Aseana Food Village, Randwick

The proper way to prepare teh tarik is by pouring the strong milky tea at great height from one metal cup into another, a thunderous waterfall that creates a foaming bubble of froth. It's a traditional method not always practised in Sydney restaurants, and so I'm mesmerised as we watch the spectacular tea pouring process in action at Aseana Food Village.



Aseana Food Villages sits away from the main hub of Randwick, occupying the ground floor of a corner building. The menu is a mix of south east Asian cuisine, with a particular emphasis on Malaysian and Burmese cuisine.


Teh tarik $3.80

We start off with drinks first, the teh tarik arriving with an impressive head of froth.

Milo Godzilla $5.50

I've indulged my inner child instead, ordering the Milo Godzilla, a giant mug of cold Milo topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and liberally sprinkled with Milo powder. It's the super-sized version of the Milo Dinosaur, and must contain close to half a litre of milk.


Burmese tea leaf salad $7.50

I'd been drawn here primarily because of the Burmese offerings, and we make no hesitation in ordering the tea leaf salad, a dish not commonly found outside of Burma. The salad is a complex mix of pickled tea leaves, tomatoes, coriander, garlic, cabbage and chilli, an intriguing combination of sweet, salty, spicy, sour and bitter. Its rarity outside the country is due to the difficulty in obtaining its primary ingredient, pickled tea leaves.


Rojak $8.90

Fruit rojak is also hard to come by in Sydney, and I could not get enough of this addictive salad. Beneath the pile of sweet and salty belacan shrimp sauce encrusted with peanuts, you'll find a mishmash of cucumber, pineapple, bean sprouts and fried youtiao Chinese donut fritters. Usually eaten as a snack using toothpicks, half the fun is not knowing what you're eating, until you've bitten through the layer of tangy brown sauce.

Mohinga $8.50

Mohinga is informally known as the national dish of Burma, eaten at street side stalls throughout the day but most often as breakfast. Our bowl of mohinga came with a side dish of chilli flakes but we found the soup incredibly spicy already. The broth is made using chickpea flour, garlic, onions, lemongrass, fish sauce and ginger. Buried beneath the thick and hearty soup we found chunks of fish, slices of fish cake, a boiled egg and ribbons of rice noodles.

Assam fish $13.90

A jumble of fish, eggplant, tomato, red onion and capsicum greeted us in the bowl of assam fish, a tangy broth made from tamarind, pineapple and spices that was oddly refreshing in the heat of summer.


Lee's stewed duck $15

Lee's stewed duck was a popular dish at our table, perhaps because it was one of the few dishes without chilli. The duck is stewed whole and then served as fine slices doused with a sweet soy sauce. The meat was exceptionally tender, although I personally found the duck flavour disappointingly mild and the sauce a little too sweet.


Sambal kangkong $10.80

Sambal kangkong, on the other hand, had plenty of kick, strands of morning glory or water spinach stir-fried with belacan shrimp paste and a mouth-tingling amount of chilli.


Malaysian beef rendang $8.90

Our final main was the beef rendang, the meat slow-cooked so it fell apart easily at the touch of a fork.


Aseana sunrise $4.50

For dessert we order the prettily named Aseana sunrise, a cold pumpkin pudding made with coconut milk. The pumpkin flavour isn't as overwhelming as we'd initially anticipated, almost tasting like mango.

Muar chee $5

My favourite dessert is the muar chee, glutinous rice balls rolled in a mixture of peanuts and sugar. Crunchy and sweet, soft and chewy, we polish it all off, bar licking the plate clean. Ok, I admit it, we did lick the plate clean.

A great suburban find worth investigating.


View Larger Map

Aseana Food Village

Shop 1, 149 Alison Road, Randwick, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9399 7010

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Friday 11.30am-2.30pm / 5.30pm-10pm

Saturday and Sunday 11.30am-10pm

Closed on Mondays

Related Grab Your Fork posts:

Burmese - Bagan, Strathfield

Malaysian - Kopitiam, Ultimo
Malaysian - Makan at Alice's, Thornleigh
Malaysian - Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney
Malaysian - Mamak, Haymarket
Malaysian - Temasek, Parramatta

Thanon Khao San, Sydney

In a city over-run with Thai restaurants, the best Thai restaurants in Sydney converge around two city blocks that locals simply know as Thainatown.

