Niubi, Glen Waverley

When Niubi opened their new branch a few months ago in Glen Waverley, we visited this restaurant to try out their signature milk tea topped with a cute teddy bear made of milk tea ice which melted into the cup as the drinker drinks on. Later, I watched Luxe Listings on Prime and found that others also have used the same mold to make chilli oil into cute teddy bears! How ingenious. 

Teddy Bear Milk Tea $9 - this is a dollar more than the rest of the drinks on the menu, a cuteness premium you pay.

For entree, we ordered the Salted Egg Prawn Toast $16. The salted egg was delicious atop a bed of smashed prawns on crispy toast. The sauce of some kind of Thai sweet chilli with mayo which didn't really suit my taste. I think the prawn toasts were delicious enough on their own. Kewpie mayo or wasabi mayo might be nice with it too.

The main dishes on the menu were comparatively expensive so we did not order those. For example, mud crab with vermicelli was $168, Kam Heong pipies $34 and stir fried veges $25. We went the 'Solo' way, where one meal dishes like Roast Duck on Rice, Laksa noodles were $18 each. I ordered the Kung Fu Roast Duck $18, basically roast duck on rice. There were meaty pieces of duck but taste wise it was not as fragrant as the roast meats from HK restaurants. There is a difference between Malaysian or Singaporean in this case and Hong Kong style roast duck. The HK style roast duck has a sweeter, crispier skin whereas the Malaysian style is on the saltier spectrum with more five spice. 

This is the signature garlic black roast port with egg noodles $18. The pork was so tender and infused with garlic flavour. It is a tad too salty for my liking but probably the better dish of the two. 

There have been some negative reviews for Niubi on Google recently about the service, and some about the price. I don't take offence to the lack of service at restaurants because I am used to the typical Asian hospitality and for me, good food always wins over service. We were kept waiting without any acknowledgement, and staff seemed to be clueless but it may be teething issues with any new branch opening. 

The prices here are expensive, for those who like fusion food, instagrammable food presentation and nice decor. I'm glad we had the opportunity to try this restaurant when they had 22% discount (opening special).