3/22 Hanson Road, Woodville Gardens
T 8345 3335 OPEN 7 days 9am – 8pm

FOOD Brigita Turniski is one of those fabulous chefs who in 30 years-plus of professional cooking has never for a second lost her passion.

We still dream about her fabulous food from years ago when she had a tiny restaurant called Café Istanbul on Melbourne Street. Nothing in Adelaide has replaced her wonderful Middle Eastern cooking but she has a fascination for all cuisines.

It was Brigita who dragged us along Hanson Road, explaining the hot roll shops, the roast meats, the congee and why these restaurants shut when you want to arrive. It was Brigita who introduced us to the miraculous garden of her friend Mr Tran who grows all manner of exotic Asian vegetables. Mr and Mrs Tran were refugees at the end of the Vietnam War. Theirs is yet another story of successful migration into the Australian community with three children with degrees working in the professional arena.

Interestingly, with all the fad diets insisting on ‘no carbs’, the Chinese and Asian kitchens have long believed that flour makes you fat and that ‘gluten free’ keeps you slim. They will point to the size of people in the wheat growing regions of China as clear evidence, rudely making jokes about them looking like the flour dumplings they (and we) so love. Asians and Chinese have a similar saying when it comes to eating: “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a dainty princess.”

Traditionally the evening meal is early, around 5.30pm, which explains why all of these restaurants open early and shut early and why they are often at their busiest at around 10.30am.

This has shaped the progression of the food that is eaten through the day, which starts with the huge bowls of energy-giving starchy congee, rice porridge that is embellished with meat and seafood if you can afford it. The middle meal is most often rice, noodles, meat, eggs and some vegetable, while the last meal is lighter and more vegetable orientated, such as pho and other soups.

Having lived through the insanity of working seven days a week for almost two years to become a nasty, grumpy sub-human thing, the gorgeous chef/owner Húóng Lúóng, who never stops smiling, is the epitome of Buddhist serenity. The golden pig, the altar and all the lucky symbols are just part of this tiny simple restaurant. Busy all day, Húóng starts with the breakfast congee and continues through the day with a steady stream of diners. Congee is an anathema to anyone who hates milky, creamy savoury things but a recent chicken congee (on Qantas out of Shanghai) believe it or not, unraveled its mysteries. Duck congee ($10) is one of the most expensive things on her menu and clearly relished by her clientele.

The pho, special beef noodle soup ($9) is the traditional Vietnamese hot and sour beef soup but favourites are the broken rice special ($9.50) and the typical Vietnamese vermicelli shredded pork salad ($9). Both come with the sweet, hot, vinegary chilli sauce and the broken rice is smothered with shredded pork, pork escalope and roast pork belly, vegetable, a fried egg and a bowl of clear meat broth.

The shredded pork salad is a mixture of crunchy and soft and once the chilli sauce has been poured over and mixed in, it has just the right bite of chilli. Portions are enormous. The mad selection of drinks, that to a Westerner always seem strange, are just that – salted prune or aloe vera juice ($2.50), egg and milk soda ($3) and milkshakes for ($3.50). The milkshakes are particularly bizarre with flavours such as avocado and sour sop, mung bean and pennywort. Over the years we have tried lots of these drinks, but none that we would order twice.

Húóng Phú Quán is modest, the food is cheap, generous and tasty and their take-way is a healthy lifesaver. For more under-$20 dining recommendations visit www.

galaxyguides.com.

ANN OLIVER

PHILIP WHITE'S WINE PICKS OF THE WEEK

Isabel Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2007
$23; 13.5% alcohol; screw cap; 92++ points

Mike Tiller, a pilot, always observed one patch of north-facing frost-free ground as he flew into Marlborough. Eventually he walked on it, sniffed and dreamed. Layers of limestone and moisture-retentive clay were beneath; against all the sages’ posturing, he and Robyn planted in 1982. This is the stunning result: it’s like licking pumice. It doesn’t conduct electricity: my keyboard just drank a glass of it without a hiccup. Phosphate, carbide, all manner of dry inedible things control the bouquet; the flavours are exquisitely withdrawing. It’s the most accomplished, niggardly Kiwi savvyB I’ve drank. Drunk.

Domain Day Mt. Crawford One Serious Merlot 2005
$28; 14% alcohol; screw cap; 91++ points

This wine smells like a plate of hot bitumen with a great dollop of whipped cream on top. It’s dead serious, king hell merlot. Nothing mellow about it. Keep the nose going and you’ll get fruits: blackberry, mulberry, prune and baby beetroot. Turnip greens. Spinach. Irish moss – the seaweed, not the lolly, although either will do. Damp forest earth. Mushroom. Deadly nightshade. The flavours are pretty much along the same line. Surprisingly elegant, with an illusion of sweetness, but it’s not mellow. It’s terrific. Ten years in the cellar. Or baby goat cutlets. www.domainday.com.au