Hello Auntie Marrickville — Restaurant in Sydney

We have been planning to visit this restaurant for a while now. I’m not sure where to start as there was so much to love about this place, but also so much that could do with improvement. Upon arrival we were seated promptly. The atmosphere was nice and comfortable, not too loud and could easily have a conversation at normal speaking levels. Our order was taken promptly and with a smile. Unfortunately this is where the problems began.

It was fairly busy for a Thursday night. The kitchen was pumping away and the food was being placed on the passé under the heat lamps. We had ordered a serving of won ton and spring rolls for entree. 10, 15, 20 and eventually 30 minutes passed and still no food on our table. By this point we were starting to get slightly annoyed. We noticed that a serving of spring rolls had been sitting on the passé for at least 15 minutes under heat lamps. Eventually my dinner partner requested an update on our meal and the waiter returned to say it would be another 3 minutes. 5 minutes passed and the spring rolls that had now been sitting there for 20 minutes were collected and served at our table. We relayed our concerns to the waitress who offered to remove the spring rolls from the bill and apologised for the mix up.

At this point I was quite perplexed at the fact that food was being allowed to sit under heat lamps for this long, all the while wait staff were running up and down straight past the food seemingly ignoring the fact that it was all sitting there. There was also no urgency from the chef or kitchen staff in alerting the wait staff as to why the food had not been served.

Eventually the waitress returned and said they would make a fresh dish of spring rolls and that it would be complimentary. The spring rolls were crispy, not to oily and the truffle flavor was quite prominent. All in all we were happy with them.

The won ton dish was quite underwhelming and the most disappointing aspect of the meal. The dish felt like an anomoly amongst a string of impressive dishes to follow. As for flavor the wontons tasted like ravioli style pasta in a less than impressive satay style sauce. At $24 a serve it is an unmemorable, dull and confused dish that I would not reccomend.

Fortunately our spirits were lifted with the Bhan Khot. A group of fragrant turmeric and coconut pikelets presented on a skillet. A fun dish packed with some complex flavours that delivers some traditional Vietnamese textures and tastes.

For mains we decided on the Com dac biet. A traditional Vietnamese meal of rice with bbq pork served with a house made shredded pork rind, chicken loaf and house made pickles. This was a solid dish with a generous serving size. The pork rind was some of the best I have eaten in Sydney and the bbq pork cooked perfectly.

All in all, there are many things to love about this restaurant and a few small issues that could make or break a night. The staff were extremely apologetic and comped the spring rolls and the dessert. It may have been an off night but I would reccomend this restaurant based on the quality of...

VIETNAMESE DINING - One of the OGs of Sydney!

Hello Auntie, Marrickville

As far as I'm concerned, Marrickville's Hello Auntie and the man behind it all Chef Cuong was one of the very first to bring a spotlight to Vietnamese cuisine in Sydney's dining scene. Nowadays, you can find "Asian dining" just about everywhere. It's cool walking into one of the OGs though. This place was absolutely PUMPING on a Satdee night. The thing I love about the menu is it doesn't try hard to be "fusion" or "modern" or anything like that. Some dishes are purely Vietnamese. Phở dặc biệt (beef noodle soup). Mì gà gion (crispy skin chicken noodles). Both well-priced by the way. It's just Vietnamese food done well. The hero dish here, the one that you'll see on almost every table, is their Bánh xèo, the big yellow crispy crepe, flavoured with coconut and turmeric, filled with bean sprouts, mung beans and your choice of meat. You wrap it in salad and dip it in fish sauce. It's a good one, absolutely!

The creativity peeps it's head though. I love their version of the beet tartare. They have grilled skewers of lamb and prawn, but with cool sauce blends like some sort of chilli sate brown butter. There's a hummus-looking dip which turns out to be mung bean, a prominent ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine. That's served with warm house- baked mung bean bread too. For a restaurant that's been in Sydney's dining space for as long as Hello Auntie, I think it's very respectable to see them continue to do their thing and pave the way for more Vietnamese and wider Asian representation in restaurants that don't necessarily fit the classic "cheap and cheerful" mould. On ya, Auntie! Expect to...

After a long time not having ventured into the city i was coaxed from my southern hideaway by my dining partner Loretta to come to the big smoke and have a super long and lazy lunch.

We actually had other plans but booked too late and decided to hit up one of the “to go” places on my list of restaurants.

I actually found out about Hello Auntie through Sydney Weekender and was impressed with the TV segment. The restaurant is located in bustling Marrickville and my tip of the day is to grab parking in the nearby Woolworths car park. Otherwise good luck with street parking.

Hello Auntie pitches itself as “new school” Vietnamese food and the restaurant is true to this vibe with a pleasant atmosphere and trendy decor.

The food we tried was very tasty and each dish had its own distinctive tast. The Vietnamese crepe was nice but maybe lacked a bit of filling. The BBQ chicken was also nice but not really a new school feel, actually much more traditional.

We both really enjoyed the eggplant entree and the house pickles were also very good.

We washed the fare down with a ginger beer and a mock-tail; both were very nice and the mock-tail very well presented.

Price wise it’s a little on the pricier side for this type of experience but for just on $100 we were both very satisfied with little left over.

Lastly I have to mention the amazing waitstaff. The young guy we had was super friendly and put up with our stupid questions like “what’s better, the chicken or the pork?” Lol. Thanks for your great service!

I would come here again however I feel that some of the items on the old menu may have been more to my taste.

Definitely worth giving it a go if you are in...