What are top five things you think of when someone mentions Australia?
My list would have been as follows, in no particular order...
The Ashes
The Kangaroos
The Aborigines
The Barrier Reef.
The Sun-kissed beaches.
This was until Masterchef Australia came around, and I became addicted to it. I couldn't fathom how the Aussies got so good at cooking. After all, their ancestors were English!
But on a recent trip earlier this month, I fell in love with the food (and alcohol) dished out in Australia: not only the preparations, but the overall experience as well.
Here are my 10 reasons for it.
10. Bring your own alcohol.
Its not an Aussie idea, but its highly prevalent here. It saves dough (and you need to use your $$$s carefully in this expensive country), and gives you the option of bringing your favourite wine the restaurant might not serve. Cheers to that!
9. Toasted Sandwiches
While having a Subway in Singapore or the US, I request toasting for a longer time and yet am invariably disappointed with the shade of brown on the bread. The Aussies love to toast their bread: that perfect balance between softness and crunchiness in the bread that I crave seems to be the standard there.
8. All inclusive pricing
Do I have the option of not paying tax on the food I consume? Or refusing to cough up the service charge even if the waiter has a sullen face? So why do restaurants the world over put me through the torture of calculating VAT, and SC, and Tax on SC, and so on when I receive the bill? The Aussies are broadly honest and upfront people: they say what they mean and print on their menus what you will be charged. No extras
7. The Local Beers
Whether its Tiger in Singapore, Kingfisher in India, Angkor in Cambodia or Singhas in Srilanka, they all seem to me to be close cousins of Heineken and Budweiser. In other words: not much alcohol, and not much flavour either. But in Australia, you get plenty of real beers, all locally brewed.
And don't you believe those TV ads that proclaim Fosters is "Australian for Beer". If anyone drinks Fosters in Australia, I need to get my eyes checked.
6. Vegetarian Options
I used to think of Australia as a meat-lovers' paradise, but with the rise of veganism, veggie options have proliferated. We walked into a burger joint in Sydney, and they had 3 options for Veggies. Three!! Even McDonald's in India doesn't have that. There was a chickpea patty, and a veggie patty and a mushroom patty. The first one was complemented by tzatziki, the next one with beetroot and the last one with red peppers.
5. Cheap Alcohol
Alcohol is not a sin (read: high taxes) here. $5 happy hour specials abound, not just in remote alleyways, but also by the beautiful Darling Harbor in Sydney. We ordered a bottle of local wine, during Sunday dinner time, at a roadside café by the fountains in Kings Cross, only for 16 dollars. A rooftop bar in Mumbai, which shall not be named, charges me the same just for 1 beer, and provides me a birds eye view of the surrounding slums to justify the price.
4. Fresh Ingredients
I cannot comment on whether the free range Aussie beef beats its American corn-fed counterpart, but the difference in the freshness in the vegetables compared to India or Singapore was evident. Jyoti fondly remembers the taste of beetroot in one of the burgers we had, while I can vouch that French Fries in Australia are far tastier than anything I've eaten in the US of A.
3. Service with a broad smile.
At a self-service Greek joint, we were offered table service. At another café, we were so full of the mains, we requested to cancel the order for coffee. Pat came the answer "no problems!", with a wide grin to go with it. Ask the bartender which beer they would recommend, and you got a long description of where each one came from, and what is their speciality. At an Italian restaurant by the beachside in Gold Coast, the waitress was beaming like it was Prince William and Kate Middleton she was catering to! (Ah no, I take that back, it would be improper to smile a lot in the presence of British Royalty)
2. Diversity of cuisines
In Melbourne, there was a Greek restaurant on every alternate block. In Sydney, in the limited time I was around, I noticed 2 Czech restaurants. I didn't even know there was anything like Czech food. Australia may have been a closed country less than 50 years back, but how fast has it opened up and how well has it assimilated the influx of culinary ideas!
1. The views
Ah! The views! Ultimately it all seems to boil down to geography. The beach or the woods are never too far. The sun is always shining, and the surf is always up. There cant be any philosophers in Australia: there is no time to look inward. Eat, drink and be merry. Carpe Diem.
