First Taste Soup

104 Hopkins Street
Footscray
9689 4274

When one thinks of Footscray immediately the image of a busy market and great tasting Pho appears in your mind. With three locations in Melbourne already (in Footscray, Springvale and Box Hill), First Taste Soup tries to change these views with their great herbal soups and Clay Pot rice. This place is one of our firm favourites for a cheap and tasty meal.

First Taste Soup offers herbal soups like Buddha's Favourite Soup and Stewed Black Chicken soup which are cooked in their own pots. In Chinese tradition this is one of the healthiest ways of cooking and drinking soup, the Chinese believe that soup heals and is good for your health. The soup we had was Watercrest Stewed with Duck's Kidney - don't let the name put you off, this was very tasty and brought back memories of how mum would cook it at home.

As mentioned above, First Taste Soup also serve noodle soups and clay pot rice, like many other Chinese restaurants the menu is long and caters for all appetites and cravings.

We usually both order a clay pot rice (allow 15-20mins). These range in price from $8 to $9.50 and are excellent value. The one below is chicken and mushroom, the chicken was tender and marinated in a sweet sauce, this soaked through to the rice. The addition of chinese sausage added so much flavour to the dish (although those who have never eaten these may find them fatty).

The other dish was Quail on rice with extra Chinese sausage (add additional $2), the quail is consistently tender and tasty and the sauce does not overpower the quail.

One of the things that people most look forward to with clay pot rice is the rice crackling at the bottom of the pot, and this is hard to achieve as you don't want to burn the rice. Once burnt the whole pot will smell of burnt rice and mere seconds can make the difference between bad and good crackling. The crackling can be eaten on its own or some people like adding some water to it, absorbing all the remaining flavour and oil turning it into a nice soup.

As you can see, First Taste Soup gets it spot on. The crackling is crispy without being overburnt.

First Taste Soup is a great place to go to if you don't feel like pho or generic China Town food, the place is so cheap (less then $10 a meal) and with the effort that goes into each dish this place is packed with Chinese people and some smart Aussies. A must try.