Pok Pok

803 Bourke Street 

Docklands, VIC 3008

http://pokpok.com.au/

I’m currently moving house at the moment, and this post is getting hastily written in a short lunch break between bouts of packing and carrying boxes, so short and sweet it is.

When I wrote a really not very nice review about Ying Thai, I received a flurry of suggestions for better places for Thai food in Melbourne. One of them was Pok Pok, a restaurant in Docklands serving Thai street food that took me a while to get to, because I kept feeling like Thai on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Guess which days they’re not open for dinner.

Set up very casually with bursts of greenery, lurid pink folding chairs along communal tables, and large paper lanterns, it did indeed have a bit of a street-side dining feel to it, minus the salmonella, which is always good.

Crispy School Prawns ($7.5)

I’ve yet to win Chris over to Crispy School Prawns ($7.5), ever since the time he cut his mouth on them, but I think these did the trick. Though larger than I’m used to, it meant that these lightly battered crustaceans had a satisfying amount of meat under the crisp shell, to be dipped into a tangy sweet chilli sauce. 

Crispy Rockling with Pad Cha Chilli ($14.5)

I chose the Crispy Rockling with Pad Cha Chilli ($14.5), which was served with a side of jasmine rice. I quite liked this dish, the fried fillets of fish thrown in the wok with a mixture of seasonal vegetables, and a generous amount of chillies and peppercorns. I did however find the fish a little bit dry, not at all like the crisp, silken fillets I had envisioned. 

Roast Pork Belly and Dry Green Peppercorns ($13.5)

Roast Pork Belly and Dry Green Peppercorns ($13.5)

The Roast Pork Belly and Dry Green Peppercorns ($13.5), like the fish, were once again tossed with vegetables and spices. However this time some dry curry paste was thrown into the mix, adding warmth to the numbing peppercorns and fragrant kaffir lime. The texture of the meat was also better, unctuously tender in most places with only a spot or two of dryness.

Crispy Rockling with Pad Cha Chilli ($14.5)/Roast Pork Belly and Dry Green Peppercorns ($13.5)

Unfortunately, I seemed to have inadvertently ordered two very similar dishes, but Pok Pok has already shown itself to have a lot of potential. More than potential in fact; I’m rather keen to come back and try their selection of salads, curries, and other stir-fries. Just as long as it’s a Thursday or Friday.

Rating: 13/20 – pok pok is the sound of a mortar and pestle grinding spices – pretty neat huh!

This rating reflects my personal experience at the time of visit.