Review - Chillipadi

Fri, 17th August 2012
and other visits   

Chillipadi
Shop OE7 Menzies Alley
Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne

Cuisine: Malaysian, Indian, Asian
Taste Rating: 7.5/10   Value Rating: 7.5/10

I have been to ChilliPadi several times over the years, starting before Chilli India opened up next door to ChilliPadi. Both have the same owner I believe. In fact, when we were at Chilli India earlier this year and there were no tables available,  one of the guys working at Chilli India brought us over to ChilliPadi and gave us a table upstairs, on the "bridge" overlooking Menzies Alley.

In this latest visit to ChilliPadi, I was with a group of ten for lunch. Two persons and I decided to have one of the banquets, while the others opted for individual a la carte dishes.

The $19 per person banquet consisted of entree, three mains and steamed rice. For the entree we chose Seafood Gyozas and deep fried finger foods of Net Pastry Rolls, Mini Spring Rolls, Samosas and Wontons. For the mains, we chose Beef Rendang, Indian Fish Curry and Pad Thai Seafood. 

The seafood gyozas were quite tasty. So were the finger foods although these were not that different to frozen finger foods which you could buy and cook at home, if you could be bothered doing that. The beef rendang was nice with lean beef and a thick gravy with a kick of spiciness. The fish curry had average tasting fish, with a nice spicy gravy. The Pad Thai Seafood was very good with large prawns and this is a dish I would order again. The mains servings were reasonably large; we had enough left over to share with others.

Seafood Gyozas

Entree

- Net Pastry Roll, Samosa, Mini Spring Roll, Won Ton

Entree of Finger Foods

Seafood Pad Thai

Beef Rendang

Indian Fish Curry

Banquet for Sharing

The visit prior to this was in May 2012. There were three of us. We  ordered Pad Thai, Thai Roast Duck Curry and Hainanese Chicken Rice.

The Pad Thai with a tamarind sauce was delicious. The serve. however, was not large and the ingredients were somewhat limited. The presentation was great (see photo) with chopped nuts and chilli flakes scattered around the platter instead of mixed in with the noodles.  The bean sprouts were raw and would have been nicer with the 'tails' trimmed.  

The Thai Roast Duck Curry had three nice lean duck slices. Lychees in the curry provided interest. The gravy tasted OK and was chilli hot. Having also eaten curries at Chilli India next door, I find the curries there can give this curry serious competition.

The Hainanese Chicken was served as boneless rolled slices and tasted OK. The chicken rice was average. The soup was nice - it was peppery which is the way I like it.

Pad Thai - good presentation

Thai Roast Duck Curry

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Overall, the food here is reasonably nice. While it is not the most fantastic Malaysian food I have eaten,  to be fair, there is so much competition for Malaysian (and Indian food) in Melbourne that it is hard to stand out. But this is a place I would come back to again.