4 May 2011

My piece for CNN:

Pigs’ trotters, congealed blood cubes, clawed chicken feet and duck fetuses were once more common in Saigon than Sydney.

But Cabramatta, a western suburbs enclave of all things Asian, is home to 40 per cent of New South Wales’ Vietnamese population. And where Vietnamese tread, the country’s fragrant, subtle, poignant flavours are sure to follow: The area is bursting with restaurants, markets, street traders and hawkers peddling everything from freshly-made noodles to sugar cane juice.

There’s something about Vietnamese food that brings out the addict within. Its heady, sweet spices and grassy, fresh herbs are thrown in with off-kilter texture combinations and punches of chili. The likes of pho and banh mi have converted even some of the staunchest Aussies; but what about some less common –- and more challenging — flavors of Vietnam?

Cabramatta expert, Thang Ngo of Noodlies.com, shows us where the locals eat.

Pho Tai

The salty, meaty pho at Pho Tau Bay.

It would be churlish to omit Vietnam’s most famous dish from the proceedings and where else to head to but local hero, Pho Tau Bay. To stay as true to “real Vietnam” as possible, the essential ingredient is pho tai — noodles with raw blood-red beef that’s gently cooked in hot, fragrant soup.

A pho is a subjective dish and there are two schools of thought – salty and meaty versus floral and spicy. For proponents of salty meat, this pho is manna from heaven. Torn basil leaves and fresh chili at the table perk it up.

Pho tai ($10) at Pho Tau Bay, 12/117 John St., Cabramatta, +61 (0)2 9726 4583, Open 7 days 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

Com Tam (broken rice)

Once a cheap eat, com tam has become a modern-day delicacy.

Com tam was originally a pauper’s dish, originating from the days when broken grains of rice sold for rock-bottom prices at market. Humble as its origins may be, broken rice is now a delicacy.

A mound of al dente vermicelli with pork skin sits beside the rice, which is topped with a softly fried egg and accompanied by a pork chop, egg and vermicelli cake and cucumber slices. The gamy pork skin flavors the rice and runny egg yolk boosts the richness of the chop, which is heady and smoky with five-spice and chili.

Spoon over some nuoc mam (fish sauce) for sweetness, chili and salt and it’s easy to see why broken rice is the rags-to-riches story of Cabramatta.

Com tam (broken rice) $12.50 at Pho Tau Bay, 12/117 John St., Cabramatta, +61 (0)2 9726 4583, Open 7 days 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

Banh Cuon

The traditional breakfast dish served at Phu Quoc.

If there’s one dish that exemplifies the counter-intuitive, shouldn’t-work-but-it-somehow-does pairing of Vietnamese textures, it’s this. Starchy folds of wide rice noodles stuffed with spicy pork mince and Chinese mushrooms sit next to slices of peppery devon and vermicelli, chili and cured pork sausage.

Cucumber and herb salad blast the palate with freshness and chunks of deep-fried prawn and soybean cake add a fatty depth. To top it all off, crunchy fried shallot delivers a hit of sweetness. The contrasting textures and flavours of this traditional, work-intensive breakfast dish are washed down by free tea.

Banh cuon ($10.50) at Phu Quoc, 11/117 John St., Cabramatta, +61 (0)2 9724 2188, Open 7 days 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

Bun Bo Hue

Meaty noodles and a suckable trotter rewards bold eaters at Dong Ba.

Pho’s unruly cousin, bun bo hue, is a fiery bowl of lemongrass-edged porkiness. From the jelly-like cubes of congealed blood to the cloudy-skinned trotter lurking beneath the oily, red surface, this is not one for the faint-hearted.

But meaty noodles carry the big flavours and punches of chili cut through the fatty meat. The trotter can even be chewed and sucked with wild abandon.

Bun bo hue $10 at Dong Ba, 5-6/40 Park Road, Cabramatta, +61 (0)2 9755 0727, Open 7 days 8.30 a.m.-8 p.m.

Goi Ga Chay Bo

Get it before it runs away: goi ga chay bo.

A chicken salad with clawed chicken feet is, well, a little unnerving. Especially when the chicken in question is goi ga chay bo, or ‘running chicken’, which can only mean well-travelled feet.

But, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and if chicken skin is your thing, then these bony, sabre-like appendages are worth a try. Sinews aside, the salad provides the perfect foil to the chewy free-range flesh and fatty skin –- slivers of pink and green cabbage sparkle with lime and fish sauce.

Goi ga chay bo $15 at Diem Hen, 205 Canley Vale Road, Canley Heights, +61 (0)2 9724 9800, Open 7 days 8 a.m.-11 p.m.

Hot Vit Lon

Eat the hot vit lon before it comes to life.

Even Anthony Bourdain, master of the gastronomic challenge, calls hot vit lon a “difficult dining experience.” Yes, foetal duck eggs, known more sympathetically as “half-hatched eggs”.

