Jeow means relish or sauce in Laotian. And for chef Thi Le, it’s what brings everything together at her new Laos-inspired restaurant, appropriately named Jeow. It’s the reincarnation of her leading modern-Vietnamese restaurant Anchovy, which closed in June ahead of the rebrand (though the intention is to reopen Anchovy in a new space down the track.)

Here, Le is making her own sauce, padaek (or unfiltered Laotian fish sauce), but it won’t be ready to hit the menu for another six months. “You have to balance salt, sweet, sour, spice to gel everything together,” she says. “You want people to crave for more.”

The space hasn’t changed – only the menu – with Le and partner Jia-Yen Lee ditching the Vietnamese set menu they had post-lockdown. It’s “like Anchovy when it first opened,” Le says. “More casual, pop in, pop out, less formality, uncut.”

We think you might like Access. For $12 a month, join our membership program to stay in the know.

SIGN UP

“The more I delved into Vietnamese food the more I intellectually outgrew the space,” she explains. Instead of dropping dish by dish, Le is moving towards more “home-style” eating. “Not simpler,” she says, “but a lot of sharing components and things coming together as a meal. It’s the same ethos as if you were eating at Mum’s house. She’s not going to serve entrees then mains; it’s just going to all drop at once and you eat.”

For Le, Vietnamese food can be quite mild. Comparatively, “Laotian food is not a punch in the face, but it is very loud.” She remembers eating it as a kid in Sydney. “I’ve always loved it for it being so aromatic and spicy and light and fragrant and herbaceous.”

She’s recreating some of the dishes she was most fond of at Jeow. She suggests a spread of spiced peanuts with lime leaf, lemongrass and anchovies; a few oysters with dragon fruit jeow som (Laotian spicy and sour dipping sauce); and a vegan version of sakoo yat sai, or steamed tapioca pearls, filled with Jerusalem artichoke, cashews and salted turnip – they’re coated in garlic-chive oil and to be wrapped in lettuce leaves and herbs.

There’s also nam khao, a crispy rice salad with sour pork and freshly grated coconut, and three larb (also laap or laab – Laotian minced meat and herb salad). The larb diip with raw Warialda eye fillet and slightly cooked tripe is textural and flavour-packed. Ping gai is grilled whole spatchcock that’s butterflied, skewered and served with a funky pineapple salsa.

Most of Le’s dishes really bring the heat. But, she says, “There’s a suggestion of spice that we recommend and then you can alter it to mild or medium ... I always find with Laotian food, you need the heat. The fish sauce is quite pungent, so you need all the spices and aromats to balance the dish out.”

Two banger desserts conclude the menu: a refreshing coconut sorbet with ginger granita and roasted pear, and a light, spongy durian-and-white-chocolate Swiss roll.

Lee is in charge of the drinks list, favouring more savoury wines and shifting away from what she describes as the “typical sweet wines associated with Asian cuisine.”

Jeow
338 Bridge Road, Richmond

Hours:
Thu to Sat 6pm–late
Sun 12pm–3pm

jeow.net.au