Chilli Padi, Docklands

One lazy Saturday morning we needed a wee visit to Costco in the Docklands.  Still somewhat of a novelty, we have a tendency to indulge and over purchase. An Americanised version of Aldis on steroids, Costco is a magnet for bogans. I have never felt so ‘common’ in all my life. Moccasins, women with missing front teeth, rat’s tails!! Need I say more. Despite all its apparent shortcomings, this warehouse does offer substantial savings along with less commonly available products. What enticed us on this day?

-          1kg bag of potato crisps = $9

-          1kg bag of crackers = $9

-          4kg of frozen blueberries = $23

-          1.5kb of Ling fillets = $13

-          And the list goes on...

As this coincided roughly with lunch time, we decided to get a spot of lunch. With a plethora of cafes and restaurants to choose from, we decided on the closest to Costco...Chilli Padi. Having dined at their parent restaurant in the city, my expectations were high.

Mark ordered the seafood keoy teow ($13) and I had the Malaysian Bento Box ($15). They have a current special whereby they will validate your parking if you exceed $40 in a single order. You do need to park within the Docklands car park, not the Costco car park. With our two dishes and two drinks, we didn’t come close of breaking the limit so didn’t even enquire about it.

My bento box arrived in under five minutes as everything was already pre-cooked. A side of cold beef salad, stick of satay, huge serving of Indonesian daging rendang, two fish cakes, steamed rice and canned peaches. The fish cakes were a tad tough but flavour was well placed. With a rather non-descript taste, I could barely make out the beef salad apart from the onion. The single stick of satay was over powered by the distinct aspect of peanut butter. Any Malaysian or Indonesian cook would never fall upon the trick of using peanut butter when making their satay sauce. The beef rendang was passable. The meat easily flaked and melted in your mouth. Just be wary of chomping down into chunks of star anise. I didn’t even go anywhere near the canned peaches.

Mark’s seafood keoy teow was a respectable effort but lacked depth. With scatterings of egg and fried shallots, I was extremely disappointed with the lack of fried lard and cockles. With only two medium sized prawns and frugal sharing of calamari, this was verging on vegetarian.

If you are wanting a quick, reasonably priced and filling feed, head down to Chilli Padi. Definitely not hawker grade cuisine, but far superior to the Nandos.

For dinner that evening, I lightly battered the pieces of ling with flour, breadcrumbs, turmeric, paprika, Sichuan pepper corns, cumin powder and salt. Lightly pan fried with side of salad, this proved to be a very hearty end to the day. The fish was extremely meaty and, if it was a white fleshed fish, was verging on a similar texture to tuna. Perfectly paired with a lively sauvignon blanc. Sublime!