Melba at The Langham (Southbank)

Eighteen months ago I reviewed this smorgasbord/a la carte restaurant then under new management and found it greatly improved. Now I regard it as the best smorgasbord in town, Not only does it have a huge variety of dishes but also the food is extremely fresh and packed with taste. Oysters, natural, Mornay or Kilpatrick, yabbies, crabs abound with choice of lemon or sauces. There is a large central stand of cold cuts, smoked salmon, terrines, olives, pates, pickled artichoke hearts, asparagus and lots more. There are chefs preparing chapatis and Indian dishes - the Tandoori pork belly is fabulous, with a row of Le Creuset panscontaining chicken, lamb vegetables and saffron rice dishes and others cooking up noodle disheswith your choice of a dozen ingredients such as mushrooms, bean shoots, onion, ham, prawns, and a variety of vegetables. A third chef is making Peking duck and serving other meats. There are a variety of dumplings, chicken and sweet corn soup, roasted vegetables. Another new addition is a sushi bar with yet another chef preparing sushi again from the freshest of ingredients. There are also a wide variety of desserts which would delight the child in any of us. This is a very small selection of what's available.They are fairly simply presented and don't have pretensions but they taste just fine.
It would be really hard to get a better smorgasbord than this.
Wine: A bottle of Zanadu sav/sem/blanc for $37 was quite reasonable without being memorable- but how often are casual wines at restaurants anything but forgetable!
Price: $69 for food but less on weekdays and at lunch time
The Melba doesn't get a mention in the AGF whilst dozens of inferior restaurants bask in the dim glow of their adoration.
Score: 16.5/20