Green Peppercorn - Fairfield Hotel Sydney

The Tom Yum Kung, with a rich taste and good flavour.

Northern Thai and Laotian restaurants offer a cuisine which can be refreshingly different from Bangkok or southern Thai dishes.  There can be the conspicuous absence or less use of coconut milk and more emphasis on charcoal grilled meats.  What captivated me is also their rendition of deep fried battered ice cream, in this case at the Green Peppercorn, served with a garnish of coconut muesli, raisin and butterscotch sauce.  I reckon the batter they utilise is much better in texture and flavour than those from Singapore or Chinese restaurants. The Green Peppercorn in Fairfield opened in July 2012 - it is family run, can seat around 150 guests, has parking street side on  both sides of the hotel and avoids a capital city feel of congestion.

Chicken with dipping sauce and a rather outstanding bite below the skin

Green Peppercorn at the Fairfield Hotel is modern, brash and with a spacious outlook.  I love the bird cages hanging over one part of the dining room, albeit sans the singing birds.  Fairfield is a working class suburb with a huge IndoChinese and Arab demographic, but also thriving with dynamic small businesses that has a Council overlooking the nearby Cabramatta and Canley Heights areas.   The Fairfield Hotel is small and looks like they gave up the original Aussie pub space to this restaurant.  The Green Peppercorn does not accept reservation bookings unless you have larger number of diners in your group.  My group of four lunchers were served by a smiling Polynesian lady, although I could see the Thai boys and girls also working there.  At our neighbouring table, we had a most engaging infant of not more than 6 months old, Jerome, whose smiling manner and big eyes captivated everyone.  We had a causal chat with Jerome's parents and they had been to Georgetown Penang - they must be experienced travellers and the Mum mentioned char koay teow she sampled whilst they were in Penang!

Just before the crowds swarmed in for Saturday lunch!

The banana flower salad was unusual but I appreciated the cashew nuts mixed in the dish.  The deep fried snapper had a generous serving of yummy sliced mango salad accompanying the dish and this was good to eat.   My top choice for that that Saturday meal was the charcoal grilled belly pork cuts provided on a bed of wok stir fried kangkong - a wonderful  balance of both veg and meat on the same plate! The tom yam prawns stood out in flavourful intensity, although I found them a tad bit salty that day as well.  The charcoal grilled chicken was tender and moist under the skin, a most uneasy feat!   We noticed a table having glutinous rice steamed in traditional weave miniature baskets, exotic and eye catching.   We had steamed ordinary rice to accompany the dines of savoury and spicy tones.  We dropped out intentions over ordering the sausages - there are both different Northern Thai and Laotian ones - as we were already having a rather huge and diverse meal.

I loved the mango salad more than the fish.

The menu has many choices, ranging from standards like paw paw salads, marinated beef cuts, roast duck red curry, soft shell crab, stir fried noodles, Panang curries, fried rice variations and beef salads to rarer stuff like tom zap soup, cured pork, betel leaf (Miang Kum), charcoal barbecues ox tongue, raw salmon salads and marinated quails.  I already eyed the crab meat fried rice and the green chill and basil flavoured mussels for a future visit!  The Green Peppercorn is also keen on function gatherings and have banquet menus to cater for such occasions.  And for those who may wonder, yes there is connection between the Green Peppercorn and Holy Basil of Canley Heights - Tony!

What I highly recommend - charcoal grilled pork belly cuts sitting on a bed of kangkong veg.

The Green Peppercorn is located at the following places in greater Sydney:
Fairfield Hotel - south-west of Sydney CBD at No. 1 Hamilton Road, Fairfield

Civic Hotel - Sydney CBD at level One, 388 Pitt Street, Sydney City centre

Bookings are held for up to 20 minutes after stated reservation time.  Licensed and not BYO.


What impressed me - wide variety of menu, friendly service, dishes came out fast and ready change of plates.
What could be better - maybe too much salt in some dishes, or is it just me?
Tip - try to avoid popular rush hour, go for the exotic and anything charcoal grilled is a winner here.

Banana flower salad with deep fried chicken, cashew nuts and greens.

Classic Georgetown - The Tau Sar Peah

The mung bean biscuits, an iconic product of Penang.


The biscuits are baked, the fillings are ground flaky peeled mung bean and it may be an acquired taste.
Taste sensations vary according to different opinions, but they are best eaten freshly baked.  Small and bite sized, the
crispiness outside is followed by a softer texture when you get to the insides.  Best served with Chinese tea, they are snacks on the go or accompanied by easy conversation in the afternoon.

A typical container box designed cover of the biscuits.



