EDIT: CLOSED

After months of honing his menu, Alex Wong aka cheflx has set the Sydney food truck scene on fire with Yang’s Food Truck which will satisfy all your Malaysian food cravings. The truck moves around quite a bit but we managed to catch it while they were parked on the King St end of the Pitt St Mall last week.

The calm before the storm…

Everything on the menu is under $10 (except for when Lex decides to do random dishes like the epic Emperor Nasi Goreng with Tasmanian Black Perigord truffles) so with this in mind, Helen and I decided to order 1 of everything from the menu because that’s how we roll. Or because we were hungry.

I’ve eaten the Soft Shell Crab in Chilli Sauce with Mantou ($9) on a previous visit and it was just as glorious as I remembered. The soft shell crab was piping hot from its fresh baptism in oil, the deep fried mantou bread had a crisp outer layer and wondrously soft and fluffy innards that was perfect for dunking into the rich chilli sauce. I could easily eat 2 of these, it is seriously an absolute bargain.

The Roti Chicken with Sweet Potato ($7) is pretty filling, there’s a generous amount of curry chicken, cubes of tender sweet potato and a smattering of coriander, cucumber and tomato pieces to cut through the richness. The roti itself isn’t as fluffy as the ones at Mamak (though what is?) but it holds its shape well when the whole shebang is picked up.

The Ramli Beef Slider ($5) isn’t quite like the Ramly burgers I remember from Malaysia where the egg holds the patty and toppings in a pocket but hey beggars can’t be choosers and Yang’s is a pretty good substitute though just a tad on the sweet side. The patty is juicy, there’s an oozy fried egg, chopped cabbage and of course Hp and chilli sauce all held together on a toasted milk bun.

The One Spoon Chicken Laksa ($7) is great if you’re on the run, the chicken pieces are all bite sized and the noodles have been cut into shorter strands to make for easier slurpage. The laksa is pretty heavy on the curry and not so much the coconut cream and just be warned if you leave your noodles sitting too long they will absorb all the liquid.

The Nasi Lemak ($6) is a lighter option, the coconut rice is fragrant and ticks all the requisites of a standard nasi lemak with a pile of crispy ikan bilis (aka dried anchovies), peanuts, hard boiled egg, diced cucumber and a dollop of sambal on top.

Maggi Goreng ($7) tastes just like the ones at pasar malam market stalls, the Maggi noodles are boiled then stir fried with dark soy sauce, bean sprouts and there’s a bonus fried egg and choy sum to help with my vegetable intake.

Sadly the Hainan Chicken Rice isn’t available for dinner and instead there’s the Hainan Hot Wings ($5) which are tasty enough and more than makes up for the disappointment of no chicken rice. The mix of wings and drummettes are coated in a light batter so the flesh is still tender and comes with an irresistible chilli and ginger sauce.

To find Yang’s Food Truck, check the Food Truck app or follow them on Instagram in case their schedule changes!

Some of you may know but I’m not the biggest fan of wings. Blasphemy I know but the bumpy bits just creeps me the hell out cos it just makes me think the chicken has cellulite. But hey don’t go! I’m slowly on the road to loving wings especially with The Erskineville Hotel’s Buffalo Wings ($14) which have a crisp skin and deliciously smoky flavour. The Erko has the usual pub menu full of burgers, chicken schnitty’s and nachos but they’ve recently gotten a smoker and from the looks of things it’s pretty popular with the locals!


The Low and Slow Brisket ($18/small, $32/large) comes out as one honking slab of meat instead of the usual slices but can you see how juicy it is??? Look at how it glistens! That fat, that flavour! It was the bomb yo, there’s just nothing better than a super fatty and tender brisket that melts in your mouth. The brisket came with some bread rolls and a pickle so giant that it had me blushing every time I picked it up to take a chomp 😛


The Pork Belly ($20) is pretty tops too with a good ratio of meat to fat layers although the crackling could’ve been a bit crisper for my liking. It also comes bread rolls, a giant pickle and an apple bbq sauce but to be honest I would have liked a normal apple sauce to cut through the richness.


I know I have very little chances of getting a proper poutine with cheese curds in Sydney but I couldn’t resist the Pulled Pork Poutine ($15) because I needed some carb action. The pile of golden fries are studded with shreds of juicy pulled pork, blanketed in melty cheese and a river of gravy runs throughout. Pretty damn good and the perfect accompaniment for a cheeky beverage or two on a lazy Sunday arvo. Hope y’all have a great week folks!

