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Sunday, April 19, 2015

Mr Bing jianbing pancakes, Chippendale

Jianbing pancake at Mr Bing, Chippendale

Who said Sydney doesn't do street food? The jianbing is a streetside snack you'll find all over Beijing and Taipei, a thin pancake or crepe cooked to order and eaten hot and fresh off the griddle. They come with all kinds of fillings, but a cracked egg is mandatory, the egg yolk and egg white swirled across the top so you get an omelette and pancake all-in-one.

Mr Bing, a self-declared Asian Wrap Artist (heh), only opened late last year but has quickly gathered a loyal uni student following. How have you missed them? They're a literal hole-in-the-wall takeway, positioned on City Road in-between the Lansdowne Hotel and Toby's Estate. Broadway Shopping Centre is only a few hundred metres away.

Jianbing menu at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Mr Bing Asian Wrap Artist menu

Everything's under ten bucks on this concise menu. The Chinese-style jianbing pancakes include the classic you tiao fried bread stick as well as meatier variations including a peanut chicken (Chookie Run), beef patty (Moo the Cow) and Korean barbecue pork (Miss Kim).

The Taiwanese-style ABT is lighter on the filling but cheaper too - that's ham and cheese, pork floss and crackers or all of the above for $5.90 or less.

Spreading the jianbing pancake batter at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Spreading the pancake batter on the hot plate

The open window gives you a standing view of all the kitchen action. The griddles you often see used for French-style crepes are repurposed here for making jianbing. They even use the same wooden paddles.

Spreading the jianbing pancake batter at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Flattened pancake

First goes a ladleful of pancake batter, smoothed out to an even thinness.

Cracking a fresh egg over shallots and jianbing pancake batter at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Cracking a fresh egg over shallots on the jianbing pancake

Add a handful of shallots and crack over a raw egg while the pancake is still cooking.

Spreading the raw egg across the jianbing pancake at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Spreading the raw egg across the pancake

The raw egg yolk and white is broken up and pushed across the surface of the pancake.

Egg cooking on the jianbing pancake at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Egg cooking on the jianbing pancake

What you get are pockets of egg yolk and egg white cooking on top of the jianbing pancake.

Flipping the jianbing pancake at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Flipping the jianbing pancake

The entire pancake is flipped in an impressive display of precision and speed.

Grilling spam on the hotplate at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Grilling spam on the hotplate

If you order extras of spam like I did, they get a gentle crisping on the outer edge of the griddle.

Brushing sweet bean sauce on the jianbing at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Brushing sweet bean sauce onto the Mr Bing jianbing

My Mr Bing pancake gets a generous brushing of sweet bean sauce.

Adding garlic chilli sauce to the jianbing at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Adding garlic chilli sauce

This is followed up with a layer of garlic chilli sauce. brushed evenly across the surface.

Sprinkling sesame seeds onto the jianbing at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Sprinkling on sesame seeds

Shake out a handful of sesame seeds for crunch.

You tiao fried bread stick and coriander on the Mr Bing jianbing at Mr Bing, Chippendale
You tiao fried bread stick and coriander on the Mr Bing jianbing

And add a deep fried bread stick and a sprinkle of fresh coriander.

Taiwanese streetfood jianbing at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Taiwanese street food lunch ready to go

It all gets wrapped up in greaseproof paper and handed to you in a brown paper bag.

Taiwanese tea drinks at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Taiwanese drinks including milk tea, jasmine tea and black tea

Add a Taiwanese tea drink for $2.50.

Chookie Run jianbing pancake at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Chookie Run $8.90
Chicken with peanut sesame sauce, crackers, sweet and sour carrots, fresh salad and coriander

If you're lucky, you'll score one of the four wooden stools out the front. If you ask extra nicely, they'll give you a paper takeaway box so you can take photos of your lunch before it gets eaten.

The Chookie Run is one for the peanut fans, chunks of chicken doused in a runny peanut sesame sauce and wrapped up with salad, pickled carrots and bits of crushed crackers.

Mr Bing jianbing pancake at Mr Bing, Chippendale
Mr Bing $7.90 with spam $2 extra
Fried bread stick, garlic chilli sauce, sweet bean sauce, sesame seeds and coriander

My vote goes for the original Mr Bing. It's all about the texture here: soft egg crepe, crunchy fried bread, a sweet and saucy mix of bean paste, garlic and chilli, plus the refreshing pop of coriander and sesame seeds. Add Spam just because you can.

