From the Editor, Leigh O’Connor.
From the woks of China to the curry bowls of Malaysia, Asian cuisine is an explosion of flavour on the palate and the plate.
Every Asian dish is cooked in various ways and features different ingredients with the popularity of this cuisine undeniable – particularly in Australia. This week we take our taste buds to Asia in every shape and form, from the hawker street markets to Chef-hatted restaurants, we bring the best this continent has to offer and more…
Check out Marie-Antoinette Issa’s guide to the region’s famed street food, which gives a truly authentic insight into Asian cuisine from open-aired hawker markets in Indonesia to the fresh and simple dishes found in Ho Chi Minh City’s Ben Thanh Market. She also sheds light on swapping your standard order of Peking duck, pad Thai or pakoras for under-rated dishes such as salt and pepper chicken with crispy chips and Irish curry sauce.
Come with us as we uncover the complete guide to cooking with Korean ingredients – while this country is more commonly known for its skincare routines and K-pop stars, its delicious dishes are equally deserving of their time in the spotlight.
Arisun Executive Group Chef, Joanne Lee shares her tips and tricks to Korean cooking, emphasising the importance of a few key ingredients such as soy sauce and gochugaru (chilli powder), along with fermented dishes such as kimchi.
We take a drive around the country to find Readers’ Choice Award-winning Asian restaurants you need to put on your culinary radar, as well as visit five dining destinations which rice to the occasion when seeking a memorable meal out with family and friends.
For a venue where the views are as good as the food – whether it is taking in water vistas, city skylines, rolling green countryside or listening to the babbling of a nearby stream – we’ve found six restaurants that won’t disappoint, on or off the plate.
Jung Eun Chae caused a sensation when she opened her tiny Brunswick apartment to six diners a night, four times a week with a waiting list that exploded to more than 8000 people.
Her medicinal style of traditional South Korean cooking has garnered her many awards, including her restaurant Chae coming in with 15 hats in the AGFG 2024 Chef Hat Awards. Chae has since moved her eponymous six-seat dining destination to rural Cockatoo where the intimate setup is perfect for her cooking style to share food with a wider audience.
We discover her amazing story and the ethos behind her cooking style in her new cookbook – ‘Chae – Korean Slow Food for a Better Life’ – plus we have three recipes to share with AGFG home cooks.
It’s a bumper week for all the foodies out there! Read on and enjoy…