The Erskineville Hotel
102 Erskineville Road,
Erskineville

Trading Hours:
Mon – Sat: 10am – Midnight
Sun: 10am – 10pm

EDIT: CLOSED

I know, I know, I generally don’t blog about a place when they’ve just opened but when I saw pics of the Lobster Roll- Connecticut style, with warm butter ($18) floating around on Instagram I was dying to see if I could find a closer to home substitute to Supernormal.

And it was pretty darn tasty with a generous amount of lobster meat! Although, not gonna lie, but whenever butter is mentioned as an ingredient I automatically imagine a nice pool of glorious butter so I was hoping the lobster would be drowned in butter but this was not the case. So yeah it was a tad dry but it was still tasty, the butter let the natural sweetness of the lobster shine through. But yeah more butter would’ve been awesome because everything tastes better with butter 😛 There’s the option of adding a pickle ($1) but I went with fries ($2) which were golden and crunchy and just perfect.

Lobster Roll- Maine style, with mayo and celery ($18). The boy and I loved this roll the most, the lobster was smothered in a creamy mayo and the celery provided a welcome crunch. The roll itself was pretty awesome too, soft and fluffy on the inside and nicely toasted on the outside.

Oh and we had some starters too, I’m not sure why but I was so convinced that the Fish Rillettes ($15) would be salmon, instead it was a combination of yellowfin tuna and bonito and comes with a side of pickled carrots and a bowl of saltines crackers. I wasn’t completely sold on this, the taste and texture of the rillettes reminded me of the canned tuna and crackers you get from the shops when you’re low on funds; On the table there was a tiny plate filled with a special house made chilli salt and a nori salt which were sprinkled pretty liberally and was pretty damn addictive.

And we also ordered the Kingfish tartare ($17) which while a little heavy on the lemon juice was nice and refreshing with the ribbons of seaweed and radish slices and would be perfect in summer. I liked the slices of chilli which gave the dish a kick in the pants. Or should that be mouth?

I was really looking forward to desserts because for me a meal is never complete without something sweet but sadly Waterman’s Lobster Co don’t have any desserts just yet which just means another visit is in order!

Waterman’s Lobster Co.
5/29 Orwell Street
Potts Point NSW

Trading Hours:
Mon – Sat: 12pm – Late
Sun: 10am – 6pm

So ok, yes I was drawn to the novelty of the drinks at The Vogue Cafe in Macquarie Shopping Centre but c’mon, LOOK AT IT! This here is the Kinder Surprise ($8.50) and it is as amazing as it looks! A super creamy hot chocolate with half a Kinder Surprise, a stick of Kinder Bueno and whole hazelnuts! The only down side is we kinda wished we got the toy that would’ve been inside the Kinder Surprise egg…


The Peanut Butter Milkshake ($8) is just as epic in presentation with a freaking chocolate dipped waffle cone filled with sour gummy worms shoved in the middle of the glass. The milkshake is rich with a super intense hit of peanut butter and with crushed peanuts for good measure. It was totally a meal on its own, we saw people unable to finish their drinks and having to pour into takeaway cups.


I was thinking of getting the pancakes but after the sweetness of the drinks I was glad I chose the Eggs Benedict ($16.50), opting for crispy bacon instead of ham or smoked salmon. The eggs are awesome with perfectly gooey egg yolk centres that flow like a river of happiness over a fat slice of buttery panini. I loved the hollandaise sauce which had the right amount of creamyness and lemony tang.


Noods of course goes for the Big Brekkie ($17), he liked the amount of food on the plate but did wish that the butter wasn’t just in the sterile looking sealed containers or the tomato sauced poured sloppily into a plastic container and plonked on top of the plate haha


The cafe is a bit hard to find, you won’t see it just by walking around the centre cos it’s kinda part of the entrance of the car park so get up to level 2 and look for a turnoff to the left of Myers. Food is your usual cafe standard but defs go for the drinks if you’re in need of a rest break after the horror that is the lack of change rooms at H&M!

The Vogue Cafe
Shop 68, Level 2,
Macquarie Shopping Centre,
Corner Of Herring & Waterloo Road,
Macquarie Park
NSW

Trading Hours:
Mon-Weds, Fri: 9.30am – 6pm
Thurs: 9.30am – 9pm
Sat: 9am – 6pm
Sun: 10am – 6pm