Maxim Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant

Maxim Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant
19 Darra Station Road, Darra



I write this post apprehensively because I don't know if this is even what the restaurant is called. On grandad's suggestion, we all trekked to Darra last Saturday. Dad approached from East Brisbane and the rest of us arrived in a two car convoy from Toowoomba. All I knew was the address: 19 Darra Station Road.



The rest of the information was based on what I could piece together from the photos I took. I found a sign saying "Maxim Restaurant" and a menu saying "Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant". Fingers crossed that this is correct.


My first impression of the restaurant was 'meh'. It's large but rather dark and dank. It was late for lunch (around 2ish) so there weren't many other tables of diners.


I let the oldies take on the task of ordering. Grandad submitted for 2kg of mud crab and a dozen oysters. He also asked the waiter for a recommendation and was told to try their pho. We ordered a bowl. Mum put down a request for veggies so we ordered some tofu and vegetables.

Ginger and shallot mud crab

We had the crab two ways. The first was classic ginger and shallot wok-fried on a bed of noodles. This is how we normally have mud crab from restaurants. My favorite part is always the noodles because they soak up all the flavor. The noodles were fantastic... so slurpy and tasty.

Oysters with XO sauce

The oysters arrived next. We were given a few options for topping and I chose XO sauce. They were large oysters and quite not gritty or sandy, which is good. I like them cooked this way but it's harder to judge the quality of oyster than if they were raw.

Singapore chili mud crab

Our second crab was cooked Singapore chili-style. It was so tasty. The crab was fat with lots of juicy flesh. The sauce flavor wasn't as complex as the one we had at Kingsleys but it was still delicious. Mum liked this better than the ginger and shallot crab and I agree but both were good.

Tofu and veggies

I ate lots of veggies and tofu to make up for the crab (poor logic I know). I liked the tofu lots. It probably wasn't healthy because it tasted fried but it was squishy and yum.

The waiter claimed we didn't order the pho... which would've been annoying but luckily we were full by then anyway.

On the topic of the waiter, he was hilarious and kept declaring 'You're number One!' after our order.

Why, thanks :D.

Maxim (if that's what it's called) restaurant was a great budget restaurant for decent seafood. Don't go if you're after flash or romantic ambiance.