The Vietnamese barbeque is usually one of my favorites with piping hot spring rolls and Vietnamese inspired marinated meats eaten with fresh herbs such as mint and basil wrapped in crisp lettuce and vermicelli noodles. However, on a muggy Saturday evening we decided to try something new and go for a Lao and Thai inspired feast.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I love living in South Western Sydney. Being so close to ethnic grocery and butcher hubs means I can have these sort of impromptu barbeque sessions. A quick visit to Cabramatta to do some shopping resulted in the following meal, a mashup of Laos and Thai food …. and the usual finger lickin good fried chicken sans duck fat.

Nhem Khao

This to me is hands down one of my favourite fried rice dishes. Its officially referred to as a salad, but its borderline fried rice if you ask me. You’d be hard pressed to find a dish which has so many textures and contrasting flavours, from the crisp rice balls to saltiness to sweetness to sourness, this dish has it all. If you’re interested, recipe can be found here.

nhem khao

Som Tam (Laos papaya salad)

A spicy and pungent salad made from fresh papaya. It hits all the tastes buds in one go; sweetness(palm sugar), sourness(lime juice), saltiness(fish sauce/shrimp paste). Its a great side dish to grilled meats. The version we made has all the above ingredients and also carrots, cherry tomatoes, crap loads of chili and then topped with fresh herbs.

pestal and mortar, essential requirement for a good salad!

Som Tam (Laos papaya salad)

Fried chicken

Ah fried chicken, I could live on this stuff if not for the health consequences associated with its consumption. Linda’s mum still won’t give us the full recipe to this dish, she claims that she ‘wings it’ with the recipe. I’m calling her a liar because it tastes just as good every single time! Its an awesome fried chicken, with succulent chicken flesh surrounded by a razor thin yet crisp skin. Chowing down a bucket of these with an ice cold beer would be my final meal.

Flank steak

I initially had trouble identifying this cut of meat, they simple called it beef belly at the Cabramatta butcher. Thanks to the power of Twitter, this cut is known as flank steak. Its a great cut for grilling with a good balance of meat and fat resulting in tender meat if cooked properly, medium rare is best.

We didn’t marinate this at all, just a couple pinches of salt before popping it into the barbeque. It was probably slightly overcooked but still pink enough in the middle to ensure it was still tender.

bbq grilled flank steak

Ox tongue

Another common Laos barbeque dish which I am seeing more and more on restaurant menus . Its an underrated piece of meat and if you can get over the fact that it is a piece of tongue, you’ll be rewarded with one of the most tender cuts of meat you can find at a great price. Cook it whole on the barbeque and only slice it thinly once it is all cooked.

ox tongue

And the rest …

The final damage was an array of mixed meats including beef skewers, nhem noung (not exactly Laos but you get it for free if you a lot of meat from the Butchers in Cabramatta), flank steak and ox tongue.

The grilled meats

And there you have it, a bit of a twist to the conventional barbeque but it was well worth the effort. If you want a bit of variety away from the obligatory steak, snags and salad there is a whole new world out there of variations to try.

The biggest takeaway out of this for me was that flank steak makes an awesome cut of meat for grilling. Its cheap and tastes awesome if you like a bit of fat on your meat.

Whats next?

An Argentinian themed barbeque is in the pipeline, stay tuned hermanos y hermanas.

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bbq

There seems to be a soft spot in most Australian stomachs for a decent Thai meal. I’d be surprised if anyone didn’t know what a pad thai or jungle curry was, there seems to be a Thai restaurant in every food court or main shopping strip in Australia.

Where I grew up in South Western Sydney, Thai restaurants were often opened up as mash ups between Lao and Thai cuisine. You’d be hard pressed to find a pad thai or jungle curry and if you did, it wasn’t the ‘franchise’ dish of the restaurant with the regulars.

One of my favourite Lao dishes would have to be nam khao, also known as a Laotian crispy rice salad. You’d be hard pressed to find a dish which has so many textures and contrasting flavours, from the crisp rice balls to saltiness to sweetness to sourness, this dish has it all.

