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Born into a feast of chili and curry flavour

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Jimmy Shu was born in Sri Lanka, a virtual melting pot of several continents’ flavours.

His passion for exciting ingredients has taken him on a food adventure that shows no sign of abating. He tells us why a palate corrupted by chillies and curry makes a discerning customer that is never satisfied with boredom.

This included Hindu vegetarian food, exquisite curries, chillies, flavours from South-East Asia and noodles.

Jimmy’s Dad, Andrew Shu, started his restaurant in Sri Lanka in 1946, just in time for Jim’s birth in 1949.

Jimmy’s food adventure has no room for boredom.

Pictured above, Jimmy Shu at the Gado Gado restaurant, Springwood, south of Brisbane.

With Chinese parents, he was raised in this restaurant on tantalising curry and noodle dishes.

His Dad taught him to be passionate about food and tempt the palates of patrons by romancing the chili, the noodle and curry pot.

He is proud to have been a part of changing the way people view curries and noodles in several countries, including Australia.

“I watched Dad pioneer soy bean manufacturing and noodle making, going on to operate one of the country’s most successful restaurants,” said Jim

Imported the first noodle machine.

Jim’s dad imported the first noodle machine into Sri Lanka.

Customers got a liking for noodle dishes and before long, Jim’s daily job was making 20 kg of real egg noodles for their restaurant, Modern Chinese Café, that was fast becoming a trend-setter.

The secret was to use just the right amount of eggs to bind the noodles, otherwise it would break apart.

This daily noodle grind, far from putting the lad off food, delivered the Shu family a wide circle of friends, based on conversation and love of good food.

Jim expresses it this way: “Food has no restrictive borders, it breaks down barriers and makes people decent and tolerant. We could call this business, chefs without frontiers.”

You catch Jimmy’s enthusiasm.

Passion for food is easy to catch at Gado Gado, say Ricardo and Sonja, pictured above.

What influences a chef

As he grew up, Jim came to learn that the Shu family had suffered privations and economic hardships.

It apparently made them innovative, not unlike many Chinese cooks the world over.

So what hardships influenced the young Jimmy?

His dad, Andrew Shu, worked as a silk merchant for a couple of years, push-biking his cloth wares around Sri Lanka.

Finding the best ingredients is crucial

Jimmy makes a practice of finding the best vegetables, meat and condiments. Pictured above speaking with Cambodian vegetable growers at Logan City markets.

Jimmy has memories of his Dad pedalling behind the coke delivery truck, collecting the fuel that fell to the roadway when it was unloaded to customers.

This coke fuelled his restaurant by night.

Pioneered manufacture of black bean sauce

Andrew became well known for pioneering the manufacture of soy bean sauce, noodle manufacturing and a new dish featuring crab meat.

He had the “midas touch” according to Jimmy, and deserved his success, becoming like a “food-father,” the head of a giant “food-family.”

Getting opinions from customers became mandatory. Jimmy learnt this at an early age and today it is par for the course.

It was an excellent grounding from a “food-father-figure” and inspires the grateful son to this day.

Working at one of early restaurants in Malaysia, a customer raved about a fish curry, miles away.

Fully curious, Jimmy travelled six hours to get a taste of this dish he described as “truly divine.” It gave him more menu ideas.

Preparing to orchestrate the flavours.

Jimmy Shu and his East Timorese chef, Gary Lay, pictured above, use the best lemongrass.

Never to young to fall for curry and chilli.

Indigo, 20 months, and Tiki Matebau, from Meadowbrook, taste tested Teriyaki chicken and butter chicken. “The food is perfect. Better than any restaurant at which I have eaten,”was Tiki’s verdict.

Why are Chinese chefs so innovative?

So why is it that many Chinese chefs seem to be innovative?

Jim thinks it is because they were nomads for centuries, being prepared to try anything in case it made money, and it often did.

Jim has a theory on this.

The Chinese had influences that the British and others missed out on.

Cruel dynasties and centuries of suffering, made wandering Chinese versatile. They dug deep, invented gunpowder and fireworks and made explosively hot curries.

In the food department, wandering Chinese learnt to be versatile and make do with what they had.

Often misunderstood, they tackled the problem by being food innovators, tantalising people with spiced dishes.

Passion with a ladle and a pot on an open fire became passion and experimentation in the kitchen.

He dug deep into the world of cooking and condiments.

