Sydney-based catering organisation House Made Hospitality cannot rest on its laurels. The Hinchcliff House team only opened the Promenade in the renovated Bondi Pavilion earlier this year, and the CBD’s spacious venue, Martinez, will open next month. But before being urgent at the time, they unveiled a modern and permanent redesign of the pop-up bar Bondi Rancho Selzzo. Meet Easy Tiger, a Southeast Asian menu restaurant and craft brewery that opened to the public today.
“We were looking for anything that talked about the beach,” Stephen Seckold, the group’s culinary director, tells Broadsheet. “That’s what Southeast Asian cuisine does, especially in the summer months. We were looking to bring anything with light, new and colorful flavors.
The 70-seat dining venue saw the interior of Rancho Seltzo reduced to a neutral, relaxing palette, with giant lanterns and rattan seating complementing the terrazzo and American oak tables.
To lead the kitchen, the organization recruited Andrianto Wirya, whose menu is based on his Indonesian heritage and the culinary expertise of Queen Chow, M. Wong and Ms. Gs. Taking advantage of the new wok burners and on-site wood-fired oven, Wirya prepares a diversity of street food-inspired dishes across the country, taking diners on a tasty tour of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and the Philippines.
There’s a rendang meatloaf with Wirya sambal, crispy corn larb fried twice, laksa-flavored char kway teow, Balinese-style suckling pig baos, and Hainan poultry rice in a clay pot with a super crispy background. There’s also the chef’s edition of the crying tiger, where a wood-fired beef tenderloin with nahm jim jaew is served hot on a plate.
Wirya highlights his cha ca kingfish, another dish to which he has brought his own touch. “Cha ca is an iconic dish [grilled fish with turmeric and dill] from Hanoi. I still do my ceviche edition with all the herbs.
If you can’t decide which dishes to order, there’s a selection of your own adventure banquet for a $42 bargain, where you get your five-course pick plus rice. “When you travel to Southeast Asia, you have to eat a lot of other types of street food,” Wirya says. “We give other people the opportunity to savor many of our dishes instead of ordering a big main course. “You can also order selected takeaway dishes if you prefer to dine in front of the sea. .
In addition to an exclusively Australian wine list, the area is still home to Bondi Brewing Co. local. There are 3 fermentation tanks on site, which brew batch beers and seltzers. The diversity of cocktails is encouraged through the gastronomic menu, with fruity sips such as the South Bondi Tiger with gin, tamarind, Vietnamese mint and new lime; Kaya Colada with kaya jam; and the very spicy Margarita Ma-Muang, with habanero, mango, diversity liqueur and tagin.