So, what forms the crux of this dish? Its mainly these two:

• deep-fried rice balls
• chunks of Laotian-style fermented pork sausage called som moo

and then a combination, but not limited to these:

• chopped peanuts
• grated coconut
• sliced scallions
• shallots
• mint
• coriander
• lime juice
• fish sauce

How to eat?

We generally eat nam khao with an array of fresh herbs wrapped up in either cabbage or lettuce. Its an awesome combination especially with the cabbage. The thing I love about Laos food is the textures, they are the masters of contrasting textures.

I love food which involves wrapping and dipping, it’s no surprise that I love tortillas, tacos and Vietnamese wraps equally.

Nam Khao recipe (Crisp Laotian rice salad)

Ingredients (adapted from http://laocook.com/2009/04/12/nhem/ and also Stella, Linda’s brothers girlfriend!)

Serves 5-6

For the rice balls

• 350ml Coconut Milk*
• 60g Red Curry Paste
• 1/2 kg Cooked White Rice
• 1/2 kg Cooked sticky rice
• 80g Grated Coconut
• 15g Sugar
• Pinch of Salt
• Corn Starch for dusting
• 3 Eggs, beaten
• Oil for Deep Frying

For the rest

• Half to whole Som Moo (Fermented Pork) * You can get this at most Thai grocery stores. In Fairfield/Cabramatta/Canley most Asian grocery stores also stock them.
• 100g Sliced Shallots
• 1 lime
• Approx 50ml Fish Sauce
• Chopped Coriander (Cilantro)
• Chopped Mint
• Dried Chillies
• Crushed roasted Peanuts

Method

1. Mix the Coconut Milk in a large bowl with the Red Curry Paste, Sugar, Salt and Grated Coconut.
2. Add the Rice, continuing to mix well, making sure that all the liquid is absorbed in to the Rice. Form balls, the size of golf Balls, making sure that you pack them tightly as this will stop them from breaking up whilst frying.
3. Dip the Rice Balls in to the Beaten Eggs then dredge in the Corn Starch.
4. Deep fry until golden brown then allow to cool a little.
5. Carefully crack open the balls and scoop out the Rice in to a clean bowl breaking up the crust as you go along. Reserve some of the crust for frying later.
6. Give the rice a gentle stir and allow to come to room temperature.
7. Add the chopped Som Moo and Shallots, season with the Fish Sauce and Lime Juice to taste (some people add a little Sugar).
8. Add the Coriander (Cilantro) and Mint then lightly mix.
9. Return the reserved crusts to the deep fryer and fry until crispy and brown, drain on paper towels.
10. Once the crust are warm enough to handle crumble them on to the Rice mixture (we save a little to serve on the side, which everyone loves), add the Peanuts then lightly toss, garnish with the Dried Chillies and enjoy immediately with some crispy Lettuce or Betel Leaves.

Note: The main difference in our adapted recipe is the use of sticky rice, it makes a difference!

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

One country which I have not been to in south-east asia is Laos, though it’s a cuisine which I find myself constantly going back to. Much of this is due to me growing up south-west Sydney and it’s abundance of no frills and ‘real deal’ restaurants run by immigrants to Australia. In Fairfield which is about a 5 minute drive from Cabramatta, you’ll find a few Laos restaurants. One of these is Sang Fong Khong which has been in the same spot and with the same decor for as long as I can remember (at least 10 years).

Sang Fang Khong is situated right next to Laos Village, my favourite Laos restaurant. I figured it’s about time I break the mould and try something different,  but does it live up to expectations ?

Crisp fried quail

(...)
Read the rest of Song Fang Khong, Fairfield (718 words)

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

We’ve been meaning to get together for a feed here for a while now, I’m still adamant that Lao Village is ‘better’. But after eating at Star Laos, it’s clear that both restaurants are different and have are excellent in their own little way.

Green curry, tom yum soup, bbq duck

I arrive late and the boys have already ordered and the first dish comes out even before I sit down. I should arrive late more often!(...)
Read the rest of Star Lao Thai Restaurant, Fairfield (532 words)

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

What’s up with Thai restaurants and funny names ? Thai-riffic, Thai-na-town, Thai-tanic and the list goes on. It seems there is an infatuation with this naming convention and it’s almost weird seeing a Thai restaurant with a normal name such as Lao Village. But of course, Lao Village is Lao and not Thai. Yet you often find the food can be quite similar, a bit like Middle eastern food.

