The ex-Berta chef returns to Sydney with Sri Lankan street food.
The diners of Sydney mourned the day O Tama Carey left Berta in 2014, but one of the city’s most talented and intuitive chefs is back, with a bold new plan: Sri Lankan street food. As anyone who has tasted Carey’s crub curry will attest, she’s a savvy interpreter of her culinary heritage, which makes the prospect of Lankan Filling Station, an “open-all-the-time hopper shop”, mighty tantalising.
Hoppers, bowl-shaped pancakes of fermented rice flour and coconut, are a Sri Lankan staple (here’s a recipe). (Food writer Madhur Jaffrey once described them as the love child of a crumpet and a crêpe.) They’re eaten topped with curries and sambols, and often made with an egg cooked into them.
Carey plans to offer hers with and without eggs, with a choice of curries, potato, prawn, fish, mutton and chicken among them.
Sounds exciting? Damn straight. There’s one small hitch: “We haven’t found a site yet.” While Carey and her partners scour the city (or, more specifically, the part of the city between Chippendale and Town Hall) for a suitable location, they’ll be testing the waters doing Sunday nights at Brickfields bakery in Chippendale, starting with Sundays July 10 and 17. Hop to it.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
