There's something unsettling about restaurants that straddle too many genres: how does the kitchen make a serious study of multiple cuisines? But it can work.
Sails at Noosa is a prime example – scattergun in its hunt for broad appeal but incredibly successful in its interpretation of myriad food cultures.
Park Road Kitchen confines itself to Asian, but that in itself is a rather large collection of food styles – Vietnamese, Chinese, Malay, Japanese and more.
And I can understand the thought process – Park Rd hosts a largely caucasian audience looking for casual meals: the more focused places found at Sunnybank and Chinatown might lack the broad appeal of Asian fusion.
It’s a new restaurant inhabiting an old space in the heart of the Park Rd glitter strip.
The trappings are more belle epoque French than Asian (inherited from the previous tenants, perhaps?), but I don’t think that really matters. It’s a nice place to dine.
There’s an affliction common to many Asian restaurants, and that’s the tacked-on drinks list.
Here Tsingtao is the star, with the rest of the beers and wines most notable for their affordability. But in this part of town, the drinks should be given way more thought.
Japanese came first: octopus takoyaki with wasabi mayonnaise ($7.90). It was an easy starter to love; fresh and bouncy inside with a touch of brine. The mayonnaise wanted a little more wasabi, but otherwise it was spot-on.
Then Hervey Bay scallops steamed, Chinese style, with ginger, shallots and a sesame-soy dressing ($28), cooked perfectly rare.
Soft-shell crab appears under different guises. We opted for Vietnamese style ($17.90), battered and scattered with capsicum, spring onions and tamarind sauce. It was a terrific rendition of a familiar dish.
Laksa, Singapore style, can be had as pork, chicken, prawn or vegetarian. We chose pork.
Note to restaurant: it’s hard to share a laksa with only side plates, so bowls please. But it was a dish worth the spooning, licking, fiddling.
Better, though, was the Malaysian-style yellow curry ($15.90). It was just chicken and potatoes in a terrific yellow curry sauce, served with roti. The roti (we asked for extra) came in handy when sharing laksa on flat crockery.
Does the multicultural approach work? Indeed it does.
Purists might argue about some dishes not being as true to type as those from specialty restaurants, but Park Road Kitchen is more concerned with making things modern, accessible and delicious. But oh, for a better drinks list!
Originally published on couriermail.com.au
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