I Can Buy Myself Flowers... (or, a Set Lunch at Flower Drum)

If you like food, you’ve probably heard of Flower Drum.

It’s a veritable part of the big beating heart that is Melbourne’s CBD.  Opening back in 1975 means they’re approaching that huge five-oh, and, according to industry, they’ve been at the forefront of elevating Cantonese cuisine into the realm of fine dining.

Unsurprisingly, it’s a place I’ve wanted to visit for a while.  But ultimately, that cheap accountant side of me baulked at paying their silver service prices*.

So!  When I decided to leave my last job and was asked where I wanted to have my goodbye lunch, this inevitably came to mind.  With a little website browsing, I also found out they have lunchtime set menus, which made the expense a lot more palatable for my boss**.

The Spring Tasting Lunch was thus: two courses for $60, three for $80 or four for $100.  They had a selection of entrees, mains and desserts which made the 3 course option a winner (incidentally, the four course option is available if you want to try another one of the entrees, or mains, or desserts).

The space itself is traditional: a deep red carpet, dark wood accents, and starched white tablecloths.  Beautiful, yes, but a little too dated for my tastes: I felt as though I should’ve been dressed in an 80s power suit complete with pearls.  

Dated decor aside, the service was attentive.  When our waiter broke out the Cantonese (my colleague, E, is from Hong Kong), I sat back and relaxed: nothing like a shared foreign language to get some perks***.

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There were three of us, and we each picked a different entree so we sampled all of them.

The seafood rice paper roll was my favourite (it was fried, not like the fresh version I expected) and the enoki mushrooms it came resting on was an utter umami bomb - so much so that my inner gremlin came out to stop the waiter from clearing the plates - not until it's been scraped clean, please!  The peking duck took second place, and it was best version of this I ever had. The meat was thick and succulent, and the hoisin was mainly on the side so you could adjust to your own taste.

Both of the above were split into two for easy sharing (see; perks!) but the quail sang choi bao came out piled onto the one big lettuce leaf.  I had a spoonful of the mix, but suspect it probably needed the fresh crispness of the lettuce to really make it sing.

One-third of the way in and I was already patting myself on the back for a venue well-chosen.

The mains were incredible as well.  E and I both wanted the eye fillet, and our boss got the chicken. Part of me did wonder if I should change my order so, like the entrees, we could sample all on offer… but alas, I didn’t want to interrupt the Cantonese conversation going on.

The beef came out beautifully presented, with two servings split across three plates for ease of sharing.  The chicken, too, came out pre-sliced (it was tasty, but I do think the former was superior).  We also got our own portions of buttered veggies (look at that green!  And it had that perfectly cooked crunch) and fried rice, complete with some of the biggest prawns I’d ever seen in this dish.

At this point, none of us needed dessert.  But hey, it was a goodbye lunch, and the company was paying.  So, of course, we got dessert.

There were only two options on the menu - a baked chestnut sago crumble and the classic banana fritters with ice-cream.

I love chestnuts, though sago isn’t my cup of tea.  It certainly sounded like the more interesting of the desserts, though, and I’m a sucker for trying something new.  E preferred it, and I didn’t mind it when I added the side scoop of ice-cream for some sweetness.  But I’d pick the banana fritters next time - it gave me a flash of nostalgia for those old Allen’s sweets of my childhood.

And, just as we determined that we had more than enough to eat, there was a plate of biscuits placed on our table.  Of course I had to try one (my colleagues, ever the sensible ones, deferred).  Like the chestnut crumble, it was light on sugar.  But they were beautifully made and they gave us a box to take them back to the office.

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_{* I’ve since interrogated this bias, which I’ve observed is not just unique to myself.  Why are we okay with paying top dollar for French, for Scandi, for European cuisine?  I think (and perhaps we are still living in an age where this point of view is controversial rather than obvious) it’s one of the insidious ways that colonialism and institutionalised racism rears its ugly head.}

_{** She did initially tell me “not hatted, Charli”}

_{*** To be fair, I’m not sure they were perks; perhaps this is what they always offer.}