Cheong Liew is one of Australia's most innovative and exciting chefs, renowned for his bold approach to food and acclaimed for putting Asian flavours and ideas firmly on the tables of Australia's European-style restaurants. 'My Food', Cheong's long-awaited collection of original recipes, captures the essence of Australian cultural diversity in seven eclectic menus.
Cheong takes inspiration from wherever the senses invite him. Sight, taste, smell and feel are all steps in the dance that is Cheong's repertoire: from mahogany-coloured anise and ginger duck to the complexity of flavours in pork hock with wood fungus, the fragrance of tea-smoked quail and the texture of gelatinous shark lips with sea cucumber. The simplest techniques are also shared - perfect steeped chicken, a green salad with no mystery. These are recipes for anyone who enjoys eating well and looks beyond the obvious.
Written with friend Elizabeth Ho as the natural extension of a long culinary and cultural dialogue over several years, the evocative narrative accompanying the recipes weaves in and out of the past to the days of Cheong's ground-breaking restaurant Neddy's, Grandmother Liew's cooking or simply memories of a colour or scent that appealed.
'My Food' is an offering from the heart and from the soul, an invitation to pursue the flavour of things, to share in this culinary adventure presented by Cheong and Liz and embrace the surprises that will follow.
