Thursday, April 22, 2010

Asian Tapas at Pan Asian

I missed David, David missed me. When you're best friends, a week and a half is a long time not to hang out together!

We needed some gossip time.

I was free, he was in South Yarra that night.

Let's go eat!

Pan Asian is a spot I've gone to quite a bit, not just because I do know the owners who have recruited me a few times to do some food photography for them (I am actually a lot better than the photos in here may suggest so far...), but because I actually really do like the food. My whole family are occasional regulars (weird term, but it seems to suit us...). Why haven't I blogged about this place earlier?!



Pan Asian is an interesting place, there is a lot of 'Asian fusion' places out there, but I find that Pan Asian's food really pushes the limits of creativity by incorporating the 'tapas' concept into Asian food and so offers something different.

I find the restaurant quite inviting to be, high ceilings (which I'm a sucker for if you haven't noticed already!) beautiful rich decor mixed with explosively colourful murals, making the place quite funky but not tacky.



Pan Asian is actually where I was first introduced to chai latte's and although they aren't the absolute best I've had anymore, I still marvel at how beautifully frothed the milk is.

Alas I was driving, but I can certainly vouch that some of the cocktails being shaken up here are all very delicious and quite addictive. Hmmmm.



After ordering, we were presented with a complimentary amuse bouche, a tempura-ed fig, quite a nice way to start the meal if you ask me!





One of my favourite items on the menu, we started off with the blue swimmer crab sushi roll, wrapped in a soybean sheet. Apparently the head chef, Kin-san, made this for the Princess of Japan when she visited Melbourne and went to Taxi (when she was still there). Always light and flavourful! And I love the soybean sheet wrapped around it, gives it a different texture.







We then tried the tempura vegetable sushi roll with spicy mungbeans, mozzarella and tomato relish. With a bit of sour cream and achat (Malay pickled veggies) on the side. This was very plesantly surprising for me, in contrast to the first sushi roll, this was quite rich with the cheese and the spicy mungbeans, mixed with the crunchy texture of the tempura though, it was quite a treat!





David insisted we needed meat, but as we're both (attempting) to watch our waistlines, didn't want anything too heavy. We opted for the grilled baby chicken in teriyaki port wine with a ginger flower and heart of palm salad. The chicken was tender and tasty, I really liked that it wasn't drowned in teriyaki sauce (I'm not such a fan when it's too thick...) and the salad was so delicious! I could've definitely gone for more.

Whilst I normally do go for the desserts, I had to go help David move so we had to cut short our dinner a little bit early. But if you go in, definitely try the pannacotta, Kin-san's are just the perfect consistency!

Although I was told they might be changing up the menu within a week or two too....

267 Chapel St
Prahran, 3181
9533 7022

Pan Asian on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. I normally avoid anywhere that tries to serve 'Asian' food but your post of Pan Asian looks pretty good. I think basing flavours on Japanese is probably the safest bet for Asian fusion food.

    Jetsetting Joyce

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  2. It looks delicious, plus the place looks very clean and good, nice review, thanks.

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