Hello Everyone and a very warm welcome back to an all new Review Sunday! It’s been a while now since I’ve done a review on the blog, and it’s mainly because I’ve been travelling around Australia the past month with my family. Not only was time a bit short on my hand, I didn’t have much places that I wanted to review anyway. Now that I’ve sort of settled down a bit from travelling, I’ve been visiting/revisiting some of my favourite eatery spots in and around Sydney. That’s probably one of the many things I will miss about Sydney, the food diversity it has to offer.

About a week ago or so, my friend Sophia was organising a Food meet up and asked for suggestions on what kind of cuisine we’d be up for. Since the meet up was on the 4th of July, I suggested we go out and have some American food to kind of, but not really, celebrate Independence Day; and that’s what we did yesterday night at Surly’s. We caught up over good (but greasy) food and exchanged A LOT of laughs across the table, and even when we were out and about Surry Hills making our way to Gelato Messina for dessert.

I wasn’t evasedropping or anything, then again maybe I was since the music was ever so loud at the place, but this was how to conversation went at the table beside ours:

Aussie: Today is America Day right? Happy America Day!
American: It’s not ‘America Day’, we don’t call it America Day…
Aussie: Oh so what do you call it then?
American: It’s Independence Day.

I don’t know why I found that so funny – maybe because here it’s called ‘Australia Day’ but that is in fact it is the complete opposite of gaining independence. I’m not even American anyway so I don’t know why I was so keen on kind-of celebrating 4th of July. I’d probably call myself faux-merican just because when I first arrived here in Australia, people always assumed that I was from America because of my ‘accent’ – sorry what accent? I always thought that Australian’s had an accent while I was perfectly normal. Anyway, there was one guy who went all specific and said to me, “you sound like you’re from California”.

STARTERS: NACHOS
Cheesy jalapeño ($10.00)

What can I say? Chips, really yummy cheese, and jalapeños. ‘Nuff said. $10.00 might’ve been a tad bit too much to charge for just these though. I don’t really like jalapeños as well so it was just basically chips and cheese for me, but still good!

STARTERS: WINGS
Buffalo hot wings served with carrot and celery sticks and ranch ($12.00)

I remember looking at the menu before heading to Surly’s that night and when I saw buffalo wings on the menu, I knew I was going to get a side of these for sure. When we got to Surly’s and we were deciding on what dishes to get to share with everyone, I asked which of the wings they wanted from a choice of either Buffalo Hot Wings or House BBQ Wings. Natalie tad me that Sophia doesn’t really eat hot/spicy things, but said that she would need to eventually since she’d be going to Thailand with her. So I said, “hot wings it is – this can be her training for Thailand”. The wings were good and had a good amount of heat, didn’t really like the ranch sauce, more of a blue cheese sauce person when it comes to buffalo wings, but the majority of the table voted for ranch. The only thing I didn’t quite comprehend was ‘served with carrot and celery sticks’; we had just one stick of each…

FRIED CHICKEN: 6 pieces with fries on the side ($25.00)

Okay I admit that when I saw 6 pieces and $25.00 together I was a bit confused like how and why so pricey for 6 pieces of fried chicken?! When the dish came to the table, it was not at all what I had in my mind – they were 6 enormous pieces of chicken, like as big as your face kind of big. I told everyone at the table that I wasn’t expecting the pieces to be so big, and then followed that sentence with, “oh that’s right, I forgot it’s American sized” and everyone started laughing. Also, when Sophia got this dish, she asked what were the other sides that we decided on for the other dishes because we all agreed that we’d get different sides to try them all. The sides that we hadn’t picked yet were fries and greens beans. I jokingly told Sophia to get the green beans just because it’d be funny to imagine the pairing of fried chicken with green beans! Anyway, funny backstory aside, the chicken was well cooked – tender and juicy on the inside, and a flavourful crust on the outside. A bit greasy but what even is fried chicken without the grease?

AMERICAN BBQ PLATES*: PULLED PORK
with BBQ beans and coleslaw ($15.00)

The pulled pork for me didn’t have much flavour to it to be honest, and I probably only had two small bites of this dish because of this; sorry but I wasn’t a fan. Also, it seemed kind of dissatisfying to see such tender good pork to be slopped on a plate just like that – at least put it in a sandwich or burger. Other than that, the BBQ beans tasted really good, and coleslaw, I mean, it’s just coleslaw to me. The cornbread was really good and I definitely think there should be more cornbread on the plate to go with the pulled pork I reckon!

AMERICAN BBQ PLATES*: PORK SPARE RIBS
with mac n’ cheese and potato salad ($20.00)

Sadly the pork ribs didn’t leave me wanting for more. Jialing agreed that the ribs lacked flavour beyond the outer layer of the meat and quote, “as if they didn’t marinate the ribs at all”. On top of that, the ribs were dry and not very tender. The sides were good though, but that’s basically all for this dish.

*All plates come with 2 sides (mac n’ cheese, coleslaw, BBQ beans, green beans, potato salad, or fries) and  homemade cornbread

The only thing that I wanted to try but completely forgot about ordering it when at Surly’s was their Philly Phil’z Philly Cheesesteak: Juicy grilled flank , grilled peppers and onions all glued together with provolone ($13.00) Man that sounds so good! Maybe next time? Well see – if I really REALLY need to go back for this dish.

The ambience of the place was pretty good actually, lots of space and pool tables on the upper floor for a nice game; not for me though because I don’t play (more like I don’t know how to play). The place was well lit, but not enough at night that is, for someone like me who takes pictures of food – we had to be ‘that kind of people’ who takes out their phone flashlight for a photograph. alright; not a place for a person who loves taking pictures. The music was really loud, so I wouldn’t suggest it if you want to catch up with friends and have deep long conversations or for a date; it’s more like a Friday night with your mates kind of place.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed exchanging laughs as I said earlier and ended up not having an itchy throat at the end of the night from raising our voice over the table. The service was really quick, when we returned to our tables, Jialing’s pork ribs came within 10 seconds upon sitting down, and I’m guessing on average we waited less than 15 minutes for all the meals to come to the table, which was less than waiting for Sophia to arrive at the place. I’d say a good value for money as well, but probably not for the BBQ plates in my opinion. Overall the food was okay – maybe good, but nothing out of this world; I’d probably rate it a 5 out of 10 just with some minor issues that I had with some dishes. Other than that, be sure to check out Surly’s with your mates for a round or two, or maybe more, of drinks and a game of pool – the place has a pretty sweet vibe for that kinda night out.

Surly’s
182 Campbell Street
Surry Hills, New South Wales
Australia, 2010

– Ally xx