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IRON CHEF RESTAURANT LAUNCHES SICHUAN GOURMET FESTIVAL

When:01 September to 30 September 20129:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Where:Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant84 Broomfield Street , Cabramatta, NSWTel: +61 2 9723 6228Web: www.ironchef.com.au/

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Cost:Dishes can be ordered individually, prices range from $12-$30, or choose from three different types of Sichuan FamilyMenus. (Fundraiser)

Audience:Family

This September, Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Cabramatta will introduce a new range of Sichuan dishes toits menu as part of their first ever Sichuan Gourmet Festival.

A percentage from each dish sold will go to a foundation set up by Iron Chef to help raise money for children affectedby the devastating Sichuan earthquake in 2008.

Created by renowned Chef Mei Lin and hospitality rock star Zhou Zhang from Chengdu (one of Chinas gourmetcapitals), the new dishes will provide guests with a taste of Sichuan cuisine at its best.

Guests can order the dishes individually, which ranges from $12-$30, or choose from three different types of SichuanFamily Menus: $998 for 10 people (includes a box of Maxim Moon Cake), $688 for 10 people (includes a bottle of redand white Tyrrells wines), and $288 for 6 people (also includes bottles of Tyrells wines).

Highlights include poached marbled beef in a chive and enoki master stock ($21.80), silver perch submerged in Sichuanchilli broth ($26.80), and pork knuckle drizzled with Sichuan spiced sauce ($12.80).

Iron Chef is also hosting a special 16-course Sichuan Gourmet Festival opening gala dinner on Friday, 7th of Septemberfor $168 person. This includes a Sichuan tasting banquet menu and cultural performances on the evening. All proceedsfrom the evening will also go to Iron Chefs special foundation for the children of Chengdu.

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Concrete Playground

Sichuan Gourmet Festival

Australia has come a long way since the days described in Myf Warhurst's Nice series, whenthirty years ago the most impossibly fancy thing you could do was go out to the localChinese restaurant for some sweet and sour pork. These days, Australia's general foodliteracy and cultural mix has improved to the point where restaurant goers expect a range ofchoices, from high end fine dining, to well-priced quick eats.

There has been a host of new Chinese-inspired restaurants open in Sydney recently, butdespite the plethora of choice – think Mr. Wong, the Century, China Lane and Johnny Wong'sDumpling Bar – one would have a reasonably difficult time denying that much of our city'sAsian culinary excellence lies a little further west. In Cabramatta, to be precise. Today, thissuburb that was once famous for its gangs and chronic drug problems, is home to ahumming cultural scene and one epic 550-seater restaurant. The Iron Chef Chinese SeafoodRestaurant. This September, the restaurant will be launching the first Sichuan GourmetFestival, running for the whole month.

Restaurant owner, Phillip Visalli, has invited two celebrity chefs over from Chengdu inSichuan province for the festival. At 30 and 29, Mei Lin and Zhou Zhang have establishedthemselves as two of China's most respected chefs. Mei Lin has worked at the four starPortman hotel and Wei Dao Jiang Hu Restaurant, and is secretary general for the SichuanGastronomist and Head Chef Association, which represents the young guns in town. ZhouZhang has also worked at the Portman Hotel and is executive chef at four star boutique hotelJui Yi Xiang. In his spare time he is an editor for a number of food publications. The twochefs clearly have Sichuan fire in their bellies and are ready for dish up all thingssensationally hot. And we're not just talking about he chilli. Together they have come up witha range of menus for the festival.

The festivities will begin with an epic 16 course gala dinner on Friday, September 7 ($168).On offer are dishes such as pork knuckle with Sichuan spiced sauce, deboned chicken feetwith red oil and other dishes such as the wok-fried preserved pork showcasing the mostfamous Sichuan ingredient ... Sichuan pepper. The small pepper presents humbly enough,but tastes like a spicy firecracker. The evening will conclude with the intriguingly titledmouth-numbing ice cream, made with the infamous pepper. Throughout the month punterscan order dishes individually, or opt for one of the set menus for groups.

