly to the kitchen and speed up the entire process. As soon as we ordered something it would come to our table in less than 3 minutes. Our meats and sides kept popping up one by one so Katy and I would be retaking our photos/boomerangs every time 😂

There was also a deal where if you buy 4 side dishes, you can get the 5th free. All the side dishes are uniformly priced at $6.95 which is quite pricey in my opinion. Things such as sashimi cost the same as say, tofu or salad. And the portion size varies. Additionally Japanese bbq is unlike Korean bbq so you must make your own CAREFUL decisions on what you would like to buy accompany your grilled meats here.. including salads which we will get to.

I'll go through all our sides first!

Shiodare Cucumber $6.95

These cucumbers were cut, smashed, and tossed in shiodare sauce. The sauce is a tasty combination of salt, soy and garlic flavours. Like a light version of Chinese smashed cucumber salad but more on the soy sauce side. The inside of the cucumber is kept and not cut out so you get both soft and crunchy textures. Yum!

Salmon Sashimi $6.95

You only get 5 small and thin slices of salmon sashimi which feels like a waste of a side dish for this price.

Edamame $6.95

A large serving of warm and slightly salted edamame.

Chicken Karaage $6.95

It was buy 4 sides, get the 5th free and nothing else sounded as tasty and shareable as this dish above. So we decided to get 2 serves. Really delicious chicken karaage. Not too oily, good crunch and very tender and juicy on the inside.

Salad/drinks/other:

Corn Butter $4.90

I love corn. Anne-mary commented on how she remembered that someone was telling her that they r e a l l y loved corn and Pat and I responded at the same time "It's Kim/It's me" HAHAHA 🌽🌽🌽

This is a nice size and good accompaniment! But still.. really pricey.

Assorted Vegetables $9.90

We start to miss and realise all the times we took Korean bbq for granted at this point of ordering as we realise we have to pay nearly $10 for this small serving of veggies. It's stamped on the menu with "MUST TRY" but really, this is an essential if you want to have a more balanced dinner or love your veggies like I do. Everything was clean and well prepared but it was such a tiny portion that I found myself more disappointed than anything.

Rice (Medium size) $3.50

Pretty cool how they had three sizes of rice, so we grabbed a medium rice to share between every two people at our table. It was the perfect size to share between two.

Calpis Soda with Strawberry $6.50

This was Katy's first time trying Calpis so all us girls decided to get the Strawberry flavour! This is just Calpis poured over some thinly sliced strawberries (although not all our cups had this) and strawberry syrup. Nice, cool, sweet and refreshing. And in a really big cup! But to be honest I couldn't taste the strawberry flavour that much.

Anne also tried the Calpis soda with Watermelon and it was very similar, just with slight watermelon flavour and cuts.

View this post on Instagram

Yeah the girls 🍻🎉🍓 || 📷: @_kty ||📍 @yakinikuyokocho

A post shared by Kim Nguyen (@kimmiebites) on Sep 9, 2018 at 3:19am PDT

Now onto the stars of the night, the meats!!! FYI there was a lot of offal options such as tripe, intestines and gizzards which we steered clear of as they were not a popular preference among us. Also the meats are generally priced very affordably under $15 but that is for a small portion. Some have the option to size up and I've noted in brackets where we chose that.

Ox Tongue (Large) $24.90

This comes marinated in a "salted sauce" that is very subtle. I really enjoyed these as when cooked just-to, they were really tasty, melty and tender. Didn't come too frozen which really makes a difference.

L.A. Short Rib $11.90

An example of a small portion correlating to the price, and also another example of you snooze you lose. While I was so busy taking pictures of the dishes that came in a constant stream to the table, everyone enjoyed these ribs and commented on how it was really good. It comes marinated in Yokocho's special soy sauce, same as most meats on the menu!

Beef Flap Meat $14.90

Very high quality and nicely sized cuts of flap meat. When grilled they became tender and had such a great beefy flavour. When you think of what a great piece of steak would taste like, this is it.

