The Night Noodle Markets Melbourne are on again in Birrarung Marr and I was lucky to be invited to opening night by the amazing team at Menulog. The Menulog ‘At Home Zone’ was a large space full of good sized tables and comfy chairs right in the middle of the action on the top of Birrarung Marr. Surrounded by some of the top food stalls and over looking the beautiful Melbourne CBD the ‘At Home Zone’ felt like a quiet oasis in the otherwise business of the market stalls.
On each table was a laminated menu, velcro attached to the table which is very clever! Dedicated waiters take your order, collect your meal and drinks and return it to you, without you having to lift a finger, no long lines and waiting, and best of all the service is free, you pay the same price for the food and drinks as people who are lining up.
The following restaurants are available via the Menulog service: Dum and Dumpling, Blackstar Pastry, Bosozoku, Twist, Hem 27, Hoy Pinoy, The Brûlée Cart, Cloud Thief, Mahjong, Bibimap, Donburi Station, Waffleland, and Spanthai.
The dishes I tried were Dum Dum Ball (Dum and Dumpling) delicious pork dim sum, steamed perfectly, the iconic, Instagram worthy Strawberry Watermelon Cake from Blackstar Pastry, Karage Chicken from Bosozuku, which was moist and crunchy and delicious. The Old School Trifecta from Cloud Thief was a trio of Bao, pork, duck and chicken, all with a unique flavour and equally delicious. The Black Gold Brûlée from the Brûlée Cart was melt in your mouth amazing too!
My favourite dish though was the Spicy Quack Quack Duck Salad from Mahjong, a very generous serve of Szechuan duck on top of fresh spinach tomato and cumber, this was worth going back for.
The Menulog team delivered the food fresh, hot and in a timely manner. It was difficult at times to catch the attention of the team, however I think with a couple of nights practice, service will improve quickly with experience. Needless to say I had an amazing night and will certainly be back over the course of the festival.
-Emily Coupar
Emily Coupar is passionate nurse, foodie and author and yogi, you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
The Night Noodle Markets presented by Citi is in Birrarung Marr from November 9- 26.
