+ PREVIEW EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE TIM HO WAN TIM HO WAN DOWN UNDER chilli fried rice, fried rice, chilli SAMBAL, PRAWN hot & spicy favourites, & spicy hot FRESH, FUN FLAVOURS

LAVENDER AND LEMON RICE PUDDING RICE LEMON AND LAVENDER TACOS, PORK BULGOGI Sichuan chickenSichuan noodle salad,

wild watermelon, sultry salads & (nearly) instant desserts instant salads & (nearly) sultry wild watermelon, Super-speedy recipes:

GRACE & & GRACE GLAMOUR THE LANGHAM SYDNEY REVEALED UN-HAMPTONS UN-HAMPTONS TOWN RESORT MAGICAL MAGICAL MONTAUK NEW YORK’S Fast & fabulous Fast Watermelon and radish Watermelon salad with goat’s curd

AUSTRALIAN GOURMET TRAVELLER FEBRUARY 2015 Fast summer lunching Spicy Asian Watermelon Montauk Mekong cruising GOURMETTRAVELLER.COM.AU EDITOR’S LETTER

How did that happen? It seems like only yesterday WHAT WE’RE we were looking forward to the summer break EATING and days filled with backyard bocce and burgers by the beach. Now that’s all but a distant memory. I spent most of mine raiding Mum and Dad’s vegetable garden and OUR FAVOURITE cooking, a pastime made all the more pleasurable with the luxury of time – time to PLATES OF THE MONTH plot and plan, time to potter about the kitchen and, of course, time to linger over a meal. Now that we’re fully immersed in the hustle and bustle of working weeks time is short, so we’re switched to food ideas that are as fast as they are fabulous. SABAZUSHI The landlocked old capital of Japan Knowing that you’re coming home to banana-blossom salad with pineapple-chilli has its own style of sushi, and this dressing (page 107), prawn sambal (page 104) or sticky pork skewers with nashi mackerel nigiri, the fish lightly pickled under translucent konbu, slaw (page 43) will make your work days seem a little brighter. pressed onto rice and sliced, is the For those of us still in holiday mode or maybe planning the next one, we most classic example. Try it over present three fabulous getaway options: a boutique cruise on the Vietnam and lunch at this kappo eatery between courses of, say, salt-grilled yellowtail Cambodian Mekong (page 144); New York beach escape Montauk (page 130); with dried yuzu-miso and briny and the glamorous new Langham, Sydney, which has just received a $30-million Kobe sea urchin. Nakaichi, 570-196 Gionmachi-Minamigawa, facelift (page 138). Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, I spent more than my fair share of the Christmas holidays at the Gourmet +81 75 531 2778 PAT NOURSE Traveller pop-up restaurant in Victoria’s Red Hill. I’d like to say a huge thanks to CHAR-GRILLED OCTOPUS Set atop creamy aïoli, these tender Brigitte Hafner and James Broadway and their team for making the Gertrude tentacles have just the right amount Street Enoteca at Avani Winery a smashing success for the second consecutive of char to boost the umami quotient. A vibrant lemon and herb dressing year and a big round of applause to our sponsors, Cobram Estate and Infiniti Cars, adds freshness – perfect with an icy for making the experience possible. cold ale. Social Eating House + Bar, shop 137-138, 3 Oracle Bvd, Broadbeach, Qld, (07) 5504 5210 Happy February, FIONA DONNELLY PRAWN ROLL Happy days. Margaret River’s favourite BYO beach café is open for another season. Between now and April, you’ll come for the unbeatable views of Gnarabup beach and stay Anthea Loucas to lunch on the likes of this breezy parcel of sea-fresh prawns, crunchy lettuce and Kewpie mayonnaise in ON THE COVER Watermelon and radish salad with goat’s curd a pillowy milk bun. White Elephant, (page 116). Recipe Lisa Featherby Photography Ben Dearnley Gnarabup Rd, Gnarabup, WA,

Styling Emma Knowles Merchandising Jerrie-Joy Redman-Lloyd (08) 9757 1990 MAX VEENHUYZEN STUDIO. THE FORTYNINE DISH FROM ENTI. SALT STUDIO FROM PLATTER TAPLIN NAOMI COVER: P175. STOCKISTS OWN. STYLIST’S PROPS ALL OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