Though Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant is not associated in any way with the TV seriesby the same name, it does share the same theatricality and spectacle sans the tacky voiceovers. Entertainment for the gala night will be in the form of magic and trickery from AdamMada and a traditional Chinese changing face performance. The two guest chefs themselveswill be appearing on September 23 as part of the Cabramatta moon festival with a cookingdemonstration in the afternoon.

For those in the inner city looking for something closer to home, Café Sicilia in Surry Hills ispartaking in the festival by producing their own version of mouth-numbing ice cream.Rumour has it that this place, as the sister restaurant of Iron Chef Chinese SeafoodRestaurant, was forced to close it's doors one recent evening after the chefs thought it fittingto bite down on some fresh Sichuan peppers that had been delivered for their Evil Cornettoice cream. We'd by crying if we'd have done the same. Don't blame 'em.

The launch of the inaugural Sichuan Gourmet Festival is a wonderful reflection of the qualityand diversity of Chinese cuisine on offer in greater Sydney. From our humble beginnings,Australia's taste buds are growing up showing a celebration of our rich cultural fabric.

The Sichuan Gourmet Festival runs from September 1 - 30, 2012 at the Iron Chef ChineseSeafood Restaurant in Cabramatta.

August 28, 2012 by Jessica Keath

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Comfortably numb ... chicken with Sichuan pepper andchilli.

Numbers game ... at weekends, 4200 people visit the restaurant for yum cha. Photo: Quentin Jones

It's an unusual cooking competition. In the Sichuan region of China's south-west, two chefs battle for a trip to Sydney, to work in a Cabramattarestaurant for a month. They each create and serve a sumptuous banquet, with the owner of the Sydney restaurant present.

Their meals aim to show the region's food highlights and their prowess as young, progressive chefs.

Zhang Zhou's 19-dish meal is served in a richly decorated private dining room of the Jiu Yi Xiang Hotel in Chengdu's Gaoxin district, where the29-year-old is executive chef. There's a key ingredient that uniquely identifies this region.

Sichuan pepper is hot, but not chilli hot, and aromatic with a woody, spicy, slightly citrus aroma -but its real power is an ability to pack a multiflavoured, mouth-warming punch that numbs the lipsand tongue. The Chinese call it ''ma'', or anaesthetic, and in excess it can send the mouth into atingling tango of pins and needles.

There's a hint of the pepper in Zhang's dish of twice-cooked pork. Thin slivers of meat are boiledthen wok-fried with sweet bean paste, chilli bean paste, a dash of soy and a scattering offermented black beans. Its home-style hot and beany flavour makes it one of the region's bestknown and loved dishes. Zhang serves it with sliced capsicum and garlic shoots.

For a dry-braised dish of pepper-tingling chicken, served amid a jumble of dried, bright-redchillies, he sources a prized black rooster from the mountains. Diners pick the meat from the pilewith chopsticks. The dish has its origins in Chongqing, about 340 kilometres to the east, an areaknown for its scorching heat. Residents deal with the weather by eating more chillies andpeppers.

Spicy sausage ingredients are marinated inpeppers for six hours, dried then sliced, andwhite fish is served in a rich broth with pickledmustard greens.

Banquets follow a pattern. Cold dishes, oftenincluding pickled vegetables and fruit, are servedfirst, followed by fiery, multiflavoured courses,often concluding with a blander dish. Rice rarelyfeatures.

Every meal is carefully constructed to highlight

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August 7, 2012 Read later

Sue Bennett

A cuisine made to go the distance

Pickled cucumbers.

Winning chef Zhang Zhou.

the Chinese five tastes of salty, sweet, sour, hotand bitter plus, in Sichuan, numbing. As thedishes keep appearing, the lazy Susan becomescrowded with a thrilling feast of textures, tastesand pageantry.

Zhang's 19-dish spectacular ranges from slow-cooked red braised beef to prawns in boiling oil, braised eggplant with minced pork sauce and wok-fried pork. Phillip Visalli, the managing director of The V Group, which owns hotels and restaurants in Sydney, is at the table.

Zhang has a reputation for creative cooking in a food culture renowned for its ability to adapt and take on contemporary ingredients and is hopingto be chosen for a placement at Visalli's Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Cabramatta.

