Trang restaurant may have gone but Wollongong has a new authentic Chinese restaurant in its place inspired by traditional cooking the new owners have witnessed on many trips to China.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After Steen and his partner Kevin Zhou met they did a lot of travelling and attending festivals.
"I just fell in love with Chinese food in China which is very different to what we have here. Mainland China street food in particular. It is the best," Steen said.
While well known in theatre circles Steen also has a commercial cookery background.
"I actually started in hospitality when I was a teenager. I trained as a cook when I was living in France and training in a relatives kitchen. When I cam back to Australia I got hooked on theatre. I had studied theatre when I was in Paris".
After several trips to China he and Mr Zhou opened Ziggy's House of Nomms dumpling teahouse four years ago when they saw an opportunity at the former Tea'se Me site.
"But after the last trip in January we came back and saw Trang had closed we took the opportunity to expand and opened Xanadu by Ziggy's," Steen said.
"We had been posting photos for years of street food and us in markets and restaurants. People kept asking where they can you get it. We didn't have a big enough kitchen at Ziggy'sr, which specialises in dumplings, so we thought why don't we open a second restaurant and bring all the other food we have seen and fallen in love with back and do it in the way it is done in China".
Steen thinks Wollongong diners will enjoy the difference. He said technically there was no Honey Chicken in China but there is a sugar chicken dish in Shanghai.
"Sweet & Sour is not over there but Sour and Spicy is. The ingredients are similar but it is just a bit different. We have taken a lot of those recipes and done some fusion as well. The two cities that have inspired me the most are Chengdu and Xi'an. The food markets there are amazing. They stretch for blocks. We just found the flavours were so different. We started buying spices and cooking things for friends who told us we needed to start serving this".
With Xanadu they are using their network of friends and family in China to source the authentic ingredients.
"The fresh produce is sourced locally here and all the spices are imported. "We have gone for authenticity but not just in the food. We also wanted to bring the atmosphere and feel".
Xanadu replicates the way the meals are served and shared and the way skewer bars have become big fad in China.
"We have brought all the flavours we eat over there back with us," Steen said.
"Ziggy's House of Nomms will remain a dumpling tea house. At Xanadu we are going to do to spring rolls, skewers and other food here with what we do with dumplings over there. The idea is to have fun. Ziggy's already does weirdness really well. So for Xanadu we brought back all these masks that are sourced from the actual towns they come from in China. And the flavours come from everywhere from northern China to Korea and all the way to the Himalayas," Steen said.
Xanadu has created 15 jobs and between it and Ziggy's the two eateries employ 40 people. While already starting with a soft opening Xanadu officially starts this weekend. It is open for lunch from 11.30am to 2.30pm and dinner from 5.30pm to 9pm Wednesday to Sunday and is starting with an introductory 20 per cent of the normal price for lunch so people can try everything.
Read more:
Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
