POW Kitchen has good range of mod-Asian food that sells booze

Eat to the Beat. Cinnamon Girl. Tupelo Honey … Let’s get all the musical food cliches out of the way, shall we?

POW Kitchen in St Kilda does informality well, at entirely reasonable prices.

Eat to the Beat. Cinnamon Girl. Tupelo Honey … Let’s get all the musical food cliches out of the way, shall we? POW Kitchen is next to the Prince Band­room at what qualifies as an iconic St Kilda pub, The Prince. Our days of music in St Kilda go (way) back to the Crystal Ballroom and Bananas, but prawn crackers served with kaffir lime peanut satay are about as close as we’ve been to the stage here at The Prince, and it’s a good start. Through the years The Prince has played with all kinds of food concepts in various parts of the building, but this is something new.

The pitch. A mod-Asian eating space (including a veranda hanging over the ­always-colourful Fitzroy Street footpath) that does informality well, at entirely reasonable prices.

The reality. The Prince roped in two chefs with form for its latest — and already popular — venture: Daniel Hawkins (ex-Longrain, Newmarket and Acland St Can­tina) and head chef Woosun Choi (ex-Cumulus, Acland St Cantina and Circa). Without being a knob about it, it’s clear there’s someone Thai helping out. There’s balance and harmony in just about everything here; those critical para­meters of heat, sugar, sourness and salt move in proportion to each other, not individually. The food is delicious and generous.

The cuisine. What you have here is an almost textbook modern approach to pan-Asian food, the type you’d find at, say, Hawker Hall in nearby Windsor, Apple Daily in Perth or Longtime in Brisbane. The flavours and textures all work ­together whether the provenance is Thai, Malaysian, Korean or ­regional Chinese. It is, of course, satisfying food that sells booze. Fair enough. POW does a nice line in off-radar tap beers and wines at fair prices, including owner Gerry Ryan’s Mitchelton brand.

Highlights. From the breezy but polite service to the pleasure of eating at high tables with comfortable (high-backed) stools, the message is consistent. Have some fun, feel the energy — even for those of us old enough to have seen the first incarnation of the Models down in this part of the world followed by spaghetti at Leo’s. A stir fry of Cloudy Bay clams with black bean and lots of garlic, served with Chinese doughnut is a Cantonese winner, but it’s the Thai things you’ll recall most: an “Issan-style” sliced beef salad with stacks of fresh basil and coriander, ginger and toasted rice powder; a pad thai (I don’t care what you say, when it’s good it’s wonderful, and this one has that wonderful smoky kiss of the wok, nice prawns); a yellow curry of pumpkin, coconut cream and Thai eggplant that has lovely depth and consistency; and a minty salad of Sichuan fried tofu with heaps of lemongrass.

Lowlights. Doof, doof, doof. With outrageous irony, a place famous for live music plays stuff in the dining space that is so wrong. And while the idea of serving prawn crackers in plastic bags is very authentic, it also makes them go a bit soft.

Will I need a food dictionary? No.

The damage. Very fair, easy to recommend. The “Feed Me” is $45.
In summary. Vibrant, well-crafted food at excellent prices. A real Asian canteen. In St Kilda.

princebandroom.com.au