Food Takes Centre Stage Campsie Food Festival – 4 June

Celebrity cook and 2010 MasterChef contestant Alvin Quah is one of the major attractions of the 2011 Campsie Food Festival.

Alvin Quah and Canterbury Mayor, Robert Furolo

“Now in its twelfth year, the Campsie Food Festival has become an opportunity for food lovers to satisfy cravings and their appetite for foods from all over the world,” Canterbury Mayor, Robert Furolo said.

noodlies Cabramatta Food Tour, May 2011

noodlies Sydney food blog's Cabramatta Food Tour came and went today and it was a wonderful success.  We met at a local temple and were greeted by the nuns.  Walter gave everyone a brief tour of the temple and read an exerpt from his book Destination Saigon.  And the lovely nuns and their volunteers whipped up a storm in terms of wonderful vegetarian food.



We were shown how to make our own Vietnamese rice paper rolls (goi cuon) adding our own filling which included several types of home made vegetarian 'meat', vegetables, mint, vermicelli and more!

Dong Ba Restaurant, Vietnamese, Cabramatta

Dong Ba is spreading like wildfire, there's two branches specialising in Bun Bo Hue noodles and one in Bankstown. Now they've just opened a new restaurant, the third Dong Ba in Cabramatta.  This one claims to offer more general Vietnamese food.



When noodlies Sydney food blog tried it recently, we found the menu selection, well, very broad, they still have the single serve dishes like pho, com tam, mi, but added to that are mainly seafood dishes that you order for a family meal.

Rahmen Genki, Japanese, Artarmon

Artarmon is one of my favourite suburbs on the north shore. It's villagy, great public transport and is home to some great eateries too.



Rahmen Genki is a Japanese noodle bar that serves your usual ramen nori, teriyaki and gyoza, fast and delicious.

Vietnamese Pork Roll Cabramatta: Viet Hoa

Banh mi thit - Vietnamese pork roll: school kids munch on them, footballers are spotted grabbing one for a snack, old people chew slowly and carefully (the crisp bread rolls don't mix easily with dentures).  Even food bloggers love them, Marrickville, Mascot, you can get them just about anywhere in Sydney.

Are they the ultimate in fusion? French influence in crispy, crunchy bread, pate, mayo combined with Vietnamese ingredients, meat, chilli and fish sauce or maggi.

Last night, I bought two pork rolls in Cabramatta at Viet Hoa hot bread shop for dinner.  I reckon they sell one of the best pork rolls in Sydney.  I love Viet Hoa because they're open late, I've driven past at midnight and they're still serving customers.  And it seems like the same old lady is there 24 hours, which means the rolls are made consistently good!

Watch the video and see my banh mi thit being made. Fresh bread, pate, mayo, three types of meat, vegetables and chill and sauce.



I remember when they were $1.50 (many, many years ago)... last night they were $4.. it's still pretty good value, what sort of sandwich would you get for $4 these days.  Pork rolls use fresh bread, 10 different ingredients and made to order, can't argue with that!

noodlies Sydney food blogs loves a good banh mi thit!


Viet Hoa Hot Bread
John Street (Hill street end)
Cabramatta

Passionflower Ice Cream, Chinatown, Sydney

After an average lunch, we decided to treat ourselves to an old favourite, Passionflower ice cream in the Capitol building.  I had the fruittilicious, which was a lot of orange coloured fruit, mango ice cream, mandarin with passionfruit.  Well it sounds healthy anyway.



Walter had his usual fav, double ice cream waffles that comes with a delicious syrup, you can see him pouring it lovingly over his waffles in the video above.

 

We're always looking for a good ice cream or desserts place in the city, so if you know of any, let me know!

Passsionflower

Shop G12 Capitol Square

730-742 George St, Sydney

(02) 9281 8322

Mak's Noodle, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Anthony Bourdain discovered Mak's Noodle a few years back and this little eatery has a pretty high profile since.  Bourdain loves the shrimp wonton, he says it works particularly well in the stock, giving the wontons a strong solid flavour.

