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The Rickshaw

Address:
199 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Website: www.therickshaw.com.au
Phone: 03 9419 5930

 

MENU VARIETY:  Lunch & Dinner

MEAL SIZES: medium

PRICING: mid-range, $5-$40

HOURS: 11 am till 10 pm weekdays11am till 11pm weekends

 

He Says
 

In a modern day of taxis and limos, you wouldn’t take a rickshaw in Asia unless you want a traditional, cultural experience. This is exactly what Amit and Satish have done with their newest restaurant, The Rickshaw, an intimate restaurant and bar in Fitzroy. Taking inspiration from fragrant Indian spiced cooking to the street-foods of South-East Asia, guests leave the dinner table anticipating for more. At least for us, it did. We were intrigued by this street food fusion.

 

One of the most creative dishes was the Pani Puri. These were small puff pastry cups filled with spiced water, leaving a surprise in our mouths like a Starburst liquid-centre lolly. Common convention is to dip finger-food in sauce, but this entree required pouring the spicy water into the individual crispy mini puff pastry and then eating it whole. The sensations of this dish left our taste buds overwhelmed with the aromas of fresh mint and sweet pomegranate. It was an impressive starter to stimulate our senses.

 

Another enjoyable starter was the roti dipped in Penang Bowl, which is The Rickshaw’s delicious version of the Malaysian curry with a clever substitution of coconut for peanuts, accommodating those who have nut allergies. Pui’s 3 fungi rolls was a sensation for mushroom lovers. A combination of enoki, oyster and shitake mushrooms, this “meat for vegetarians” dish is a satisfying mixture of flavoursome fleshy mushrooms. A sure hit was the Chicken 65, a spicy fried chicken that entered our mouths with crunch and hotness and left our taste buds wanting more.

The Duck Salad was a treat as the mixture of flavours danced in our mouths. Shredded tender pieces of duck were placed among a fresh bed of green salad with a spread of cucumber, papaya, lychee and papaya dressing. It was refreshing, sweet and spicy all at once.

 

It was easy for us to get carried away with starters and be full before the mains were to arrive but we were determined to continue trekking on this food journey across the south of Asia and eat everything in sight. I couldn’t turn back now, so I loosened an extra notch in my belt and got ready for round two. Out came the Black Cod fillets marinated in Saikyo miso on a bed of greens and carrots, to be eaten with rice. While we are both seafood fans, Liz prefers her fish mild. Although steamed well, she didn’t enjoy the buttery, succulent, salted, steamed cod fillet as much as I did. Achari Rack of lamb was more her thing. East meats West, we were each given a cutlet as a taster which was chargrilled to smoky tender perfection. Seasoned with mustard oil, Fenugreek, fennel, cumin seeds and cloves, this was quality-cooked meat with a curry-like sauce marinade.

 

A Malaysian favourite, the Char Kuay Tiew was a familiar to dish that we both enjoyed. The hor fun noodles, which mimicked traditional Chinese flat-rice style noodles stir-fried in generous amounts of soya sauce, featured chicken and egg omelette topped with some bean sprouts. You can’t go wrong with Tiger Prawns in a dish. We indulged in all 3 desserts available on the menu. The lemon-grass crème brulee was heavenly with its creamy light custard filling and nicely burnt caramel hardtop. It wasn’t too sweet. The coconut sago pudding was also toned down in sweetness and was blissfully refreshing. The Thai tea panna cotta with honey syrup was the sweetest dessert out of the trio and was very similar to a flan or Crème Caramel in appearance and taste.

 

The journey ended and we both agreed it was a tasteful experience. There were plenty of other interesting delicacies on the menu that we hadn’t sampled, like the Japanese and Korean cuisine inspired dishes of Wagyu Tataki and Kim-Chi. No doubt, we will return to this edgy ambient restaurant soon to try more shareable meals and intensified flavours.

Rickshaw
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