Snacks, Breakky and More

In most of South-east Asia, there is this strong concept - and practice - of having supper, the meal before one turns in for the night, a kind of night cap without the alcohol, but with the oil, the spices and more.
Apart from feeding the palate, it is also a social ritual, an opportunity to take in the cool breezes of late evening in lands that endure much humidity and day time temperatures above thirty degrees Celsius.  Supper supports economic activity and is a micro-economic forerunner of the stimulus that post GFC, several nations have implemented.

In contrast, across the Great Southern Land, Australian residents still find it relatively difficult to locate and secure food commercially sold after 9pm, whether in smaller conurbations like Wollongong, NSW or even in the capital cities. Oh ya, there is the ever open Seven-Elevens or petrol stations that offer warmed up frozen prepacks, or the shish kebabs sold by enterprising stall holders at midnight. Most of the action takes place much earlier in the day, perhaps to serve as winter warmers, quick lunch bites or casual brunch meals for those who can afford to while the time beside oceans, rivers and busy city pavements.  The food can be as varied as in a Moroccan market or Italian piazza, and no longer confined to pies, pasta or chikos.

Whether it is the weekend treat of melt-in-the-mouth cake slices with a dash of butter (from a Parramatta, NSW cafe), or a steaming spicy bowl of har mee (prawn flavoured soup noodles) from Lee Garden at the HSBC Centre along George Street in Sydney CBD, the best time slot is between 11am and 3pm to savour them when you find yourself in Australia.

A bento-styled serving of Vietnamese crispy skinned fried chicken (above, from the Golden Tower in Kingsford) or a wholesome and warmed up potato and chicken pie (below, from Out For Lunch in the UOW Wollongong Campus) are welcome on cold and windy weather days.

For those on the run, at work, business or for leisure, sushi rolls (above) are perceived as healthy, inexpensive and easy snacks. One can broaden the experience of the palate on a hot summer's day by drinking fresh coconut juice from Fiji or finish off after a meal by having a light sago jelly.  The selection int he image above is from The Oriental Tucker in Parramatta.

For a sit-down lunch, try the bean sprouts stir fried with Portuguese-inspired salted fish flakes, accompanied with rice, Malaysian or Singapore style, at the Sambal Restaurant in North Ryde, NSW.

The Campos Cafe

This flagship outlet from Campos Coffee in Newtown, Sydney is neither spacious nor unusual. Yet customers flock to the cafe like

driven by some magnetic pull, the right business model and/or a real need to be there, crowding with fellow addicts for the specific aroma and blend of this product. It does not even open on Sundays. The service is quick, friendly and matter-of-fact from the six or seven assumed barristas on the other side of the counter.

There is a whole series of heritage and unique coffee grinders, plungers and related gadgets placed on

a long, wide shelf in the centre of the room. Visitors cling to their high top round tables or wait on the side facing where the action is - the making of their carefully articulated requirements. As they wait and watch, there are keep cups and coffee blends to consider taking home. The range of available accompanying bites and snacks seem to be intently limited. After all, the emphasis is on the coffee.

A Newtown Festival, Sydney

Every major suburb in Australia tries to offer one special day in a year, when its residents and visitors from near and far, gather in a community spirit of mingling, browsing and patronising its unique produce, products and businesses. Call it a spring festival, market day or fete, such occasions showcase a neighbourhood's pace, uniqueness and culture. In November this year, I had the opportunity to sample the flavours of Newtown on a warm and welcoming day.

Innovative businesses in Newtown do offer unique tribe culture experiences like Replenished Records, BurgerFuel (offering lamb steaks!), The Mexican Guzman Y Gomez, Correllis Cafe and the Campos Coffee outlet. Outside on the pavements, the atmosphere is casual, bohemian and relaxing. There is an anticipation in the air and in the hearts of strollers that one can chance upon something interesting, something unexpected and something delightful. There is literally music in the air.

Iconic Aussie pub hotels like the Coopers and Marlborough do provide relief from the new fangled
outlets like Max Brenner, Kunetos Bar, Crumpler, MagNation and the Dendy. The awesome variety and choice of meals range from African at Kilimanjaro's, through Macedonian and Argentinian meat grills, to lighter stuff like the chicken pho soup(above) offered by Tnanh Binh.

Above: There are quiet residential neighbourhoods behind the main strip, where

daily life is played out with family, mates and loved ones that contrast

with the hype and reality of shopping, dining out and alternative lifestyles that Newtown may project to some.

Above: Hanging out at a key junction in Newtown, soaking in the

buskers, street players and just taking it easy on a Sunday arvo.

An Evening in IndoChine

La Mint is nestled away on a hidden corner of Riley Street, with a nearby cul de sac that adjuncts Sydney CBD's William Street.  William is the very street that serves as the main thoroughfare to the giant Coca Cola sign that signals the start of the Kings Cross precinct. Standing in front of La Mint, and its neighbouring La Spoggotti, one can see the top of the Westfield building. From the restaurant, though, our eyes wondered across the road through louvred wood blinds to an unassuming residential block called the Hyde Park Apartments.

