Fresh flavours hit the spot
Getting to a dinner reservation in Bangkok can be quite an undertaking. The city has a population of more than 10 million people and the traffic can be, let’s say, a little heavy – 24 hours a day. In fact, the last time I was in Bangkok – with a group of journalists and chefs as the guest of a Thai-Australian restaurateur – we had a police escort accompany us to the restaurant. They literally stopped traffic so we could eat some of the best Thai food in the world. Getting to our table at the new Thai/Vietnamese eatery, Twister Sister in Collins St, isn’t nearly as much drama – in true Hobart style we get a parking spot right outside, no police escort required.
It’s neat and petite – seating just 20 people at a combination of small tables and a window bench, but by 6pm on a recent Saturday night it was almost full of diners enjoying their take on street food. By day, there’s a warming cabinet offering four or five ever-changing dishes for lunch, and for dinner there’s a decent-sized a la carte menu of Thai favourites. With just two staff members on duty, they are a little under the pump but our order is taken relatively quickly and things seem to be running smoothly.
We begin with an entree of nem nuong ($10.90), traditional Vietnamese pork sausages. Here, they are moulded into balls and skewered onto lemongrass stalks before being grilled.
The sausages are moist and tasty – the addition of baking powder and the fact that the meat is pounded or processed to a paste, rather than just ground like mince – gives them a springy, bouncy texture similar to Thai fish cakes. They’re served with a peanut dipping sauce with an underlying vinegar tang that sets it apart from more cloying satay sauces.
Twister Sister is the brainchild of Dang and Julie Le and Yaya Waite, who also own Thai Veggie Hutt in the Bank Arcade. They decided to combine their cultures (Dang and Julie are Vietnamese, Yaya is Thai) and put their own twist on street food.
Dang is in the kitchen the night we visit and every dish that comes out is freshly cooked and full of flavour.
Pork larb is the national dish of Laos (which lies on the northeastern border of Thailand) and is also popular in Thailand. This is usually a dish of minced pork mixed with plenty of fresh herbs, lime juice and umami-packed fish sauce.
The Twister Sister crew serves their Scottsdale pork larb ($19.90) in slices instead.
“We like to use a high-quality pork chop and we sous-vide it before grilling,” explains Dang. “We think it gives a better texture.”
The dressing is deliciously punchy, and