Simon Wilkinson: The cryptic name 8020BK is the key to a likeable Asian fusion restaurant run by a trio of chefs in the city
A concrete box in a narrow laneway has been converted by three chefs into a new city eatery, offering comforting and enticing Asian creations.
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What would you want to eat alongside a slow-cooked lamb shank that is collapsing into a puddle of rich, spicy massaman curry sauce? Rice, of course, would be the safe option. But how about a big splodge of mashed potato? Or flaky golden roti? Or both?
Your responses to all of the above will be a good pointer to what you will make of 8020BK, a friendly, humble Asian restaurant that opened just over a year ago in a challenging location just off Hindley St.
The name is code for the formula behind the food. Skilled sleuths will have deduced that BK is Bangkok and the cooking, in theory, is an 80:20 blend of traditional Thai and more contemporary culinary fusion.
The trio of owners are all chefs who met and began dreaming of running their own establishment while rattling the pans at nearby Gondola Gondola. They settled on an empty site attached to a hotel development in Blyth St, a narrow laneway that also has more than its share of car parks.
The concrete box they took over has been well disguised, particularly through the use of hefty wooden beams suspended from the ceiling by ropes that will have you hoping someone knows a thing or two about knots.
The bar is to one side, a striking red banquette wraps the room on the other, while the middle is filled with wooden tables and benches. The front end of a tuk-tuk has been saved from the wreckers and pinned to a blackboard that also includes instructions to “Smile Eat Laugh Drink Talk Kiss”, no doubt written before anyone had heard of social distancing.
BK has only been back open for a week or so but is already offering its full menu as well as lunch specials that are all under $15. We see another table about to tackle a towering burger so packed with soft shell crab it looks about to topple over.
Our version of crab from the main list is a little more sophisticated, though just as generous. A mass of legs, claws and segments of body are coated in a pale, knobbly batter with a devious hint of chilli that builds quietly in the background as you nibble away.
The seafood is fried gently so it retains some juice and crustacean funk, rather than turning to a glorified chip, which can often be the case. Fried curry leaves look like pieces of torn green cellophane and add their unique spice-box fragrance.
Rolled cylinders of king fish sashimi seem to be have had a dip in a ceviche-style citrus cure and need re-arranging to be eaten at their best. Laid flat on a cracker of fried vermicelli noodles and mint, then dotted with finger lime, the fish works with all those fresh, zippy flavours and different textures to have a rollicking time.
A quartet of pasty-shaped steamed dumplings are filled with minced chicken, shitake mushroom and, perhaps unnecessarily, corn. They sit in a shallow puddle of a viscous black sauce with a nice sweet/sour edge.
When ordering the duck salad, we are asked how we’d like the breast to be cooked, a level of detail from the kitchen deserving of extra kudos.
Thick slices of the meat, medium as requested, are concealed in a tangle of shredded raw banana blossom (the purple petals that grow below the fruit) with a firm, slightly fibrous bite. Luscious lobes of fresh lychee are hidden in there as well and the whole ensemble is drenched in a creamy coconut milk dressing.
Two large slabs of pork ribs are slow-cooked before being finished with a wicked sticky glaze that only lets on how much chilli has been used when it is too late. For company, BK finds inspiration in a Sunday roast, with heirloom carrots and a wedge of roasted pumpkin, striped with char marks. Why not indeed.
Dessert falls victim to a combination of poor time management and miscommunication, partly from our end, so the coconut sorbet and sticky rice or pandan custard with roti will have to wait. Otherwise service, from one of the chef/owners, is quiet, gracious and without fault.
As it navigates the post-lockdown world, I reckon 8020BK has a few marketing challenges to work on.
The name is a touch too cryptic and doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Beyond that, Asian fusion might be a better description of the food than Thai, which raises expectations of hot/sour/salty fireworks.
That’s not what they are aiming for here. This is more familiar, less threatening. And in the depths of winter, at a time when people are looking for solace, what could be more comforting than massaman lamb shank with mash AND roti.
The Verdict
8020BK
36 Blyth St, city
8221 6703; 8020bk.com.au
OWNERS / CHEFS Pattra Wongkhamchan, Seksan and Veeravan Suntharapai
FOOD Thai fusion
SMALL $12-$22
MAIN $20-$38
DESSERT $12
DRINKS Short wine list of mostly small, local labels put together with care.
OPEN LUNCH Tue-Fri DINNER Daily
NOTE: Scoring for reviews is on hold as restaurant emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown and return to normal service.