Shu - Full Menu

Came here for the vegan options and was simply blown away. Not normally a vegan eater, but was invited to try their degustation. Top quality food with great dri... read more Came here for the vegan options and was simply blown away. Not normally a vegan eater, but was invited to try their degustation. Top quality food with great drinks to match. I'll certainly be back.

Modern, hip and funky on a pretty ordinary part of Johnston St in Collingwood, this semi industrial joint has surpassed expectations and survived for several ye... read more Modern, hip and funky on a pretty ordinary part of Johnston St in Collingwood, this semi industrial joint has surpassed expectations and survived for several years now. It 's also something unexpected in that (I believe a mistake) the kitchen is at the front this hiding a large part of the dining area. I 've walked past many times and thought the place to be empty and therefore struggling only to find on our first experience there 's quite a large dining room 'round the corner ' so to speak and hidden from view.<br/ <br/ There were 4 of us and went for the 10 course degustation meal. Welcomed by Shu himself and introduced to the staff, it was a tremendous start and even before we sat, the menu Sichuan and therefore quite spicy was being explained.<br/ <br/ The food throughout was light and delectable there was never any chance of overeating as some of the course were little more than bite size. It was about he delicacy of texture, taste and experience.<br/ <br/ Scallop sashimi, silken tofu, and an Asian vegetable herb roll (Daikon shimeji herb garden) first off served on a wooden platter. The beetroot infused tofu was extraordinary as was the herb roll both very fresh. Admittedly I 've never been a great fan of scallops, so these left me cold in terms of response.<br/ <br/ Next up was the potato pancake with mushrooms burnt chilli mayo (possibly the highlight of the meal), swimmer crab chive pocket with viet gan fish sauce (very odd and not liked by many people at the table strange unidentifiable flavour likely to be the fish sauce) and crispy fried chicken drumsticks.<br/ <br/ Gorgeous pork wantons then followed by pork neck with sticky black rice ginger mash. Salad was served to accompany the two mains (contained an extraordinary spinach jelly). <br/ <br/ Final course vegan passionfruit cheesecake actually served in one half of a passion fruit. Yum.<br/ <br/ All in all an extraordinary experience although I have one significant criticism. Whilst aware that Sichuan is a spicy experience, desperately needed a break from all the chilli flavours. It just built and built to the point where it became quite difficult to differentiate. Ironically the salad, served I assumed as a palate cleanser, was the hottest of them all! Individually, all the dishes were quite extraordinary but I personally would have enjoyed the whole meal so much more if there had been one palate cleanser in there in the middle.<br/ <br/ But will be back to try out the rest of the menu.