Mekong, Chippendale

Mekong is a South East Asian restaurant located on the popular Kensington Street which is part of the newly developed Central Park precinct. The restaurant serves up a variety of different Asian inspired dishes ranging from both traditional and progressive items with a menu that is intended to mimic a journey along the Mekong river starting from the mouth of the river and heading into the mainland.

Since the menu was so large, we decided to go with the recommendations of the restaurant manager who knew exactly which of the dishes were best to try. I’m glad we did because the squid ink dumplings were delicious, very flavoursome and served in a spicy broth. The school prawns were personally not my kind of dish so I decided not to try them, however they were also devoured within minutes.

The sweetcorn harvest was an intriguing dish made up of rice flour cups stuffed with various different fillings, the dish tastes just as good as it looks. The scallops were very delicious and the blend of distinct coconut and bacon flavours worked suprisingly well.

Full Moon was definitely one of the more spectacular dishes of the evening, it’s a full coconut stuffed with delicious ingredients and served with a smoldering piece of cinnamon. It’s quite a dramatic dish that both smells and tastes absolutely divine.

My favourite main dish was the duck curry, a very creamy curry with delicious duck and lychee. I was quite surprised to find the pineapple went quite well with the curry without overpowering the dish.

The wagyu beef salad made for a nice reprieve from the thicker and creamier main dishes and offered a more solid meat dish with greens. That’s not to say it’s lacking in flavour however as the beef salad is dressed in a beautiful tangy tamarind sauce.

The greens served on the side at Mekong are quite standard but with a slight twist, truffle oil. The truffle scent and taste gives what would normally be quite a standard side of greens a whole new taste.

The basil pannacotta was by far my favourite dessert of the three, not only is it beautifully presented but it also tasted exquisite. The slightly sour raspberry puree was perfectly balanced by the sweet pannacotta and the walnut & lemon meringue gave the dish a crispy texture.

The rosewater lychee was definitely trailing in as a very close second favourite dessert and once again the presentation of this dish is just exquisite. I’m a also a very big fan of both lychee and rosewater so when I tasted this it was just about perfect in terms of taste.

I found this dish to be relatively ordinary in comparison to the previous two desserts which were very good, I did however enjoy the coconut ice cream and palm seeds.

Overall we quite enjoyed our dinner at Mekong, it’s a cosy little restaurant but it has a very large menu of food to pick from. The venue itself has two sections, Lower Mekong which is downstairs and has a more casual vibe to it and the fully fledged Mekong restaurant which is located on the top floor.

The Food Diary dined as guests of Mekong.
All views and opinions expressed in this post are our own.