Australian Fast Food!! 🇦🇺 TOP 5 CHEAP EATS in Sydney, Australia!
Australian Fast Food!! 🇦🇺 TOP 5 CHEAP EATS in Sydney, Australia! I'm in Sydney, Australia, and today I'm taking you on an ultimate Cheap Eats tour of Sydney. It's the fiery furnace. The coals are so hot. They're thick, they're hearty, they're boiled, and then stir-fried. Can't wait to try this.
Everyone's expecting it to be and more. Hey everyone, hope you're having an amazing day. It's Mark Wiens, and it's a beautiful morning in Sydney, Australia. So today we're going to be focusing on eating some of the greatest, some of the iconic legendary Cheap Eats of Sydney.
Australian Fast Food!! 🇦🇺 TOP 5 CHEAP EATS in Sydney, Australia!
We're beginning this cheap eats tour in Marrickville, and it's a little ways outside of the center of Sydney. There's a big Vietnamese population here, so the first place we're going is the original one of the most iconic banh mi sandwiches pork rolls in all of Sydney. And it used to be in this little tiny closet-sized shop right here, but then I think they expanded to the next door location. So now there's still a Juice Shop here, but the pork roll sandwich is next door.
The original with everything, pork roll. Yes, chili. Original with chili and crispy pork as well. Does it come with, oh, okay, maybe we can do two then, one is the pork roll and then one is the crispy pork. Okay, okay, thank you very much. How long have you been open here for? 13 years. 13 years. And was it originally, yeah, next door. It was originally next door, okay, but now juices are there and now you've moved here.
So the original Marrickville pork roll, this place is so iconic in Sydney. I mean, they're known for banh mi. Banh mi is so popular. People have just huge followings for banh mi, and this place is one of the places that started it all with the pork roll. They're actually really nice here, and then I decided to order two different versions. One is the original pork roll, which comes with all the Vietnamese ham and all of the different cold cuts, deli meats, and then another one, which is the crispy pork roll, which is more of a crispy pork belly which goes into the roll.
But one of the incredible things here is just this. They have this mountain of fresh herbs and vegetables and a small mountain of Pate. But there's coriander, there's onions, there's pickled carrots, there's mixed vegetables. It's an impressive display of all the toppings and ingredients, and I think one of the great things is they're so generous with the ingredients. They just pile things into your roll.
Okay, all right, thank you very much. Here we go, let's try. Let's see what we get first. Wow, that's heavy. That's fully packed, or it's huge. I think we're starting with the pork roll. The original bread is so crispy, and then it's big, but you can tell it's light at the same time. There's chilies, all the pickled vegetables, the carrots, the radish, the green onions, the coriander, and there's a variety of porks and Vietnamese hams, onions in there.
Um, oh, it's so good. It's so, there's so many toppings, so many things going on in there. Oh, nice chili in there. You got the freshness of the cucumber, the carrots, you got that pickle flavor, and then the combination, the bread is extremely crispy but so light and airy and puffy all at the same time. And then that combination of the Pate, the mayonnaise just makes the perfect moisture layer that just keeps it so juicy all the way through.
I'm gonna move. I mean, I've had the amazing banh mi in Saigon which are similar to this, but this is a little bit of the owner's their own style. I mean taking on that but then the way they make it, and that mountain of vegetables, oh, this is just a like absolute classic delicious. No wonder it's so highly rated. Why so many people love it. Dedicated to the pork roll here at Marrickville. Now we need to try the crispy pork. Come back up, let's do a switch. Thank you, so Mike has been, Michael's been already enjoying the crispy pork, crispy pork belly roll. Oh, look at the insides of that. So it has crispy pork belly loaded in there. There's also the Pate and mayonnaise mixture plus all the vegetables. Put some chilies in there, huge slices of cucumber, some Pac-Man mariners on my okay, we're definitely going to have a Pate mustache when you eat this.
But um, you have the smoky roasted flavor of the pork belly, a little bit of the crispy edges, and then all of the refreshing herbs as well. I love the cucumbers, thick cut and huge. One slice of cucumber fills the entire roll. A little bit of chili in there, you've got the acidity of the pickles which contrasts the richness of the pork belly, then all wrapped up in that crispy roll. Delicious. You can't go wrong a banh mi like this, a sandwich.
Okay, so it's like if you come here here, even if you're not hungry, like you'll still eat the whole thing and it will go down so easily. It's like deceivingly light and fluffy yet fulfilling. We're off to a great start. That was extremely tasty. We're moving on to the next cheap eat. Next up on this cheap eats tour of Sydney, we're in an area that's called Ashfield, and we're on our way to a kebab shop to eat something that is extremely iconic. This is one of the things I was most looking forward to eating in this entire food tour, and the kebab shop should be somewhere just down the road.
