Tai Tai
South Bank
Tai Tai is a casual, chic al fresco restaurant bringing authentic South East Asian cuisine to a street corner in South Bank.
Located on the ground floor of the ABC Building on Grey Street, Tai Tai features stunning burnt timber, smart black furniture, and hand painted crockery.
The diverse menu, influenced by the migration of Chinese to South East Asia in the 19th century, is a melting pot of Chinese, Malaysian, Taiwanese and Vietnamese flavours.
Appetisers include caramelised lotus root chips, salt and pepper five spiced squid and dim sum; from little pork dumplings to saltwater duck and mushroom dumplings, to pork and Chinese cabbage pot stickers and ‘dong po’ pork belly baos.
Main dishes, designed to be shared, include mouth-watering meats such as crispy skin roast duck, honey glazed barbecue pork cheeks, kung pao chicken, black pepper beef, hakka crispy pork belly and xinjiang crispy cumin lamb short ribs.
Seafood dishes consist of honey and sesame prawns, Moreton bay bugs, steamed ginger and shallots deep sea cod and mandarin sweet and sour crispy whole barramundi.
Add a noodle dish - like wok crisped egg noodles or char kway teow rice noodles with prawn, squid, and lap cheong sausage – and rice (from premium jasmine rice to vegetarian fried rice); while chilled silken tofu, crispy eggplant and Chinese greens round out the menu.
Must try desserts include delicious deep-fried ice cream with caramelised banana, Thai milk tea parfait and salted egg yolk custard steamed bao bun.
Drink wise, there are traditional teas - from premium oolong to chrysanthemum tea and dragon pearl jasmine tea (hand rolled tea pearls gently infused with floral essences from jasmine flowers) - Asian inspired cocktails, craft beer on tap and bottled, and a carefully curated wine list of Australian and international wines including three wines on tap.
By Deb Lidster
The menu may have changed since our visit.
Check out our full list of the best South Bank restaurants HERE
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