I-San Thai was one of my favourite eats - cheap, cheerful and free of the incessant queues that plague Chat Thai around the corner - but sadly closed in late 2009. Thanon Khao San now takes it place, a little fancier and more upmarket than its predecessor, but thankfully upholding the tradition of serving Thai dishes that don't compromise on heat or flavour.


Lychee mint blend $3.90 and pineapple blend $3.90

Pedestrians along Pitt Street will have noticed the tuktuk parked out the front, or perhaps been tempted by the array of traditional desserts for sale in silver trays - a pick-and-mix selection that includes sticky rice grilled in banana leaves, squares of steamed coconut custard, and eggy syrup-soaked Golden Tear Drops, as vibrant yellow as the summer sun.

Wooden stools and tables, ornate gold light fittings, and an eye-catching collection of Thai license plates  on the wall are probably fancier decor than you'd find along Khao San Road in Bangkok, the backpacker strip from which the restaurant takes its name (Thanon means road in Thai). However the tables pre-set with bowls, cutlery and stainless steel cups that look ideal for camping, provide some reassurance that street food is all that you could hope to ask for.


Khao Moo Krob $8.90
Crispy pork belly served with rice, soup and gravy plum sauce

On a recent lunchtime visit, Suze only has eyes for the Khao Moo Krob, a tried and tested favourite of crispy pork belly. Deep-fried chunks of pork belly are smothered in a glossy plum sauce that I find strongly flavoured with star anise, spilling over a mound of sauce-soaked rice.


Ka Prao Moo Krob $13.90
Crispy pork belly and fresh vegetables with crushed hot chilli

My choice is the Ka Prao Moo Krob, this version of crispy pork belly tossed with deep-fried basil leaves, garlic chives, onion and a generous handful of fresh chilli.

Crispy

The chilli will tingle your lips, numb your tongue and make you sit up straight on your stool, but the sweetness of the sauce, the fragrance of basil and the contrast between crunchy crackling and fat-ribboned meat will make the pain gloriously worth it. If all else fails, a crushed ice fruit blend, mixed with watermelon, pineapple or lychee and mint, will sooth the pain and quench your thirst.


Watermelon blend $3.90

Several days later, I'm back again for dinner, this time in a larger group of six and ready to tackle more dishes. 


Som Tum Poo Pa Ra $8.90

Thai papaya salad, raw crab and fermented fish paste

You'll find four variations of Som Tum salad on the menu, and we settle on the feistiest one, Som Tum Poo Pa Ra. You will smell the salty muddy tang of raw crab before it's even arrived at the table, a heady scent that is the essence of brine and crab guts, and deliciously so. It's the perfect dressing for Som Tum, a bright salad of green papaya, carrot, green beans and tomato, muddled with fish sauce, chilli, garlic and lime.

The extreme saltiness of the raw crab and the lingering taste of fermented fish paste is not for the faint-hearted, but trust me, it's worth it.


Pad Thai beef $12.90

Pad Thai is a commendable rendition here, the noodles tangy and sticky without being too dry or too saucy. There's crispy bits of egg, peppery garlic chives, a tangle of fresh bean sprouts and a rubble of crushed peanuts on the side.

I prefer it to the Pad See Ew, which is on the flat side of flavour, with stir fried rice noodles that are a little gluggy in texture.


Pad See Ew chicken $12.90


Pad Kra Prao chilli basil beef $13.90

Pad Kra Prao combines slices of somewhat chewy beef with basil, chilli and garlic chives. It's probably my least favourite dish of the night, missing caramelisation on the meat.


Yum Talay $12.90

Seafood salad with Thai herbs and Thai dressing

Our tastebuds re-awaken with the Yum Talay, a seafood salad that explodes with chilli, Spanish onion, coriander and chilli draped around curls of prawn, scored calamari and mussels in the shell.


Kho Moo Yang $12.90

Marinated bbq pork served with sweet chilli sauce

If there is one dish you must order, it's the Kho Moo Yang, unless tender caramelised pork isn't your thing. Marinated in lemongrass and seared to a smoky char on the grill, these succulent chunks of pork neck are bordering orgasmic when splashed with the accompanying shot glass of sweet chilli dressing.

Even better news? Thanon Khao San is open until 3am every night of the week.


