FermentAisan
90 Murray Street
Tanunda
South Australia 5352
web
www.fermentasian.com.au
email bookings@fermentasian.com.au
telephone +61 8 8563 0765
OPEN Lunch Thursday til Sunday 12 noon til 2.30 pm, dinner Wednesday to Saturday 6.00 pm til 9.30 pm
EDITOR’s NOTE…I have to own to a close personal association with owners Tuoi Do and Grant Dickson and as a friend advised them for many months. They took much of my advice, but infact made their own decisions in the end and I have to admit when they decided on their current location, knowing the rent and just how tough running a restaurant from the kitchen is, I was fearful for them. Well, what did I know? Nine months later they are packed at every evening service and busy at lunch time and have been reviewed and written about favourably by Australia’s most popular restaurant critics and incredibly, given the very short time they have been open have been named in John Lethlean’s (The Australian) top 50 Australian restaurants.
Further I must confess continue to maintain the FermentAsian web site and just loving adding their accolades as they come through…so now having fessed up to the connection here’s what I think about FermentAsian!
Ann Oliver September 2011
So, now it’s on to what we really think about FermentAsian!
FOOD Walk through the door and be assailed be the most magical aromas of pungent fragrant herb and spice and one immediately loses the sense of the Barossan location and immediately becomes impatient for the menu to arrive. My three companions are regular diners at FermentAsian and the ordering is immediately handed to co owner Grant Dicken with the simple instruction to ask Tuoi to feed us. Knowing we all love Champagne a glass of NV Sebastien Brunet Vouvray Pétillant Naturel magically appears and is an immediate reminder that this restaurant is not just in wine country but has one of South Australia’s most exceptional wine lists, but…more about that later!
Gio mia Sai Gon Saigon sugar cane prawns with lime–chilli–salt (2) $13 are not somthing I would have chosen to order, but they were the dawning of the realisation that Tuoi Do’s cooking has the most unexpected refinement and equisite balance. No ingredient exceeds the other, textures are perfect and the complexity of the flavour combinations heavenly. I don’t really know what I had expected but the hot sour vinegar/lime, palate destroying pungency, so often found in more traditional (and less exceptional) Vietnamese food is completely missing, tamed in the most interesting and delectable way. Served simply, they came with a small dish of sliced baby orange, salt and chilli with the instructions to mash the salt, chilli and orange juice and dip the sugar cane prawns into the mix. Generally sugar can prawns are made from very nasty prawn meat and come with an unpleasant rubbery texture and an offensive muddy taste that has never been good enough to entice me to have more than a couple of investigatory bites. Toui Do’s were moist, sweet and succulent flavoursome and vanished in a couple of bites leaving us sucking the sugar cane skewers and wishing there had been more.
Next came spring rolls, Nem ha Noi Hanoi spring rolls with salad of fresh herbs and classic Vietnamese dipping sauce (2) $13. Again like nothing I had ever tasted before. Filled with a crumbly, but not dry, fine pork mince and herbs they come in a bubbled crisp wrapper and are served with a mound of leaves that included soft lettuce, mint, coriander and rau ram and a little dish of sauce that is flavoured with chilli, lime and palm sugar with just the right amount of sourness to work with the meat but not ruin the wonderful old 1997 Rockford Eden Valley Riesling we had moved on to. Small wonder that the combination of Do’s cooking and Dickson’s wine knowledge has made their restaurant the instant darling of the Barossa Valley wine industry (and Australia) who support the restaurant with their VIP visitors and delight in showing FermentAsian off like proud parents. Prior to experiencing this food Riesling would never have een my choice for Vietnamese but it is a stunning match! A classic vintage perfectly cellared certainly adds to the equation but it is sublime! The point is that Do’s cooking is the most stunning fusion aided and abetted by the fact that she herself does not like untamed chilli.
I especially like that everything that comes on the plate is meant to be eaten and the pared back presentation shows a confidence in Do’s cooking that belies her minimal experience in the commercial kitchen. It has to be one of the most phenomenal rises to fame in the history of Australian cuisine. Do’s experience as a professional cook is just the length of time they have been open…a tiny nine months! For their two opening weeks their friend and professional chef Anthony Fischbeck, who had recently closed his acclaimed restaurant
Brass Razoo came down from New South Wales and worked along side of Tuoi and also helped them prior to opening set up the kitchen, even to the point of providing equipment. It was only with Tony’s help that Do got through the first two weeks of being open, but, to say the learning curve must have been incredibly steep in an understatement…Tuoi Do is a truly remarkable young woman!
