Peko Peko

I had the sweet and sour chicken and it’s the best sweet and sour chicken I’ve had in a very, very long time. The chicken is so crispy and the sauce isn’t overtly tangy or sweet. It has just the right amount of sweet and sourness. The portion is quite big for 1 person but for the price ($ 14), it’s fair.

Packed to breaches this place has an amazing vibe with really efficient, yet cheerful, service. I recommend getting a couple of the small eats as a kind of tapas menu. And seriously consider the salads!
Need to book though!

Went to this place as its a favourite of my wife. We ordered spring rolls, Chilli chicken and Teriyaki chicken. All the dishes were excellent. Though we went there at 3:40 on Saturday (closes at 4 for an hour), the staff were quite receptive and didn’t tell us to go away as most of the other places would’ve.
The service was really good. The food was excellent and fresh. The teriyaki chicken could’ve used a little more flavour but the Chilli chicken was just awesome, it might be too hot for some but it was worth the burning sensation :) .
All in all, nice little place in an obscure location. Highly recommend.

Ok so this place does THE best chicken stay vermicelli noodles I have ever tasted. You know how satay is usually quite heavy and gluggy? Not here, its so light, tasty, a little spicy, and the Asian veggies are always, always (and I’ve had this meal more times than I dare to count) cooked to perfection — a little crunchy, never ever soft or soggy. I’ve told so many people about this place, and it’s SO needed in this weird part of Southbank where there’s not really anywhere else to eat decent food. Try the satay. Seriously. You won’t be disappointed.

Despite being slightly broken-​hearted that the Tangy Chicken Peko Box is no longer on the menu, I’ve still got a lot to be thankful for.
The humble Peko Box has got me through many a late night in the office, and the restaurants eclectic décor never fails to give my creativity a kick.
Come to think of it, I still owe the owner $ 3.50 too. Will drop it around tomorrow night. I promise!

I had very high hopes for this restaurant. I have skated past it every night this past week and have always witnessed it to be packed to the rafters, and that’s a great sign for this side of town. Based on the apparent popularity, my wife and I finally gave it a go this evening. She ordered the pop chicken box and I chose the ginger beef box; we then split the two dishes. I can unequivocally give them both an unenthusiastic… meh (visualise shrugging shoulders and a sardonic eye-​roll).
The food wasn’t bad by any standard… if you exclude the standard set forth by the dozens of ridiculously fantastic Asian restaurants throughout South Melbourne.
Peko Peko is middle-​of-​the-​road fare, in a land of high-​road brilliance. All would be forgivable if it weren’t for the fact that the front of the house treated me with that particular type of disdain that is typically reserved for typhoid and/​or tuberculosis carriers when they enter the body public.
I’ll acquiesce that it is somewhat rash to judge an establishment on a single experience, so I’ll likely sample a few of Peko Peko’s entrées (appetizers, to my fellow Yanks) so that I can hopefully improve the rating I’ve given. I’d like to think that all of these people filling the joint up every night can’t be wrong. However my first experience has me singing the immortal words of Chuck D «Don’t believe the hype».

Great food! We’ve tried almost everything on the menu. Try updating you rice for fried rice on your peko box! It’s way wooorth it! Crespy beef and sweet n sour onion chicken are the best peko boxes!

What a great little find.
pekopeko on Wells Street in South Melbourne is nestled in amongst a never-​ending construction zone of residential towers and an industrial area not far from Kings Way which makes it convenient to visit and park if you are arriving by motorcar. It is a Taiwanese-​inspired café that ticks all of the boxes and does not have the perceived shortcomings that I wrote about yesterday in my diatribe about Purple Peanuts Japanese Café.
What is not to like? The first thing that comes to mind in the current economic climate is value for money. Here it would be easy to feed a family of four for $ 60 and experience some variety along with healthy portions on offer. With 52 options available which range from the «Peko Box» where the main dish is served with rice and seasonal sides in a large oriental box, soup bowls, entrees on plates and light meals — along with some daily specials, it is hard not to find something that everyone will enjoy. We opted for the teriyaki fish ($ 15) plate, crispy honey beef ($ 13) box and wasabi mayo prawns ($ 9) which was perhaps the highlight of my meal.
Given that the café is off the beaten path, it was not bursting at the seams and it was easy to secure a clean table next to the window and enjoy the air conditioned climate and service. A limited booze menu is available and I enjoyed a 600ml bottle of Taiwan Gold beer ($ 13) which provided the necessary hydration for the hour and happily accompanied the sweet flavours of the teriyaki sauce that was covering the fish, which was delicate enough to pull apart with chopsticks.
Service was reasonably attentive in this «cheap and cheerful» establishment which saw the entire customer base turnover during the time that we were there. I languished a bit longer as I was enjoying not only the beer but the air conditioning and was impressed to learn that the full menu is available as a takeaway option which is seemingly popular as four large bags of takeaway was picked up during the hour that I spent in the café. There is one large table that would easily hold a group of 12 and the individual tables are placed a bit close to one another to maximise space however considering that you will not be dining here all day or night, it will not put you off.
I would happily return to pekopeko either by car or by foot as the food itself is worth it.

