• 2
• Underwhelming

Having read some good reviews, my dining companion and I ventured southside to try this well regarded Asian restaurant. With mains starting at $22, we were anticipating something a little more special than the type of fare on offer at our usual el-cheapo veg*n haunts. For entree, we opted for a Thai Tom Yum and Malaysian Laksa. While they were tasty, neither soup was like anything I've encountered either here or in Southeast Asia: thick, sweet broth filled with minuscule pieces of zucchini, carrot and broccoli reminiscent of frozen 'vegetable medley' mix (although they were clearly not frozen). For mains, we opted to start with brown rice and Assam Pedas, a soy 'fish' dish in sour and spicy sauce. The mock fish pieces - frozen ovals with seaweed skin you can find in many Asian groceries - sat around the rim of the bowl, were not submerged in the sauce and were cold and dry, as though they had been microwaved immediately prior to serving. The bowl was filled with slices of carrot and zucchini, and a few pieces of celery and capsicum in a thick sweet sauce. The zucchini, which made up the bulk of the curry, was so old that it tasted like very bitter pieces of wood. At $24.90, this dish was far worse than anything I've made at home, or paid $10 for in a diner - in short, a complete and utter rip off. To top it off, one of the serving plates the maître d' brought out was grotty and had a massive chip in it. After politely declining twice, the maître d' continued on her hard-sell endeavour to persuade us to order dessert. Convinced that we had wasted enough of our stomach space, time and hard-earned at this overpriced sub-par eatery, we left satisfied with only the knowledge that we had crossed this venue off our 'to do' list.