His rival for the trip to Sydney is Lin Mei, 30. He's worked in restaurants across Chengdu but, in 2010 and in recognition of his skill in Sichuancuisine, he was appointed secretary general for the province's gastronomist and head chef association. He's taken roadshows around China andrepresented the country in Taiwan and the US.

For his multicourse banquet, he uses the vast kitchen of the Yidong Guoji hotel close to Xinhua Park.

His cold dishes include crisp green beans in a sauce rich with sesame paste and oil and nuggets of pork rib in a syrupy sauce with a hint ofvinegar. Sea cucumber is served in curly batons with Wunan-preserved beans, and a whole river fish comes on a platter in a chilli hot sauce.

In the kitchen, at a long line of flaming gas burners, pounding extractor fans compete with the clatter of metal ladles on cast-iron woks and thesizzle of oil meeting water. Here, Lin fries mud crab pieces to serve with chunks of firm tofu in a soupy, seafood broth.

Almost all cutting in the Chinese kitchen is done with one instrument, the cleaver. With extraordinary dexterity, the chef slices, dices, chops andcuts. With one hand, a chef can reduce a pile of red chillies into a paste with lightening speed.

Lin serves whole spicy prawns in a pile of dried chillies, with the unmistakable Sichuan pepper hit, and baby abalone are prepared in the shell,spiked with chilli slivers and Wunan-preserved beans.

To the Chinese, texture is as important as flavour and smell in a dish. It's one reason tripe, slippery noodles, jellyfish and sea cucumber areprized. Both chefs serve chicken or ducks' feet, a favourite for the chewiness of their skins. Lin offers them cold and marinated.

In selecting the chef to work at his 600-seat restaurant throughout September, Visalli looks for authenticity in the food. He's travelled widely inChina and concludes Zhang best reflects what's he looking for.

''After travelling around Chengdu and eating at leading chefs' restaurants in other cities, I felt chef Zhang Zhou's flavour profile, delicate touch,plating skills and most importantly his accuracy on authentic tastes was superior to everything else I saw,'' Visalli says. ''I felt comfortable seeinghim at work in his current role [he'll be] well able to handle the high volume of customers we expect during the month he is with us.''

Many dishes on next month's special menus at Iron Chef are Zhang's but, in a win-win move for both chefs, Lin will also travel to Sydney.

With a restaurant serving up to 11,000 diners weekly, you can't have enough Sichuan experts.

Sue Bennett travelled as a guest of The V Group.

How to stand out in a crowdPhillip Visalli is bringing a Sichuan chef to his Cabramatta restaurant ''to give my chefs an experience of another cuisine and region of China and

to give something back to the customers … something authentic they maybe can't get elsewhere''.

And he's not short of customers. Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant caters for 11,000 diners weekly with its predominantly Cantonese menu.

The kitchen is split into three areas - dim sum, a la carte and barbecue, each with an executive chef. In total, there are 30 chefs, with a minimumof 12 in the dim sum kitchen at weekends when 4200 people visit the restaurant for yum cha.

The chefs offer 120 different dim sum from pork buns and dumplings to rice steamed with chickens' feet and pork on the bone. When regularsarrive in the early morning midweek, congee topped with cubes of jellied pigs' blood is a favourite.

''We offer 120 items but it doesn't mean they are all on the trolleys at any one time,'' Visalli says. ''They roll out at different times with the kitchendeciding on what's selling.

''There's no sequence. About 12 trolleys are out at one time and 95 per cent of the customers know what dishes they want so the kitchen makesthem to order.''

As the day rolls on, dim sum gives way to a la carte and, at 3pm, when the 550-seat restaurant closes for a two-hour break, the yum cha kitchencloses. By 5pm, the other two kitchens are gearing up for dinner when lobsters and crabs are among their best sellers. The restaurant's site, atthe Stardust Hotel, was once famous as Sweethearts nightclub. In the 1980s, Kylie Minogue, John Farnham, Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel wereregular performers and Molly Meldrum was a presenter.

When the Australian-Sicilian Visalli family bought the hotel, they toyed with the possibility of opening an Italian restaurant.

''But Cabramatta was being cleaned up and had lost that seedier part,'' Visalli says. ''This is an Asian area so we should be catering to ourmarket.''

