Jardin Tan

Met a friend for Saturday lunch at Jardin Tan today. This up market Vietnamese restaurant is part of Shannon Bennett“s stable of eateries (think Vue de Monde and Bistro Vue) so with a pedigree like that I had high expectations.
They have seating outside on a wooden deck surrounded by a little herbarium that provides at least some of the kitchen’s herbs and fresh vegetables and backs onto the Botanical Gardens. My friendly waitress found me a table in the middle of the verandah underneath a lovely old fig tree.
The menu offers a choice of small and large plates, but my attention was immediately drawn to the back page which contained the banquet menu. This started with a vego dish of tofu, braised tomato, turnip with basil, Banh Cuon pork mince mixed with mint and fish sauce wrapped in rice paper), Ba la Lo (wag you mince wrapped in betel nut and grilled, served with peanut sauce), prawn and sweet potato fritter, fried morning glory flowers with shiitake mushrooms and garlic, coconut beef curry, chicken satay, plus rice and salad all for $ 55. Oh, and did I forget to mention the spread of French and Vietnamese desserts? How could we say no? So of course we said yes :)
Apart from the tofu, which neither of us liked, everything was good; we both rated the Banh Cuon and the prawn fritters which were really tasty. The la lop was OK too, especially the creamy peanut sauce which was made with coconut milk. The coconut and beef curry was delish, and the satay wasn’t bad either, though not as good as the equivalent at Hawkers Hall.
There was so much food that we were force feeding ourselves at this stage, but there’s always room for dessert :)
Jardin Tan is very good. Great food, extremely generous serves for the price (at least the banquet), lovely location and fast, friendly service — just about everything you’d expect from Vue de Monde except the price tag.

Just stopped in for a beer with friends on a hot day. We had to ask twice to be served and found the beer range unappealing. Will never come back to this place.

Can not give this place even 1 star.
When the guy taking our order yelled behind him «2 phở» (pronounced «phở» rather than «fah») this should have been out warning. The tiny cup of rubbish we were handed should have been handed right on back. The liquid was cool, nearly cold and when we cracked the lid there was 2 pieces of fatty thinly sliced corned beef on top. The broth was straight from a carton of Campbell’s beef stock and the noodles were like jelly. If this place existed anywhere else it would be out of business in weeks. Baguette that accompanied this was more doughy than expected and was certainly not appreciated in the banh mi the girls had. Expensive, tiny portions of less than tasty garbage that would be thrown out of a real Vietnamese kitchen. 0 stars is overrated.

Great coffee (cappuccino and long black) and Pain au chocolat. Although not there for breakfast, menu looked appealing. No obviously available snacks beyond pastries.
Staff friendly and good to young kids.
Good selection of indoor and outdoor seating. Interesting décor.
Easy to get to via walking or car, being close to the visitors centre.

I had coffee and a blackberry jam donut at the outdoor coffee stand, and loved both. The staff were lovely and chatty and as it was only 9.30am, it wasn’t overly busy, and I had a quiet seat. I’d go again, and take time to walk through the gardens and the gift shop.

For the hype, this was a bit of a let down.
Although the décor is beautiful and the service was fine, the food left a little to be desired.
Don’t get me wrong, it was pleasant but it was nothing special considering shannon has his name attached to it.
5 out of the 6 dishes we ordered were very under seasoned, bland and over cooked.
I felt that most dishes could have benefited from a dipping sauce or something with a bit of punch added. (Maybe they simply forgot to bring them?) Because 5 of the dishes were standard/​average at best.
However, the chicken ribs were lovely!
And the desserts were also very well done.
Will I go back? Not in a hurry.

Great food, fried chicken is very flavourful. Open and spadeful eating area.
Friendly waiters who were very helpful and always easy to get their attention.
Food was quick to come out.
Small selection of beers though

Fantastic location to have a sunny, cheerful breakfast or brunch on a weekend morning. This place is very kid and puppy friendly, and in my opinion, a great place to take parents! (Take a leisurely stroll in the botanical gardens to walk off your meal)
I’m less than impressed with the food, which seems full of promise, but fails to wow. D had the gluten free pancakes, which were 3 tiny things with a few measly pieces of caramelized bananas. Without the sweet glazed bananas, the pancakes would have been something we could make at home.
I got the pulled pork with fried eggs, which took ages to come out. We had to check in with our server to see if it had been forgotten. It wasn’t anything special, although the meat was tasty.
I wish we had a tastier experience! A lot of the items on the lunch menu sound more promising, such as the Banh Xeo and even the phở. The ambiance is fantastic with tons of natural lighting and outdoor seating, and there’s even a garden in the back that the restaurant grows its own herbs from. Labelled and everything! It’s worth a look.

Lovely open air café (at the moment) serving Vietnamese French inspired fare, think banh mi, phở and poached chicken slaw, with pastries worth falling off the diet wagon for, like chocolate and tonka bean donuts. Opening the inside restaurant in the next few weeks, with wine on tap by DOC, super sustainable principles govern this place, just like Bennet’s other venues. Nothing not to love about what I’ve seen so far. The coffee is better due to a slightly larger dose hitting each cup than what you might be used to at Café Vue. I’m looking forward to heading back for the full menu very soon.