Australian restaurants, sydney cafes, aussie food in other countries

Forums: Food, Australia, Restaurants, Aussie Food
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I enjoy reading that a popular restaurant in Sydney is opening this next week in Santa Monica, California. That is part of a general Los Angeles area where I've spent a long and quite happy part of my life. This particular restaurant, Bondy Harvest, sounds like it will fit in very well there. Their menu sounds great to me. I know nada about Australian food but it sounds like there are a lot of similarities, at least at Bondy, to some California food. Looking at the article, I see the restaurant is located something like a dozen blocks from my aunt's old house. Brings back memories.

Here's the link - the description of the menu is worth a look for people who like to cook.
http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/the-aussie-food-invasion-continues-with-bondi-harvest-a-beachy-caf-in-santa-monica-6869037

So now I'm wondering about Aussie restaurant and homemade food both in Australia and in other countries. I figure food varies in Australia from place to place, like the rest of the world, and I know just about nothing about aboriginal cooking, or the food places there started by emigres from other countries. I do remember that some a2k aussies like vietnamese and other asian food.. a lot. Me too.

There are likely books on all this - recommendations please! Probably there are a2k threads that have discussed this somewhat.

If you know of Aussie restaurants in other places a2kers live, whatever continent, that would be interesting.

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There's not really a particular Australian food, I don't think - unless you're talking about kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs and the like.

Oz is such a diverse country - and has taken influences from everywhere. Mod Oz food, at my favourite restaurant, Sean's Panaroma, has menu items influenced by just about everyone, and often features food from Sean's farm.
https://seanspanaroma.co/seans-panaroma-3/

There's a couple of differences between Australian restaurants and US restaurants, from my very limited US experience.

Serves are smaller - plates are not filled to overflowing. A normal person can finish a meal - and not be knocked over by the calorie count.

There's usually an emphasis on fresh, local or sustainably sourced ingredients.

And the biggie for me - we pay our waitstaff - they're not reduced to almost begging - so tipping is not compulsory. And taxes are included in the menu price. So - the price on the menu is what it costs. Americans often complain about the expense of eating in Oz - but, as you don't need to consider a further 20-25% for taxes and tips, costs are really much the same. Tipping is the great bugbear of Australians in the US and Canada.

And for the Canadians - absolutely no restaurant I've found in Australia, so far - has poutine on the menu!

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I forgot Vegemite - the quintessential Aussie food - but I did see it on a breakfast buffet at my hotel in Banff.

But then, Australians are almost the largest group of tourists in Canada. One guide told me that, without Australians, most of them wouldn't have jobs. And I found that Australians were everywhere, including the girl who sold me the poutine at the top of the Skytram in Jasper, and the lift operator who got me there.

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I know virtually nothing in this category. Never even ate at Outback. My tastes never evolved much beyond the Okie fare of my childhood.

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@edgarblythe,

Okie fare - that could be a thread too. As you well know, many moved, some landing in California. There is this book.. something about grapes.
To add, for anyone reading not familiar with it, many of us american readers cherish John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath.

I think I've been to Outback twice, overcooking comes to mind, needing a saw. Not to be completely mean, the people I went with liked their choices, if I remember.

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@ossobuco,

Outback is some sort of American chain, supposedly representing Australia, but the food served, from what I've read (never been there), resembles nothing from here.

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@margo,

On the matter of fresh and local, California is pretty good at that (not always), but it's harder to grow and obtain fresh and local in sandy dry New Mexico. But that is part of why I think that Bondy Harvest place, or similar, will thrive in California.

Off to read Sean's website..

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@margo,

I didn't know that outback was to reflect on Australia, but now that you mention it, makes sense, I'd just forgotten the word was about Australia. (Duh!)

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@margo,

Wedges.

I loved your wedges, as at that time very few Restaurants in my area of London did them.

Apart from that, I found it (Perth) pretty much Italian style food, but there were many other countries represented, especially Asian.
Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese etc.

Oh, and seafood to die for.

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@Lordyaswas,

I had to look up wedges and found a lot of odd shoes, but then, but then, I found this recipe from Ina Garten:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/baked-potato-wedges-recipe.html

Does that fit with your memory?

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@ossobuco,

Yep.

I first scoffed a bowl of wedges whilst listening to a bush band in the rear garden of a large pub on the outskirts of Perth.

I had shorts on at the time and forgot that the sun tracked from right to left in Oz, and consequently thought that my left leg would remain in shade, but ended up burning it.

Typical Brit.

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

I know virtually nothing in this category. Never even ate at Outback. My tastes never evolved much beyond the Okie fare of my childhood.

The Outback has nothing to do with Australian food!

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Steak and eggs . .. is that Ozzie cuisine?

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Ozzie-ish!

Can perhaps be found in other countries???

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@ossobuco,

That Ina Garten recipe looks a bit anaemic! They're basically chunkier chips, usually with skin on, dipped in seasoned flour and fried.

All good healthy stuff Shocked

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Actually, my only concern would be whether or not they included fried potatoes on my plate.

As for shrimp on the barbie--either you barbeques are really, really tiny, or your shrimp are not shrimp at all, but giganto behemoths.

Now this guy has a shrimp like that . . .

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/43/ea/a0/43eaa0459033a7572b96ec1d5121d35e.jpg

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@Lordyaswas,

C'mon Lordy

You need to get to Sydney! Check up that we haven't totally perverted the offspring!

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@PennyAroundTheWorld,

That's not a shrimp - it's a bloody huge prawn!

And, yes - it would fit on my barbie!

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@margo,

Thanks, that's the kind of correction I'm after.. in my recipe soul. Or sole.

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@ossobuco,

Wedges go exceptionally well with beer - and sitting in a beer garden listening to music on a sunny Sunday!

although I guess you could roast the wedges....

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Australian restaurants, sydney cafes, aussie food in other countries

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