Big Wok!

Flower Drum 03 9662 3655
17 Market Lane. Between Bourke and Little Bourke.
Engrish: 7 BON: irrelevant
TTDWW: Anticipate

Flower Drum has been removed from the World's Top 50 Restaurant list since 2006. Part of the reason, Ramen suspects, is the departure of founder Gilbert Lau. Check the complete list here. Sydney's Tetsuya is still holding strong at No. 5, also being recognised as Australasia's best restaurant. Having said that, Flower Drum still dominates any good food guide in Melbourne.

Ramen was fortunate enough to have lunch there last year. It was a farewell thing with a good friend and they saw it appropriate. The menu was disappointingly typical. Ramen spoke to the manager and asked for his recommendation. They ended up having spring onion pancakes, lobster rice roll, stir fried lamb with noodles, and fried rice, for the fun of it.
The servings were in a gourmet proportion. In other words, small. They couldn't really remember if it tasted like heaven, but Ramen were happy at that moment. Service was creepily good. And there's nothing much to complain besides the fact that it looked like a normal restaurant.
It cost $50 per person for that lunch. Ramen thinks it's overrated.