East meets, well, the East at Hawthorn’s newest all-day dining destination. St Cloud prides itself on its honest, healthy, fresh and home-style Vietnamese food.
St Cloud’s design is sleek. The white painted brick exterior carrying through to the interior with its contrasting white ceiling, black concrete floor and black tiled bar and counter areas. The furnishings also follow a white/black mix. Hanging light bulbs and large folding windows fill the space with light, though just enough light to keep the lower level intimate.
The restaurant is split across two levels; the downstairs dining space with small tables and benches and the main bar, and the upstairs dining space with larger group tables, a second bar and an outside deck with more small tables and a long bench.
Hanging and potted plants are scattered throughout to add a splash of colour and the upstairs deck’s long bench doubles as a lush planter box.
The food menu is split into two halves, lunch and dinner, with each half further divided into various sections. Lunch dishes include street food, such as banh mi, spring rolls and chicken ribs, rice paper rolls, pho, salad and noodle bowls and desserts. The dinner menu follows the typical Asian fusion-style of small dishes and large dishes. Rice paper rolls and salads are also on offer. Small dishes include banh knot pancakes and BBQ scallops. The large dishes are the highlight with giant sharing portions of pork belly, lemongrass beef short ribs and claypot curry.
There is a banquet menu option with a random selection of dishes for those that cannot decide what to choose. Dessert options change weekly are not printed on the menu.
This visit featured the beef short ribs which were incredibly tender and flavoursome. Carrots, potatoes and herbs are tossed into the large tray that the dish is served in. A selection of small dishes were also ordered and included the prawn and pork spring rolls, chicken wings, banh knot and chicken peanut rice paper rolls.
The dishes were all of a good quality with a mix of flavours, however many of the small dishes included the same sides of beanshoots, lettuce leaves and dipping sauce, which felt a bit over-repeated.
Dessert on this visit was a little spectacular; lime and coconut panna cotta with lychee, plum and meringue. A wonderful dish with tropical, citrus and sweet mix of flavours combined with contrasting creamy and crunchy textures.
The drinks menu is plentiful with a range of beers, wines, cocktails, slushies and juices. Coffee is from St Ali, hot chocolate from Elixir and tea from Larsen and Thompson and Matcha Maiden.
Service was great during the Saturday night dinner period, which was surprisingly busy at 6pm.
Hawthorn has had quite a few quality openings recently and St Cloud is a welcomed and already popular addition to the neighbourhood.
St Cloud Eating House
644 Burwood Road, Hawthorn East
03 9882 0146