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MELBOURNE | Where iconic Melbourne restaurant The Point once stood now stands Sun Kitchen, a restaurant that brings a refined Sichuan and Cantonese fine dining experience to Melbourne.
We were invited to the restaurant a week before its grand opening to tour the property and sample a chef’s selection of some of the menu’s highlights and walked away quite impressed with what we saw and ate.
The two level space is large, with seating for 200 inside and another 80 outdoors. For a more intimate dining experience there are nine private dining rooms, along with three function spaces. All the space offer fantastic views across Albert Park Lake and surrounds.
For drinks, its a selection of local and international wines, including many you won’t find elsewhere in Australia. We took a peek at the 888 label wine cellar and to say that the selection is impressive is an understatement. Along with rare wines, there’s also an extensive baijiu selection, including bottles that are one of only a handful available in the world. There’s also cocktails – the classics and signature creations with a Chinese twist, beer, and tea.
We dined banquet style, and over the course of several hours tried many tasty dishes. To start, it was a trio of golden fried crispy tofu, braised beef tendon with chilli sauce, and hot and sour mung bean noodle. The moreish tofu is the sort of thing you could nibble on all day if you had them at your work desk, highly recommended. Also delicious is the hot and sour mung bean noodle, featuring noodles that are made fresh on site each day and that wonderful interplay between hot and cold, and spicy and numbing, that Sichuan cuisine is known for.
It was simple soup (a choice of fish or chicken) to cleanse the palate before moving on to more substantial dishes. There are a few dishes which veer from the pure Sichuan and Cantonese theme of the menu. Dishes that give the chefs an opportunity to be creative with elements from other Asian cuisines. One such dish is the golden prawns with coconut ginger sauce. This South East Asian inspired creation really hit the spot. Creamy, sweet, and zingy.
Next up we were served on of Sun Kitchen’s signature dishes – sizzling fish fillet in hot chilli oil. A favourite of Qing dynasty emperors, a large bowl is packed with tender, dense fish fillets, chilli oil, and a whole lot of chillies and Sichuan peppers. It’s not a mild dish, but surprisingly, it’s not actually that spicy. Even if you’re not a spice fiend you’ll be able to appreciate the interplay of flavours and sensations that come with each bite.
Other tasty items we enjoyed included melt-in-your-mouth tender MS9+ Wagyu beef with black truffle and garlic, pan-fried chicken with mixed mushroom, XO seafood fried rice, and stir-fried country style mixed vegetables. A highlight from the second part of this menu was the Mao’s Dongtin-styled braised pork belly. Thick, rich, succulent pieces of pork belly with tender meat and unctuous fat. Each bite is heavenly.
Dessert was a lighter affair, much appreciated after the heavier mains we’d enjoyed. An almond tea and egg white dessert provides an interesting flavour and texture. I liked it, but it did split the table. For a safer option, try the osmanthus jelly, mildly flavoured with osmanthus flowers, which are also used in tea.
Sun Kitchen
9 Aquatic Drive
Albert Park
Victoria 3206
Australia
Telephone: (03) 9682 5566
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
Open
Sun – Thu: 11:30am to 3:00pm; 5:30pm to 10:00pm
Fri – Sat: 11:30am to 3:00pm; 5:30pm to 11:00pm