On a mission to find new Italian wine bar 121BC we stumbled around Surry Hills’ Holt Street for what seemed like eternity. After a few misses and a quick enquiry at nearby Vini (121BC’s big sister bar and restaurant) we were on our way down the adjacent alleyway, meeting another lost couple enroute. Reason for all the confusion – it’s listed in some places as 4/50 Holt Street without the all important ‘enter via Gladstone Street’ (don’t enter 50 Holt Street itself or you’ll just be in the lobby of an office building!).

Finally inside 121BC, we were seated at the one long communal table. A blackboard list of Italian whites on the left and reds on the right was before us and the staff made some excellent recommendations. We loved the atmosphere, the unique and amazing wines, the customer service and the idea you can purchase a full bottle of your favourite at the adjacent wine shop. Small bar perfection!

Next, it was onto dinner at District Dining, the more casual offering from 2-hatted Assiette’s Warren Turnbull.

Devoured:
1 bottle of Spanish white (Albarino)
Scallops with artichoke, pancetta and prune
Kingfish with wasabi pannacotta, quinoa and ponzu
Roasted spatchcock, sweetcorn, succotash and bacon
Braised beef cheek, cauliflower, pedro ximenez and prunes
Dark chocolate brownie, macadamia brittle, white chocolate icecream
Mandarin brulee, cardamom and poached mandarin
2 macchiatos (using organic Allpress coffee)

The seafood entrees were both delicious, with the scallops beautifully cooked and the wasabi pannacotta the perfect accompaniment to the super fresh kingfish. The spatchcock had an amazing cajun-like seasoning which made the dish, and the beef cheeks were unbelievably tender (and our overall favourite dish of the night). The desserts weren’t of the to-die-for variety with the brownie a little low on the chocolate factor, but the brulee’s dynamic cardamom and mandarin flavour combo managed to compensate.

Verdict? District Dining was casually and comfortably cool, with friendly service and a moreish menu. I now feel compelled to return and try the quail eggs with tarragon mayo and, well, pretty much everything else we didn’t order!

121BC Cantina & Enoteca, 4/50 Holt St (enter via Gladstone St), Tel: 02 9699 1582, www.121bc.com.au





District Dining, 17 Randle St, Surry Hills, Tel: 02 9211 7798, www.districtdining.com.au

I have just been (for the second time in less than a week!) to one of the most stunning, inspiring, elegant, amazing restaurants, and it’s right in my neighbourhood! I can’t believe I’ve only been introduced to this place two weeks before I depart Saigon, so obviously, a few more visits are in order!

Cuc Gach Quan is a Vietnamese ‘country’ style restaurant, with its menu offering a nod to the way dishes were once prepared – without msg or ingredients affected by fertilisers. The tofu and the soy sauce are homemade, and the juices are natural and pure with no sugar added, but a little jug of honey is served on the side. The food is delicious (especially the lemongrass tofu and the pork in claypot) and the decor is amazing, with antique/distressed wood furniture, gorgeous blue and white crockery and drinks served in glass bottles with rolled up banana leaf stoppers. There’s a fish and turtle pond between the front room and the open kitchen at the back, and a steep staircase leading up to more gorgeous seating. The restaurant is architect owned and designed – and it shows!

I’m in love with this place, and I can’t wait to go back. For more about Cuc Gach Quan, see this piece in Travel + Leisure, or check out some of the feature articles on its website.

Cuc Gach Quan, 10 Dang Tat, Tan Dinh, District 1, Saigon, Tel: 38480144 or 01657101010


Images courtesy Cuc Gach Quan

Just as I was in a bit of a Saigon cafe rut, sticking to a few tried and true favourites and thinking all the good places had been discovered, along comes Farm – and only a stone’s throw from my apartment!

It started with a sign, which we initially thought to be leading to some kind of produce purveyor (fresh food from an organic farm in Dalat, perhaps?)…

After heading down a wider than usual residential laneway, complete with potted plants outside every building Farm was revealed…

A heavy wooden door slid open to reveal a garden-like entrance, low wooden ceiling and a cavernous space with cute, farm themed touches – mini hessian sacks as pillows, watering cans and flowers as table centrepieces and coffee tables constructed of chicken wire. A mix of antique cameras, clocks and chairs were thrown in for good measure, to create a kitsch and very creative space – a totally unexpected find in our little patch of the city!

Go for: A ‘Cafe Farm’ – a bowl full of iced coffee laced with liqueur
Not for: Lunch – the food menu is minimal, it’s more of a drinks place. But there is ice-cream!

Farm, 214/19/8C Nguyen Van Nguyen, Tan Dinh Ward, D1, Tel: (08) 3848 2515

Melt Me is one of Bangkok’s many dessert cafes – a concept I just can’t get enough of. At this recently opened orange, white and glass cube of a cafe it’s all about desserts made from creamy Hokkaido milk, which hails from the Japanese city Sapporo. It’s used in Melt Me’s chocolates, gelato and even one of its drinks (a ridiculously decadent hot chocolate – basically a huge slab of dark chocolate on a stick that you melt into a cup of hot milk). The staff urge you to try samples of the handmade chocolates (not that my arm needs twisting!), and intriguingly, the gelato and sorbet menu promises some not-yet-available flavours including….beer!