View Larger Map

Thanon Khao San

413 Pitt Street, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9211 1194

Opening hours

Lunch 7 days 11am-4pm

Dinner 7 days 4pm-3am

Also open at

Darlinghurst - Thai Lemongrass

70 Stanley Street, Darlinghurst

Tel: +61 (02) 9360 2617

Bondi - Thanon Khao San

95 Hall Street, Bondi

Tel: +61 (02) 9300 8186

Related Grab Your Fork posts:

Thai - At Bangkok, Haymarket

Thai - Cafe Kasturi, Haymarket

Thai - Chat Thai, Haymarket

Thai - Crocodile Senior Thai, Haymarket

Thai - Spice I Am, Surry Hills

Thai - Spice I Am Restaurant, Darlinghurst

Thai - Sugarcane, Surry Hills

Thai - Thainatown, Sydney

Eathouse Diner, Redfern

Low-key, cheerful and a little bit cheeky, Eathouse Diner is the kind of hangout everyone wishes they had in their neighbourhood. We follow the pointing finger instructing us to "eat here" and find ourselves in a deliberately kitsch American-style diner that is already half-full barely 15 minutes into service.



Turquoise walls trimmed with black-and-white check can't compete with the main focal point of the room, the curved Formica bar in shiny sports car red, complete with red and silver stools and a tilted mirror above shelves that are groaning with alcohol.


Chocolate cherry tart

At one end of the counter are bowls of fruit, ready for cocktails, at the other end is a happy jumble of water jugs and glasses, and cake platters of dessert.


Eclair and sponge finger moulds

You'll have to thread your way through the eclectic collection of second-hand chairs and tables to get to the bathroom, but you'll probably end up stopping at the glass cabinet filled with vintage memorabilia and trinkets that is either a trip down memory or a history lesson in design in product packaging.

If loitering by the display case doesn't prolong your absence from your fellow guests, then the collage of old newspaper clippings dotted with cutouts of nude female photos in the bathrooms definitely will.


Snowdrop Ice Cream vintage packaging

There's no food menu here - everything is listed on the blackboard by the front, a chalked-up list of specials that changes regularly.

The range of spirits, cocktails, wine and beers do appear on a laminated menu. We order a range of drinks but the Monteiths crushed apple cider ($7) is the most popular, served in a squat handled beer mug and clinking with ice. Cocktails arrive with fluorescent swizzle sticks, although we notice that some are bent from re-use.


Campari and ruby red grapefruit $8.50


Arnold Palmer $5.50

Fresh lemonade with homemade iced tea

Mojito $14.50


Duck liver pate with sweet 'n' sour onions $18

There are nine of us dining tonight and we elect to share all our dishes as a group. Duck liver pate is the first to arrive, and the smoky aroma of charred bread wafts irresistibly over us as the dish is placed on the table. We spread the thick hunks of bread with duck liver pate, highlighted with dabs of caramelised onion slivers.


Kingfish carpaccio with ruby grapefruit, fried garlic and radish $16


Kingfish carpaccio is the perfect appetiser for summer, velvety fillets of kingfish sweetened by segments of ruby red grapefruit and elegant matchsticks of crunchy raw radish.


Blue swimmer crab salad $22

I'd been skeptical about the blue swimmer crab salad, let down by far too many in the past, but this version ends up being one of my favourite dishes of the night. A tumble of mint leaves, witlof spears and fine shreds of red cabbage is generously draped with shreds of succulent sweet crab, tossed with a light and creamy dressing.


Rare beef with heirloom tomatoes, lentils and balsamic reduction $25

Rare beef is another highlight, a tower of melt-in-the-mouth slices of meat piled over perfectly cooked lentils and juicy heirloom tomatoes.


Jerk spatchcock with beans 'n' rice and mango salsa $27

The jerk spatchcock is a huge portion of bird, covered in a spice rub that will leave your lips tingling, and served on a massive mound of beans and rice. I'm not convinced on the soggy rice until I realise it reminds me of Chinese-style glutinous rice steamed in banana leaves, often stuffed with cooked mung beans. Once I make this connection, I eat the now 'sticky' rice quite happily.

A side of mango salsa adds a touch of the tropics but overall the rice and bean combination seems a little heavy for a Sydney summer.


