A sweet new fitout at Sugarcane

With age comes wisdom, experience and, especially if you like a drink, a few signs of wear and tear. If only I could undergo a sweet new fitout like Surry Hills' Sugarcane, which has had a facelift and the nip & tuck from its simple, bare basics look for the past five years or so.

New wall mural and fitout at Sugarcane, Reservoir Street, Surry Hills
(Image courtesy of The Cru Media)

The new look is brighter, and more lively and inviting than previously, with hints of Thailand and Asian marketplaces quite fitting with the pan-Asian menu of chef and owner Milan Strbac (ex Longrain). Indeed, the loud chatter of happy diners suits the new fitout much better than its muted former look.

So approachable and welcoming is the new look that Strbac is seeing more walk-in customers than ever into the petite restaurant. Former customers shouldn't fret - most of Sugarcane's signature dishes remain on the menu with a bigger, better focus on the wine and cocktail list.

Prawn, rice cake, caramelised sugarcane

I remember the Thai-influenced prawn-topped puffed rice cakes from several previous visits, and they were as delightful as ever.

Best eaten in the one mouthful, this moreish appetiser of a whole prawn, shredded betel leaves, fried shallots, chilli and a caramelised sugarcane dressing atop a crisp rice cake was a table-silencer - at least for the time it took to scoff the mouthful and wish aloud for another.

Salt and pepper squid, yellowbean and soy dressing

To another signature - and classic Sydney - dish from the 'Small' part of the menu, Sugarcane's salt and pepper squid was impeccably tender in a light and pale batter with plenty of seasoning on the surface.

The squid was served with a yellow bean and soy sauce dressing which I found a tad salty with the already well-seasoned squid.

Coleslaw, crispy pork

Next was an Asian style cabbage coleslaw full of carrot, chilli, coriander and other healthy ingredients, and the rather concealed addition of not so healthy cubes of crisp fried, golden pork belly.

While each component was great and the vegetables were much needed in light of the pork, this probably could have been a standalone salad without the meat while the pork belly could make for a star dish of its own.

Crispy chicken, blood plum

From the 'Substantial' part of the menu came the crowd-pleasing boneless crispy chicken, battered then drenched in a sweet plum sauce and garnished with a wealth of fresh and fried shallots.

Served with a squeeze of lemon, this could well be the modernised and improved version of the classic Aussie-Cantonese dish of sweet and sour pork.

Braised eggplant, mustard greens

The deep fried then braised cubes of eggplant from the vegetables section of the menu had a very pan-Asian feel about it, topped with slices of cucumber, chilli and coriander, sitting in a pool of its braising juices which were great with steamed rice.

Massaman curry of duck

Rice was also partnered with the impressive serve of duck massaman curry, served with chunks of potato and plenty of mild curry sauce. The duck took on plenty of the spice flavours and fell from the bone easily, making for quite the filling dish with rice soaking up the sauce.

Banana roti, condensed milk ice-cream

We made room for shared desserts though, with the deliciously clever roti flat bread, topped with ripe, mushy banana, a silky condensed milk ice cream, caramel sauce and coconut cream. It was a fabulous combination of classic flavours and textures that came together extraordinarily well.

'Corn Flakes', coconut mousse, aloe vera

The other very modern-looking dessert we had featured a white orb of coconut mousse atop a contrasting crumble of corn flakes, sesame seeds and other crunchy bits, beneath which hid a subtly sweet aloe vera jelly. Intriguingly different, it took a little more time to understand and enjoy than the banana roti.

Sweets scoffed and the sweet fitout admired and appreciated, the older, wiser and renewed Sugarcane leaves you with a sticky feeling - one that you want to come back to again and again.

Food, Booze & Shoes dined at Sugarcane as a guest, with thanks to The Cru Media.

Good times collective #9

Age must be getting to me because I'm finding this winter really, unbearably cold. But it's a good excuse to indulge in those rich, wintry comfort dishes, not that I need a reason. Let the good times roll, and when that's done, bring on spring, please.

