Hungry Jacks, Chicken Mini

Hungry Jacks have launched a new addition to their mini burger range - the chicken mini. You might remember that I was reasonably impressed with the rodeo mini - the onion rings retained their crunch and the smokey BBQ sauce was applied with a deft hand. I wish I could say something equally nice about the chicken mini - but I can't...

Eating a chicken mini is like eating a savoury pillow - identically cloying the whole way through. The formed chicken patty had exactly the same texture as the bun. I presume the lettuce and breading on the chicken patty was supposed to add some crunch - it unfortunately didn't. And the rich kewpie-style mayo, though pretty decent on its own, simply added to the underwhelming monotony of the burger.



I swapped out my fries for onion rings. Although the Hungry Jacks website describes them as "delicious onion rings in breadcrumbs" I'm still to be convinced that they contain any actual onion. Though crumb was a bit sad the rings were crunchy and onion-y but there was this weird unidentifiable fake flavour in the background.




My recommendation - skip the chicken mini, order the rodeo mini and stick with the chips.

Michael's Cantina, Myer Centre Food Court

La Cantina Co didn't launch their Mexican pop up last Friday. The word on street is that Truck Norris had a gas problem. But like a shark with blood in the water I still had a taste for Mexican. This is a problem because the Adelaide CBD doesn't really offer anything I'd call Mexican. Plenty of Tex-Mex, but no actual Mexican.

I ended up at Michael's Cantina in the Myer Centre Food Court - a pseudo-Mex joint run by (I think) a Vietnamese family. It sounds incongruous but it kinda makes sense -  both cuisines have lots of fresh crunchy flavours.

The chicken wrap was exactly that - fresh and crunchy but despite the guacamole not really Mexican. It was also big and cheap. All in all, a satisfactory lunch. But hopefully not a patch on what La Cantina Co will be when it launches.



A final word to the wise - avoid the chips. Ours had been sitting under a heat lamp and therefore had gone limp and soggy and tasted like salty cardboard.

KFC, City Cross Arcade

The Dirty Bird has regularly changing menu of limited time only specials - none of which have been particularly good (I'm thinking particularly of that nacho-cheese-corn-chip abomination where the sauce completely overpowered the taste of the rest of the burger and caused the corn chip layer to lose its crunch - not very well thought out. Or anything with that too-sweet fake-smoky sauce. Blurg!). But I keep ordering from the specials menu because I am ever hopeful that one day I'll find the perfect crunchy chicken. What can I say? I'm a chicken optimist.

Sweet sesame crunch chicken is the new menu item at KFC. Understandably, I got my hopes up - IT ACTUALLY HAS 'CRUNCH' IN THE NAME!! SQUEEEEE!!

In fact, sweet sesame crunch chicken delivered on 2 out 3 promises - and one of those was subtle as a bum full of smarties. (Can you guess which promise wasn't delivered....?)



Sesame seeds? Check! Sweet sauce? Check (but more on this later). Crunch? No bingo. You'd think something with crunch in its name would be crunchy. It wasn't. This may well be because it was sitting under lights for too long but HOW HARD IS IT TO DO CRUNCHY CHICKEN, PEOPLE?

Now, let's talk about the sweet sauce. It's billed as being 'Asian style'. I'm not sure what KFC think is 'Asian style' but I expected a hint of chilli or citrus or ginger or something. Couldn't detect any of those flavours - or any flavours at all for that matter. It was just sweet, sweet and sweet. Did I mention it was sweet? To be fair, the sweet sauce did do a good job of cutting through the salty chicken, which is presumably its purpose.

Conveniently, the sweet sesame crunchy chicken combo comes with a piece of original recipe chicken for comparison. Could I detect any particular difference. The sweet sesame crunch batter was certainly more textured - but not necessarily more crunchy. And the sweet sauce did provide a bit of richness that the original recipe didn't have. But that's about it.

Unless KFC can figure out to pump up and retain the crunch in the allegedly crunchy batter it's not something I'd order again because this is not the perfect crunchy chicken.