Pan fried barramundi with kipfler chips and zucchini herb salad $28

Later that evening I notice that the pan fried barramundi is one of the first dishes to sell out. It's a classic case study in the art of simplicity, a fillet of barramundi seared so the skin is crisp without overcooking the flesh, partnered with roasted kipfler potatoes and a tangle of slippery zucchini ribbons and flat parsley leaves doused with dressing.


Caramel pork hock with hazelnuts and watercress and and apple $20

It will come as no surprise that caramel pork hock was the one dish I nominated for inclusion in our order. Two bowls of this is just right to share among nine committed pork fans but I'd struggle to see how one person could eat this entire dish on its own. Reminiscent of Thai moo krob, chunks of pork belly are deep-fried to a satisfying earth-shattering crunch, livened by watercress, paper-thin discs of radish and whole roasted hazelnuts.


The Eathouse Mess $9

There are a total of five options on the dessert menu and we take great delight in telling our aproned waitress we'll have "one of each, please". As soon as I observe out loud that The Eathouse Mess doesn't look very messy at all, an attack of eager spoons quickly proves otherwise. There's still not enough cream to make this a mess, in my opinion, and whilst we enjoy the fresh raspberries, the peaches have an odd fizz to them that leaves everyone pulling faces.


Banoffee pie $9

Banoffee pie comes not as a slice of a larger pie, but an individual tart. This can never be a good thing when it comes to optimal base to filling ratio, and I'm left craving more dulce de leche than I can find beneath the layer of cream and chopped bananas.


Chocolate and cherry tart $9

A wedge of chocolate and cherry tart has the slight bitterness of cocoa married with the sweetness of cherries, flanked by two fresh cherries and a dollop of cream. 


Banana split $9

The banana split is a fancier version of that childhood favourite, three scoops of ice cream studded with roasted whole hazelnuts, chocolate sauce, wafer and secret rivers of dulce de leche. I'm on the hunt now for a banana split bowl just so I can recreate this at home, complete with the resort staple cocktail umbrella.


Strawberry and chocolate sundae $9

To my surprise, the strawberry and chocolate sundae vies for dessert favourite with the banana split, a parfait glass jammed with chocolate sauce, ice cream and fresh strawberries. A dribble of melted ice cream oozes sexily down the side.

Forget the fuss and kerfuffle of over-stylised restaurants. Just bring us good food and plenty of spoons.




View Larger Map

The Eathouse Diner

306 Chalmers Street, Redfern, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 8084 9479

Opening hours:

Monday to Saturday 6pm-10pm

Closed on Sundays

Related Grab Your Fork posts:

American - Big Rig Diner
American - Blue Plate Grill, Neutral Bay
American - Counter, Crows Nest
American - Hooters, Parramatta
American - South, Neutral Bay

The Secret World of Culinary Bloggers

Readers of the Saturday Daily Telegraph in Sydney may have noticed the above article written by food editor Grant Jones on "The secret world of culinary bloggers", a somewhat odd title given the very public sphere in which we publish the minutiae of our lives and meals.

The feature makes some analysis of the growing influence of food blogs, including a quote that "one industry identity complains of their unreasonable demands for "exclusives", bloggers interrupting restaurant service to take pictures, suspect credentials, unreliability and generally being a pain in the neck".

I was glad to be interviewed as part of the piece, although giving the last word to Pat Nourse, features editor and restaurant critic for Australian Gourmet Traveller, did seem to undermine much of the preceding content.

Derision and disdain from traditional media is nothing new when it comes to the topic of food blogs, but presuming that food bloggers expect or intend to replace traditional food media misses the whole point of social media and the blogging landscape.

Food blogs give a voice to anyone and everyone who has ever wanted to wax lyrical about a meal, or share the details of a newly discovered fantastic restaurant run by a mum and dad team in the suburbs. It's about personality, having fun, and providing a few minutes of entertainment to countless office workers who have read the blog for so long, they feel a connection to the writer. The food blogging community provides a [edit:] new insight into the dining youth of Australia, and into the mindsets and cultural histories of new Australians, who aren't [edit:] necessarily white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

I came up with the Larousse Gastronomique (traditional print media) and MasterChef (food bloggers) analogy in a conversation I had with a journalist who could not understand the appeal of food blogs, did not trust them and had no idea about twitter either. The analogy went down well with both parties.





What did you think of the article? I'd especially be curious to hear from readers who aren't food bloggers, on why you read food blogs?