Goat curry from Tan Viet Noodle House, Rowe Street, Eastwood

While I go to Tan Viet Noodle House for the crispy skinned chicken, I enjoy dining with people who can order something different, like the goat curry stew.

It's quite a spicy curry with lots of small pieces of mostly tender, skin-on, bone-in goat. The spice cancels out any potential gaminess although there's quite a bit of fat to contend with. Fresh Vietnamese herbs and egg noodles at the bottom of the bowl complete the huge bowl of a main meal.

Mixed olives from The Lobby Bar, Castlereagh Street, Sydney

I've never encountered a more ludicrously generous serving of olives than at The Lobby Bar, hidden in a ground floor Castlereagh Street building lobby, near the new ANZ building that borders city south.

A mix of Sicilian and Ligurian in sizes ranging from large and meaty to tiny and mostly a pip, it was a struggle to finish the dish between three. I suppose we ended up staying for more than our intended single drink, so perhaps there's method in the madness.

Morrocan lamb burger with fries from Kingston & Co, Westfield Eastgardens, Pagewood

I used to be very well acquainted with Westfield Eastgardens but now, there are new shops and entire sections every time I go. The new-ish food concept on the outer Banks Street end of the shopping centre is in line with Westfield's 'new' approach to food courts, and includes Kingston & Co - an interesting café/restaurant chain proposition.

I skipped over the various steaks on offer for the Morrocan lamb burger: a huge construction of a white sesame seed bun with a well flavoured lamb mince pattie, grilled eggplant, lettuce, tomato and a cumin-spiked yoghurt sauce. Fall-apart messy, it made for a spot-hitting dinner with excellent fries on the side.

Khao mok gai from Samosorn Thai Food Hall, Sydney Central Plaza, Sydney

I find it hard to not order the khao mok gai turmeric chicken and rice when I'm at Samosorn. With both chicken thigh and rice cooked in turmeric and five spice, the flavour matches the vivid yellow hue of the tender, juicy chicken, which is pretty amazing with the not-too-hot green chilli and garlic sauce on the side.

Charcuterie board from The Duck Inn Pub, Rose Street, Chippendale

The Duck Inn Pub in Chippendale has to be one of the cosiest pubs around. Just perfect for winter warmers and drinks with mates, it's also ideal for a late night drop in for food.

The generous antipasti board has grilled vegetables and salami covered, as well as house-cured specialties, rillettes and even a Scotch egg. Served with toasted sourdough, it's a generous share board best had with mates and a glass or two of wine.

Chocolate crepes from Passionflower, Anzac Parade, Kingsford

Passionflower (in Haymarket) was one of the venues of my youth. Ice cream and its location were the drawcards, but now the decadence continues in Kingsford, catering to the local university student population.

Their sundaes and waffles are legendary, and so too the rich chocolate on chocolate on chocolate crepes, with chocolate ice cream and molten liquid chocolate on a chocolate crepe with chopped strawberries for freshness.

At least it's never too cold for ice cream.

Samosorn by Chat Thai – Thai for food hall

The Asian concepts of street food and hawker stalls are yet to develop in Australia but with the opening of Samosorn Thai Local Food Hall in the Myer food court in Pitt Street Mall last Saturday, we're a step closer.

Entry sign at Samosorn Thai Local Food Hall at Sydney Central Plaza food court
(beneath Myer), Pitt Street Mall, Sydney

The latest venue from the people behind Chat Thai, Samosorn – Thai for 'food hall' – brings a Thai street food vibe to one of the city's busiest food courts; or at least as much of that vibe as Sydney's relatively strict food safety regulations allow.

Seating in Samosorn

Display cabinets filled with vintage Thai packaging

But don't expect your average food court experience – Samosorn has gone all-out on recreating a Bangkok streetside styled with hawker stall signage, authentic wooden stools, vintage decorations and even a mock roadside sewer.

Mock sewer

Samosorn "food stalls"

Designed to take the rat racer out of the Sydney CBD, if only for an hour lunch break, Samosorn offers atmospheric, escape-from-a-food-court, in-restaurant seating that really is worlds away from the fluorescence of the rest of the food court, which seems to be slowly picking up its game.