They opened Iron Chef in 2006.

The month-long Sichuan festival will be the fourth time they have hosted chefs from different regions of China.

Turn up the heatSichuan food is famed throughout China for its sophistication, diversity and depth of flavour. Sichuan peppers and chillies are key ingredients.Dishes served at Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Cabramatta next month, during Sichuan chef Zhang Zhou's visit, will include:

Twice-cooked pork with ginger and Sichuan pepper.

Boiling oil and Sichuan peppers over sliced lamb.

Chilled deboned chicken feet marinated in red oil.

Steamed silver perch in Sichuanese chilli broth.

Braised tofu cooked in a clay pot, with spicy pork-mince sauce.

Deboned chicken feet marinated in red oil sauce.

Wok-flamed lobster in a mild chilli bean reduction.

Poached marbled beef in chive and enoki mushroom master stock.

Sliced sea cucumber with braised pork belly.

Dishes will be served a la carte and in banquets, starting from $288 for six people, which includes 11 dishes and two bottles of wine.

Sichuan food festival in September at Iron Chef, 84 Broomfield Street, Cabramatta, 9723 6228.

Fund-raisers for school a lesson in compassion after earthquakeThe capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu, is close to the epicentre of the devastating 2008 Wenchuan earthquake that claimed an estimated100,000 lives.

On the face of it, the city is an affluent metropolis with countless French designer stores and Porsches on the streets.

But many families have struggled to reconstruct their lives since the disaster. The cost of schooling is expensive for many. Free education isprovided for six years of primary and three years of high school in China but extras, including lunches, cost 1000 yuan ($150) a year.

This in a city where an annual income of less than 1700 yuan is beneath the poverty line.

The managing director of The V Group, Phillip Visalli, has undertaken to sponsor 30 needy children from the Chengdu area from primary school tothe post-university period.

He hopes to raise $150,000 for the project during Sichuan food month at Iron Chef restaurant, Cabramatta.

Source: Good Living

Home > Things to do in Sydney > Festivals | Food and Wine | Restaurants

by VanessaVanessa Appassamy is an established freelance writer andresearcher.

Write for WeekendNotes | List an EventEvent: 01/09/2012 - 30/09/2012

Image courtesy of Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurantlarge image

This September, Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant proudlypresents a new range of Sichuan dishes as part of their first ever'Sichuan Gourmet Festival'. These new dishes were created byrenowned Chef Mei Lin and 'hospitality rock star' Zhou Zhang fromChengdu (one of China's gourmet capitals).

Throughout the month ofSeptember, these Sichuan disheswill be available on the regular IronChef menu. They range from $12 upto $30, or choose from threedifferent types of 'Sichuan FamilyMenus':

- $998 for 10 people (includes a boxof Maxim Moon Cake). - $688 for 10 people (includes abottle of red and white Tyrrell'swines).- $288 for 6 people (also includes bottles of Tyrell's wines).

Click here for the full Festival Event menu.

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62% off Delicious SeafoodPlatter with Wine, Sydney(Groupon)

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Image courtesy of Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurantlarge image

Menu highlights include poached marbled beef in a chive and enokimaster stock ($21.80), silver perch submerged in Sichuan chillibroth ($26.80) and pork knuckle drizzled with Sichuan spiced sauce($12.80).

A percentage from each dish sold will go to a foundation set up byIron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant to help raise money forchildren affected by the devastating Sichuan earthquake in 2008.

Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant is also hosting a special 16-course 'Sichuan Gourmet Festival' opening gala dinner on Friday,7th of September for $168 person.

This includes a Sichuan tasting banquet menu, as well asinteractive cooking demonstrations with Chef Mei Lin and ZhouZhang and a traditional Sichuan 'changing face' performance.

Click here for the full Gala Event Dinner menu.

Image courtesy of Iron Chef ChineseSeafood Restaurant

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All proceeds will also go to the special foundation for the children ofChengdu.

Bookings are essential either online at www.ironchef.com.au or bycalling 61 2 9723 6228.

Tickets for the 'Sichuan Gourmet Festival' opening gala dinner arealso sold in-store and online.