Swing by for lunch or an early afternoon snack. They have two new menu items too: Taiwanese braised beef and crispy fried chicken bites. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Taiwanese jianbing pancakes at Mr Bing, Chippendale


Mr Bing Gourmet Wrapz on Urbanspoon

Mr Bing
20 City Road, Chippendale, Sydney
Tel: +61 (0)404 093 479

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 8am - 4.30pm
Saturday and Sunday 9am - 3pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Chippendale - Brickfields
Chippendale - Ester
Chippendale - LP's Quality Meats
Chippendale - Something for Jess
22 comments - Add some comment love

posted by Helen (Grab Your Fork) on 4/19/2015 05:45:00 pm


22 Comments:

  • At 4/20/2015 1:01 am, Anonymous ChopinandMysauceopan said…

    Dear Helen,

    I don't eat much SPAM but it seems so right when added to this kind of food.

     
  • At 4/20/2015 4:11 pm, Anonymous Chris (Chew Your Chow) said…

    Reading this post makes me miss having jianbing for breakfast in Taiwan so much!

     
  • At 4/20/2015 4:48 pm, Blogger CQUEK said…

    awesome i love to try it..perfect afternoon snack

     
  • At 4/20/2015 5:07 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Those drinks look so appealing for some reason!

     
  • At 4/20/2015 9:51 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    this looks seriously good - too bad i'm not a sydney uni student anymore! i've also never heard of taiwanese wraps, would be keen to try it out!

     
  • At 4/21/2015 12:32 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    OMG I used to eat this almost every day when I studied in Beijing :D

     
  • At 4/21/2015 10:49 pm, Anonymous Felicia @ Next Stop: Food said…

    OMG! that looks really good, I miss having street food :) Why wasn't this here when I was studying in Usyd....

     
  • At 4/22/2015 5:10 pm, Blogger Julie said…

    These look really interesting and tasty, especially the one with the you tiao! Looking forward to trying these next time I'm around Sydney Uni!

     
  • At 4/22/2015 6:19 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    OH MY GOD - I didn't know these existed in Sydney!! Thank you for showing me the light - definitely need to pay a visit! Great series of photos. I also love that they have spam!
    So hungry right now. :'(

     
  • At 4/22/2015 7:45 pm, Anonymous Joseph said…

    Love the name of this place, some very appealing pancakes there!

     
  • At 4/22/2015 8:53 pm, Anonymous Racy_staci said…

    They look so yummy

     
  • At 4/22/2015 9:14 pm, Blogger Lina said…

    OMG - jian bing!!!

    This is the thing I miss most about living in Beijing. I used to have this nearly every day for lunch. The best jian bing makers disappeared in the clean-up before the 2008 Olympics, and it has become so hard to find good jian bing on the streets of Beijing now.

    Next time I come down to Sydney, I'm going straight here from the airport!

     
  • At 4/22/2015 11:32 pm, Anonymous Sara | Belly Rumbles said…

    Oh hell yes, so paying a visit.

     
  • At 4/23/2015 12:45 pm, Anonymous Gourmet Getaways said…

    How did we miss, we were just in Sydney! We love crepes and this is definitely a must-try in our list!

    Julie & Alesah
    Gourmet Getaways xx

     
  • At 4/23/2015 1:18 pm, Anonymous Hotly Spiced said…

    Great action photos of the pancake being made! I've never seen pancakes being made like this before. They certainly aren't small! This street food seems very good value xx

     
  • At 4/24/2015 1:32 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Oh I don't just want the jianbing pancake, I NEED IT! Great actions shots Helen :D

     
  • At 4/24/2015 7:55 am, Anonymous john | heneedsfood said…

    Was wondering about this place when I saw it from the bus. Yum! And someone give that girl an electric fan, it looks like it may be hot in there!

     
  • At 4/24/2015 8:29 pm, Blogger Maddie Loves Food said…

    This really does sound like the best of both worlds - Crepe-cross-omelette AND all the goodness of you tiao. What an innovative, attractive style of street food!

     
  • At 4/26/2015 3:26 am, Anonymous Martine @ Chompchomp said…

    Ah these look so good! I was invited to the Perth launch of a jianbing store with promises of being able to make them gluten free as they use gluten free flour however I had to cancel as I learnt that they use the same cook plate as for the normal flour meaning there would be cross contamination. Bah! Damn you gluten!

     
  • At 4/26/2015 12:19 pm, Anonymous Gareth said…

    Never been to Beijing or up until now, heard of juan bing so thanks for sharing. The crepes/pancakes look delicious, though not sold on the addition of spam.

     
  • At 5/10/2015 7:45 pm, Anonymous Amanda @ Gourmanda said…

    I love buying jian bing from the street stalls when I'm in China. For $1 AUD, you get a delicious and filling snack! Must check out this place too.

     
  • At 5/13/2015 8:02 pm, Blogger Unknown said…

    Ah I absolutely love your pancake action shots!! Mr Bing's is officially on my list of places to try. Looks so delicious!

     

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