Beef Rib Fingers (Large) $24.80

Our favourite of the night, we didn't hesitate to order a second serving of this! The beef had some really nice fatty edges and marbling throughout which turned into a crispy outer char on the grill (in the good way), and juicy and melt in your mouth goodness on the inside!

🔥 Watch out for this HAHAHA 🔥

Changing the rack on the grill is an additional cost of $2. If you are nearing the end of your meal and want to avoid this happening without getting a new rack, then remember to turn the heat down. We all completely forgot it was a gas top and not charcoal so when this happened you can bet some of us freaked out...

In the end I did really enjoy the food and atmosphere of Yakiniku Yokocho. There's no food like bbq that brings people together like this and Japanese bbq always has such simple and high quality meats. We ordered a few extra drinks and the bill came to approximately $33 per person. Which isn't too bad in my opinion. But if we didn't have such a big serve of rice, to be honest some of us would've been less than satisfied because most of these things are a small serve. Some side dishes weren't worth as well. The biggest thing I have against this place is the waiting times but that's because it's so popular on a weekend the only thing you can do is be aware and work your plans around that! 😘

TL;DR:
Price: Middle range prices, although sides are expensive
Quality: Very high quality meat, other sides were good sometimes just standard
Service: Fast service for orders
Ambience: Extremely busy but worth going for the fun atmosphere and Japanese food + vibes

Yakiniku Yokocho

Shop 9.08, Level 9

(Regents Place)

501 George Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Open 7 days a week

Sun-Wednes: 5PM-10PM

Thurs-Sat: 5PM-11PM

1 comments

, by Kim

burgers

Belly Bao, Newtown

"Street food but not as grandma remembers it" 👵🥟

Hey all! In today's post we're going to talk about Belly Bao which I went to recently with some of the girls and we all LOVED it. Huge thank you to Terry for finally taking us here.

Belly Bao is located in the heart of Newtown and features so many innovative dishes all made from bao dough! These dishes include regular bao, dessert bao, "baogers", "bao noodles" and Belly Bao fried chicken.

Just right next door to Blooming Lotus!

It was a very warm and quiet Friday afternoon, perfect for us to find a really nice seat near the back.

I really like the inside of Belly Bao which is so quirky and tropical! It has such a fun, relaxed and comfortable feel that I feel like you could do anything from taking the family out to having date night here. It completely helps that the service is so welcoming and friendly.

We're handed the menu but Terry who has been here multiple times ends up ordering for the lot of us, with the exception of the regular bao.

How great is it that there is a trusty bottle of Sriracha on each table!

Coke $4.50

A glass bottle of Coca Cola with a separate glass full of crushed ice.

We only manage to have a quick chat while waiting for our food before our dishes begin to arrive one by one. Great timing!

Curry Cheese Fries $9

While their regular fries are served with a delicious truffle aioli, these curry cheese fries sounded much too good to pass up! No regrets ordering this as well. The golden shoestring fries are similar to that of Mcdonalds but it's the Japanese curry sauce, melted cheese and finely chopped white onion that completely elevate it all. Yum, yum and yum!

Four BBC (Belly Bao fried Chicken) Wings $14

w/ salted egg $3

These chicken wings were HUGE. And so freaking good. The outside is super crunchy, while the inside is hot, juicy and tender. We opted for the salted duck egg add-on and there was such a generous amount spread on each chicken wing. The egg is very creamy, savoury and rich and together with the fried chicken creates such an umami flavour! The wings can definitely stand alone without the add-on, but if you're feeling like a little more indulgence - do it.

Spicy Bao Noodles $10

w/ Pork belly $3

This blows my mind so much! One, because these are thin flat noodles made from the same dough as regular bao!!! And Two, they are so delicious!!! I got a little worried about the spiciness since I'm not great with that kind of stuff. And I admit it was spicy and I did reach for my drink, but it was so good I had to keep having more. The sate chilli and soy sauce is so more-ish. We added extra pork belly but without that, it's also great how the dish is completely vegan. It's a huge serve so really excellent to share.