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Why? An unforgettable culinary journey of Sichuan cuisine.When: Open 7 days a week Monday-Friday 10am-3pm (for yum cha) and 5.30pm-10.30pm Saturday-Sunday 9am-3.30pm (for yum cha) and 5.30pm-11pmWebsite: www.ironchef.com.au/sichuanWhere: Iron Chef is located at 84 Broomfield Street CabramattaNSW 2166 (opposite the Cabramatta Railway Station)

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Spice up your life with a Sichuan feastAlly Burnie

The Sichuan Gourmet Festival is currently underway at The Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Cabramatta. Restaurant owner, Phillip Visalli, has invited two celebrity chefs from Chengdu in Sichuan province to Sydney for the inaugural event.

Interesting... Chiu Chow spicy duck’s feet

Mei Lin and Zhou Zhang have established themselves as two of China's most respected chefs and throughout September will beserving up a spicy Sichuan feast to anyone game enough to taste the mighty Sichaun pepper. The $168 per person feast consists of a whopping 16 courses. My highlight dishes are as follows. The Sichuan pork knuckle, served as an appetiser, is delightful. It has a mild tang that warms the palatte, almost as a warning for what'sto come. Another interesting appetiser is the Chiu Chow spicy duck’s feet. Despite the rubbery texture, the feet are surprisingly delicious – ataste almost akin to seaweed. Interesting, right?

Delicious... Kung Pao king prawns

Two notable mains are the braised shredded duck soup and the Kung Pao king prawns. The soup is thick and salty with a lovely freshpickled tang, while the shredded duck pieces are soft and tender. The sweet and sour prawns – a so-called western favourite – are divine, meaty prawns with the perfect balance of sweet and sourflavour. So whether you like it hot or not, this celebration of spice is definitely worth the trip to Cabramatta. Be adventurous. Be brave. Embrace the Sichuan pepper. http://ironchef.com.au/

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by The Carpaccio Bros. (subscribe)It's more than just raw meat!

Write for WeekendNotes | List an EventEvent: 01/09/2012 - 30/09/2012

Cheerful chinese cuisine

As I am sure most of you are well aware, when it comes to food, Iam particularly partial to Chinese food. Within the realms ofChinese food, my two favourites are the provincial Hunan (rich andsweet with hints of chilli) and Chengdu (simple flavours with a goodpunch of Sichuan chilli and spices) dishes. It is the latter which Iwas fortunate enough to be invited to try!

Coming from east Sydney, Luca and I were dreading the drive outwest, however, it was only a 30-minute drive without incident alongthe M5, there was parking available behind the restaurant andloads of on street parking.

Iron Chef Seafood Restaurant (notto be confused with the Iron Chef TVshow!) in Cabramatta stands outfrom the rest of the buildings onBroomfield Street with its beautifulexternal façade, fish tanks in thewindow and large gold letteringproudly announcing the restaurant inall its glory.

As we walked through the entranceway, we were blown away by theenormous (and beautiful) interior of the restaurant with all the telltale signs of a good Chinese restaurant. With high ceilings, bamboopanelling, gold Chinese lettering and an open plan kitchen and bar,allowing you to watch the food as it is being prepared. Although insaying this, there are many restaurants that have similar aestheticqualities and the true test is (as always) in the food. We weregreeted warmly and seated quickly on a beautiful but simply settable.

Spicy Pork Knucklelarge image

At the moment, they are running the Sichuan Gourmet Festival,offering patrons the opportunity to try authentic provincial Sichuan

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searchIron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant - Sichuan GourmetFestival

cuisine, having flown in Chef Zhou Zhang and Chef Lin Mei fromChengdu for the festival. As well as offering amazing food, all theproceeds of the Sichuan Gourmet Festival go to the Children'sEarthquake Foundation, setup to help the children affected by theearthquake in Chengdu four years ago (visit their website for moredetails about the foundation).

Pickled Cucumberlarge image

For the festival they have set menus ranging from $288 for 6 up to$988 for 10. We were treated to the $688 set menu for 10 (withportions modified for two). This included 6 entrées, 8 mains andthree desserts (needless to say there was more than enoughfood!). The first things out were the pickled cucumber withbeansprouts and chilli, the farmer's style chicken and the Sichuanpork knuckle. The pickled cucumber had subtle hints of the Sichuanchilli and a dash of horseradish in there, such simple and cleanflavours.

