A visit or three to the long running Eastwood local Chinese institution, K&J Takeaway.
K&J Takeaway is a ramshackle Chinese joint on a busy corner in the epicentre of Eastwood's Chinese community. It's either totally glorious or totally dodgy depending on your point of view, we think it's wonderful. Most of K&J's business is takeaway, but we love to dine at one of the few outside tables and watch the world go by. On a sunny spring Saturday afternoon we can pretend we're in Hong Kong.
K&J has been open a long time and has a lot of fans. The menu is broad with everything from Chinese Aussie stir fries to hotpots and Hong Kong hawker treats. Over our visits we found the food ranged from average to excellent, it all depends what you order.
Black Pepper Pork Chop with Handmade Noodle - $10.50. This was a real 'Hong Kong Cafe' style dish, the pork was shiny and the sauce tasted a bit 'east almost meets west'. Shabby but filling and fun.
Spiced Salt Sashimo & Egg Sauce - $10.50. We ordered this because we had no idea what it was. The fried sardine like fishies were pretty tasty but the egg sauce was gluggy with cornflour. Again, shabby but filling and fun.
Our first feed was average at best but we see many Chinese folks eating here so we thought we'd give it a second go... and it was great. Perhaps the trick is not to order from the picture menu where the dishes above came from, just stick to the regular menu.
Soya chicken noodle soup - $9.50. This was excellent. The egg noodles were sensational with the perfect amount of chew, the broth was strong in flavour without being over powering, and the soya chicken was divine. We wonder if the chicken comes from the Chinese BBQ shop next door, which would explain why it's so fresh and tasty.
Pork and preserved egg congee set with fried bread sticks and sweet sticky gooey rice cakes. The congee is only about $7 on it's own, we guess the set was around $10. Good congee, great value.
Poong Gong Fried Rice Noodles - $9.80. Stir fried noodles with bits of everything. The stir fry noodles seem very popular here. This dish is light and non-greasy, excellent.
Waffle maker dude at work with a slick durian salesman in the background.
Animal crackers from the supermarket aroudn the corner for desert. Learn to spell as you rot your teeth!
K&J is also an option for late night bubble tea, we have popped in here after Jonga Jip. The taro milk tea with pearl is divine.
K&J Takeaway is at Shop 28, 1 Lakeside Rd, Eastwood, behind the big red chopsticks.
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Oh the food here looks good!! But what a waste of sashimo ( pregnant fish). I love to eat them sans sauce....very very addictive snack or even beer food. Used to buy a whole batch and deep fried them to munch. Mmmmmmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteEve, I'm very confused. I tried to google "sashimo" and nothing comes up. I thought about "pregnant fish" and thought how is that possible. I've never heard of a pregnant chicken, duck or frog for that matter. Even when I google "sans sauce" I get 213,000 hits, but having severe shortcomings in worldly wisdom I'm even having problems with understanding what that means. On the other hand I can relate to "very very addictive snack or even beer food." as it reminds me of eating "Die Sprotten mit bier" on the Baltic coast (yes you can google "Sprotten"). Would you be so kind and provide some clarification regarding the "pregnant fish" especially in relation to ""sashimo". I am curious to learn more.
ReplyDeleteAh pregnant fish - intriguing!
ReplyDeleteYes you're right Eve, they would have been brilliant without the sauce as beer food.
ReplyDeleteOkie...I think the spelling at k&j is wrong and silly me forgot how to spell it as well. If it's the same fish as I am thinking, it is shishamo (or willow leaf) fish or another name is smelt fish. It's a thin fish usu served with roe intact. We usu fry it til very crunchy.
ReplyDeleteAs for more beer food, in Thailand, I have had sweetened chilli anchovies or ikan billis (deep fried to crunchy goodness) as beer food or snacks for soccer matches
Ah, that's better.
ReplyDeleteShishamo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shishamo
ko-mochi-shishamo
http://thebluewater.blogspot.com/2009/05/yoshinoya-pregnant-fish.html
ko-mochi-shishamo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bom_mot/4276059648/
Your right !!! It is excellent beer food. Where can I get some?
All we need now is someone who might be going to Japan to investigate this for us. Does anyone know someone who might be going to Japan soon? I can just visualise them in some Tokyo bar with a huge bowl of ko-mochi-shishamo and empty beer cans lying around the place calling out "Happy Happy" from time to time.
Shishamo = Smelt
ReplyDeleteSmelt roe is bright orange in color, and is often used to garnish sushi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smelt_(fish)
Eve, thank you for that lesson. Every time I'll eat sushi with orange roe, I'll remember that it's from the Shishamo fish.
komochi shishamo
ReplyDeletehttp://www.moofu.com/gallery/v/seri/March_2008_Pt1/IMG_3239.JPG.html
Awesome that you're covering suburban joints.
ReplyDeleteI've had the normal sized congee here - and let me tell you it is a bathtub of deliciousness. Pretty much 2x the size you had here. All the portions are massive, so I usually end up sharing :)
i've eaten here so many times after a tuesday night soccer session but have never noticed the big red chopsticks.....
ReplyDeletewill look out for it next week my mind is blown.
Thanks for all the investigative research everyone! Hmmmm, I do wonder who will be in Tokyo in the next week to try those fish there and drink loads of beer? Hang on, it's us! I have a mission to try many Japanese craft beers, often brewed by sake distilleries.
ReplyDeleteMan, how have I never noticed the giant red chopsticks in Eastwood. I'm yet to try Congee...one day, maybe.
ReplyDeleteNever been here but the dishes look less dodge than a lot of other Chinese takeaway shops! I love those animal crackers, used to eat them all the time as a kid :D though I prefer the green box over the pink!
ReplyDeletedont want to pop anybody's bubble, but me and my family have been eating here for about...10years at LEAST. they used to be much better. also, i have serious doubts about the cleanliness of the place.
ReplyDeletenot that i've been sick after eating there, as i know that grubby places often serve the best food - but this place might just take that to a different level.
anyway, you guys should try the congee at Lee Central Park Chinese Restaurant in Thornleigh. They do pots of the stuff and it is soooooo good. Get the fish fillet congee with fried sticks, and maybe one other noodle dish and you will be set for lunch