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How Immigration Has Benefited Australia's Restaurants


Last month at the National Maritime Museum, Sydney celebrated the organisation’s fifteenth birthday eleven-hundred times. At the migrant Welcome Wall that stands to honour the many that have travelled from around the world to make Australia home, chef Luke Nguyen stood to share his story and to acknowledge the names of 1100 other migrants.

It was fitting that Nguyen, proprietor of Surry Hills’ Red Lantern, was a featured player on this moving day. Migrants of the 20th century have finessed the Australian plate and turned us from a nation to whom after-dinner mints were the height of culinary sophistication to a hub of true invention.

For Nguyen, an Australian-Vietnamese cook, the terms “fresh” and “seasonal” were always in his lexicon. While one now hears these words wielded throughout the kitchens of the land, it was not always so. Anglo-Celtic settlement gave us a history of preserved and imported foods. It was not until the great wave of migration last century that our interest in local produce was ignited.

Two notable players who have changed our tastebuds and our agriculture are Serge Dansereau and Alla Wolf-Tasker. French-Canadian Dansereau, now of Sydney’s Bather’s Pavilion, was instrumental in transforming crops around Sydney. If he couldn’t source it locally, he commissioned its growth.

Russian-born Wolf-Tasker of The Lake House in Daylesford, Victoria continues to urge local producers and artisans on. Trout, cheese, lamb and all sorts of hitherto untried vegies have grown in the region at her behest.

The rollcall to the culinary Welcome Wall continues. Calombaris. Tetsuya. Chui Lee Luk of Sydney’s Claude’s. There is Jimmy Shu in Darwin and Cheong Liew in Adelaide and the dozens and dozens of acclaimed cooks.

And those are only the known names. Imagine Victoria Street, Richmond, and Lygon Street, Carlton in Melbourne or Gouger Street, Adelaide, or Cabramatta, Sydney, or so many eat streets in Australia without this culinary immigration.

SM King, Citysearch 

George Calombaris

The Press Club Restaurant & Bar

72 Flinders Street, Melbourne
-37.8156789986263 144.972635507584

George Calombaris melds his traditional Greek heritage with contemporary style at the Press Club – a restaurant that has remained a favourite of serious city foodies since 2006.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $34.00 // Cuisine: Modern Australian

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The Little Press & Cellar

72 Flinders St, Melbourne
-37.815461 144.972727

A serene splash of the Aegean served in a long-stemmed glass

Category: Bars & Clubs // Venue Type: Bar

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Hellenic Republic

434 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
-37.7644556406164 144.973158538342

The Brunswick East cousin of the Press Club is a large, friendly Greek restaurant, with lots of warmth, imagination and healthy Greek food.

Category: Restaurants // Cuisine: Greek

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Maha

21 Bond Street, Melbourne
-37.8182110537893 144.962477982044

Bring your best taste buds along to Maha Bar and Grill where the food is deliciously Middle Eastern with a modern twist.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $14.00 // Cuisine: Mediterranean

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Guy Grossi

Grossi Florentino

80 Bourke St, Melbourne
-37.81172 144.970879

Awarded 2 Chefs Hats - The Age Good Food Guide 2009 The glamorous Grossi Florentino Grill restaurant sits snugly at the posh dining end of Melbourne's Bourke Street, luring diners into its midst with seductive finesse.

Category: Bars & Clubs, Restaurants // Venue Type: Bar // Mains from: $39.00 // Cuisine: Italian

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Guillaume Brahimi

Kylie Kwong

Billy Kwong

Shop 3, 355 Crown Street, Surry Hills
-33.88384 151.214264

Billy Kwong combines traditional Chinese cuisine with modern flavours and sustainable practices to bring a unique Asian restaurant to the Surry Hills scene.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $18.00 // Cuisine: Chinese

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Luke Nguyen

Red Lantern

545 Crown Street, Surry Hills
-33.89032632 151.2130663

Look out for the bright-red exterior and dangling lamps of Surry Hills restaurant favourite Red Lantern, where treasured family recipes are brought to life.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $27.00 // Cuisine: Vietnamese

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Tetsuya Wakuda

Tetsuya's Restaurant

529 Kent Street, Sydney CBD
-33.86876341 151.2045968

As one of Australia’s most talked-about dining destinations, Tetsuya’s restaurant fuses French technique with Japanese flavours to offer a sensational, world-class degustation feast in Sydney.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $180.00 // Cuisine: French

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Alla Wolf-Tasker

Lake House Restaurant

4 King Street, Daylesford
-37.34867308 144.1419627

The Lake House dining room sunlit by day, boasts magnificent views through its large expanse of windows. At dusk, the kookaburras fly in to be fed on the outdoor terraces. The restaurant glows with the magic and romance of candlelight. A log fire provides a warm welcome this Winter.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $34.00 // Cuisine: Modern Australian

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Serge Dansereau

Bathers Pavilion Restaurant

4 The Esplanade, Balmoral
-33.8228099 151.250564

Sitting upon the shore of Balmoral, rustic beach-house meets a wave of culinary decadence within the historic building of the Bathers’ Pavilion restaurant.

Category: Restaurants // Cuisine: Modern Australian

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Chui Lee Luk

Claude's Restaurant

10 Oxford Street, Woollahra
-33.88867342 151.2321361

You'll find French magic at Claude’s charming Woollahra terrace home. This shy restaurant has been drenched in praise and showered with industry awards.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $135.00 // Cuisine: French

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Jimmy Shu

Il Lido

F3 - Wharf One, Darwin

Sure to mature into Darwin’s institutional Italian restaurant, il Lido hovers over Darwin’s CBD waterfront precinct making it a chic destination for any meal of the day.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $30.00 // Cuisine: Italian

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Hanuman Darwin, Holiday Inn Esplanade

93 Mitchell Street, Darwin
-12.4607460458738 130.836452543736

Hanuman Darwin is worth every one of its sixteen awards. With a stunning selection Thai, Indian and Nonya cuisines served amongst elegant style, you simply cannot go wrong at Hanuman!

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $22.50 // Cuisine: Thai

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Hanuman Restaurant Alice Springs, Crowne Plaza Hotel

82 Barrett Drive, Alice Springs
-23.7149535069903 133.87934088707

Indonesian spirit houses, Indian minstrels, stunning lighting and mouth watering flavours. Hanuman’s will awaken your tastebuds to some of the most authentic cuisines imaginable.

Category: Restaurants // Mains from: $6.00 // Cuisine: Thai

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