Tried & loved

For more on the story behind Hokkaido milk and Melt Me, check out this piece in the Bangkok Post, and this one in the Nation. And if you happen to be a Bangkok-bound chocoholic, be sure to add Melt Me to your must-do list!

Melt Me, Arena 10, Thonglor Soi 10, Bangkok, www.melt-me.com

I’m officially obsessed with going for dim sum at Shang Palace. My quest for the best dim sum in Saigon has taken me from the really crappy (the Chinese place behind Pacharan that’s currently closed for renovations – and hopefully a complete menu overhaul), to the bit better Windsor Hotel (naff 80s decor, ok but unremarkable dim sum) to the much better dim sum place across the road from the Saigon Zoo (the name escapes me). And then there’s Shang Palace! It definitely trumps them all – a chic, contemporary Chinese style space with a menu to die for.

Favourite dim sum dishes – chicken and taro balls, barbecue pork buns, prawn dumplings, Shanghai style crab dumplings (soup-style dumplings with vinegar dipping sauce), and the rice rolls with sea scallops, prawns or barbecue pork. Most of the dim sum are from US$2-3 a basket, a price belying the surrounds and service. I love, love, love this place!

Shang Palace, 17-19 Ly Tu Trong (@ Norfolk Mansions), District 1, Saigon, T: +84 8 3823 2221


{UPDATE} Thanks readers Kim and Jenny for reminding me the dim sum place near the zoo is called Ocean Palace, @ 2 Le Duan, D1

If you like your cafe sua da served up with a dash of colonial-era grandeur, AQ Coffee is the perfect place. A restored villa complete with high ceilings and requisite patterned tiles offers a charming alternative to Saigon’s newer mega-cafes with their floor-to-ceiling glass and vinyl lounge chairs.

Outside is a cool, curved bamboo structure emitting a cooling mist, while indoors and upstairs is the best place to relax and escape the relentless traffic noise. My only gripe? The olive coloured interior is a little grim – a coat of bright white paint would much better suit the surrounds!

Go for: a strong, smooth and sweet cafe sua da (iced coffee with milk) served with a cute ice box and tongs
Not for: sandwiches, brownies, that kind of thing – this is a young, trendy local haunt with a Vietnamese food menu to match

AQ Coffee, 32 Pham Ngoc Thach, District 3, Saigon

Vying for the title of my favourite Luang Prabang cafe with Le Banneton is the gorgeous Joma – lone frontier of air-conditioned comfort and stockist of a ridiculously good array of baked goods. Here, we scoffed everything from pizza to oatmeal cookies to sweet and savoury scones (some using locally grown mulberries), washed down with iced coffees and lime and mint drinks. Fortunately for Vietnam dwellers, Joma has ventured across the border and opened up shop in Hanoi, and Saigon is apparently next!

Go for: heat relief and sweet treats – particularly snowball biscuits, if you’re missing them from Phnom Penh’s The Shop (like I am!)
Not for: a peaceful refuge – this place is justifiably packed

Joma Bakery Cafe, Chao Fa Ngum Rd (main street), near Post Office (also in Vientiane and Hanoi)

Favourite meal in Luang Prabang? By a landslide, a Lao lunch at Tamarind – an unassuming looking restaurant, cooking school and purveyor of Lao ingredients run by an Australian/Lao couple. The emphasis here is on authentic Lao food prepared with the freshest local produce, minus the more Thai-centric coconut and curry dishes that are sometimes mistaken for being Lao (read more on Lao cuisine here).

We tried:

– The Lao dipping platter with khai pene in lieu of bread or chips – the dips provided a kaleidoscope of colour and Lao flavour, and included smoky eggplant, a hot chilli paste mixed with buffalo skin, a fresh tomato salsa and a coriander/garlic blend

– Stuffed lemongrass (oua si khai) – lemongrass stalks slitted and stuffed with a mixture of chicken, kaffir lime and coriander, then roasted, served with obligatory sticky rice

– Bamboo shoot soup (gaeng nor mai) – young bamboo shoots and a mountain of local vegetables in a rich, hearty, earthy, green soup (vitamin overload!)

– A namesake tamarind juice and a ginger/lemongrass juice – perfect antidotes to the heat and some of my all time favourite flavours

Every sip, bite and taste was amazing, with the fragrant chicken in lemongrass the overall winner. Am already regretting there wasn’t enough time to sample more of the menu or take a cooking class. Note to the travel gods: there’d better be a next time!

P.S. Total bill – in case you’re wondering – 109,000 Lao kip, just over US$13!

Tamarind, opp. Wat Nong, Luang Prabang, Laos

When you go back to one cafe five times during a three day stay, you know it must be doing something right! In Le Banneton’s case, it’s a combination of their fresh, flaky French pastries and a calm setting facing a large standing gold Buddha statue in leafy temple grounds. The cafe can be found down the chic, boutique end of Sisavangvong Road towards the end of the peninsula, so it never seems too busy. Spot on service from the lovely Lao staff, a dark wood interior, antique collectables dotted around and copies of the New Yorker and Conde Nast Traveller to read complete the crushworthy picture.

Go for: chocolate croissants, quiche and lemon tart, sweet Lao service, totally chilling out
Not for: hmmm…crowds? It’s tough to think of a ‘not for’ this time – Le Banneton has the perfect cafe experience pretty much nailed!

Le Banneton, opp. Wat Sop, Sisavangvong Rd., Luang Prabang, Laos (there’s also a branch in Vientiane)