December 5, 2010: Lau's Household Unit Of Measurement Kitchen

mock-meat places aside of course) - fifty-fifty inwards the vegetables as well as edible bean curd carte sections, many places throw inwards oyster sauce, pork mince or seafood (case inwards point: at a recent conference dinner I ordered 'stuffed edible bean curd inwards spiced salt', which turned out to live stuffed alongside manly someone monarch prawns). Our recent favourite, Idea Fine Food as well as Wine is no longer alongside us, then when semi-fancy meaty Chinese house Lau's Family Kitchen featured inwards Lisa's best eats for vegans as well as vegetarians nosotros were really keen to give it a shot.

We teamed upwardly alongside regular eating buddies Toby as well as K for an early on sun dinner, admiring the cute wallpaper decorating small-scale sections of the walls. The staff were rapidly on mitt to verbalize us through the carte - letting us know what could live done vegetarian as well as beingness completely on top of vegan requirements (the vego dumplings cause got a smidgen of egg, piece the delicious sounding eggplant special had fish sauce inwards it). They were happy to tweak a bunch of dishes for us, swapping as well as dropping ingredients then nosotros had a skillful hit of options. We decided to society everything nosotros could all swallow as well as portion - basically an entree as well as 4 mains.

The entree was a steamed rice noodle scroll alongside spinach ($13.50) - nosotros got 2 serves, as well as the waiter happily divided them upwardly into 4 petty bowls for us.

These were a cracking start - beautifully soft noodles, filled alongside spinach as well as sauced upwardly nicely. flavours were non specially strong, but I added a deport upon of the chilli sauce that they gave us, as well as was inwards heaven.

The commencement the mains was the around anticipated - ma po eggplant ($24, the waiter had decided that 2 dishes of tofu was every bit good many, then he'd got the chef to brand us an eggplant version of the ma po tofu).

our version, but wonderful nonetheless. Spicy without beingness painfully fiery, sweetness without beingness sickly as well as rich without beingness gluggy. If you're a vego at Lau's, society this dish (with tofu or eggplant, either would live great).

The tofu dish nosotros did endeavor was the deep fried edible bean curd alongside mushrooms ($18).

This was a overnice plenty dish, that suffered inwards comparing to the ma-po. The light-green vegies were fresh as well as crispy as well as at that topographic point was a overnice diversity of mushrooms to accompany the big fried chunks of tofu, but the sauce was a flake lacking inwards inspiration - it was enjoyable without beingness specially memorable.

Next upwardly was the stir-fried seasonal vegetables ($17).

This came inwards a similar sauce to the deep-fried tofu as well as was basically the same dish minus the tofu as well as addition to a greater extent than asparagus as well as mushrooms. Again, everything was fresh as well as tasty, but it wasn't the around exciting agency to pass $17 on food.

The concluding master copy on the listing that was veg-adaptable was the Singapore noodles (minus the park prawns as well as pork!, but nevertheless $24).

This had an overnice spicy boot as well as was filled alongside fresh, crunchy vegies. The noodles were okay every bit good (maybe a petty overdone?), but the whole dish was a tad on the oily side. Still, it was belike my mo favourite master copy of the night.

We left a petty disappointed alongside Lau's - partly due to our high expectations. The combination of such a cracking pedigree (the guys running this house are the sons of the original Flower Drum owner) alongside a reputation for veg-friendliness had us expecting something spectacular. The ma po eggplant as well as the rice noodle rolls passed muster, but the balance of the nutrient was only a tad underwhelming. Throw inwards only about reasonably hefty prices as well as it's non somewhere we're probable to live hurrying dorsum across town for.

Lau's Family Kitchen has been given positive reviews past times everyone else who has blogged it, then perhaps their meaty options are a flake to a greater extent than impressive - see: Melbourne Gastronome, Munching inwards Melbourne, 1001 dinners, 1001 nights, onnomnomnom, Gastronomical voyage inwards Melbourne as well as tummyrumbles.

Environmentally-minded omnivores may live a tad concerned that Lau's sells Patagonian toothfish, which is on the Greenpeace cherry list as well as rated 'avoid' past times Seafood Watch as well as the Australian Marine Conservation Society, suggesting it's non specially sustainable.

Lau's Family Kitchen
4 Acland Street, St Kilda
8598 9880
Vegie mains: $17-$24
Licensed
http://www.lauskitchen.com.au/