When it comes to pairing food and drink there are some classic combos. Tiger beer and Thai food, Pinot and duck but Chicken and an oaky chardonnay. But hang on, chicken and its own beer match? Mmmm. We can tell you that Yulli’s new Larger of Love is Poultry-in-motion!
The team has been collaborating for a while and the result is a delicious brew. Henrietta’s Larger of Love has a lively citrus nose and a refreshing light malt flavour from Australian barley. That lemony-ness is just perfect to cut through the smoky, rich flavour of the meat. Please sir can we have one more?
It’s our first time at Henrietta and its pretty posh for a chicken shop.
In fact it’s a restaurant which just so happens to do egg-cellent grilled chooks. The design is industrial with banquets, wooden tables, polished concrete floors and black hanging lights.
We take the menu for a spin starting with a falafel salad bowl (you can choose from lamb, cauliflower, oh and chicken!) It comes with an ancient recipe of mujadara rice made up of lentils and onions with tabouli, hummus and dots of spicy harissa topping each of the four falafels. Two tacos are filled with sujuk (a spicy sausage) ours was actually very tame, topped with sumac onions, tahini and beetroot coloured pickles. Gone in a flash, we could have eaten more. A small balck skillet of bubbling honey and oozy halloumi is given a falvour bomb kick with a few halved warm grapes which brings acidity to the dish. Its the middle eastern equivalent of saganaki.
Eggplant Fatteh 
Falafel bowl
When we ask our server what dishes we just can’t miss, the answer is swift. It’s the eggplant fatteh. Really? Really? The dish looks rather strange smothered in yoghurt, sumac, almonds and herbs. We delve in with our forks. Whoah! Shut the front door! This dish is insane! First we hit deep fried oh so crispy bread crackers, then the eggplant which pops and dissolves into a creamy savoury sauce then the tangy yoghurt kicks in. It’s so good we may need to lie down for a moment. Oh! Yeah and we came here for chicken? Kinda forgot about that.
Our half of chicken ($28 as a meal) comes with garlicky toum, some pickles and flatbread. We tuck in with hands, the spices are delicious, but our preference is without the bread so we can really taste the flavours. We finish with a delicate milkbun deep fried chicken burger. It’s great fun and has nailed the right combo of bread to chicken and slaw ratio with a good kick from chilli mayo, pickles, spicy dukkah.
There is a lot to cluck about here. The beer is delicious and the meal is memorable, for almost everything on the menu and then there is the chicken!
Henrietta, Shop 1, 500 Crown Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Hours: Monday – Thursday lunch from 12.00pm – 3.00pm; dinner from 5.00pm – 9.00pm, Friday lunch from 12.00pm – 3.00pm; dinner from 5.00pm – 9.30pm. Saturday 12.00pm – 9.30pm & Sunday 12pm – 9pm