And these wontons are different, they're smaller than the usual type.  In fact the 'bowl' of noodles you see above is smaller than usual, it's actually the size of a smallish rice bowl.

But there's no denying the delicious taste of both the wonton - strong prawn taste and the equally tasty clear soup.  The egg noodles themselves deserve credit too, they are strong, firm and fresh.

The only thing that's not small is the prices, the publicity has obviously done Mak's noodles good, the rice bowl of noodles will set you back HK$29, on the upper end of the scale, especially for a small bowl.

Established since 1960s, but Mak's Noodle has been in several different locations. I ate at their Parkes Street shop in Kowloon... twice.

Mak's Noodle
57 Parkes Street, Jordan
Kowloon, Hong Kong

Lung King Heen, Four Seasons, Hong Kong

Lung King Heen's Executive Chef Chan Yan Tak has the honour of being the first Chinese chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, the highest honour.  And after chatting to Chef Tak I can see why.

While not a tall man, physically, he's still a larger than life character with a voice and presence to match.  You can see in his piercing eyes that he's a quick thinker and precise attention to detail.  He strikes me as someone who is focused on delivering the best without compromise.

Chef Tak says he works with his purchasing department to source the best ingredients in the world.  And we see that in the menu he served up for noodlies:

One of Chef Tak's signature dishes baked whole abalone puff with diced chicken.  Chef has selected abalone from South Africa for it's size, taste and texture. And it is amazing, the meat is strong but not at all tough is balanced with the hard, yet crumbly light pastry.  The light sauce binding both together.  Also interesting is the Asian mixing of different meats, here it's abalone and chicken.

The king prawn is the star attraction of this dish: simmered king prawn in crystal sauce. It was was sourced from Malaysia because of the unique huge size of the prawns produced; this one was almost the size of the plate.  The presentation was stunning, for me it was an expression of reaching for heaven, the soft vegetables as the ocean, golden noodle as land and the king prawn helping us to reach the golden heavens.

Steam star garoupa fillet with ginger and spring onions is a dish you can find at many restaurants, it's quite a popular way to steam fish.  But at Lung King Heen, the fish is superior quality, bright white, firm flesh, tight skin, fresh flavour.

It's clear that Chef Tak is relentless is delivering the best quality food for his customers and he doesn't compromise, no wonder he's maintained the three Michelin stars for four years in a row.

Oh, and he doesn't compromise for Western customers either, Chef Tak says one of his goals is to give non-Chinese a taste of fine, authentic Cantonese food.

I asked Chef Tak, should customers eat his fine food with wine or tea? And while he believes customers should go with their preference, ideally, he says Cantonese food should be consumed with a good Chinese tea.

Lung King Heen, it's located in the very, very plush Four Seasons Hotel in Central district of Hong Kong.  The hotel was purpose built around five years ago and it connects with the Ifc towers, shrines to capitalism and finance.

Right on the harbour, Lung King Heen commands sweeping water views and benefits from wonderful natural light that light up the crisp white linen and earthy wood tones used throughout the restaurant.

Chef Chan Yan Tak and noodlies

With the new year and the coming Chinese New Year, Chef Tak is close to finalising a new menu (he generally changes his menu each quarter).  noodlies will keep you posted on the new menu which will be out in the next week or two.

Oh, and a few noodlies readers wanted to know what Chef Tak cooks at home:

• soup with any seasonal vegetables, Chef thinks soup is such an important part of a Chinese meal
• steamed fish
• simple meat and seasonal vegetable stir-fry

noodlies Sydney food blog dined as a as a guest of Lung King Heen and Four Seasons Hotel, with thanks to Chef Tak and Angela.

Lung King Heen (View of the Dragon)
Four Seasons Hotel
8 Finance St, Central
Hong Kong

Tim Ho Wan, Dim Sum/Yum Cha, Mongkok, Hong Kong

The cheapest Michelin star restaurant in the world has the crowds flocking.   Open 10am-10pm, the queues start from the morning right through to the night.  And they come from all over the world, next to me were three Japanese girls, next to them a Spanish couple, and a few tables further an American couple.

