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F

ive words to put a smile

on your face: waffle-coated

fried ice-cream. Chef Jerry

Mai’s ode to the once-

ubiquitous Aussie-Chinese dessert

at her new city diner, Annam, is

as good as it sounds. Better, even.

The ice-cream is flavoured with

coconut cream, the waffle crumb

salty-sweet and satisfying in its

crunch. Salted caramel sauce is

poured over the top. It’s good

times in a bowl – and that’s the

way Annam rolls.

Annam’s menu reflects Mai’s

Vietnamese heritage, but, unlike

her two pho and banh mi Pho

Nom outlets, more influences are

at play here. Vietnamese and

Cambodian dishes she ate growing

up are touchstones, but Mai has

cooked with David Thompson

and worked at Zuma, so Thai and

Japanese influences get a run, too.

Add a fondness for some of China’s

greatest hits – dumplings, hotpot,

fried rice – great Aussie ingredients,

martial arts flicks from the ’60s

and ’70s, gluggable fruit-forward

cocktails and a semi-private room

equipped with black walls and a

mirror ball, and you get a pan-Asian

mash-up ready to party.

Annam is not about stealth

chilli assaults or challenging

ingredients. Comfort is key here.

But she knows when to chuck

in a surprise burst of flavour, a

good-looking cheffy flourish or

a whack of smoke from the wood

grill to ensure it’s a poised sort

Above: co-owner

Rani Doyle (left)

and chef-owner

Jerry Mai. Top:

Chiang Mai pork

sausage with

pickled chillies

and cabbage.

of comfort. More linen and

loafers than trainers and trackies,

if you will.

Cuttlefish is fried in a rice

flour and Sichuan-pepper batter

blackened with squid ink. It’s firm,

sweet, juicy – the batter salty and

crunchy. The pepper’s numbing

quality and the heat from the finely

chopped chilli garnish tussle gently.

The Chiang Mai sausage,

raucous with galangal and turmeric,

comes with sheets of cabbage for

wrapping, salted pineapple and

essential green scud chillies.

It’s not to be missed.

Then there’s northern

Vietnamese pork hock curry,

The combination of party vibe and precise cooking

makes Melbourne’s latest pan-Asian eatery stand

out from the crowd, writesMICHAEL HARDEN.

Annam

the meat carrying smoke from the

grill, and made sour with the

fermented rice it’s braised with

for a couple of hours. Fresh herbs

add a layer of refreshment over a

rich backbeat of galangal, turmeric

and garlic. Young coconut jelly and

coconut sorbet with coconut meat,

grilled corn, salted peanuts and

lime leaves, meanwhile, combine

in a dessert to impressively

refreshing effect.

Annam occupies the space

that housed Melbourne Japanese

pioneer, Kuni’s, for decades.

The décor takes the familiar

Melbourne-industrial template of

exposed utilities, concrete floors➤

Enter

PHOTOGRAPHY SARAH ANDERSON

GOURMET TRAVELLER 57

Melbourne review