Locals of Sunnybank would have noted the closure of Suncrop several years ago. In its place is the new Metro Butcher and Seafood Market. With quite an assortment of fish including sashimi, it might be one to rival Sunnybank Fish Market soon. Anyway, they opened a small restaurant next door Metro Kitchen, which obviously is affiliated with the market. I had been meaning to go there for a while now, being unable to make a reservation for some time but been unsuccessful given it only has five tables and apparently no dining time limits each night. But after many attempts we finally made it.
After being seated, we were given a menu. The dishes reminded me a lot of the authentic street style dining I had in Taiwan, where the food was a fraction of the price though.
Further to the paper menu, there was also a seasonal seafood menu. It turns out that the deceptively cheap quoted prices are "cooking fees" which you pay on top of the item of seafood you get from next door.
So we walked over next door and picked a fish to die for our dinner.
While we waited for our food, we had a lot of fun with the tea setup on our table. Apparently it is a stove, which boils water as needed. The pot on the side is water for washing hands. There should have been water coming from the tap but that wasn't working though. We also were able to add as much tealeaves as we wanted, so I made sure we had a strong brew going all night.
Our first dish to arrive was of course the large sashimi. Although the plating is nowhere near as good as Japanese restaurants, or arguably myself even, the fish was undeniably fresh. It comprised of mackerel, salmon, arc shell, scallops and tuna. My favourite of the night was the sweet scallop. Despite its presentation, it represented good value for money and we would come back and have it again.
One of my all time favourite dishes is seafood tofu pot. The tofu was deep fried and then braised as is the custom, but surprisingly there was no fish fillets in the pot. The veggies, calamari and prawns did soak well in the oyster sauce base though and it all went well with rice.
Next up was the Braised Beef Pot. It also came in a sizzling boiling saucy stone bowl, the beef was tender and juicy, the tofu skins absorbed a lot of the juices and there were even slippery tendons to go with it too, another crowd favourite to go with rice.
One of our vegetarian dishes of the night was the stir fried eggplant. I'm not usually a fan of eggplant but this was done quite well, the eggplant was deep fried first and then stir fried with an oyster sauce base along with the other veggies.
One of the more obscure dishes on the menu, which is one of my favourites is the deep fried pork intestine. I love the chewy taste and the salt and pepper goodness that it comes encased in. The veggies were also crisp and countered the pork flavours well. I just wish there was a bit more intestine.
We couldn't resist getting a serve of scallops seeing as we were at a seafood restaurant. These were steamed with a generous amount of garlic and vermicelli to soak up the juices. The scallops weren't too big and perhaps they were over-steamed a little bit, but they were tasty nonetheless.
Our penultimate dish was the fish that gave its life for our dinner. It came out braised with a soy based sauce. The sauce was a bit thick for my liking and I suppose for a freshly killed fish basic steaming would have been a better option, but we wanted to try this instead and it wasn't bad. The fish was soft and tender without any excess fishiness given how recently it was killed.
We also had a token dish of stir fried veggies, it was served with some salt and garlic, sufficiently flavoursome and crunchy but otherwise not particularly special.
All in all, we had a good time at Metro Kitchen, I can definitely see why it is always booked out. It is a restaurant I would recommend coming back to with family.
Price Range: $50 - $70pp
Taste: 8/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10
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