The chef plays favourites in six of the greatest food cities
Expecting the chef to choose a single favourite dish from six of the globe’s top food cities is just plain cruel. We asked anyway.
Sydney
I struggle to pick a favourite from my Sydney top 10 but the chilli coriander ramen with chicken at Chaco Bar (chacobar.com.au) in Darlinghurst would be my death-row meal. The broth is seasoned to the most exquisite point: not too salty but full of umami. The noodles are delicious, the slices of chicken breast are silky, the egg is perfectly creamy and the pickled bamboo gives it this wonderful crunch.
Melbourne
I love all the dishes at Flower Drum (flowerdrum.melbourne) in the CBD but the one I would travel for is mud crab noodles, “Neil Perry-style” – yes, there’s a dish named after me – which is not on the menu but you can ask for. The crab is cooked and peeled, its beautiful flesh mounted on the most perfect egg noodles and finished with a delicate ginger and spring onion dressing. The claw is peeled and sits to the side in all its glory. The delicate taste of the sea comes through in spades.
Singapore
I’m always drawn back to a little noodle joint called
Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles in the Crawford Lane hawker centre (#01-12, 466 Crawford Lane; +65 6292 7477). They do one dish two ways: pork noodles, with or without soup. I get the dry noodles with a couple of tablespoons of broth, which is mixed with soy, black vinegar and – I suspect – a little sesame. It works so beautifully with the crunch of crisp pork skin, a bit of liver and chewy noodles.
London
I only do one thing when I get to London and that is lust after the wood-roasted turbot tranche [fish steak] from The River Cafe in Hammersmith (rivercafe.co.uk). It’s a perfectly cooked piece of fish on the bone that’s sweet and gelatinous at the same time. The garnish changes with the seasons: it could be mushrooms in autumn, roasted cherry tomatoes in summer or lemon and zucchini in spring. I’ve eaten this dish at least 30 times.
Hong Kong
I can’t go past steamed bamboo clams at Hing Kee in Kowloon (Bowa House, 180 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui; +852 2722 0022). We don’t have bamboo clams in Australia – they’re a long-shelled clam that has a delicate flavour and a nice chew – so they’re a real novelty. They’re steamed with garlic and vermicelli noodles and are just to die for.
New York
There can be an hour’s wait to eat at Brooklyn’s famous pizzeria, Roberta’s (robertaspizza.com), but it’s worth it. I love the seasonal clam pizza – a white pizza base with clams and a sprinkling of parsley. The flavour of the clams cuts through the chewy crust and the parsley gives it that hint of freshness.