The farmers chicken was effectively slow-cooked chicken with chillioil and cucumber, but together they proved to be absolutelyheavenly. The cucumber cut through the acidity and bite of thechilli, whilst the chicken and chilli was spicy and rich. The porkknuckle was so tender it was almost impossible to eat withchopsticks with the weight of the meat pulling it apart. It almost hadIndian-esque spices with it that had a sharp contrast to the farmerschicken and the pickled cucumber.

Next came the snake beans in sesame sauce, which were a lovelychange to the richness of the previous entrées and had an almostpalate cleansing effect with the fresh and clean flavours of theshredded beans as well as the subtle earthly flavour of the sesame.

Mud Crab with Chillilarge image

The mains started with a bang, the chilli mud crab with egg noodleswas one of the only things we managed to finish completely. Themud crab was cooked perfectly and had already been cut intomanageable pieces; the sauce was sweet and spicy with hints oftomato and chilli, a perfect match to earthy crab with subtlesweetness in the flesh.

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Shredded Duck Souplarge image

Next was the braised shredded duck soup, which was servedbeautifully in small fine china pots. It mainly consisted of a rich,smooth and thick duck stock with enokitake mushrooms. Again, therichness of the stock was cut by the sweetness of the duck andthen small explosions of the earthy mushrooms, an absolutedelight.

Table Tetrislarge image

Suddenly our table was full and we couldn't find room for the nextdishes, however the skilful waiters somehow managed to squeezethe dishes onto our table without encroaching on our eating space(#TableTetris).

The twin fish again showed how masterfully they cook seafood, theflesh falling of the bone served with the beans, chilli, tomato andpeppers. All of which accentuated the subtle flavours of the fish,none being overly dominant. Simple, acidic, sweet and spicy, allworking together in harmony to beautifully enhance the flavours ofthe fish.

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Face Changing Operalarge image

Halfway through our meal, the Face Changing Opera started, BianLian (變臉; literally "Face-Changing") is an ancient Chinesedramatic art that is part of the more general Sichuan opera.Performers wear brightly coloured costumes and move to quick,dramatic music. They also wear vividly coloured masks, which theychange within a fraction of a second. I have to say I was veryimpressed and couldn't figure out how the master did it; he could bedancing or holding someone's hands and move his head slightlyand his mask would change!

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After the opera we resumed our meal, with bacon and red kidneybeans, served beautifully in rice pastry bowl. It's amazing howmeaty the beans can be and the smokiness of the baconcontrasted sharply to the heat of the chilli throughout this dish. Adefinite favourite.

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4 Greens with Oyster Mushroomslarge image

Next was the four vegetables (Chinese broccoli, bok choi, snowpeas and green beans) with oyster mushrooms, this is a must inany Chinese banquet menu and is sumptuous. Oyster mushroomsare one of my favourites; the rich and earthy coupled with the freshsweetness of the other vegetables made for a lovely lightaccompaniment to the richness of the other mains.

Finally, the roast chicken came out with crispy skin and a red beansauce. The chicken was moist and tender and the sauce wassweet, smooth and spicy and added to the moisture of the chickenand made every mouthful a little delight.

Everything was served with the Chengdu style fried rice, which onits own was yummy. It was like most fried rice but had the Sichuanpeppers spread throughout it and throw quite a spicy punch, butwhen added to the other dishes, soaks up all the goodness of thesauce and adds a bit of heat to them.

Rice Pancake with Mango and Homemade IceCream Fillinglarge image

The dessert was a fruit platter, some chewy Chinese cookies andmango rice pancakes, which were all de-light-ful! The rice pancakewas wrapped up into a roll and filled with homemade ice cream andmango. So good and such a contrast to the rest of the meal.

I have to give a special mention to the waiter David, who lookedafter us and served every dish with astonishing speed. His mannerwas without flaw, a perfect balance of attentive and relaxed. This isthe first time I have ever found such as warm and professionalwaiter in a restaurant. He went through every dish, explaining allthe different components and flavours. He even arranged for some

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