AMY CHANTA CHRISTINE NIKKI FENIX Amy Chanta is the chef MANFIELD Australian native Nikki and owner of Sydney’s One of Australia’s most Fenix made the transition acclaimed Chat Thai celebrated chefs, from fashion editor to family of restaurants. Christine Manfield photographer six years Since founding the first parlayed her curiosity in ago, opting to view Chat Thai outpost in the kitchen into acclaim the world through a Haymarket 25 years ago, at Sydney’s Universal and discerning lens rather she’s gone on to open London’s East@West. She than the latest cool another six restaurants continues to celebrate shades. For this issue across the city – the latest food through her books she trekked across the being Assámm. She gives a masterclass on the and by hosting food-focused tours of the likes of country from her home in Portland, Oregon, to classic on page 48. “It’s Spain and Bhutan. On page 160 she shares her Long Island, New York, to capture the summer served everywhere,” she says, “by the roadside, favourite finds from one of her favourite cities, getaway of Montauk on page 130. “The natural markets, festivals, restaurants, and, of course, Mumbai. “It’s one of the most sensuous and beauty, relaxed locals and intoxicating beaches every home cook claims to have the best recipe.” tantalising cities in the world,” says Manfield. reminded me of home,” she says.

18 GOURMETTRAVELLER.COM.AU HOLIDAY IN A young girl in the floating village of Chnok Tru on the banks of the Tonle Sap River. Opposite: Phnom Penh. MIGHTYmekong A small luxury riverboat expedition follows this most famous of waterways from the Mekong Delta to extraodinary Wat. Rob Ingram tests the waters, flavours and sights along the way.

PHOTOGRAPHY SHARYN CAIRNS Operated by Aqua Expeditions, the Aqua Mekong operation is the brainchild of founder and CEO Francesco Galli Zugaro. He began his association with small, luxury expedition ships in the Galápagos Islands, then created Aqua Expeditions to share the grandeur and importance of the Amazon River with a clientele of sophisticated adventure-seekers. Zugaro rather wonderfully labels his product “nine-to-five adventure” – daytime excursions exploring fascinating cultures, religions, traditions and ecosystems, and returning to the luxury, service and style expected of a five-star hotel. There’s a distinct Indochine aesthetic at work on the boat which was designed by Ho Chi Minh City-based architecture and interiors studio Noor Design. Local natural materials such as the timbers and artisan woven fibres are both sustainable and stylish, and exotic displays of fresh tropical flora throughout the beauty and complexity of the river’s ecology. The Mekong wasn’t an obvious choice as Zugaro’s second river. With two boats operating on the Peruvian stretch of the Amazon, he travelled through Africa, India and China looking for a new river adventure before discovering the appeal and interest of the Mekong as it flows through Vietnam It’s years since I’ve given much thought to and Cambodia. Rudyard Kipling. And then it was only about his “Then it all fell into place,” he says. “A major name. Is it an anagram? Is a Kipling a small nap attraction on our Amazon cruises is a visit to Machu Iin the afternoon? Is a Rudyard a scrapyard for Picchu, one of the world’s most impressive man-made wonders. On the Mekong, we have and former Australian prime ministers? its surrounding monuments and temples – two of But here I am suddenly trying to recall the words to the world’s most incredible archaeological sites. How Kipling’s poem “Mandalay”. I can manage: “On the road could we resist?” to Mandalay / Where the flyin’ fishes play / An’ the For this reason, I’d recommend the upriver cruises, dawn comes up like thunder outer China ’crost the bay!” with the spectacle of Angkor ruins maintaining the Then there’s something about the spicy garlic sense of anticipation. Our seven-night cruise begins in smells, and the sunshine and the palm trees and the Ho Chi Minh City with a transfer to My Tho, a port an tinkling temple bells. hour away in the Mekong Delta, from where the cruise Okay, being on the road to Mandalay, Kipling departs. Ho Chi Minh City is actually on the Saigon was almost certainly chuggin’ up the Irrawaddy, River and while Ho Chi Minh City is the politically while I’m cruising serenely up the Mekong. But the correct name insisted upon by the ruling Communist flying fishes and the dramatic dawn, and the spicy Party of Vietnam, locals invariably still call it Saigon garlic smells, and the tinkling temple bells are all and its international airport code is SGN. here – and so is the same romance and the same Before choosing the Mekong as his second river, PASSAGE TO sense of adventure. Zugaro had to satisfy himself that Ho Chi Minh City ANGKOR The Mekong has been known as the River of Nine and , in Cambodia – the embarkation and Above: the Aqua Dragons, but today it’s the river of a million watercraft: disembarkation points – offered the sort of upmarket Mekong. Opposite, canoes, sampans, bamboo rafts, fishing boats, work facilities required by his target market. clockwise from top left: a water taxi takes boats, ferries, barges, dredgers and tankers. Boats Ho Chi Minh’s Hotel InterContinental Asiana children to school in carrying kids to school, pigs to market and rice to the Saigon, Park Hyatt Saigon and the Caravelle are all Chnok Tru floating world. And the never-ending procession of clumps of genuine five-star properties and each radiates a village; Aqua Mekong water hyacinth hurrying downstream like pilgrims on distinctive character. The InterContinental is in tune staff; monks in Phnom a journey to a coastal holy place. with the pulse of modern Vietnam; the Park Hyatt Penh; cucumber, prawn and shallot salad, But to date it has never seen anything like our captures the essence of modern Vietnam; and the chicken curry, crab, vessel – the cutting-edge-design Aqua Mekong Caravelle echoes a time and place when the world’s and minced pork carrying a maximum of 40 passengers in conspicuous attention was focused on Vietnam. For the famous with pineapple on style and sophistication on three-, four- and seven-day correspondents who covered the Vietnam War – the the Aqua Mekong. upriver and downriver cruises along the Vietnam and Vietnamese still call it the American War – the Cambodian Mekong. Caravelle was base camp. Stop by their famous>

146 GOURMETTRAVELLER.COM.AU 147 watering hole, the Saigon Saigon Bar, and raise a glass The boat features such thoughtful additions FIELD DAYS Villagers travel along to their commitment – perhaps a Journalist’s Juice, as two spa treatment rooms, a screening room with the Mekong. Opposite: which is a befuddlement of whisky, amaretto, theatre-style seating, and indoor dining room with Kâmpóng Chhnăng pineapple juice, lime juice and anise syrup and was the option of outdoor private dining, a library-games rice paddies. probably the cause of many typographical errors. room, a plunge pool with private cabanas, and a Ho Chi Minh City today is home to a youthful fitness centre. population of nine million people who all finish work But, listen up food lovers, with the greatest respect at the same time and all ride motorbikes, six abreast to the fascinating cultures, religions and ecosystems, and not necessarily in the same direction. But despite most passengers disembark talking about the food. the chaos in Vietnam’s biggest city, Vietnam itself When Francesco Galli Zugaro first pondered the food remains a rural society. Stressed residents’ memories element of his Aqua Mekong experience, the clouds are of home and the rhythm of work in the paddy parted and a blinding ray of light illuminated an image fields, of a life of harmony achieved through a strong of Thai and Indochina food guru David Thompson. relationship with nature. Following the acclaim of his Darley Street Thai and Along the Mekong, the river becomes their identity. Sailors Thai restaurants in Sydney, Thompson’s Nahm Life here becomes a rhythm of tides and seasons. An restaurant in London became the first Thai restaurant ancient culture is superimposed on the most modern ever to gain a Michelin star. His Nahm restaurant in of backdrops. As we dock in Phnom Penh, a vibrant was recently named Asia’s best, and his new city whose growth is fuelled by a decade of strong Long Chim restaurant at ’s Marina Bay economic growth, I spot an elderly man at the water’s Sands complex is creating high excitement there. edge casting a traditional circular fishing net used by Thompson has created the menus for the Aqua the river people for centuries. He is silhouetted against Mekong dining room and a chef from within his a huge electronic KFC billboard as luxury European organisation is in the kitchen at all times. They say you cars and the inevitable swarm of motorcycles roar should be careful of what you wish for, but wish for past above him. Bangkok-based West Australian Annita Potter in the When our cruise departs we settle into generous, kitchen and former Tetsuya’s sommelier Greg Plowes airy cabins each with floor-to-ceiling windows opening managing the dining room – cool professionalism on onto expansive river views, some with balconies, some cruise control. without. Beds rated Californian King – and able Dishes served at lunch and dinner alone would to host a modest-sized swingers’ party – plus a chic probably cost hundreds a day if presented at Nahm twin-vanity bathroom reinforce the luxury image. Bangkok, and for Aqua Mekong team Thompson>

Residents’ memories are of home and the rhythm of work in the paddy fields, of a life of harmony achieved through a strong relationship with nature.

