[FOOD REVIEW] Mr Crackles, Darlinghurst

Last Saturday, my sister and I decided to walk to Mr Crackles (155 Oxford St, Darlinghurst) from Hyde Park because we thought, why not? It was a bit windy but we thought we'd like to do some exercise just to make ourselves feel better haha!

After all the hype about this on Instagram, I couldn't help but decide to try the Crackles Classic ($12) which was a roll containing exactly four pieces of crispy pork with Vietnamnese salad. It was basically a crispy pork belly version of a pork roll. It has all the carrots and lettuce pork rolls are stuffed with and a nice creamy sauce to complement it with. It tasted pretty nice but personally, it was a bit hard to eat without me being scared everything was going to fall out haha. There isn't much seating here as well so I was really glad that we at least had a place to sit and eat this. Not to mention, I'm a very messy eater and so not being able to fit and fully enclose the meat into the roll made it really annoying for me. Also, the crispy pork didn't taste very dense. It tasted like shredded pork which I'm not a fan of. In addition, the crispy skin was more hard than crunchy so it was rather disappointing. 

Personally, I think if Flemington is near you, it would be much more worth it and satisfying to purchase your own crispy pork and make a roll yourself because their pork is filled with its' juicy flavour and it's really crunchy! The saltiness varies from time to time but it's generally not overpowering and you'd always be able to enjoy the lovely whole texture of the pork.

My sister decided to go for the dive and try the Lamb Roll ($12) instead which had caramelised onions. I never thought I would say this, but I seriously thought this was overflowing with shredded lamb. It didn't have much veggies or sauce to really bring out the soft and delicious lamb. I really like lamb but I think it was a bit overpowering. Pretty average.

While we were at it, we picked up some Sweet Potato Wedges with Chilli Aioli ($7.50). These were really thick wedges! I think these could've been better though. The saltiness on the outside of the wedges didn't complement with the sweetness of the sweet potato. It felt like two completely distinctive flavours rolling around in my mouth as if I ate sweet potato and some fries at the same time. It tasted better with the aioli but I guess sweet potato wedges aren't my thing.

Maybe I should have chosen the Manwich since that had double the meat and half of the salad instead of the Crackles Classic haha. But I honestly don't think I'll come back again. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything exceptional. I'll admit that the pork was pretty good and soft even though I prefer Flemington.