Healthy Food: Madam Char Char

Friday, July 29, 2011

Taste Test: Madam Char Char catering of Pork Roast and sides (16 July 2011)

285a Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
http://www.madamcharchar.com.au

Bringing sexy (roasts) back!

Thanks to Damien aka Damo from Madam Char Char for providing me a Pork Roast ($95, serves 12-15 people), Jumbo sized salad ($85, serves 20-25 people) and Roasted Vegetables ($20, 2 large containers) to taste test with a few friends. The pork roast was well-wrapped in a huge amount of foil which probably could have been reshaped as a NASA satellite. The meat was tender and moist as hoped although the highly anticipated pork crackling even though tasty with fennel seeds could have been more a lot crunchy in parts. So I cut it away from the meat and placed it under a hot griller for few extra minutes making it perfectly crunchy to everyones liking. The pork roast came with a large container of apple sauce which was good but way too much. Not wanting to waste it I ended up making some cocktails with it which worked out really well. There was also a lot of gravy left over but no one seemed keen for a gravy cocktail. I think the size of the pork roast could have fed about 15-18 people quite comfortably unless they're all footballers or gym junkies.

The jumbo sized salad was massive for my group of only 12 people which could have feed at least twice as many as found out so there was plenty of left overs. It included three types of salads all combined in the one container but my preference would have been if they were supplied separately. I really enjoyed the Smashed potato salad with soft egg, crispy bacon, crunchy gherkins and aioli. The Roasted vegetables ($10 per large container) were popular although one container might have been just enough for my group but kept well as leftovers. If slow pork belly isn't quite your thing then apparently they also can cook a 7 hour slow boneless leg of lamb with pan juices or 12 hour braised beef blade with horseradish cream but be sure to order 24 hours in advance. There's also plenty of other interesting salads and side options to choose from the extensive catering menu online.

Other visits to Madam Char Char:
• 16 July 2011 - Pork roast catering with salad and roasted vegetables

• 13 Nov 2010 - Roast chicken and salad

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: No need to cook and prepare food to impress your friends, Delivery was on time, Interesting salads with flavour, Tender and moist pork roast meat

CONS: Crackling could have been much crunchier but after grilling separately turned out excellent, Would have preferred salads to be divided into separate containers rather than provided all together, Oversupply of gravy and apple sauce

MUST TRY: Using up the apple sauce to make cocktails

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Madam Char Char catering delivery of pork roast ($95), jumbo salad ($85), roasted vegetables ($20) and delivery ($30)

Pork roast ($95, serves 12-15 people)

Salads: Quinoa, with chickpeas, roast eggplant, toasted nuts and basil; Smashed potato salad with soft egg, crispy bacon, crunchy gherkins and aioli, Peas and Beans with currants, pinenuts, za’atar and feta ($85, serves 20-25 people)

Roasted vegetables ($10 per large container)

Tahini dressing and Black olive dressing included with salad

Apple sauce included with pork roast

Making the pork crackling better

Cut off pork crackling, place under griller with maybe a bit of extra salt and cook on high for about 10 minutes until perfectly crunchy

Some extra time under the griller makes it all worthwhile

Super crunchy pork crackling the way Mother Nature intended

Making cocktails from apple sauce

Leftover apple sauce being used to make cocktails

Apple Cocktail made with blended apple sauce, ice, Balibu and Barcadi

Apple & Strawberry Mocktail made with blended fresh strawberry, apple sauce, apple & mango juice and ice

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Friday, November 12, 2010

Madam Char Char: Chicken and Salads, Surry Hills (13 Nov 2010)

285a Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
http://www.madamcharchar.com.au

Fresh and interesting salads

'Madam Char Char is shameless, brazen and bashful. We want to seduce you, we want to satisfy you, we want to stimulate your senses and tempt you with our feast of fresh, bold and delicious flavours and textures'

Madam Char Char apparently do a roaring trade of around 700 burgers a week but it's the Quarter Roast Chicken with 3 salads ($14.90) that brings me in for the first time today. The Lilydale free range chickens are either roasted or cooked portuguese style and there's a variety of $1 sauces to choose from to add more flavour. I love a good potato salad and the Smashed potato salad with crispy bacon, crunch gherkins and soft egg is what I was hoping for. I really enjoyed the taste of the gherkins in it if you're lucky to get some — they seemed few and far between. The Marinated cauliflower and broccoli with hazelnuts, feta, seeded mustard and herbs was an interesting collection of flavours — I think one of the herbs might have been mint but I can't be sure. The Peas and beans [broccoli] with currants, feta, pinenuts and zaatar kept being named with 'beans' but I'm thinking they must have meant broccoli as I couldn't find any beans ie green beans in the salad. It had some lovely bold flavours and the peas were nice and sweet.

I've been told their most popular burgers are The Foodie ($14) which has lean beef, caramelised onions, crispy prosciutto, gruyere, green apple and beetroot relish & aioli which sounds like a very flavoursome burger and the Little Lambie ($14) containing 7 hour lamb, caramelised onions, rocket, aioli and nan's relish. Service was efficient and friendly although the narrow customer service area makes it a little hard to see what's available when it's crowded — hence a little customer cha-cha-cha might be required. I wish a place like this existed closer to my home.

Other visits to Madam Char Char:
• 16 July 2011 - Pork roast catering with salad and roasted vegetables

• 13 Nov 2010 - Roast chicken and salad

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Freshly made and interesting salads, Moist and tasty chicken, Interesting burgers, Efficient staff, Cakes and salads made on site, Quality ingredients, Catering available

CONS: Limited and tightly packed seating, Narrow area in front of service counter, More expensive than your regular charcoal chicken or burger shop

MUST TRY: All the salads

NEXT TIME: Chocolate Brownie, Little Lambie burger, The Foodie burger, Portuguese Chicken

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