sunda

if you haven't already had the chance to dine at sunda, you need to put this place on your raider for your next date night out. the restaurant is a minimal setting with long communal dining tables and purposely placed lighting highlighting the food perfectly. there is probably nothing on the menu i wouldn't recommend after dining here 3 times already (whoops), however the following are a must - roti with vegemite curry, smoked eggplant, lamb rump, marron and xo noodle with crispy chicken skin. just went asian fusion restaurants started to get repetitive, sunda introduces a new unique flavour by incorporating local australian ingredients in a playful way. not to mention every plate that hits the table looks like a piece of art. hats off to the chef's & team behind sunda. can't wait to dine again!

punch lane has a new king! sunda is the most happening asian infusion joint going around at the moment and there is a reason why! it. is. amazing! we had the set menu, food for days! the spanner crab parfait is to die for! same goes for the cucumbers, the lamb was literally melt-in-the-mouth and a stunning dessert to complete things. the service was 10/10, the waiters really know their stuff. refreshing, different, impressive. it’s a bit pricey but worth every cent! enjoy x

i usually a skeptic when i hear asian fusion. thats just me. the flavours at sunda were actually impressive. good marriage of asian flavours and aussie produce won me over especially their otak otak. they took this humble charred grilled street food and elevated it. by including spanner crab and finger lime added another dimension to the flavours. like a flavour bomb it was bursting with layers of saltiness, spiciness savoury and sourness which delighted my palette. that was my highlight dish that night. overall, it was a pleasant restaurant, with the ambience for perfect dinner date.

love this place! have been here a few times since it has opened and can not get enough of it. food is always cooked well and to perfection. the flavours are just like south east asia but with a nice modern western twist. you can see the thought and details the chef has put into it. my favourite dish is the xo noodles, although it is quite spicy! they have a nice selection of cocktails here also. will see them again soon!

my friend asked me what type of cuisine this was, i’m not sure? maybe south east asian fusion?

enjoyed the food here. great service. good portions. interesting flavors.

loved:
lamb - reminded me of five spice roast duck.
lamb and cashew (looked like hummus) was so tasty.
octopus - reminded us of chicken tikka except it was octopus.
otak otak - most expensive otak otak we’ve ever had but very creamy and i’m sure the ingredients were a lot more premium than what you get in a regular otak otak in malaysia

liked:
scallops
oysters - were alrite
bika ambon was nice but not the pandan ice cream

skip:
pie tee. does not taste like a pie tee and i didn’t enjoy the flavors.

really interesting place with quite a few innovative dishes. sunda takes south asian dishes and combines them with australian ingredients. the fit out is quite industrial but modern and cozy at the same time. we were a group of four and went for the chef selection which comes at a great price of $80 per person for 4 courses / 10 dishes. we had some cocktails to begin with (4 of the 5 signature ones) - most of them were pretty average despite them trying to be inventive with the ingredients. presentation wasn‘t anything special either.

i really liked the food though. interesting presentation and most of the dishes were nothing like anything i tried before. so definitely worth to go! i can‘t say that all of the dishes blew me away, but most of them were really interesting and had a great presentation.

if you are into trying something new and different, definitely go!

interesting menu and drink list, lovely service. the roti is fluffy and buttery also a nice touch with the vegemite curry. a new hidden gem in cbd laneway.

sunda! one of the best dinners i’ve had in a while, the food was exceptional, service was on point!! we sat at the bar section which was perfect view to watch the chefs in action! my favourite dish was the special; roti with vegemite curry and australian black truffle 🖤

you’d be excused for walking past sunda without noticing what is waiting inside due to the scaffolded frontage, but once you realise the facade is all part of the fit out, you walk into a spacious, relaxed cavernous restaurant.

greeted with abundant hospitality, the positive experience peaks once the dishes are brought out. each are meticulously created and plated, and thoroughly explained by the waitstaff.

the menu is an unusual combination of south east asian flavours with native australian accents. we had the special starter, followed by fremantle octopus (with bush tomato, lemongrass sambal, onion) then to the marron (with belacan butter, wakame, vietnamese mint) before ending with the highly recommended bika ambon, banana custard, macadamia dessert with pandan icecream.

a fantastic experience - with the relaxing and visually beautiful fit out and interesting menu, we will be back!

