The waves of migration from the region saw the introduction of not just food, but introductions to culture and homeland. And soon it became a two-way street. Australians from diverse backgrounds began heading north to experience the authentic and the exotic – one mouthful at a time. Backpacking, beach holidaying and eating their way through the region, many Australian chefs undertook a kind of degustation pilgrimage in self-taught Asian cuisine.

The result? Australian chefs and restaurants began not only serving authentic and exciting Southeast Asian dishes with culinary fluency but also weaving techniques and ingredients into the very fabric of what we now consider Australian cuisine.

Amanda Scott had dreamed of opening a Vietnamese-inspired restaurant since her twenties. The Brisbane restaurateur finally got her chance during COVID, when her hugely popular Farmhouse Kedron – a café offering brunch and lunch, which she owns with husband John Scott – began offering Vietnamese specials. The response was overwhelming and led to the opening of Oh Boy, Bok Choy! in nearby suburban Stafford.

“Australians love food from Southeast Asia,” says Amanda. A warm and gregarious woman, her love for good food is palpable. “It’s the food we associate with good times – dining out with friends, overseas holidays, celebrations. Most Australians will holiday at some point with our northern neighbours. We’re part of the region. And with all the immigration and tourism, the dishes have become part of our own culinary landscape,” she says. “And the lightness and freshness of the food makes sense in our climate.”

Like many Australians of European background, Amanda was raised on meat and three veg. But a trip to Vietnam as a young woman turned her world upside down. “It was like something from another planet. For many people of my era, the more exotic foods from Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia weren’t part of our world. Sure, there was suburban Chinese, but not these incredibly sensual aromas of Vietnamese mint, royal Thai basil and lemongrass,” she says. “My children, by contrast, have never known life without them. Southeast Asian cuisine is just part of life for most young Australians.”

Oh Boy, Bok Choy! is an oasis of great food on a busy strip in Brisbane’s north, housed in an old tram depot. The car park has been transformed with sandstone and lush bamboo plantings, while the interior features wooden floors and a high green banquette – a hue popular in house-shop eateries from Saigon to Siem Reap. The menu blends regional flavours including a massaman curry made with slow-cooked beef cheek, and a creamy, locally made burrata slathered in nahm jihm made from coriander, lime and fermented fish sauce.

“Our best seller is the whisky tamarind pork belly,” Amanda says. “It takes ten hours to cook – the ovens are going all night! Served with pickled watermelon, carrot, daikon, Asian herbs and fresh chilli, we work really hard to keep up with demand.”

The founding chef was Brisbane-born Hieu Dinh. Trained in classic French cuisine at the Hilton, he learned to cook from his Vietnamese-born parents. “We asked Huey and the other chefs, who come from other parts of Asia, to dig deep into their family dishes,” says Amanda. “The only problem was, their mums and grandmothers don’t use written recipes,” she laughs. “It’s all in their heads and adapted as fresh produce changes with the seasons.”

Another passionate advocate for Southeast Asian cuisine is Chris Mitchell, Group Executive Chef for the Darling Group. Chris, alongside Culinary Director, Ash Hicks, oversees the Victorian hospitality company’s portfolio of 11 restaurants and cafés. Two of them are exclusively Asian, while another three have dedicated wok sections. “The food of Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries has exploded in the past decade,” he says.

“Southeast Asian food is part of our national DNA,” Chris says. “Eating your way around the region has become a national rite of passage!”

Chris spent four months as a young man backpacking through Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. “It’s the sight, the smell, the raw energy, colour and fragrances that stay with you long after you’ve returned home.”

With a few years as a chef under his belt, Chris felt he could take on a local wet market in Vietnam. Travelling with a Kiwi mate, the two bought a pair of crayfish, some ginger, galangal and lemongrass for Asian aromats, plus carrot and celery for a mirepoix. Then they approached an old woman at a stall cooking on a wok. They told her they wanted to make a stock in which to cook the crustaceans. Shortly afterwards, they were sitting on the rooftop of their cheap hostel, eating aromatic crayfish from a plastic bag. “I think that could have been my first dabble into what is called fusion cuisine,” Chris laughs. “But it’s that fun, fast and loud experience people are looking for.”

Today, Chris makes sure his kitchen teams deliver that same authentic energy. “That’s why we have chefs from the region in senior positions,” he says. “They draw on their knowledge, develop specials and new dishes themselves, and even hire their own teams.” That creative freedom applies at Token, their pan-Asian restaurant and bar on Toorak Road. “We really encourage our chefs to develop their creativity and flair.”