Fresh Bites, Citi Centre Arcade

Today I picked up my #CookbookThursday twitter prize from Dymocks Adelaide. Thanks guys!



I'm totes going to get my CWA bake on this weekend.

More importantly, I thought I'd check out how Fresh Bites in the Citi Centre Arcade was kicking along. Their karaage chicken roll was almost the roll of my dreams... almost.



The roll of my dreams has the following qualities:
- crunchy yet chewy and moist roll
- lots of crisp, fresh veggies and herbs
- kewpie mayonnaise
- Crispy, crunchy but still juicy chicken.
- I'm talking flavour and texture here people!

What let this roll down was the chicken - while juicy and plentiful the karaage chicken was neither crispy nor crunchy. The chicken had obviously been sitting under lights for too long.

This is a roll worth returning for though - every other element was well executed.

Can anyone help me find the roll of my dreams?

Fresh Bites, Citi Centre Arcade

The food court at Centre Arcade is badly in need of a facelift. Some of those shop facades have been around since at least the 90s and many are probably older than I am. Think places like The King of Sandwich and Mangia Mangia. That said some new blood is slowly starting to seep in - the spud place has closed down and banh mi / Japanese eatery Fresh Bites has opened in its place.

A teriyaki chicken wing was my sneaky lunch entree. The meat was firm, juicy and flavoursome but had lost a little of sweet glazed char flavour that the exterior flaunted. Tasty, but not super value for nearly $2 bucks.



Banh mi / Japanese fusion rolls really makes sense me and the one from Fresh Bite bought together the best of both worlds - sticky sweet teriyaki chicken from Japan; the baguette style bread and crunchy fresh salad from Vietnam; a dollop of kewpie mayonnaise for extra richness; and fresh coriander, spring onion and chilli to provide some cut through.



Hopefully newcomers like Fresh Bites will provide the impetus and bring in the new stalls and customers needed to make renovations at Citi Centre a reality.

Totally Fresh, Gawler Place

I think I've finally found my soup joint this Winter. Unfortunately for me, it looks like most of Adelaide had already found it.

I was walking down Gawler Place and noticed that the line for Totally Fresh was just about the door. Being a human sheep and knowing that the taste buds of most South Aussies are generally good so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

After a short wait a chalk board listing 5 or 6 different soups including minestrone; chicken and corn; tom yum; and tomato and bacon greeted me once I reached the front of the line. I ordered the minestrone. The soup tasted truly of tomato and had plenty acid to get the salivary glands going. Vegetables were plentiful and tender but held their shape well and the chopped herbs added an uplifting freshness. You may have noticed that I'm finding it a little difficult to sell this soup. What can I say - it's soup. I'd be the first to admit that I have trouble getting excited about soup - but it was really excellent.




The following day I returned and ordered a Cajun chicken roll. Bizarrely, in addition to the spicy chicken, carrot, capsicum and lettuce the roll also had warm rice noodles. I didn't think rice noodles were particularly Cajun but they added a warm slippery texture that really worked. This was a fresh, tasty roll.



A day later I purchased a Caesar salad pizza for lunch.The great flaw with this pizza was the base. Neither thin and crispy nor thick and chewy the base was somewhere in the middle. In fact, it was more like shortbread than anything else and needed some more salt and some more char. And despite the over generous salad dressing the toppings were pretty good. Particularly impressive was the still runny baked egg.



Totally Fresh promise fresh, nutritious and fast lunch and on those they deliver. The soup is excellent and rolls are good but the pizza is let down by its base.

Dumpling King - Moonta Street, Central Markets

Many years ago Dumpling King was the scene of a food epiphany for me. Their dumplings became the standard against which all other dumplings are judged. I've had many a dumpling since then - some better but many much worse. Regardless, Dumpling King will always have a place in my heart and when a friend suggested we eat there for lunch I immediately agreed.

Although they were obviously busy we were quickly ushered to tabled (this is almost always possible if you are happy to share) and immediately ordered sweet and sour soup, fried chicken and prawn dumplings and steamed greens with oyster sauce.



