Vons Chicken

I've been very keen to relieve my memories of Korean fried chicken (+/- optional Korean beer - the only kind of beer I can actually drink without instant regret) since our Korean trip 3 months prior. I wanted to come here with my friends for a friend's birthday but that plan went down the drain. Funnily enough my brother suggested that we should try this place on the same day I would've gone to it had I had my way hahahaha. We were going to opt for street parking but we couldn't be bothered paying the 10 minutes to cover us till the parking time limit expires or risk a fine. We parked at the Centro shopping centre and walked over to the restaurant.

When we looked at the menu, 2 items stood out: the golden fried chicken and the hot barbeque chicken. The person that took our order told us that it'll be around 20-25 minutes for the barbeque chicken and the fried ones should be ready in around 10 minutes. We were okay with that as we thought that they were reasonable waiting times.

I feel like I'm about to perform a surgery

At the till they provide a box of plastic gloves, a tub wet wipes and serviettes. I was looking forward to getting messy! Each table also has a bucket for handy chicken bones disposal.

*Doing an excited chicken dance*

 It wasn't too long after we placed our order that they brought out a spoon and fork each, followed with the rice and the fried chicken. We were about to start on the fried ones when they brought out the roasted ones too. Now that's good timing!

To be honest, the fried chicken was disappointing. I expected this crunchy KFC-like batter slathered with a sweet and spicy sauce like the ones we had in Seoul. To me the fried chicken just tasted salty with a hint of the sweet soy sauce at the end. It was crispy but not crunchy. I quite liked the roasted chicken though. The sauce was nice and spicy but it kind of reminded me of Tony Roma's ribs sauce (in a good way). Both chicken were cooked well and were moist inside. I started putting some of the hot sauce onto the fried chicken and it worked really well! My brother and I agreed that they should make that a new menu item.

WICB? Probably not. They were nice chicken but nothing to write home about. Maybe I'm a bit biased with comparing it to the ones we had in Seoul but I had higher expectations. I'll probably try this recipe by Maangchi though the next time I crave some Korean fried chicken - my sister said that it's fairly easy and the results were definitely drool worthy! *wipes drool away*

The Colour Run + Raymond's Cafe

On Sunday 2nd Nov, my friends and I participated in The Colour Run (more like the colour walk for us but you get the idea). It was great fun but we were disappointed that we didn't manage to get more colour on us. I think if we do it again we'll cover ourself head to toe with the colourful powder and make sure not to miss the final festival where everyone released their powder packet at the same time. The cleaning station afterwards was pretty intense as I got 2 big blows to my face with a leafblower but at least I was clean afterwards!

After the event, we all went to get some brunch at Raymond's Cafe. It's a nice cozy cafe that I would love to visit more often if I lived closer. They had old records on the wall, magazines from the 70s and utensil holders covered with the likes of ABBA and Rod Stewart.

I was tossing up between the pulled pork roll + coleslaw with dill pickle and potato crisps or the zucchini fritters + poached eggs + avocados + beetroot relish + some-sauce-I-can't-remember-now. We all wondered what they meant by 'potato crisps'. I was glad that I stuck to my original choice of zucchini fritters as potato crisps didn't mean some fancy-cut potatoes, it was literally that - original flavoured chips - it was different but in a good way I guess. The roll was quite nice apparently.

Picture taken from their Facebook page as I didn't get one of my own

I don't know if the smiley face was intentional but it's cute

I was glad that we were still able to order from the breakfast menu as my zucchini fritters were sooooo good. The eggs were perfectly runny, the fritters had a nice balance of textures and flavours and I can never complain with avocados and beetroot! The sauce also added a nice tang to it. I felt like that there wasn't enough to satisfy my post-Colour-Run hunger but would've been just the right size for breakfast. My friends ordered the smoked salmon with poached eggs + capers + avocados + feta on toast. One of them said that the smoked salmon was kind of sour (don't know if it was meant to be like that?) but other than that it was good.

You can just about see the salmon under the eggs

WICB? Yes! It's slightly far for me to come here often but I wouldn't mind coming back here to catch up with friends. The owner lady was very lovely and made the place all even more welcoming. I think next time I want to try something from their amazing glass cabinet section.