Dinner service - Mid-January 2008

Short And Sweet

If it’s good enough for the King of Malaysia, it’s good enough for me. This hidden jewel of the West End culinary crown, nestled at the very end of the dense strip of restaurants lining Boundary Road, Adam’s Oriental Restaurant in the Sapphire Resort could be all too easily dismissed as a spill-over from the Asian-run hotel complex but that would be to miss out on one of best Asian offerings in Brisbane. The décor may be underwhelming and the staff a little on the timid side, but the food is exemplary – I would fault only a few of the starters as lacking the punch that the mains deliver.

Total Score - 7/10
Food: 5/6 (mains are very individual and bursting with flavour)
Service: 1.5/2 (could be a bit more present but are friendly, efficient enough / Adam’s quality control is impressive)
Ambience: 0.5/2 (fairy lights and conference room appeal?… it is a hotel restaurant)

Full Review

And what’s the deal with airplane food, anyway? I’ve always found that well-worn stand-up refrain to be a little off, personally. Air travel is uncomfortable enough at the best of times without having to worry about the food, which I must say I’ve never actually had a problem with over the years (kudos to Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Air NZ) but quite another kettle of fish is hotel food. Just what is the deal with hotel food, anyway?

It was with this in mind that I first rejected the idea of trying Adam’s Oriental Restaurant attached to the Sapphire Resort Hotel in a quiet corner of the colourfully diverse west end. My wife and I had arrived in Brisbane as we brought in 2006, a year full of promise, excitement, the arrival of our first child, and (I hoped) good restaurant experiences. While jet lag had upset my digestion enough to prohibit me from enjoying the various dining options available in the locality, I also struggled with bouts of extreme tiredness as my thick Scottish blood was not accustomed to this humid climate and so, I liked to stay close to the hotel. Lounging in the pool one afternoon, a fellow lodger at the Sapphire Resort extolled the culinary wonders available just next door and despite my preconceptions, I caved. My wife and I booked a table for that night; we’ve been regulars ever since.

Two years later I returned with visiting family in tow, over for the Christmas holidays, and we took up a table of six. The restaurant is often quiet in the evenings. Typically there are a few solitary diners from the hotel and any other loyals who have stumbled across the place over the years, and to be honest it’s not hard to see why many would overlook it as a choice. Its location works against it, for sure, on the back lot of a hotel that I imagine is mostly for visiting tourists, and away from the vibrancy of the West End’s main restaurant precincts, it suffers from an anonymity that is undeserved. Inside, the décor has all the charm of a 1990s-refit hotel conference room (and the restaurant doubles as a business function room) and a karaoke machine that has seen better days sits forlornly in the corner for the functions I’m not sure it has terribly often. The service are quiet, unassuming, and (it almost seems) a little stunned, but they do their job effectively. A highchair was quickly provided for our daughter, menus offered and order taken all within five minutes with typical Oriental efficiency.

There is quite an extensive menu on offer, perhaps exhaustive (and exhausting) if one were to be critical. I often don’t know what to settle on, obviously the sign of a talented chef and one confident in his abilities to produce any of the thirty or so main courses available, or the sign of someone who can’t decide what he does best and so offers up myriad banquets, specialities and old favourites to dazzle (and confuse) his patrons. But any niggling doubts are quickly alleviated by the arrival of our starters. A selection of chicken satay skewers in spicy peanut sauce, roti canai (Malaysian pancake filled with beef curry) and a half dozen scallops were laid out, all generous portions and all bursting with flavour, they were quickly devoured. The roti canai was especially delicious, a plump pancake with an asian twist served with a bowl of beef curry, the meat so tender it slides apart as you spoon it onto the pancake.

For the mains we had a wide range of dishes, the pumpkin chicken curry, crispy seafood, Mongolian lamb and a chicken Thai Red curry. There’s no sense that the curries are alike, if any base sauces are used they are embellished upon enough in every main that there’s no possibility of them tasting alike. The pumpkin curry is served in a hollowed out Kent pumpkin shell and scores a lot of points for visual presentation. The Thai Red curry is spicy without the chilli running amok over the more delicate flavours of coconut and coriander, and the Mongolian Lamb is a solid offering, rich sauce over marinated strips of lamb. However, the centrepiece is the crispy seafood – scallops, prawns and segments of fish fillet deep fried and tossed in aged Chinese rice wine, fresh chillies and seasoning. This isn’t your standard deep fried fish, the batter is light and airy, no pockets of grease collecting or over-cooked crunch, and the combo of the well cooked seafood with the spice and zing of the chilli and rice wine… divine. I’ve been to Adam’s several times and each time I order the crispy seafood; as the menu says: thumbs up.

Adam will often mingle through the diners and ask about your food or even clear away your plates, and I find this a very commendable trait. All too often you get the impression that your remarks to waiters never go anywhere unless they are negative, whereas when the chef himself asks you, you know that’s some rigid quality control going on, and I respect that. On a closing note, though not explicitly advertised, Adam’s Oriental also offers take-away for those who are familiar with the restaurant and there are many times that coming back through the city in the evening, if I’m contemplating take-out that it’s a foregone conclusion; simply excellent food. Highly recommended.