The sweet and sour is a very textural soup - thick and almost glutenous liquid; creamy, firm tofu; crunchy black fungus and bamboo shoots; and soft egg. It also has enough heat and acid to get the saliva going and excite the taste buds for the dumplings to come.



Crispy, chewy dough filled with minced chicken and prawns that pop these dumplings are grease bombs with insane flavour - especially after you hit your dumps with some chilli onion jam, black vinegar and soy sauce. I could literally feel the fat running down my chin while eating these. When your family motto is 'adipem est saporem' this isn't a problem.



I'd recommend your order some greens with your dumplings. There's nothing particularly special about them but you need something to take the edge off the grease-bombs.

Although I've heard a lot of people complain about the service I've never had a problem with it - it's chaotic, not bad. So long as you're happy to go with the flow and demand whatever you need (usually more of the FREE tea or a couple of little bowls if you're sharing a meal) you'll be fine. Plus, the food is good and the price is right.

Dozo Sushi Express - Tempura Chicken Roll, Pirie Street

Last week I promised myself that I'd return to Dozo Sushi Express to try out a mysterious menu item - the Japanese sandwich. Ordering the the tempura chicken sandwich I hoped that I'd end up with some mega-crispy chicken on soft white bread - something to rival the oyster po' boys and southern fried chicken sandwiches of the United States. I didn't quite get that but I did end up with a pretty tasty roll.

Let me start with the most defining element - the sauce. Teriyaki sauce and Japanese mayonnaise were applied liberally and amalgamated to penetrate every mouthful with its rich, savoury creaminess. The bun (light, soft and white as hoped incidentally) barely stood up to it and would most likely have drowned if I weren't such a fast-eating guts. The sauce also turned the once crispy chicken soggy. Don't get me wrong - sauce soaked batter is delicious but didn't provide the crunch I had hoped for. The cucumber and (out-of-season and therefore a little mealy) tomato were seemingly added as an afterthought.



This was a good roll but it could have been - and I think wanted to be - so much more. Had the integrity of the crunchy chicken remained intact and had the other fillings been give some more thought and attention (some pickles to cut through the richness for example) this have been truly excellent roll. Instead, it was just another sandwich at $7.50 price point. That being said, Dozo offers some interesting fillings (like potato salad or katsu pork) that have piqued my curiosity so I'll no doubt return to test these.

Dozo Sushi Express, Pirie St

A conversation with a fellow twitterer (have we come to consensus on what we call people who tweet? Twitterers? Tweeters? Twits?) made me realise that Pirie St is a bit of a blind spot for me. To restore my eating vision I ventured off to Dozo Sushi Express for lunch.

Armed with the knowledge from a colleague that I should get a bento box and skip over the sushi I ordered the Japanese curry bento. Served with dumplings, potato salad, rice and pickles this was I promising looking lunch.



The easiest way to describe the Japanese chicken curry is to take you back to an Australian 1970's dinner party. In those days curry was virtually unknown to Australian diners and our attempts at cooking curry were clumsy - gritty and sickly sweet with a pinch of Keens Curry Powder more for colour than flavour (but no more than a pinch! For all we knew foreign spices could lead to... dancing), no chilli (dancing again presumably) and dotted with sultanas. The Japanese curry was just like this - except much, much better. No grittiness, the sweetness was handled with a deft touch, there certainly more flavour than a pinch of curry powder and more than a suggestion of heat, and no bloody sultanas. An excellent curry.



I love Japanese potato salad and this was a good one - rich, creamy and dotted with peas and corn. The crunchy yet creamy texture of the pickle was a pleasant surprise - I don't think I ever described a pickle as creamy before but this one definitely was. The miso soup was hot, salty and riddled with creamy tofu and seaweed.



The dumplings were a real disappointment. They were dry and cold and flavourless. The dough had the texture of cardboard and withered lump of meat inside had nothing to recommend it. There is no excuse to serve a dumpling this awful.

For 10 bucks a bento box at Dozo is a reasonable price for pretty tasty food - except for the awful, awful dumplings. The seating space is limited at Dozo so be prepared to either squish in, wait for seating or take your lunch away.

