Madam Char Char

One night, after a particularly awesome gym session, my boyfriend and I found ourselves wandering along Surry Hills, hungry for food. Not knowing where to eat, and wanting to avoid our usual choice of Asian cuisine, we pulled out our trusty Urban Spoon ap, which led us to this wonderful gem: Madam Char Char.

Madam Char Char- located on 285A Crown St, Surry Hills

The restaurant front sported a big open window, beckoning us in. When I saw the chicken on the menu, it was instantly decided that we would eat here- protein, that's some good shitake.

To my surprise, as I looked down below the menu board, there was a giant array of salads before me.

This. Was. Heaven.

I'm sure all the other salad enthusiasts out there would agree with me. Often, when trying to eat healthy, people opt for less carbs and more veggies. But when people think of salads they usually think: boring.

WRONG. Salads are not always  boring and the salads offered at Madam Char Char's is a prime example of this fact. 

The words quinoa, avocado, pumpkin, walnuts, barley and spinach jumped out at me. That's when I knew these salads were going to be some good quality shitake.

The menu offered a nice selection of burgers and although they sounded mouth-watering, I decided to be good today. But here's the burger menu for you to drool over anyway:

So what the other side of the menu offered was either a quarter or a half chicken (hormone, and chemical free!- as advertised on the site), along with three salads. I had much difficulty deciding which salads to get but finally opted for the:

• Pearl barley with sumac, grapes, toasted almonds, shredded chicken and pomegranate.
• Quinoa with roast eggplant, toasted nuts, rocket and currants.
• And the third salad had broccoli and snow peas in it but I don't think that's on the menu anymore. 

My boyfriend also got the barley and quinoa but opted for the rocket, baby beetrot, basil, avocado and feta salad instead of the broccoli. 

They also gave us a choice of dressings, and we both opted for the mint yogurt dressing. 

Quarter chicken and three salads of your choice: $15.90

When people think of salads, they don't usually imagine the most satisfying of meals. But this definitely filled the both of us up! My boyfriend just finished it, feeling awesomely stuffed whilst I was already awesomely stuffed after half my chicken and two salads. I had to take the third salad and some of the chicken away! There was enough of it left to be my lunch for the next day!

So overall, I was pleasantly surprised! This meal was incredibly satiating and for the incredibly inexpensive price, it was well worth it. We've paid much more for dinners that have left our tummies rumbling afterwards. 

If you're looking for a place to get your regular healthy feed, this is the place to go. Especially if you want something that's sustainable for your pocket. What's even more awesome is that this place is vegan friendly.

The staff there are also incredibly nice, friendly, and not to mention patient with my indecisiveness. I will be back for sure, but next time I'll definitely be giving the burger menu a go. ;)

Price Range to prepare your pockets:

UNDER $20 EAT!

Madam Char Char: