Secret Kitchen - Melbourne - Doncaster Shoppingtown, Shop L2-2003 619 Doncaster Rdm Doncaster

My cousin told me to meet her at the Japanese restaurant at Doncaster Shoppingtown opposite Max Brenner (which she had frequented before) . I searched far and wide for a Japanese joint and could only find the Secret Kitchen.

It was very clearly a Chinese restaurant.

I put her confusion over which part of Asia we were dealing with down to the fact that she has 3 kids under the age of 3.

You can try Japanese beer to start but very quickly you will be coerced into trying the Chinese variety.

This is a large restaurant with high pre-movie banquets.

The scallops came about 30 seconds after we ordered our banquet - we were impressed with the speediness.

We wolfed them down 15 seconds later and 15 seconds after that felt reprimanded by the fact that we ate a meal that belonged to someone else.  Get stuffed.

Then Kelvin a cute waiter came along and said perfect for you loss for us - nooo worrriesss.

The scallops were ok.

Next was san choi bou - very good. My cousin declared that whoever thought "I have no bread, use lettuce instead" was a genius.

The next dish of peking duck was also tasty, even if a bit cold.

The remainder of the meals started to go downhill. I can't tell you what the soup was but the seafood tasted a bit wrongtown and there was way too much cornflour.

The szechuan spicy chicken was a tad fatty and the beef just didn't taste super fresh to me.

About $60 per head.

5.5/10

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