Aja Asian Restaurant

Aja Asian Restaurant

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Posted 2011-07-06 by Alison Drew-Forsterfollow


The last time I dined out on "Asian" food, it was cheap and cheerful Thai food. Apart from the Asian connection, eating at Aja –A Journey to Asia in Albert Park was nothing like dinner at my local curry house.

It was so many notches above, that I would have to say it was some of the best Asian food I have ever had the pleasure of eating. I have no pretension when it comes to restaurant reviews. There is no danger of me taking Matt Preston's mantle away from him.

But I do love to dine out, especially with a group of girlfriends. And I think my palette is sophisticated enough to discern the good from the bad. And in my humble opinion, Aja is, quite simply, sublime.

From the moment you walk into the restaurant, the décor immediately shouts at you that tonight, you will have a fine dining experience. From the quality cane tables and chairs, to the bench seats crying out for you to park yourself and stay for a while. Unique shell lights provide a warm glow over the restaurant, and are beautifully set against the aubergine coloured walls.

Even the toilets have unique and comical pictures on the doors.

The drinks menu was handed to us almost as soon as we sat down. What an impressive menu it is. Quite unusually, I was able to order one of my favourite sparklings by the glass – Blue Pyrenees Vintage. Several glasses too late, we realized we should have ordered a bottle.

From the food menu, our group of four choose to share both entrée and main meals.

Our entrées consisted of duck San Choy Bao, Soft Shell Crab Rice Paper Rolls and Fried Squid in spice salt. While I am not usually a fan of duck, I could quite happily have dined on this alone. Calamari is one of my standard items to order when I eat out, and this squid was some of the most delicious I have ever eaten.

In fact all of the food was the kind of food that leaves me reaching for the Thesaurus in search of suitable adjectives.



For our shared main courses, we order the wok tossed barramundi; hot tropical chicken and honey pepper eye fillet. While all three were mouthwatering, the succulent beef dish was outstanding.

Desserts when eating Asian food rarely tempt me. But Aja offers a lemon tart, my all time favourite dessert and encouraged by the other courses, I convinced my friend to share a slice with me.

With little room left in my stomach after entrée and main course, the lemon tart met all of my high expectations and I was very happy I had decided to order it. Our friend who ordered the 'Retro Banana fritters' wore an equally satisfied smile.

Dining at Aja is not properly described as "cheap." We paid around $70 per head, which included three glasses of wine or champers each.

But if ever there was a meal worth the cost, it was this one. Without wanting to overstate my case, the food and total dining experience were exceptional.

I am busily trying to come up with a reason to dine there again. Birthday anyone?

#food_wine
#restaurants
#inner_south
#albert_park
%wnmelbourne
165657 - 2023-06-15 01:48:35

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