I absolutely love the Royal Sydney Easter Show! It’s a nostalgia thing with childhood memories of fairy floss, the bright lights of the rides and the massive amounts of junk food consumed. The main reason that I go is that my most favourite food in the world can be found- deep fried cheese on a stick! Yes it’s bad for you but c’mon you’re at a carnival, how can you resist the call of fried foods on a stick?

Mmm cheesy 😀 At $5 a pop they’re not cheap but then again, it’s pretty much a given that everything here is pricey. Oh and you might as well get a lemonade ($5) too because walking around seeing stuff is mighty thirsty work!

Or you can get a soft drink in a ridiculous boot ($12).

The usual suspects are back, like the corn stall where you can get juicy corn on cob slathered in butter and doused in salt & pepper plus the guarantee that you will get corn kernels stuck in your teeth no matter how carefully you gnaw away.

I didn’t eat here but I always love staring at how pretty in pink their stall is!

The music at Twisted Fries drove me batshit bananas while standing in the line! It’s the same let’s twist again song over and over and over and wow if I had to work there or in the general vicinity I would seriously invest in ear plugs. But hey their fries are pretty amazing, golden and crispy and just begging to be drowned in your sauce of choice.

I had deliberately planned on going to the Easter Show on Saturday which was the day that everyone had to vote and we had also arrived just on 9am which meant- NO FRICKEN QUEUES! Seriously it was the best day ever! We got seats everywhere, there were barely any crowds which meant no rage issues! Past years I’ve barely seen the wood chopping because it’s always been too packed!

Then we headed over to check out the cattle and were amused to see them being groomed with a vacuum cleaner, passed the alpacas and onto the pigs and their piglets.

The Farmyard Nursery (entry via Food Farm) was awesome and freaking massive! It was a little unnerving how all these animals were just roaming around looking for pats and a feed- you can buy cups of pet food for $1. There were baby lambs, goats, ducks, chicks, puppies and bunnies!

Nawww so fluffeh!

What species is this? You breed raptors?? Lol my bad that’s a Jurassic Park reference 😛

Checked out the Sydney Royal Horse Competition at the Spotless Stadium.

The Dinosaur Ice World in the Davidson Plaza was pretty fun esp for Noods who’s a bit of a dinosaur lover hehe there was a bit of queue to get in but the line moves fast and there’s an area where the kids can have a go at chipping away at a ‘fossil’.

Life-sized Woolly Mammoth!

Break time! We were near the Sydney Royal Beer and Wine Garden and were going to do the beer tasting except we’d tried all the beers so settled for getting a glass or two from Matilda Bay.

The smell of meats drew us over to Bodean’Z’ BBQ Grill…

Behold! A giant turkey leg ($12)! Reminded me of Six Flags in LA! They also had pork hocks and those things were massive!

Headed over to the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome and got a half dozen oysters which were plump juicy specimens.

After buying a whole lotta jerky and biltong we ogled the meticulously placed fruit and veg displays at the District Exhibits.

Seriously, these displays must takes ages to make!

And then onto the Country Women’s Association Tearoom where all the money raised by the volunteers at the CWA throughout the Show goes into rural and regional parts of Australia.

The CWA scones ($5) are always so light and perfect! And then I find out later that they actually use packet mix and I felt my belief in the system shattering… Although to be fair to pump out that many scones to feed everyone is pretty insane. Edit: yes the volunteers use packet mix but apparently the CWA send their recipe to a supplier who pre-mixes the dry materials, which they bring in packets to the Show.

Not sure if this is a recent thing but fyi all the cake, jam and biscuit displays have moved to the Arts and Crafts Pavilion. How amazing is the detail on this one!?

Then off to the Showbag Hall where there seem to be an endless amount of Frozen, Home and Adventure Time bags available. I scored the Pacman bag because it came with an awesome towel woohoo!

Over on the games and rides side I was so fricken amused and impressed that someone has finally put a freaking ESCALATOR for the giant slide! No more trudging up the stairs like plebs!

Aaaand that’s it for another year! I will see you again my beloved cheese on a stick! The Sydney Royal Easter Show is held 26 March – 8 April 2015 at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park. Get there early (gates open at 9am) to avoid the queues!

ChocolateSuze received complimentary entry tickets to the Sydney Royal Easter Show but paid for all food, rides and games.

I hardly go to Newtown which is insane I know, considering the amount of incredibly tasty eats there. I blame the boy, he hates the lack of parking and reckons the area is too trendy haha but since I could fix one of those problems we took a bus to Cuckoo Callay (324a King St, Newtown) which is just outside Newtown train station. I’ve crammed 3 visits into this post because if you haven’t already heard, Cuckoo Callay is featuring a special Bacon Festival menu celebrating all things porcine!

