Low Key Chow House

It's a first world problem I know. But my definition of torture has nothing to do with bamboos or fingernails, water cure or electric shocks. It's being forced to sit looking at three plates laden with food and not being able to take a further bite.

That was the sorry scene at Low Key Chow House when my daughter and I got overly ambitious and ordered way too much after lusting over menu listings of candied caramel pork belly, mushroom dumplings and mantou buns.

After chowing through a mushroom dumpling each, a mantou bun stuffed with candied caramel pork belly and crushed peanuts - on top of the finger food we'd stuffed ourselves with at a Cuban restaurant opening - we were as full as a fat lady's knickers.

Which left us gazing helplessly at a plate piled high with wok charred baby octopus, marinated chicken thigh and rice noodles.We tried in vain to muster the energy to do justice to ridiculously fresh wok-fried vegetables and a third mantou bun.

We'd made barely a dent in any of it when we did what any self-respecting foodie who was about to part with $86 would do. We asked the waitress if we could have a doggy bag to take the rest home.

"Sorry, we don't do take out," she said, apologetically. "We don't want take out, we would like a doggy bag," we offered. "Sorry, that's our policy."

Stunned, we paid the $86, took one last look at the food and left feeling slightly wounded and wondering whether it was insanity, health regulations or just plain "too cool for school" factor that caused such obscene waste.

None of that, however, stopped me dreaming about those damned mantou buns. For three days I thought of those soft, pillowy cushions - little snow white clouds of steamed buns. I salivated over the memory of the sweet crunch of crispy pork belly and peanuts meeting the spongey wrapping. I couldn't get them out of my mind.

I went back for another fix, this time with male reinforcements. And this time, we made sure we went hungry.

And, this time, there was nothing left on the plates as we took the journey promised on the menu - a romp through the hustle and bustle of the Orient with a melange of flavours from tried and tested family recipes to new dishes created by former Apple Daily chef, Alex De Leon.

Seated at a tall table outside amongst the chaos of Oxford Street, we began with gyoza pork dumplings, an excellent way to start - four thinly wrapped Japanese potstickers. They glistened, they beckoned and in four mouthfuls they were dipped in soy and they were gone. Same for the mantou buns. Did I mention how good they were?

Then we worked chopsticks through a selection from the coal part of the menu - beef short ribs off the bone. There was plenty of tenderly braised meat, some on and some off the bone, in this popular Korean bbq dish which came with sesame beansprouts, some nicely acidic kimchi - good for the ph balance - and a fiery hot sauce.

Also fresh from the grill came a boned-and-quartered spatchcock. This one had a side serve of atchara, an unripe papaya pickle which comes from the Philippines. That tells you how extensive the menu is.

With such a potpourri of cuisines stretching from Vietnam to Malaysia it would be easy to say that there is some hit and miss going on in the execution. But on the whole De Leon handles the broad Pan Asian range well.

The wine list has a reasonable selection of Australian and European wines by the glass, the waitress offers complimentary nuts and asks about dietary requirements. There's some interesting looking sakes to sample and the place is heaving with cool dudes.

And, I'd love to be able to tell you more about the baby octopus kway teow rice noodle dish. But I didn't get to sample enough of it. My advice? Take your own doggie bag.

Scoring system:

0-10 Don't waste your money

10-15 Worth a look

15-20 Put it on your bucket list