February 16, 2007: Chillipadi

Update 27/1/2019: Chillipadi is permanently closed.

Thanks to Cin from A Few of My Favourite Things, Cindy and I were in possession of a $50 voucer for a meal at Chillipadi and, since we had nothing planned, we decided to check it out on Friday evening. It's tucked away around the Elizabeth Street side of Melbourne Central, and seems to be spread across three levels. And it was busy - people spilling out everywhere. Luckily, being a duo, we were quick to find a table, although it was kind of jammed between the door and the cash register. But on the upside, Cindy's friend Yung was dining at the table next door, which was a stroke of good fortune. Thanks to the spendthrift-ery that a voucher instills, I tucked straight into an imported Japanese beer while we perused our options.

The menu provides fairly well for vegetarians, with noodle dishes, roti-based options, salads and a few other choices. In keeping with our voucher-inspired enthusiasm, we started out with a bowl of chips, seasoned with shichimi (7 spice chilli). They were thin, crispy and well-spiced - encouraging a fair bit of relish from Cindy in particular. For mains, I chose the fried koay teow with eggs, while Cindy went with mee goreng. Both dishes were heavy on the noodles, with fried egg stirred liberally throughout. The veges were well-cooked and tasty, but the ratio of noodles to vegetables could have been a bit lower. Mine was huge, and quite spicy, forcing me to order a second beer. Cindy seemed to enjoy her mee goreng, but I think the damage had been done by the chips. Cindy had spent the whole meal eyeing off the desserts in the cabinet behind me, but a bit of mental arithmetic told us that a) we'd already hit $50 and b) eating anything more would probably result in serious illness. Still, they're open all hours, so I'm sure we'll be back again in the future, and we'll probably swap the chips for some cheesecake next time.

Address: Menzies Alley, Melbourne Central
Ph: 9664 5688
Licensed
Price: Veg. mains: $10 - $14
Website: www.chillipadi.com.au