Clicking Away in Melbourne at Red Spice Road
Posted: February 28, 2013 Filed under: Clicking Away, in the Restaurant, Melbourne | Tags: Asian, Asian Fusion, Australia, Food, lamb, Melbourne, Restaurant, Seafood, travel, Vegetarian 22 Comments »
I’ve been waiting to share my favorite restaurant in Melbourne with you. Yes, yes, yes, Australia, and the restaurants in Nice and New York City and many other places too. I either have to blog every day for a month or you have to stop requesting recipes for a while. Australia was the latest trip so I still remember what I had, so let’s start from there.
Aussies are so lucky, they have all this great produce that was picked at the just right time, and nice meats there as well. I ate fruits from the supermarket (one great thing about Australian supermarkets, they tell you where the produce came from) and LOVED them. There wasn’t only a lot of tropical fruit but also a lot of Asian ingredients. I don’t know the percentage of Asian population there, but it seems to be easier to find ingredients to make Asian food from scratch and also a lot of pre-mixed offered. Plus there are Asian restaurants are on every corner.
Red Spice Road is one of the “Asian Fusion” restaurants. On their website, they claim to be a “SouthEast Asian-style dining” place, but don’t believe the advertising. On the menu you can find not only Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese and maybe even Laotian, Burmese and Cambodian (I have to admit that I’m not so familiar with their cuisines as much as the first four), but also Chinese, Indian, and there might be more. However, each dish has been “creatively modified”. Even though the traditional dishes are recognizable, the mysterious aura of creativity peaked my interest and I wanted to try ALL of them. Unfortunately, I can only carry one stomach while I travel, you know, so that was my only disappointment with the restaurant.
WHERE: Red Spice Road
27 McKillop St., Melbourne, VIC 3000
Phone no. (03).9603.1601
There is another location at QV Melbourne, 31-37 Artemis Lane QV, Melbourne, VIC 3000. This one is right in the QV Building. I almost got to eat there but the day I decided to go, they closed for their employee holiday party. Sad story, very, very sad indeed.
Phone no. (03).8660.6300
WHO: John McLeay
WHEN:
McKillop St. Open Monday – Saturday
Lunch 12 − 3pm, Dinner 5pm – late (but not too late) Saturday 6pm – late
QV Building Open every day
Lunch 12 − 3pm
Dinner 5pm – late (but not too late) Saturday, Sunday 6pm – late
Check their website for exact hours http://redspiceroad.com/
HOW: Walk in or make reservation either call or book on their website
WHAT:
The menu here seems to change quite often so don’t be married to these samples I offer. Explore and experiment but check with the waitstaffs regarding how spicy it would be. I recommend twice-cooked lamb ribs…eat them for me….(sobbing)…until I get back there again.
Watermelon with Sticky Duck and Cashew Relish
Scallop
Oyster
This is the can’t-miss dish that makes us want to go back there again. Twice-cooked lamb ribs. My guess that it’s the “Chilli Salt Lamb Ribs with Pineapple Tamarind Dipping Sauce”.
Fried fishes with snake beans and basil that was too spicy for me.
The vegetable salad in curry that was so much milder and taste like Indian food…yummy
Black sticky rice and mango but I’m so use to the real Thai style sticky rice and mango so this dish is just good.
Thanks for liking my blog. But I totally agree with you. I’m so spoilt here with the amazing food here at home. No wonder I missed it so much when I was working overseas. And Red Spice Road is one of my favourite hangouts too!
I’m following you all over Victoria
Are you planning to go back to Red Spice Road? I LOVE food in Australia so much. I missed Australia already. I wish I can spend more time there.
Haha! Tough question! I’ll try to go back there before I leave Melbourne for a teaching job overseas. But it’s not easy, when there’re too many choices!
I know, so far I like all the restaurants I tried in Sydney. The Malaysian place at QVB (isn’t it the name the one that has another Red Spice Road and the fake lawn in the middle), the tapas across the street from the beautiful square by the river, and many others. I posted most pictures on my Instagram and forgot the name…oops!
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and thanks for this link – it’s great! We have a huge South East Asian population here in Melbourne hence all the market stalls, restaurants and availability of wonderful ingredients – I absolutely love the food culture here – Sydney is the glamourous older sister but Melbourne is the Art and Food Capital…and I love it. I’m so glad you enjoyed your visit
Wow, all those dishes look amaazing! Who would’ve thought a duck would take to watermelon like that. Must try it!
Strongly recommend it
Melbourne’s probably my favourite Australian city; love the food culture they have there and the variety. Glad you enjoyed your time there too. Next time you’re down that way you should try to make the hop, skip and jump to NZ.
I would plan to go spend about two weeks or over in NZ. I’ve heard that it’s a lot of yummy seafoods there but I’m going for the lamb and of course scenery too…lol…
Love your blog, Miranti! <3
Same here…I really like your blog (and also your banana nut bread recipe).
It all looks great but that vegetable salad curry, YUM!
OMG my mouth is watering for everything you have pictured! Looks delicious!
I’m having the same symptom posting all the pictures. Too bad this place is too far away from my neck of the woods
Wow! Everything about this review makes my mouth water, including the pictures. Wish I could take the trip to Sydney just for this place. Yum.
Thanks for allowing me to visit vicariously..nicely done, I can visualize it all. if only I could taste as well…C’est la vie
YUM! You are right, we Aussies are very lucky to have such accessible and gorgeous fresh food and lovely Asian restaurants. Next time I am in Melbourne I will be sure to check this out.
Envy with 100% green eyes…
It all looked delish and the photos made them look even better.
Those lamb ribs alone makes me want to buy a plane ticket for Oz. Looks like a great meal – thanks for sharing.
Ah how I miss the food in Australia!