Poussin vs barramundi at Lau's

Lau's Family Kitchen
4 Acland Street, St Kilda (map)
8598 9880

So I went on a date on Tuesday night and he chose the venue: I was delighted to be taken to Lau's Family Kitchen. It had been nearly two years since my one and only visit to Lau's (in fact, it was one of the very first places I wrote about on the blog). I'm delighted to report that I loved the food there just as much this time, if not even more.

After an initial drink at the Prince, we walked round to Lau's. It was a lovely mild evening for May, so we were just fine seated outside under the heat lamp (but the starlit mood lighting meant that I was unable to take any photos of the food, sorry!). We started with the very good siew mai dumplings (prawn, pork and shiitake), served with soy and chilli sauce. A real cut above the average.

The two mains we shared were just exquisite. One was the crispy skin poussin, served with lemon wedges and five spice salt. The skin had been fried to perfection and the meat itself was wonderfully succulent (finger bowls were provided so we could dive in and eat with our fingers, mmmmmmm). The other dish we had was the steamed barramundi, served with steamed rice (which I'd had last time but couldn't resist ordering again). Many thanks to the lovely Cin from A Few of my Favourite Things for allowing me to use her photo of this dish from her last visit to Lau's.

The simple, clean flavours of the steamed barra, light soy, spring onions, ginger and coriander were so good that the first mouthful stopped both me and my date in our tracks, mid-conversation. I can't decided which was my favourite main dish, they were both amazing.


An assured wine list and top-notch service rounded off a brilliant restaurant experience. If you haven't been to Lau's, I really do urge you to do so ASAP. Take note however that there are generally two sittings (6pm and 8:30pm) so you might like to call first.

Dinner at Lau's Family Kitchen

Lau's Family Kitchen
4 Acland Street, St Kilda (map)
8598 9880

Every foodie worth her or his organically certified sea salt was thrilled last year to hear that the Lau family (of Flower Drum fame) was opening a more casual, more affordable restaurant in St Kilda. We don't venture thataway very often, but K and I decided recently that it was high time to head down to the seaside and sample the food at Lau's Family Kitchen.

Our repeated attempts over three successive weeks to get a Saturday night booking were a comedy of errors - finally the staff said it was JUST possible to squeeze us in at a table for two, provided we promised to vacate the premises by 8pm. As we sipped glasses of wine next door at Il Fornaio waiting for the clock to strike six, K muttered that the food had better be damn good to be worth all this bother...

Lau's is located at the Prince of Wales end of Acland St, sitting snugly between Il Fornaio and my old favourite, Chinta Blues (hooray for their Mee Goreng and Ayam Ria!). The vibe was pretty relaxed and the service was generally excellent. We were dismayed however to see the (endangered) Patagonian toothfish on the menu, and avoided ordering it.

Instead, we started with the eggplant stuffed with taro paste, and some siew mai dumplings.

The stuffed eggplant, battered and deep fried and drizzled with a garlicky, thickened reduction, was delicious - the taro paste had a starchy but not too gritty texture. The siew mai dumplings were also very good:

I really wish I'd taken a shot of one of these half-eaten dumplings in cross-section, because they were so beautifully constructed: a juicy nugget of fresh prawn embedded within the pork and Chinese mushroom mixture, with the dumpling casing wrapped around the edges. Both cut fresh chillies and chilli paste were brought as a matter of course with the soy sauce.

For main course we chose to share the steamed wild barramundi and the Ma Po tofu.

The barra was also great: the simple, light soy sauce and fresh herbs accompanying it let the fresh delicate flavour of the moist fish speak for itself. The 2005 Darling Park Pinot Noir we were drinking was a nice match.

The final dish to arrive was the Schezwan Ma Po tofu with minced pork and steamed rice.

I think this one was my favourite: the bean curd was wonderfully silky and the sauce was fiery. After all our grumbling about how hard it had been to get in, K and I were happily seduced by the Lau's experience and (apart from the Patagonian toothfish's presence on the menu) had no cause for complaint. Lau's may be the Drum's little sister, but seems to be doing just fine in her own right.