'Local' feel in this restaurant

Coconut juice

I’ve been to Lao Village a lot in recent years. It’s a testament to how good it really is if it’s still operating after 15 years. Not much has changed, the food is traditional, it’s cheap and it has the ‘local’ feel to it. You won’t see this place with Ikea furnishings or scented candles that’s for sure. But that’s the beauty of this restaurant and it’s appeal to the Lao and Thai locals of Fairfield and it’s surrounding suburbs such as Cabramatta. You know the food will taste awesome, your more than likely to see a few familiar faces dining there, yet if it was your first time there you wouldn’t feel intimated either.

Complimentary salad

Finding this place is easy for the regular, but it’s actually behind the renovated Fairfield RSL which looks like the Las Vegas of the West. Lao Village is hidden behind a dodgy looking door with a fly screen, but once you walk in to the packed restaurant (on a Saturday night) you know your in the right place.

bbq marinated ox tongue ($7.50)

Grilled ox tongue is one of my favourite thai and lao dishes regardless of which restaurant it is. It is grilled until brown and crispy yet it retains it’s softness inside. There is a slight unique taste, it’s hard to explain in words. You know your not eating ‘meat’ but in fact another organ. First timers should not think about and just eat it because it tastes delicious.

Fried quails ($12)

For $12, we get an extremely generous serving of crispy fried and tender quail. It’s a refreshing scene as these are often dry and tough in a lot Chinese restaurants as they are usually served as part of a discount banquet. The salt and pepper with lemon juice dip gives it a little bit of kick.

Fried rice with seafood ($8.50)

Lao and Thai style fried rice is a bit different to normal fried rice. The usual ingredients are there but it is usually served flat on a plate with the top part crunchy.

Fried noodle with seafood ($8.50)

The thick pieces of rice noodles are a favourite due to the copious amounts of seafood. It isn’t outstanding, as you can only do so much with fried noodles.

paw paw salad thai style ($7.50)

There are two types of paw paw salads. we opt for the Thai as opposed to the Lao. The main difference is that the Lao version is prepared with brined crabs whereas the Thai use more of a fish sauce and shrimp paste base for it’s flavour, that’s from what I can gather anyway from various trips to Thai and Lao restaurants. The salad is fresh and pungent, with a tasty variety of flavours and textures. You have the paw paw and tomato providing the base elements of a salad, the fish sauce and shrimp paste providing flavour and saltiness and the peanuts and dried shrimp introducing a bit of crunch and texture.

chicken feet salad ($7.50)

The chicken feet salad was gobbled up in no time. Sadly, I can’t find much about it on Google. It’s base ingredients are chicken feet and onion with a spicy sauce. Once again, it’s the contrasting textures of ingredients that win me over.

Sticky rice $2.50

I always go for the sticky rice as it’s perfect for absorbing all the sauces from the various salads. A $2.50 is enough for 1 person, or 1 between 2 if ordering fried rice and noodles. Lao Village is one of the best bang for buck restaurants you will find. Each dish is enough to be shared between 2 people. The food is traditional, cheap and delicious. They keep the menu small but do it very well. You’ll see families of all walks of life there, young couples, groups of Thai and Lao teens going for a feed as well. If you ever get sick of the modern varieties of Thai food, you should try the Thai and Lao restaurants out in the Suburbs for something a little different. The flavours are less bold, but at least it gives you an indication on what you would get if you visited Lao.

Lao Village 1-3 Anzac Avenue Fairfield NSW 2165 Opposite Fairfield RSL Phone (02) 9728 7136

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: favourites

Now that I’ve dispelled some misconceptions about Cabramatta, let’s talk about food.

With a weird craving for Thai/Lao food smack bang in the middle of winter, mum gathered up the troops and ordered that we meet at one our favourite food joint. Phounguen is a very basic restaurant which if you walked past, wouldn’t even know it existed. Located on the “ghetto” side of Cabramatta, opposite the railway station, it is frequented by locals, looking for great food at bargain prices.

Pad Thai $8.00

We started of the meal with a Pad Thai dish. This has always been a favourite thai dish of mine, cemented more so after my two previous trips to Thailand. Phounguen has been serving Cabramatta locals for almost 30 years, so I assume that they actually know what they’re doing. Unlike other Pad Thais I’ve had in Sydney, Phounguen’s noodle is consistently al dente, with the each starnds separated ensuring maximum exposure to the delicious sauce coating it. It also helps that they’re not stingy with the seafood.

Thai Chicken Fried Rice $8.00

Next up was the fried rice. At Phonguen, this is a personal favourite of mine. The fluffy rice is fried with carrots, peas, onion, eggs and pieces of chicken, flavoured with a wonderful concoction of their soy sauces. However, that is not the best bit. Prior to serving the dish, the fried rice is placed in a shallow frying pan until the base layer is slightly brown and crunchy.

Lao Som Tum

At Phonguen, you have the option of either choosing the Thai or Lao Papaya salad. The differentiating factor in my opinion between the two are: Lao uses brined crabs, shrimp and crab paste, whereas the Thai does not. We like our food strong and smelly, so we opted for the Lao.

Complimentary Greens

Marinated Fried Quails $14.00 (3 birds)

The owner Phonguen recommended we try this dish, as it is their specialty. One bite into the tender, juicy and sweet piece of quail, you would definitely understand why. The quail is thoroughly marinated in some secret herbs and spices which I dare say rivals the Colonel Sander’s, then lightly fried. Dipped in the lemon/salt/pepper sauce, the sweetness of the quail is accentuated. So satisfied with the dish, that we ordered one to take away.

Salt, Pepper and Lemon dipping sauce for quails

Grilled Ox Tongue

I have never been a fan of offal, whereas my mum is the total opposite. As a member of the old school chinese generation, she appreciates all meats regardless of where it came from. In my mum’s opinion, this is probably one of the best grilled ox tongue that she has had. According to mum, the ox tongue was not too chewy or too soft, it was grilled to a consistency which still retains its juices. The tongue was accompanied by a sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Satisfied with our bargain of a feast, we venture out into the night in search for some chocolate =D

To me, Cabramatta should not only be known for all the negativity as portrayed in the media but also be recognised as a multicultural community enriched with cuisines such as: Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Chinese, Macedonian, Japanese and Cambodian, the South East Asia of Sydney.

Phounguen
148 Cabramatta Road
Cabramatta, NSW 2166

© Linda for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cabramatta, poultry, Seafood

All through the week, H had massive cravings for pies and hot dogs at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels, which was satisfied on Friday night after work. On the drive home from Harry’s, we realised that the queue at the restaurant spotted a couple of weeks ago wasn’t that bad. Even after two pies and a hot dog, we quickly parked the car. Before we knew it, H and I were seated in a modern setting restaurant browsing through the menu.

Som Tom Lao (laos papaya salad)

Som Tam Lao (Laos Papaya Salad) $8.00

Som Tam Lao is a salad made from pounding garlic, shrimp paste and chili into a fine paste, then slowly adding grated green papaya and tomato. The flavour is then finalised by incorporating fish sauce, brined little crabs, lime and sugar. For this occasion, we asked that our salad be served mild on the chili meter. The chef skilfully combined the right quantity of sweet/sour/hot/salt to produce a mouth numbing number

Complimentary Cabbage, Lettuce and Mint plate

The crunch and sweetness of the lettuce and cabbage is used to neutralise the burning sensation from the papaya salad.

Pek Kai Tod (Fried marinated chicken wings) $6.00

Fried chicken wings are one of my vice, if it’s in the menu, it’ll be on our table. Unfortunately this time the chicken wing was fried for too long, therefore drying up the flesh. The inclusion of the saccharine dipping sauce did nothing to ease the unsatisfactory dish.

Despite the great service and generous portion, 3 Hippos is one restaurant I’ll have second thoughts about revisiting in the near future considering the many Thai restaurants offered throughout inner western Sydney.