149 sources ingredients from Mekong River markets and hallowed Angkor Wat being ranked “living heritage” CRUISE regional producers – items such as Mekong prawns and because it remains a place of worship. Excursions to CONTROL Clockwise from below catfish, crab, duck, the famous Kampot pepper, jackfruit, villages still coming to grips with European visitors left: grilled eggplant longan, betel leaves and banana blossom. and to private homes show that, as with their spiritual with prawns (front) and The food captures the essence of the place and the beliefs, the Vietnamese and Cambodians have sour orange curry with whole Aqua Mekong experience. It’s exotic, fragrant, maintained their traditions in architecture and lifestyle. snakehead fish on Aqua Mekong; the bar-lounge surprising and adventurous. Taste, texture and Open courtyards allow the spirits to circulate, and on board; Francesco seasoning each provide highlights and, as always, luxuriant gardens remain ungroomed respecting what Galli Zugaro, founder Thompson pulls off the rare trick of using robust nature has endowed them with. And each evening, and CEO of Aqua ingredients to create subtle elegance. And there’s no there’s the Kipling-esque sense of romance as the Expeditions; the deck doubting the authenticity. Thompson and Plowes were setting sun turns the Mekong the colour of pewter and plunge pool. in an obscure Ho Chi Minh City marketplace one day the riverbank trees stand out against pink-tinged when they encountered an elderly woman cooking a storm clouds. rice porridge for the market workers. You get to try it We visit villages dedicated to silk-weaving, for breakfast – rice porridge with pork and chilli – and silversmithing, mat-making and pottery and we sit rolled oats will never taste as good again. For the less with the venerable Mahayana Buddhist monks of Long adventurous, there’s a Continental breakfast buffet and Son Tu Temple and those at the floating monastery at regular Mediterranean food options at lunch and dinner. Moat Khla, and we try to understand their lifestyle and But the first-hand insight into life along the they try to understand ours. And away from the busy, Mekong is – and should be – the indelible experience. muddy highway of the Mekong’s floating traffic there’s Four high-speed tenders allow passengers to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the sunken forests and the> excursions ashore or to visit floating villages two or three times a day. Guided walking and cycling tours are offered at most stops, and the ship’s shallow draft and its fleet of tenders gives it an advantage over other river cruisers which need to dock. Countless temples and monasteries maintain an important link to the divine and to ancestors, even the

Excursions to villages and homes show that the Vietnamese and Cambodians have maintained their traditions in architecture and lifestyle.

LIFE AQUATIC Clockwise from above: the floating village of Chnok Tru; monks in Koh Chen; a floating petrol station in Chnok Tru; fresh local market produce in a Vietnamese village.

