Sugar Cane is a Vietnamese restaurant located on King William Street, close to the end towards South Terrace. The decor here is modern and yet slightly traditional. In line with the name of their restaurant, they have ornaments made from sugar cane in strategically located places. I particularly like the floor to ceiling windows which allows an abundance of natural light coming in from the west.

Sugar Cane is predominantly a Vietnamese restaurant, however, there are other Asian influences (Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian and Thai) on their menu. They also promote themselves as fine dining, but based on my experiences with their service, their menu price point and their serving sizes, I would have thought it was more casual dining.

I can usually tell how authentic an Asian restaurant is just by the number of Asian customers that eat there. A quick glance around the restaurant suggested the food was going to be westernised to suit the local palette. While waiting for a few friends to arrive, one of them injured themselves by walking into the glass door entrance. Either the glass door was very clean or my friend needs glasses!

As a group, most of us ordered dishes to share, while some decided to order their own individual dishes. Unlike other places, the dishes are served as they are prepared. My friend who was the last to arrive, and bleeding from the forehead, was the first to receive his meal. After he had received our blessing to start eating, he had finished his meal before ours even started to arrive!

Two friends from the group ordered a serving of fish cakes each for entree. When the fish cakes came out, both entrees were served on one plate and given to only one person. The friend doing the eating thought it was the best value for money dish due to the sheer quantity of fish cakes. The other friend was looking around wondering where her entree was. It was only until the entree was finished did we realise one person had just consumed two entrees.

After a 30 minute wait, the shared dishes finally arrived, all at the same time. Thankfully the others had finished their meals because there was hardly enough table space. The dishes were nicely presented and the serving sizes were generous.

SALT AND PEPPER SQUID – Squid was slightly overcooked. The coating was over battered and a bit thick for my liking.

PRAWN SKEWERS – Minced prawns weren’t well seasoned and slightly overcooked.

PRAWN SPRING ROLLS – These were OK, although they could have been fried a bit longer to give the spring roll skin a more golden brown colour.

BBQ PORK RIBS – I thought the dish was too bony, however, the flavour was just right.

BROCCOLI IN OYSTER SAUCE – Vegetables were fresh and crisp, and not over cooked.

MIXED VEGETABLES – Vegetables were fresh and crisp. Very similar ingredients to the previous vegetable dish but with a different sauce.

BASIL CHICKEN – Chicken was slightly over cooked. Chicken breast was used so I was happy about that. Vegetables were fresh and crisp. Dish had nice balance.

RED DUCK CURRY – I could have made this at home. Buy some red curry paste from your local Asian grocer, add vegetables and duck. Nothing impressive about this. It was well made though.

BARRAMUNDI FILLETS – Fish was over battered, over cooked and too oily. They put a Vietnamese dipping sauce over it which made the fish soggy.

TENDERLOIN BEEF CUBES – Meat was tender but only because they had tenderised it in soda powder. It was lean, so I’ll give them points for that.

The group of us sharing the dishes ordered some steamed rice. A moderate sized bowl of rice was served to another person in the group who had ordered individually. It turns out the rice was for the group that was sharing. While the friend who was served the rice was busy loading herself up on carbs, the sharing group ended up eating the mains by themselves. We even got charged $18 for the rice we never ate!

I grew up eating a lot of Vietnamese food, so my opinion is probably a bit harsher than most, because I know what the dishes really should taste like. For me, the dishes were average at best. The mix up in dishes was absolutely shocking and I wasn’t impressed that dishes came out at different times. Even at the end of the meal, everybody was charged an extra dollar for the privilege of paying for our meals individually.

The pricing was reasonable, the food was average, the customer service was a huge let down.

WHERE: 408 King William St, Adelaide