At Dundas & Faussett in Albert Park, Chris gives full autonomy to his wok chefs. His star is Chef Noppharat Chairattiwate, known to his team as Chef Bobbe. Born in Thailand and trained in top kitchens in Malaysia and Singapore, he has led BAMBU in South Melbourne for eight years. “There’s a core of ingredients that many nations share – coconut, herbs, seafood, rice, fermented sauces,” Bobbe explains.

“There’s something wonderful about the energy and chaos of Southeast Asia that leaves a mark on you,” says Dan Poyner, Culinary Director at Bang Bang in Melbourne. “Years ago, my wife (then my girlfriend) and I backpacked around Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. The smell of charcoal, the humidity, the plastic chairs, harsh lights, snappy service – and the heady mix of durian and gutter – it all stays with you. Then the food! The vibrance, the balance, the extremes of deliciousness.”

Dan recalls his first taste of char kuey teow in Kuala Lumpur. “The smokiness of the noodles, crisp pork belly, shrimp and that wok hei. The breath of the wok. I was hooked.” When Bang Bang launched, the founding partners saw a gap in the suburban market for high-quality Asian food. Dan didn’t riff off any particular dishes, instead leaning on the five flavour pillars – spicy, sour, bitter, salty and sweet. A crowd favourite is his twice-cooked pork belly with chilli caramel, wombok and apple slaw. “It’s all there. Sweetness, heat, bitterness from the chilli caramel, plus salty and sour notes in the slaw from the fish sauce and lime. The shiso and Vietnamese mint add a beautiful hint of bitterness too.”

Dan is also a fan of the way Asian chefs approach animal protein. “Traditionally, meat was scarce or expensive, so it’s used to flavour and enrich a dish, not dominate it. In contrast to Western plates, it’s about balance.” He mentions their steamed barramundi (a 300g fillet) and a 400g short rib served with a fresh nahm jihm. “There’s perceived value and it still feels authentic.”

For many of these chefs, their relationship with Southeast Asian cuisine is personal and ongoing. “We go overseas every year,” says Dan. “It’s more about reinvigoration than inspiration. You could eat every day for years and still discover something new.” He’s just back from Vietnam, where he fell for cao lau – springy noodles made by soaking rice noodles in lye water, cooked and served with five-spice roast pork, fresh herbs, fish sauce and lime.

Dan says sourcing ingredients has become easier. “It was hard in the early days. But now, with more people from Southeast Asia living here, good-quality ingredients – especially fresh herbs – are easier to find and are more affordable.”

From value-for-money bites to high-end dining, Southeast Asian cuisine hasn’t just influenced Australian menus; it’s transformed the way we think about food. From street hawker staples to fine dining fusion, its emphasis on freshness, balance and bold flavour has found a natural home here. For a new generation of diners and chefs alike, dishes once considered foreign are now as familiar as fish and chips. And with continued migration, travel and curiosity, that influence will only grow. The next chapter? Likely written by young chefs drawing on family traditions and bold experimentation – reimagining Southeast Asia’s rich culinary heritage for Australia’s ever-evolving palate.

Across the venues, you really have tight menus.
I’ve been working with Nick Wills, co-founder of the group, for 15 years. His mantra is “food comes first.” That applies across the board – from Four Hundred Mexican Cantina in North Sydney to the Shafston Hotel in East Brisbane and even our resort, Aanuka Beach House. We serve restaurant-style food in a pub format – elegant, but familiar. It’s all about giving people what they want, when they want it.

Where did you learn that approach?
I was head chef at the Riverview Hotel in Balmain. We had bar food downstairs and an à la carte British gastropub upstairs. Same ingredients, different treatments. In the bar, it was fish and hand-cut chips; upstairs, the same fillet cooked acqua pazza. Steak came with dauphinoise in the restaurant, and chips and sauce poivre at the bar. Two different menus. It was a killer to execute – but it taught me how to straddle both worlds. Joining Tilley & Wills Hotels was a natural progression. I wanted to build a bar menu with the skill, technique and ingredients of a restaurant.

How do you manage kitchens across two states?
It’s all about great staff. I’ve been building teams for 15 years and I’ve been lucky to find some exceptional people. I treat it like managing a football team. If I see a chef de partie ready to step up, I move them forward. Otherwise, they’ll leave. Promoting internally bridges the cultural gap – it keeps everyone aligned, saves on training and shows there’s a real career path. Longevity is gold. The head chef at Shafston Hotel in Brisbane? He was my sous chef at Riverview 15 years ago.

