After being told by a few people how good Bambu was, we thought we'd give it a go. The online menu looked good, so why not try for ourselves.
Even though it's on the outside of the South Melbourne Market, the parking wasn't hard at all. At night it's easy to find as their signage is bright and inviting. After a little misunderstanding with the waitress trying to seat us, we finally sat down and found the menus stuck to the table under the crockery. You yank it out from under the plates and make your choice.
The food itself was ok. It was possibly a teeny bit pricey for what you get, and I've definitely had better fried rice at other places before. The entrees came out in quick timing, and before they'd even cleared away those dishes and given us time to digest that, out came the mains. With such small tables, it was a juggling game trying to receive the new plates with all of the old ones still uncleared.
Overall, I found it to be very noisy (not only from the patrons, but the kitchen staff who are yelling out orders all the time - and you can see into the open kitchen which is not only unappetising, but loud), small and very cold inside (even in the middle of winter, sitting outdoors with those outdoor heaters might have been warmer than inside). I felt the meal was very rushed and not conducive to a nice Saturday night dinner.
Having said all of that, there are one or two other things on their menu that do sound different and yum, so there's every chance I'd come back again, but I wouldn't come here for a relaxing, quiet dinner. I feel it's more geared for a quick Sunday night meal or a quick dinner after work. read more