Let's talk FOOD

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We used to make fun of Australian as it seemed to consist of huge steaks, prawns, damper and beer.

These days from all that I hear Aussie food is some of the best in Australia and includes such delicacies as vegemite and Tim Tams. If you were lost in the bush you could no doubt exist purely on these items for a week or so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam its like a Penguin but better.

All joking aside , Oz now has a well deserved gastronomic reputation, especially for its fusion food.

Just waiting for the flak now

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I noticed in Tesco yesterday both Marmite & Bovril but in the pharmacy dept.!. Regards  :)Rob

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Having travelled the gastronomic deserts of middle England I can but say that Oz was once a mirror of similar mediocrity.
Now it's pretty good.
I was at our local market which I hate to say leaves the Penang wet markets well in its wake (and this is by no means the biggest of our markets) and I will be cooking a lunch of baby octopus, tiger prawns and a dish of chilli crab using fresh blue swimmer crabs. Unfortunately the market did not have mud crabs which are among the royalty of crab. While at the market I ate a gozleme which is a Turkish fillied pancake and had an excellent long macchiato.

Tim Tams are highly addictive. They are a chocolate covered wafered biscuit.

Papaya.... you ate fish and chips in a pub !!! This coming from the lady who chastised me for enjoying a hamburger from a local street vendor  . I must say that while in HK I have been known to slip down to Mc Donalds for a good simple coffee. We must all give into temptation sometime.

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Papaya.... you ate fish and chips in a pub !!! This coming from the lady who chastised me for enjoying a hamburger from a local street vendor  .

Oops, sorry 

Yup, Aussie food looks lovely, though a friend in Sydney tells me everything is expensive there.  Is it cheaper outside the big cities?  I've never been to Oz (yet).  Shall have to rectify that one of these days.  A bit off topic but do Brits need to get a visa to visit Oz?

Fish n Chips is a once in a while thing for us, I guess like Hamburgers.  I would say on average we probably eat a "traditional" English dish about 4 times a year and, let's face it, a lot of English grub is just plain awful IMO.

I wonder, do most expats cook their own "home country" food at home after they've moved to Malaysia or anywhere in the Tropics?  When we lived in Singapore, some British friends of ours there always cooked a full British Sunday Roast every week - and no aircon in the kitchen 

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Hi Papaya
Fresh food in Australia is relatively cheap by comparison to most countries. Food is cheaper in the cities because of the distirbution system.

By the way Australia is probably the most urbanised country in the world. About 80% of the poulation live in its 5 major cities.

Due to labour costs, food at restaurants etc is not cheap but it in no way approaches the prices of large European cities, especially London.

As a citizen of the old mother country we will welcome you but like travel to the US you need to apply for a free electronic visa. This is a simple on line process if the US system is anything to go by.

Australia is a very big country and you need to do a little homework before you come. Sydney is a fantastic international city sitting on one of the world's most beautiful harbours. (Bring your credit card.)
North of Cairns is the barrier reef, crocodiles, deadly snakes, dinner plate sized spiders and of course the killer jelly fish.
Then we have the outback. 500ks between towns and nothing in between. In flying to Malaysia it takes longer to fly from the Oz southern capitals to the Australian cosatline than it does from the coastline to KL. 

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 crocodiles, deadly snakes, dinner plate sized spiders and of course the killer jelly fish.

though, on the other hand, maybe I'll stay at home 

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Hi Papaya
Then we have the outback. 500ks between towns and nothing in between. In flying to Malaysia it takes longer to fly from the Oz southern capitals to the Australian cosatline than it does from the coastline to KL. 

I recall some years back flying between Sydney and Hong Kong when the pilot piped in and said "G'day folks...we are flying at 35,000 feet and if you look out the window you will see the GAFA"......I thought I heard a little laugh in the voice.
I looked out the window and saw sand...miles and miles of sand...we could have been in the Sahara...
I enquired from a Flt Attendant, "What is the Gafa?" the reply was "The Great Australian F**k All!"

David

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I am from Sydney. Know of good eating places in Sydney cbd area that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg. Of course, you feel robbed if you compare them to the prices charged in Penang. 

Eateries around Newtown is a great place to visit. Of course, there is Vietnamatta or Cabramatta - more on the outskirts - great Vietnamese / Asian food.

