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Red Emperor

Gabriella Coslovich

Stir-fried "crystal praws" with snow peas from Red Emperor Chinese restaurant in Southbank.
Stir-fried "crystal praws" with snow peas from Red Emperor Chinese restaurant in Southbank.Eddie Jim

14/20

Chinese$$$

I CAN'T remember the last time I went to a Chinese restaurant. It would have been for some large gathering and it wouldn't have been by choice. Funny how we grow out of things for no good reason. I remember gladly being whisked to Poon's restaurant on Barkly Street, Footscray, when I was a kid. It was a welcome break from mum's polenta and tripe (and, I'm sure, a break for her too from our sulky complaints).

Poon's was an adventure and comfort trip rolled into a steaming spread of dim sum, spring rolls, huge dishes of glossy sweet and sour pork, mountains of special fried rice, and the decadence of banana fritters to top it all off.

Walking into Red Emperor, I wonder why I left Chinese off the menu for so long. In this case, authentic Cantonese and Sichuan - not the modified-for-the-''Aussie''-palate Chinese of my childhood, although aficionados of sweet and sour pork won't be disappointed. The Emperor's owners are nothing if not pragmatic.

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On a Wednesday lunch time, the place is humming with people, salubrious groups of freshly coiffured women (including a marvellously blonde and bouffant Annette Allison, former co-host of Channel Ten's Good Morning Melbourne), serious trios of men in suits, a lone woman diner comfortable in her space, and lean waiters in starchy white shirts and black pants and vests, deftly weaving among white-linen-set tables. The sweet, pungent smell of frying garlic spices the air. I feel as though I've been beamed into a frenetic Hong Kong eatery. The sense of internationalism is magnified when I'm handed a wet towel to wipe my hands. Last time that happened I was flying Singapore Airlines.

For most of its 20 years at Southgate, the Red Emperor has lived on the third floor, or upper level, in a large corner spot with spectacular, double-storey, floor-to-ceiling views of the Yarra River.

The new-look Emperor opened last month, on a new level. Having never been to the much-loved Emperor of old, I'm not in the position to compare sites. I can say, however, that the new spot works just fine. The river views are still there, although perhaps not as awe-inspiring, and what has been lost in space is made up for in intimacy. The ceiling is low and the decor accommodating, although it's not going to win accolades for innovation: the carpet is russety red and the wallpaper a striped crimson. The Emperor's famed fish tanks have been relocated, too, filled with live seafood ready for plucking, including cranky-looking crabs with claws disturbingly tied. Not for the squeamish. We avoid dictating the end of our marine friends. (Hypocritical, really, as we were happy to eat those that had already been slain.)

We start with some classics - san choy bow, a lettuce bowl filled with a rubble of mince chicken, Chinese pork sausage, the crunch of water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, served with a tangy plum dipping sauce; and a ''signature entree platter'' that makes me resolve not to leave it so long between visits. It's an assortment of the most simple and yet satisfying morsels: steamed prawn dumplings, the butteriest pastry stuffed with fried spring onion and ham, tender calamari with a fabulous kick of chilli, salt and pepper, and a lovely coriander and water-chestnut roll.

The choice of mains is overwhelming, with more than 50 options. The menu has been updated along with the location, and new additions include pork ribs cooked three times (infused with stock, steamed and then fried), as well as Berkshire Kurobuta pork fillets and Chatham Island blue cod (cooked with ginger and spring onion).

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We settle for some old favourites: ''crystal prawns'' and the Sichuan eggplant claypot. The prawns are lustrous, fat tigers from Western Australia, served with crisp snow peas, finely shredded carrot and spring onion - well flavoured with stock but not overly complex in taste.

The eggplant claypot is more interesting, silky and smooth. Velvety fingers of eggplant, laced with rich, sweet, minced chicken, are cooked in a chilli-prawn reduction with diced red and green capsicum. On a subsequent visit we try the slow-cooked duck - it is delicately flavoured with garlic, ginger and citrus, with interesting textures of kelp-like cloud fungus and crinkly sheets of bean curd. The duck meat is robust and gamey.

In all, it's good, solid fare that doesn't quite reach the heights it did in the mid-noughties when the Emperor was a two-hatted eatery often compared to that benchmark of Chinese cuisine, Flower Drum. The Emperor's long-standing chef, Hon Kau Hui, by the way, worked at that fine establishment before moving to Southgate in 1995.

As for dessert, it's always a bit of an anticlimax at Chinese restaurants (now that I've grown out of banana fritters). But the ''mini snow-skin moon cakes'' sound intriguing, and I ask for an explanation. The waiter looks at me as though I'm a fool, and says, ''it's dessert, sweet!'' Makes an impressive change from the contemporary custom of over-announcing, so I order. They're wonderful - three little circles of gooey, gelatinous rice-flour skins filled with three different ingredients: red-bean paste, a coconut custard, and taro.

Several nights later, I request the ''hasima''. This time I don't get the ''it's dessert, sweet!'' routine. Several concerned waiters approach me to make sure I know what I'm in for - snow frogs' glands served with red dates and lotus seeds. Reputedly good for the complexion and not cheap at $28, although a bargain compared with the $128 bird's nest.

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The dish arrives, the waiter lifts the lid, and there's my steaming anticlimax: translucent globs of frogs' glands floating in a ginger-tea-like broth. Stick with the moon cakes or the fried ice-cream. They might not be as good for the complexion, but they taste like, well, dessert.

Food Chinese
Where
M10, Level 2 (Mid level), 3 Southgate Avenue, Southbank
Phone
9699 4170
Cost
Starters, $15; mains, $38; dessert, $10
Licensed
Wine
Great range of solid Australian wines, with a bumper 42 by the glass, and helpful tasting notes.
Owners
Charles Ng, Simon Lo, Ngau Lee, Raymond Cheung and Christine Yong
Chef
Hon Kau Hui
Vegetarian
Twenty-four options, and banquets
Dietary
Available
Noise
Good
Service
Efficient and amiable, can lapse when busy
Value
Fair
Wheelchairs
Yes, and disabled toilets
Parking
Southgate car park, paid multi-level
Web
redemperor.com.au
Cards
AE MC V
Hours
Mon-Sat, noon-3pm; Sun, 11am-4pm; dinner daily, 6-10pm

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