Taxi Kitchen

Level 1 Transport Hotel, Federation Square, Cnr Swanton & Flinders St, Melbourne
Date visited: 19th April 2014


Picking up where we left off, MerlinFan and I continued our long weekend brunch/lunch out with the location of the day - Taxi Kitchen.  Passing by Flinders St Station for ages, we never thought to visit, so what better time than after their new revamp.  Now they accept bookings and are happy for patrons to turn up unannounced as well.  It wasn't very busy at all on a Saturday noon, so we were seated quickly at the window overlooking Federation Square.

Our waitress was efficient and helpful - explained the options and a la carte menu.  The latter consists of small, medium and large plates suitable for sharing, or you could opt to have a large main to yourself.  MerlinFan and I decided to get two large plates and a medium to share.

We were presented with a bag of springy bread and butter after our orders were taken.

Medium Plates

First up, we had the Spicy salt & pepper quail with apple soy dipping sauce.

Salt & pepper quail $23

The quail was tender on the inside and crispy, peppery and salty on the outside.  A squeeze of lime and the apple soy dipping sauce complemented it nicely.  I would have been happy to eat a bucketful of these.

Large Plates

Our mains came rather quickly as well.  We had the Crispy confit duck with beetroot puree, watercress and orange salad.  

Crispy confit duck $36

Presentation was gorgeous.  I was impressed that there was actually a substantial amount of duck on the plate.  The duck breast was pink and melt-in-your-mouth tender, topped off with salty crispy skin.  This dish would have been perfect if the leg hadn't been a tad dry, which was unfortunate.  We liked the accompaniment of the zesty orange salad but felt the beetroot puree didn't quite fit in and was unnecessary.

Our next main was the Chargrilled Wagyu flat steak with parsley, garlic and lemon.

Chargrilled Wagyu flat steak $33

This dish although generous in portion as well, was unfortunately, the least impressive of the day.  Although tasty, flat steak can be a bit tougher than other cuts especially when done past medium.  I wasn't sure how they intended for this steak to be grilled, but this was definitely well done.  I like my steak medium at most and this was a shame, because the meat was chewy and gave our jaws a good workout.  I looked up photos online and those sure looked grilled differently to ours.  The steak was also sliced into pieces, so there was no way the person preparing it could have not noticed if it was not cooked the way they had intended it.  Disappointed.  Either way, we wouldn't have returned it - such a sin to waste food over Easter.

Anyway, we proceeded to coffee and dessert.  I had a Cappuccino and MerlinFan had a latte.  Both were nice and strong.

Cappucino & latte $4.50 each

We chose two desserts to share.  We couldn't pass up Taxi's famous passionfruit soufflé and banana ice cream.

Passionfruit souffle and banana ice cream $15

Pretty - especially loved the beautiful platter it was presented upon.  The soufflé was airy and fluffy and I was initially afraid it would be sickeningly sweet, however it turned out the opposite - the soufflé was almost overwhelmingly sour with the passionfruit.  MerlinFan isn't a fan of tangy desserts and had to admit defeat after a few mouthfuls.  The ice cream on the side was rich and smooth with a good punch of banana. 

Our second dessert was the Lemon meringue pie - frozen like Nan's.

Lemon meringue pie $13

It was absolutely stunning.  This was amazing - sweet soft meringue with a heart of frozen lemon and a savoury biscuit base.  We both loved this.

Taxi Kitchen gets an A for effort in presentation, no doubt. Price-wise, it is definitely not a cheap restaurant, and for the amount we paid I was happy that they delivered substantial and filling meals, not just pretty dainty things.  Having said that, our experience based on today could have been even better had the meat been cooked to perfection, but we had an enjoyable time nonetheless.  




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