Royal East – Keysborough – Shark Fin Inn without the yum cha

Royal East in Keysborough is a Cantonese restaurant. Many of the items on the menu are similar, if not the same, as the dishes down the road at Shark Fin Inn. The main reason for that is that some of the chefs were trained at Shark Fin Inn. There is a clear resemblance from the menu, the food and even the way the waiters are dressed with Shark Fin Inn.

The restaurant shows the ware and tear of its previous occupants, Hungry Jacks with its kids playground and Souvlaki Hut with the ice-cream bar. This location has a storied history. For us, we were surprised to see a full house of guests on a Friday night.

Despite not having a reservation, we were able to be seated on a table of four (with two kids). As we sat down, we were served prawn crackers and asked for some jasmine tea to be served.

We perused the menu, noticing that there were lots of banquets at set prices for people looking for a quick and easy option. Though most of these banquets start in the hundreds of dollars and offer either crab or lobster as the main. Instead we opted for a la carte options. Unlike Shark Fin Inn, there seems to be a focused on the clay pot options. (Shark Fin Inn also has clay pot, but there seems to be more to choose from here.)

We opted for their Wonton Soup for $8.80, Beef and Vegetables on Fried (Crispy) Noodles ($26.80) and their Taro Yam Duck ($34.80). We were also able to add chilli oil for the table without incurring an extra fee – again this is similar to the approach taken at Shark Fin Inn.

We started with their Wonton Soup, which was okay but the wontons were a tad small. My recollection of this item is that the chicken stock is pre-made and they simply heat the wonton separately in boiling water. Once all is ready, the wontons, soup and flavour enhancers are added before being topped with spring onions.

The next item to arrive were the noodles were the nice crispy kind that become soft under gravy, The beef and vegetables, which consisted of baby corn, mushrooms, pak choy and carrot, was presented nicely. This was a great dish to share because it smelt delicious with that slight char and meaty-aroma, while the taste was full of excellent textures and delicious flavours.

The last item to arrive was the Taro Yam Duck (which came almost as we finished the noodles). We know it takes awhile to make, but it was really good. The duck came battered, deep fried without bones and with a bowl of gravy. The duck had to be deboned, deep fried, and the taro topping had to be lathered over the duck meat to create the dish. There were a few components to it, and one we understand not any kitchen can do with haste.

On other tables, we noticed that there were lots of people ordering the banquet. And having fruit platters with rock melon served at the end. (We didn’t get a fruit platter, which we figured because we didn’t spend enough…)

We didn’t see much in the way of takeaway during the night, so we suspect a lot of people generally dine-in. In my view, restaurants that can master both dine-in, but also get a lot of takeaway end up doing incredibly well.

One final note is that the service is not great, but you will get what you ask for (even if there isn’t much acknowledgment at the time). So if you want a bowl or some chili oil, they will get it but won’t even look at you. So don’t expect great service, despite the higher prices than usual. Just expect nice food, done well.

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