I noticed that Dozo has Japanese sandwiches on the menu. I have no idea what this would be but I'm curious enough that I'll be coming back to try these soon.

Maki Maki Japanese Cafe, Parc Arcade, Rundle Mall

I thought I'd take the young fella to the museum this morning. He was a particular fan of the colourful minerals display. Just around the corner from the museum is Maki Maki Japanese Cafe. In my opinion Maki Maki does some of the best teriyaki chicken in Adelaide so we dropped by for post-museum lunch and ordered bento 2 - teriyaki chicken, crispy chicken, sushi and spring roll.



Despite singing the praises of the teriyaki chicken above - today's batch was a bit disappointing. The flavour was there - it was sweet and salty with a creamy tang from the Japanese mayo - but it was COLD. However, the crispy chicken was excellent - really juicy with a wonderful crunch.



I have a soft spot for the spring rolls from Maki Maki because they're basically chiko rolls - delicious! The sushi is also pretty good. I ordered two that were young fella friendly - teriyaki chicken and BBQ beef. I was really surprised by the BBQ beef - it was essentially hamburger patty sushi which might sound a bit odd but was actually really tasty.



I really wanted to be able to give Maki Maki a better review but the cold teriyaki chicken really threw me. Their stall is up for lease so goodness knows how much longer they'll be around for. Check 'em out before they disappear because the teriyaki chicken IS really good - just not today.

Yumalicious, Victoria Square - the third

Today's goal was to complete my trifector of Yumalicious tastings - the banh mi. I ordered a roll with the lot without having any idea what that entailed.



Not knowing what meat went onto the banh mi I found it a little hard to identify. I can tell you that there were two types of meat - at least one of which was chicken. The other - probably pork - had an almost mustard-y flavour to it. Of high quality the roll was crunchy and chewy while the vegetables (including red onion and spring onion - which I haven't seen on a banh mi before) were plentiful, fresh and crisp. The chillies they put on the roll were not particularly hot but the heat was bolstered by what tasted like sweet chilli sauce. I'm not overly fond of sweet chilli sauce but it was applied with a deft hand so added some welcome sweetness rather than overpowering the other flavours.

Once again, the service was impeccable and at $5.00 this roll sits squarely in the middle of the banh mi price range and is definitely one I'd order again.

Miss Mai, James Place

Last week I blogged about wanting to return to new Vietnamese eatery Miss Mai to sample their duck (!!!!) banh mi.

Today I fulfilled that promise. And because I'm a fat bastard I also ordered chicken pho.

The duck banh mi was everything I hoped it would be. A generous portion of warm, fatty, juicy duck stuffed inside a crisp, chewy roll with crunchy carrots, cucumber and handfuls of fresh coriander. The too-brown photo below really doesn't do this excellent roll justice.



At $7.50 this duck banh mi is on the more expensive side but absolutely worth every cent. And I really REALLY like that the meat filling at Miss Mai's is warm - it transforms what I'd usually consider a fresh, crunchy summery roll into something warm, comforting and perfect for winter eating.

Because I felt a cold coming on (but mostly because (as above) I'm fat, hungry bastard) I ALSO decided to order the chicken pho. Logically, if chicken soup cures a cold then a spicy, herby chicken pho should kick the shit out it!



I reckon the chicken pho is actually better than the beef pho. The broth was hot and sweet again but seemed cleaner and clearer; the chicken was tender, juicy and ever-so-slightly fatty in a good way; there was more generosity with the rice noodles (my one bugbear from last time); and once again the herbs were fresh, beansprouts crunchy and chillies spicy. I felt greatly restored after eating my chicken pho - it really moved all the gunk out of my sinuses.

I had selfishly hoped that Miss Mai's would remain one of those hidden gems in the Adelaide CBD - but no such luck. Adelaideans seem to have already cottoned on to the fact Miss Mai is serving up some seriously good Vietnamese food.

Yumalicious, Victoria Square - again

I was so impressed with Yumalicious yesterday (especially the service) that I decided to return for lunch today. And I also happened to be running an errand to the post office which is just nearby.