Ya Bacon Me Crazy ($20) made my heart skip a beat when it arrived, I mean, LOOK AT IT! She’s a beaut! The buttermilk waffle was fluffy on the inside with crisp edges, there was house-made bacon as well as my fave Black Forest Smokehouse maple bacon, an intense flavour bomb of chocolate coated bourbon bacon, a scoop of sweet caramel and cinnamon ice cream and the whole shebang is doused with maple syrup. If you love the sweet and salty combo then this is for you!


Bacon All The Rules ($24) is one giant meatfest but when you think about it, it’s pretty much an elaborate bacon and eggs haha there’s Black Forest Smokehouse maple bacon, bourbon bacon, bacon steak (OMG), bacon sausage and bacon-crumbed poached eggs served on sourdough. Unfortch the eggs aren’t fully crumbed in bacon and then deep fried as I had imagined but they were still tasty with perfectly gooey centres.


Bacon, Get In My Belly ($20) is a glorious slab of pork belly with a sticky sweet chilli & fennel seed sauce. The pork belly is a bit on the oily side but oh man the crunch! The crackle! The creamy fat and juicy meat! Luckily it comes with a bacon, caper, coriander and lime salad to cut through the richness.


I was quite taken with the Bacon Dawg ($16), a lightly toasted bun housed a maple glazed bacon sausage with gruyere sauce, tomato and quince relish, shards of crackling and dill mustard pickles. I loved the side of crinkle cut potato chips but could only manage a couple because damn that hotdog was uber filling!


What a Croque of Bacon ($19) is the least bacon-y out of the whole menu, though to be fair I missed one dish, the Jammin’ Bacon ($9), sourdough toast served with homemade bacon and bourbon jam so I can’t say for sure whether it’s less bacon-y than that. Bacon, basil and vintage cheddar croquettes served with bourbon bacon, pea puree and two poached eggs. The croquettes were creamy and would be the perfect winter comfort food but yeah MOAR BACON yo!


The Don’t Go Bacon My Heart ($19) burger was pretty massive- stuffed with beer candied bacon, popcorn chicken, a dollop of beer and tomato chutney, mustard aioli and slaw on brioche buns. The side of pickles was a welcome touch!


For dessert we got the Drizzle Sticks ($10)- Black Forest Smokehouse streaky bourbon bacon drizzled in chocolate and hazelnut. I’d heard that the bacon was meant to be crispy but instead they were sad and droopy and really just not what I’d had such high hopes for. I think I was imagining deep fried bacon strips?


The Bloody Bacon Cuckootail ($14) is a classic Bloody Mary but with the added bonus of a bacon garnish and it surprisingly works, with the smokey flavour of the bacon shining through. And yes I had to include my bacon tatt in the shot 😛


The bacon festival menu is running until early May but there’s also a limited normal menu in case you want something less cholesterol laden 😛

Cuckoo Callay
324a King St,
Newtown

Trading Hours:
Mon – Fri: 6am – 4pm
Sat: 8am – 4pm
Sun: 8am – 3pm

EDIT: CLOSED

The mothership is an avid cooking show nut which is how the family and I came to be at newly opened KIN by Us (2 Saunders Close, Macquarie Park), run by My Kitchen Rules 2014 sweetest couple ever- Uel and Shannelle. We arrived just before 12 and found it absolutely packed but we put our name down with the super cheerful Uel who was manning the floor and were seated about 20mins later.

The majority of items are on the all day menu but the Snap Crackle Plop ($10) is only available after 11.30am and it was this dish that we had made the trip for. And it was AWESOME. The chicken rice was incredibly fragrant from the ginger and chicken stock used in the rice, the slow cooked onsen egg had a perfect gooey yolk and the chicken crackle, oh em gee that crackle! Deep fried perfection it was! Salty, fatty, crispy equals to a mountain of happiness! It’s not a large serve but considering it’s only a tenner I’d be totally fine ordering 2 serves of this!


The Sub Marine ($18) is also only available after 11.30am and is a toasted brioche roll stuffed with deep fried soft shell crab and a chilli paste. I appreciated the sprigs of coriander on top which cut through the richness because otherwise this would’ve been a super heavy dish.


