Overview
Australia has come a long way since the days described in Myf Warhurst's Nice series, when thirty years ago the most impossibly fancy thing you could do was go out to the local Chinese restaurant for some sweet and sour pork. These days, Australia's general food literacy and cultural mix has improved to the point where restaurant goers expect a range of choices, from high end fine dining, to well-priced quick eats.
There has been a host of new Chinese-inspired restaurants open in Sydney recently, but despite the plethora of choice – think Mr. Wong, the Century, China Lane and Johnny Wong's Dumpling Bar – one would have a reasonably difficult time denying that much of our city's Asian culinary excellence lies a little further west. In Cabramatta, to be precise. Today, this suburb that was once famous for its gangs and chronic drug problems, is home to a humming cultural scene and one epic 550-seater restaurant. The Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant. This September, the restaurant will be launching the first Sichuan Gourmet Festival, running for the whole month.
Restaurant owner, Phillip Visalli, has invited two celebrity chefs over from Chengdu in Sichuan province for the festival. At 30 and 29, Mei Lin and Zhou Zhang have established themselves as two of China's most respected chefs. Mei Lin has worked at the four star Portman hotel and Wei Dao Jiang Hu Restaurant, and is secretary general for the Sichuan Gastronomist and Head Chef Association, which represents the young guns in town. Zhou Zhang has also worked at the Portman Hotel and is executive chef at four star boutique hotel Jui Yi Xiang. In his spare time he is an editor for a number of food publications. The two chefs clearly have Sichuan fire in their bellies and are ready for dish up all things sensationally hot. And we're not just talking about he chilli. Together they have come up with a range of menus for the festival.
The festivities will begin with an epic 16 course gala dinner on Friday, September 7 ($168). On offer are dishes such as pork knuckle with Sichuan spiced sauce, deboned chicken feet with red oil and other dishes such as the wok-fried preserved pork showcasing the most famous Sichuan ingredient ... Sichuan pepper. The small pepper presents humbly enough, but tastes like a spicy firecracker. The evening will conclude with the intriguingly titled mouth-numbing ice cream, made with the infamous pepper. Throughout the month punters can order dishes individually, or opt for one of the set menus for groups.
Though Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant is not associated in any way with the TV series by the same name, it does share the same theatricality and spectacle sans the tacky voice overs. Entertainment for the gala night will be in the form of magic and trickery from Adam Mada and a traditional Chinese changing face performance. The two guest chefs themselves will be appearing on September 23 as part of the Cabramatta moon festival with a cooking demonstration in the afternoon.
For those in the inner city looking for something closer to home, Café Sicilia in Surry Hills is partaking in the festival by producing their own version of mouth-numbing ice cream. Rumour has it that this place, as the sister restaurant of Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant, was forced to close it's doors one recent evening after the chefs thought it fitting to bite down on some fresh Sichuan peppers that had been delivered for their Evil Cornetto ice cream. We'd by crying if we'd have done the same. Don't blame 'em.
The launch of the inaugural Sichuan Gourmet Festival is a wonderful reflection of the quality and diversity of Chinese cuisine on offer in greater Sydney. From our humble beginnings, Australia's taste buds are growing up showing a celebration of our rich cultural fabric.
The Sichuan Gourmet Festival runs from September 1 - 30, 2012 at the Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Cabramatta.