Taiwan Cafe
273 Swanston Street, Melbourne
03 9663 6663
Taiwanese
$
Food
- Stewed Pork Belly Rice Set
- Fried Pork Chop Set
The Good
Nothing.
The Mediocre
The eggs accompanying the mains were passable, as was the rice. Just your bock standard, stale sides prepared without much care or thought.
The Bad
As opposed to having even layers of protein and fat, our Stewed Pork Belly was composed of close to 90% fat, rendering most of the dish inedible. What little meat that we managed to salvage was flavourful, though wasn't particularly tender nor juicy.
The Fried Pork Chop was absolutely vile. The batter was thick, bland and devoid of flavour apart from oil. Cutting open the cutlet reveals a cross section dominated by batter with occasional bits of exceptionally thin protein, thinner than our chopsticks! Inside the tasteless batter, half of the pork chop was completely burnt, which tasted and looked like charcoal. Shameful and absolutely disgusting, not something I'd even feed to the hungriest of animals.
The Verdict
Unsurprisingly, most of this so-called "food" was left on the plate. As a result, we departed hungry and thirsty, perhaps from the MSG overload.
I am actually doubtful whether the purpose of this venue is to serve food, or to actively rip off tourists on Swanston Street. Anyone with half a taste bud will quickly realise it's the latter.
Would Penguin Eat Again?
What was served here was definitely not fit for human consumption. For anyone looking to eat ACTUAL food, it'd be best to look practically anywhere else.