Last night I ended up at Red Spice Road (we were intending to go to the night market at Queen Vic, but it was so damn hot that we stopped for a drink at Workshop and never made it any further north...). I think the best description of Red Spice Road would be "corporate curry", if that makes sense - higher end Asian fusion cuisine served to lots of drunk suits. The food was good but not great, as it was almost cloyingly rich and was a little too salt-saturated for my liking. Interestingly my friend Liz who I was dining with has the Red Spice Road cookbook and finds the recipes pretty darn salty. The chef must love his salt. We had an eggplant dish and a vension curry, which came out in one chunk of meat Flinstones-style on a massive bone, 'twas kind of hilarious presentation.
And then tonight I had a delicate and beautifully balanced dish at Red Silks with my friend Julie (another Melbourne friend who is about to move to Sydney, nooo) . A whole steamed barramundi with assam sauce, which is a sour sauce with a touch of chilli complemented by sweetness from pineapple chunks. Instead of the usual steamed broccoli, cauliflower and tinned baby corn (yuck) one often finds in such dishes, this dish came with a mound of okra (Liz take note, I know it's your fave...), eggplant, slender green beans and fresh tomato. YUM I will definitely be back for more. And check out the cool staircase up there:
