Source : the age
David Flynn remembers.
A communal table with a Lazy Susan. A teenage girlfriend’s family, all Hong Kong expats. He remembers the restaurant: Enjoy Inn in Fortitude Valley.
“I would’ve been 18 or 19, and my partner’s brother was back from Hong Kong visiting,” says Flynn, who is now a co-owner of restaurant group Fanda. “He was, like, ‘Let’s go get some good Chinese. We’re going to Enjoy Inn.’
“We were drinking Tsing Taos, eating the classics – we had the pork ribs where they wrap them in aluminium foil and set them on fire. You remember that? It was around that time that I realised that this was, if not a genre, exactly, but the ultimate example of a specifically Australian take on Chinese food.”
Fanda executive chef Benny Lam remembers too. The twist in Flynn’s tale is Lam’s extended family owned and operated Enjoy Inn. It remains a local classic.
“Benny has this family connection to Enjoy Inn, but then his foundational time as a chef is also connected to that restaurant.”
It’s surprising, then, that Fanda is only now getting around to hosting Southside’s first retro Chinese night. The group has a rich history in turning the Fish Lane restaurant over to other events and one-off dinners: dumpling nights, duck menus, numerous collabs both expected and unusual.
“It’s absolutely always been part of what we do. It’s a fun brand, a fun atmosphere, and has always been designed to cater for what’s a pretty lively wider precinct … we’ve wanted to do this one pretty much from the beginning.”
For one weekend only in mid-June, Southside is turning into the retro Chinese restaurant of your dreams. And on the menu are a bunch of dishes that heavily reference an old-school suburban Australian Chinese restaurant.
For entrees, there’s a chicken and potato golden curry puff, sweet and sour prawn toast, five-spiced salt-and-pepper quail, and pork, bamboo and celery san choi bao.
Mains include flaming pork ribs served with a Peking sauce, manuka honey king prawns with candied walnuts and golden sesame, crispy fried chicken in a classic lemon sauce, and combination chow main with asian greens and oyster sauce.
The menu can be ordered a la carte, or as a $95 per person banquet with a yellowtail kingfish sashimi thrown in for good measure.
There’s also a nostalgia-driven drinks list that includes a Cosmopolitan, a Harvey Wallbanger, a Blue Lagoon and a take on the classic carbonated West Coast Cooler.
“I think it all speaks to a bit of a moment we’re in,” Flynn says. “We want warmth, we want connection, we want things that are familiar and fun, and maybe slightly nostalgic. But I also think it helps tell the story behind the restaurant as well.”
Retro Chinese takes over Southside June 19-20.
Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
