O’Town

19 Railway Parade
Glen Waverley, VIC 3150

Guess who’s on university holidays while Ming toils away at full-time work? It’s Chris, back again to lend a hand with the blogging. (And oh, I hope you all enjoy the new website! It’s been a long time coming.)

If you’re eating in Glen Waverley, there’s a 95% chance you’re eating in Kingsway – the ever-busy strip of shops, restaurants, and cafes with something to suit almost any craving (even Mexican!). However, if you find yourself unable to get a seat for dinner, fear not- just around the corner is a smaller, slightly less conspicuous set of restaurants.

Just across from Glen Waverley station and near a karaoke bar lies O’Town – “a taste of Malaysia” as they so put it. Having walked past the place countless times in our comings-and-goings to the station, Ming and I finally got around to giving it a try.

For me, our night at O’Town will be mostly remembered as the night I discovered I simply don’t like rice noodle soups. Although I’ve despised pho since my first try, I’ve always blamed it on the flavouring of the soup and the ever-present coriander. But lo and behold, despite tasting altogether unlike pho, the Kuay Teow Soup ($10) evoked a nonetheless off-putting reaction. Meanwhile, Ming enjoyed its comforting, umami taste – though the usage of MSG was made evident by how thirsty it made her. In the end I was able to at least enjoy some of the soup’s fish cakes, fish balls and pork in isolation from the noodles, thankfully.

I guess I’m just doomed to never enjoy rice noodle soups!

Teh Tarik ($3.2) is quite possibly my favourite kind of tea, primarily because you can barely taste the tea at all. This one fit the bill quite nicely, providing a comfortingly sweet accompaniment to our meal.

The Pork Ribs Yee Mee ($12.5) arrived at our table looking and smelling quite delicious. Despite being cooked with visible cubes of lard, the noodles were actually a bit on the bland side – however this was made up for by the pork ribs with a satisfying flavour hit each time we gently pulled the meat from the bone. Overall, it was quite a nice dish to tuck into away from the cold winter weather outside.

The odds may have been against me liking O’Town, having tried their rice noodles- but despite my unrelenting bias against it, I would happily try out any more of their tasty-looking dishes, based off of the Pork Ribs Yee Mee. It’s not the cheapest food in Glen Waverley, but the menu is fairly large with a nice variety, so I’m sure I could find plenty more to like here.

Rating: 12.5/20
This rating reflects my personal experience at the time of visit.