Mekong, Chippendale

After being injured and forced to be house bound, it was great to get out on date night with MW at the lovely Mekong Restaurant.  I've read and seen a lot of great photos from Mekong so I had good vibes coming into this restaurant.

Mekong Restaurant is located on Kensington St in Chippendale and the entry is via some stairs so it's up on level 2. The restaurant is modern and has a tropical vibe with deep greens and blues. I get some recommendations from the staff on the menu.

MW goes for a Tiger Beer and I go for a mocktail as I'm being cautious about residual heavy pain medication in my system. I was dying for a wine or a cocktail though. 

I shared the Mekong Share Plate ($30) whereby I ate most if it as MW is allergic to shell fish. This platter had crab taco, grilled scallops, seafood crepe and betal leaf pork belly so it had 8 pieces in total. This is my ultimate share plate and I loved it. The highlight has to be the scallops which was a mouthful of bold and refreshing flavours and textures. 

I also really enjoyed the Vietnamese crepe which is a thin and crunchy savoury crepe which has bean sprouts and prawns which is quite filling. MW really enjoys the pork belly which is wrapped in a betal leaf and is served up with a spicy hoi sin sauce. This share platter is the highlight for me and I would easily eat this on my own as a main.

For mains, I order the Stir fried Spicy Chicken ($24) which is served with roasted chilli, kaffir lime and cashews. The chicken sticky and crunchy which is really enjoyable to eat. The cashews are a nice crunchy touch and contrast well with the soft onion and capsium. It's not that spicy so I recommend this dish if you can handle a moderate amount of chilli. This dish is best shared.

The highlight for MW are the Char-grilled Cambodian Pork Ribs ($28). The sticky ribs are glistening and look really finger lickin' good. MW starts devouring these pork ribs and really enjoys the Asian sticky sauce. The ribs are served up with a small Asian slaw salad. MW certainly recommends this dish. Have you tried Asian Cambodian Ribs before?

The meal has been really nice so far. There is always a separate stomach for dessert. There's three to choose from. MW chooses the Black Risotto Mango Ponzu $14 which is topped with fresh mango, syrup and coconut ice cream. The sweet black rice risotto is really nice to eat and taste like the dessert rice you often see in Chinese groceries. The coconut ice cream is smooth and delicious. We only wish the portion was bigger.

I order the Baked Taro Cheesecake $14 because I love taro.  The taro flavour is subtle among the cheese cake. The biscuit bottom is nice and thick. There's also a small citrus flavours that compliment the small mounds of meringue. The lychee sorbet also adds more sweetness to the dessert. MW doesn't think the dessert is sweet enough but I quite like the balance of flavours. I agree though, the dessert is a bit small.

Summary: Overall, I really enjoyed my dinner at the Mekong. It's a simple menu full of Asian Modern food with authentic flavours and bold flavours. The table nearby me was full of a table of girlfriends enjoying their food. 

My fave was the entree platter and MW's pick are those Cambodian Pork Ribs. I'll have to come back to order the eggplant next time ( I was eyeing them off the table nearby)

Price: $25-30 mains

Location: Level 2, 14 Kensington St, Chippendale

Opening Hours: 
Monday to Wednesday 6pm to 11pm
Thursday to Saturday 12pm to 3:30pm, 6pm to 11pm
Sunday 12pm to 3:30pm

Weekend Food Escapes dined as guests of Mekong. All photos, opinions and words are my own.