Blue Ginger: An elegant Asian favourite
Darling Street is one of the Inner West’s most prodigious eat streets with its profusion of hip cafés, neighbourhood restaurants and bustling pubs and bars.
Even so, the ever-changing array of eateries that line the buzzing strip have a reputation for being less than reliable, particularly where Asian food is involved. Blue Ginger is an antidote to the averageness that plagues the Balmain dining scene. A local institution since 1996, Blue Ginger is consistently good, and occasionally, pretty awesome.
It all comes down to chef Les Huynh’s insistence on fresh produce and quality ingredients. The self-taught chef has earned widespread respect for his modern Australian take on South East Asian cooking, and has published two enticing cookbooks ‘Blue Ginger’ and ‘Takeaway’. Blue Ginger is still a little restrained compared to more authentic Asian eateries, but the food is inventive and well presented and the service is welcoming, knowledgeable and assured.
The restaurant is discretely set behind carved, brass bolted antique temple doors. Inside, the room is calm and spacious (until about halfway through the evening when it can literally be overflowing with diners.) The sleek, minimalist mod-Asian design features soothing dark tones and intimate lighting, with flashes of bright red in the plastic chopsticks and the slatted feature wall running along one side of the room.
The menu has strong Vietnamese leanings, making plentiful use of fresh, crunchy vegetables; light, quick cooking styles and tangy, herbaceous flavours. Dishes inspired by Thai, Malaysian and Chinese cuisines are also well represented.
Start with the exquisite signature entree - betel leaves topped with smoked trout, chilli, galangal and fried shallots, and the fried eggplant in garlic soy sauce stuffed with pork and prawn meat. For mains, try the bo luc lac (shaking beef), a favourite dish of chef Huyhn’s Vietnamese homeland. At Blue Ginger, it’s made with marinaded Black Angus beef, wok-tossed (or “shaken”) with black peppercorn sauce and served with watercress and tomato salad. Also of note is the beautifully cooked crispy skinned chicken with black vinegar dressing, and grilled barramundi fillets with chilli black bean sauce. Desserts are rarely a high point of Asian dining, but at Blue Ginger they’re unusual and delicious. There’s an exotic ‘tapioca shot’ with palm sugar and sesame, and a black sticky rice pudding with coconut, sesame and ground peanuts.
HelloSydney Tip: The banquets ($48 and $58 per person, minimum three people, offer exceptional value with a generous variety of dishes to try).
Posted by Fiona Davies
