East Empress Restaurant
The East Empress seats 200 diners on two floors. White tablecloths and bright red napkins accent the simple Asian-style decor. Choose from standard Chinese dishes like Szechuan chicken in sweet chili sauce served on a sizzling plate, or try the "jay jay" chicken with mushrooms, onions and rice wine, brought to the table in its clay pot right from the oven.
Chef's specials include the bird's nest seafood or meat combinations, served with vegetables in a crunchy potato basket. The East Empress caters to vegetarian tastes as well.
If you're feeling particularly flush, go for the lobster banquet that includes lobster lettuce delight, Peking duck, ginger and shallot lobster with longevity noodles, butter fillet steak, Szechuan chicken and fried ice cream for dessert. You can also order a bottle from the extensive wine list.
East Empress Restaurant
263A Springvale Road
Glen Waverley 3150 VIC
Australia
011 (+61) 9887 8388
eastempress.com.au
Rock Kung Restaurant
Kingsway Road in the Glen Waverly suburb of Melbourne houses many Chinese restaurants, but Rock Kung is one of the oldest and most popular in the neighborhood.
It's open till the wee hours, so it draws a late-night crowd for inexpensive Cantonese-style dishes like sweet and sour sauce over your choice of prawns, chicken, fish or pork. Plates of roast meat or poultry like char siu pork with chili oil and roast duck are favorites.
If you prefer seafood, Rock Kung offers a wide variety, including live lobster, jade perch and the pricey mud crab, which is priced by the pound. Banana fritters for dessert tops it all off. Rock Kung is licensed to sell hard liquors and wine, or you can bring your own for a small corkage fee.
Rock Kung Restaurant
101 Kingsway
Glen Waverley 3150 VIC
Australia
011 (+61) 9560 9032
Grand Tofu
Not the usual Chinese restaurant, the Grand Tofu's specialty is a soup called "young tofu." The soup stock can be either clear broth or a curry soup, to which you add your choice of flat rice noodles, vermicelli or egg noodles, and vegetables. But it doesn't stop there. The many small items on display at the counter can also be added to your soup.
These include fish balls, wontons, fried bean curd, prawns and chicken dumplings. The wok chefs then assemble and cook your dish from the ingredients you've chosen. Customers help themselves to silverware, chopsticks and bowls in this casual, inexpensive Asian restaurant that draws from Malaysian, Japanese, Chinese and Thai influences. Gluten-free ingredients are available.
Grand Tofu Shop 5
53 Kingsway
Glen Waverley 3150 VIC
Australia
011 (+61) 9574 7676
About The Author
Phyllis Greene has been a writer, senior editor and researcher for more than 20 years in the fields of law, health and travel. She is currently a writer and content editor for Demand Studios, as well as an on-call library technician. She holds a B.A. degree in English and a law degree.
