A Night with Poh Ling Yeow and Sarah Tiong offers a rare and mouth watering insight into the Australian culinary industry
Presented by: Adelaide Festival Centre
Reviewed: Saturday 4 November, 2023
As the colourful spectacle of OzAsia Festival draws to a close, A Night with Poh Ling Yeow and Sarah Tiong offers a rare and mouth watering insight into the Australian culinary industry. Author Benjamin Law acts as host and interviewer, although under his artful guidance the evening feels less like a formal interview and more like happy conversation.
All three personalities sparkle on stage as they discuss their shared Malaysian Chinese heritage and the different ways it has influenced their relationship with food, both personally and professionally. Yeow remembers the vast range of street food she sampled daily with her family as a child growing up in Kuala Lumpur.
Tiong’s parents immigrated to Australia as young adults. She describes growing up in Sydney experiencing two different cultures, at school and at home. She remembers the importance of coming together for family meals, and learning cooking with her mother, at odds with the relaxed TV dinners many of us are used to. It’s with passion and fondness that she describes discovering the street vendors and wet markets of Malaysia for the first time on family holidays.
Both Yeow and Tiong are known and loved for their appearances on MasterChef. The audience is not disappointed, because the panel indulges in plenty of playful gossip throughout the show. Tiong shares a term her fellow contestants coined on MasterChef Back to Win, “Pulling a Poh” for whenever they felt scatterbrained during a cook. All credit MasterChef with introducing Australia to Malaysian Chinese cuisine, remarking how much shopping aisles have changed since 2009.
This is a delightful show that pairs perfectly with dinner at the Lucky Dumpling Markets. Not to be missed for any MasterChef fan or frequenter of the Adelaide Central Markets.
Reviewed by: Nicola Woolford
Photo credit: Gretl WatsonBlazewicz
Venue: Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: ended
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