I came at 4pm to miss the crowd but there was still a 10 minute wait, sped up by the fact that I was one person and could share a table with an odd numbered group.

Tim Ho Wan is headed by chef Mak Pui Gor formerly a sous chef with the Four Seasons hotel working under Chef Chan Yan Tak, the first Chinese chef to be awarded three Michelin stars.

But Tim Ho Wan is after a totally different market to the Four Seasons crowd, the yum cha here is genuinely cheap, my selection ranged from HK$12 - HK$19 each, that's actually cheaper than the relatively average yum cha place I went to recently.



I ordered the usual popular yum cha fare, har gao, siu mai, steamed vegetable dumplings, rice noodles and something another guest suggested, baked bbq pork bun.. apparently a Tim Ho Wan specialty.

And the hype is true, everything was delicious, high quality ingredients, great balance of flavours.

Despite everything I read about the staff being surly, my experience was anything but.  They were polite, helpful and were patient, within reason, it's a very busy place.

A few tips:

• Use the photo above as reference as there's not large English signage outside the shop
• It's open 10am-10pm, to avoid queues go at off peak dates like early in the week and times, I went at 4pm and the wait was only around 10mins.
• Make sure you get a number from the lady outside the shop and at the same time the piece of white paper to fill out your order.  She's likely to give you the Chinese version, ask for it in English
• Once inside, the place is SMALL so don't come with bags of shopping or make too many wide, sudden movements

Tim Ho Wan

Shop 8, 2-20 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok

Kowloon, Hong Kong

Ming Court, Langham Place, Mongkok, Hong Kong

There are hundreds if not over a thousand restaurants in Mongkok, so what does it take to set yourself apart? You get yourself two Michelin stars of course!  And it's no fluke, he's maintained the two stars over the years.



Tsang wows with an innovative take on good old fashion Cantonese fare, the spices are subtle to let the primary ingredients take centre stage.

Ming Court's clientele are predominantly local Chinese both families and business people, with about 30% being tourists. Interestingly he says the Western tourists are similar to young Chinese in that they are particularly adventurous, which he appreciates.

While he may appear formidable on the Hong Kong Masterchef episode, Tsang is incredibly affable and charming. He has over 30 years cooking experience and nominates seafood and pumpkin as two of his favourite ingredients because they're so versatile.

Versatile is something which we will see demonstrate amply in the dishes which noodlies will be reviewing.

The Yunnan cucumber and salted duck egg yoke combines two ingredients which I love but can rarely get in one combination.  The cucumber is crunchy and the yoke holds flavour but doesn't dominate, in that Cantonese way!

I really can't work out my favourite dish from the remaining three..

Chef Tsang nominates stir-fried fresh shrimp with egg white as one of his favourite dishes and one which he would order if he came to Ming Court to dine.  It's so incredibly delicate, the fluffy egg folds in several layers over the freshly fried shrimp and provides texture contrast, heavenly light egg with strong shrimp prawn flavour and texture.  For further effect, the dried green vegetables crumbles in your mouth leaving an ever so delicate salty taste.  You'll have to watch the video below, it's the only way I can think of to do this dish justice.

Or do I like the wagyu beef with black truffle and pumpkin... 

The pumpkin, mushroom and beef are all cubed and stir-fried with a generous amount of black truffle, which fuses them together so that you don't know which cube you're eating until you put it in your mouth, a cheeky innovation.  The whole dish is presented wonderfully in a kinda fruit of the loom arrangement.

Or maybe my favourite is the pan fried minced chicken and black truffle stuffed in chicken skin accompanied by sliced pumpkin.

One bite and you get an explosion of taste of chicken and some fish, in a wonderful play on the ingredients the chicken is prepared two ways as well as the pumpkin.  Watch the video and you see what I mean, it's simply stunning.



The jury is still out for me, it's so hard to pick my favourite dish, they are all so different, yet delightful in their own way.

Oh and I have to thank my wonderful waitress for suggesting a light but stunning dessert which capped the night perfectly, shark fin crystal extravagance, yes shark fin dessert... watch and be amazed.



