The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. Unlike its 90s cult film namesake, we can talk about Fry Club, which was just opened in the CBD.
Fry Club has been opened by Husband and wife chef duo, Jizhe ‘Preezy’ Li and Tu Anh ‘Annie’ Ly, who were looking to give people, particularly hospitality workers, a great foodie hot spot that’s open late.
“My partner and I used to be chefs and every time we finished work, we’d always have Macca’s or KFC. Fry Club is going to be that late night dining hidden gem, where close friends can sit down, try new recipes and give feedback,” says Annie.
The fried-focussed menu comes from Annie and Preezy’s years in hospitality. Preezy (who has worked for Hardy’s Verandah, Mount Lofty Restaurant, and Stamford Hotels), and Annie (who’s background includes the Hilton Adelaide, Mayfair Hotel, and Feathers), both agreed that fried food nights “go off”.
“Fried food nights always get smashed. Everyone loves fried food. We essentially want to do fast food with restaurant quality,” says Annie.
While the menu reflects Asian flavours and influences, it was important to the duo to showcase western flavours too.
“We didn’t want a restaurant serving only Asian food. We call ourselves a ‘club’ because we want to serve Asian and western food and welcome every kind of person,” she said.
The two Le Cordon Bleu-trained chefs and self-claimed “huge foodies” love to try new things and are particularly excited to showcase their pho burger to the Adelaide food scene.
“I love pho, and no-one was doing a pho burger! We reduce a pho broth for 24 hours, so we can get the purest extract and mix it into a beef patty. No matter how long you cook it, it will never dry out. It’s the juiciest burger we’ve ever made,” says Annie.
“We also toast the pho and grind it, so we can use it as a seasoning for the patty too. It gives it an extra boost of flavour!
“We don’t order a lot of buns, because if you don’t store them properly, they crumble. We collect buns early in the morning, and if we’re out, we’re out. We’re all about quality control, not quantity.”
Alongside the burgers, there’s also fish and chips, salads, spring rolls, fried halloumi, and chicken wings! The chicken wings, Annie says, will undoubtedly be a huge hit.
“Our chicken wings are cooked using Vietnamese techniques, marinated as a brine in a mixture of soy sauce, fish sauce, coriander, garlic, and chilli,” she said.
“We soak the chicken wings overnight for 24 hours, so when we cook them, the sauce stays on the chicken when battered. We also add fried shallots and spring onion oil.
“We also serve honey butter wings, where we whip butter until it’s a creamy foam with honey. We spread the butter onto the wings until it melts. It has the most delicious, buttery flavours and one of our favourite dishes!”
If that doesn’t make your mouth water, nothing will! If you’re curious, find Fry Club at 36 Franklin Street, Adelaide SA 5000.
Opening Hours: Tuesdays – Thursdays 11am – 6pm; Fridays – Saturdays 11am – 9pm. No midday closures. Closed Sundays and Mondays.
For more info, follow Fry Club on Facebook.
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