Adam Liaw’s Good Food Guide To Sydney

Adam Liaw is a no stranger to food, especially considering his credentials as a winner of MasterChef Australia. The celebrity chef, who boasts Malaysian heritage, recently returned to Kuala Lumpur to launch Mission Foods’ Little Red Food Truck, which prowls the city streets selling his signature creations such as Laksa Fried Chicken Wrap with Pineapple Salsa and Lamb Shank Rendang with Sweet Radish Achar. A resident of the world, owing to the many places he has lived and travelled to, Adam now calls Sydney, Australia his home. Tucking into one of his delectable dishes recently in KL, we couldn’t help but pick this renowned chef’s brains in order to find out the best eats in his city.

“I think to really experience a city; you have to experience the food at every level,” says Adam. “I think if you go to a local pub and eat something like a Schnitzel or Sunday roast or even tuck into a meal at the local fish and chips; it really gives you a perspective about that city and its citizens,” he advises.

Eat Like The Locals

“The Trinity (www.trinitybar.com.au) on Crown Street makes a good pub meal. It’s no frills, just good pub food. And I think you just got to go down to the beach for fish and chips. It’s nothing fancy and I don’t have a particular favourite because they all do it well but tucking into a fish and chips by the beach is a quintessential Australian experience that visitors should have.”

Visit Top End Eateries

“Also stop by Sydney’s top end restaurants. Quay (www.quay.com.au) is one of my favourites and Sepia (www.sepiarestaurant.com.au) is very good as well. I think both these restaurants show how Asia has influenced Australian cuisine. Most of the food is European background and what you’d consider Australian food but it’s heavily influenced by Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Martin Benn serves up yakitori skewers on the bar menu at Sepia and I really do like the XO Sea at Quay, which is something the chef there, Peter Gilmore, created as his version of the XO sauce with seafood like squid, scallops and so on. So it’s really interesting food.”

I think if you go to a local pub and eat something like a Schnitzel or Sunday roast or even tuck into a meal at the local fish and chips; it really gives you a perspective about that city and its citizens

Savour An Asian Touch

“I think a visitor should also try Asian food when in Sydney because I truly believe we have some of the best. We have so many different varieties and places to try and they’re all pretty authentic. There’s a place called Chaco Bar in Darlinghurst which is the closest you can ever get to an Izakaya experience in Australia – it just feels like Japan when you’re there. Then there are areas like Chinatown and Chatswood, which has great Asian eateries – some of the best in Sydney I think. There’s a nice modern Thai place at Chatswood called Khao Pla, which I go to quite a bit.”