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Welcome to Metro One Kebab shop, and we are here to eat something called the Halal Snack Pack or HSP for short. Oh, so that hot meat melts the cheese based on Turkish cuisine but it's kind of a thing that was started right here in Sydney. It's an Australian, it's a like iconic takeout staple of Australia and especially in Sydney.
And so she starts with fries, chips that are fried, and that makes the base. You can choose, oh, one more thing is that you can choose from like eight different sizes all the way from kids' size to regular to large to nine-inch to 11-inch, 13-inch, 15-inch, pizza box, an entire pizza box of a Halal Snack Pack. I went with the large size, which is one of the classic sizes. But they start with a base of French fries, then I got the mix of meat, so a mix of chicken as well as beef, which she then griddle fries that goes over the fries, and then on top, three different sauces, the garlic sauce, the barbecue sauce, the chili sauce. All that is heavy. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Hot, warm, gooey, saucy. It's so heavy. Oh, I forgot about the cheese. There's cheese melted. Oh, there's so much going on. Oh, fully loaded. The cheese. Oh, oh, wow. Yes. Oh, that got everything. I was expecting it to be and more. Those hot, freshly cooked, crispy fries, the cheese, the layer of cheese, which I had totally forgotten about, just melted on top, the meat on the spit, then griddle fried, then draped all the kebab meats, and then all of those sweet and sour and slightly spicy sauces, the garlic chili sauce, the barbecue sauce. Oh, man, that's tasty.
One of the great things is that they cook it all hot and fresh, so much meat on top of it, so much cheese, so much sauces, it's moist, it's gooey. As we continue to eat this, I do want to tell you a little bit of a story of how this was invented and how it became so popular here in Australia because there are, I mean, around the world, I think there are variations that are similar to this but also a little bit different. From what I'm reading, a little bit about their history, it can be traced back to the 1980s.
You know, it has origins in Turkish food with the Middle Eastern community in Sydney that began, I mean, adapting to the local culture, adapting also to the European influence in Sydney to come up with this dish. But as the story goes, it wasn't until about 2015 there was a, there was actually a Facebook group here in Sydney called the Halal Snack Appreciation Society that began talking and creating a buzz around Halal snack packs, reviewing Halal snack packs, rating them, really bringing cultures together through this dish.
I think through the Facebook group, through the talking about Halal snack packs, it led one of the Australian Senators, Sam Dastyari, who was in the Australian Parliament, to hold the debate about Halal certification and halal food. And that's what's also created a buzz and created more of an awareness about Halal food in Sydney and the Halal snack packs. So here we are today, it is a staple, an iconic dish, something that you absolutely have to try when you come to Sydney.
The better it gets, the fries get a little soggier, saturated with the meat juice and sauces and the cheese oil. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Nice to meet you also. HSPs would be available at any, basically any kebab shop throughout Sydney that you can find like the place that we went to is called Metro One Kebab, highly recommended when I was doing research about the best HSP in Sydney, this consistently ranked as one of the best with a lot of loyal fans, customers, and now I can see why.
Huge portion sizes, good quality ingredients, really friendly service, it was outstanding and that entire box cost $20. But it's huge, and she did put two forks in it, so I think it could be considered for two people, it's a, it's a sharing Snack Pack, I would highly recommend it. Okay, we're moving on, we've got a lot more food to eat. Thank you.
Next up, we took the train out to an area of town that's called Granville. It was about a 30-minute train ride out of town into the suburbs of Sydney. And I wanted to especially come to the restaurant that we're going to, they have a few locations around town now, but I especially wanted to come out here because I believe this is where the original location is. Welcome to El Jannah, this restaurant is an institution in the city, started back in 1998, but they have multiple locations across town now.
And it's a Lebanese-Australian charcoal-roasted chicken is what you come here for, although they have fried chicken on their menu too. I believe it's developed, it's changed, it's almost run like a fast food restaurant now where you get all of your food at the front and they have some seating, a lot of takeaway orders, but you walk in here, you can immediately smell the aroma of that charcoal chicken.
Warning: you may eat more chicken than planned. That's perfectly normal. Okay, so we're getting an exclusive look in the grill room here at El Jannah. It's an amazing, I mean, they have capacity to do, how many chickens could you do at once here in one she's, wait, before four chickens per sheet? Yeah, it's busy, especially during weekends, old school, all full, yeah. Oh, look at that action, spring, when the fire gets too hot. And that's incredible, but there's three car-sized grills going down. It's just a fiery furnace, just the coals are so hot. And then they have an automatic rotisserie on a little engine that continuously spins them.
So that's how they get that incredible char on the skin, the smokiness, the fat drips down, and the smoke comes up and just embeds into the meat. Wow, what a, what a grill room. Oh, fresh chickens, okay. Oh, man, it was an honor to spend some time back here in the pits of El Jannah, the roasting chicken is unbelievable. That's a fresh batch, they're ready to be served. And so when you eat here, I mean, you're just guaranteed hot, fresh, charcoal-roasted chicken.
