Asian Fusion

Today I’m featuring some dishes from our visit to Light Years Asian Bar and Diner in Noosa, Queensland. We were a party of four, and we chose a variety of plates to share. I always enjoy doing this at a restaurant that has an interesting menu, as it means each member of the group can savour and experience so many more new tastes.

The menu at Light Years (and before anyone asks – no, it has nothing to do with Buzz of the same name 🙂 ) is what I would call Asian Fusion, bringing together the sights and tastes from culinary traditions in India, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, China and Japan in new and innovative ways.

We began with some steamed dumplings, brought to the table in a bamboo steamer basket and served with a type of hoisin dipping sauce. Here is one, up close. The filling is wild truffled mushrooms, with black vinegar, sesame and chilli.

Next up is Firecracker Chicken. The menu describes this as Mee Goreng spiced fried chicken, with hot firecracker sauce and Thai basil leaves. I don’t exactly know the make-up of that firecracker sauce, but it certainly brought some heat to the table (and our mouths).

This dish is Cumin Spiced Fried Cauliflower, with creamy coconut, dill and mint. The menu is somewhat coy about this dish, merely saying it comes with “strange flavour sauce” and “crunchy things”. Hmm, not giving away any culinary secrets there, guys!

My overall fave dish was Miso Caramel Eggplant, shown in my main photo at the top of the post. This consisted of chunks of roasted aubergine coated in a sticky sauce, topped with spliced snake beans, coriander and sesame.

As with other trips to restaurants on our travels around Australia, this has given me some more ideas to try out when I get home. I will definitely be having a go at the chunks of roasted aubergine in that sticky miso “caramel” sauce.

Time to hear from another great Aussie band. This is Deadstar with Deeper Water.