sunda was a bit of a strange experience. the flavours are quite foreign and exciting, a real breath of fresh air. naturally i started off loving it, the pickles were flavoursome and crunchy. the roti with peanut vegimite was outstanding. but at $18, it was a bit rich. the otak otak with spanner crab followed. the otak otak was soft, super tasty and smooth, the crab was a bit lacking, perhaps the delicate flavour was overwhelmed by the spices but i couldn’t be sure. nevertheless a very lovely dish. but as i progress through the dishes, they all started to taste the same albeit with different textures due to the different protein base. the kangaroo tartare and the marron for example. the kangaroo was fine and as a stand alone dish it may even be great. but it did not delight my tastebuds after the last 2 dishes. the same with the marron. the spices completely overwhelmed the delicate flesh.
i couldn’t help but feel that it was all very enjoyable, but it could have been better?

malaysian, indonesian and singaporean food pack a punch when it comes to flavour and sunda has embraced those bold flavours and combined them with native australian ingredients to create an interesting menu. they are new to punch lane in the city and it’s a good one to visit if you’re looking for some innovative food.

wow! what an awesome new restaurant in every aspect.

we were seated at the bar which we love because you can see all the action behind the bar and the table top and lighting is just a dream for anyone wanting to take pictures of the dishes ! it was hard not to take a good picture 😜

we started with the most amazing riesling... which was so easy to drink and went incredibly well with the food. still dreaming of that riesling!

we opted to choose our own dishes because we weren’t entirely sold on the dishes of the feed me menu and glad we did because every dish we chose we loved!

the oysters were well presented and so flavoursome. we also had the rendang beef bun which was a hit too. next was the otak otak.. the flavours from this parfait was so intense and delicious i could have eaten so many of those! next was the wa marron. for us this was the standout dish. not only was it beautifully presented but the marron was perfectly cooked as the meat just fell out of it. having said that though, the sauce was something else! they serve 2 little buns with it and i understood why because the sauce was so damn good that you needed the buns to soak up all the sauce which had flavours of south east asia and marron in it. amazing! lastly we had the lamb. i couldn’t believe how soft the lamb was! i also don’t think i ever had lamb cooked this was with south east asian flavours.. but this sauce again was just divine.

unfortunately we didn’t have any time for dessert as our table was booked for 9 however i will definitely come back.

service was friendly too. i’ll definitely be raving about it to my friends and work colleagues! 🙌

faultless. we loved all our dishes 💛. malaysian, indonesian & vietnamese inspired, fine & modern asian fusion done excellently. it’s amazing how the chef managed to bring out the best of both south east asian flavours and the australian ingredients, and most importantly never compromising the true asian flavours, striking a good balance of asian and aussie flavours.

here’s what we had:

roti with vegemite curry. excellent texture, crispy all over. well balanced flavours, best of all the vegemite flavour wasn’t overpowering.

oysters with coconut curry vinaigrette. creamy and spicy, never had this kind of flavour with fresh oysters before, and it worked.

wagyu beef rendang. crispy on the outside, tasty rendang on the inside.

otak otak, spanner crab curry, finger lime. sublime! hawker stall food done so fine, beats all other kinds of parfait, one of the best i’ve had. served with rice crisps, added good texture to the really smooth parfait.

fremantle octopus, lemongrass sambal. one of my fave ingredients, octopus is always good with a good spicy kick, and this was done excellently.

egg noodles, with x.o. sauce, chicken crackling, pepperberry. superbly charred with strong ‘wok-hey’ taste, strong umami, great textures with al-dente noodles.

special dessert, toasted rice and black truffle fried ice cream, kaya & pandan custard, wattleseed crumb. and more truffles. great combo of sweet and savoury. bang on!

my must order dishes are the otak otak, octopus, roti with vegemite curry, x.o. egg noodles & the special black truffle ice cream 😋

already planning my next visit....

4.5 ⭐️. had a great meal here. punch lane is now a lane not to be missed. the food is very flavoursome with no subtlety. its was a joy to eat. thoroughly enjoyed the complimentary pickles, the spanner crab curry/ parfait, roti and octopus. all the food heading out of the kitchen looked delicious. my only suggestion would be to inform diners that some of the dishes are very spicy (eggplant for example) as it was far too hot for my dining partner. staff were friendly and helpful. the ambience was good, noise levels allowing you to have a decent conversation!

as a coeliac, this is the best meal i have had in australia. the food was literally incredible- i went with the oyster, otak otak, fremantle octopus, marin and the banana dessert- everything was flawless however i would suggest forgoing the marin and choosing another main (it was good but not exceptional like the other dishes). cannot recommend this restaurant highly enough.