Thank you very much, thank you very much, thank you. Yeah, that charcoal chicken smells so good, and it's so cool that this place, El Jannah, is a fast food restaurant but it's its own homegrown restaurant right here out of Sydney, Lebanese in ethnicity and origin, but then truly developed right here in Sydney, Australia. That chicken looks incredible. Oopsie spilled the fries, and the fries, I believe come with their own chicken salt as well. We got pickles, we've got the garlic sauce, we got bread underneath it. Oh yes, look at that chicken, look at that skin, it's so bubbly and puffy and crispy.
Okay, I got half a chicken, so I got the breast and the thigh drumstick in one side. Oh, oh, should we just tear this open, it's so crispy. Oh, I bet it's so juicy and hot in the center. Let's just bite into it. Oh, wow, that's tasty, you immediately taste the flavor of the charcoal, the smoke in the chicken, the skin is so crispy, it's almost the crispiness of it being deep fried, it's actually because you have the fat reacting to that hot charcoal.
I think you taste a little bit of that chicken salt that maybe has been sprinkled well on the fries for sure, maybe a little bit on the chicken as well. Or did that happen when I spilled the fries, but anyway, it's just like a really clean, smoky chicken with crispy skin and with the meat leaving the meat really moist. Pickles, I've heard a lot of good things about the garlic sauce, and then let's tear in for a piece of bread, let's try that garlic sauce.
And I do remember being in Lebanon and eating the roast chicken, it always has to be eaten with garlic sauce and some of the greatest garlic sauce you'll ever eat in your life. Oh, with that garlic sauce, oh man, that's creamy, so rich, so fluffy, and creamy, dense actually. And then immediately you taste that garlicky aroma, while that's good with the roasted, smoky chicken. Next up, let's try it with bread. Try that chicken breast, break off a piece.
So moist and juicy in the center, add on some of these bright pickles, squeeze on a little bit of that garlic sauce. Oh, it's so thick, it's so thick, a piece of chicken got stuck in it from my last dip. Again, the smokiness of the cooking, the richness of that garlic sauce, and then I like it with the pickles, the acidity to just contrast to break down the richness of that sauce, all of the flavors complementing together. Excellent, okay, and now we do have the fries which are coated.
You can, if you look closely, you can see the fries are sprinkled with a special seasoning which I believe is a chicken salt which is quite famous here as well. Oh yeah, immediately it tastes like a combination of salt plus dry chicken powder seasoning coating the fries giving them a little bit of extra flavor to add to the full chicken, grilled chicken experience, charcoal chicken experience. Oh, even the chicken breast is nice and juicy, maybe dip it into the garlic sauce then into bread and then add pickles, and actually to make it even take it to the next level, you could definitely add some fries as well. Um, yeah, that's just, I mean, I think one of the reasons it's so popular is it's just a meal everybody can enjoy, everybody in the family. It's laid back, it's fast, it's fresh, it's tasty.
I already did mention they have a number of locations around Sydney, maybe even Australia, and they have some that are closer to town within the central business district, but I just have this thing especially when I travel, I love to go to the original location. I mean, even though the locations I'm sure they all pretty much have the same exact food, maybe the same taste, for me somehow coming to the original location gives it more meaning and more history, and then maybe the taste even is the best.
Thank you very much. So welcome to Central Sydney, we're right in the CBD as they call it, that central business district at town hall, and this is the I mean, the center of business, and this is where the heart of Sydney is. We are on our way to an area which is called Haymarket, which is known for its Asian population and its abundance of delicious Asian restaurants, which is, uh, should be right up ahead, and we're going to be at the next restaurant. Oh, I can smell the noodles, I can smell the dumplings. We're at the next place.
Yeah, so welcome to Chinatown Noodle Restaurant. This place is so iconic, and even as I was standing outside on the sidewalk for a little bit, I met a few local people who said this is their favorite place for noodles in Sydney. I love how the menu here is giant red on the wall, you could just see everything they have clear printed on the wall. This place is called Chinatown Noodle Restaurant. They're known for their noodles and their dumplings. Oh, she is the noodle, she was the noodle master, he'd be in the kitchen, we're gonna see them as they make the hand-pulled stretch the noodles.
Um, and they have the noodles in a coil already, and then she just like stretches it out with her fingers into a couple of different strands, but they're like very strategic. And now she's gonna, she's gonna hand-pull them, we're gonna see the process before they then get fried into the stir-fried noodles. For those noodles, she just slaps them out on the table, just releasing all of the air bubbles and just stretching them out, then they go directly into a bubbling walk, and they say they're gonna boil for about five minutes.
