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Through my usual rummaging on Zomato, I accidentally stumbled upon the wonder of Afganhi food at Kabul House. Once it was on my radar, it was only a matter of time I'd be visiting.

When you walk in.. to be honest it doesn't look that welcoming.. the staff were just busy doing their own thing and there was no super friendly greetings followed by "Please take a seat". To be fair they only just opened. It's when the food comes out.. that's when the fireworks appear.

My wife, lover of anything rice related, went for the Mix Chalaw - rice with three skewers of Lamb, Chicken and Shami with a side of bread, salad and sauce. Shami is essentially mince meat held together with egg and spices.

I just ordered a Shami Kebab which came with two skewers of Shami kebab, bread salad and sauce.


When we got served, we each got our servings of salad, the sauces were to share and only one serving of bread.... I didn't bother correcting them about the bread shortage and just shared some of my wife's rice to get full.

The meats that came with the rice were surprisingly juicy and tender. I love the fact the meats were so simple yet so fantastic. Just doing the basics well is always ore than enough. When you cut into the Shami.. the juices and oils slowly drizzle out... it was a delight with every bite.  



The sauces on offer was a chilli sauce (very similar to tabasco but with a bit more kick) and a yoghurt. The sauces complimented incredibly well with the meats, rice and bread... so much so we literally drenched every bite with it.The chilli really wakens up the taste buds and paired with the yoghurt to ease the fire.


The salad was just average... but it had its purpose as being the base element to balance the intensity with a neutral essence of freshness to the meal.


We loved the bread as well... not the usual flat bread you might receive but a light and fluffy center with crispy outer edges... we do kind of regret not getting a second piece to enjoy.



To finish off we shared a serving of Baklava... which was drenched in rose syrup... just the way i like it. I'll make sure I order my own next time as sharing it wasn't enough to satisfy my sugar cravings.

I definitely recommend their tea to wash down the meal with. It just completed it with perfection. Plus they never brought us our free table water.


Sure the service ain't as sharp as it should be... but as long as my food comes out like this every time... I'm definitely coming back again and again.

Click to add a blog post for Kabul House on Zomato

Coles Peanut Butter Icecream

For a while I've been eyeing this in the Coles freezer section. Finally it made the cut and was added the shopping trolley. 
There's not much to describe about this but the fact it's magnificent. Like a de-constructed Snickers bar. As a fully confessed peanut butter lover I hands down place this as one of the best tubbed icecreams I've ever tried. 
The only annoying thing is that this is probably considered premium to Coles to they charge a slightly higher price tag for them but if they have any chance of palming off all their stock.. they must keep having sales on it. Then you'll find me stocking up.....

Waffle Fries @ Hungry Jacks

I'm always a sucker for a good gimmick and Hungry Jack's marketing team has spammed my favourite shows with enough commercial airtime for me to decide to invest $2.50 on their "new" product.
 
It's basically a waffle shaped potato chip. It seemed a bit chewy on first bite, like my serving has been sitting out for a while. 

You can really taste the oil and salt that naturally go on their chips, but because it's a bigger surface it might have increased its chances of latching on. I wonder how much better it would have tasted paired up with some sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.

Upon close examination, it really resembled multiple fries in a cross hatch pattern. 

As usual... whether it be onion rings or Waffle Fries.. they always seem to get the few stray french fries in there....
 

Burgerzilla @ Loaf & Devotion

So after a long walk into the city to run an errand, I made sure to take a slight detour and stop off at one of these places I researched. A place that self proclaims to have the best pulled pork in Sydney.

It was 12:30pm and the place had only a few customers eating inside... probably due to the lack of air-con. They might have opted to purchase their meal and sit at the park across the road. A long line eventually built up for their coffee but I made a beeline to the burger.
 
Their menu was extensive, with so many choices.... I ended up just asking what the waitress recommended and to no surprise she recommends me the most expensive pulled pork burger on the menu. Sure give me the Burgerzilla. I credit carded her $11.50.

The burgerzilla consisted of pulled pork, beef, bacon, swiss, cheddar, onions and greens. Yes three different types of meat slapped onto one burger. How excitement!

When the plate hit the table I literally had an O-M-G moment as the meat looked like it was trying to escape from my burger. I like sloppy burgers but this is beyond ridiculous. It was no longer a burger you can pick up and eat, but instead I used the knife and fork to devour this beast. Which by the way I hate to do... Burgers are most enjoyed in your hands.

The first bite reminded me of a meatlovers pizza almost to the tee. From the meatiness to the hint of a sweet smoky BBQ sauce.

I tried to break it off into separate parts... the beef was bland on its own.. and dry. The pulled pork had all the flavour. The soft shredded meat was soaked in sauce and tasted great. Bacon wasn't particularly crunchy but just another layer of meat to get through.

I rarely say this but I started to struggle halfway through. It was way too meaty and I never thought I'd say that too. It felt like it needed more sauce than just the flavoured pulled pork.... especially when your bite didn't contain any... the other meats, bread and greens was just too hard to get through without constantly sculling down a glass of water.
Overall I love the look of the burger. I love its sloppiness, it's in-your-face wow factor, the flavour of the pulled pork. My dislikes is that I wish they made it smaller just so that  I could pick it up and eat it, a better balance of sauce to meat ratio, and charge me less for all the extra meat I didn't need.  

Mars Icecream

I got a confession to make: I'm addicted to chocolate bars that have been converted to ice cream form. I'm usually not a fan of Mars. Like a Snickers without the nuts, umm where's the appeal in that?
As usual it's all individually packed for your eating convenience.
Wow! Simply amazing again. Another home run. I prefer to eat them slightly melted to it's not too solid or too cold and it just melted away in my mouth. I'm not fan of Mars but I'm a Mars ice cream lover!

Royce Nama Chocolate Champagne Pierre Mignon

So my recent visit to Singapore led to Royce. A chocolate that was famous enough to come up in my searches as things to buy or try when I'm there.
The picture above is of a cooler bag that was provided with my chocolate because it must be stored below 10 degrees. We had to buy this last minute before we left because the cooler would only survive the trip from hotel to the airport.. especially in the Singaporean weather.
Inside the cooler bag is a green chocolate box tagged proudly with Royce Chocolate.
Inside that is another packaging layer that wrapped the tray of chocolates. There was also a guide that showed how to eat it and other products in their range. Also provided was this spoon/cutter that allowed for easy access to the chocolate.

The chocolate has a shelf life of one month which meant it needed to be devoured quickly... which wasn't really an issue as I decided to share it with friends who were more than happy to help. 

The chocolate was advertised to me as one of their most popular. I wasn't too sure as I'm not a liquor chocolate fanatic but decided to take his word for it. The texture of chocolate was different. A bit like a soft fudge... though very smooth and silky. The liquor taste was very noticeable and made it slightly bitter. Not the nice bitter I normally enjoy from dark chocolate.
I think at the end of the day I was expecting something amazing.. maybe it was the hype of the product before I got there... or the fact it was their best seller.. or even the fact I had to get a cooler bag to carry it.... it was just underwhelming for that effort.

Chicken Burger @ Frango's

Funny enough we've had three different people mention to us about three different stores and claiming their chicken burger is to die for. Ironically all three places were of the same company: Frango's. 

As we stand in line waiting for a table on a Thursday night, the anticipation grew stronger. Look around the neighbourhood in Petersham.. it's pretty much Portugal. Every 2nd restaurant is selling chicken and only this one is booming with a line out the door. 

We finally got a seat after 15 minutes.. with a near argument with the girls behind us trying to push in and just be seated without a booking. They eventually left half annoyed but who cares, good riddance to the impatient.

Yet again more waiting after you were seated for a menu. The problem isn't that the staff is rude.. it's that they are severely under staffed. I only saw 2 people serving tables and with that many customers they need to invest in some more hands. 
The home made sliced potatoes looked fantastic on the table next to us so we ordered that. Only bits of it was crunchy and it basically was a salted, thinly sliced potato. Suppose the name didn't lie... just thought it'd be a bit more amazing.