Today I ordered egg noodles with BBQ chicken, mushrooms and cabbage from their ready to go bain marie. I also scored another FREE cup of chicken and corn soup.



Firm, salty and well oiled (sounds sexy, right?) the BBQ chicken was well flavoured and toothsome. Braised without being mushy the mushroom retained its firm texture and some earthiness. Unfortunately, the cabbage had nothing to recommended it - neither flavour not texture. The egg noodles were a little bland but not at all greasy and did a wonderful job of soaking up the sauce from the chicken and mushrooms.

Today's soup seemed more likely to be out of the can than yesterday's (probably the same soup mind you) but it was heavily peppered and hot and therefore enjoyable.

A pretty good meal for $7.80 but not quite as good as yesterday's. The service was just as friendly though.

I noticed today that Yumalicious also do banh mi so I might try and check that out tomorrow.

Yumalicious, Victoria Square

Free chicken and corn soup. That's right - FREE. The generous offer of free soup sums up the attitude of the staff at Vietnamese eatery Yumalicious. They are always welcoming, impossibly cheerful and generous.



The hot soup kept my fellow and I punters warm during the short wait for our meals. And it was pretty darn good soup too. I don't think it was from a can even though it had that slightly glutenous texture I associate with canned soup because it had a delightful Vietnamese-y tang rather than that metallic tang.

I ordered the lemongrass chicken which came with broth and a dipping sauce. 



With subtle undertones of star anise followed by onion bite the broth was warm and nourishing. If I had to guess I'd say that the slightly spicy dipping sauce was a nouc mam cham - that ubiquitous Vietnamese side of fish sauce, chilli and garlic.



Though plump, juicy and golden the chicken could have probably done with more of lemongrass hit - but that's a minor compliant. The rice was beautifully cooked and the tomato and cucumber provided a fresh crunch.

Yumalicious - come for the food. Come back for the friendly service (and occasionally free soup).

Fiesta Yiros, David Jones Food Court

Fiesta Yiros SOUNDS like a confusion of mexican and greek cuisines. It gets even stranger because Fiesta Yiros do what I think is probably the best Turkish pide in the Adelaide CBD. I always stop off for one whenever I'm lucky enough to be that side of town.

Today I ordered the chef's special - a pide stuffed with yiros chicken, turkish salami, onion, feta cheese and chilli. It's a bit of a carnivore's delight so for an extra buck (and to trick myself into thinking I was eating something healthy) I ordered a small side salad (of lettuce, tomato and tabouli) and a splash of garlic sauce.



Meaty, salty and spicy the pide - excellent in its own right - benefited from the herby crunch of the salad and cooling tanginess of the garlic sauce.



What really sets the Fiesta Yiros pide apart from other pides in the Adelaide CDB is the sesame flecked dough. The bread is always baked to a golden hue, has slight crunch and I've never had an old or stale tasting one (unlike other pide vendors - who shall remain nameless - that allow their pides to sit and go limp in the bain marie).

At $8.50 for a pide with salad, I'd be here all the time if I was on this side of town more often.

Mystic India, China Town Food Court

Apparently the sandwich was 250 years old today. Had I heard about this before lunch I would have had a sandwich rather ordering from Mystic India in the China Town Food Court. Not that that was a bad decision mind you. In fact, it was a good decision.

I ordered a thali - a stainless steel tray with different compartments for different curries, raita and rice. In addition to the rice and raita chicken tikka masala, spinach dhal and paneer mutter filled out my thali.



Nicely charred before being slowed cooked in masala sauce the chicken was succulent and tender. And there were actual fragments of spices in the curry sauce which had the right amount of heat for lunch - hot enough that the residual heat left a tantalising tingle on my tongue but not so hot that it sat like a molten brick in the gut for the rest of the day.

The spinach flavour came strongly through the savoury dhal. Rather than being brittle and chalky the paneer was creamy and soft but I found the (I think masala-style because I'm pretty 'mutter' means peas) sauce too sweet.

