Sunday, November 11, 2012

Red Lantern : Vietnamese Modern Australian

Red Lantern has been popularised by Australians' obsession with Masterchef and TV pro home cooking shows where Luke Nguyen has been one of the anchor mentors for a couple of years now.

The restaurant is more upmarket than 99% of family run Vietnamese eateries and offer some interesting and less common dishes on a typical pho noodles shop. Expect to pay a bit more than the economical combination rice and noodles but since all the dishes on the menu are for sharing, the end result is a great dining experience at fairly reasonable prices.




Vegetarian spring rolls with really spicy fish dipping sauce with pickles!
Fried to perfection - piping hot, crispy crepe, juicy filling, but not burnt (unlike some fast food Viet places)


"Aunty 5 rice cakes" is a southern Chinese home or street food. Firm yet soft, crispy on the inside and goes well with the sweet pork, pork floss, prawn toppings and daikon and shallot dressing.


Kingfish is perfectly cooked with subtly blended spicy tangy fish sauce and mixed minty Vietnamese spices. However the meat of the large fish is inherently coarse and dry. It's the choice of fish rather than the culinary skills of the chef that is in question.