I was left speechless by the sheer cleverness, there's a real sense of spectacle but also humour about this wonderful dish.

While Chef Tsang is affable and sweet, he still holds a passion to go further and further, next year he's embarking on new challenges, tackling white truffle as well as wine/main course matching.  He teases me with a new creation he's cooking up for 2011: melted white chocolate, truffle and wagyu beef... I'm so, so intrigued.

Oh and he's set his sight on getting that third Michelin star, I promised I'd send him a congratulatory present from Australia if he manages to achieve it in 2011.  Cardith was a witness and with this post, the promise is in writing for all the world to keep me honest.  Good luck Chef Tsang!

noodlies Sydney food blog dined at Ming Court as a guest of Ming Court, with thanks to Chef Tsang and Cardith.

Ming Court
Langham Place Hotel
555 Shanghai St
Mongkok, Hong Kong

Local Noodle House, Jordan, Hong Kong

A quick snack at a local noodle house near my hotel. Nice hot, hot broth, good hard egg noodles.

Local Noodle House
Cnr Woosung and Nanking Sts, Jordan
Kowloon, Hong Kong

Yum Cha (Dim Sum), Jordan, Hong Kong

Couldn't do Hong Kong without trying some Dim Sum/Yum Cha.  This was at a small eatery on Parkes Street, Jordan.

The siu mai above were lovely the outside crunchy and soft pork and prawn mince had great flavour.

Har gao outer was good, but couldn't quite get the prawn filling, I think it's been diluted a bit as a cost saving thing.

Similarly the bbq pork bun outer was fluffy and soft, but the filling was more mush than bbq pork to cut costs.

Bamboo Chic, Le Meridien Bangkok, Thailand

A hotel restaurant is always challenging - they're usually stuffy, over priced and the punters (generally rightly) believe they'd get a better dining experience outside.  It's particularly challenging in Bangkok because the hotel is right in the heart of pulsating Patpong, where you can get great food, especially Thai and Japanese at most times of the day.

Bamboo Chic started in Le Meridien Bangkok to tackle these challenges.  It actually is a chic experience, using greens, blues and wood tones to create an upmarket atmosphere that's subdued but exciting, a contrast to the stuffiness associated with other 5 star hotels and bars.

Bamboo Chic Lounge is the official name and sums up the new concept which captures both restaurant and bar.  There are two signature cocktails which is really worth a try:

Bamboo Crush is dangerously hypnotic, made from chivas regal, ginger ale, apple juice, sugar syrup and fresh mint.  Be warned it's strong, very strong and very addictive.

 

Kyoto Martini made from vermouth, gin, midori and lime juice, is dry and constantly chilled thanks to the simple but very effective stylised martini glass in a round glass bowl designed by the hotel's Food and Beverage Director, Michael Hoevel.  The design is now replicated across other Le Meridien's around the world and I've even come across it recently in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Hoevel was charged with the responsibility of implementing the first Bamboo Chic in the world for Le Meridien and by all accounts it has been successful. It's now rolled out progressively and you can sense the pride Hoevel takes in his baby, his eyes light up when he describes how he came up with the unique martini glass and bowl concept and how he sourced local makers to turn his ideas into reality.

Oh and double kudos to the table munchie surprise of dried ochre as a cheeky play on Japanese edamame, also served in Hoevel's unique glass.

I turned my attention to the food. Bamboo Chic is both a-la-carte and buffet and specialises in pan-Asian food, with particular emphasis on Thai and Japanese - tourists from Japan make up a significant customer base for both Le Meridien Bangkok and Patpong in general.

I tried two of their signature dishes, the Snowfish and Wagyu Beef.  The fish was nicely steamed for dipping into the ying yang sauce of flower bean on one side and hoisin on the other.

Coming from a country that exports beef I was sceptical but this execution is superb; melt-in-your-mouth tender and medium rare (just how I like it), the beef works so well with the nicely flavoured bed of Japanese rice.

