Silks

Ph: (03) 9292 6888; Crown Towers Level 1, 8 Whiteman St, SOUTHBANK 3006 www.silksatcrown.com.au

Chinese, $$, ** for Food & Ambience
Open 7 days noon-3pm; Sun-Thu 6-11pm; Fri-Sat 6pm-midnight; Licensed; AE DC MC V, Seats inside 130, Private room 2x8 3x12
Chef Ping Yan Yeung (7-11-07) Owner Crown Ltd (7-11-07)

Mietta's Review
This is grand dining. Gold leaf, mahogany, the finest china, impeccable food and precise service, with prices to match. Located at Crown Casino, Silks is aimed at the highest bracket of the market, or perhaps higher. Chef Ki Wah Lau demonstrates his mastery of Cantonese cuisine both classic and modern, to lucky Melburnians and some of Asia's most wealthy. An ideal spot for a high rolling lunch. Yum cha is served daily.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 14/20 "It certainly helps to have had some luck at the gaming tables before taking a table at Silks. This highly priced restaurant services Crown well, with a number of diners obviously staying in-house"

The Age John Lethlean, 7-3-2006 Score: 14/20 "Silks, the opulent, handsome and largely cliche-free premier Chinese restaurant at Crown Casino, is tonight populated by all sorts, except perhaps those the menu, and especially the wine list, seem to target: the winner. ... Yet eating here is expensive, especially if you slip into dishes such as shark fin, lobster or mud crab, which, at $10.50 for 100 grams is really just a more palatable way of telling us the crab is $105 a kilo. ... Silks is a luxurious, impressive, international space. The design, by the celebrated New Yorker Tony Chi, who did a lot of the Crown restaurants and, most recently in Australia, Luke Mangan's glass at the Sydney Hilton, still feels special, calming. The ceilings are lofty, the Chinese embellishments subtle and the silk tent at the centre of the room - more talking point than usable space - still looks inspired. Crown maintains its restaurants immaculately."

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 14/20 "Silks is a special occasion restaurant par excellence. In recent years this most sumptuous of venues has slipped off the foodie radar, a byproduct of catering almost exclusively to hotel guests and casino high rollers. But its charms are not beyond the average punter if you order with care. For first-timers, the experience can be a little daunting; Silks glisters with gold fittings, has expansive views across the Yarra and a Mongolian tent erected in the middle of the dining room where pre-dinner drinks are served."

The Age Sunday Life, Australia's 20 best restaurants Mathew Evans 05 "the real action is now at Silks. Crown's money gets you better decor, a view, a Mongolian tent at centre stage and lacquer-skinned Peking duck better than the Drum's. An army of staff silver-serve, offering careful advice and working well to a budget. Chinese fans can find jellyfish and a few wobbly bits, while the wok-tossed lobster with egg blows the mind. "

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 "For maximum impact, swing one of the riverfront tables with city views, Inside, Silks' dining room is opulently propped with chinoiserie, and well-spaced tables are set with gold-rimmed plates and chopstick rests. The multi-ethnic Chinese menu is conservative, fronted by big-ticket items: abalone, lobster, shark's fin in comb or loose form."

AGFG 2004, score 13/20, excellent wine list

The Age, A2, 13/3/04, Matt Preston,'has a grandeur that its Chinatown competitors lack...the food-mainly glossy and well-appointed Cantonese plus the obligatory Peking duck- is really rather good, thanks to fine base ingrediants like big fat scallops or tender steak.Cheap it ain't.'

Herald Sun, citystyle, Eat, 17/5/03, Bob Hart