150 GOURMETTRAVELLER.COM.AU 151 operates three daily flights More information, call + 855 6321 1234, siemreap. Siem Reap, + 855 6376 between Ho Chi Minh City 1800 243 152 or visit park.hyatt.com 7997, chanreytree.com and Phnom Penh. More aquaexpeditions.com THE FINE information and bookings: EAT DRINK vietnamairlines.com STAY Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City PRINT Aqua Mekong Ho Chi Minh City Pho Hoa. In a city The Saigon Saigon Bar, Aqua Expeditions operates InterContinental Asiana overflowing with great Caravelle Hotel, maintains a three-, four- and seven- Saigon is a slick high-end food not only in hotels, colonial ambience and still GETTING THERE night upriver and property with every restaurants and markets echoes with the memories Vietnam Airlines has downriver cruises between comfort and convenience but on sidewalks, Pho of its wartime activity. 19-23 direct daily flights from Ho Chi Minh City in while capturing the vibe Hoa is the undisputed Lam Son Square, Ho Chi Sydney and Melbourne to Vietnam and Siem Reap of modern central Saigon. champion of authentic pho Minh City, + 84 8 3823 4999, Ho Chi Minh City and vice in Cambodia. Cruises are Cnr Hai Ba Trung St and - the renowned staple of caravellehotel.com versa. The largest carrier priced from around $4,100 Le Duan Blvd, Ho Chi Minh Vietnamese cuisine. Siem Reap in Indochina, Vietnam per person twin share for City, + 84 8 3520 9999, 260C Pasteur St, District 3, The Living Room, Park Airlines also operates five three nights and include intercontinental.com Ho Chi Minh City, Hyatt Siem Reap, is a chic daily flights between Ho suite accommodation, all Siem Reap + 84 8 3829 7943 bar-lounge bordered by Chi Minh City and Siem meals, drinks (house wine, Park Hyatt Siem Reap Siem Reap two colonnades and Reap to offer seamless beer and soft-drinks), radiates a relaxed Chanrey Tree. The best with an intimate club connections to Aqua WiFi, transfers to and from residential ambience by of both worlds, Chanrey ambience. The curry Mekong. Should you be vessel and meeting points fusing contemporary luxury Tree is a cool, chic space cocktail is a must. Sivutha joining or disembarking in Ho Chi Minh City and with the charm of authentic remaining true to the Blvd, Siem Reap, 22,000-hectare Prek Toal Core bird sanctuary on Aqua Mekong in Phnom Siem Reap, and entrance Cambodian hospitality. traditions of Khmer + 855 6321 1234, to itinerary attractions. Sivutha Blvd, Siem Reap, cuisine. Pokombo Ave, siemreap.park.hyatt.com Tonlé Sap Lake. Penh, Vietnam Airlines The , centred on Angkor at its peak, was once one of the most powerful in South East Asia and Cambodians have always regarded the Mekong as the Silk Road on water. Today, Cambodia still poses something of a paradox. Few nations ever managed to express mankind’s creativity with such beauty in their art and architecture, but suffered such brutality and inhumanity as the Cambodians did at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime. Today’s capital Phnom Penh has as much charm as the Cambodian people themselves. It gives the impression of still growing into the role of a political, commercial and economic centre . Take away the chaos of peak-hour traffic and it’s more big village than hectic metropolis. On its pretty tree-lined boulevards, people stroll and chat and enjoy the sidewalk society The Khmer Empire of the 9th to 14th centuries inherited from its days as an exotic outpost of the encompassed much of South East Asia, and the French Colonial Empire. It remains a bistro and Angkor complex embraces scores of temples and boutique sort of town with French colonial villas and palaces and a fascinating infrastructure of canals, Art Deco architecture dotted among its important moats and roads that remain the rich heritage of a modern buildings. But most of all in a country that powerful civilisation. Temples such as Angkor Wat, can never forget its horrific past, it’s youthful, energetic , the Bayon, Preah Khan and Ta Prohm CULTURE and optimistic as its resilient population picks up the are exemplars of Khmer architecture and imbued with COMPLEX pieces and reassembles their society, culture and lives. symbolic cultural, religious and social values. Clockwise from top: Cambodian government has been as rocky as a There is a popular myth that French naturalist Koh Oknha Tey island sampan in the cross-currents of the mighty Mekong Henri Mouhot stumbled upon the ruins of a civilisation is known for its silk weaving; market but now – much to the relief of the global community unknown to the Western world in the mid-19th century. produce in Phnom – it’s reasonably stable largely as a result of massive The current belief is that he merely popularised their Penh; The Aqua investment from China and Korea. existence in the West. But we’re all Henri Mouhot Mekong dining room; And so to our final destination, Siem Reap and the when we first set eyes on the famous temple of Angkor a Vietnamese market famous temples of the Angkor region. A city of less Wat. The awe and wonderment of first seeing it evokes seller; children play on Koh Oknha Tey island. than a million people, Siem Reap attracts more than the jaw-dropping sense of being the first to ever do so. Opposite: the Royal two million tourists each year drawn by one of the There’s a whole lot more Mekong beyond Siem Palace in Phnom Penh, world’s most important archaeological sites. Most Reap, of course – it reaches all the way to China’s the residence of the visitors are staggered by the sheer size of the World Tibetan Plateau. But where better to stop than Angkor king of Cambodia. Heritage-listed archaeological park, which extends where the heightened sense of emotion makes you over 400 square kilometres. pause to recollect the journey that brought you here. #

152 GOURMETTRAVELLER.COM.AU 153 FEBRUARY 2015 travel A feast for the soul and senses awaits – from luxury Down Under to marvellous Montauk and adventure in Asia. The unhamptons At the tip of Long Island is Montauk, a fishing village where rustic charm is balanced by splashes of urban glamour. Open to view Sydney’s Langham reopens after a lavish makeover to match its five-star harbour location. Mighty Mekong A small luxury riverboat follows this most famous of waterways from the Mekong Delta to extraordinary Angkor Wat. Top of the lake Deep in the wilds of Tasmania a magical PHOTOGRAPHER SHARYN CAIRNS SHARYN PHOTOGRAPHER transformation has taken place at the new Pumphouse Point hotel. Salaam Bombay Christine Manfield reveals her all-time favourite eats in the bustling, exhilarating streets of Mumbai.