Lucky Suzie

The last time I visited Lucky Suzie (then called Lazy Suzie), I tried sweet brunch items. This time, I decided to order some more substantial dishes to share with friends and give a more well-rounded review. The menu is very small - consisting of only a few items for brunch, a few more for more plates for sharing and a choice of two desserts - but the drinks list is long and wonderful.

Malaysian Fried Chicken with Salted Egg Aioli, $16

Lightly spiced with chili flakes, these crumbly, succulent, juicy chicken pieces are delicious, especially when paired with salted egg aioli. There is a choice of three dipping sauces, but I highly recommend the salted egg aioli. Salted egg is an Asian delicacy which can be paired with both sweet and savoury dishes, and the oily, slightly-nutty flavour of the salted duck egg always manages take any dish to the next level.

Spicy Green Papaya Salad, $14

Refreshing yet un-noteworthy, the spicy green papaya salad is not the star of the meal, but earns its place on the table as a great palate-cleanser. Lucky Suzie also allows you to pick the level of spicyness, which is a bonus for wusses like me.

DIY Pork Baos, $35 with 4 baos, extra baos at $2.50 each

This is probably the highlight of the meal. A very generously-sized portion of pork, complete with thick, oily skin, is served with fluffy, slightly-sweet white 'baos'. Kind of like Peking duck, the idea is that you carve pieces of meat and place pack them, sandwich-style, into the baos. You can choose to be as light or heavy-handed with the condiments as you like; and the meat is so tender that they almost fall off the bone. If I were to make any suggestions, it would be that they could have been a little more generous with the cucumber - a slice of refreshing cucumber makes a crunchy, fresh difference to the tasting experience.

ABC #2, $14

I must admit, when the dessert first got served I was a little disappointed. The reason for my second visit at Lucky Suzie was their original ABC - a bright periwinkle-purple dessert creation topped with taro ice-cream; and instead we were presented with something green. ABC #2 is pandan-flavoured, and honestly despite my initial surprise I enjoyed it very much. The dessert is very typically-Asian. On a bed of shaved ice drenched in dark brown sugar syrup and pandan syrup sit sago, coconut-milk-drenched jellies, pandan noodles and a ball of pandan ice-cream. Pandan is a green plant which is used to colour many Asian desserts and has a lovely sweet flavour that is fragrant and beautiful. Although many elements of an Asian dessert may look artificial and strange, rest assured that most of the time the ingredients are perfectly natural. Pandan noodles (those green strings), for example, are made by mixing mung bean powder with pandan juice into a paste, which is squeezed into a bowl of iced water so that the mixture solidifies into noodle shapes. If you've never had pandan flavoured desserts, I would highly recommend that you try some - perhaps start off on familiar grounds at Messina. They make a beautiful pandan gelato.

Score: 4 / 5
Cost: approx $30pp excluding drinks
Address: 78 Stanley St, Darlinghurst 
Website: www.luckysuzie.com.au