P.s. I love my friends for looking out for my coriander-hating ass. If you look in the background, Terry picked off all the coriander while telling me she has my back 😍

L to R: Slow braised beef short rib bao $7

Soft shell crab bao $8

2 x Crackling roast pork belly bao $7

Wooooow, BAO DOWN BITCHES. This is where it happens, this is what we thought we were just coming to Belly Bao for! These hand held bao are pretty big. Nearly the size of one of my small hands, and completely generous on the filling.

Fiona and Anne-mary shared three while the bao I opted to try was the Slow Braised Beef Short Rib bao. I would've loved to try the pork belly but I'm always up for trying something different to get more interesting angles. This bao came with additional kimchi, spring onion and sesame mayo. The first thing I noticed was it didn't hold very well at all. From the moment it was set on the table, the middle of the bao where it folds over had already begun to split. This was not made any better by the shredded beef rib meat which was quite saucy/wet therefore making the rest of the bao soggy and fall apart faster. The beef itself was quite dry despite being saucy but I did like the sweet flavours it had. The kimchi and mayo I couldn't really taste. The bao wasn't that soft either compared to others I have had in the past. Overall I wouldn't order this one again. Anne and Fiona really enjoyed their bao though so maybe it's just the beef that doesn't live up to the expectations.

In the end, I really enjoyed dining at Belly Bao. With the exception of the braised beef bao, everything that I had was extremely amazing and I personally felt it was such great value for the price. I also loved the relaxed atmosphere of the place because it made it easy to catch up with my friends and I felt like I could take my boyfriend and family here too if I wanted to.

Hope everyone will try Belly Bao sometime, so worth it! xx

Edit 3/01/2019: I also went to Belly Bao for the annual 2018 Sydney Food Blogger's Christmas Party and tried some more amazing food! Featuring an except from the post to cover more reviews of this place hehe

Baoger $13

This, I truly believe LIVES UP to the HYPE! It is one of the best burgers I have ever had. It has a juicy beef patty, melted cheese, crunchy radish pickles, onion, crispy lettuce and sauce all sandwiched perfectly between soft and fluffy bao buns. Nessy Eater and I could not stop commenting on how good this was while we were scoffing it down!

L: Yuzu Splash (Mocktail) $9

R: Jungle Juice (Mocktail) $9

I had the Yuzu Splash and it was nice and refreshing but it didn't have the strong signature taste of yuzu which was disappointing to me! It could also be a bit sweeter. Vanessa had the Jungle Juice and it was reaaallly good. It had such a good pandan flavour and from memory it also had chewy green jelly at the bottom.

Later on in the evening, Priscilla/foodpornnation also ordered the third mocktail Rose Lychee Tea with an extra splash of vodka. Not only was it so pretty but it tasted amazing. Highly recommend those!

The Gaytime Bao $9

Deep fried bao with a whole golden gaytime, bananas and caramel sauce drizzled all over. Really delicious and I would 10/10 eat again... but it was a bit awkward having to eat this super carefully with a knife and fork because of the deep fried bao

A dish that they bought out for us to try was these Mango and coconut sticky rice nigiri shaped canapes! So good, love how creative this is!

I think this was also a new dish they were experimenting with. Duck pancakes. The pancake was a bit thicker than I preferred but every thing was still really good!

TL;DR:
Price: Affordable
Quality: Really great
Service: Friendly
Ambience: Quirky, tropical and relaxed

Belly Bao

184 King Street

Newtown NSW 2042

Open Tuesday - Sunday

Tues-Thurs: 5PM-10PM

Fri: 11:30AM-3PM, 5PM-11PM

Sat: 11:30AM-11PM

Sun: 11:30AM-9:30PM

2 comments

, by Kim

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