So, crack the shell, add salt, pepper and lemon, drink the foetal fluid, scoop out the mix of feathers, flesh, egg white and yolk and intersperse with leaves of Vietnamese mint to cut through the richness.

Easy? Not really –- it was fiddly, smelly, warm and furry. The intensely sweet, umami-heavy fluid had a pungent funky stink and there was an odd disk of crunchy, alien albumen that beat me. Not one I’ll be adding to my breakfast routine anytime soon, but a good route to a Saigon street market without leaving the city of Sydney.

And, just to prove it, a vid of me eating the duck foetus in question. Mmmm.

Hot vit lon ($3) at Diem Hen, 205 Canley Vale Road, Canley Heights, +61 (0)2 9724 9800, Open 7 days 8 a.m.-11 p.m.

Or, read my piece at CNNGo.com.

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My Leftfield review for Resident Advisor // 12 April 2011

Sydney can feel a long way from the UK—and even further from ’90s electronica—at the best of times. So it was a minor miracle of metaphysics to feel both in London and rewound to circa 15 years ago when Leftfield stormed the Enmore Theatre in March.

The penultimate night of their Future Music tour, Neil Barnes, Sebastian Beresford (replacing Paul Daley on drums) and Adam Wren delivered a consummately polished performance with self-assured magnitude and big, dirty storytelling that can probably only come from twenty-or-so years of experience. Succinctly pulling it all together with seasoned finesse, Barnes’ direction was not so much “comeback tour” as confirmation that the dance music aficionado never really left.

There were peaks and troughs, tribal, trippy visuals, the whole crew of (mostly teddy-bear like) dub and reggae vocalists, including Cheshire Cat and Earl 16, and a massive, bang-up-for-it audience. The Enmore’s heart-thumpingly loud soundsystem delivered the picks of Leftfield’s oeuvre to the sweating crowd with precision and pounding bass as the PA punched way above its weight with delicious effect.

The cherry-on-top moment had to be utterly at-ease vocalist Jess Mills’ rendition of “Original,” dreamily transporting the entranced crowd before Djum Djum lobbed a chaotic hand grenade into the audience in the form of a wild, ribald “Afro Left.” A stomping encore saw a pounding “Phat Planet” hit Newtown—weirdly appropriate on St Patrick’s Day as the buoyed punters emerged onto loud, Guinness-splashed streets.

Read it online at RA here.

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My Caffe Sicilia review, Agenda Sydney // 11 April 2011

Surry Hills and The Godfather aren’t the most synonymous bedmates, but in the short time that Caffé Sicilia has been open, this Crown Street spot certainly seems to have attracted quite a – well – faithful mob. Hunched over pastries or coffees, Italian conversations in full flow, old and young alike are flocking to this new chameleon bar/restaurant/café at all hours of the day.

Come Sunday breakfast, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a table unless you have inside links – maybe a consigliere, but more likely the ristoratore – as locals put shared plates under the watchful gaze of an army of handsome Sicilian waiters. Channeling old-world Sicily – from yards of Italian marble along the counter bar to the checkered floor and low overhead lighting – this is a place to watch and be watched, admire passing talent, drink espressos and indulge in some gossiping.

Like any good Sicilian family table, the food is all about rustic, humble ingredients elevated to toothsome Sydney-worthiness. There’s plenty of eggplant, ricotta, calamari and tomatoes, washed down by a range of both Italian and closer-to-home wines.

Start a long lunch with antipasti – say fresh buffalo ricotta on a bed of caponata melanzane, or baked pumpkin with mortadella and mostarda – before moving on to a pasta course or secondi. A veal involtini is stuffed with breadcrumbs and garlic and is ideal to share; a salad of rocket, goats’ cheese and orange is a welcome foil to the olive oil-edged richness.

By the time you’ve finished the last crumb of sweet cassata, you’ll feel like part of la famiglia.

Where: 628 Crown St, Surry Hills
Phone: (02) 9699 8787
Hours: 7am-midnight, Mon-Sun
Details: caffesicilia.com.au

Or read my review over at Agenda.

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Visit the Lebanon – no visa required, Agenda Sydney // 11 March 2011

Cooking, like languages, is one of those things best learnt in situ: total cultural immersion means total cultural absorption, we think. Want to cook great Lebanese? Jump on a plane and get chopping.

All very well and good, you say, but it’s not that easy to long-haul from Sydney.

Now help is at hand in the form of new Middle-Eastern themed cooking tours – or ‘progressive brunches’ as they like to be known – in our very own backyard. ‘I Ate My Way Through Granville’ is a guided feast through the bustling Lebanese hub of Granville, 22km west of Sydney. No visa needed and a short trip away by train. The once-monthly gastronomic tours kick off tomorrow, so yalla, get going.

Read the rest of my piece in Friday’s Agenda here.