Something that is blindingly obvious with the food at FermentAsian is the quality of produce much of it refreshingly REALLY local. The Goi tom grilled prawns with aromatic galangal salad $16 has the sweetness of Australian prawns and there is no attempt to smother them in flavour. They are almost nude resting on a delciious but complex salad delicately dressed with the menthol flavoured root galangal
that in no way tries to overpower the delicacy of the prawns. The Rockford 1997 Eden Valley Riesling has opened out into the chameleon a good Riesling can be and is a stunning match for the delicate slightly sweet herbaceous flavours of this dish. The next dish which is commonly found badly done on menus in Adelaide was perfect with the right amount of crunch, the right amount of meat and the right muted dressing.
The Goi bo den grilled Barossa black Angus beef with salad of fresh herbs $25 is a stunner.
By now I am in love with the cooking of Tuoi Do and wishing I hadn’t been so careful with my reputation (and hers) and my fear of being accused of being accused of nepotism and enjoyed her wonderful cooking long before this.
The dishes keep coming and by this time we are drinking an utterly sublime 90 Rockfrod basket Press Shiraz. Yes, by now you are all jealus as hell (and so you should be) because 1990 is a classic Australian vintage and unlike myself this sublime wine is showing absolutely no sign of age. It is equisite with refined tannins that are still full of promise indicating it could be cellared for at least another 20 years. The wine is no longer brazen, nor is it soft and still challenges the drinker with it’s clarity and honesty…it is divine!!! But, unbelievably I would never have envisaged drinking this wine with Asian food and had it been my choice would never have opened it for this meal, and yet…it is a superb, a stunning match for the dishes that follow. The elegance and finesse of this outstanding wine proves to be a perfect match for Ma bo om braised organic beef cheeks with hot and sour herbs $25. This is a rich textural dish that is generous with the wine, and the wine despite the restrained chilli embraces the silken fattiness of the cheeks…it is a remarkable combination. Again it is plainly served without stupid and unnecessary garnishes.
By now you might expect that we are exploding but this is a menu meant to be shared and portioned appropriately, and we did just that. The Lon Ko ha Noi Hanoi caramel Barossa Berkshire pork belly $23 is simplicity itself. Super tender in a rich caramel soy sauce it marries well with the green vegetables, plain rice and Goi nam a warm mushroom salad with galangal dressing $22. One of the best things about Tuoi Do’s food is that each dish despite the repetition of some dressing ingredients has individual flavours. The mushrooms are textural with chewiness and softness and the dressing, although flavoured with galangal is more soy based and a perfect foil for the mushrooms. Lastly, the Ca ri vt red duck curry with lychees and pineapple $26. Basically half a duck the nuances are so very different from the rest of the food. A delicate fragrant curry embellished with the richness of coconut milk perfectly balances with the acidity of pineapple and the silken sodtness of lynchees. It is wonderful!
Despite the fact we should have been defeated by the huge amounts of food we had consumed dessert was ordered. The locals insisted on Bre lee chahn Lime Brûlée $12, Com ned den va soal black sticky rice pudding with caramelised bananas $10 and Le voi kem spiced caramel pear with chilli chocolate ice cream $10.
The lime brûlée comes in a small Chinese tea cup, not my prefered way of serving a brûlée because I prefer wide and shallow but it is not fridge cold and has an intense citrus flavour and perfect silken texture. The black sticky rice pudding is again not a favourite but is quite delicious with just the right amount of caramelised banana to lift the black rice component out of the doldrums and the pear with chilli chocolate ice cream is excellent. None of these are complicated desserts and could be greatly improved with housemade ice creams, but are a leap above the offerings in most Asian restaurants.
