Our second day in Melbourne found us wandering the streets
looking around and window shopping before we went to The Flower Drum for lunch.
Red carpet anchors the room with cream walls decorated with
paintings depicting the Chinese dance “Flower Drum” and also hung with
beautiful wood carvings. Dark woods are in abundance with the dining room
divided in half by a mini “pavilion”.
After a look through the extensive wine list we ordered a
half bottle of Rockford Basket Press Shiraz.
I have to say service was a standout. While we are used to the excellent
service in Chinese restaurants in Sydney and Hong Kong, the service at Flower
Drum really kicked it up a notch or three. A lot of tour dishes were bought to a service table placed next to our table and served to us from there.
For entrees, I ordered the Peking duck rolls while Vikki went with the Quail sang choi bao. Both were fantastic. While we have had duck,
chicken and pork in sang choi bao before Vikki thought the use of quail was amazing.
For main course I ordered the simply prepared but
tasty wok fried barramundi with seasoned soy.
Vikki ordered the crispy skin chicken with lemon and spicy salt.
Our meals were accompanied by wok tossed greens and special fried rice.
Desserts were fantastic and not too heavy. I ordered the Banana Fritters w/Ice Cream (lightly battered banana pieces)
with maple syrup and Rickett’s Point organic vanilla ice-cream).
Vikki ordered the Peking Toffee Apple (lightly battered apple covered in molten toffee) served with Rickett’s
Point organic cinnamon ice-cream). Each piece of battered apple was dipped and
coated in the toffee and then plunged in to a bowl of iced water to harden the
toffee and then plated. The waiters then “pulled” the remaining toffee in to
threads for garnish.
After a fantastic lunch it was time to go back to the hotel
and relax. Again lunch was so filling we skipped dinner and had a glass of wine
and snacks in the lounge of the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment