#navbar-iframe { display: none; }

« Home | Din Tai Fung, Sydney » | Stomachs Eleven: Bone marrow, pig's trotters Pierr... » | Yukis at the Quay, Sydney » | Badde Manors, Glebe » | Tomahawk steak at Chophouse, Sydney » | Yok Yor Thai Food Factory, Haymarket Chinatown Sydney » | Lot 10, Jalan Alor and 1m roti tisu, Kuala Lumpur » | Mecca Espresso, Ultimo » | Iiza, Newtown » | The Dip at GOODGOD, Sydney »

Friday, July 29, 2011

The Good Kitchen, Hurstville

The Hong Kong cafe is where cost and efficiency are valued over décor and conversational niceties. Expect your order to be taken within two minutes of being handed the menu and your food to arrive shortly after.

For my Eat This! column in the July issue of Time Out Sydney, I headed to Hurstville where comfort food equals pan-fried spam, condensed milk on toast and the calorific glory that is French toast with peanut butter.



Eat this...
French Toast with peanut butter

WHAT IS IT?
It's the sort of snack that would make Elvis go weak at the knees. Two slices of soft white bread are slapped together with peanut butter, dipped in egg and then pan-fried to a rich golden hue. It’s a little oily, especially with the extra dab of butter on top, but the insides are soft, fluffy and deliciously eggy ($3.60).


French toast with peanut butter $3.60

WHERE DO I GET IT?
The Good Kitchen, a busy Hong Kong café (or cha chaan teng) serving Hong Kong-style Western cuisine. It’s always chaotic during weekends, jammed with families and couples chattering loudly around tables or booth seating.


Baked Portuguese pork chops with spaghetti $8.80

WHAT ELSE?
Steak with pepper sauce on rice ($12.50) and baked Portuguese pork chops with spaghetti ($8.80) are a glorious mishmash of east and west. Au gratin is the order of the day, with pork chops and spaghetti swaddled beneath a thick blanket of cheesy white sauce, grilled until brown on the edges.

The comprehensive menu runs through the usual suspects of stir-fries, congees and hotpots. Fried glutinous rice ($13) is a satisfying mix of sticky rice with slivers of omelette, mushroom, shallots and lap cheong pork sausage. Dig into the garlic chives with pork blood and pork skin ($10.80). It’s one way to increase your iron levels.


Fried glutinous rice $13


Baked Portuguese pork chops with spaghetti $8.80


Pork hocks in hot pot $11.80


Lunch meat and egg sandwich $4


Condensed milk and butter toast $2

ANY DRINKS?
Absolutely. Instant coffee mixed with tea ($2.70) is a Hong Kong favourite, or curl up with a cup of hot Ovaltine or Horlicks. Hot lemon Coke ($3) is worth ordering, a bubbling elixir of soft drink boiled with fresh lemons.


Hot coffee mixed with milk tea in Hong Kong style $2.70


Lemon coke hot $3




View Larger Map
The Good Kitchen on Urbanspoon

The Good Kitchen
171 Forest Road, Hurstville Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9579 1688

Opening hours
Monday to Friday 10am-10pm
Saturday and Sunday 9am-10pm

This article appears in the July 2011 issue of Time Out Sydney in my monthly Food & Drink column Eat This!  


More Time Out Sydney reviews:
Akash Pacific Cuisine, Liverpool (Fiji Indian cuisine)

ATL Marantha, Kensington (Indonesian fried chicken with edible bones)
Balkan Oven, Rockdale (Macedonian burek)
Durban Dish, Baulkham Hills (South African cuisine)
Hijazi's Falafel, Arncliffe (Lebanese breakfast)
Island Dreams Cafe, Lakemba (Christmas Islands cuisine)
Kambozza, Parramatta (Burmese cuisine)
La Paula, Fairfield (Chilean empanadas, lomitos and sweets)
Sea Sweet, Parramatta (Lebanese sweet kashta cheese burger)
Sizzling Fillo, Lidcombe (Filipino pork hock crackling)
Tehran, Granville (Persian cuisine)
Tuong Lai, Cabramatta (Vietnamese sugar cane prawns)
20 comments - Add some comment love

posted by Helen (Grab Your Fork) on 7/29/2011 12:11:00 am


20 Comments:

  • At 7/29/2011 12:58 am, Anonymous MrsPigflyin said…

    Funny! I was just thinking a couple of days ago that you should try a "Hong Kong-style cafe" for your column :) There are a couple of these in Chatswood too

     
  • At 7/29/2011 4:02 am, Blogger easyfoodhacks said…

    I love how the Hong Kong eateries come up with combinations of east/west. The ones in Auckland (NZ) do the same. It's like having a surprise in every meal!