We had gathered for a birthday meal, organised by Ely and Ray. My best palate sensation was the five spice infused duck confit, followed by the melt-in-the-mouth crispy skin of the Saigon styled roast chicken. I am a fan of duck done in whatever cultural cooking style, from Austrian through French to Beijing and Espanol.  I must confess that the La Mint duck has influences of my own Cantonese heritage, so I am not impartial on this judgement.  The La Mint version was moist, spoke of the aroma of spices and yet was different from the Hong Kong inspiration.

Three outstanding guzmania plants,with their eye-catching red blooms, prettily poised against a wall at the back of the restaurant -and they were so easily spotted under focus lights.  Three obvious French expats gathered on another table, smartly dressed but suited to the humid Sydney summer climate, reminiscent of colonial times in 19th century Saigon or Hanoi. Fashion Tv channel played on mute from pay tv on the large lcd screen. The partitions surrounding the dining area was possibly made of teak, a sweet reminder of South-east Asia and more elegant times.

                                Above, the entree variety platter; below, the pork ribs with a spicy garnishing.

Deep fried ice cream after being flambeed and accompanied by fresh strawberries.

My group of six persons first tucked in for an entree variety platter of the usual Viet favourite selection of finger food,but this was surpassed by the delicate omelette's pancake as second serving.  The dining experience was topped by a flambee of fried ice cream. In between, the lows were the rather salty taste from the soy doused pork belly,which was otherwise perfect in texture and presentation. Another dish of  pork ribs were rather thin and looked more like deep fried calamari, but that was more than made up by the
barramundi, which was deep fried to a perfect crunch.  Overall, the menu we had were skewed towards Asian rather than French,but there was a viable variety of wines and the ambiance was enhanced by French inspired tunes and decor.

I would return.

Dialogue with a Good Mate

How does one “get on with life”?


I reckon it is not an easy option, as if you were trying to join the fast streams of vehicular traffic along the LA highway. Keeping up with expenses is the first practical challenge. To get on with life literally means to be able to be self-sufficient, not just in the spiritual and physical sense, but also to settle on-going bills, not over spend and find ways of increasing in-coming cash flows. Once we are able to do that, we more than get on with life - we begin to savour more possibilities of what life can offer.

For one to fully get on in life, there must be opportunity. When such openings do not come to us, we have to seek them. To seek them, we may .have to change our mindset. At times, we have to let go of preconceptions or ideals, and temporarily divert our track in the woods to eventually reach our goal – and have a target time, like by sunset when one is in unknown woods. At other times, one has to go into partnership to attain mutual goals. The choice is ours.

The human mind is habitual and thrives on familiarity. To jump into other options, or try different trails, one must be driven by a passionate desire to succeed. To leave the known for the unknown is not natural.  It is most effective to be driven by the lure of possibility and reward, the promise of practicality and the option to do so. Then one truly “gets on in life”.


It is not always useful to however get back to the drawing board.

Whatever back- up plans we have, they are only to be used in the last resort. John Lennon wrote as part of his lyrics for his young son Julian that “Life is what happens while we are making our plans”.

The drawing board can be compared akin to an insurance policy. It provides relative peace of mind, but we never plan to actually utilise it. Such a board is just a good tool while we are making plans for the future, not usually to revert when our plans do not work out.


Never use the study option as an on-going path.

The purpose of education is to use it. Many of Australia’s CEOS of top corporations never had an MBA.
Education also includes working on the job, doing the nitty-gritty and not just acquiring paper-based qualifications. Okay, I recognise that one has to get that job first.


Envisaging oneself to be where one would be based in a career in the future.

Nobody knows. Plans reflect what we know in the present. Not all changes in the future can be anticipated.
New means of doing things lead to possibilities that we may not figure out today. More efficient means of transport can offer us more choices in terms of physical or virtual workplace locations, they are only one factor in the scheme of things.

You may take a chance in dabbling in a new industry or occupation – just to try it for a while, you may convince yourself – which you then may enjoy for years to come. At the same time, HR professionals expect more changes in role, job location and industry for the younger generations,but they do not elaborate to us on the details.


The employee of the future can expect to experience several redundancies in his or her career.

Work life and environments are in for a radical change – many of the assumptions and parameters of the past are rehashed, modified or simply obliterated. Where one does work, how one delivers, whom one interacts with and/or how rewards are parcelled out will change like a transforming creature from Nature's wild environment, affected by the search for niche talent, the flows of available resources, the right pricing, the enabling technology and radically emerging customer markets.

Loyalty to employers and organisations were dead long ago, and in its place a different nature of loyalty – perhaps to lifestyle, inner personality and self-preserving careers – has long made its impact on role and career choices, commuting patterns and balancing adjustments for family, self and community.

Can I please share the best quote I read recently , thanks to a mate Henry Quah:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." -USA President Obama