Taxi Dining Room – Melbourne CBD

“Hello, where do you want to go for lunch?” A call from J.T. when I am still sipping the coffee in Degraves Expresso Bar, I like the sound of that.

We didn’t have prior arrangement nor any bookings, so the options are totally open. Since I am still at Degraves Street, so Flinders Station would be the best meeting place. J.T. suggested perhaps we could try Taxi, which is only a stone throw away at Federation Square and he will go in to check whether there is table available. Since we don’t have booking, I guess no harm to just go in and try our luck.

“Hey, I am already inside sitting at a table for two,” J.T. calls and confirms. Success!

Transport Hotel, a multi-level entertainment hub located at the center of Melbourne’s tranport network, in Federation Square. This contemporary design venue offers patrons a vast selection of dining experience, a classic pub fare at Transport Public Bar on the groundfloor; to fine dining in the sci-fi decor Taxi Dining Room at level 1, or sipping a cocktail while taking in the night view of Melbourne skyline at Transit Cocktail Lounge on the rooftop.

I head up to level 1, and J.T. is already sitting there comfortably waiting for my arrival. The dining area is cosy and bright from the sunlight through the ceiling-to-floor glass windows. Massive sea mines hanging down from the ceiling, with faint amber glowing in the core center, almost ready to detonate any second.

This is our first time dining at this restaurant, and we are intend to try as many dishes as we possibly can, so we decided to order as many individual dishes and share. As per usual, instead of deciding on what I want to order, I got sidetracked and started taking photos of the menu. A waitress sees me what I am doing and comes around asking me whether I would like a copy of the menu to take home, to save me from taking photos of the menu. As far as I am concerned, this will be very unlikely to happen in Sydney restaurants but perhaps get told off by the waitress if unlucky.

We peer over our shoulders and see what other people are having and we spotted the oysters which is on Specials menu look absolutely divine. The half dozen of  St Helens Bay oysters are topped with seared salmon (marinated in coconut cream & lime juice), roasted chilli jam, salad of julienned cucumber, mint, coriander, toasted coconut and crispy shallots. The oysters are plump and juicy, and my god, what an explosion of flavours from all the ingredients! The cripsy seared salmon works so well with the soft and tender oysters.

We definitely can’t go past the pork belly written on the menu. The confit pork belly comes with crab dumplings on coconut salad with hot and sour dressing, and with a sprinkle of seven spice dip on the side. The dumpling is flavoursome, filled with lots of crab meat inside and it tastes fantastic with the hot and sour salad. Truly a great combination.

Since we are sharing all dishes, splitting the pork belly can be quite a challenge. I believe the skin is separated from the meat, heavy coated with flour, then deep fried. Yes, not roasted, there is no bubbles on the crackling! The confit is nice and tender, but the crackling is a real disappointment. The crackling is crunchy on the first bite, but the more I chew, the stickier it gets and stuck to the teeth everywhere!

Third dish arrives on a chopping board, a DIY platter consists of pressed duck, rabbit & foie gras terrine with tomato pickle & walnut dressing. The pressed brick is wrapped in pancetta, filled with foie gras parfait. I love the terrine alot, all the fatty goodness along with the foie gras just simply melt in my mouth.

The terrine served cold with accompaniments of rabbit rillettes, foie gras parfait & hot toast, tomato chilli pickle jam and seeded mustard & walnut oil dressing. The rabbit rillettes looks just like minced Tuna from the outlook, but the intensity of the flavour is absolutely indescribable. The tomato chilli jam is fiery hot and leaves the tongue numb and tingly. The foie gras parfait is velvety smooth, a nice yummy spread of the hot toast.

Another dish on Specials that we think is worth a try, and we couldn’t be happier. The wild Northern Territory Barramundi is pan-roasted skin side down till crisp, accompanied with tempura soft-shell crab; wombok, Vietnamese mint, beetroot shoots and water chestnut salad, and turmeric mayonnaise dressing on the side. I love this dish with a hint of Thai influence, the nice clean taste of the barramundi marries so well with the aromatic turmeric mayonnaise.

We also ordered a side salad to go with the main. A clean, crisp spinach, witlof, apple salad with lime & yoghurt dressing, proves to be refreshing and substantial.

I am so glad we share the dishes, as the table next to us ordered individual set of the exact same dishes and struggling. We are filled but not full, as there is always room for dessert. “Yes please, we would like to see the dessert menu”, we agreed in one voice.

J.T. goes for the honey caramelised pear with Pedro Ximenez mousse & pear sorbet and I can’t go past anything with chocolate, hence dark chocolate tian with Valrhona ganache & cherry foam is my final decision. All the heads turn towards our table when the dessert arrived, and a few gasps and ooh ahh echoing through the dining room.

J.T.’s dessert looks like a million dollar, a perfect oval shaped pear sorbet is surrounded with a handful of rice bubbles which stick to the sticky gooey caramelised honey from the poached pear, accompanied with little cubes of jelly, set with gold leaf inside. I have a taste of J.T.’s  honey caramelised pear and it is full of great spicy flavour especially cinnamon. I can only imagine the earthy cinnamon caramelised pear will go so well with the soury and tangy sorbet.

“Oh my gosh, cherry foam?” The lady next table gasps with excitement as she overheard the waiter describing the ingredients to us. The presentation of my dessert is truly a work of art. The frozen dark chocolate tian is standing tall next to a pool of vibrant red cherry foam, with  a seashell dollop of Valrhona ganache and some caramel pistachio crumbles on the side. The Valrhona ganache is so rich and velvety, and the dark chocolate tian (ice cream) is smooth and refreshing, the sweetness of the chocolate pair with the soury cherry foam perfectly. I like my dessert, a lot!

On a side note, when we place our order, the waitress will always like to emphasize with, “Oh… it is my favorite too”, or “Good choice, it is one of my favorites too”…  Well, don’t do it again. The waitress did it 3 times throughout the whole course, which gets a bit repetitive and I just don’t believe lightning can strike the same place 3 times. I am sure all the dishes taste great at Taxi and I truly had a fantastic meal there, but I just like to have a neutral opinion of the food before I taste it, instead of those cheap selling points.

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Taxi Dining Room
Level 2 of Transport Hotel,
Federation Square, Cnr Princes Bridge & Northbank St
Melbourne VIC 3000
P: (03)9654 8808
W: http://www.transporthotel.com.au/

Tagged as: Contemporary, i ate this, restaurant, review, taxi, taxi dining room, transport hotel, Victoria