Variations of this biscuit abound, but they generally utilise both an oily and water dough separately.  Interestingly, white pepper, vinegar and thinly sliced shallots are used and go into the mix with the beans.  The process can be challenging for home preparation, hence commercial production has taken over and dot many outlets across peninsular Malaysia - a trail left by Fujian immigration for  over two hundred years.  Oh, sometimes, I can find the mung bean insides can stick to my teeth after consuming them, but the sheer pleasure of eating them obligates any such thoughts!  These biscuits are carried all over the world by travellers to the diaspora.

All the bakery outlets have a common name (Heang or Hiang, which in the Fujian dialect means "aromatic".)




All photos in this post are created to Ms. Au Yong Kit Fong.

Discrimination, Disdain and Destruction

There is no forgiveness at the height of war.  Justifications, perceptions and higher purposes reign mighty on both sides of a conflict.  The fight between perceived evil and good - as echoed by the Lord of the Rings trilogy of novels - is as real as dignity, indignation and inner respect. Conflicts arise from opposing agendas.  I am amused when a community is willing to suffer economic and other deprivations, as the price of and with the intent of a bigger agenda and purpose, even when it emphasises exclusion, unforgiveness and no basic human values for some and not all.  Wartime can imply not just obvious physical acts of inhumane episodes involving arms, threats and fear, but also the slow eroding process of unsettling and de-recognising specific groups of people.   Which is harder or easier, to break down the inner resolve of a targeted community that is not liked or to bombard them with injury or death?

Blatant discrimination has occurred throughout much of modern human history, but in the progress of human enlightenment, much has been done to erase that for the future. Backward societies still exist, however, in encouraging the singling out of groups by race or religion to lay blame for perceived and real socio-economic problems.  In such reality, such discriminated groups are criticised and alienated openly for being different from the mainstream or from those who hold political power. This occurred in Nazi-controlled Germany, where facts were distorted, ghettos arose and violent mistreatment ensued.  At times the human condition can be overly optimistic, but cruelty can come fast, like a thief in the night.  It took around a dozen years only from the obvious discrimination of Jews and other so-called non-Aryan peoples to the gas death camps in the middle of the last century.  A generation of friends of various backgrounds in that era in Europe who grew up together were forced to separate and disengage due to the politics and sheer barbarism of a few in power.

When such discrimination is official, the dangers of living in such societies move on to a heightened level of risk.  Societies, communities and nations that at least make a show of officially outlawing discrimination in all shapes and forms provide a stark contrast to those that do not.  Those that have legalised racial discrimination include the South Africa from the last century.  Having legislated exclusion and blatant segregation of racial groups, especially when utilising the power and tools of the government in control, is a critical harbinger of future social unrest, national disunity and civil breakdown.   Compound such discrimination with financial misuse of national resources and corruption - and it surely does magnify the risks of a destruction of a national structure.

History has numerous episodes of onlookers having the proverbial ostrich hiding its head in the sand.
All of us can see the disdain offered groups that are discriminated, but nothing effective is done for a variety of reasons - it is too hard, there is no economic advantage to be involved, we cannot offend the very parties that discriminate, we have no choice but to keep silent or we have tried to fight back but to no avail.  This further encourages and facilitates the intentions, plans and dreams of evil doers.
The phrase "All it takes is for good people to do nothing" came from a World War. I also add that all it takes is for appointed leaders to keep silent and look the other way.

An obvious sign of coming disorder and serious repercussions in a country is when individuals and families who can emigrate continue to do so. The window of hopeful options can be limiting as unfairness, discrimination and corruption of decent human values can continue their frightful path pretty much left uncriticised and unchecked. Some nations and groups can be vehement on specific politically correct matters but remain strangely silent on other things.  When there is no hope of overall structure of equity and decency, individuals exercise their choices  and votes by protecting their micro lives and allowing the macro national fabric to be torn.  This is despite resistance and opposition, but life does not end in happy endings always, as justified opposition can be quashed, no matter what the moral implications.

In some current realities, it is already too late three minutes to midnight, when "Cinderella's carriage" I am reminded of can truly turn into definitely less elegant things.

Why wait until the refugees march out of borders, desperately undertake perilous sea journeys or languish in camps before the humanitarian conscience of the world is stirred?  The most insatiable injury inflicted by cruel people and societies can lie embedded in the heart of living victims. Must there be obvious physical destruction, wartime atrocity and decimation of innocent populations before the rest for the world does something to help in a constructive way?  Despite the refinement and progress of human civilisation, some societies still are locked in essentially tribal warfare being totally intolerant of other groups that look, feel and are different  culturally.   Hence I reckon the rationale for the continuing and common trend in human history in the search for a hopeful Messiah to rise above such primal, primitive and exclusive urges.  The rise of nationalism in the 20th century, preceded by colonialism, is now followed by another dangerous trend.  Or is it just the way of the world? Or does history simply repeat itself?  Or can inhumane parties not realise the impact of karma - what goes around does come around.