And the resort?
We renovated a rundown beachside resort in Coffs Harbour and needed a chef. Through a recruiter, we found Richmond Rodrigue, a former local working in the Hunter who wanted to move back. Total stroke of luck. He’s incredible. He just gets what we’re about. He even won Australian Professional Chef of the Year at Foodservice Australia 2025. Aanuka is loved by locals and that’s what makes it work.

You’re opening a new Asian venue?
Yes. CBD Sydney. No name yet, but it’s pan-Asian fusion. And not the kind you workshop in a boardroom. This is driven by the chefs, many of whom are from Asia. They cook each other’s home dishes, mix ingredients and techniques. It’s a natural hybrid. Identifiably Asian but distinctly Australian. Our Indonesian chefs are obsessed with their Korean teammates’ cooking. They’ve made a nasi goreng with spicy kimchi and an egg on top. It’s brilliant.

Favourite cuisine: Thai. The mix of flavours and textures is incredible. A lot of Western chefs don’t understand how crucial balance is in Thai cooking. Sitting on a beach in Thailand with grilled seafood and a cold beer? Heaven.

Favourite drink: Hendrick’s gin and tonic. Love having a G&T with my missus. She’s English!

Most influential chef: Matt Kemp, from Balzac in Randwick. An amazing teacher. He could teach in five minutes what others take years to explain. He hated waste. He’d turn salmon trim into croquettes. He was so passionate but also opened my eyes to the business side of cooking.

Favourite place: I grew up in Nowra. Spent long days swimming and spearfishing in Jervis Bay, then hoed down on Husky pies and fish and chips.

Tawnya is also a seasoned food consultant, chef, product developer, food show judge, mentor for women in hospitality, Le Cordon Bleu exam assessor and industry advisor for the Sydney Royal Fine Food Awards. She’s also the Group Executive Chef for The Orchard Early Learning Centres, feeding children aged 0–5 five meals a day across seven centres. She promotes her key values – supporting great Australian food producers through her menus, and educating like-minded chefs about where their ingredients come from through consulting and food tours – across multiple social media channels, from Instagram to the Straight to the Source podcast.

“It is essential that everything we produce for social media is aligned with the core values of our business,” says Tawnya. “And this is true for everyone. Social media content is just another way of connecting with people to establish a relationship. And if I had one piece of advice for anyone making content, it’s don’t overthink it! Make sure everything is authentic. Be true to who you are, because the expectation you create has to be followed up by the delivery of the service – or the dish.”

Tawnya and Lucy’s latest season of the Straight to the Source podcast dropped in July and was met with much acclaim. It features unfiltered discussions with some of the biggest names in the Australian food scene, including fine dining chef Mark Best, macaron king Adriano Zumbo and farmer-advocate chef Karena Armstrong. “We are both seasoned professionals with back and front-of-house experience. The podcast is a creative space to have open conversations, share experiences and inspire food producers, chefs and the foodservice industry. We are on the frontline, so in our podcast we cast the net wide across the broader food industry to get a broad perspective.” Filmed also for YouTube, the podcast includes on-screen tastings of ingredients from their network of producers as well as their guests, so viewers can see their reactions when they try them.

Despite the success of the podcast, Tawnya feels most at home using LinkedIn. However, Instagram has proven to be the perfect vehicle for followers to engage with their curated tours of regional Australia, where she and Lucy take chefs on immersive journeys. Short videos, intimate stills, wide shots of olive groves and salt lakes, slow-motion footage of vegetables cooking over an open flame – the Insta account has become a window into Straight to the Source’s popular regional bespoke tour program. “When we’re on tour,” says Tawnya, “introducing chefs to farmers and producers, I am responsible for feeding the chefs. Sometimes we cook together and other times I’m cooking. Either way, it tells that provenance story, which makes great content. But it’s also real. As is the reaction of the chefs when they taste the food and meet the farmers. You can’t fake that. All social media content should be about that real conversation – showing people what you do, how you do it, and how people enjoy it.”

Great social media content doesn’t happen by accident. Tawnya and Lucy schedule their podcast recordings in advance and use spreadsheets to plan content to ensure it’s relevant to their audience. “Podcasting takes planning and investment,” explains Tawnya. “When we first started, we simply threw ourselves at it – not something I would recommend for anyone thinking of podcasting themselves.” She says it’s important to get great visuals and audio out there and worry less about finessing the content when you’re just starting out. “It has to feel like it’s come from you, as it’s an extension of you and your brand.”

At the end of the day, says Tawnya, all content creation replicates the relationship-building that happens in real life. “I never wanted to do it just for the sake of it,” she says. “But it’s an extension of the relationships you make in real life. Ultimately, it’s all about making connections and starting conversations. My advice? Keep everything aligned to your core business. And keep it real. Nothing is better than authenticity.”