Newly Revamped – Taxi Kitchen

When my office was in the CBD of Melbourne, I had a pretty good view of the Yarra River looking across from South Bank. And on level 26 I would always see Federation Square and Taxi Dining (recently changed names to Taxi Kitchen) and it has been on my list for the longest time, but again never had the chance so it was so nice for them to invite Mr Bao and myself to go visit :)

Federation Square

We decided to go on a weeknight and make it a date night as we haven’t had much quality time with each other lately. I’m sure I’ve said this before but look how pretty Melbourne is! Don’t think I could ever fall out of love with this city ~ By the way, for my Readers in Melbourne what are your views of Federation Square? Because I know there is a huge divide between those who like the design and those who don’t.

As I previously mentioned Taxi Dining has recently changed their name to Taxi Kitchen and revamped their concept, moving away from the fine dining to more sharing and casual dining. Which I also think is a trend we can see across the food scene in Melbourne. I’ve never been inside, but they have a great space with natural light coming through and one of the best views of the city.

Gin and Tonic

It’s been very busy at work so to unwind Mr Bao and I both started with a Gin and Tonic. Cheers! :)

Bread and Sriarcha Salt

It was followed by some sourdough and Sriarcha salt for those who don’t need Sriarcha is a hot chilli paste often used in Thai Cuisine. I expected it to be more spicy but it did give the butter some extra flavour.

Scorched oyster, salt & vinegar pork crackle $3.5 one piece

The menu is designed to share, so our lovely waiter Vincent recommended us order a couple of small plates, medium plates and maybee one or two large places and of course save room for dessert :P This is the scorched oyster, salt and vinegar pork crackle, we popped the whole thing into our mouths and the magic just happened. All the flavours melded so well with each other and I particularly liked the pork crackle which was light and not the least greasy.

Seared scallop with red reddish, smoked chill mayo and kataifi $4.5 one piece

I a a huge fan of scallops so I had to order the seared scallop with smoked chilli mayo and kataifi which I only just realised its very reasonably priced only $4.5 a piece and it’s so nicely cooked perfectly golden on the outside and still tender inside. This was easily one of my most favourite dishes that night!

Candied pork with coconut, red chilli dressing $16

This candied pork with red chilli dressing would have to be Taxi Dining’s signature dish, I have heard so much about this dish and even though I never got to try it back then. I am so glad they haven’t taken it off the menu now that they’ve changed to Taxi Kitchen. And undeniably it was another winning dish for me, the pork was lightly caramelised on the outside but still so soft and with that melt in your mouth texture inside. The sauce is also so additive slightly sweet, slightly sour and slightly spicy! I spoke to one of their staff before leaving and they said that they would be in a lot of trouble if they removed this dish from the menu hehe I say it’s a must order when you visit!

Sake washed Tuna with soy bean pesto & kohlrabi remoulade $22

Now moving to the medium plates we ordered the sake washed tuna with soy bean peso and kohlrabi remoulade. Look at that vibrant colour of the tuna, it was so pretty I didn’t really want to eat it ~ The tuna was fresh and even though not mentioned in the menu there was a sauce made out of yuzu which really complimented the sake and the saltiness from the soy bean pesto.

Country style terrine with foie gras parfait & rhubarb compote $21

In recent years, I have become a huge fan of foie gras and will not pass any chances on ordering it, if it’s available on the menu. Ash (Im So Hungree) visited a week before us and I remember seeing this lovely dish on her Instagram, so knew I wanted to try as well.

I didn’t expect the terrine to be so solid, the foie gras was whipped to a nice cream like texture which was great for spreading on toasted bread. Don’t be followed by the size of this dish, it was actually very filling so by all means share the dish or order something lighter afterwards :)

Braised rabbit, mushroom, fennel & silken pasta $22

We actually didn’t order this dish because I don’t really eat rabbit because I was born in the rabbit year haha but the kitchen made a mistake and made this and insisted that we try it anyway. It wasn’t an easy dish to photograph because of the green fennel sauce. The waiter advised us the pasta is made in house and that Taxi Kitchen try to do everything from scratch. I was impressed that the rabbit didn’t really have much of a gamey flavour and actually resembled a cross between chicken and beef. Mr Bao particularly liked the eggy flavour and texture of the pasta.

Crispy fish, warm sea lettuce & zucchini salad with a black garlic dressing $34

We also ordered two ‘Large Plates’ because Mr Bao was hungry haha yes that man can eat! The menu wrote ‘crispy salmon’, however, that was not available that night so it was substituted with a another type of fish which if I’m not wrong was either a snapper or cod either way no complains from me. Because it was cooked wonderfully with a good crust on the outside of the fish but not overcooked. Mr Bao did find it to be slightly salty but I like my food well seasoned so that was fine for me ~

Crispy confiit duck with beetroot puree, watercress and orange salad $36

For Mr Bao’s main he ordered the Crispy confit duck which resembles a more modern take on Duck A L Orange ~ We were both impressed with how crispy the duck skin was and it had sort of an Asian twist to it with the use of wombok. I think our only complaint was we wanted more duck hehe

Mini doughnuts with caramelised milk jam $12

Now after all that food..you might be wondering if we still had room for dessert. Don’t worry I definitely have a separate stomach for dessert ~ There were quite a few options and they all sounded so good such as the Bitter chocolate marquise, coffee crumble and tonka bean ice cream. But Ms Ihua posted the mini doughnuts on her post and I was immediately sold. The mini donuts were made to order so they were piping hot when they arrived at our table, I probably would’ve liked more caramelised milk jam because they weren’t as sweet as I’d like but you all know I like my desserts super sweet hehe

Taxi’s famous passionfruit soufflé & banana ice cream $15

Another signature dish here at Taxi is their famous passionfruit soufflé with banana ice-cream. I haven’t seen such a high and proud soufflé for a long time, and I was getting so nervous trying to get the best shot before it collapsed.

The texture of the soufflé was really nice, it was too airy but had some substance and even though the passionfruit made it quite sour. I really liked the banana ice-cream and the sweetness balanced out the sourness. If you like soufflés I definitely think you should try this one and let me know what you thought.

Mr Bao and I thoroughly enjoyed our date night at Taxi Kitchen and would like to say a huge thank you to them for inviting us. We enjoyed all the dishes and it was hard to pick a favourite but I think the scallops and pork belly definitely impressed us! Looking forward to coming back to Taxi Kitchen another time and order these dishes again and possibly try some new ones :)

Daisy@Nevertoosweet and Mr Bao dined at Taxi Kitchen as their guest.