Chef David Kew

Chef David Kew

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Posted 2021-08-10 by Fiona Andersonfollow
opened in its Cotham Road location earlier this year, joining the well established stable of Chef David, which includes Chef David in the CBD and David's Hot Pot in various locations. The common thread is Chef David Li, who personally stands by any of the dishes served in his restaurants. Li earned his stripes in the kitchen, working his way through the ranks to become Head Chef, and also running a soup base factory. And now the lucky inner east of Melbourne gets to enjoy the benefits of Chef David's long and deep experience with food and hospitality.

But as we were soon to learn, it was certainly not all about the food.

Chef David promotes itself as an 'experiential' restaurant - in other words, you go there for the whole experience. You start to get a feel for what this means before you actually enter the restaurant. Walking into the foyer, there was a moment of doubt about whether we were in the right place.



The doubt soon dissipated as we walked through the main door into the restaurant, however, as we were given a friendly greeting, introduced to our waiter and directed to our table.

The 'warm' welcome continued as we walked further into the restaurant; one wall is filled with what looks like a massive fireplace. It's actually a huge animated fire mural, a dominant and impressive feature that 'makes' the room. Another significant feature is the sushi train, which snakes its way around the bar.



Overall, the decor is modern and edgy, with clever use of neon lit features.



The dinner options are either a Shabu Shabu set menu ($119 per person), or a la carte. If you take the Shabu Shabu option, as we did, you'll be seated on stools next to the sushi train. There are tables away from the sushi train for a la carte dining. The set menu includes unlimited soft drinks and one glass of wine.

Before considering the food, we scanned the drinks menu . It's impressively comprehensive, offering cocktails, a good range of wines by the glass and bottle, Scottish, Australian and Japanese whiskies, and a couple of beers and ciders. The cocktails are named after the 'eight trigrams of Taoism'; I selected 'mountain' (luzhou laojiao baijiu, gin and elderflower liqueur) ($24), while my partner Dave chose 'water' (vodka, soho lychee liqueur, ginger syrup, Prosecco) ($22). The cocktails were clever, creative and delicious.

And so to the food. Our patient waiter explained to us that we first needed to select one of the eight listed broths which would form the base of our hot pot. I opted for the Tonkatsu broth - eight hours cooking with pork bone, Chinese herbs and spices. Dave selected the 'signature Chengdu spicy broth' - an 'authentic and top-secret recipe' which includes 130 herbs and spices, pork bone base and Angus beef tallow. It is said to be 'not too spicy', but that was not Dave's experience. When the broth arrived, he dipped a chopstick in and had a tentative taste. Immediately I could see he was in trouble! With a red face and wide eyes, he said to me, 'I can't eat this! It's too hot!'. Now Dave is a pretty good chilli eater, so for him to not be able to eat this broth suggests it is very spicy indeed. So, if you want to challenge yourself on the chilli scale, this is the broth for you! The sympathetic staff very kindly brought a second Tonkatsu broth instead.

However before the broth arrived, we worked our way through the tasting menu. You can select five of the eight dishes listed as part of the set menu. For the more adventurous, try the Tasmanian uni (sea urchin) with crunchy nori. A safer bet is the assorted tempura. Everything is beautifully presented, like precious jewels on the plate. I particularly enjoyed the lobster sashimi with fish roe. Wagyu is also a specialty, and the Wagyu M9 striploin was a knockout.



Soon after we'd finished this first part of the feast, two generous pots of broth were placed in front of us. There are individual heat rings in front of each setting. We were instructed to turn the heat down to medium once it reached a boil.



While the broth was heating, we turned our attention to the sushi train. Everything on the train is included in the set menu. The dishes circulating on the train are a combination of 'eat now' and 'heat and eat' options - the former including a range of beautiful sushi and sashimi dishes, the latter being items to pop into your hot pot. Each item has instructions as to how long it needs to be cooked for. Again, the array of ingredients was impressive - ranging from vegetable options such as mixed mushrooms and Asian greens, through to more exotic offerings including abalone, tripe and baby cuttlefish. It's really up to you as to how adventurous you wish to be.

If you feel like you need to add extra flavour to the items you've cooked in your hot pot, you can visit the sauce station, where you'll find a range of ingredients you can select to create your perfect dipping sauce. Not sure what to include? There are some suggested mixing options on the wall, so just follow one of those.



If after eating your way through the tasting menu dishes, the hot pot and any items you selected from the sushi train, you still have room for dessert (we didn't, really, but still managed to share a dessert between us), there is a range of desserts available (not included in the set menu). Peppercorn ice cream ($10) sounded interesting, but it was the creme brûlée ($15) we tried. Creme brûlée is perhaps Dave's favourite dessert, and he considers himself a bit of an aficionado. Chef David's was declared 'perfect', and there was not a skerrick left in the bowl.



What I particularly liked about our meal at Chef David's was its interactive nature. It was FUN to select our hot pot ingredients and mix our sauces. All the ingredients are top quality, and as mentioned, there is a great variety to choose from.

The staff were attentive and always helpful, and the restaurant itself is classy and vibrant.

While the price point of the Shabu Shabu set menu might make it more of a special occasion meal, we felt it represented excellent value for money and we are already planning a return visit. It would be a great place to take that special person in your life, or the date you want to impress.

Another option to consider if you want to keep the cost down is to order from the a la carte menu. You can view the menu here .

If you happen to be in lockdown when you read this, and can't wait until dine in is again available to enjoy the Chef David food experience, then don't fret, as Chef David has four home-delivered set menu options available, starting at $98 (two people). Free delivery is available within 20kms. Click here to see your options.

Chef David is located at Shop R01/140 Cotham Rd, Kew. It is open from Tuesday – Saturday: 05:30 pm – 10:30 pm.

For more information, go to the website , contact Chef David on (03) 8548 7881, or email on [email protected]. To make a reservation, click here .

The images in this article were taken by the writer.

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#inner_east
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185701 - 2023-06-16 02:39:20

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