For this second dinner in Sydney and after a successful Lebanese experience at NOUR, I chose an Asian cuisine at Mekong.
You will find at the bottom of the page all the articles about this trip in Australia
The concept of Mekong
Mekong describes itself as a contemporary Asian cuisine restaurant. And to be precise, but is it a surprise with the name of the restaurant, a mainly Vietnamese inspired cuisine.
The setting of Mekong
The decoration is quite simple: a large room in one piece with, at the end, an open kitchen and tones and decorative elements that recall Asia.
Easy and efficient.
The menu
The restaurant offers a la carte dishes as well as menus.
The starters…
Main courses and desserts.
And the menus.
The menus are only available for two or more people, which is a shame.
The dinner and the service
As soon as I arrived, they took care of me and installed me at my table. They give me the menu without even offering me water or asking me if I plan to have an aperitif.
I’ll end up intercepting the server to get some sparkling water. Be careful: he will take a pair of tongs to put the lemon slices in my glass.
The music is soft in the background, it is very pleasant and less aggressive than during my meal the day before.
They come quickly to take my order.
I will start with the bouillabaisse. There is no more.
No problem, I’ll take the crab. There is no more either.
Then it will be the Tooth Fish. It is replaced by salmon.
Well, I’ll have the scallops then…and I’ll order some wine to accompany my meal
The service is fast.
Scallops, coconut salad, fermented red cabbage and chili sauce.
It is well presented, fresh and spicy as I like. Too bad it’s a little short on quantity.
Meanwhile my wine has not arrived.
For the main course I will have the pork belly with Chinese broccoli, garlic and chili.
The waitress looks surprised that I myself am surprised that my wine has not been served. Two minutes later the waiter who had taken the order came to serve it to me and apologized. In the meantime I had no wine for my starter.
In any case this dish smells very good. The cooking is impeccable, it crisps under the tooth. The vegetables are well cooked, with firm, crisp stems.
Really very good.
I can’t wait to order a dessert. Time passes. 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the staff seems to be totally uninterested in us.
The couple at the next table seems to have the same experience. At one point, the visibly irritated gentleman gets up and goes to the bar to pay. I get up and do the same.
The staff won’t even be surprised that we leave without having a dessert or a coffee. Maybe for them everything went well, for us much less.
In the end I ate in 30 minutes and waited 25 minutes for someone to come and take care of me after the dish.
End of the story.
The staff
The staff is very friendly, but totally off the mark. The wine that arrives with the main course, no one to take care of the tables once the course is finished….it is not pleasant but it happens. But that the staff is surprised that people ask for wine and doesn’t ask any questions when two tables decide to leave at the same time….
The atmosphere
Fairly quiet room, pleasant background music, not too dark lighting for once.
Bottom line
The food was good, the setting pleasant and the service quick. And that’s it.
Between the unavailable dishes, the forgotten wine, the wait at the end of the service I was so exasperated that it almost made me forget that I had had a good meal.
Fortunately the bill was low (42 euros).
Articles about this trip to Australia
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