Seating in Samosorn

The food hall concept focuses on fast, fresh Thai food prepared from a number of stations. Diners order from the front register, find a table and wait for food to be delivered to their upright spatula table numbers.

Noodle station

There are plenty of dishes that will be familiar to Chat Thai diners – there's no escaping from our national favourites of padt thai and chicken satay skewers, and Chat Thai crowd-pleasers like grapao mhu grob stir fried crisp pork belly with rice.

Items for the grill

Pork skewers on the grill

But with dedicated grill and salad sections in Samosorn's open kitchen, it's hard to go past dishes like the tender mhu bing grilled pork skewers or the north-east Thai Issan-style som dtum taardt; a Samosorn signature dish that you're unlikely to find anywhere else in Sydney at the moment.

Shredded green papaya

Som dtum salad station

A variation of the som dtum green papaya salad that the Thais like so fiery hot, the som dtum taardt is served to share, "family style" on a colourful round platter.

It features a freshly mortar-and-pestle mixed som dtum variety – ours a Thai favourite of som dtum thai-bpu with pungently pickled and fermented small whole black crabs – surrounded by an array of sides to be eaten with the salad.

Som dtum taardt

The pickled crab papaya salad comes with house made pork and fish skin crackling, thin rice noodles, a hard-boiled egg, blanched choy sum, raw cabbage, Thai basil, bean sprouts, peanuts and firm tofu.

It becomes a DIY salad that never loses interest, with the spicy, fishy som dtum thai-bpu playing star to a cast of supporting and contrasting ingredients, most of them pretty healthy.

Som dtum thai

We also had the normal som dtum thai salad, served without the fishy crabs and plenty of green beans, cherry tomatoes, peanuts, dried shrimp and fresh chilli in what was probably considered a "medium" level of heat for Thai diners, but a little painful for me.

The accompanying woven basket of warm sticky rice is ideal to temper the chilli heat of the som dtum.

Gai yaang - Char grilled marinated chicken

After the som dtum there was tender, moist relief in the whole char grilled chicken, served with a sweet dipping sauce of smoked chilli and tamarind.

The chopped pieces of the whole chicken had a delectable smokiness from the char grill and sweetly marinated, crisp caramelised skin.

Lodt Shong Singapore drink

Also helping me cope with the spice was a dessert-like drink of coconut milk and chewy green pandan noodles – much like Malaysian cendol – and some jackfruit or mango, I think, cooled down with loads of crushed ice in a giant glass mug.

There's also a range of quite traditional crushed ice drinks and herbal teas on offer, including the nahm buoy sweet pickled plum iced tea and the nahm krachiap iced hibiscus drink.

Condiments and seasonings

Deep fry station

With a pretty extensive menu of noodles – stir fried and in soup – grilled items, spicy salads and one-plate-rice dishes predominantly sub $14, food court lunches are taking on new meaning at Samosorn, which is taking on the streets of Bangkok in the heart of Sydney CBD.

Disclosure: Food, booze and shoes dined as a guest of Samosorn, and is acquainted with staff and owners of Samosorn and Chat Thai.

Seafood Lane at Red Spice Road for Melbourne Food & Wine Festival

Greeted with a stunning, blue-skied autumn's day, it was with a spring in our step that we bounded down Mackillop Lane – a Melbourne CBD laneway filled with long tables for the fifth annual Seafood Lane event at Red Spice Road for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival last month.

Table settings for Seafood Lane as part of Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, 9 March 2014, Red Spice Road, Mackillop Lane, Melbourne

Long white-clothed tables were positioned down the middle of the closed-off laneway, beneath shelters for both sun and rain, though we were lucky to have the former in buckets.

Orderly seating arrangements and drinks on arrival made for a convivial atmosphere of food lovers, tourists and food tourists – all happy to chat about the festival, the warm day and the impending south-east Asian seafood feast by Red Spice Road.

Drinks served at the long tables

There was Tiger beer, Monteith's cider or even Jax Coco Coconut Water for the non-drinkers, but for me, long lunches start and go on with bubbles, like the Crittenden Estate Geppetto NV Brut.

