Eating Out: BBQ King [18 Goulburn St Sydney, 2000]

We didn't plan to come here. Originally planned to go to Gumshara Ramen but when we got there IT WAS CLOSED!!! From Jan 1st till 14th =[ And it was Jan 1st. I was sooooo bummed. So dad took us to BBQ King because he was like all the gweilo's go there.
We walked in and it was really old school chinese restaurant. There was a really awesome feel to it, the waiters and setting all fitted into the environment. I don't have a menu so I'm just making up names.

 Complimentary Soup

Nothing special, except that it's made from duck bones.

 Chicken Hot Pot

Really nice, lots of chicken with mushrooms and LIVER (ewwww).Galicky and fragrant. Only issue was the bones.

 Famous Roast Duck and Char Siu

Char Siu was dry and salty. Duck lacked flavour and had a chewy skin. I don't get how it's famous.

Stir Fried Water Spinach in Fermented Beancurd Sauce

Pretty average although it was a large serving.

Food: 7.5/10 Average chinese food. Chicken was alright though.

Service/Environment: 8/10 Staff were attentive and atmosphere was good. Hygiene questionable. Staff treat the gweilo way better than the asians =[ I guess cos they're willing to spend the $$$$

Value: 7/10 Overpriced by a mile. Half a duck for 20 something dollars????? And it wasn't even good =[

Verdict? Tried it once and never again. Rather spend that money at Mamak or on ramen. How does it have such a high percentage on Urbanspoon? Was it just our experience? Did we order the wrong things? Or are the gweilo just getting ripped off and don't know it?

Eating Out: Red Lantern Chinese BBQ 327 Doncaster Road, North Balwyn, 3104

Ate lunch here with mum yesterday. Since they're extending/expanding one would assume that they are doing quite well which means that they serve decent food. And in my opinion, my assumption was right.

Char Kway Teow $9.50

Full of ingredients, however the only seafood present were these extremely crunchy prawns (with no flavour). Is CKT supposed to have fishcake and lap cheong? Because neither were present. Lots of crunchy beansprouts. Hardly chilli at all. Some egg, some char siu like stuff and little tiny pieces of something which I assumed to be pork fat but didn't taste like it...not sure what they were. Capsicum and carrot were some unusual additions. It was slighty brown but not as dark as what I'm used to seeing. Altogether it tasted pretty nice but not really like char kway teow, tasted a bit like singaporean noodles (星洲炒米) with hor fun(河粉/wide rice noodles) instead of rice vermicelli(米粉).

Roast Duck and Soya Chicken Rice $10.50

Just one selection is $9.00 but I couldn't decide between the two so we got combination. The soya chicken was alright, used to be better. Large pieces of meat, smooth elastic skin with soya sauce flavour. The roast duck on the other hand was surprisingly good. Also large pieces of MEAT, not just bone like some stingy places. The skin was crisp but there was only a thin layer of fat. Good for the health conscious, bad for the fat lovers like me. However encountered the same problem as we did for the take away roast pork last week, the BBQ meats were cold. 20 secs in the microwave won't do any harm right?

Food: 7.5/10 Pretty good, one of the top places around my side of town for Chinese BBQ meats. Extremely generous servings, Mum and I had trouble finishing both plates. A tad on the oily side.

Service: 8/10 No complaints about this. Waitress was nice (she had blue eyelashes o.o) Food came really quickly. And you are left to eat in peace.

Environment: 7.5/10 Contemporary Chinese furnishing. Not sure whether the open kitchen really works. Looks organised but cluttered at the same time. Though the ducks hanging in the kitchen to dry look pretty cool.

Verdict? I'd come back. Since they are so quick and serve decent food. Also it's along the way back from school so it's convenient. 

Look at that skin!

Drooling yet?