Kingdom - East Hawthorn - Chinese

Venue: Kingdom Chinese Restaurant
Chinese Cuisine
46 Tooronga Village East Hawthorn
Star date : Sometime in Dec 2005

MLI and I went here during the peak of the holiday season, hot and desperate for some cool air and edible food. Kingdom was our only option as everyone in Camberwell goes to the Bahamas or something over Christmas so I'm told.

Tooronga Village is a shopping precint in tatters and Kingdom Restaurant is one that saw its glory years sometime in the 1980's. Have you seenBlue Murder? Well this is the sort of restaurant Australia's underworld would have frequented. Seriously. I expected Neddy Smith and Detective Sergeant Roger Rogerson to be discussing a million dollar drug deal at the next table, smoking up a storm and knocking back Fosters.


As all good gangsters stories note, it is in the little details that the story is told. For instance on arrival we were seated at a lower level table, presented with poor wine menu and opted for corporate cola instead. This is where the vestiges of 1980's service presented itself. We were served WARM DAMP TOWELS! Heavens! The last time I saw that sort of service was on a Air New Zealand flight in 1988.

Other service tics observed at adjacent tables were unfashionable and outdated, causing MLI and I to feel we were in a time warp. Therefore I can't for the life of me remember what we ate, except that it did taste much better than I expected...and that we left before dessert, to the absolute surprise of the wait staff.

Cost:About $50.00 would have been much more with decent wine, the glugger that I am.

Conclusion: Food was a poor second to the time warp affect of the restaurant's service and decor. Seemingly a place that has had a glorious past and could do with some young blood, a revitalised catchement, a makeover and a decent wine list to see it through. 4 out of ten.
Reviewer: Ladycracker x 2