World Chef Showcase, Sydney International Food Festival 2009

International acts, tatts and one big nosh pit.

The weekend's World Chef Showcase was the gastronomic equivalent of the Big Day Out, with renowned chefs from all over the world descending on Sydney for the headline event of the Sydney International Food Festival. Sebastien Bras, Sergi Arola, David Thompson, Alexandre Bourdas, Peter Gordon, Pichet Ong and more... their arrival has created a perceptible buzz among the local restaurant industry. Already there's talk that the exchange of information, ideas and techniques will see a flow-on effect in Sydney menus over the coming year.

I attended Program 2: China on Saturday - the highlight of the day was undoubtedly the session by Fuchsia Dunlop. Articulate, passionate and humble, her knowledge of Sichuan cuisinie is phenomenal.

We covered a huge amount of ground throughout the course of the day, from cooking demonstrations to tastings and a panel discussion on cyber cuisine.


Jereme Leung, Whampoa Club (Shanghai and Beijing)
cooks an Eight Treasures Spring Chicken
- on the left is the completed spatchcock coated with maltose solution;
to the right is the marinated spatchcock before maltose


Kylie Kwong, Billy Kwong
cooks caramelised pork belly with Chinese coleslaw


MC Simon Thomsen and Kylie Kwong


Kylie Kwong's deep-fried snapper wings with hot and sour sauce

Kylie championed the tastiness (and affordability) of snapper wings which she serves at Billy Kwong. She calls them angel wings on the menu because they look so beautiful, but I couldn't help wondering if they ever have to explain to a distraught child that "no angels were harmed in the making of this dish".


Alvin Leung, Bo Innovation (Hong Kong)

Alvin Leung is not just fascinating because of his blue streaks and tattoos. He is one of only two self-taught chefs to have earnt two Michelin stars. The other self-taught chef is Heston Blumenthal.

Born in London and raised in Toronto, Alvin entertained the crowd with a constant stream of wisecracks in between sips of beer. His refreshing approach focussed on using local produce, utilising Coffin Bay oysters, Moreton Bay bugs and a huge jar of Vegemite.


Coffin Bay oysters with spring onoin and lime sauce with ginger snow


Sweet and sour pork with lychee agar jelly
- the sweet and sour sauce is made with dried red haw fruit,
smokes plums, sugar, rice vinegar and tomato paste


Moreton Bay bug with preserved duck egg, English mustard,
cauliflower duet, black truffle and green onion sauce
- he used original cauliflower breeds in green and purple


Aussie Noodles
Hor fun rice noodles with kangaroo and vegemite butter sauce


Alvin Leung with his chefs, including sous chef Devil (left)


Alvin's take on the Aussie pie floater
- we each enjoyed a sample of this, a woo gok pastry with the usual
pork and yam filling replaced by tender beef cubes and mushy peas


Steaming bambo baskets

Morning tea was supplied by Din Tai Fung, the xiao long bao soup dumplings made fresh on the spot by a small army of staff in pristine white uniforms and masks.


Rolling out the pastry


Dumpling brigade


Serving dumplings


Xiao long bao soup dumplings with ginger shreds and soy vinegar


Steamed sweet buns with red bean or black sesame paste


Black sesame bun


Fuchsia Dunlop, author of Sichuan Cookery and
Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper

Fuchsia can speak, read and write fluent Mandarin. Whilst working at the BBC she undertook Mandarin classes, travelling to Sichuan in 1992. She then won a British Council scholarship to study in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, and ended up enrolling in a Sichuan cooking school with 50 other Chinese students, one of only three females in the class

Her British Council scholarship was about studying ethnic minorities, a topic which she says, was and always will be, sensitive to discuss. Instead she found that by talking about food, people were suddenly all too keen to talk, a process which allowed her to explore communities in a more intimate but less concerted manner.


Sichuan pepper
- we were encouraged to chew on a Sichuan pepper bud to experience
the anaesthetic qualities on our tongue. Fuchsia said it is difficult to find
quality imported Sichuan pepper with the real tongue-numbing qualities.


Blown sugar candy animals

Fuchsia concluded her presentation with an amazing series of personal photos showing local food across the Sichuan region. The sugar candy animals above were the most breathtaking, particularly when shown a video of a man creating one by blowing into malleable toffee with a straw. We were told these are sold as street snacks, the equivalent of fairy floss for kids, even though to us, they looked far too beautiful to eat.

Fuchsia also has a blog.


Lunch: paella pan

Lunch was downstairs at Sean's Kitchen, our meal ticket exchanged for a choice of paella, sushi or a wagyu burger.


Prawns and mussels for the paella


Quail for the paella


Making up the sushi boxes


Paella and salad


Wagyu burger


Stephanie Wood (moderator) with Aun Koh, Andrea Nguyen and Chris Tan

The cyber cuisine session was too broad a topic to cover in one hour. In the burgeoning landscape of food blogs and twitter, online experience is being recognised as a way of bypassing the traditional route of newspaper and magazine internships. A successful food blog can prove a writer's ability to write regularly, connect with people, build an audience and develop a loyal readership. Blogging and twitter is also about disseminating information quickly, breaking news instantly and offering a dynamic discusion forum.

Andrea was a particular delight to talk to before the session. During the panel discussion she talked about how she was interested in "how food reflects who you are". She sees her site Viet World Kitchen as being very human, a collaborative collection of recipes that stores information for Vietnamese communities, and has also been used as a valuable tool by people who adopt Vietnamese children.


Chris Tan, Andrea Nguyen, Stephanie Wood and Aun Koh


Afternoon tea: cupcakes


Lemon polenta cakes by Manna from Heaven


Poh Ling Yeow

Our day concluded with Poh Ling Yeow, runner-up in Masterchef Australia, who brought back memories of the show with her trademark giggling, haphazard organisation skills and room-illuminating smile.


MC Matt Preston

Poh demonstrated her ginger custard, kuih koci and steamed glutinous rice with durian jam. I loved that she brought durian to the people, the fragrant fruit segments passed around the room for people to smell.


Kuih koci with salty coconut sauce


Steamed glutionous rice with durian jam

Poh contemplates a question


Poh signs autographs for Masterchef fans

After the session, Poh was still laughing about her memories of maths class where she would ignore the lesson and pretend to be a hawker stall instead. Her shreds of graph paper would be the noodle for char kway teow and she elaborated that she'd use pencil shavings for a garnish. If the boy next to her didn't want to play, she'd pretend on her own. She also said she loved playing banquet, using a fork and spoon in the style of silver service, and wetting the paper shreds for a more authentic noodle feel.

I'm glad I didn't sit next to Poh in maths class. I think I would've played hawker stall too.

Grab Your Fork attended the World Chef Showcase as a guest of Tourism NSW.

The Sydney International Food Festival has a range of events running throughout the month of October.

Related Grab Your Fork posts:
SIFF 2009 - Luke Nguyen's Cabramatta Food Tour
SIFF 2009 - McIntosh and Bowman Cheesemaking Workshop
SIFF 2009 - Nose-to-tail barbecue with Fergus Henderson
SIFF 2009 - Sugar Hit at Azuma Kushiyaki

10 Questions with Poh Ling Yeow - Before and After Masterchef
Matt Preston shows us his salami
Sean's Kitchen, Pyrmont - series launch of My Family Feast