Red Spice Road QV

Don't judge a restaurant by its decor. Red Spice Road QV, a spin-off from the buzzy McKillop Street original, looks like a stylish south-east Asian hotel dining room. large, sleek but hardly bursting with personality. The Thai-inspired food is another story. Openers such as sticky peanut-covered balls of duck relish resting on watermelon squares, and one-bite betel leaf parcels filled with shredded chicken and kaffir lime look ready for a magazine close-up and taste just as good. Generous shared mains continue the good work, with flavours that snap, crackle and pop. Beef, simmered onions and mushrooms in an anise-scented broth, comes heaped with coriander leaves and chilli, and finely shredded kaffir lime leaves and still-squeaky snake beans lift red curry with prawns. But the menu's hero is stonkingly rich, wondrously tender pork belly with chilli caramel and herb-strewn apple slaw. Desserts such as a sundae layering black rice ice-cream, coconut jelly cubes and papaya end a visit on a high note.