Emilia tries out the ‘perfect location’ for modern Thai fusion in Melbourne’s inner-city!

Bang Melbourne

62 Rose St

Fitzroy 

Press PLAY to hear Emilia’s full review!

I didn’t go to Bang this week with the intention of a food review but I was so impressed with what every facet I knew it had to feature as this week’s review, I couldn’t wait.

It’s Thai fusion and the fusion is Victoria, it’s modern Thai made almost entirely on Victorian, local produce.

You walk along the painted road art, look for the revolving red door and on the other side you will find some of the most eclectically designed ‘lobby’.

It sounds a bit like Oz but when you peek behind these floor to ceiling hessian curtains the only thing you’ll find is a ‘hyper-creative’ Thai restaurant on one side and a trendy inner city hotel on the other. 

The menu can be a little intimidating at first glance; Ox tail, Goolwa little neck clams, blue swimmer crab all of a sudden browbeats its way into your order by being so expertly accessible in its presentation; Blue swimmer crab finds its way into Pa Tong Ko donuts, Ox tail mixes into a glass noodle spring rolls, the neck clams sit comfortably in a seafood curry.

Suddenly, even if it’s not something you would normally go for, you can’t help but want to try it out of pure intrigue. 

In fact, the intrigue started well before we even made it onto the table. Walking around the space between the hotel (Standard X) and the restaurant there is a gift shop tucked in the back where I spotted my drink for the night in a pistachio spritz.

Curiosity may have killed the cat once upon a time but if it was pistachio spritz it was curious about, curiosity would have certainly pleased the cat.

If that doesn’t tickle you, the whole wine menu is from Victoria minus one champagne from France because you don’t mess with champagne.

Back to the food, Ross and I have a pact to try oysters together as non oyster-likers. Ross, these oysters are safe to try without fear. They use Victorian broadwater oysters, and have a light cucumber nam chim, sweet, vinegary sauce over them.

Using the same base nam chim sauce over their pineapple was the hibachi pork & octopus skewer with pinoy BBQ glaze. They had me at hibachi and kept me at octopus and pork.

The last starter we tried was a joy to look at before you even dove in, bluefin tuna crusted in rice crackers with a ginger-turmeric dipping sauce. Crunchy on the outside, still a tiny bit pink on the inside.

Grilled Port Phillip calamari which had a light turmeric, curry like flavour on each piece and sat on a nuoc chum and lime base. Fried eggplant topped with shallots, sesame dressing, coriander, lime.

My favourite dish of the night followed suit in an impressive presentation. I will warn you that it’s doesn’t sound the nicest to describe … it was roast duck red leg curry that originally sat as a compressed brick of duck and duck skin crumb in a sea of coconut sauce, the waiter then came with a jug of red curry concentrate which she poured over the top, leaving some in the jug for us to adjust the flavour and spice level as we liked.

It was culinary creativity in a way that was actually functional.

If we had more people to share with I certainly would have gone for some of their higher price points, big share plates that featured slow-cooked beef short rib with ginger & coffee sauce, sesame warrigal, tamarind & mango or the Thai fried chicken with spicy mayo.

Instead, we finished with some sides in what they called ‘street rice fries’ but I happily recognised as Korean topokki that had been fried. Also some moreish broccolini sopping in soy, sesame, fried shallots and of course, roti. 

When asking about dietaries they were so accommodating, bringing out flash cards with what each dietary restriction could eat, making it easy.

The prices were around $20 for starters, and $30-$40ish for larger plates. These dishes lend themselves nicely to be shared as most Asian fusion does these days, I think you could walk out spending $150 for a dinner for two.

When dining out at the moment and choosing to spend cash the things I look for are; great service, beautiful fit outs and food with a twist – something I can’t make at home or haven’t tried before.

Bang had all of that, dining out became an experience and that, for me, makes it worth spending the money for a special occasion.

Did I mention it was my partners’ birthday this week? Perfect location.