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Eating Out In Melbourne – from European to Asian and Back Again. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Eating Out In Melbourne – from European to Asian and Back Again

You can take a culinary trip around the world, eating out in Melbourne – from Europe to Asia and back again – and that’s virtually what we did on our recent Melbourne foodie trip, eating everything from Italian, French and British to Japanese, Thai and regional Chinese. To Australians, this kind of eating isn’t unusual. This is eating out in Melbourne.

Like many Aussies of our generation, Terence and I came from a mixed European heritage. Mine were Russian immigrants and early British settlers, while Terence’s ancestors were German and Irish. For my family, it was normal to have a Sunday roast one weekend and eat European family-style the next with a table heaving with colossal bowls of Russian pelmeni and vereniki, cabbage rolls, cutleti, and potato salad, all accompanied by plenty of vodka. On a Friday night, our parents would take us out for Italian, French or Chinese.

During our uni days living in inner city Sydney, Terence and I would eat anything and everything. Though aside from French at a little bistro we used to frequent in Balmain and the Spanish tapas bars we kicked back at in town, we were mainly eating Asian – Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, Korean, and Japanese – from neighbourhood joints in Balmain, Glebe, Newtown, Darlinghurst, and Potts Point, most of which we’d find in the Cheap Eats guide.

Eating Out In Melbourne – A Return to Australia

It’s been interesting to return to Australia and see that over a dozen years later, in some ways, nothing has changed…

Australians, especially those in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, still take a culinary tour of the globe each week, whether they’re cooking at home or eating out. Little do they probably realise, but they’re very lucky. Eating in Australia is not like this everywhere else in the world.

But in some ways, a lot has changed. While the cheap ethnic neighbourhood eateries remain, many that we used to know have been renovated and gone upmarket, or simply gone.

Then there’s a new breed of ‘ethnic’ eatery altogether, established by some of Australia’s finest chefs – from Neil Perry (exploring regional Chinese) to Guillaume Brahimi (who has returned to his French roots) – where the focus is on reproducing authentic flavours (sometimes in a modern or contemporary forms) and using premium quality produce.

At these restaurants, you won’t find yourself poking around a dish wondering if that’s really chicken or pork.

Of the many restaurants we experienced, these are the eateries we enjoyed most…

Eating Out In Melbourne – from European to Asian and Back Again

Spice Temple

In the moody, dimly lit, crimson-hued dining space at Chef Neil Perry’s Spice Temple, a small lunch banquet of sublime dishes transported us to China, starting with a Szechuan street food classic, Bang Bang Chicken.

While the presentation was contemporary – succulent pieces of cold poached chicken, stuffed with Szechuan pepper, tidily lined in a row – the spicy flavours were authentic and traditional, the chicken swimming in a deliciously complex, crunchy pool of chilli oil, scallions and crushed peanuts, sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Melbourne – from European to Asian and Back Again. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

It was amazing – as was the Three Shot Chicken, which the waitress finished off theatrically on a small gas burner at our table. To the chicken simmering in the clay pot, she added shots of Xingtao beer, soy and chilli oil. It knocked our socks off.

As did our final dish from Hunan, Chairman Mao Pork – pork belly slow-braised in Shao Xing wine, star anise, ginger, and cinnamon.

While non-Asian Australians generally play it safe with spice, Perry is a champion of fiery Chinese food.

Chin Chin

That same evening we headed to one of Melbourne’s most modish eateries, Chin Chin. Despite the no-bookings policy, we didn’t have to wait for a table. Weekends, however, see long lines of punters outside. (Go on a weekday, people!)

We quickly discovered, though, it would have been worth a wait. Chin Chin is doing modern Asian food, based upon fresh seasonal Australian produce and authentic Asian flavours, especially Thai. Chefs Andrew Gimber and Ben Cooper both worked with David Thompson of Bangkok’s Nahm. That should say enough.

Melbourne – from European to Asian and Back Again. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

The highlights were a jungle curry with Moreton Bay Bugs and a Massaman curry of coconut braised Hopkins River beef brisket with pink fur potatoes and crispy shallots.

They were fiery, fragrant and rich, more reminiscent of our best eating in Thailand than the anodyne Thai food often served up in Australia.

The place is casual, buzzy and fun too, with its pop culture décor (posters plastered on a wall; video-game graphics on the bar tiles), retro soundtrack, and friendly staff whose personalities are allowed to shine.

Bistro Guillaume

We had a similar experience at Bistro Guillaume, where we started to see a pattern emerging. In a space so Parisian it could have been in Paris, with its polished wooden floors, mirrors, and blackboard menus, Chef Guillaume Brahimi demonstrates a return to his roots with this casually-elegant French bistro.

Noted for his fine dining restaurant Guillaume at Bennelong at the Sydney Opera House, Brahimi, who splits his time between the two restaurants, was cooking the day we dined. His focus, he told us, is on “good produce, served simply”. And, wherever possible, seasonal Victorian produce from a supplier who deals directly with farmers.

“Simple is good,” Brahimi said, “It’s not easy to do.”

Eating Out In Melbourne – from European to Asian and Back Again. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

The menu is short – eight appetisers, eight mains, a few salads, a handful each of side dishes and desserts, and daily specials. We shared a charcuterie plate with the most heavenly velvety pâté, tasty rillettes, and delicious terrine. The steak tartare, made from finely diced Gippsland beef fillet was the most perfectly seasoned steak tartare we’ve ever sampled.

“You have to try the chicken,” he told us. Perhaps not something we expected to hear from one of Australia’s best chefs, but he was right.

The roasted Barossa Valley chicken with chicken jus and creamy Paris mash was moist and moreish. The chef boasted that they serve around 400 portions of it a week. We’re not surprised.

Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons*

Designed by Rome-based Australian architect Carl Pickering, Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons is audacious — a cool, contemporary take on the Italian trattoria. The restaurant is divided into discrete dining areas, decorated with hand-made Sicilian terrazzo tiles, which in two spaces where the tiles cover the floor, walls and ceiling, look like movie sets.

You might expect from such theatrical surroundings that the food would be full of artifice, all surface over substance, yet the focus is on simple, traditional, regional Italian cuisine (Tuscan minestrone, Venetian polenta etc), made from Australian produce.

We started with a mixed plate of salumi that we’d been salivating over since we spied the glass salumi cabinet, dramatically illuminated by a spotlight, with a red Berkel slicer beside it.

The salumi – Culatello, Ossocollo, Enzo Salami, Cacciatore, and Mortadella – is made from Black Berkshire free-range pigs, by a family of smallgoods-makers, according to owner-chef Robert Marchetti’s recipes.

We followed up with Mezze Rigatoni with house-made pork sausages, sage, tomato, garlic and chilli, and Risotto Nero, black squid-ink rice with calamari, chilli, parsley, lemon, and garlic.

There were no prettily decorated plates here – it was all about the produce and flavour, and it was fabulous.

Izakaya Den

Without a restaurant booking one evening we decided to try something even more casual so headed out to hotspot Izakaya Den. In a striking, long, black basement space, where a bar runs the length of the room, we selected a few small dishes from the short menu, a kingfish sashimi, spicy tuna tataki with garlic soy, and Kurobuta pork Char Siew, and ordered shochu, shiso, lime and tonics from the menu (in Japanese and English).

In Tokyo, we ate at our fair share of izakayas – traditionally, they’re taverns that serve food – and in Bangkok, where the izakayas are some of the most authentic outside of Japan, we probably ate at one at least once a week.

The food at Izakaya Den was undoubtedly tasty but it wasn’t as sublime as Japanese food can be in Tokyo, or even Bangkok for that matter.

The buzz of the place was probably better than the food, but both were more than satisfying.

The European

The European was another fairly spontaneous choice. We’d strolled by many times during our stay and it was always busy, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The narrow, cosy dining space is more old world than new, feeling all at once British, Parisian and Milanese.

We started off with a glass of wine at the adjoining buzzy City Wine Shop where wine buyer Campbell, who oversees some 800 different wines, selected two interesting Australian Rieslings for us to try.

When our table was ready in the crowded room next door we stuffed ourselves with hearty comfort food: delicious, hot sage-wrapped anchovies, a Beef Wellington with petit pois and foie gras, and beef short ribs with soft herb polenta and grilled artichokes.

Eating Out In Melbourne – from European to Asian and Back Again. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

This was food that tipped a hat to tradition and left a smile on our faces. It also said a lot about Melbourne’s dining scene that a noisy little dining space dishing up old-fashioned food could be as popular as any of the chic new Asian places or the high end restaurants serving contemporary Australian cuisine.

It also says a lot about Melburnians, and Australians, and how far we have come – from Europe to Asia, and back again it seems. This is eating out in Melbourne!

More on our experiences eating out in Melbourne in our posts on Eating Out in Melbourne, ‘Ethnic’ Cuisine; Eating Out in Melbourne, Contemporary Asian Cuisine; and Eating Out in Melbourne, Contemporary Australian Cuisine.

We dined at these restaurants on assignment for an Asia travel magazine for a story called ‘Mouthwatering Melbourne

*Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons has closed.

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About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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Comments

  1. Brett Atkinson says

    March 9, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    Across in Melbourne next week and have been lining up Chin Chin for a few months now – it shouldn’t be too busy on a Tuesday night? Did you get to Greg Malouf’s MoMo? I know it’s closing at the end of March, but I was hoping to go there before I hit Beirut next month

  2. jenny@atasteoftravel says

    March 10, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    Fabulous! For me, the fun in visiting Melbourne is planning which restaurants to visit. The list is long and there’s always a new one opening that can’t be missed. I’ve printed both your articles, marked the ones I’ve yet to experience and am looking at dates for the next visit!

  3. Lara Dunston says

    March 17, 2012 at 10:34 am

    Hi Brett – apologies for the delay getting to this, but our schedule has been frantic. Guessing you could even be in Melbourne this week? Let me know if you get this.

    Chin Chin is busy most nights, but definitely less busy early/mid-week, and early in the evening. They have a new bar now where you can have a drink if there is a short wait and they’ll let you know when your table is ready. Definitely do it. It’s delicious. We also went to Andrew McConnell’s ‘Golden Fields’ at St Kilda this week and just loved it.

    Give MoMo’s a miss. We have eaten there and we very disappointed, but after so many years in the Middle East we’re tough critics. You’ll eat better in Beirut.

    Highly recommend all of the restos above.
    * Spice Temple now does a Yum Cha for lunch which is getting great reviews.
    * The European is quintessentially Melbourne – ate there again the other night. Superbly cooked food and buzzy atmosphere.

    Enjoy!

  4. Lara Dunston says

    March 17, 2012 at 10:36 am

    Hi Jenny – totally agree! I guess that’s the difference between a food tourist and an ordinary traveller, isn’t it? Foodies get just as excited about restaurants, as normal tourists do about sights. We’ve got more Melbourne restaurant reviews coming soon :)

  5. Annabel Candy, Get In the Hot Spot says

    March 21, 2012 at 10:38 am

    Melbourne is such a fun, eclectic city. Love that you can travel the world without leaving town. Will be revisiting these restaurant reviews next time I’m there – your photos are fab, my mouth is watering!

  6. Lara Dunston says

    April 2, 2012 at 10:32 pm

    Totally agree! Hope these reviews help on your next trip to Melbourne. More to come :) Thanks for dropping by!

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Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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