Shophouse Kitchen

Shop 29-31 QV Square, Corner Swanston and Lonsdale St, Melbourne 3000
Date visited: 14th December 2013

Today's visit to Shophouse Kitchen was just a spur of the moment decision.  We were after a late lunch and didn't have any particular food cravings, so we decided upon that new Asian eating place in QV next to Max Brenner.  Yes, I didn't even know the name, just caught my interest on passing by a number of times over the last six months.  MerlinFan mentioned she heard something about chicken topped with cheese <spark of interest> and I was sold.

It was after 2pm so wasn't overly busy.  Even better for us.  The interior was decorated similarly to overseas Asian eating houses from the gaudy orange chopsticks, tiled walls to the rooster-patterned kitchenware =D

The menu came in a huge book - there was an impressive range of dishes and drinks which is always a bonus.  

HK Style Milk Tea with Evaporated Milk (cold) $3.60
Lychee coco $5.90

I had the Hong Kong style milk tea with evaporated milk.  MerlinFan had the Lychee Coco which was frozen young coconut crush with lychee and cucumber.  It was so cute how it came in a fake coconut cup - this was pretty nice and tasted familiar and strangely nostalgic with the strong flavour of lychee and aftertaste of cucumber.

Since this was the first time we came to Shophouse Kitchen, we picked two of their 10 signature dishes to share.

Firstly, we had the Shredded Pork and Shitake Mushroom in Abalone Sauce with Crispy Fried Noodle.

Shredded Pork and Shitake Mushroom in Abalone Sauce with Crispy Fried Noodle $11.90

The egg noodles were crispy and pan-fried till golden, covered with the abalone sauce.  As much as I like my egg noodles crispy, I love it even better soaked and soggy.  In this case, there wasn't enough sauce to soak it completely so most of the noodles were still crunchy. Pity, because the sauce was thick and delicious, coating thin shreds of pork. There were heaps of sprouts and not as much shitake mushroom - I wonder why they didn't just call it pork and sprout noodles.  Would have been great if there was more sauce and less sprouts!

MerlinFan chose the Baked Chicken Chop on Rice.

Baked Chicken Chop on Rice $11.50 

Close up

Gooey cheese!!!

You could have this dish with tomato, cream or curry sauce.  MerlinFan chose cream sauce.  

The grilled chicken chop was tender, sitting atop a bed of fried rice.  The baked cheese was yummy and gooey, really rich with the cream sauce.  I don't know how anything could go wrong with melted cheese, really.

Overall, Shophouse Kitchen offers quick, no fuss meals and a gigantic range of dishes to suit your mood.  And I always love Asian eateries that offer a big range of drinks.  I wouldn't mind coming back to try some of their other dishes.

 

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