Mai Kitchen | SA Weekend review

There’s a simple reason this suburban Vietnamese restaurant is one of the top-rated eateries in the city – and it’s staring you in the face.

Banquet dishes at Mai Kitchen, Ferryden Park

Compare the pair. Two plates of steamed bao have been dropped at the table. The puffy white buns on the first are filled with cucumber, pickled carrot, coriander and slices of roasted pork belly that has a picture-perfect layering of flesh, fat and crisp crackling.

The second looks almost identical, other than the weird red colour of what should be the skin.

Take a chomp from both varieties and the pork in the first has the edge but, with all that crunchy veg and the punch of a sweet chilli sauce, the difference is minimal. Even the dedicated carnivore in the group says he’d be happy to eat either.

As you’ve no doubt twigged already, that second bao contains a meat-free substitute. And it is this twin offering of both a regular Vietnamese repertoire, and almost as many vegan alternatives, that has helped make Mai Kitchen so popular.

Head into the backstreets of Ferryden Park on a Wednesday evening – a time when many respectable city eateries would be happy to be half-full – and you quickly get an indication of Mai’s following. Parking is at a premium around the unremarkable retail strip that the restaurant has almost entirely taken over. That gives them room for more than 170 seats and, on this night at least, few of them are empty.

Steamed bun with roast pork at Mai Kitchen.

… and the vegan roast pork bun version.

It’s a location that first came to prominence as the home of the much-loved Nghi Ngan Quan. When NNQ shifted to Woodville eight years ago, the landlord and his family took over the restaurant, updating the decor, adding all the vegan options and calling it Mai Kitchen.

The business has changed hands again since then but current owner Derek Shi has stuck with the name and modus operandi.

If that all sounds a little vague, it is because, deliberately or otherwise, Mai Kitchen does little in the way of self-promotion – making the fact that it ranks No. 4 among the 1000-plus Adelaide restaurants rated on TripAdvisor even more perplexing.

Not that there is anything particularly wrong with the cooking. It’s OK, though I’d argue it lacks the finesse and attention to detail of our best Vietnamese places, NNQ included.

Little things, like the one-size-fits-all sauces, let it down. Then again this assessment is based on a small sample size from a vast menu that also squeezes in old-school Chinese favourites like sweet and sour pork and honey prawns.

Prawn and green papaya salad at Mai Kitchen, Ferryden Park

Along with the baos, we try two types of spring roll. Both are shaped into broad cylinders of fine, golden rice-paper (rather than pastry) with lettuce leaves and herbs on the side to add a further layer of wrapping. The Saigon-style has a finer ground filling of prawns that looks a bit like the inners of a frankfurter, while the coarser mix of pork and mushroom in the Hanoi-style is more enjoyable.

Anaemic shelled prawns (imported, I guess) let down an otherwise ripping salad of shredded green papaya, carrot and mint in a zippy chilli and garlic dressing of immaculate balance.

Vietnamese clay pot rice is an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink combination featuring slices of pork, mushrooms, lap cheong sausage and chicken slicked in a heavy soy-based sauce that makes it all – other than the fried egg on top – taste a bit the same. Still, mixed through the rice below even the smaller size is a substantial meal at less than $20.

Vietnamese clay pot rice at Mai Kitchen.

Sizzling beef stir-fry at Mai Kitchen.

The favourable size/value equation extends to a lighter and brighter stir-fry of beef and mixed vegetables (broccoli, carrot and snow peas among others) in a lemongrass-based sauce that doesn’t really live up to even a one-chilli rating.

Service in general is prompt, with orders keyed into a tablet to avoid confusion. Removing the detritus of the previous courses before delivering dessert, however, would be preferable.

Along with the obligatory fried ice-cream (very heavily battered), we try a crème caramel-style custard that is a little on the firm side. More fool me. I should have gone for the vegan option.