3 Hippos Thai/Lao Restaurant
3/219 Canley Vale Road
Canley Heights, NSW 2166
Ph: (02) 9755 4688

© Linda for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Canley Heights, poultry, salad, vegetables

We spot an empty restaurant at some dodgy corner, succumbing to the idea that a deserted restaurant serves less than ideal food, then finally trudge to Bangkok Thai Cuisine, which is admittedly the busiest food stall located inside the hustle and bustle of BKK shopping Centre.

We quickly take our spot in the queue then eye the extensive pictured menu displayed above our head. This time since I wasn’t as hungry as usual, we decided to share a dish.

Shrimp Paste Fried Rice $9.00

After waiting patiently at our communal table for about 20 minutes, a nearby diner nudged us and indicated to the waving restaurant owner, who handed us our dish. To be honest, we’ve had this dish countless of times and fortunately the quality and taste has always maintained its standard. The rice fried with a good quantity of salty shrimp paste which ensures that the flavour doesn’t overwhelm the dish, combined with the grilled chinese sausage, sweet char siu pork, pan fried prawns and omelette proves to be a burst of flavour in your mouth with each bite. To cool down the palate, the chef kindly adds crispy and sweet spanish onion, cucumber and slices of green mango.

Addictive spicy Satay to go with the fried rice

Bangkok Thai Cuisine

Shop 4b/ 53 Park Rd
Cabramatta 2166 NSW
(02) 9727 6891

© Linda for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Green Duck Curry

Sadly, my inability to take spicy food kept me away from this dish, but from what (little) I had it was quite nice (though it was still awfully spicy).

Seafood Pad Thai

It was your typical, round-of-the-mill pad thai. It was rather different to have it with seafood (I’ve only have had chicken) and I think I like it better! It wasn’t too sweet nor was it bland. Almost just right; something was missing, but I wasn’t too sure what it was. Then again, I’m more of a pad see ew person so that may have worked against me.

Chilli Basil Chicken

Quite delicious, but also quite spicy after consuming quite a bit. I had to regulate my intake of this dish, sadly enough. (Yes, I need to work on my chilli tolerance)

Mild Paw Paw Salad

I’m always amused by the different standards of “mild”; obviously it differs between person to person and so dish to dish. One of my friends is my chilli barometer (she has a slightly better tolerance to spicy stuff than me) and after taking a bite of the salad she gave me the Look, which I took to be “daaaaang, my tongue is on fire” and so sensibly avoided the dish.

Deep Fried Ice Cream with Caramel Topping

I didn’t have this dessert, but those who did seemed quite pleased with their choice. (Not a big fan of deep fried ice cream, I always feel like I’m going to have a heart attack when I eat one)

Sticky Rice with Mango and Vanilla Ice Cream

I love this dessert. It’s such a juxtaposition between warm and cold, sweet and almost savoury. Some of my friends didn’t quite like it as it was too odd, but I think it’s something that definitely should be tried, if not loved.

I normally eat at 12 Spices with a friend outside “peak hour” times (e.g. 9pm on a Saturday night). This time I had about 6 people and on a very busy Friday night. It’s this mad rush to try to accommodate so many hungry and demanding people that service wasn’t as attentive as I had come to expect. The food, though, was still quick in being served.

A few things happened that kind of made us go “hmmm”.

Our Chilli Basil Chicken was somehow mixed up with Chilli Basil Beef and had to sent back (one of us is Indian).

We saw one very annoyed and disgruntled customer walk up to one of the waitresses and complained about his fried ice cream: it was cracked opened and all of the ice cream had melted. She apologised and tried to appease him by offering a replacement, but he just shook his head in disgust and told her not to bother before walking out.

We also had the unpleasant experience of finding a tiny dead cockroach floating in our water jug after we had poured out water into everyone’s cup and was drinking it. This was quickly rectified, but it was still kinda gross. No one got sick though, which was fortunate.

Although the overall experience during their busy period was marred by these mishaps, the food we had were above average and it is quite good value for money – reasons enough for me to come back to 12 Spices really.

12 Spices
197 St Johns Rd,
Canley Heights, NSW
Ph: 02 9609 1465

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Canley Heights, curry, poultry, Seafood