Synopsis…this is a surpising restaurant and it must be said that being named in the Australian’s top 50 restaurants might be as much a curse as it is a blessing. Do not go to FermentAsian expection opulent three star surrounds or snotty service. This restaurant has a simple, almost plain decor that will with time and money take on a new dimension as embellishments are added. It is hard enough to find brilliant passionate front of house staff in the city
and even harder in regional South Australia. It will take time for the right person to take charge of the front of house at FermentAsian to step forward, but luckily the wonderful cooking of Tuoi Do and the brilliant wine list of Grant Dickson is sufficient to charm and excite diners and let them forgive some short comings in service.
Synopsis…being named in Australia’s top 50 restaurants may be as much a curse as it is a blessing for FermentAsian but if Michelin can finally look at restaurants that offer a wonderful (and complete) dining experience without having to spend millions why shouldn’t Australian restaurant reviews look for the same type of honesty.
Do not go to FermentAsian expecting posh surrounds, extravagant accoutrements or super polished service because you will be disappointed. This restaurant has a simple, almost plain decor that will with time and money take on a new dimension as embellishments are added. It is hard enough to find brilliant passionate front of house staff in the city
and even harder in regional South Australia. It will take time for the right person to take charge of the front of house at FermentAsian to step forward, but luckily the wonderful cooking of Tuoi Do and the brilliant wine list of Grant Dickson is sufficient to charm and excite diners and let them forgive some short comings in service. It will take time for the right person to take charge of the front of house at FermentAsian to step forward, but luckily the wonderful cooking of Tuoi Do and the brilliant wine list of Grant Dickson is sufficient to charm and excite diners and let them forgive some short comings in service.
Our only complaint,the musac! The music went unnoticed on our evening visit but during the lunch visit I longed to get up and switch it off. Dickson you are an accomplished musician and I'm sure you could come up with something less offensive!
WINE This is the type of wine list we long for and rarely find. How often do you look at a wine list and cannot find anything under the 80 dollar mark that really attracts you and then feel rather grumpy because it is current vintage or at the most a couple of years old? How often do you wish who ever was responsible for writing a wine list had put some thought and effort into finding good wines at a range of prices? Well, the list at FermentAisan is the benchmark for a very intelligent interesting wine list embellished brilliantly with back vintages and complexity and of course the beneficiary of the fact that Grant Dickson has been cellaring wine for many years.
Perfectly cellared and priced so low as to be very very seductive. No surprise that Grant Dickson
has more than an average interest and knowledge about wine. Grant’s real job is with Rockford Wines and as their representative he has a national reputation for brand loyalty and consummate service and of course has over the years accumulated tremendous wine knowledge. The Rockford philosophy is one Dickson has carried into his new business. The wine list at FermentAisan is the combination of a lifetime of collecting and cellaring wine and constantly tasting and learning about wine. And…before you start thinking in terms of meda dollars many of the excellent wines by the glass are incredibly just $8. What I especially like is that Dickson doesn’t succumb to the “popular!” like for instance crappy Prosecco and supermarket Grünner Veltiner found on most Adelaide wine lists. This is just one of the things I love about the wine list at FermentAsian a Grünner Veltiner from New Zealand, Tinpot Hut Grünner Veltliner Marlborough, which was just bloody gorgeous.
Understandably Barossan wine people with their own brilliant cellars enjoy the opportunity to BYO with food that is so sublimely wine friendly, but we recommend staying somewhere for the night, preferrably within walking distance, and indulge in fact saty a week and see just how much of this brilliant list you can manage to consume!
At a time when our politicians make a mockery of the Australian tradition of “have a go mate!” and most thinking Australians feel ashamed of our immigration policy this is a story with particular poinancy as Toui’s mother Tinh Pung and father bang Do are now permanent residents in Australia and their support and work is fundamental to the success of their operation.
The fact that Tuoi and Grant have been waiting for months to get approval for a work visa for a chef from the wonderful KOTO program Vietnam Tuoi must be wondering just how much longer she can go it alone. Any south Australian restaurant, or for that matter any international restaurant advertsing locally for chefs will agree that the calibre of local chefs applying for these many vacant positions are mainly of the type where their resumes are thrown in the bin. In fact there would be plenty of South Australian businesses looking for chefs who have almost despaired at ever finding a chef with talent and passion to slot into their kitchen team. Why part of the immigration deal is paying thousands to ruthless imigration lawyers is beyond most thinking Australians and a shameless waste of hard working people’s money!
