Petersham is a lovely Sydney inner city surprise. I first discovered its Portuguese food centre with a friend though old fashioned hearsay. After asking several locals for directions including one that suggested Oporto, we found the main area on New Canterbury Road.
Like many inner city surburbs, the main area of New Canterbury Road can be a bit misleading at first glance. It can give the appearance of being old and unkempt. However, the surburb of Petersham is pleasant and does not disappoint. The food is often good value for money. The many streets are lined with pretty houses with old fashioned charm. Best of all, unlike most inner city suburbs like Newtown, the time taken to find parking is usually a healthy five mins.
The food spot visited on this day was Petersham Charcoal Chicken.
This place is touted to be where the famous Portuguese charcoal-style chicken originated ( not Portugal!!). Sydneysiders are known to come from all over just to grab a bite. The evidence of this was clear when we got into the restaurant at 1230. A queue of six was already at the takeaway section and the actual sit down section of the restaurant was quickly filling up. For a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon, this was remarkable.
Looking through the drinks fridge to choose drinks often makes me feel like a kid in a candy house. I enjoy finding out a new range of drinks associated with different cuisines. Unfortunately, the choices here were a bit too normal- the common brand iced teas and soft drinks. The odd man out was a Portuguese sort drink called Sumol. However, upon my first sip, it was clear that it was similar to fizzy squash.
Our dishes ordered came in the following order:
1) Clams with garlic and butter. $16
The clams were in a large terracotta dish. It was a well sized portion and was buttered generously. Garlic was finely chopped and infused into the butter. All 3 of us were content with the dish. Simple but delicious. A good start.
Like many inner city surburbs, the main area of New Canterbury Road can be a bit misleading at first glance. It can give the appearance of being old and unkempt. However, the surburb of Petersham is pleasant and does not disappoint. The food is often good value for money. The many streets are lined with pretty houses with old fashioned charm. Best of all, unlike most inner city suburbs like Newtown, the time taken to find parking is usually a healthy five mins.
The food spot visited on this day was Petersham Charcoal Chicken.
This place is touted to be where the famous Portuguese charcoal-style chicken originated ( not Portugal!!). Sydneysiders are known to come from all over just to grab a bite. The evidence of this was clear when we got into the restaurant at 1230. A queue of six was already at the takeaway section and the actual sit down section of the restaurant was quickly filling up. For a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon, this was remarkable.
Looking through the drinks fridge to choose drinks often makes me feel like a kid in a candy house. I enjoy finding out a new range of drinks associated with different cuisines. Unfortunately, the choices here were a bit too normal- the common brand iced teas and soft drinks. The odd man out was a Portuguese sort drink called Sumol. However, upon my first sip, it was clear that it was similar to fizzy squash.
Our dishes ordered came in the following order:
1) Clams with garlic and butter. $16
The clams were in a large terracotta dish. It was a well sized portion and was buttered generously. Garlic was finely chopped and infused into the butter. All 3 of us were content with the dish. Simple but delicious. A good start.
2) Salads- tabouli and Greek salad.
One reader at eatability.com says that the salads are "very basic". I'm inclined to agree. The salads were not only basic but I thought that they were below standard of what I have tasted in ordinary takeaway shops.
The tabouli had too much parsley and not enough tomato to balance it out. It was also too salty and too sour for my liking. The Greek salad was not too bad and the fetta was generous. However, again it was too salty. I started to wonder if the Portuguese like salt a whole lot more than I do.
3) Tomato rice
There was not enough tomato taste in the rice for me to be able to blind taste it as tomato rice. Other than the salt, it tasted like ordinary rice. The salty theme was getting more defined
4) Portuguese chicken
This was the reason for the long queues. When it came to our table, it was 1.30 and the queues had only gotten longer.
I was very excited to try it. The chicken was nicely charcoal grilled on the outside. Genuine Portuguese chicken is flattened out when grilled on charcoal unlike it's counterfeits that are just grilled on the skewer without being flattened. Hence, a good Portuguese chicken I believe should have a nice smokey flavour all over the chicken.
This one did have a nice smokey flavour. However, I think it was over cooked and a bit too dry for my liking. An over-cooked chicken loses the sweetness of the chicken flavour as all the juices run out during grilling. Perhaps the chicken also needs to be smothered with more piri piri sauce with the sauce served as a side dip.
The meal came to a grand cost of $72 for three. This is pretty good considering that we were very full having over ordered (again) and got doggie bags for the leftovers. I can't reconcile the quality of food with the queues that come. However, for that price, I would consider coming back when in this part of town.
Being very full, our gluttony pushed us to a dessert place post lunch- Sweet Belem as featured in our next blog.
Other useful details-
Method of payment: Cash only
Service: Reasonable. It took a little long to get the bill
Seating: Simple. Seats next to the charcoal grill are a bit stuffy and hot.
2 comments:
at the risk of sounding snobbish, i would say that personally it's very difficult to please me with ang moh grilled/roast chicken or duck coz we've got such yummy asian ones! and when the frenchies go on and on raving about their roasted chicken/duck i'm like gosh they haven't tasted our roasted duck obviously! (and henri agrees yay ;D)
xxx
perhaps when your next in the area try their competition on the corner Silvas http://www.silvas.com.au to compare.
s :-)
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