Okra Restaurant

We had a magnificent dinner at Okra last night. The service was terrific and the food superior to what you would usually expect from an asian restaurant. We ordered the Duck San Choi Bao and Soft Crab for starters and followed with Crispy Whole Snapper with tamarind, chilli, onion and garlic, and a beef stir fry. All were delicious but the snapper was a stand out. The décor is getting a little tired but we appreciated the great food, service and the BYO option. We will definitely be back!

A blend of Asian cuisines done very well. Everything we ordered was delicious, and the service was great and super attentive. A little pricey compared to similar food in the area but nothing outrageous. Portions were generous and well presented. BYO is always a convenient touch too.

Located just off the Camberwell Junct, we have to firstly note that the service was fantastic — the main host had almost supernatural perception of all our needs. My partner dropped a fork and I swear it was still mid-​air when a new fork arrived on the table. Water was filled up without us noticing. When it was time to pay we pulled out an Entertainment Book coupon and it was only a third out of my wallet when he said — from across the room — that he was factoring that into the bill. Mad skillz yo.
It was busy on a Sunday night in summer, which was a good sign. Food was tasty — I got the calamari which was done almost perfectly and with an amazing dried chilli flavouring, and my partner got a curry that was rich and delicious. It’s not cheap though. You can probably find dishes that are as good, or better, within a few km’s around for cheaper if that’s a primary concern, but as we were using a coupon it didn’t matter for us this time around.
Feel like giving this 4 just to counter-​balance the previous negative review here, but in the end it was a solid three and a half for me, factoring in the pricing. Still, if in the area I would return.

May I preface this by showing an appreciation for the consequences for a company for a negative review. I have, indeed been swayed away from a meal because of reading such reviews. I hesitate before recording any negative experiences and generally my restaurant selections are very well researched to avoid poor meals.
You can barely see through the door at Okra, it is filled with good food guide stickers which generally signify at least a decent feed, I would by lying if I didn’t take a second look on a walk by of most places with these stickers.
Alas the reviewer must not have chosen the meals we did or I can categorically say there would not be any stickers on that door.
A meal is never off to a positive start when there are plenty of seats available (Okra has three floors) and you are squished next to another table so close it’s like you are almost dining together. Sorry to the neighbours who probably had to deal with our relentless complaining (to each other) about the quality of the food.
To start we selected the chicken dumplings and the spring rolls. Both bland, flavourless and the dumplings were hardened and prune like — similar to fingers that had been sitting in a bath for 3 hours — get my drift of what I thought of the food?
I was hopeful with the mains but a beef curry with cocunut and peanuts offered very little value for $ 21, the beef similar to that I would expect at a surburban food court and the cornflour thickened sauce was again bland. I left most of this dish. The pad thai offered slightly more, hence the one star. I do not expect to hit numerous pieces of gristle in my chicken meat in a dish for $ 16.
The star is for the pad thai and the sweet waiter who nicely showed us the door, under an hour after we arrived.
We will not be back.