It was religious persecution that drove the early white settlers to the so-called New World, whether landing in America or South Australia in the past.  When a sanctified system of exclusion occurs, the human instinct is to find better pastures to resettle.  Such a significant experience is echoed by the Bibical Exodus.  Ultimately the world is richer for such migrations, creating fresh societies with fusion, creativity and renewal. However we cannot turn away from or forget the dislocation, adjustment and upheaval experienced to commence a new community in another part of the world.

The interim winners may be those with much less civilised intentions and implementation, those who have won the process discriminating against others.  An interesting question then arises - if there is no other remaining group to lay the blame, will such a remnant society then self-destruct by turning inwards against each other?

Classic Georgetown - Charcoal Fired Wok Stirred Char Koay Teow

Notice the charcoal used to fire the wok.

Patiently waiting along Siam Road

This elderly gentlemen has been doing his wok based trade for as long as forty years.

The classic char okay trow - garnished with prawns, bean sprouts, shallots, cut sausages and chill.




All photos on this post are credited to Ms Au Yong Kit Fong.

CRC Chinese Restaurant - Georgetown Penang

Mantou bread accompanied with Indian prawn curry - a fusion in Georgetown, Penang.

Southern Chinese themed tofu braise garnished with peas, carrots, mushrooms and a eggy mix - great for kids with steamed rice.

Nothing like a simply effective greens dish.

Birthday noodles Cantonese style but with a Penang twist of pickled green chill cuts.

Mochi soaked in fine grounded red bean dessert.

The classic Sichuan sweet and sour.

Guilliame - Sydney

Three types of chocolate - the Varlhona dessert offers hazelnut, date and banyuls.

Cold entree - squid, Diamond Clam, sea urchin, oyster and mussel, inspired by Spencer Gulf South Australia.

A French classic in the exterior as well.

Surf and turf - lobster and duck in a warm entree.

My mains - Squab, with endive, onion, cabbage and foie gras.

Compliments of the house, between courses.

Serving the soufflé, with style, engagement and concentration!

Mud Crab meat finely presented on top of truffle base.

What Kim had - my fellow diner in a group of eight.

Fineness, flavour and presentation personified .

And what a lovely evening!

Canberra Revisited - Spring Time

Are there only two good times a year to be in Canberra, March and September?  If this is true,  here are my latest reflections on this inland city that is the capital of Australia.   Apart from the museums and Government related sites or institutions to visit, Canberra is also a place to get fit, soak in the fresh air and enjoy the views.  If you are a foreign diplomat or Federal Government officer, then you do call this valley home.  The big lights and crowds of other cities are far away and you can huddle and embrace this unique experience - or soak in a research or academic atmosphere of the universities.  Generally Canberra is a great homely place to bring up families - and then send the children to the so-called big and bad world outside.  They then return as adventurers, achievers, experienced brothers or sisters - and re-seek comfort in the broad avenues, quiet resilience and cocktail parties of what is always a home town.

A pair of lovers not the foreshores of Lake Burley Griffith, near the National Carillon.

Commitment made amidst the tulip blooms.

Magic and wonder from an earlier age.

A bird soars at the Questacon, King Edward Terrace, Parkes.

Dobinson's Big Breakfast, Canberra Centre

View of Captain Cook Jet and Telecoms Tower on Black Mountain in the background -view through the willows.

Outdoors is best when the sun is benign and shining.

The double decker bus is an excellent idea.

Singapore - Snippets Around the River

An immigrant past with a hunger for business and cultural traditions is reflected in Chinatown.

Boats and ships still make a significant contribution to this harbour city and island.

Restoration and upkeep of buildings is maintained at high standards.

A sight for tourists, Kipling's mad dogs and Englishmen who come out in the midday sun.

The Cavenagh Bridge marks the colonial quarter.

The inherent and strong ties that bind Singapore and Malaysia can at times be under emphasised in the new order of things in south-east Asia.

Lovely louvred vertical window-doors above the street.

Mee rebus and teh tarik served in disposable containers, Raffles Place.

London is but so far away.

Along the quays.

HM Chulalongkorn was the eldest son of reformer Thai King Mongkut.

A classic view into the original financial district.