STOP PRESS: Lau’s does now take bookings due to popular demand and a few walk in seats are kept vacant. It is worth bookiung earlier than later. Saturdays, in particular, fill up fast.
A new restaurant needs to be put in context. For Lau’s Family Kitchen (4 Acland St, St Kilda 3182 +61 8598 9880) it is that dad, Gilbert that is, ran what the New York Times regards as the world’s finest Chinese restaurant.
He’s sold out of Melbourne’s Flower Drum. This year it slipped (sans Lau) from scoring top marks of three hats to two in The Age Good food Guide.
Ten minutes ago I arrived home from the opening night of this new venture run by his son Michael, with a bit of help from brother Jason, dad, Mrs Lau and probably a few other family members.
I was looking for the drama of the first night in the post industrial space inhabited for a couple of years by Azalea, run by Flower Drum alumni. And we got it plus delectable, interesting Chinese food at a good price.
It wasn’t some flash opening party, simply the first night of a new restaurant which until late this afternoon still had boxes of stuff stacked in the front window. Jason confesses it was a bit a panic as starting any new restaurant often is.
No stars that I know of attended. But I recognised plenty of local identities who hang out in local cafés.
The space is simple and unpretentious with forty covers inside and ten out. The menu lists six starters, eight mains, six noodle and rice dishes (including steamed rice) and two desserts.
First four home made steamed Siu Mai ($7.20) arrive. These are pork, prawn and Chinese mushroom dumplings which are a family recipe, from Hong Kong, which Michael has only just been told. They are excellent. As is the perfectly prepared fresh squid with salt and pepper.
Service wise at this point we hit the first night syndrome. Mrs Lau appears to be bollocking a few people. This is the theatre of the first night. apologies come for the wait but we haven’t even noticed.
King George Whiting Cutlets with Pineapple sauce arrive. We haven’t ordered them and they return to the kitchen and back to us complimentary.
Sweet & sour pork with chicken wontons
The sweet & sour prawn and pork is served with chicken fried wonton ($18). It is the kind of dish that satisfies us hairy westerners and again is what you’d expect from a kitchen run by a Lau.
But the star of the night is Ma Pu bean curd with minced pork served with steamed rice ($18). Jak who’s spent a fair time in Szechuan is taken back in time by this spicy dish. The tofu is silken perfectly married with the pork. The heat shows through subtly and creeps up on you.
Ma Pu – silken bean curd
The sizes of the main courses are huge, something that I would imagine would come
under the scrutiny of the portion control police. One dish is enough for two.
Still, to judge a restaurant on it’s first night isn’t fair, but I judge it on its pedigree which is the finest in Australia. In fact, I prefer this place to the lauded Flower Drum which is a bit posh and stuffy.
Lau’s Kithen is a local drop in with mains costing $18 to $28. The music’s unobtrusive and pretty good. The whole thing is pretty cool. The potential is excellent.
What else can I say?
Well, there are no bookings. What I would do is get on down here before our local restaurant critics publish their reviews and ruin it for everybody.
It’s now been 45 minutes since I left. How fresh can you get?
Well the Lau Family Kitchen is probably a bit fresher than this blog. And that’s a very good thing.
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