Arts
Our podcast series, '‘So, what is Australian cuisine anyway?’' in collaboration with Tristan Rosier is finally here, and to kick it off in style we were joined by industry icon, Palisa Anderson.Ask Palisa Anderson about her childhood, and she will tell you about her mother,Amy Chanta. Amy is the woman behind the famous Chat Thai eateries, whichopened its first restaurant in Darlinghurst in 1989. Palisa is as proud of her mother asshe is of the family business which now includes nine eateries, including the popularBoon Café and the Asian grocer, Jarern Chai, both located in Sydney’s bustlingHaymarket. Together, the mother-daughter duo makes a formidable team who areas passionate as ever thirty years on.Palisa's thoughts?‘I believe Australian cuisine is restaurant specific. These days you can go into arestaurant, whether it’s Thai, Italian or Chinese, that uses cheap ingredients fromoverseas and non-traditional cooking methods to produce a cheap and quick replicaof an authentic dish. Or you can go into a restaurant that uses locally growningredients and traditional-style cooking methods to create a dish that is real andauthentic. For example, we boil our stock over ten hours as opposed to using astock powder which only takes a few minutes.’ Not only do Palisa and her family use locally-grown ingredients to create Chat Thai’sauthentically Thai dishes, they also grow much of their produce on their Byron Bayfarm, Boon Luck Farm.