Uncle Wong Kitchen is the latest addition to Mount Barker’s dining scene, offering easy Asian dining with their specialty rice bowls and hand-made dumplings. The restaurant serves as a casual and friendly environment where families, friends, and solo diners can enjoy a generous and delicious meal!

The restaurant is fresh and airy, with a simple and clean set up. Black tiled walls and chrome hanging lights emit class and modernity, and red neon lights and booths add a splash of colour and bring energy to the restaurant.

Uncle Wong specialises in rice bowls and hand-made dumplings, but they also offer a great range of small bites, noodle salad bowls and noodle soup bowls, as well some delicious sweets for dessert!

From the range of rice bowls you can choose from Choo Chee Chicken, Wagyu Beef Curry, Crispy Prawn, Steamed Hainan Chicken, Grilled Teriyaki Chicken, Crispy Pork Belly, BBQ Pork, Confit Mushroom, Creamy Garlic Beef, Baked Cauliflower, and Crispy Tofu. These bowls come with the desired topping, rice, shredded cucumber and radish, and half a cooked egg. The favourites from this selection are the Creamy Garlic Beef and the Crispy Tofu. The Creamy Garlic Beef Rice Bowl is perfectly cooked beef in a creamy and cheesy herb sauce with boiled cauliflower. The rice soaks up the sauce and creates a creamy dish with both European and Asian flavours. The Crispy Tofu Rice Bowl is perfectly fried tofu cubes, which are crispy on the outside and firm on the inside. The tofu pieces have been well-seasoned with chilli, salt, pepper, and chives, which makes for a delicious, salty treat.

The vermicelli noodle salad bowls are available with Vegetarian Spring Roll, Satay Chicken, BBQ Pork, and Crispy Pork Belly. The salad bowls come with the desired toppings, vermicelli noodles, beansprouts, shredded carrot and cucumber, and a Vietnamese-style dipping sauce. The Satay Chicken Vermicelli Noodle Bowl is a light and fresh meal which is guaranteed to be a family favourite! The chicken is well cooked, and coated beautifully in satay sauce. The richness of the chicken satay with the lightness of the vermicelli noodles creates a gorgeously balanced dish, which is hearty, but doesn’t leave you feeling heavy. The BBQ Pork Vermicelli Noodle Bowl perfectly combines the light and fresh vermicelli noodles and dipping sauce with the richness of the BBQ pork. The pork is barbecued to perfection, with a mildly crisp texture around the sides of the meat, while the rest pulls apart with perfection.

From the noodle soup bowls, you can choose a hot and aromatic meal of Laksa, Chicken Wonton Soup, or Prawn Dumpling Soup. The laksa is available in Laksa Chicken, Laksa Seafood, and Laksa Vegetarian. All the laksa are rich in colour, flavour, and aroma, and use an incredible range of spices to create a hearty soup with noodles and your choice in toppings. The servings come with a huge range of ingredients depending on what type of laksa is chosen. The Laksa Seafood has a range of prawn, mollusks, fish cakes, and squid. You can’t go past these generous servings if you’re craving a decadent and rich laksa with authentic flavours and aromas.

The small bites are a delicious range of dishes which can be had as entrees or as small meals. These selections are great because they’re well priced, and just as delicious as everything else on the menu! From the small bites range you can have Pan Fried Roti, Shallot Cakes, Vegetarian Spring Rolls, Crispy Chicken Wontons, Steamed Prawn Dumplings, Crispy Pork Dumplings, Satay Chicken Skewers, Crispy Wings, and Salt and Pepper Squid. The Shallot Cakes and Vegetarian Spring Rolls are both crispy and delicious, and brilliant options for vegetarians! The Crispy Chicken Wontons, Steamed Prawn Dumplings, Crispy Pork Dumplings all have generous amounts of rich and flavourful fillings. The Salt and Pepper Squid is a favourite, with perfectly cooked squid coated in a gorgeous salt and pepper batter.

Available also are side dishes and sweet desserts. The sides include Steamed Jasmine Rice, Wok Fried Bok Choy, Fried Rice, and Chicken Flat Rice Noodles. The side dishes are large enough to be side dishes for a whole group, the favourite being Chicken Flat Rice Noodles, which we would happily enjoy as a main dish! The noodles are paired with bok choy and steamed chicken, and are tossed in a gorgeous light, and slightly sweet sauce. The noodles are thick and delicious, and they soak up the sauce perfectly. For sweets you can have Fried Ice-cream, Creme Brulee, Sticky Date Pudding, or Two Scoops of Ice-cream. The Fried Ice-cream is popular with everybody, and often sells out by the end of the night due to the high demand for this popular Asian dessert.

Even though they have only been open for a month, chefs at Uncle Wong Kitchen have mastered the art of providing delicious and hearty Asian cuisines for everybody to enjoy. Do yourself a favour and take the scenic drive up to Mount Barker, and enjoy a meal at this lovely, family friendly restaurant.

Words by Elisabeth Marie

WHERE: 11/2 Victoria Crescent, Mount Barker