He noticed his fellow Chinese came in three main categories of dentists, silk merchants and cooks.

Today cooks are portrayed as glamorous people. TV chefs give that impression but it is mostly a lot of hard work and non-glamour for Jim.

Passion for food and customers

“To survive in this industry you have to love your food and love your customers. You have to be passionate and adaptable,” Jim says.

“Food needs to be cooked properly and beautifully presented however I go further than that. I want people to go home and still be able to remember the taste. That is my motivation,” said Jim.

Jim’s food adventure

Jim excitedly talks of his raw materials: “Lemongrass used to grow wild at my home in Sri Lanka but in Melbourne in 1980, lemon grass was a rare herb. I used to grab it whenever I saw it but today we have the luxury of bulk lemongrass.

“Australian lemongrass is so prolific and superior as a product that I expect the day to come when we export it back to Asia.

“We began using another ingredient called galangal, a type of ginger.”

“Migrants help me out with my ingredients. It is like a tradesmen looking for the best materials.”

“I discovered that migrants were prepared to grow the rice and herbs I needed to get authentic flavours,” said Jim.

Like conducting a food orchestra.

Cooking for Jimmy are Kim, Gary, Jim and Sam, pictured above, share a passion for exciting flavours.

Close shave with customs

It wasn’t always that easy however.

Passion for herbs resulted in Jim breaking the law while heading through Melbourne airport on a flight from Singapore 20 years ago.

Customs officers sniffed out some galangal (a type of ginger, a rhizome from the tuber family), stuffed in a pair of sneakers that Jimmy was trying to sneak in with.

He was scolded and walked off with his head bowed, feeling like a food criminal.

Shortly thereafter Jimmy discovered Vietnamese gardeners with boxes of galangal they had grown in the suburb of Richmond. The herb had almost brought him undone but thanks to Vietnamese migrants, he no longer had to take crazy risks.

Romancing the curry with Rick and Sonja

Learn while washing dishes

Before Jimmy Shu migrated in 1974, an Australian immigration official advised: “Don’t start your restaurant until you have worked for someone else.”

It proved invaluable. For four years he followed this advice while learning the trade from the bottom to the top.

“You learn best by washing dishes. It allows you to see everything that is going on. I washed, cooked and cleaned up, always looking over my shoulder to learn how things were done,” explained Jimmy.

He worked very hard, doing three jobs and saved up enough money to start a restaurant joint partnership called Shakahari, in Lygon Street, Carlton in 1982.

Shakahari is Sanskrit for spinach. You guessed it, the perfect name for a vegetarian restaurant.

After a short time they opened a second restaurant, then a third, and a fourth, until Jim had a total of eight under his belt.

Four were in Melbourne, one in Alice Springs, one in Darwin, and two were in Malaysia.

Importance in a name

One of his restaurants in Park Street, South Melbourne, was named the Near East, promoting food from Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia.

Jim once started an eatery called Monsoon in High Street Armidale, that inspired food from every country that has monsoon weather.

Another named the Isthmus of Kra, (a narrow a strip of land that joins Thailand and Malaysia), launched a wide variety of food creations from that region.

Jim would like to start another restaurant called Yumana, meaning river or water, which gives life to plants. He considers it the perfect name for a vegetarian restaurant.

Voting with knives and forks

How do you change people’s food expectations without scaring them and what does it take to influences a restaurant menu?

Jim can answer both questions because fortunately he has a fear of boring customers.

Every week or so he is moved to change his menu to keep customers tantalised.

Jimmy changes the menu every couple of weeks to keep customers tantalised.

I was keen to know what comes first in restaurants, the chicken or the egg, the discerning palates or the innovative chef?
Take Melbourne’s very popular, first-ever noodle shop in Claredon Street, South Melbourne.

It is not surprising that Jimmy also worked there back in 1984. He developed new ideas and put them to work for patrons of his next eight restaurants.

“I was grateful that migrants are quick to come on my food journey but it doesn’t take long for the rest of the population to catch on and make our menus very popular.

People vote with their knives and forks.

Avoiding boredom in Darwin and the Alice

Darwin and Alice Springs were easy places in which to get innovative. Both have large migrant populations with Asians apparently always prepared to go on the food journey.

Jimmy named both restaurants Hanuman, and each specialises in Thai and Tandoori cuisines.

Your reputation becomes your image.

