Venue: Fresh Natural Asian
Chef: Rida Dael
Events @ Food & Wine Festival :
- Six courses served with your choice of beer or wine from Rogue Wines on Saturday 20 May, 2pm, $70, book online.
Noosa’s newcomer, Fresh Natural Asian, took us by surprise. The venue has been open for a short 4 months but the tastes and flavours that came out of that kitchen well surpassed places who have been open for decades. Fresh Natural, as its’ name states, only uses the best of ingredients; Even a single dish on the menu is evident of this. There is no use of deep fryers or microwaves. Essentially, it’s the closest you will get to natural, delicious food that’s good for you. The menu is entirely gluten free and stems from varied destinations in Asia namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. It’s not your ordinary Asian take out wish dim-sims, let me assure you of that.
To start off with, we got to try the Satay Madura, a Malaysian dish of chicken skewers with peanut sauce. The chicken was fresh and perfectly succulent, and the peanut sauce was freshly made. You could taste every bit of flavour through the dish making it a memorable experience. The skewers are apart of the lunch special on offer at the venue, priced at $9.50.
The next dish that we tried was Otak-Otak, and Indonesian dish that I have never actually heard of (and I live in Sunnybank). The beauty of Fresh Natural, is that it takes you ona journey through Asia, but it truly is a journey that you have not taken before. The Indonesian dish is made up of steamed, minced fish in a banana leaf with peanut sauce. I absolutely loved it, it was unlike anything that I have ever tasted before.
To further our trip to Asia, we then paid a visit to Thailand with a Miang Kham dish. This dish was absolutely spectacular. Simplicity at it’s finest. Instead of glute wraps, betal leafs are used with an array of accompliments that together create a delicious feast. There were hints of peanut sauce, garlic, chilli, ginger, lemon and the addition of chicken. In fact from my entire tasting at Noosa, this would have been my favourite dish and yet it was so simple.
And then came the side that completed my life. We stayed in Thailand with the Papaya Hijau, a green papaya salad. I have been searching for a salad like this for years in Brisbane and nothing has come close. I ended being a bit selfish and finishing off the dish by myself (soz, not soz).
By next Noosa Food & Wine Festival, I can so see this venue being the next ‘it’ place. It ticks all the boxes, local produce, that takes you on a journey yet at the same time, offers the healthiest of options. You have my recommendation. P.S, Brisbane needs a place like this.
[wzslider autoplay=”true”]<3 Gluten Free
<3 Dairy Free
<3 Refined Sugar Free
Organised by: Visit Noosa
Written by: Aliyah Ravat