The Congee ($17) is as pretty as a picture, there’s shallots, a pile of pork floss mixed with seaweed and sesame seeds and an onsen egg lurking in the depths waiting to be stabbed and mixed into the chicken rice porridge. And what’s congee without some youtiao aka deep fried doughnut/cruller, perfect for ripping into pieces and dunking! Given that I would normally pay around $10 for a giant bowl of congee in Chinatown I kinda wished that this bowl was bigger but it was tasty and Noods was happy so that’s all that matters 😀

I heart waffles so we just had to order the Waffle Belly ($17), the potato waffle was crisp and was the perfect vehicle to hold the meltingly tender caramelised soy pork belly, another perfect gooey onsen egg, mushrooms and there’s a bit of cabbage to cut through the richness. I totally rate this.

I was expecting a bit more with the Kaya Toast at ($7) a pop. I know a lot of work goes into making kaya, I’ve seen the mothership stir away at a pot of kaya for hours but I guess I was expecting a bit more than 2 half slices of bread? And I wanted slabs of butter! The kaya was awesome though, smooth and rich and it was a pretty generous layer.

The Durian Affogato ($7) is probably best for durian lovers only as it’s crazy intense. We tried the durian ice cream by itself first and found it to be pungent and rich and then we poured over the shot of Reuben Hills house blend espresso which mellowed out the durian flavour.

I can see why KIN by Us is so popular even though they’re only in their 3rd week of trading! I loved the bright open space, the food and the service- Uel made sure to stop and have a quick chat with each table and while there can be a bit of wait on Saturdays (they’re closed on Sun) I hope to come back again soon and try the rest of the menu!

KIN by Us
2 Saunders Close
Macquarie Park
NSW

Trading Hours:
Mon – Sat: 7am – 3pm

EDIT: CLOSED

So if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I tend to eat fried chicken at least once a week because well, fried chicken is awesome. For Raff’s belated birthday dinner we went to the newly opened Chicken Institute (61 Fitzroy St, Surry Hills), headed up by Heaven Kim, the executive chef from Paramount Coffee Project.

The Chicken Institute is still waiting for their liquor license to kick in so in the meantime you’re able to BYO but we opted to try their Magic Shakes ($8)- Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter. We liked the peanut butter shake but oh how I wished the salted caramel shake had about 100 times more salted caramel because if I’m gonna suffer from my lactose intolerance later then I want a milkshake that punches me in the face with flavour.

There are 4 types of the ‘Damn good fried chicken’- original, sticky, peri peri or garlic, with each chook accompanied by a little saucer of fluro yellow pickled radish. We just had to get the Original ($20) with house made spicy chicken salt and lime as a baseline for comparison of all the fried chickens in the land. While the batter isn’t as thick and crispy as other Korean fried chickens I’ve had, the boneless thigh fillets are incredibly juicy and super tender. My soul was saddened when we realised that the bucket wasn’t entirely full of chicken and only held 5 pieces. As tasty as the chicken was I’m just not sure how I feel about paying $4 per piece of chicken and because the chicken was boneless each piece just felt substantially smaller to hold than at my usual fried chicken joints.

I loved the Garlic Chicken ($24) which had a fragrant garlic caramel glaze, crushed peanuts and lime but man pushing at almost $5 per piece just made me sad and wish for unlimited pieces to satisfy my fried chicken heart.

From the Ssam BBQ Grill there’s the option of Pork Belly ($16), Wagyu ($24) or for the indecisive- the Half half ($21) with 4 slices of each meat plus lettuce, miso paste, pickled garlic and radish kimchi to bundle it all together for a parcel of tastiness. The Wagyu was my fave, fatty and smoky and just perfect.

Moving onto desserts, we order the Sweet Potato Doughnuts ($8) with dulce de leche. The outer crust to the doughnuts are thin and crisp but the innards are a little on the dense side and doesn’t really need the dulce de leche sauce as the doughnuts themselves are sweet enough even for this sweet tooth.

I’ve always loved the gold fish ice creams you can get at the asian grocery so we had to order the Gold Fish Ice Cream Waffle ($6). The presentation is cute, but the waffle is not exactly easy to eat. I would have loved to pick the whole thing up and bite into it but the outer layer was covered in a sweet gooey icing and a sprinkle of nuts and as we did not receive any cutlery we resorted to stabbing at it with chopsticks.

Requisite innards shot of red bean layer!

All in all I liked the food at Chicken Institute but it is on the pricey side. The staff are lovely but they’re still getting their bearings so I’d recommend giving them a couple more weeks and getting there as soon as they open otherwise the kitchen gets smashed and you might wait for ages for your food and drinks to arrive.

Chicken Institute
61 Fitzroy St,
Surry Hills
NSW

Trading Hours:
Tue – Sun: 5pm – 10pm