Jimmy Shu says Australia is a great place to cook and operate restaurants because an increasing demographic is prepared to go on a food journey with imaginative cooks.

It seems that chefs and importers often bring spices, condiments, noodles and so forth from overseas and the public gets a wiff of it

“A good restaurant can keep the public busy with no end of new and exciting dishes,” Jimmy Shu said.

Chilli and curry growing in popularity

Curry and chili are becoming very popular around Australia, with dventurous palates.

Jimmy says that his condiments and spices are very effective due the superior produce available in Australia.

Good produce inspires good cooks, particularly those scared of boredom.

“Best of all the food here is very hygienically harvested and gathered seafood, beef, lamb, chicken, and vegetables.

Brisbane has already switched on to noodles and curry because the populace already supports quite a few similar outlets.

Inner Brisbane has 166 food outlets offering curry and many also feature noodles. Sydney by comparison has 447 while Melbourne boasts a few more than Sydney.

Migrants and yuppies have helped make Australia foodies very cosmopolitan. They’ve been spoilt and now they come to expect it.

He speaks of the ingredients as if they are family.

Jimmy Shu speaks in endearing terms of his fresh produce.

Food ambassadors

It’s not surprising that Jimmy Shu has been appointed as one of two food ambassadors for the Northern Territory.

The other official NT foodie is Athol Wark, of South African background, a bush tucker expert and senior lecturer at the Charles Darwin University in Alice Springs.

Athol went from being the executive chef at the mirage on the Gold Coast to being head chef at Alice Springs’ casino and convention centre.

He recently returned from the USA where role of food ambassador had him promoting Australian and definitively NT produce such as barramundi and lobster.

Jim Shu did similarly in March 2005.

Exquisitely presented food gives tourists an additional reason to flock to the NT and the Government recognises this.

Hence, tourists are getting their taste buds tantalised at the instigation of Territory officials.

Countless chefs and restaurants recycle ideas but not everyone sets the food agenda. Queenslanders are very welcoming of restaurants that set the agenda and refuse to blend with the furniture.

Customers put their enthusiastic comments in writing.

Customer feedback

Korean-Australian, Albert Yu, gives Jimmy’s cooking the thumbs up.

This was well illustrated by Albert Yu, a student of Brisbane’s John Paul College.

He said that he and his parents had become bored with many food outlets purporting to represent Asian cuisine.

Since migrating from Sth Korea to Underwood, Brisbane, four years ago, they had noticed that chefs seem to compromise by Australianising Asian food. Most menus were boring and looked the same with food appearing very oily, greasy and sugary.

Discerning student of noodles.

Korean/Australian student from John Paul College, Albert Yu, knows a well flavoured noodle dish.

Key benefits of chilli

Cooks of chili and curry dishes often claim there are health benefits.

Jimmy Shu claims there are health benefits in eating asian vegetables and certain rices.

Nutritionists claim that chillies help fight pain, temporarily increase the metabolism and ease nasal congestion.

A nutritionist writing for website, Health 24, further claims that chili can discourage blood clots and stimulate the circulation. It can be a digestive aid and have anti-inflammatory effects

In 100 grams of chilli you get more nutritional value than some fruit, containing 1.6 grams of fibre, 220 mg of potassium and 120 mg of vitamin C.

Chillies contain capsaicin, which is the source of the chilli’s heat.

Vegetarians, chillies and a corrupted palate

Jimmy Shu says the best vegetarian food comes from India.

He studied the vegetarian fare, herbs and spices used by the Hindu Brahmans and it reinforced this viewpoint.

Health benefits of cooking with chilli have been written up in the Indian Tribune by
Dr Kanwar

Brahmans with pure herbs and spices get better flavours than others do with oyster sauce, fish sauce or chicken stock.

It has to be the pure straight herb and spice.

Food connoisseurs might want Jimmy’s lesson in they resist food boredom: “A palate that has been corrupted by chillies and curry is a more demanding palate. It is usually dissatisfied with mediocrity in a menu.”

“This usually awakens other senses of which an eater has not been aware,” Jimmy said.

You too can access the recipes to cook spicy Indian food

Kingston residents, Bob Maslak and Sheridan Grant, with young Aylene, pictured above, were quickly addicted to Jimmy Shu’s noodles.

(Sanderson Media's breezy writing style and great images can get your message out to the world) contact john@sanderson-media.com

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