Red Pepper, Strathfield

Don’t a judge a book by its cover they say. Likewise don’t judge a restaurant by where it’s located! I had a mad craving for fried chicken and normally we would head to Beschico in Epping for our fix but I wanted to try somewhere new and word on the street was that Red Pepper (4a Lyons St Strathfield) inside the Strathfield Sports Club was a pretty tops place.


So make your way past all the tennis courts and into the sports club, sign in to be a temporary member and walk to the back where theres a bar and beside it, Red Pepper! Not sure what the go is for dinner but when we arrived for lunch we ordered and paid at the counter, got given a table number and they deliver your food and cutlery to you. There’s 3 menus available at Red Pepper- Western, Korean and Fried Chicken. I think you only get the banchan side dishes depending on how much you order and from which menu, our first visit we didn’t get any but our second visit we did.


Mmm melty molten cheese! Originally I was going to order a normal Seafood Pancake ($15) but the waiter hesitated so I asked if he thought the Kimchi Pancake with Mozzarella Cheese ($14) was any better and he nodded vigorously and said he hated the seafood pancake (!!). Hate is such a strong word lol


Haha upskirt shot! I don’t know what I was expecting but that there is a pool of chilli oil and it was hella spicy! The pancake arrived piping hot so the mozza was nice and stretchy with each kimchi packed slice though the cheese did congeal once it cooled. I think I was expecting more of a batter holding everything together but it was basically a whole lotta kimchi flattened into a circle. It was tasty though!


The Original Fried Chicken ($16/half chicken) is pretty bang on with my idea of awesome fried chicken- golden, nubbly batter that shattered with each bite and juicy flesh with each piece. The batter coating was a bit thick but I loved that it wasn’t at all oily. Finger licking tastiness!


Noods wanted the Spicy Chilli Chicken ($18/half chicken) because he likes foods covered in sauce. It was super spicy like oh god it burrrrrns spicy and had us in tears but we somehow managed to finish it.


The side dish of pickled cabbage and radish helped with the burning.


A bucket of beers also helped 😛


Our second visit happened to be the very next day because one can never have too much fried chicken. Noods however wasn’t too keen on having fried chicken yet again (I know, there’s something wrong with him hey?) so we ordered the Galbi-Jjim ($17.50). The ridiculously tender beef short ribs were cooked in soy sauce with a bit of vegetables and a muddle of Jap Chae potato noodles thrown in for good measure. There was also a complimentary serving of fluffy rice which I appreciated to soak up the meat juices.


We scored some tasty banchan side dishes of spicy bean sprouts, fish cake slices, kimchi and oddly my fave was a pasta salad that was strangely addictive.


And the reason for my return: Crispy Fried Chicken with Spring Onion and Wasabi Sauce ($18/half chicken). HOT DAYUM! This blew my socks off! Normally I’m not a huge fan of wasabi and can only tolerate incredible small amounts on my sushi so I was scared the wasabi sauce would be too intense but surprisingly I loved it! The wasabi was balanced with the soy and just set my tastebuds a-tingle with happiness. Seriously you guys this fried chicken is the bomb. The sauce was just a light drizzle so the batter was still just as crispy as the Original and alternating bites with the spring onion made me think I was being healthy eating my greens 😛


We ended up ordering another lot of the Galbi Jjim and more fried chicken to take home for dinner because well, cooking is not my forte 😛 Love that they also packed us banchan!


There’s something so guiltily satisfying about watching other people exercise while eating amazing food heh heh So yeah I’m really glad that I finally made it out to Strathfield to try the fried chicken at Red Pepper! It was only a 20min drive from Parra and there’s heaps of street parking and it’s super close to the station so woohoo for fried chicken so close by!