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FROM TOP: NICK JOHNSON, BILL MILNE<br />
Jeow (jeow.net.au), in Melbourne, has much in common<br />
with North: the food here is Laotian, from the other side of the<br />
Mekong—“jeow” is the Lao word for a sauce, paste or dip—and<br />
funky, jungle flavors are to the fore in dishes like “or lam”, a brothy<br />
stew made with beef short ribs, spiced with the Szechuan pepperlike<br />
“sakhaan” and fragrant with herbs. Chef and co-owner Thi Le<br />
is also fermenting her own Laotian fish sauce, a cloudy condiment<br />
called “padek” that adds its distinctively pungent flavor to many<br />
Laotian dishes.<br />
Also in Melbourne, Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters<br />
(victoriarestaurant.com.au) has galvanized the Fed Square<br />
culinary scene with an ambitious 250-cover restaurant, a 20-cover<br />
wine library, and an all-weather terrace overlooking the Yarra<br />
River. Leading the kitchen is chef Alejandro Saravia, and his menu<br />
celebrates the produce of Victoria, from Snake Valley smoked eel<br />
pâté with pancetta, and Koo Wee Rup asparagus with walnut<br />
cream to Western Plains pork loin with roast onion and dark beer,<br />
and free-range lamb cutlets with mountain pepper mustard. The<br />
wine list is described as a “bible,” and they’re not kidding.<br />
There’s no kangaroo on Saravia’s menu, but it has somehow<br />
hopped over to Singapore: specifically, to Kaarla (kaarla-oumi.sg),<br />
the new restaurant from Australian-born chef John-Paul Fiechtner.<br />
His spotlight shines on Australian coastal cuisine: as well as<br />
kangaroo, salted and given extra bounce with liquorice root and<br />
bush tomato, you might find Australian oysters with oyster leaf and<br />
fig leaf vinegar, Abrolhos Island scallops with edible flowers and<br />
trout roe, and wagyu from Robbins Island, pepped up with pickles<br />
and preserves from Fiechtner’s garden. The kitchen’s impressive<br />
wood-fired grill gives a welcome lick of smoke to many of the<br />
dishes, and the wine list is also striking.<br />
Finally, heading back to the States, and two new restaurants—<br />
the first in Los Angeles, the second in Chicago—that confirm<br />
the Gallic trend, although Mr. T’s (mrtrestaurants.com) original<br />
restaurant is in Paris’s trendy Upper Marais district, where chef<br />
Tsuyoshi Miyazaki (the eponymous Mr. T) and business partner<br />
Guillaume Guedj play fast and loose with the bistro concept, to<br />
the delight of a hipster crowd that feasts happily on lamb kebabs<br />
scented with burning thyme, truffled mac’n’cheese, and vegan<br />
“merguez” made from carrots and served with salsify fries, all to a<br />
thumping R&B backbeat. Expect no different on Hollywood’s North<br />
Sycamore Avenue.<br />
Obélix (obelixchicago.com), in Chicago’s River North district,<br />
is cut from more traditional cloth: Daniel Boulud (or his mother)<br />
could have written the menu. Gratinated onion soup features a<br />
rich beef stock, Swiss cheese and croûtons, salade lyonnaise<br />
tosses duck confit and duck egg in with the frisée and the<br />
vinaigrette, and coquilles Saint-Jacques are bathed in a grapestudded<br />
sauce Véronique. The sancerre is perfectly chilled, the<br />
plateau de fruits de mer is a work of art, the jelly in the pâté en<br />
croûte has the perfect wobble, and the room is as buzzy as a<br />
beehive. As co-owners and brothers Oliver and Nicolas Poilevey<br />
would probably say: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.<br />
NetJets<br />
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