With a bustling city like Melbourne where there is so much fashion to look at and so many restaurant shop fronts to peer into, I never think to look up, so when I went on the hunt for Cookie located on Swanston street, I was surprised to find such a busy restaurant on the first floor of a building that I had walked past a hundred times before.
As I walked in I had to double check the sign on the door. The decor didn’t resemble an Asian restaurant at all.
The service staff was friendly and attentive and if you beat the lunch rush, the food comes out very fast.
Small dish~
Peppered pork sticks wrapped in betel leaves with pork and peanut relish ($12.50). It’s really hard to describe the taste but the pork was really crispy and juicy and it was the nicest dish during lunch.
Medium dishes~
Salmon, prawn and pomelo salad with ginger and lemongrass ($24.50). With such a large menu and not knowing where to begin, we took ordering advice from the waiter and he suggested a refreshing salad with the hot weather. I’m not the biggest fan of big chunks of salmon but I found the pomelo flesh (that looked waaaay too similar to wobbly raw fish) more off putting. I also didn’t think that the salad components went well together and the only thing that made it ‘Asian’ was the shallot, coriander, lemongrass and ginger that was just thrown on top.
Pad thai rice noodles with egg, bean curd and sprouts ($17.50). I don’t know if it was just our dish and the chef just made a bad batch but this was crazily salty even when I squeezed a lot of lime on top. It wasn’t too bad the first serve but when I went back for seconds after eating something else, it was definitely evident that there was too much salt.
Cute receipt holder.
Even on a Friday and with so many neighbouring restaurants, Cookie was packed by 1pm with everyone around me enjoying a casual drink with their lunch. So I couldn’t figure it out, did I just happen to order the wrong things or did everyone around me like different food? With so many places in Melbourne to eat, I’m not sure if I’d come back to find out.
Venue: Cookie
Address: CBD 252 Swanston St, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9663 7660
TALES OF A CONFECTIONIST 