Cupert

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Hi for those who are wondering what is special about Malaysia, take a scroll through this site to  the story about a meal on Pulau Aman... just a short boat ride from Penang 

http://thefoodsite.net/tag/where-to-eat/

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It's a bit of a misnomer isn't it?  Can you get a Penang Curry in Penang and is it the same as the Thai version?  I had a very nice Chicken Penang Curry last night (in Phuket).  From what I can make out, it is in fact a Thai dish but it's what Thais think that a Malaysian curry should be like    There's coriander seeds in there which Thais don't use so much and a healthy dollop of shrimp paste (belacan? in Malay) and lots of chillis.  Rocket fuel for sure.

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Keng Panang nua is my favorite Thai dish. To bad I haven't found a decent one (which includes shredded lemon leaves and a dollop of thick coconut cream on top) here in Penang. Actualy when I think of it the further north in Thailand (thus the farther away from Penang) you get the better this dish gets.
That one in Chiang Mai was great...

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Maybe less coconut as you get further north?  They tend to go a bit overboard with the coconut here - too many coconuts about I guess.  Well if you ever come up to Phuket, don't bother with the Neu-a as the local stuff is tough as old boots, unless you can find an eatery using Aussie beef - some do at a price.

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Possibly, Papaya.

Penang food is heavily influenced by southern Thai style cuisine. Especially the Nyonya cuisine, which makes Penang quite different from Melaka and Singapore, which have Nyonya cuisine as well. If you go to Bali Hai and the Teochew restaurants in Gurney Drive, you will find some dishes that are infused with Thai style cooking.

I think in what you had in Phuket is not authentic Penang Curry. It is their own version of curry, but called "Penang" because Penang is well known across the region as a food haven. So, the shop/stall uses the word Penang as a marketing strategy to entice people to try the dish. If  and when you move to Penang, you will find that there are endless variety of curry dishes; from nyonya to malay to indian to indian muslim. So there is no one standard Penang Curry.

Victor

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Well it is a Thai dish - Kaeng Panang as Stuurman pointed out, but they think of it as "Malaysian style".  Here's the recipe from "real thai recipes" if you want to try out http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/panang-curry/

From what I've been told by some folks already living in Penang, a lot of the Thai food available is in fact Pattani-Thai which certainly isn't the same as Phuket dishes - with maybe the exception of Tom Yam.

But so many different regional dishes across Thailand.  When we had to go up to Bangkok to get our LGC and found a very nice Thai eatery near our hotel - and didn't know half the dishes on the menu - not found in the south.

Ya Victor - noted about all the curries in Penang and will enjoy trying out all of them and, yup, I'll be there very soon - 18 days and counting.  I'll probably know some of them already as I've been in the region over 5 years now.

Now... I'm interested that you say that the Penang Nonya cuisine is not the same as Singaporean Nonya cuisine.  So you think that the Penang Nonya cuisine is more Thai influenced?  The Nonya food I used to eat in Singapore seemed to be a Singapore Chinese-Malay fusion.  I didn't realise there was more than one Nonya cuisine    You learn something every day, right?

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Ya Victor - noted about all the curries in Penang and will enjoy trying out all of them and, yup, I'll be there very soon - 18 days and counting.  I'll probably know some of them already as I've been in the region over 5 years now.

Now... I'm interested that you say that the Penang Nonya cuisine is not the same as Singaporean Nonya cuisine.  So you think that the Penang Nonya cuisine is more Thai influenced?  The Nonya food I used to eat in Singapore seemed to be a Singapore Chinese-Malay fusion.  I didn't realise there was more than one Nonya cuisine    You learn something every day, right?

Wow, 18 days to go is not that far. How exciting! Are you moving to Penang as MM2Homer?

Yes, there are differences between the 3 cities on nyonya dishes. Some you will only find in Melaka, and not in Penang. I believe and that is according to my taste - Penang nyonya dishes are more sourish and spicier. But there are a lot to learn on nyonya food. I have tried the nyonya dishes in Melaka once when my friend took me there. It was supposed to be one of the best and most authentic, but I was surprised the dishes are somewhat different and certainly not as strong, pungent, spicy and sourish as the Penang version (due to proximity to southern Thailand). You may noticed that there are intercultural mix marriages between Thai, Chinese and Malay that explains how the food evolve in Penang.