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GOURMET TRAVELLER 29

News

What inspired your current menu at Mikirin?
Winna Zhang: We’ve been influenced by
our grandfather a lot. He’s from Shanghai.
Nina Zhang: I like to see him cook when
we have Chinese New Year or a family
gathering. He was always making prawn
crackers. I was always there to ask him
questions. Same with my mum. Sometimes
they’d think, what a questioning girl!
What style of food do you cook at Mikirin?
Nina: A lot of people try our food and say it’s
unique, and ask me the cuisine. I say it’s
Chinese, but with fusion flavours or other
Asian-specific cuisines. It’s still Chinese.
How does the Mikirin Sea Deluxe dish
reflect your cultural influences?
Nina: We have the influence of Thai with
the basil leaves. And with the togarashi
calamari, we make our own togarashi.
Ours is a little bit sour; we put a lemon-
pepper style mix in it.
Winna: For the crab, we fry and soak it in
a soy-karaage sauce so it tastes unique.

What surprises you about diners’ reactions?

Winna: They all finish. When we take the

bowl back, there’s only soup left. Everything

in the rubbish bin is really rubbish.

Your first restaurant was called Spicy Lips.

Can you handle a lot of chilli?

Nina: Actually, we can’t take spiciness.

But Western and Chinese spiciness is

diferent, so if we can take it, that means

Western palates can take it.

Winna: Western spice is quite plain. When

we worked in hotels, they used Tabasco

and chilli powders or black peppercorn.

They’re not complex. Our chilli pastes,

made from combined chillies and herbs,

are naturally fragrant. Even the chilli paste

you eat with rice is delicious.

Is it easy working with your sister?

Nina: We can even share the one pen.

That’s how close we are. We share

absolutely everything.

Mikirin, Shop 12, World Square, 123 Liverpool St,

Sydney, NSW, (02) 8592 2298, mikirin.com.au

Winna and Nina Zhang

MIKIRIN, SYDNEY

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Nina (left) and

Winna Zhang.