Finally my infamous chicken burger arrived. First problem was I ordered a single fillet and got a double. Secondly... Where's my sauce? That in itself was a 15-20 minute. In the meantime we manage to pick away at 30% of the burger. 
The chicken itself was surprisingly not that dry and tasted quite juicy. Bread was ordinary and the lettuce and tomato tasted fresh. The chilli and mayo is the savior of this meal. Once added it was a completely different burger. Unfortunately by then I was so hungry.. I devoured it without taking any photos. But here's a tip, make sure you order the chilli and mayo beforehand to save yourself the problem. 
The burger is pretty darn good. The chilli sauce for me didn't have enough kick and was a bit mild for my liking. Overall a burger I'd definitely recommend if you're in the area.

Mie Goreng Sambal Balado

So first up a big thanks my fiancée's brother for providing me this. I was quite excited to try this as I've always been a Mamee fan. The one and only noodle snack to rely on as a child. 
The issue with Mamee was always the seasoning. It was messy, you couldn't get the mixture right, I didn't crush the noodle properly and it just didn't mix evenly. There were just issues in general with it but it was the best one around.

This tries to replicate Mie Goreng. Honestly the flavour doesn't really resemble it at all but in saying that the flavour is still fantastic. Not just salty but actual flavours of onion, garlic, salt. It did leave an after taste of eating the instant noodles. Unfortunately they only come in a tiny packet. I love how its all evenly premixed, crush and just read to eat. 
Need to go find my local stockist and add them to my snacking pile.

Pringles Extreme Screamin' Dill Pickle

Wow I love pickles... I got a pickle.. I got a pickle hey hey hey hey....(Little Rascals reference for those who aren't familiar). I did really feel like that when I got my hands on one of these.
So I'm the guy at maccas looking down at my cheeseburger wishing they would have added extra pickles to it...not the the ones picking it out and leaving it on the side like it's a disease.

When you open the can, I couldn't help but cough because the pickle smell was intense. It really consumed the air around me with the essence of pickles.

No doubt, it was delicious though with a light sour taste covering a perfectly carved chip as always. It's a very pickle-like resemblance and definitely worth a try.

Upon more research there's a whole range of extreme stronger flavours out there. I feel the need to go on a pic-a-nic refill mission and get my paws on the chilli one...

Dan Hong's Famous Hotdog @ El Loco

I've had this infamous hotdog before but I needed an excuse to go back and what better than the fact I wanted to do a write up. Plus after some reading about Dan Hong, I'm keen on doing a write up about him too.
Dan Hong started his career in his family's Vietnamese chain Thanh Binh in Sydney. I actually went out to try the one in Cabramatta and it's woeful Vietnamese food... the same way I feel about Luke Nguyen's Fat Noodle. Overpriced food that just doesn't taste that great... and in both cases it tasted bland. 

In April 2011, after a ten day research trip around Mexico and the US, Dan opened Merivale’s first Mexican cantina, El Loco at the Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills. El Loco quickly established a reputation for its mouth-watering tacos, fun atmosphere and brilliant cocktails. Since its popularity El loco has opened up another at Slip Inn in the city. 
I recommend trying this at lunch times if possible. You'll save yourself the crowds and long waits. I paid my $10 at the bar and waited patiently for the hotdog. I noticed that on the table it had three bottles of habernero to pair up with my food. I'm definitely loving this place more and more. 
@
The hotdog looks withered when it arrives as if its been sitting out for a few days and my cheese looks all funny. Don't judge a book by its cover. The cheese is actually light as air, so fluffy and just melts as it hits your tongue. It helps break down the crunchy texture of the sausage and the spicy pickled that were sparingly placed in the bun. The bun itself is well just normal. It felt like there was n sauce in the hotdog, but there's a thin layer of mayo, mustard and salsa hidden between the sausage and cheese. Normally I'd prefer to drench my hotdogs with sauce to enhance the taste but this was absolutely perfect the way it was. 
It looks just like a simple hotdog but what an amazing tasting experience behind it.
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