Herald rating: * * * 1/2
Address: 5B Lorne St, CBD
Phone: (09) 300 6381
Open: Dinner Wed-Fri, Lunch Mon-Sat
Cuisine: Pan-Asian
From the menu: Coconut butter prawn, dried chilli, crispy basil $16 / $24; Caramelised wagyu beef, galangal, sesame and broccoli $28; Tempura banana, chocolate and almond $13
Vegetarian: Tofu and more
Wine: Above average
KEY POINTS:
It was a hot summer day and the beach was burning. Sydney can be like that in March. Jude and I quit the sand and hit the train. Got out at Central and walked up the hill, looking for a bite.
Stopped outside a buzzy cafe. "This looks great," she said. "It should," I replied. "It's billy kwong, Kylie Kwong's restaurant." Only minutes after 6.30pm, opening time, we got one of the few tables free. And, among other piquant things, a bowl of her signature new-wave Chinese dish, crispy-skin duck with blood plum sauce.
Some days later, back in Auckland, I caught up with Emma. She wanted to try a new place in Lorne St. Open only a few days but word was getting out: there were quite a few diners when she'd walked past one evening.
Couldn't recall the name. "It was an Indian restaurant for years, opposite those new apartments," she directed.
Cheema, it was. One of the many businesses that trucked along until a well-intentioned council began "getting on with upgrading Lorne St". Well, they've upgraded it, and degraded quite a few businesses who've suffered for the worst part of three years.
Many did not survive, which has opened doors for brave newcomers. This one has been christened jimmy wongs, which sent me back to Surry Hills, Kylie and billy, especially after reading the menu.
Thai, Indian, Japanese, Chinese references. Little tastes rolled in betel leaf. Tempura prawns and coconut butter prawns. Sweet and sour tofu. Beef tetaki. Teriyaki salmon, massaman curry and steamed whole snapper.
However, this is not the dumbed-down, "would you like noodles with that?" food of a couple of chains lately arrived from the capital.
jimmy wongs, I'd deduce, owes more to modern Asian cafes in inner and inner-west Sydney. In fact ... "I'm having that!" I exclaimed to Emma, pointing to the last line on the menu. Which meant a hurried re-ordering of our priorities.
Little more than an amuse-bouche to start, a solitary betel leaf with a dab of smoked eel, horseradish, coconut and chilli. With a lime to squeeze. Fresh and sharp tastes.
The waiter recommended spring rolls so we took his word. Crisp, spicy, hot: almost too hot, and we're talking degrees not chillis.
Emma quizzed the waiter whether the rendang venison was made with coconut. He asked if she was allergic (points on). No, she said, she wasn't partial to it in some dishes. He checked with the kitchen (more points on). No, he reported, no coconut was harmed in the making of this dish.
Which surprised, for reliable food glossaries define rendang as meat braised in coconut and spices for hours. However it was cooked, it was heavily salted, which obscured the venison's taste - it could have been beef. More than happy with the offsets of okra and peas, though.
Which brings us, or rather me, to the last line of the menu. Duck, slow-roasted in sticky orange, five-spice and cinnamon. Which is, if you Google it, the translation of Kylie Kwong's signature dish for places where chef can't source blood plums. The very same platter that Jude and I had swooned over, just last Sunday.
It wasn't quite the same - no crisp, dry skin in this version, a heavier sauce and the pieces were large, not cut into thin, nibble-size slices. Tricky with chopsticks.
Emma and I retreated to spoons for damn fruity feijoa, passionfruit and guava sorbet. By that stage we were way over our usual calorific intake for lunch (especially when a couple of elegant rieslings are taken into the accounting). Yes, the waiter had pointed out that dishes were made to share but ...
We need more places like this, reasonably priced, smartly designed city cafe. Lunch was a good time to sample it. Or perhaps pre-show. As Emma said, "If you're coming into Queen St for a movie or a show, you've got Vivace and then what? Unless you want to ponce around the Viaduct and pay ridiculous money for boring food."
It's early days for jimmy wongs, but signs are good. Lorne St might be getting it on again.
