Wok Around The Clock

B.B.Q. King Restaurant, 18 Goulburn Street Sydney NSW 2000‎

I really wanted to like BBQ King (can you sense a “but” coming?).

I love the almost macabre & arguably unappetising shop sign with the thousand dead ducks hanging on hooks (pic). I love the 1980s decor & the tanks of fresh seafood that nobody has probably actually eaten anything from (or cleaned?) since they were put in. I like the staff, the plethora of lucky waving cats - I love the restaurant’s eccentricities…

…BUT (see you were right), seriously Sydney, what is all the fuss about the food? For a place that is considered a “…Sydney institution…” by some I was expecting a lot.

The special fried rice was, hats off, very good. Dry, not oily, delicious & generous helpings of prawns, beef, pork, chicken & egg. Yum. But (there I go again) not very difficult. I can whip up a very passable special fried rice, you’ll have to do better than that to impress me.

The spring rolls were awful, definitely frozen; and those nasty cheap frozen ones too where all the innards turn to mush when they’re cooked.

So, those didn’t hit the mark, but this is a Chinese BBQ restaurant, a BBQ King no less. Their reputation must be made on the hot coals of the BBQ grill, surely the barbecued crispy duck would be a winner?

Sadly, no.

BBQ King? BBQ Shy more like. The duck was in my opinion hugely undercooked. It’s hard to get a crispy skin when the duck has not even been given time to get properly acquainted with the grill, and worse, underneath that there was the layer of uncooked duck fat completely unrendered. Great to roast spuds in, horrendous to get a mouthful of.

Overall, massively disappointing. A Sydney institution? Well, after eating here once, you’ve my permission to put me in a Sydney (mental) institution if I ever go back.

(Did you see what I did there? Comedy gold. I’m here all week folks, try the veal).

(Review from Jun 2011)