     
  • At 7/29/2011 9:00 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'd love to try that peanut butter French toast, washed down with the coffee + milk tea. When we were kids my sisters and I used to eat bread or biscuits with condensed milk, but I don't think I'd order that in a restaurant.

     
  • At 7/29/2011 10:07 am, Anonymous Tina@foodboozeshoes said…

    lol - crustless sandos :) Certaily not the Aussie way. As strange as it sounds, I think the baked pork dish looks pretty good!

     
  • At 7/29/2011 10:09 am, Blogger Gastronomy Gal said…

    I don't really love peanut butter, but I can imagine for a PB fan- this would be heaven. I think the 'lunch meat and egg' sandwich is a hilarious combo.

     
  • At 7/29/2011 10:23 am, Blogger Rita (mademoiselle délicieuse) said…

    Ahhh, the comfort food of childhood trips to Hong Kong! Thank goodness we can get it here now, because we certainly couldn't back then.

     
  • At 7/29/2011 11:50 am, Anonymous OohLookBel said…

    Fantastic review; this is so my kind of place. And hot Coke is perfect in this cold weather, too.

     
  • At 7/29/2011 2:46 pm, Anonymous Hannah said…

    ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

    Do you think they could do the peanut butter french toast with maple syrup and condensed milk on top? I dream. I long.

    I'm also boggled as to how the coke can be both hot *and* still fizzy!

     
  • At 7/29/2011 2:49 pm, Blogger Brenda said…

    *Squeeeeee* I love HK East meets West breakfast menus! When I took my husband to HK for their set menus of pasta with spam and a fried egg he thought I was nuts. But it's just so comforting. That pork chop with spaghetti gets me all giddy LOL! Ah the memories..... :)

     
  • At 7/29/2011 3:19 pm, Anonymous Dumpling Girl said…

    I can honestly say I have never ate or seen French toast with peanut butter, but some lunch meat and egg is always good.

     
  • At 7/29/2011 5:11 pm, Blogger Michelle Chin said…

    Man, you've got me missing hong kong!

     
  • At 7/29/2011 6:41 pm, Blogger Tarah said…

    For these delicious dishes be prepared properly you will need a Pyrex kitchenware. This will help you in preparing good meals.

     
  • At 7/29/2011 6:50 pm, Blogger jack said…

    I love Hong Kong cafes, and I love, love, love luncheon meat + egg sandwiches - it's comfort food to the max. Great post! :)

     
  • At 7/29/2011 8:10 pm, Blogger Sydney Shop Girl said…

    Oh this is my kind of food. Love the toast and sandwich variations.

    SSG xxx

    Sydney Shop Girl blog

     
  • At 7/30/2011 11:53 am, Anonymous hungryandfrozen said…

    Oh wow, condensed milk and butter on toast. I think I've found my Ultimate Sandwich.
    But the penultimate sandwich would have to be the peanut butter French Toast. I've been on a bit of a French toast kick lately, will have to give this a go at home :)

     
  • At 7/31/2011 2:30 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Amaaaaaaazing photos that's making me salivate!

     
  • At 7/31/2011 9:32 pm, Blogger retrodaze said…

    This place is great! Class HK cafe style food. I can never resist getting a hot HK milk tea from here :)

    They do incredibly cheap dinner sets as well, something ridiculous like $20 for 2 people for two dishes off the menu, rice, a plate of choy and 'dessert' (two cubes of pudding).

     
  • At 7/31/2011 11:56 pm, Anonymous Sasha said…

    Oh God this is paradise! I want to have that french toast, baked portuguese pork chops with spaghetti and some lemon coke and I also want some... holy! Can I have them all?

    The food is truly affordable! I wouldn't mind staying here all day! The Good Kitchen, you just made me your number 1 fan.

     
  • At 8/04/2011 11:20 am, Anonymous Nic@diningwithastud said…

    Condensed milk sandwich? It sounds so wrong that I need to eat it now and I know I'll love it! Hurstville's right around the corner :) WOO

     
  • At 7/17/2014 9:23 am, Anonymous Drool Worthy World said…

    AWESOME POST! Really wanna try this place as I work in Hurstville!

     

Post a Comment

<< Home


      << Read Older Posts       |       >> Read Newer Posts