Now turning to the buffet. The sashimi was particularly fresh, well prepared, actually better than Hokkaido restaurant just down the road, a real surprise because the other restaurant has a Japanese chef.  The oysters at the seafood section was not very fleshy but fresh and had great flavour.

At the buffet you can also select your ingredients and the chef will fry/combine them for you, I had to test it out, while I can eat, I'm no cook or selector of ingredients.  I picked Hokkien noodles, prawns, an egg (that will challenge him), cabbage, onion and mushroom and asked for a spicy interpretation.

The chef delivered the finished dish to my table, to which he added fish sauce, lemon and dried shrimp, a particularly ingenious addition that really lifted my bland choice of ingredients.  You can see in the video above the chef cleaning the frying surface in spectacular style and also the stunning Bamboo Chic atmosphere.

The final experience for the night was dessert, a petit four of sorts consisting of earl grey pudding, green tea mousse, chocolate ice cream and selection of seasonal tropical fruit.  The mousse was less successful, while the pudding and in particular the rich chocolate, which was restaurant made, took me to heaven.

To me, Bamboo Chic tries to break the conventional mold by marrying different things, sometimes complete opposites: bar and restaurant, buffet and a-la-carte, soft lighting but energetic atmosphere, attentive/welcoming but unobtrusive service, relaxed but upmarket, rounded organic shapes with hard angular lines.

Bamboo Chic works particularly well with contradiction, which in a way, mirrors the contemporary Bangkok just outside the hotel doors.  And it seems to work, on a Tuesday evening, the place was almost full.

Noodlies dined as a guest of Bamboo Chic.

Additional photos supplied by Le Meridien, thanks Kanchalikar (the low light is too much of a challenge for this photography novice).

Bamboo Chic Lounge
Le Meridien Bangkok
40/5 Surawong Rd, Bangrak
Bangkok, Thailand
+66 (0) 2232 8888

Nahm, Bangkok, Thailand

...there is always a place - a corner or two, a few blocks or a square - that is brightly lit well into the night.  These are the night markets of Thailand and they are filled with people, food and noise, as flames lick around woks and wood smoke fro charcoal grills lingers in the still night air... They contain everything that lures a Thai out: good food, people, atmosphere and laughter - the Thai world on a plate. It really is all about food... David Thompson, Thai Street Food.

Noodlies caught up with David on 23rd December to talk about Nahm, his new Bangkok restaurant, a personal homage to the street food of the people that he loves so much.  And I'm surprised, Nahm seems to be on everyone's lips.  Our hotel concierge gave us a nod of approval and seemed genuinely surprised we got  a reservation on the same day we arrived in Bangkok, ''it's always booked out" he said.

Cosmopolitan Hotel's stunning lobby: bright and airy

Nahm is located in the Metropolitan Hotel a hip, modern, urbane Bangkok 5-star.  The restaurant is only a few month's old, opened on 2 September.  The design is striking, warm from the wooden floor, screens and tables with a honey glow from clever use of spot lighting.  It's designed by award winning architect, Koichiro Ikebuchi.

The Celadon plates, produced by a local Thai manufacturer, Mengrai Kilns, are simple and functional respecting the Thai street food tradition.

But what about the food?

We sampled every canapes on the menu, chilli relish with pork scratchings and quail eggs (above front), crispy grilled noodles with prawns pickled garlic and bean sprouts (above back), grilled mussels (immediately below), pomelo grilled prawns wrapped in betel leaves (further below).

They were all fascinating, small bite sized pieces that packed so much flavour and texture, crispy in the case of the noodles, smoky in the case of the mussels.  But my favourite was the prawns in betel leaves (below), such wonderful complex flavours that worked so well together, fresh tartness of pomelo, sweetness of the palm sugar and of course the complex punch of the betel leaves.  Everything left you wanting more.. I guess that's intentional.

We also had two soups, which reminded me so much of home cooking in Vietnam, there would always be a soup served with dinner.  The crab and snake gourd soup with egg tasted simple at first, but then comes the intense flavour that is unlocked after the first second. 