We could see food arriving up the top of the long tables, with smells and appreciative noises quickly filtering down via an army of plate-clad waiters.

Banh mi with soft shell crab, cucumber, herbs and spicy turmeric mayo

The appetisers started off with a bang – perhaps even the biggest bang of the seafood-focused meal (though I'm sure excitement and initial hunger had something to do with that).

I'm not sure why I've never had a soft shell crab banh mi before because it's an excellent idea – a small, round burger bun holding a crisply deep fried soft shell crab, with spindly legs sticking out among cucumber and fresh green herbs like coriander and mint.

Banh mi with soft shell crab

The whole Vietnamese-styled slider was brought together by a creamy turmeric mayonnaise that paired with the crab perfectly. A crowd favourite, there were serious and justified concerns that the rest of the meal may not rise to the heights of the soft shell crab banh mi.

Scallop with poached chicken, jellyfish, shiso and green chili

It's hard to go wrong when you have beautiful produce like scallops, beautifully grilled and sat on a somewhat superfluous round of poached chicken breast. The shiso and green chilli dressing gave the plump mollusc a great lift, while I don’t recall the jellyfish at all.

Calamari stuffed with Issan pork sausage

The whole stuffed calamari was a modern presentation with north-east Thai Issan pork sausage; the sausage sweet and garlicky within the thin sheets of slightly chewy squid, doused with a sweet red sauce.

Spicy salmon, green onion and sesame tartare on crispy sticky rice

Another modern, fusion appetiser was the creamy tartare of salmon and green onion, flavoured with sesame and chilli and sat atop a brick of deep fried sticky rice.

The concept was fun and the diced and dressed raw salmon very moreish, but the overall texture of the crisp sticky rice meant it was of a tooth-sticking nature.

Wines were topped up and plates were cleared with efficiency and smiles; a pretty impressive logistical outcome given the length of the table and the waiters' walk back to the laneway restaurant in the hot sun.

Octopus, tomato, coriander and shallot salad

It was a little alarming that the after the plentiful appetisers, there was still the three mains to go, along with steamed jasmine rice.

We started with an eye-opening salad of tender octopus tentacles and tomato – a combination that I wouldn't have expected. Pimped up with loads of fresh coriander and sliced shallots, it was a surprisingly fresh salad where the seafood shone in a well-balanced pairing.

Laotian prawn green curry with potato and dill

My favourite dish after the banh mi would have been the Laotian prawn green curry – large whole prawns creamy with coconut and a mild manageable spice, and bulked up with potato chunks.

Most interestingly, beneath the generous coriander garnish, the dill addition to the curry sauce was outstanding – whether the match with potatoes or it being one of my favourite herbs, it really made the green curry unique and memorable.

Barramundi with snake bean sambal and crispy anchovies

We received the golden-hued barramundi last, and it probably suffered a little from our satiety.

The golden surface of the fish fillets hid a overcooked interior and even with the sambal sauce, it was a slightly dry experience. However, the sambal beans were a delight along with whole crispy anchovies entering Malaysian cuisine territory.

Long tables for Seafood Lane

As stuffed as we were, the gorgeously elaborate individual dessert pulled us back in, aided by a stroll and a glass of 2013 Pinocchio Moscato.

Pineapple panna cotta with coconut jelly, gula melaka caramelised pineapple, cashew praline and Sang Som ice cream

Creativity reigned in the Thai-inspired dessert of pineapple flavoured panna cotta – an excellent, appropriately wobbly rendition, served with chewy cubes of coconut jelly, fresh pineapple pieces in gula melaka palm sugar syrup, crushed cashew praline and ice cream of Thai Sang Som rum.

Pineapple panna cotta with Sang Som ice cream

All the components had their place in the dessert bowl – particularly the ice cream as the day warmed up – an achievement given the number of ingredients that all worked together exceptionally well to close the meal.

Red Spice Road restaurant interior

More wine came by, more neighbourly chatter ensued and the afternoon was whiled away in the collective south-east Asian seafood feast of a food coma that was Seafood Lane this year by Red Spice Road.

Food, booze and shoes attended Seafood Lane at Red Spice Road as a guest.