Last time I ordered a thali from Mystic India the raita was disappointingly thin. Not so this time. It was thick, tangy, flecked with carrot and cucumber and provided a cooling counterpoint to the spicy curry. I was suspicious of the poppadom - it looked as though it had been steamed soft in the bain-marie but it had a deceptively satisfying crunch.

My one real gripe with the meal was that the rice was basically cold but once I'd doused the rice in the remainder if the spicy masala sauce and cooling raita it didn't really matter.

This generally excellent thali is good value at $10 and the wait for food at Mystic India is invariably short.

Ajisen Ramen, Regent Arcade

I'm told tori karaage ramen doesn't exist in Japan. This seems a little weird to me. They have numerous iterations of fried chicken on one hand - and various types of ramen on the other hand. It seems like the most natural thing in the world to mash them together into a SHINING DISH OF GLORY - but apparently not. Apparently tori karaage ramen was invented to appease the western palate.

You learn something new everyday, don't you?

Whether this is true or not, Ajisen Ramen's tori karaage ramen is probably the best in the Adelaide.



Notice how the plump balls of chicken beckon with juicy promise? If you've read my previous post about Ajisen Ramen (where I wasn't happy with my practically dessicated chicken balls) you'll have some inkling on how pleased I was. See the fatty sheen of flavour floating on top of the broth? See the lightly braised cabbage? See the... eggy... egg? Heaven.

Tori karaage ramen may be a dishonorable western bastardisation of traditional Japanese cuisine but it'll always have a place near my heart - in my stomach, in fact. Check out Ajisen Ramen for Adelaide's tastiest version.   

Happy Bean, Southern Cross Arcade

I don't know how I missed the memo but today was apparently Tori Mayo Don Day.

I know this because when I ordered my Tori Mayo Don from Happy Bean so did the person in front of me... and the three people behind me.

Happy Bean is one of my regular Japanese lunching haunts (makimaki and ajisen ramen also regulars). The selection of donburi here is excellent and they're quick-ish getting their meals out (5 to 10min). If you go with one of their $5 specials (which I usually do) the price is most certainly right.



But today's cooler weather necessitated the purchase of a more warming and filling dish - Tori Mayo Don definitely fits the bill (plus it was Tori Mayo Don Day - or did I mention that already?)



Tori Mayo Don is my favourite meal on the menu - and I presume it's widely popular judging from the  people ordering it. A big bowl of japanese rice topped with grilled (probably teriyaki) chicken that's been smothered in kewpie mayonnaise and garlic chives and then either blow torched or grilled again (I can't see into the kitchen). The dish is stick-to-your-ribs warming, rich and flabby (but flabby is a sexy Ruebenseque way rather than flabby in a Shane Warne before he met Liz way). You also get some wilted spinach and some lightly boiled carrot and beansprouts. I wouldn't mind something pickled to cut through all the fat but with a cup of miso soup it's a darn good lunch.

The one thing that irks me about Happy Bean is their crockery and cutlery. Sometimes you get proper bowls and chopsticks - sometimes the throw away stuff - it's pretty hit and miss. But you'll see me here almost weekly for donburi. .

Oporto, City Cross Arcade

Another day, another burger! A burger I just cannot make my mind up about. To my mind, Oporto is the poor man's Nando's. Though Oporto say that they serve only cage free, hormone free and grain fed chicken, I'm pretty sure they use formed chicken. And they're not that cheap. $10 will nab you a burger meal, which is a similar price to my preferred Citi X Grille.

Despite all that, I keep coming back. They're just about the fastest fast food I know. And they're pretty tasty. Today I ordered an Oprego Burger meal. The Oprego burger is a grilled chicken breast fillet (I still stand by my comment that it's a formed breast) topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese, mayo and their "legendary" prego sauce (whatever that is).

The burger to bun ratio is pretty good but the prego sauce too sweet for my taste. Though it helps keeps it juicy (the probably formed chicken fillets would be a bit bland and dry by themselves) I'd stick with their chilli sauce. The chips are very similar to the type you get at KFC - but a little crispier.

I prefer Nando's, but if you're time poor and craving some (probably formed) Portuguese influenced chicken, Oporto is a pretty good option.