In Asia

If you want to go to a fancy schmancy restaurant you'd have to head to the city these days but I happened to stumble across this place called "In Asia". Of all places on Concord Rd too. If you haven't been to Concord Rd, it's mostly Indian and Thai eateries and all the big Pizza names on the one road. So when we saw how fancy this place was I was truly surprised. The type of cuisine is Fusion, from the menu it seems like fusion between Chinese, a bit of Japanese and Malaysian cuisines.

The decor is pretty funky, some kind of tree with hanging yellow flowers are placed in between the row of booths. The space feels big but also intimate at the same time. 

So we got:

Caramelised twice cooked pork belly, crispy panko egg, sweet tamarind sauce 

Chargrilled wagyu rump with chilli flake and lime sauce

Chicken thigh marinated in pandan and sesame

Barbequed pork neck marinated in palm sugar and garlic

Red curry of duck breast, lychee, cherry tomatoes, lime leaves

Roti

Popcorn Parfait 

The pork belly came first, the panko eggs looked like they were cooked to perfection, the yolks still runny. The pork is crispy on the outside and soft and meaty on the inside, it has retained its crispiness whilst being covered in sauces. The sauce is sweet and fragrant with a hint of sourness from the tamarind which went well with the sweetness of the pork. The eggs don't really have any tastes to them which is a shame because a little saltiness would work so well. The curry and meats on sticks came next. The curry was very creamy, the lychee added a nice refreshing zing and texture to the richness of the duck, again, very good dish. The side of roti was also excellent, soft and a bit chewy. 

Of the three skewers I liked the pork neck the most, the pork was caramelised and the fat is almost translucent. The meat was well marinated and grilled just right, not tough and chewy at all.  

Then came the dessert, we went with the very original popcorn parfait which consisted of caramel popcorn, crushed corn flakes, grilled sweet corn and caramel jersey cream. When it first came out I noticed what looked like a stick of butter but in fact was the caramel jersey cream, I took a spoonful imagining it to be butter but in fact it was creamy, sweet (but not overly sweet) and melt in your mouth goodness. It reminds me of semi frozen whipped cream if that makes sense. The rest of the elements were ok, lots of crunch and bite which went well with the soft creamy jersey cream. The taste overall is just so so but I give them extra points for originality.

I like the fact that this place opened in the suburbs, it not only brings something different to a place that isn't normally associated with anything fine dining but also gives people somewhere to go without sitting through traffic and dealing with expensive parking tickets. The food and atmosphere is great and so are the staff. I would definitely come back here again.

In Asia

181 Concord Rd, North Strathfield.