I know I've blogged Spice Temple before, but I really, really like it! Encouraged by a tasty and cheaper-than-expected first visit to the Melbourne Spice Temple, and keen to try more from the menu, we visited again a few weeks later with a couple of friends.
Spice Temple
Crown Complex
8 Whiteman Street
Southbank 3006
Ph: (03) 8679-1888
Website
One of our friends was running a little late, so we started in the bar with some cocktails.
SNAKE - Field raspberries & orgeat with dry vermouth and sake - $17 |
My friend Adri wasn't drinking, so ordered a green apple and jasmine drink from the non-alcoholic section of the menu. It was a little pricey at $9, but I think it's great when a restaurant makes an effort to provide varied and interesting options for non-drinkers.
Green apple and jasmine - $9 |
We didn't try the tea-smoked chicken, but we sure did eat a lot of chicken that night!
From the "Salads and Cold Cuts" section of the menu, we ordered the strange flavour white cut chicken. A tender piece of boneless rolled chicken was covered in a punchy sauce. (The "strange flavour" name is a literal translation from the Chinese, which refers to the untraditional combination of chilli and black sesame paste).
Strange Flavour White Cut Chicken - $18 |
Spice fried chicken wings with heaven facing chillies - $21 |
You may remember the 3-shot chicken from my visit to Spice Temple Sydney, a dish which I think I enjoy more for its theatricality than anything else. I thought it would be a great dish to impress the one friend in our group who'd never been to the restaurant. (You can see her taking a picture with her iPhone, ready to be uploaded on Facebook!)
The 3 shots in question are Tsingtao beer, chilli oil and soy sauce. Our waiter poured them over the chicken in a claypot...
... and allowed it to bubble up on a gas burner.
Three shot chicken - Beer, chilli and soy - $35 |
Much, much tastier was the hot and numbing crispy duck, suggested by our waiter as "the best thing on the menu". It comprised a boneless rolled duck fillet (rather like the strange flavour chicken, come to think of it!), crispily fried and sitting atop a stickily sweet sauce with a dusting of Szechuan pepper. Amazing.
Hot and numbing crispy duck - $39 |
Hot, sweet, sour and numbing pork - chilli, sugar, black vinegar and Sichuan peppercorn - $30 |
With all that deep-fried food, we definitely needed a bit of green. This came in the form of a simple yet perfectly executed plate of gai laan with oyster sauce.
Chinese broccoli with house made oyster sauce - $12 |
Mao po tofu with wagyu beef - $40 |
When she brought it over, our waitress asked if I'd like to take a photo of it before she stirred it up. So nice! I'm not sure if it was lucky hiring, or if Spice Temple do a great training program, but their waitstaff are so considerate and well-informed!
And finally... dessert! Yes, yes, I know there was a lot of food, but when you have four good friends together, and 3 of them happen to be Malaysian... well, yes, we eat a lot.
My friend An chose the mango pudding. Look at that! Just a little different from the heart-moulded mango pudding you get at yum cha, don't you think? I loved the presentation and the crunchy sesame tuilles. The mousse itself was fresh-tasting and light - a great dessert after a heavily spiced meal.
Mango pudding with condensed milk chantilly - $14 |
We also ordered 2 (yes, 2) caramel, chocolate and peanut parfaits. Delicious, as usual, but I was unpleasantly surprised to see frosty bits of ice atop one of them.
Caramel chocolate and peanut parfait - $18 |
3 comments
My sister did not really enjoy the three cups chicken as well. Feeling disappointed, she bought some ingredients and made her own three cups chicken the next morning.
ReplyDeletethats a shame they shrunk the size... i remember thinking ooo wow such a big portion for such a nice place =). and turns out i ate most of it, coz the other 2 didn't eat much spice LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteMan, wish I had gone to Spice Temple instead of Rockpool. This food looks so much better than what I had at Rockpool recently. Totally bad experience there.
ReplyDelete