Saturday nights are always best spend surrounded by people who make you smile and this Saturday was no different. After a last minute decision on where to go for dinner, we decided to try our luck at Red Spice Road, unfortunately they were fully booked (no surprises there). One of our friends had been to Red Spice Road before, so suggested we check out their sister restaurant, Red Spice QV and see if it lived up to the family name.
ATMOSPHERE & SERVICE
We walked in to a very modern, clean Asian inspired restaurant with two levels of dining space. Large floor to ceiling windows fill the space to let in natural lighting throughout the day, and offer a great view at night. We were greeted by the lovely host, who escorted us up to our large round table and presented the menus to us. Within a few minutes our waitress had arrived to take our drink orders and ask if we were ready to order. As we just sat down, we still needed time to look through the menu, so ordered our first round of drinks while decided on food.
The service throughout the night was very friendly, accommodating and slightly too quick. Our entrees quickly arrived followed by our mains. With no room free on the table, we had to send our mains back as we didn’t even have time to enjoy our entrees. Other than the overly rapid service, our waitress was lovely to deal with throughout the night.
FOOD
We all know I’m a sucker for shared plates, so I was thrilled when I was told the menu is designed to share. Focusing on street inspired foods, big bold flavours and spicy dishes all fill the menu with traditional, yet modern twists to them all.
The entire drive to the restaurant, all I kept hearing was pork belly, pork belly and more pork belly by our already experienced Red Spice Road friend. If they didn’t have pork belly on the menu, we were in for it!
We decided to all order an entree each and a main each and we would share them all.
A few of us started with the ‘Scallops’ with Chinese celery, green chilli, sawtooth & shiso. This was a bit so so for me. There wasn’t anything that really stood out to me with this, however wasn’t going to let it start the night off on the wrong foot.
The first of the entrees arrived piping hot which started off with ‘Twice Cooked Lamb Ribs’ with sticky tamarind sauce. This is one of their signature dishes that everyone talks about. Being cooked twice, it adds that added crunch to the outside to make them super crispy, yet tender on the inside.
Next up was the ‘Crispy Fried Chicken Wings’ served with spicy honey and mandarin sauce. This was probably my favourite entree of the night. It was jam packed with bold flavours with a hint of spiciness from the spicy honey.
MC threw a curve ball and went with the ‘Crispy Masterstock Pigs Ear’ served with cucumber, green onion, sesame & sichuan pepper salad. No one at the table has ever had pigs ear, but were all up for the challenge. It came out different than we all expected, however was probably for the better for our first time trying it. It was very sticky yet dry and wasn’t horrible to eat. We actually all quite enjoyed the dish!
Now for mains…
Let’s start with their signature dish that I have heard about none stop on the way to the restaurant. The ‘Pork Belly’ with chilli caramel, apple slaw & black vinegar. Massive chunks of insanely tender pork belly was placed down on the table, which contrasted the crunchy salad sitting on top. The outside of the meat was crispy and the sweetness of the caramel sauce added a bold flavouring to the dish. There is absolutely nothing to fault with this dish, it was simply perfection!
Red Spice definitely know how to make a tender meat dish, everything that came out was fall apart in your mouth amazing! The ‘Beef Brisket’ with mushrooms, spicy star-anise broth & hot mint salad was another amazing dish. The spicy star-anise kept the meat tender and created a bold flavour like no other.
I personally loved the ‘Chiang Mai Duck Curry Noodles’ with turmeric, yellow noodles, chilli cil, cucumber pickle & lime. It was a more traditional curry dish with crispy yellow noodles sitting on top of a few tiny pieces of duck. The duck was amazing, however was quite small.
For the final dish of the night, MC decided to throw yet another crazy dish in there and went with the ‘Volcano Chicken’ which was crispy chicken and four types of chilli. When they say four types of chilli, they should mention that they are the hottest four types ever, hence the name of the dish! Only two of the group had tried the dish (me not being one of them). It was insanely spicy and should only be ordered if you are a guru of intense heat. There should be a warning on the menu for this dish!
A few desserts were shared by the group, my favourite being the ‘Chocolate & Sesame Parfait, Dark Chocolate Mousse, Salted Sesame, Cashew Praline & Palm Sugar Caramel’. It’s a bit of a chocolate overdose, but was so worth it and the best way to finish the night!
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed our night at Red Spice QV. It wasn’t overly busy, which meant the staff were attentive and food came out rather quickly. The tables are spread out so you aren’t overhearing your neighbours conversation and are able to spread out comfortably. The food was well prepared and cooked to perfection with intense bold flavours. We will definitely be heading back here in the future!