Australian Gourmet Traveller - (04)April 2020 (1)

18 GOURMET TRAVELLER

New direction

International high-speed railway service Eurostar

is set to launch a direct service from Amsterdam

to London from 30 April. The seamless connection

offers a more sustainable travel option between

the Netherlands and London, resulting in 80 per

cent less carbon emissions per passenger than

the equivalent flight route. Previously, the train only

went outbound from the UK, but will now offer a

direct return journey both ways, giving customers

another incentive to consider switching from planes

to trains for internal European travel. eurostar.com

ON THE PASS

with JERRY MAI, PHO NOM

You grew up in Brisbane with families who were refugees. What do

you remember eating? When we first arrived, we had our first taste

of Western food. It was really interesting to see all these newly landed

Vietnamese people eating cheese-and-Vegemite sandwiches for lunch

and roasts and lasagne for dinner. It was so different to what I knew.

Your mother would cook pho for family and friends. Has her recipe

influenced what you serve at Pho Nom? Absolutely! My mum’s cooking

inspired me to open my first Pho Nom. Her specialty is Hu Tieu Nam

Vang (a rice-noodle dish in a clear chicken and pork-bone broth) – we

serve it at Pho Nom, and I always strive to make mine as good as hers.

Are your parents tough judges when it comes to your cooking?

Or are they just happy to be fed? My parents still don’t think I can

cook. When I’m at their house and helping them in the kitchen, I

am always relegated to herb-picking and setting the table. When

they do allow me to cook for them, I will only cook Western food,

because I know they can’t critique it from a place of much authority.

Tell us about a dish from your Annam restaurant. We do a braised

pork-hock dish at Annam, which is an interpretation of one of my

mum’s recipes. Every time she makes it, I’m reminded of when I was

doing the 40 Hour Famine as a kid. Just as I started my 40 hours of

fasting, mum cooked up a massive pot. She’d completely forgotten

I was fasting. It was a challenge, to say the least, to live in a house

that smelled like amazing pork stew. But the worst part was that

my whole family polished off the pot before I could get any!

Your son inspired you to reduce plastic at your restaurants. Has he

influenced your businesses in other ways? I’ve definitely looked at our

menus differently since having my son. We do a few more kid-friendly

dishes (ie adding sweet potato), but not too much. My goal is not to

bend the menu to my son’s tastes, but rather to open his mind to all the

amazing food out there. I think parents should be doing this for all our

kids where we can. Annam, 56 Little Bourke St, Melbourne, Vic, annam.

com.au; Pho Nom has three Melbourne locations, phonom.com.au

The Strøm water jug by Danish brand Raawii is

inspired by the strong graphic shapes of cubist

paintings. Add this geometric design to your

family’s dining table. $199, gingerfinch.com.au

“There was always this Sri Lankan thing

I wanted to do, and it was partly because

I wanted to eat hoppers and no one would

cook me hoppers,” says O Tama Carey of

Sydney’s Lankan Filling Station. A day in the

kitchen with Carey is a day spent with spices,

crêpe batters and onions. So many onions.

Watch the behind-the-scenes video on

our Instagram IGTV @gourmettraveller

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