Once upon a time, I was a part-time postgraduate student at Macquarie University.
Ok, I was supposed to be there full-time but life was too hectic for me to be in class all the time. I had old episodes of Friends to watch, I had Minesweeper to play and girls for me to pine over.
Keep in mind, this was before Macquarie Centre became a hub for all things delicious and way before Kin by Us opened a short distance from campus.
Friends, I would’ve had perfect attendance if Kin by Us was just down the road when I was studying:
Headed by My Kitchen Rules alumni Uel and Shannelle, KIN by us offers an Asian influenced cafe menu. Think congee, pork floss and soft shell crab alongside usual cafe fare like avocado on toast, eggs and premium coffee from Reuben Hills.
The menu changes often utilising seasonal produce so it’s best to go often.
Spoiler alert: I’ll be back.
But first, let me take you back to what I had:
With Mardi Gras around the corner, I thought I’d have myself a bit of a Gaytime.
Heh.
Rich, creamy and filled with signature Gaytime flavour, this was an absolute delight to slurp on.
It was like a mardi in my mouth.
Named after the most expensive Magic the Gathering card ever printed (if you didn’t know I had er…nerdy tendencies by now then here’s some more evidence), the Black Lotus belongs in any deck as it grants its user an additional three mana leading to amazing tempo.
Wait, whoops, I should’ve been talking about the food.
An island of black sticky rice with a roasted fig rests in a coconut milk ocean awaiting you to captain your spoonboat through it.
Huh, where does that rank in terms of worst analogies ever? Anywho, it’s like coconut porridge that’s enhanced with the sweet and chewy fig.
It’s delightfulness isn’t a fig-ment of your imagination; it’s a reality.
This is going to bring out your shellfish side as once you crab onto this, you’re not going to want to share.
The soft shell crab is super crunchy and breaks apart easily like a marriage in Las Vegas. The combination of chilli and tomatoes gave the linguine a sweet/spicy dynamic that I was huge fan of. Throw in the zest of the accompanying wedge of lime and you’ve got something worthy of being in the lime-light.
You know how every now and again I venture into hyperbole to try and illustrate how much I like a dish.
We’re about to go into that territory once again.
Hold up, this dish is so good it deserves a second photo:
This dish reminded me of Hainanese chicken rice, except Hainanese chicken rice went on Extreme Makeover and the folks on the show had an unlimited budget. Steamed chicken? Nah, let’s fry that up and add some crackling. No egg? Let’s fix that and throw in a soft boiled onsen egg with gooey yolk. You know what, you’re lacking some colour? Let’s throw some peas in that bad boy.
Voila, Hainanese chicken rice on steroids and the only effects are supreme flavour and one of my favourite breakfast dishes of all time.
Sorry Taylor and every cafe in Sydney with a fried chicken breakfast dish, Im’ma let you finish, but this really is one of my favourite breakfasts of all time.
Snap whatever you’re doing, get crackling and plop your behind on a seat inside KIN by Us.
Here’s the TL;DR for everyone who knows that KIN by Us is the KIN-G of brunch in Macquarie:
– Shout outs to My Kitchen Rules for giving these guys a platform to display their talents; the only rules in my kitchen are that I’m not allowed to cook in there. Sigh.
– Uel definitely enjoy the Snap Crackle Plop and all the other awesome dishes. Sorry, had to.
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KIN by Us, Macquarie Park
1a/2 Saunders Close
Opening Hours:
Monday to Saturday: 7am to 3pm
Closed on Sunday
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