Crispy deep fried pork belly with red curry - Cookie

Crispy deep fried pork belly with red curry, Kaffir lime leaves, basil and French beans - Cookie AUD19.50

 

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Lunch with some ex-colleagues at Cookie.

The wine list was huge, a book almost an inch thick! The beer list was quite impressive too, at about half the thickness. No wonder no one disagreed when I suggested Cookie for lunch :)

 

I loved the atmosphere at Cookie. Sure it's filled with suits at lunch, but there's still a nice buzz, perhaps because of the friendly waitresses who tend to be the willowy, pretty types.

 

My last experience here was Thai-inspired food quite a few years ago, and I'm glad the menu hasn't changed direction.

 

I decided to go with a pork belly red curry dish. Sounds good, right?

 

The red curry sauce was very zingy with fresh Kaffir lime leaves, Thai sweet basil, shreds of galangal and fresh peppercorns, and a few slices of red and green chili for good measure. I'd have prefered more of the yummy sauce to go with my rice, and it would have helped to moisten the pork belly. Some chunks were nice and moist, in no small part due to the layers of fat rendered light and fluffy by the deep frying. The skin was amazingly crisp too! The leaner chunks of pork were, however, quite dry.

 

I guess it is a modern interpretation of Thai food. In fact, it seems to bear the same origins as a Caramelised Pork Hock with chilli vinegar and palm sugar caramel at Longrain Melbourne, except that this has a more obvious link with the red curry sauce.

 

Cookie

1/ 252 Swanston St Melbourne 3000

(03) 9663 7660

  

Reviews:

- Cookie - Mietta's

 

Photos:

- Crispy deep fried pork belly with red curry, Kaffir lime leaves, basil and French beans - AUD19.50 + AUD2.50 for a large bowl of steamed rice

- Fresh peppercorns close-up

- Decor

 

Done