Darwin

August 1998

Darwin is in the heart of hunting and gathering territory -- the Northern Territory that is. So to get to the essence of the place, we went straight from the plane to Stokes Hill Wharf to go fishing for our dinner.

It was a small boat, just room for the eskies, rods, mud crab traps, our 'guide' Jimmy Shu (owner of restaurant Hanuman in Darwin and Alice Springs in South Melbourne) and our driver and fishing instructor, Steve Eardley.

We put out ten traps along the False West Arm, a long narrow straggle of mangroves about six kilometres out from the wharf. It proved a false hope indeed, only one tiny crab was caught after several hours in the sun. But on the way back to shore Steve stopped over a shipwreck, a spot renowned for jewfish. Finally Jimmy pulled in dinner - a golden snapper which was later steamed Chinese style as part of a delicious banquet served with lovely wines at the discreetly shuttered and elegant Hanuman Restaurant.

But you can eat very well in Darwin without doing your own fishing. Another chef from Melbourne, Jock Mitchell at Lindsay Street Cafe is serving, excellent wild barramundi with lemon sauce and Asian vegetables. His Wild Rice pancake with spicy green papaw salad, star fruit and peanuts is a particularly good dish. The cafe is set in the gardens and bottom floor of an old style Darwin house. There are two covered spacious areas as well as outside tables under the big palms, a lovely tropical dining environment. Jock and his partner, Lesley Merrett, also from Melbourne, have been running the cafe now for seven years and he has long been recognised as a pioneer in the fusion of Mediterranean, European and Asian cuisines. More recently Brett Dengate, another 'southener' has come to Waterhole Restaurant at the All Season Premier Darwin Central Hotel after a year cooking in Kuala Lumpur. His well-priced menu features Malaysian and European dishes and has earned the hotel a Gold Plate Award. "I keep the prices down as low as I can as street food here is so cheap," Brett explained.

At the Holiday Inn, Chef Peter Brautigam, has a classic European menu (a rare species these days) and his preparation of Chateaubriand and of Kassler shows that he has not forgotten the tastes of his native Germany after more than 20 years in the Territory.

Once upon a time Rendezvous Cafe, with its cosy little booths tucked away in Star Village Arcade, was also known for European food but now it's known as the 'House of Laksa'. Though its menu still features traditional egg and bacon breakfasts, sandwiches (better to go to Cafe Lemaine in Victoria Hotel arcade opposite), cakes, and omelettes, people come from all over town for the daily Malaysian and Thai specials (curries, satays, pandang chicken, barbecued pork) at $8.50. A good number of fresh and just cooked prawns in a chilli mild laksa was $10.50.

Darwin loves laksa and all things Asian and one of the favourite eating pastimes is to visit the Mindil Beach Market (Thursday and Sunday evenings from May-October) with its 60 food stalls each with several dishes, mostly from $4-6. There's also the all year round Parap Market on Saturday mornings, Rapid Creek and Nightcliff markets on Sunday mornings and Palmerston Market on Friday nights. At Mindil you can hire tables and chairs and eat on the grass beside the beach and watch the sun set. As the 10,000 other eaters there will testify, its a particularly Darwin experience.

If you are cooking at home the Rapid Creek market has an excellent range of vegetables and some fruits. The Saturday market at Parap is a great community occasion, a small selection of very good food stalls, some like Jackie's Laksa just selling the one dish, good vegetables and stunning flowers from Hintze Henning's Jungle Plant and Flower Farm. In Parap Village you can stock up too on non Asian goodies at Parap Fine Foods, a high quality supermarket cum deli run by the Tzantis family. Patriach Paul Tzantis came from Greece and worked as a chef before meeting his Australian born wife, Irene at the Rendezvous Cafe. They started Parap Fruit and Vegetables in the Village in 1968 and then when son Neville, and son in law Michael Dinoris, joined the business, opened the much larger premises round the corner and changed the name. Now Michael is exporting Northern Territory produce to Asia (Australian Food Merchants) and Neville is supplying all Darwin's finest restaurants, homes and hotels. The Tzantis make it their business to stock the best produce from all over Australia and the city's gourmets just have to ask for a product and Neville will find it for them. And he knows exactly what all the chefs are cooking in Darwin and who is where and he and Michael organise promotions of Territory foods through hotels in Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. Talking to them you are constantly reminded how close Asia is here, by the people, the produce and by the traffic across the water.

And nearby Indonesia has been the source of the decor at Buzz Cafe on the marina at Cullen Bay. Richly coloured teak, mahogany and leather chairs and couches were hand made in Java, lights in Bali and the bar constructed from 23 hand carved pieces of lava from an Indonesian volcano.

The unusual shaped tables, painted by a local artist, are set on the wooden plank floor which is oiled regularly to maintain its rich patina. Even the toilets have some pretty amazing design features including a transparent one way glass urinal with lava sinks, the mirror frames in the ladies are made of the glass from some 3000 Coca Cola bottles. This ingenious and interesting restaurant space opened a year ago as part of a boom in restaurants in Darwin making competition very fierce. As one closes, another opens, the furniture from Scales, a prime Cullen Bay spot, went into Pente, the appropriately named fifth restaurant which Christo Phillopou has opened here beside Hanuman (which he once owned under another name on Mitchell Street). At Christo's on the Wharf he has found a decorative use for confiscated Vietnamese fishing vessels. Another prime location restaurant opened in the last year and also operated by a Greek family, the Tastulas, is Pee Wee's at East Point Reserve. Its wide lawns on the edge of the harbour make it a favourite spot to eat fish. With all these busy cooks and builders you won't go hungry in Darwin, it's an eaters' market.

For more information phone Northen Territory Holiday Centre 1800 621 336.