One of our local eateries gets an exciting special guest
For Qi’lin Chinese Restaurant owners Annette Cheung, Stanley Poon and Daryll and Barbara Scott, it was a visit from culinary royalty.
Former Masterchef winner, writer and television host Adam Liaw was looking for dinner recently and chose the Toowoomba restaurant as his eatery of choice.
He and Julia Busuttil Nishmura (also an accomplished chef and cookbook author) were in town for the Carnival of Flowers as presenters at the Heritage Bank Festival of Food and Wine.
And, with official duties finished for the night, they made a bee-line for the Hooper Centre restaurant to taste its delicious fare.
It’s one thing to have the highly respected chef walk through your door, quite another to try to impress someone who has been chosen as UNICEF Australia’s National Ambassador for Nutrition. But, the restaurant owners had no reason for nerves. In an Instagram post, Adam mused that “suburban/country Chinese restaurants (are) a part of Australian history and one I hope we never lose”, before detailing his mouth-watering dinner choice of lemon chicken, crispy walnut beef, Coca Cola spare ribs and ‘A-grade’ fried ice cream for dessert.
He then paid the ultimate compliment: “Qi’lin in Toowoomba has won the award for Best Chinese Restaurant in Queensland for five years in a row and I can see why”.
High praise indeed from the Destination Flavour television presenter and Japanese government-appointed Goodwill Ambassador of Japanese Cuisine.