BBQ One- Eastwood

BBQ one is famous for their good quality chinese BBQ meats, and rather infamous for the terrible service. The owner lady isn't all that well mannered, the BBQ chopping guy shouts at you and the waiters not-so-subtly try to shoo you away once you've gotten through half your meal (like by moving your plate a quater of an inch...for no good reason). Nevertheless, it still always busy with heaps of customers, as a result of the quality of their food. No other barbecue shop in Eastwood has ever managed to compete with it.

A couple of months ago, it FINALLY opened a new restaurant in the shopping centre in eastwood. New waiter, new chefs, new restaurant....but the service was just as bad! With its new opening (or not so new anymore), we had to try it.......just as a comparison. We walked past the original shop, which was still up and running, and as busy as ever towards. The other restaurant was much bigger and brighter. The food looked the same, but we were curious to find out more.

The waiter speedily writes down our order, speed walks away and quickly, the complimentary soup is put down on our table. To me, the soup always tastes the same- it isn't anything special, and so I forget to take a picture until we've all finished out first bowl. Oops.


The speed is a big thing at BBQ one restaurant- we've only just finished the soup, and the first dish arrives. We ordered the two choices of BBQ meat with rice- in which we chose roast duck and 'crackling' roast pork. As always, the roast meat at BBQ One is delicious, especially when you eat it from the restaurant, as it is still fresh, crispy and hot. It goes well with the rice, which is flavoured with a bit of soy sauce. The first dish does not dissapoint and we are unable to notice any difference between the quality of food between the two restaurants.

Sweet and Sour pork remains one of my all time favourite chinese dishes. I have a love of fried foods and usually like some sort of sweetness in food (which is also why I love honey chicken!). Add to that the huge amount of onions and pineapple- there's no reason for me not to like this dish! I don't think I've ever come across a sweet and sour pork which I didn't like and this was no exception. The pork is hot and crunchy, and the sauce is nice and sweet. There's a mountain of rice lying just under the pork- a bit more too much rice (or maybe that's just because our family doesn't eat a lot of rice....)

This hot pot contains a lot of different ingredients - tofu, chicken, beef brocili, mushrooms etc. The pot comes boiling hot- the sauce is bubbling and continues to do so for a couple of minutes. It makes it hard to take photos as the steam keeps fogging up the lens (which I'm sure isn't a good thing!) It comes as no surprise that the food is hot- and so we need to carefully blow on it until it's cool enough to put in your mouth. Unless you're me and therfore too impatient to wait- in which case you'll end up burning your tongue- an experience which I am not unfamiliar with! The sauce it thick and goes well with the other ingredients- the tofu soaks up some of the sauce, as does the brocoli. The meat is very tender and there is quite a lot of it in the pot- it is a lot more filling than it seems!

Despite the fact that the food is quite good, there is a notable difference between the old restaurant and the new one (the old one is definitely better). However, there is less of a wait here which means that we will more likely to be dining here than there from now on =]

BBQ One

10/160 Rowe St Eastwood
NSW 2122
(02) 9874 5323