Uh, foreign, okay, that batch of noodles is ready, foreign, thank you very much, very good, butter donut, okay, that's the eggplant, okay, cheers, thank you very much. Okay, let's start with those noodles, fresh out of the walk, oh man, they're thick, they're hearty, they're boiled and then stir-fried, that sauce, chicken bell peppers in there, wow, oh man, I love these all noodles already but they really slide in the chopsticks.
Okay, and you can actually hear them in the kitchen, they're slapping out the noodles fresh, they boil and then stir fry, oh wow, oh, that's so good, oh man, the doughy gooeyness of the noodles, the texture, the thickness, the hardiness, and then stir-fried in extremely hot oil, so they have that smokiness, that breath of the walk to them with the seared soy sauce, so fragrant, that's so good, um, oh wow, that's everything I thought it was going to be, delicious.
I will stick some of this onto my plate though and then I will season with some chili oil, oh yes, bump up that chili, oh yes, oh wow, put the extra chili oil that texture, that flavor is incredible, okay, braised eggplant, oh, huge pieces of eggplant braised, let's just fall apart, it looks like they're melting, oh look, if you squeeze all the eggplants, literally just, just melting and it's melting in my chopsticks, it's falling apart, oh, that's hot, wow, you should not put an entire piece of eggplant in your mouth at once, in farm, Dutch eggplant on fire, um, but it literally just melts in your mouth, but it's crispy on the edges and then the inside is so gooey with disintegrate, and then it's a little bit sweet, so it's that sugar that's just been caramelized, that is really soft and tender and really tasty, oh man, more chili oil to my bowl and then some vinegar.
And the hot fresh steamed dumplings or boiled dumplings have arrived, give this a nice bath and chili, chili and vinegar, here's our hearty dumplings, chives, pork, thick, meaty, doughy wrappers that are so like warming, oh, that's fully loaded, that's so tasty, and then have some tea, and then the final dish we got is dumpling soup with that broth, a rich chicken broth, and then there's those dumplings in there, probably those same dumplings but then soup form. That's a comforting, soothing bowl of goodness, um, oh yeah, that's just like, that's just like pure comfort.
But the noodles and the dumplings and the eggplant were all delicious and this place, Chinatown Noodle Restaurant, just so homey, so local, so community and family feeling, yet so delicious. Moving on, we're gonna continue to eat. Last but not least, I'm still kind of full from all the noodles and dumplings but I wanted to end up this Cheap Eats tour of Sydney with something sweet, with something iconic, with something that's like one of the ultimate food snacks of Sydney, and we're on our way to get it right now.
Okay, welcome to Cow and the Moon Gelato, and this place is especially famous for their salted caramel flavor. When they won the award for the best gelato in the world, they had lines, the line went all the way around the corner, so we've come at the right time, but also on the weekends, the line, there's a line outside and it can go down the block.
But let's go inside, they're also known for their ricotta and fig flavor. Oh, it's a beautiful, beautiful display, look at those flavors. This is Cow and the Moon Gelato, and they have a beautiful display case, there's an abundance of flavors, I mean, they all look incredible. I think what we're especially here for today is the salted caramel flavor, which is so iconic, which is one so many awards, and then the ricotta and fig flavor is one of their signature flavors as well. And maybe we'll get a third flavor just to try something else out. Let's see.
Oh, thank you. All right, I got three flavors. I got the salted caramel, which is one of their, I think their most famous, iconic flavors. Oh, it's like so soft, it's like a pillow, so smooth, so velvety, yet it has this like, this rich, intense flavor of caramel with that salty balance. That's like everything. Oh, yes. That's a comfort food in a scoop of ice cream.
Next up, I got the ricotta and fig. It's actually a little bit more intense than I was expecting. You really taste that milky creaminess of the ricotta with the little seeds, the little crunchy seeds of the fig, like a wonderful combination, so creamy, so smooth, yet with the texture of the fig seeds. That's beautiful, that's really unique. And then finally, just to try something else, I got a scoop of the coconut pandan, which looks a little bit like green, almost like mint.
Oh, that's a surprise, a refreshing surprise. The coconut is the primary flavor with a little bit of that earthy, like vanilla undertone from the pandan leaves, and then the coconut itself just so light, so refreshing, like a tropical breeze. I think I have to go back to that salted caramel though. It's just, it's just like so comforting, so familiar, so good. Oh man, that's like, that's like a big warm hug in a scoop of ice cream.
That concludes this ultimate Cheap Eats tour of Sydney, Australia, and what a food adventure, what a food journey, what an honor and pleasure it has been to eat all of these iconic Cheap Eats. I want to say a big thank you for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you did, leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you. Also make sure you subscribe for lots more food and travel videos. Goodbye from Sydney, and I'll see you on the next video. Cheers from Sydney, Australia. Peace.