South-west Sydney in the nineties was a food education that no cooking school could replicate. Vietnamese bakeries where the banh mi were fresh before most of the street was awake. Chinese restaurants that fed entire extended families on lazy Susans piled high with dishes I was still learning the names of. Japanese, Korean, Thai. All of it was just there, accessible and normal and completely formative. I didn’t realise at the time how lucky I was, but I absolutely know it now.

That upbringing shaped my palate in ways that have followed me through every kitchen I’ve cooked in since. The balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy that runs through so much East Asian cooking feels like home to me in a way that’s hard to explain but easy to taste. From a proper Vietnamese Pork Belly wraps to sticky Chinese beef, from Japanese fried chicken to a Thai red curry noodle soup that actually delivers, these are recipes built on genuine familiarity and real respect for the cuisines behind them. Food I grew up eating, and food I’ll never stop cooking.