Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean food pack a punch when it comes to flavour and Sunda has embraced those bold flavours and combined them with native Australian ingredients to create an interesting menu. They are new to Punch Lane in the city and It’s a good one to visit if you’re looking for some innovative food.
They have an intriguing atmosphere with a minimalistic vibe, long communal tables and scaffolding around the room which makes it feel a bit construction site-esque.
The starter was vegetables with a satay peanut curry which had strong flavours and different textures. This gave us an intro of what was to come.
The truffle roti was amazing. This is one of those things you continue to talk about for days after eating it. The roti was crispy on the outside and had light, fluffy, buttery layers when you tore it apart. Not to mention it was covered in grated truffle. Then you dip it into that intense vegemite curry and it’s a savoury explosion. I would say it had the saltiness of the Vegemite but didn't taste directly like Vegemite so don't be scared if you're not a happy little Vegemite, you still might like the sauce.
The pie tee was little crispy pastry cups filled with whipped egg custard, salted vegetables and chilli bean. The pastry was supper thin and the filling was light and had a nice level of spice to it.
The wagyu rendang bun was fantastic. It reminded me of a good ‘ol aussie meat pie except that the filling was a flavourful beef rendang and the pastry was a deep fried bao.
It was easy to pick up and eat and it went well with the pickled radish and spicy fermented sambal.
The pine mushrooms dish had subtle flavours which was good because it highlighted the earthy flavour of the mushrooms. The mushrooms were sliced and placed on a bed of koshihikari (short Japanese rice) congee and roast chilli vinigarette, dusted with andaliman (similar to Sichuan) pepper and manjimup truffle generously shaved over the top.
The charred cucumber was pickled and cut thick so they were juicy. They had a good charred flavour, a zing from the lemon myrtle and a creamy element from laughing cow cheese, It had the jungle curry and peanuts sprinkled over the top.
For dessert we had the toasted rice and black truffle deep fried ice-cream. It was an interesting concept and basically looked like a giant truffle. The icecream was creamy and toasty and had a sweet kaya coconut custard underneath with a wattle-seed crumb and, of course, freshly shaved truffle over the top. This post seems like Sunda have lots of truffle dishes on the menu but that was just because we ordered most of the truffle winter specials (‘tis the season for truffle after all).
I heart Sunda!
Olives x
Sunda
Address: 18 Punch Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000
Website: https://www.sunda.com.au
Phone: (03) 9654 8190
Trading hours: Tue-Thu: 6pm-11pm, Fri: 12pm-3pm (lunch), 5.30pm-11pm (dinner) Sat: 5.30pm-11pm, Sun-Mon: closed