Of course, I was expecting the clear soup of roast duck to be strong, roast duck always is. But it's the intensity which bursts forth but then is contained by the shitake mushroom and basil that is so exhilarating.

Don't underestimate David Thompson's dishes, they may not be plated a-la MasterChef, but that's intentional, this is painstakingly prepared home-style Thai food and here, love goes into the preparation and cooking, not presentation.  The stir-fried bean curd with prawns and pork below might look straightforward enough, but the silky, sensual taste and texture of the bean curd is heavenly.

The coconut and tumeric curry of blue swimmer crab, you won't find on the menu in Australia.  I'm particularly fond of the consistency which is not too dry nor too watery, this one is subtly but incredibly rich at the same time.

The spicy shrimp paste relish with assorted vegetables, sweet pork and deep fried mackerel is food the way many Asians have at home, mixing several dishes and together with fresh greens.  The fish was oh-so crispy.

It's so hard to nominate a favourite dish from this stunning menu, but on the night there were two for me. Firstly the lemongrass salad of prawns, crispy squid and pork with toasted coconut. It just tastes so fresh with the lemongrass and then unlocks so many other different vibrant flavours. A must have!

I couldn't find this on the menu, I think it's a special which David kindly sent from the kitchen, fish innards simmered with chilli and our waiter warned us that it's "nuclear" hot.  Yes, it was but it was also incredibly complex in flavours, smells, texture balanced so wonderfully with our jasmine rice.

Everything went down wonderfully with a glass of Grosset 'Springvale' Watervale Riesling suggested by our helpful sommelier.

And then there was dessert.  David wouldn't let us leave without sampling all the desserts on the menu.  And these were as home made as you can get, admittedly with much more wonderful flavour.  But be warned Thais like their desserts sweet!  But first some rose apple to prepare our taste buds for dessert.

Then jackfruit simmered in coconut cream with steamed sugar palm pudding, classic Thai dessert.

Sapodilla steeped in coconut cream with yellow bean and cashew nut pudding and deep fried shallots.  This dessert is interesting in so many ways, firstly you won't be able to get it in Australia because sapodilla is a fruit that hasn't gained popularity outside south east Asia, shallots might sound weird in desserts, but it's very common in Asia, and finally the white/clear strips you see below are lightly candied paw paw, utterly delicious.

But again, there can only be one dessert favourite, and I must admit I'm swayed because it's David's favourite dessert as well.. durian in white sticky rice might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's not as pungent in this dessert as you would find eaten fresh but it still maintains a wonderful creamy, heavenly consistency.

David Thompson clearly loves Thailand and Thai food and you see it here in classic home-style cooking that is honest, faithful and utterly delicious.  It's brave and gutsy for a farang to open an upmarket Thai restaurant in Bangkok and he's copped a bit of flack for it.  I really think the critics should reserve their judgement until they've experienced Nahm, Bangkok.

If you're coming to Bangkok, Nahm is a must, the Nahm set menu consists of a selection of canapes, your choice of a dish from each section of the main courses and dessert is an incredibly reasonable 1,500 baht (a little over $A50.  But here's a tip, it's regularly booked out, so make sure you make a reservation. 


Australian David Thompson is a Michelin awarded chef and has been cooking for almost 30 years. But it was living in Bangkok in the 1980s that spurned his love for the country, its people and food. He returned to Sydney and fell into a restaurant in Newtown, which was renamed Darley Street Thai. That restaurant moved to the Cross, where it stayed for 10 years.  Around that time he opened another restaurant called Sailors Thai down in the Rocks. In 2001 he moved to London and opened Nahm. It’s still operating. In September this year, he opened a restaurant in Bangkok, also called Nahm.  He's the author of two highly successful cook books, Thai Food and most recently Thai Street Food.

Noodlies and guest dined as guests of Nahm and the Metropolitan Hotel, Bangkok, thanks David, Arlada and Kantarit.

Nahm
27 South Sathorn Road
Tungmahamek, Sathorn
Bangkok, Thailand
+66 (0) 2 625 3388