kroniq reviews

China Yum Char

The other weekend I went to China Yum Char for lunch. I have been to a couple of yum cha restaurants now, but so far the one on Beach Rd in the city is my favorite.

It’s not the flashest place to dine, or the most modern, but they always have a seat when I turn up – without needing to wait. The place is split up into sections with 2 zones on the inside and another outside under a marquee-type setup. There is enough parking in the area and if you don’t think you will be too long you can even park free (at your own risk!) at the Countdown supermarket nearby.

The way yum cha restaurants work is that they wheel different types of food around and if you see something you like, you grab it. It can be beneficial to take along someone who is familiar with Chinese cuisine or can speak mandarin as some of the dishes are a little hard to identify. China Yum Char offer a lot of different foods so you will most likely find several dishes which appeal to you. Sometimes you might not get a specific dish which you had last time, but that’s also what makes this type of dining a bit of fun – it can be full of surprises!

As long as you have selected a dish which appeals to you, then you will find the food is well prepared and tastes good. The many people walking around with food only take enough to go around part of the restaurant, this results in the food always being hot/warm and you know it hasn’t been sitting around for extended periods of time.

On average you will be looking at spending about $15-20 per person. This will include tea and a good selection of different foods. You tend to keep eating more food until you are left feeling full and satisfied.

It’s a great place to take people for a delicious variety of food for a reasonable price.

Premises:
Selection:
Quality / Taste:
Cost:
Overall:

Banzai Sushi

Can you believe that I had never even tried sushi until a few months ago, now I can’t get enough of the stuff. I have eaten sushi from a few different places now, but the number of different places offering sushi in Auckland is unbelievable. This review is on Banzai Sushi located at 213 Symonds St, Newton, Auckland City.

They are located on the corner of Symonds street and Newton Rd. There are one or two parking spaces on the street if your lucky, but for me it’s walking distance, so don’t take the car when visiting this place. They have plenty of seating inside which is good, because it can get quite busy in there at lunchtimes.

Upon entering, you are greeted with a food display cabinet with dozens of different types of sushi. After grabbing your plate and personal serving tongs you move along selecting individual pieces of sushi which take your fancy. You have to be careful as there are so many different flavors which all look delicious. As you near the end with the counter you smell the final selection of sushi which has been deep fried and served hot. You must try one of these. All of the different sushi types are continuously being restocked by freshly made versions as they begin to sell out.

The sushi itself is well constructed. Other sushi I have tried can fall apart if you try to eat it in more than one mouthful, this stuff generally remains intact. The volume of ingredients is consistent as is the total portion. I have been here several times and have not once been disappointed. The sushi tastes excellent. Some flavors might not be for you, but as there is so much to choose from you will not be left out.

As they sell each item individually, the cost is slightly higher than other places. Each sushi can cost from just over a dollar to above two dollars per unit for the more fancy stuff. This however has not been a stopping factor for me. The quality of the sushi and the range is worth every cent. I am also a big fan of mixing and matching, I never get more then one type of the same sushi.

Premises:
Selection:
Quality / Taste:
Cost:
Overall:

A packet of Mi goreng Satay noodles

I can pretty much guarantee that everybody has eaten noodles before, it’s one of those foods which everybody can eat. They can be good for a snack or fleshed out to be a whole meal. Below I review Indomie Instant Noodles – Mi goring Satay and decide where they site in the noodle hierarchy.

Lets start with the main factor – taste. Most packets of instant noodles some with a single sachet of flavoring, these noodles set the bar a lot higher. Indomie include 5 – yes, five packets of flavoring! You mix these all in together and you end up with noodles which go beyond the standard boring flavor of regular instant noodles.

The texture of the noodles is good too. I have had some instant noodles in the past which had a slightly more rubbery feel, but these ones are fine. The thickness of them is slightly thinner than some other brands but only by a fraction.

The noodles come in an 80g packet. Once cooked it works out to be a good sized snack but falls short of a meal. The graphic on the packaging shows a possible serving suggestion which includes other foods, this would be required if you wanted to turn this into a proper meal sized portion.

A single packet will set you back $0.59 at your local supermarket, which is actually one of the cheapest brands of noodles available.

Taste:
Texture:
Quantity:
Price:
Overall:

Red Bull Energy Shot

I drink my fair share of energy drinks and have to admit that Red Bull is not my first choice when faced with a purchasing decision. That decision however was taken out of my hands last night as I was given a free bottle of Red Bull Energy Shot.

The Energy Shot is a 60ml bottle of concentrated, non-carbonated Red Bull. You can put the entire contents of the bottle into your mouth in one quick gulp, hence it being a “shot” – good for a quick fix, not so much if you want to savor the flavor. It turned out that was a good thing, the drink tastes awful. I often hear the taste of Red Bull being compared with medicine, but on this occasion I would have preferred the medicine. I don’t know if it was because it’s concentrated or the lack of bubbles, but it didn’t leave any nice before, during or aftertaste. While I am not a huge fan of their original drink, it does taste better than this version.

Did it have an effect? Red Bull have all sorts of wild claims about what their drink will do for you, sadly I didn’t really feel any difference whatsoever.

As I mentioned earlier I got this drink free, but normally you would expect to pay $3.99 at your local supermarket which is slightly more expensive than their 355ml can.

Size:
Flavor:
Effect:
Price:
Overall: