Macro Wholefoods, Concord

Edit 11/12/07: Macro Wholefoods at Concord has now closed.


Plain packaged Macro organic honeys

"To the lay person, this is a clean food place."

I'm at the media launch of the latest Macro Wholefoods store, this one in the cosy wholesome village of Concord.

Executive Chairman Pierce Cody is giving us a guided tour of the store. Wooden slats feature heavily in the fruit and vegetable section, shiny perspex cannisters hold the bulk nuts and dry goods, the pristine grocery aisles are filled with organic and fair trade products.


Green and Blacks Organic chocolate

This elegant shopping experience aims to appeal to the new customers investigating organics, not the converted, Cody explains. He shows us the brochure stands located throughout the store. These are provided to help educate consumers, as organic lifestyle choices begin to enter mainstream Australia for the first time.


Pureharvest Nature's Soy milk

Organics is a huge growth industry. "The retail organics industry is currently valued at $400 million pa and is set to grow over 30% over the next twelve months," says Cody. In addition to the Concord store, Macro Wholefoods has NSW stores in Bondi Junction, Crows Nest and Hornsby. A stand-alone Macro Cafe is set to open on King Street in Newtown.


NaturGreen Soja soy milk

Within Macro Wholefoods retail lines, particular growth has been noticed in
* skincare, beauty and cosmetics (particularly non-petroleum products)
* baby products (babyfoods, nappies and lotions)
* detergents (phosphate-free so grey water doesn't kill gardens)
* organic petfoods
* gluten-free and coeliac alternatives.


Dagoba organic chocolate

There are plenty of gourmet goodies to keep one occupied too. Using our complimentary shopping vouchers for the evening, my basket was soon filled with an organic whole chicken, an organic lamb leg, Pastabilities rocket and pesto sauce, Murray River pink sea salt flakes, a Tahitian vanilla bean, a sachet of ground sumac from Herbie's Spices, and a block of the irresistibly gorgeous French and creamy Lescure butter.


Lescure butter $6.95


French La Roche blue cheese $13.75


Danish Girgar butter $3.25


Italian buffalo mozzarella $8.95


Kabuli chickpeas, French green lentils and adzuki beans


Merlot, pinot noir and shiraz chocolate


Creme fraiche


French camembert $9.50


Biodynamic milk


Kipfler potatoes


Herbie's spices

And my lasting impression of the entire shopping experience--apart from the joyous divinity of sampling the French triple cream Brillat-Savarin, oozing its way into my heart in-spite of because of its fat content of 75%?

The complete lack of junkfood and gaudy advertising. No never-ending aisle of carbonated soft drinks, no salty crisps, no cartoon-endorsed snackfoods, nothing insidiously packaged to make you buy!buy!buy!

It was a shopping trip without guilty pointless impulses.

Deliciously refreshing.



Edit 17/12/07: Macro Wholefoods at Concord has now closed.
Macro Wholefoods Market – Concord (CLOSED)
43 Majors Bay Road, Concord Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9021 8511

Store trading hours
Monday - Saturday 8am-7pm
Sunday 8am-6pm

Cafe open 7 days 8am-5pm

Thanh Binh, Cabramatta

The shopkeepers are rolling down their shutters as dusk settles in Cabramatta, but the Thanh Binh still has plenty of patrons.

Thanh Binh has a popular sister restaurant in inner west Newtown, but I'd always prefer to patronage the sibling that is further out in the suburbs. Here there are Vietnamese menus under glass-topped tables, hand-written specials on the wall, a peek into the kitchen at the end of the room, and the ubiquitous condiments tray on every table for any inspired dressing you may desire.

There are 251 menu items. Who says you're not spoiled for choice?


Table condiments


Vietnamese spring rolls fried $8.00
Cha gio

The cha gio Vietnamese spring rolls are our first delight, made in the southern style with the clear rice paper skins used for summer rolls. These starchy papers have an extra delicious chewiness to them. The rounds are usually dipped in sweet hot water, the sugar turns a caramel brown when the rolls are deep-fried in oil.



Filled with sweetened pork and shreds of carrot, these were delicious wrapped in a bit of lettuce, some mint leaves and dipped in the accompanying nuoc cham.


Beef fillets with lemongrass sauce $13.00
Bo xa ot

Beef fillets in lemongrass sauce were delicious. Soft tender beef was dressed in a sweet spicy lemongrass sauce that had the perfect balance of spices and flavours.


Fried bean curd in spicy salt $10.00
Dau hu rang muoi

Fried bean curd in spicy salt was reasonably good, the tofu inside was delicately soft.


Pork in caramel hot pot $15.00
Thit heo kho to

Pork in caramel hot pot was not as sweet as I anticipated, more a vinegary sweet dish that reminded me of canh chua sour fish head soup.


Pickled vegetables accompanying the hotpot
that have been cooked in soup

The vegetables that accompanied this dish were exactly like the ones from canh chua, a flotsam of pickled carrots and radish, slivers of cucumber, barely cooked bean sprouts and crunchy bulbs of baby leek.


Calamari in spicy salt $13.00
Muc rang muoi

Calamari in spicy salt was disappointing, the seafood a tad chewy and overcooked.


Beef fillets with lemongrass sauce $13.00
Bo xa ot

We are still salivating at the recent memory of the beef fillets that we order one. Our second order is significantly more generous with beef but alas it's over oily and not quite as delicated spiced as our first one.

We're satiated but happy though. And across the road there's a dessert house with an avocado shake just waiting for us.



Thanh Binh Restaurant
52a John Street, Cabramatta Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9727 9729

Open 7 days 9am-9pm

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Cabramatta Food Tour in photos
Cabramatta Moon Festival 2006
Cabramatta Chinese New Year Festival 2007

Cabramatta - Duc Thanh
Cabramatta - Hung Vuong
Cabramatta - Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant
Cabramatta - Phu Quoc
Recipe - Avocado shake

Top 10 Sydney Eats for Tourists and Other Rewarding Food Adventures

Movies in the Overflow

Summer in Sydney is too good to spend indoors.

That's why I love the Sydney Festival, especially the outdoor events, many of which are free. Yay. I love that word.

I didn't get to some of the favourite events this year: things like Symphony in the Domain and Jazz in the Domain, but I did get to Movies in the Overflow, free outdoor movie sessions at Sydney Olympic Park.



Place an Australian outdoors and pretty soon they're unpacking a picnic rug and an esky filled with gourmet nibbles and treats. We love to picnic and as we spread our picnic rug before the huge outdoor screen, families around us were eating homemade salads, barbecue chickens and snacking on chips, dips and spreads.


Vietnamese banh mi pork roll dinner

We'd all come straight from work on a Friday, so our picnic dinner consisted of banh mi Vietnamese pork rolls. Tasty enough but not quite as mouthwatering as what we spotted on the boulevarde nearby.


BYO BBQ

These two had brought their own portable barbecue (with mini gas bottle) and were quite contentedly searing sausages and caramelising onions on the hotplate and they necked a couple of beers.

Envy is not the word.



We couldn't miss a screening of March of the Penguins and it was so nice to watch it outdoors. The cinematography was spectacular, the crowd laughed as one, and the penguins, noble penguins, they are amazing creatures indeed.



Movies in the Overflow is free and takes place every January as part of the Sydney Festival.

Harris Farm Markets, Broadway

As someone who loves to shop for food, Harris Farm Markets is as good a day out as any.

The Broadway outlet is hidden in the basement of the shopping centre; take the travelator near Coles down to the car park and reward will soon be yours.

Although it may lack some of the fresh air ambience of the Good Living Growers' Markets, there are more than enough edible goodies to hold your attention: a mosaic of stacked Sirena Tuna varieties, a chocoholic's delight of Ritter Sport, the Great Wall of Cheese, delicious Italian biscuits and a carb-loaded alcove of sourdoughs, fruit loaves and Afghan flatbreads.


Morpeth Sourdough


Tins of chestnut puree and whole chestnuts


The Great Wall of Cheese


Farmers yoghurt

The Harris Farm farmers yoghurt is divine -- so much tastier than the watery stuff from the supermarket. Inspired by the honey cinnamon version available, I make my own at home. Buy the plain version, add a small dollop of honey, lots of cinnamon, mix thoroughly and enjoy. It tastes like liquid cheesecake and by making your own you save yourself some dollars in the process too.

More money for other goodies. Hurrah!


