Tao's

Tao's restaurant in Bulleen is a fusion Asian place. I use to drive by the place thinking it was just another Chinese Restaurant. After reading  a write up of this restaurant on gluttonygluttony@blogspot.com , I was very happy when our close friends organised dinner there. The restaurant was beautifully decorated, with wooden walls and partitions of soft curtains to provide some private space. Chinese urns lined another side of the wall.

The menu was pretty much a set course, which was quite good value. For $50 per person, you can choose an entree, followed by a chawan mushi (Japanese egg custard), a choice of soup, a main with rice and a dessert each.

The entrees we ordered were two portions of sashimi, beef tataki and a seafood salad. My beef tataki was coated in a toasted sesame crust and was accompanied by a shallot  and ponzu dressing. I really liked it because it was really refreshing. Also, it is nice to see an Asian place take pride in food presentation (which is not often the case).By the end of the entrees, everyone was looking forward to the next couple of courses.

The chawan mushi came next. It had a crab claw sticking out above the custard, which was calling out for me to use my fingers to pull it out and sink my teeth into the end which had the fleshy bit, which was what I did. It had all the subtle flavours that a chawan mushi should have and yet packed a punch. The seafood, the dashi broth and the just-set eggs all blended beautifully together.

The next course was the soup. The boys had a bonito broth each and the girls settled on the ginseng herbal broth. The ginseng broth triggered a fond memory of my mum cooking this dish for my husband when he was studying for his exams last year. We had it almost every second day. I think the Chinese believe that ginseng gives you vitality and improves concentration. Needless to say, hubby passed and did really well during the exam.

The ginseng broth was good, but was not as good as my mum's, which I have yet mastered! The bonito broth was served in  teapot and the soup is poured into a teacup (which has a lemon wedge in it). Also, we realised only later that there were actually some mussels sitting in the teapot! Very interesting.

The mains that we ordered were sizzling steak on hot stone ( which I thought was the best dish), two serves of Confit duck with Mushroom, and the Rock Ling with a cream sauce. All main were served with a flavoured rice which was cooked with dried shrimp and garlic.

For dessert, we had two serves of creme brulee, a panna cotta and a serve of home made ice-cream which was a rockmelon flavoured. Yummo! The melon ice-cream reminded me of all the Yubari melon ice-cream that we had in Hokkaido, Japan. Hhhmmm.... I really want to go to Japan again! I think that Japan will have be a pit stop on our return to Melbourne next year.

Overall, dinner was very satisfying and this is definitely a place worth going again. We then went to watch The Blind Side (the movie) which is the best movie I've seen in awhile... even better than Julie and Julia! So go watch it....:) And Sandra Bullock was great it in, although we were wondering if she had a facelift ??