Chopstick Delight, Mulgrave by Obelix

I put great stock into the restaurant recommendations by retirees. Why? Because they usually have more time to explore and quite often than not, their finds are along the lines of cheap and cheerful, which is right up my alley. Chopstick Delight is one of those recommendations from my mother-in-law and partner. This was a case of not judging a book by its cover. It looks straight out of a 1970s movie set of what Hollywood thinks a Chinese restaurant should look like. You get my drift? (scroll down for last pic to see how the image you have conjured in your mind's eye stacks up). With a facade like that, I was half expecting the place to exist on a slow trade of Chop Suey. 

The biggest scallops I have ever seen...

But impressions can be wrong. Chopstick Delight did a fast and rapid trade along the quiet residential street. Most of the punters were Chinese, once again dispelling the conception cast by its location that it would serve food court standard sweet and sour offerings. The menu was evenly pitched. You have 'safe' options in terms of various stir fries, etc. Then there were the more exotic goat belly steamboat and we also saw a huge gourd in which soup had been slow cooked and ladled out. My mother-in-law informed we that the latter were special pre-orders. There was also a few dishes featuring cumin which makes me wonder whether there was an influence from the western provinces of China. I've already earmarked the deep fried eggplant with cumin for my next visit.


We stuck with the familiar and ordered a few dishes to share. The fried calamari was to be commended. It was not tough or chewy as they can some times be. Serving sizes for all our dishes were generous.

The scallops with seasonal vegetables looked impressive (see first pic). However there was a slight bleachy-chlorine taste to the scallops. I have heard of places bleaching scallops to achieve the brilliant whiteness. I have an inkling this may have been the case here. It was slightly off putting taste to an otherwise excellent dish.


Continuing with the seafood theme, we ordered the stir fried fish fillets with ginger and shallots. This was popular and was one of the first dishes finished at our table. I'm not a big fan of generic white fishy fillets so I wasn't so keen on this one.


I did love the two chef's specials. The first being the prawn cake with stir fried veggies. Abundant prawn cakes and crispy veggies. I would order this one again.


The other chef's special was the Japanese silken tofu on a sizzle plate with pork mince. The sauce was slightly sweet and it made for great adjunct to the rice.

Kiddo wanted a vegetarian fried rice sans egg and it was a whopping big serve.  

The above meal came up to around $150 for five people.  

The interior is battery-hen level of cramped.  Don't expect dining comfort.  Be expected to bolt your meal down within 90 minutes if you are in the first seating of the evening.  And bookings recommended due to space issues.  

Verdict

We loved it.

Overall

Cheap, cheerful, abundant serves, authentically cooked.  We will be back.

Find it at

Chopstick Delight

79 Mackie Road

Mulgrave Vic 3170

Phone: 9560 3688