sunda

overall the taste of the food is unique and is quite amazing for the first time. but the food is over price as the ingredients isn't some expensive stuff. the seats is not comfortable, and the music that played is not connecting to the ambience of the restaurant, is quite loud and noisy.

beautiful food matched by a relaxing atmosphere, tucked away in one of melbourne’s alleyways. tasting menu has good portions with the egg noodles as a staple favourite. cocktails are a little on the pricier end but worth it with flesh flavours.

i was very apprehensive about going to sunda because being asian myself, i thought how can you really cook “refined south east asian” cuisine. boy was i wrong! chef khanh’s take on traditional dishes combined with native australia flavours takes you on a unique journey of east meets west. if you’re up for an experimental yet fun time, you’re not going to be disappointed. my favourite dish has got to be the chilled macadamia tofu soup with scarlet prawns, taking me back to vietnam’s sweet & sour soup. i am baffled why this restaurant doesn’t have at least 2 hats.

came here with parents for dad’s birthday. had the sunda experience set menu. excellent, risk-taking food, great vibes, wonderful hospitality. looking forward to coming back.

so i’m giving my rating based on a home delivery during lock down so i can’t comment on the service or ambience etc. but the food wasn’t very good and i can definitely recommend their flavours.

outstanding, delicious and daring. the classics menu takes mostly indonesian/malaysian dishes and jazzes them up with australian ingredients. nguyen’s take on otak otak is something i’ll remember for years - a simple snack transformed into gourmet cuisine. the vegemite roti is the signature dish, and deserves its reputation - finally, someone has found the right balance of an otherwise overpowering flavour. and the main (which i’d interpret as a wildly creative version of pork in plum sauce with dan dan noodles) was a fabulously fiery finale before our palates were cooled by the accompanying salad and desserts. memorable, wonderful, delightful

we booked the 2021 nye dinner and stay for $1200, which includes a 7 course dinner with free flow alcohol and a live jazz band countdown party. the dinner itself is prepared by a partner restaurant called sunda and costs $413 per head.

we are extremely disappointed by the dinner.

6 out of the 7 dishes that was served were cold dishes, many of them did not look or taste fresh, it's clear they were prepared some time ago in batch and served together to save time.

the alcohol list were full of 2018 - 2019 young $20 dollar wines, a selection of james boag beer and bottled juices.

we were sitting at the corner of the dining hall, and did not even notice that the live band was present until the countdown started, apparently they began their performance 30 minutes prior to the count down and left immediately afterwards, we can barely even hear the music from where we were sitting.

it is absolutely unacceptable to charge a full fine dining price only to serve premade dishes paired with cheap alcohol.

at that price tag you should at the very least serve your customers with freshly made food, and even if it is free flow you would expect the selection of alcohol to be at least semi decent. a top of the range fine dining restaurant usually charge $250 for food and $150 for wine pairing, that would have included a generous 7 glasses of fine wine which is more than enough.

if you are expecting someone to go all out because of free flow, how much can they possibly drink? even if they drank 2 whole bottles of a $75 wine by themselves that would have only been $150.

the service was speedy, professional and excellent, the hotel rooms are old and outdated, price was inflated by nye but overall it was ok.

the entire experience however was marred by the dreadful dinner from sunda whom has prioritized cost cutting over quality. that's not the experience you want to have from a $400 dinner.

attended sunda’s head chef- kahn nguyen christmas lunch at the windsor which was billed as a south east asian christmas feast at $395 a head and it was in a word disgusting!!! the advertising for the event was misleading and it was not more south east asian, than fly! the food was dreadful - — mr nguyen’s reputation has taken a massive hit! not acceptable!

we dined at sunda on a saturday opted for their sunda lunch. the dishes were full of flavour bursting with umami. we thoroughly enjoyed our meal and service was friendly and efficient. our favourites were the pie tee, smoked scallops and pork cutlet. the pork cutlet defines deserves a mention because it was tender and the char on the pork was lovely. the honey comb cake was the best way to end the meal.

food: 4.3/5
service: 4.3/5
venue: 4/5

had the set menu with extra roti vegemite curry sauce in a group of 4.

entrees were all delicious, creative and inventive use of south-east asian flavours. portion of mains were very generous, we came in very hungry for an 830pm seating and couldn't finish them! desserts got mixed reviews for my party, i personally really enjoyed the shiitake pavlova which i felt had a well balanced umami and sweetness. was not a fan of the beetroot granita, however i respected its pairing with the other ingredients and felt it worked as a dish.

sunda is a great experience, however i would not recommend it for those not familiar with asian cuisines or appreciative of fine dining (eg my older parents) as the flavours can be quite confusing.

excellent service and a cosy venue.

the taste is sometimes odd rather than differently delicious. i have tried half of the menu including special orders. not to my expectations. don’t think i will come back

khanh nguyen’s instagram handle – @genghiskhanh – is aptly-named. like the infamous mongol conquerer, the vietnamese-australian chef has prevailed through a who’s who of sydney’s kitchens – luke nguyen’s red lantern, justin north’s 2-hatted bécasse, dan hong’s mr wong, savage & hildebrandt’s cirrus dining, and even a stint at noma australia – working his way up to and including sous chef at each of them. he did all this before hitting the big 3-0.

takeaway vegetarian banquet (from 30/06), menu changed. vacuum sealed reheat packs. easy to prepare and plate at home.

vegemite curry is delicious, very moreish flavour, not actually a specially vegemite taste just that rich savoury umami taste. great flat bread to accompany it.

excellent vegetarian dishes, some more flavoursome than others.

fantastic service, adventurous menu, some great flavours. this is the kind of place you go for a special occasion. like most degustations there were some stand out dishes, and some that didn't quite hit the mark. overall, expect to be surprised, intrigued and most definitely well fed.

the food arrives ready to heat and it's very easy. the main was boil in the bag, the rice just needed steaming to finish it off and there was a fresh crispy salad. they offer one dish per day and as we wanted saturday then it was chicken. we had it delivered. sunda would normally be outside our budget so it was a great treat to get to eat their food and it was totally delicious.