Supernormal

Supernormal is an Asian inspired menu created by the talented Andrew McConnell who is known for his highly successful restaurants, others including Cumulus Inc. and Cutler & Co. The menu offers bold flavours that work in complete harmony and create the perfect balance of flavour and texture. Ah-mazing!

This sign was cute. The venue is a large open space with simple contemporary deco.

The New England lobster roll was a winner. It was thin slices of perfectly cooked lobster, creamy herb mayo, a bit of watercress on a lightly toasted, soft buttery bun. It was sensational.

The sautéed mushrooms with rice cakes was tasty. There was a range of beautifully sautéed mushrooms and the rice cakes were deep-fried cubes of ginger flavoured rice. It was all sitting on top of a creamy (parsnip i think) puree. Love!

The vegetable dumplings were great. They had spinach, tofu and spring onions and were sitting in a delicate vinegar sauce.

The prawn and chicken dumplings had a great kick of chilli. They were sitting in a chiili oil and vinegar sauce and were topped with dried chilli and fresh spring onions. Delish!

We had the twice-cooked duck bao, which was sort of like peking duck pancakes, minus the pancakes plus a few baos. The duck had a crispy coating and the meat was tender. What you do is: you shred the duck, pop some meat in the super soft bao with a piece of cucumber and add some plum sauce. Yum!

Then you dip the bao in the vinegar and eat. It was so delicious and fun putting them together yourself because you can make it just the way you like it.

The salad of brocollini was one of the salads you do make friends with. It had a great balance of flavours and textures. There was a combination of broccoli and brocollini, soft tofu, candied walnuts, crunchy rice puffs and toasted seaweed scattered on top.

Braised beef cheeks are a great winter meal. The beef fell apart easily and was in a sticky pepper sauce with eggplant. The tripe I was unsure about at first. Who in the world knew tripe could be so delicious. It was little deep-fried bits of crispy, that sort of tasted like crackling. It was delish.

The fried custard was incredible. It was cubes of vanilla and ginger custard, battered and deep-fried with ginger syrup poured over the top with bits of candied ginger. I love ginger, custard and fried food so I had a slight inkling that I would fall head of heels for this one. Loved it. The custard is piping hot so try to eat it slowly at first, but I completely understand if you can’t help yourself.

The baked meringue was lovely. It had a nice shell and was soft inside. It was topped with cream, a dehydrated raspberry crumb and a scoop of lychee sorbet, which we though was an actual lychee at first glance. The lychee sorbet had an intense lychee flavour it was awesome and brought all the flavours together. There were little jellies around the plate and a raspberry jasmine coulis underneath the meringue.

The peanut butter parfait is popular for a reason. It was incredibly indulgent and reminds me of a snickers bar. The peanut butter parfait was super smooth and had a great peanut flavour. It was covered in a dark salted caramel with roasted peanuts on top. It had a layer of crushed peanuts as a base and a quenelle of soft chocolate on top. It was very rich and super delicious.

I really enjoyed everything we ate. All of the meals were modern and creative. Our waitress Sue was so lovely and very knowledgeable about the food and the company. She was also telling us about some of the exciting new ventures Andrew McConnell has in the pipeworks so be sure to keep an eye out.

I heart Supernormal!

Olives x

Address: 180 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
Website: http://supernormal.net.au/
Phone: 03 9650 8688
Trading Hours: Sun-Thu: 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat: 11am-midnight