3 min read

Here's How To Experience Authentic Asian Street Food In Sydney

Photo above: Via instagram I took on entering the restaurant

I've been a big fan of Wok On Inn for a few years now and recently had an invitation to join a few other bloggers for a cooking lesson at the new Zetland restaurant.

It was my first visit to the Zetland restaurant. I was a frequent visitor of the Darlinghurst restaurant until it relocated to Zetland so when I arrived I was delighted to be greeted by some of the staff that I knew from Darlinghurst, as well as the Managing Director of the chain, Ankur who I have also known since being a regular client.

One thing that impresses me when I'm a regular at a restaurant is how the staff get to know me, and the Wok On Inn staff certainly take an interest in their clients, they are friendly and welcome guests with big warm smiles.

The restaurant decor is amazing. With gorgeous artwork, neon lights and even a space upstairs that represents a 'home' above the restaurant! The photo at the top of this post and the one above are part of the wall decor.

Wok On Inn is known for creating authentic Asian Street Food. The sauces are imported from Asia to ensure that the dishes served in the restaurant are as close as possible to real Asian Street Food.

Our task was to make a dish to eat for our lunch called 'Drunken Noodles' and our teacher was Chef, Nut Kunlert, who brings 20 years of Asian cooking experience to Australia.

With my wok and fresh ingredients ready to go, it was time to create lunch.

First task was a bit of manual labour! We had to use a mortar and pestle to grind a range of spices and herbs in the right order including garlic, chilli, lemongrass, lime leaf and 4 krachai roots. I went light on the garlic and chilli because I'm not a huge fan, but my fellow bloggers were using the whole quantity. Surely a food processor could do this? The answer is yes, of course but would that really be authentic Asian Street Food? To me, grinding ingredients using a mortar and pestle is not unlike cooking a risotto; it's a calming, almost meditative experience.

Once our paste was made it was now time to add the vegetables and meat of choice, I chose prawns, but you could use beef or chicken.

Chef explained to us what goes in the sauces and showed us plates of beautiful ingredients.

By now the pressure was on to keep the wok at the right temperature and move the ingredients around so the noodles stayed intact. It's a matter of gently moving the ingredients around the wok and then patting them down. Confession: I had some help here ;)