What makes a Melbourne restaurant full, that isn’t in the CBD with a multi million dollar fit-​out, doesn’t advertise, doesn’t make bitching wise-​cracks on social media, nor have an ongoing love affair with PR? I mean completely full every week? On a Monday night? At 9pm?
Whatever it is, Peko Peko has it. In spades.
It fits the Melbourne criteria of being somewhere wacky. A back street behind St Kilda Road, lined with serviced apartments and hotels. Nearby brothels hold hands with ad agencies, media companies and architects.
While Peko Peko’s not the best restaurant in Melbourne, it is consistent. The food is always the same standard. There’s crispy stuff, slurpy stuff and mini stuff. The service is always friendly and engaging. The young Asian staff have an alternative cool of their own design.
It’s quirky and peppered with lots of the owner’s little cartoons. The menu is easy to navigate and great bang for buck.
How do I know this? We’ve been coming here for years. At lunch it’s full of local workers. At night it’s full of Asians of all ages. The menu has shrunk, got a bit skimpier and some of our favourites are gone, but that’s OK. There’s still tons of choice. And I can even bring my fussy parents here.
The food is Taiwanese, not Japanese as some reviewers have stated. The menu is divided into small items, Bento boxes, noodle soups — with some toppings in common with the bento — and some rice plates. A handful of desserts round it out.
Holding it together is the Mum in the kitchen, an iron fist in a velvet glove of culinary efficiency. An undercover Iron Chef. The woman who has made this the place we drop into after a show in the Arts precinct, for her clear menu savvy and quick service. Respect.
I’m not giving it full marks. A venue has to make me swoon with creativity, good provenance and culinary prowess for that.
But Peko Peko is certainly somewhere we drop our cash regularly when we’re not looking for our tastebuds or wallet to be challenged and are happy to cough a bit after a dose of MSG.
There’s no bar, no door bitch, not hipsters, nor FOMO foodies queued around the block. It just is. Take it or leave it and be prepared to wait for a seat or make a booking. Yes, they do take bookings. How uncool. Or not. Whatever.
Plenty of other venues would love what these guys have. On a Monday. At 9pm.

Great food, very cheap and friendly staff. Love this joint!

Hmmm… am I missing something here? 4 stars on Unilocal and I can only give it a solid 2? Did I order incorrectly?
I came in here around 5:45pm on a weeknight and it was busy but not packed. That being said, many tables had «Reserved» signs on them and filled up around 6:00. This was about the time I got my food, and started wondering WHY people felt the place was good enough to reserve on a Tuesday night.
So, my meal was a Peko Box with Black Pepper Beef. It came with a nearly invisible portion of vegetables, and some sort of room-​temp mini-​spring roll thing. And rice, of course. I went right for the beef… which was seriously lacking in flavor. Not only that, but it tasted like very low quality meat. The consistency reminded me of just chewing on fat. I think it is about what I would expect from a shopping mall food court. Everything else in the box was fine, and the service was very good. But the food… not good at all.
Many people seem to talk about the great prices. Seems like they pass on the low cost of the product to the customer. I’d rather pay some more for truly good food.

Make sure you book if you don’t want to wait around!
Ok I must admit, I am not a connoisseur in Taiwanese food, but damn Peko Peko is tasty. Introduced to it by my friend who lives around the corner, I have been back several times without her (Dea, I hope you’re not reading this).
The place is fairly casual, but gets fairly crowded with what seems like local South Melbourne residents and local workers. The bento boxes are good value, the staff are friendly and the service is quick. Jack the owner is a graphic designer and there’s lots of his artwork dotted around on the walls, keeping your eyeballs busy while you scoff down the food.
My tip is to go for the Sweet Onion Chicken Bento and if you want an extra treat, the chocolate brownie with Black Sesame ice cream. Mmmm…

Peko Peko is calways buzzing. Made a reservation for last Thursday for quick meeting with business colleagues at 6.00pm. By 6.30 those without bookings were lining up at the entrance. The Bento box meals are a sensational price. The staff always friendly. The only let down is that the meals rarely arrive at the same time. i have been at least 10 times in past year for both lunch and dinner.

Peko Peko is a Taiwanese restaurant, serving what I guess you’d call «Asian fusion», but mostly Japanese-​inspired with some variations: mostly bento boxes and noodle soups. The place is small, and at lunch times, seriously busy. Dinner is a bit less crowded as dinner is generally spread out over a longer time.
Although I consider myself a fairly adventurous eater, if I eat regularly at a place I find it hard to deviate from my «usual» favourite, to the point where the staff eventually stop asking me what I want and roll their eyes and say «your usual?» Luckily at Peko Peko, I’ve gone through several «usuals» over the last few years, so my sampling of their menu is somewhat broader than «usual». Various bento boxes, the satay beef fried rice and currently the Pop Chicken noodle soup have all been regular favourites. All good generous servings and surprisingly modest prices, and served fairly quickly given how crowded it often is. Basically, you wouldn’t walk away hungry after eating a main, but there’s still room for an entrée and/​or dessert if you wish.
The décor is pretty quirky and modern with plenty of tiny artworks and designs on the walls.
Great for business lunches and take away if you don’t mind waiting around for 10 or 15 minutes, or you’ve made a booking.

The place seems to be always busy, so there’s bound to be some waiting involved, either to get seated or get your food. The food is cheap and the bento boxes go down a treat, especially at only $ 12. The most popular is the Pop Chicken Box which consists of fried chicken cubes seasoned with spiced black pepper. They also have a few rather interesting entrée options on the menu, like the Mango Prawn Spring Roll — a large piece of mango and a prawn deep friend in a spring roll wrapper. Wasn’t a huge fan, but was glad I tried it. But the Wasabi Mayo Prawn — deep fried prawn, wasabi mayo and pineapple — is a good choice. I must admit halfway through the meal I was all mayo-​ed out. I didn’t get the chance to try their dessert, which are meant to be one of the highlights at Peko Peko, as they were way too busy. But it’s defiantly on the list for my next visit.