tasweekend SEPTEMBER 26-27, 2015 25

INDULGE

So, alongside traditional offerings such as dumplings and vegetarian spring rolls, theres also lamb cakes. For mains, there is beef rendang, duck curry and chicken and rice served in a clay pot (which is recommended for children).

Theres also Chans black vinegar pork hock with ginger a Chinese dish, traditionally served after a woman has given birth to help heal her body and the prawn and fish ball noodle dish, KL Hokkien Mee.

I do a lot of banquet-style food, and a lot of people say, Ive never had this kind of banquet food, Chan says. If you go to an Asian restaurant, you will see sweet and sour pork, but thats not a banquet menu. A banquet menu should have symbolic meaning. So for instance, pork is a measure of wealth.

Preparing everything by hand and doing

things traditionally takes time, which is partly why the pair leased a small place away from the hustle and bustle of Hobarts city centre.

They moved to Tasmania from Sydney three-and-a-half years ago determined to slow the pace of their busy working lives and start a family.

Any pace is OK for us because we are so used to a fast pace. This pace is extremely quiet, says Chung, formerly restaurant manager at Sydneys Star Casino.

She now looks after their two-year-old daughter Brianna while managing the restaurant, taking orders, serving tables and making dough-based dishes.

We dont turn over tables. People come in and enjoy themselves they can stay for as long as they like. Its not a fast-paced place.

PENNY McLEOD

Cheaper cab sauvsAs the popularity gap between shiraz and cabernet grew wider in the steroid-driven, bigger-is-better days of the past decade, as many cabernet producers and regions tried to out-shiraz shiraz and lost their way. Cabernet should taste like cabernet with ripe blackcurrant fruit and an elegant structure bound when young by tight, finishing tannins. Thankfully, cabernets are now offering better quality and price value than they have for many years, much better in many cases than similarly priced shirazes.

TAYLORS2014 Promised Land Cabernet SauvignonRating: Multi-regional13.5 per cent alc/vol., $14Briar and berry fruit nose with plenty of sweetish berry fruit flavours on a soft and rather one-dimensional, mid-weight palate that doesnt have much carry through but would be fine with pasta in a cream sauce.

HARDYS2014 Horseshoe Row Cabernet SauvignonRating: McLaren Vale, SA14 per cent alc/vol., $18In true McLaren style, this is darker, richer and rounder than the Taylors and more complex with chocolate and aniseed characters supporting the ripe fruit and good, mouth-puckering tannins on the finish that would cut through the fat and char of barbecued lamb chops.

XANADU2013 Next of Kin Cabernet SauvignonRating: Margaret River, WA14 per cent alc/vol., $18Margaret River is widely regarded as Australias premium cabernet region and Xanadu as one of its foremost producers. You wouldnt know it with this wine, which is little more than a soft, easy-drinking drop with some fruit sweetness its only appeal making it OK as a simple backyard quaffer.

JACOBS CREEK2013 Double Barrel Cabernet SauvignonRating: Coonawarra, SA14 per cent alc/vol., $25The PR hype says the innovation of finishing the wine in matured Irish whisky barrels provides a subtle but discernible influence. That aside, theres plenty of sweet fruit and vanillin oak on both the nose and softly rounded palate with equally soft tannins on the finish along with the slightest hint of Tullamore Dew. Good with a lamb and potato Irish stew.

TOP PICKS

MYU Easy Bites, Shop 2/93 New Town Rd, New TownOpen Tuesday-Saturday, 5.30pm-8pm Phone 6228 7777

Malaysians have never been known for their presentation, says restaurant owner Ian Chan.

You might be in the dingiest place, but if the flavours are good then you have a line out the door.

Chan and his wife Leng Chungs small restaurant, MYU Easy Bites in New Town, isnt dingy but it would be easy to miss except for the constant flow of people in and out of it from opening to close, Tuesday to Saturday.

Its clear this is a locals haunt with seating for just 28 people. The aroma on entry is striking: the smell of pounded spices, home-made stocks and pastes, garlic, ginger and onion predominantly Malay Chinese but also other Asian flavours, referencing the couples cultural origins and friendship circles.

Ian was raised in Cabramatta [in Sydney] and all his friends are Vietnamese, he grew up eating a lot of Vietnamese food, Chung says.

So theres some of that influence in his food. Its generally food we love to eat.

The food they love most, as a rule, is home-cooked, made with fresh ingredients and similar to what they grew up with.

Their ever-changing menu features the traditional, banquet-style food Chans grandfather cooked in Malaysia, as well as Chungs mums Chinese Cantonese soups and dumplings.

People want home-cooked meals, but you dont get that. You get the mass-produced things, things that people dont need to prep for, Chung says.

For us, its like a food philosophy. People who come into your restaurant should experience something about you that is handmade and fresh.

The couple encourage their guests to try new food such as pigs tails, by providing complimentary tasting plates.

Its nice to break out of the traditional mould of what people think Asian cuisine is, Chan says.

Banking on banquets

What are you trying to achieve? Delicious food. We dont really do this for money there are small margins involved. If you make delicious food and someone compliments you, youve done your job.

Your go-to ingredients? Spices, especially ginger, garlic and spring onion. Theyre the base for most of our dishes.

Favourite weekend brunch?My favourites are mushroom, eggs, spinach and fermented shrimp with rice.

Groundbreaking chefs of today?David Chang, a US author and TV personality who is also the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group, which has restaurants in New York and Sydney.

All-time favourite cookbook?Old-school Cantonese cookbooks and my mother-in-laws Chinese herbal soup book. Cantonese people always have to have soup. Herbal soup is meant to protect you, warm you up and detox you.

Hot local tip?Lansdowne Cafe, in West Hobart, for comfort food. And Berta, in North Hobart, for Italian French food. I had lunch at The Texas Pantry [in Moonah] recently it was amazing and something different.

Favourite food spot besides Hobart?Lao Village, Western Sydney Fairfield the food is amazing. And Ester in Chippendale, in Sydney its creative and ground-breaking but also traditional.

Biggest food-related indulgence? Pho dac biet, aka special beef pho, and Mojitos made from 10 cane rum.

Biggest food influence?My grandfathers banquet menu and my mother-in-laws southern Chinese cuisine.

Your Last Supper?Butter, coconut and pandan jam on toast.

Most memorable meal?Getting some hawker stall food in Penang [in Malaysia] with my family and sitting under the coconut tree with a soft ocean breeze and watching the traffic buzzing. Life couldnt get more beautiful.

THE GRILL with IAN CHAN

Turn to page 26 for Ian Chans recipe for KL hokkien mee

SLOW AND STEADY: MYU Easy Bites chef Ian Chan believes in taking the time to do things traditionally. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

OUR RATINGOK GOOD

VERY GOODEXCELLENTFABULOUS

GRAEME PHILLIPS