Okra Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

Recently visited Okra restaurant and I was very impressed with the meal. They have been around since 2001, and is popular with the locals. They focus mainly on Southeast Asian fusion menu and they have a special Sunday Hawker Feast available. Love how they have a good variety of dishes from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and you leave this place knowing that your Southeast Asian cravings are met. Entrees: We started off with the tangy oysters, the flavours were very refreshing and the presentation of the dish was spot on. The dish makes a very good start to the meal. Moved on to have the fresh hand rolled poh pia, the flavours of the poh pia is good and it's close to what you get in Malaysia.Poh Pia is a wrapped up spring roll with a variety of julienned vegetables inside. The textures were good and it went really well with the sauce. The next entree was the curry puffs, they were crispy and the filling was good. I liked the presentation of the dish, makes a good entree. We had the grilled beef and chicken satay skewers, accompanied with peanut sauce. The texture of the meat was tender and it was marinated nicely. It had the slightly charred flavours which makes it even better. Mains: Okra Tumis Balachan - The okra was cooked perfectly and it had just the right flavours. Will definitely need to try this dish. Singapore Chilli Prawns - The chilli prawns resemble the flavours of the chilli crab and it comes with french beans which gives it the extra crunch. Pla Sam Rod - The snapper was cooked well and the sauce was amazing, it has a sweet and sour taste combined with fresh flavours. Highlight Dish Curry Lamb Shank - The lamb shank was amazing and the curry went really well together, we had a side of roti with the dish and it was perfect. The flavours were spot on and it went really well with either rice or roti. Desserts: We had a dessert platter which consists of a variety of ice creams,black sticky rice with custard, and a sago pudding. The flavours went really well together and the black sticky rice with custard was definitely something different. Love a good sweet ending...

Really wanted to like this place. Saw some amazing socials so decided to try it with friends for lunch. Not a busy Sunday service so they should be at their best. However, issues galore :

Used the bathroom - average standard. An elderly gentleman who appears to be an employee was also in there, blew his nose after toilet without washing his hands. I hope he isn't kitchen staff.

Grassjelly drinks had zero taste. Basically water with grass jelly. The wooden spoon the drinks came with also broke off a sharp splinter which a friend nearly ingested. When we told the staff, the response was sorry but nothing else.

Meals arrived at different times so mine was cold by the time others had theirs. Basic service expectation when you are not busy.

No authenticity to the meals. Rocket Lettuce with broken rice? Rocket lettuce also for Pho? The grilled pork was served with fork and spoon, but it was so overcooked (or day old / microwaved) that I could not tear it apart. We all left at least half of our meals behind as it was simply not up to standard.

There are specialities for the restaurant on display on a few tables, but not ours, which we only realised after we ordered. The waitress (who never smiled and appears to be bothered) never told us either.

I will stress that we really wanted to like this place. Nice decor, good atmosphere, and location. I sincerely hope the staff take note of these basic errors, use their culinary experience, and fix these issues. Sorry but I hope you take...

We dined in tonight and had a great experience in overall.

Food tastes good, well-seasoned and nicely portioned.Our top 3 would be the Flaming Chicken + Chargrilled Squids and the Okra Veggie. Sharing amongst 7 people, we ordered Tangy Oyster; LohBak; Okra Veggie plate; Flaming Chicken; chargrilled squids; volcano ribs; Singaporean chilli mud crabs; pineapple fried rice; rotis and dessert platter.

-Price/per person is at a very reasonable side for both quality and quantity.

-Overall atmosphere is homey and cosy. I would recommend pre booking to avoid disappointment, as I can see the restaurant was gradually packed around 6.30-7pm (for a Thursday night, it's a good sign then).

-Plenty of free onstreet parking from 6pm or opposite is the shopping center. Restaurant and its signage are very visual, would be hard to miss.

Overall, consensus response that we would return with other family & friends. We hope Okra keeps up the good momentum and quality of dishes, customer's service as it continues becoming more well-known amongst foodies.

P/s - photo credited to my friend @eatmorechoiiii...