There's a particular kind of relief that comes when a restaurant takes your dietaries seriously. We arrived at Paper Tiger with one shellfish allergy and one vegetarian between us, the sort of combination that usually means a night of careful negotiation and quiet FOMO. Instead, we handed it over, chose the $85pp Feed Me, and let the kitchen do the thinking. Not a single dish arrived that one of us couldn't eat, and not one felt like a compromise.
The room helps set the tone: deep red drapes, a long marble bar hung with glassware, tiki mugs and a neon tiger glowing out over Rundle Street. Playful without trying too hard, and busy enough on a weeknight to feel like the city's caught on.
The opener: kingfish
The turmeric caramel kingfish sashimi is the elegant start: soy-cured fish in a glossy, citrusy caramel with little jewels of seasonal fruit cutting the richness. Silky, bright, gone in seconds 9/10.
The veg quietly steals it
It's the vegetables that do the most work on this menu. Chilli roast eggplant comes lacquered in sticky sambal terasi with coconut cream and cashews, smoky, sweet, savoury, and easily the dish we kept talking about. Alongside it, cauliflower popcorn: craggy tempura florets in salt-egg mayo with crispy mint, the plate everyone kept reaching back to. The sautéed Swiss brown mushrooms, glossed in burnt butter and XO sauce, are pure umami and gone in a flash 10/10. And the nestum cereal chicken wings, lacquered in spicy soy with a squeeze of lime, sticky, spicy and gone almost as fast as they landed 10/10.
Build-your-own bao
The DIY pork belly bao lands as components: pillowy steamed buns, crispy berkshire pork, mustard mayo, hoisin and quick pickles, so you build your own. Crunch, fat and tang in one bite.
The mains: curry, salad, barra
The aromatic yellow curry is coconut-rich and golden, crispy chickpeas and curry leaves piled on top, built for the jasmine rice underneath. A green mango salad resets the palate between the heavier plates, and the ikan siakap bakar, barramundi grilled in banana leaf with green sambal and herbs, brings a clean, charred finish 10/10.
The finish
Dessert is a dense peanut butter and 58% dark chocolate flourless cake, rich enough to split two ways and still leave you full.
Drinks did their part too
Too Yummy and Beach Please are the easy crowd-pleasers, served up in proper tiki mugs with the paper umbrella and all. Temper Temper, with its chilli-salt rim, is not messing around.
The verdict
Paper Tiger is a genuine group-dinner win, and a rare one for tables with dietaries to manage. At $85pp the Feed Me isn't the cheapest way to eat in the city, but for a table that needs to cover an allergy and a vego without anyone missing out, it's hard to beat. Order the Feed Me, tell them what you can't eat, and let them look after you.
The details
At a glance
- 🍆 chilli roast eggplant10/10
- 🥦 cauliflower popcorn10/10
- 🍄 sautéed mushrooms10/10
- 🍗 nestum cereal chicken wings10/10
- 🐟 turmeric caramel kingfish9/10
- 🐠 ikan siakap bakar (barra)10/10
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