It's not a hawker centre

Chili Padi @ Melbourne Central. 03 9663 5688
Corner Little Lonsdale and Elizabeth. Melbourne.
Engrish: 2 BON: 7
TTDWW: Have a 2km run.

There are people who like the laksa from Chili Padi, and there are people who like Laksa King. But rarely both.

Erected for 3 years now, Chili Padi is a Cinderella restaurant to any hawker centre owners back home in Malaysia: located in the heart of the city, well designed interior, providing both smoking and non smoking area with a second floor, cool dark wooden furnitures, and serving food like nasi goreng, laska, and bah kut teh starting at $10 per dish. If that's not a hawker's dream come true then what?

Ramen's ancestors would chew out of their grave to hunt him down if they actually know he paid $10 for a bowl of laksa. But then again, if you gather into perspective, any decent meal in Melbourne starts from $10. Anyway in a bowl of laksa you get: chicken, sliced cucumber, onions, beancurds, noodles topped with fried onions and (cough)mint leaves. Surprisingly, the spice and santan(coconut milk) balanced out pretty well. It's not too gravy like nor milky. It's actually spicy enough to let Ramen think: hmm, it's spicy enough.

Other dishes he's tried before: Nasi Lemak. But no memory whatsoever. A bit of the Bah Kut Teh: total opposite to the word 'authentic', but according to Ramen's sources it's the Singaporean style. Maybe that's why.
Every Thursday to Saturday 10pm to 5am they have a 'mamak' thing going on. But with dishes starting at $6 it's more like a rich university students gateway after Reclaim night.

It's very obvious that the main target of Chili Padi is not your usual hawker centre budget goers. The first give away, is the wine list. Then, the Donna Hay lookalike menu. So yes, it's pretty Australian, it's another restaurant riding the 'new age fusion' bandwagon.

But definitely try the laksa.