Nougat Limar nougat


Harris Farm Markets Broadway
Broadway Shopping Centre
Level B2 (Lower ground level)
Bay Street, Broadway, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9212 6768

Open 7 days 7am-10pm

Other Harris Farm stores at: Bondi Junction, Castle Hill, Charlestown, Edgecliff, Erina, Manly, Merrylands, Mosman, North Strathfield, Orange, Parramatta, Pennant Hills, Penrith, Rhodes, St Ives and Willoughby.

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Ashfield Food Tour
Auburn Food Tour (Aug06)
Auburn Food Tour (Jul06)
Auburn Wholesaler Harkola
Cyril's, Haymarket
Bankstown Bites: European Eats
Bankstown Bites: Little Lebanon
Bankstown Bites: Tantalising Tea
Essential Ingredient
Ikea Sweden Shop
Spice shops, Strathfield and Homebush
Thai Kee Asian Groceries, Haymarket
Tokyo Mart, Northbridge (Sep06)
Tokyo Mart, Northbridge (Aug05)

Zilver, Haymarket Chinatown

Har gow prawn dumplings $5.20

"What number did she say? 61?" R asks me, in pleading despair as we enter our twentieth minute waiting for a yum cha table.

Despite my reassurances that no, she said 51, I'm sure she did, R strides confidently to the yum cha bouncer. The woman behind the podium, scribbling determinedly as her radio mic cackles, looks up with a stern face.

R is insistent, feigning a cheerful confident smile as she presents our ticket stub for brief inspection. The bouncer is not so easily fooled and with a curt snap of her head sends R back to us with an abrupt "Not ready yet. I call number soon".


Pan-fried rice noodles with peanut sauce $4.20

We make it eventually, although there is a brief interlude when attempts are made to seat us in the entrance corridor, far away from the traffic jam trolley action. After three minutes of growing isolation we abandon our table and plead for another. Sensing our resolute determination, Ms yumcha bouncer scores us another table, a prime location we note, to our gloating satisfaction.


Fried prawn rolls with sesame seeds $5.20

I'd eaten at Zilver before, but A and R had been keen to try it after Helen Greenwood's glowing review. The food, I'm pleased to note, is as good as it was last time. Steamed dumplings are thin and sticky, and the siu maai pork and har gow prawn dumpings are generous with large chunks of prawn.


Siu maai pork dumplings $4.20

I'm still easily impressed by their use of orange fish roe too - it doesn't taste of much, but their liberal scattering on the siu maai and scallop dumplings still make me oohhh with inner delight.


Scallop dumplings $5.20


Gao choi gow garlic chive dumplings $5.20

I'm happy as a pig in mud once I have a gao choi gow garlic chive dumpling in the grip of my chopsticks. And then a trolley with ham soi gok trundles past and my eyes fire up again, head nodding with greed-induced urgency.


Ham soi gok combination pork dumplings $4.20

I love these combination pork dumplings, mini footballs that behold a hidden mouthful of sweet and salty pork mince inside. Their magic is in their deep-fried packaging though, a crunchy exterior that shatters to a sticky starchy slightly sweet dough within.

This one is truly one of the best I've eaten. It's fully inflated, meaning it's just come out of the deep fryer, and it's a delicous dark golden hue that lends itself to extra crunch and tackiness.


Chow mein fried noodles $9.80

There's an assortment of fried bits and pieces, some pan-fried rice noodles and a huge dish of chow mein too. The noodles are a little on the oily side and I wish the whitebait had more salt and chilli, but the batter is light and crispy.


Fried squid $5.20


Fried whitebait $8.80

The damage for 3 is $66.70, but we have a little box of takeaway as evidence of our over-ordering gluttony.



We roll out the door with our bellies swollen, our blood sugar levels on a GI high. A slow start to our lunch, but some things are worth waiting for.



Zilver Restaurant
Level 1, 477 Pitt Street (corner of Hay Street)
Haymarket Chinatown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9211 2232

Monday to Friday lunch: 10.00am-3.30pm
Monday to Friday dinner: 5.30pm-11.00pm
Saturday to Sunday lunch: 9.00am-3.30pm
Saturday to Sunday dinner: 5.30pm-11.00pm

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Chinatown--Dragon Star
Chinatown--East Ocean, August 2006
Chinatown--East Ocean, August 2005
Chinatown--East Ocean, October 2004
Chinatown--Zilver, February 2006
Marrickville--Hung Cheung