Raymond Ng opened his eponymous Chinese restaurant in Batemans Bay in 1989. Once a tailor in Hong Kong, he realised upon arriving in Australia he’d have to learn another trade: Australians weren’t big on suits. For the past 35 years, Ng and his family have been serving Cantonese classics to locals and visitors – including Hong Kong martial arts legend Jackie Chan, who visited in search of a taste of home.
Raymond’s is just one of 10 restaurants profiled in Fork or Chopsticks?, a new book by Jennifer Wong and Lin Jie Kong paying tribute to the Chinese restaurants that have been the unsgung heroes of regional dining scenes for decades. It comes on the heels of a TV show of the same name, released in 2021, in which the pair visited these institutions to tell their stories.
At Raymond’s, guests (many of whom reckon it’s the “best Chinese food [they’ve] ever eaten”, according to Ng's daughter Emily, who joined the family business during Covid) dine on dishes like honey prawns, sizzling Mongolian lamb and combination fried rice – the perfect accompaniment to any succulent Chinese meal.
“Ah, fried rice. The perfect side dish, and also a complete meal in its own right,” write Wong and Kong. “Consider this recipe as simply a guide – you can use any combination of cooked meats, and also substitute the meat for carrot, peas, and corn to make the dish vegetarian. Raymond’s version here is very close to the most famous type of fried rice – Yangzhou fried rice – which is from Jiangsu, a coastal province north of Shanghai. It’s also made with barbequed pork and prawns. Make sure that your ingredients are dry to ensure that your rice fries up nicely without excess moisture.”
Raymond’s combination fried rice
Serves 4–6, as part of a banquet, or 1–2 as a main
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
200g char siu (Chinese barbecued pork)
50g cooked, shredded chicken breast
50g ham, finely chopped
10 shelled cooked prawns
2 cups cooked white jasmine rice
1 spring onion, chopped
Sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp chicken powder
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
Method
To make the sauce, combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
In a wok or large pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and scramble the egg. Remove the egg and set aside.
Heat the remaining tbsp of oil in the wok or pan and stir-fry the pork, chicken, ham and prawns. Add the rice and mix thoroughly, breaking up any large clumps.
Add the sauce and mix well to combine. Add the scrambled egg and toss together.
Add the spring onion and toss together, then serve.
Chopsticks or Fork? (Hardie Grant) by Jennifer Wong and Lin Jie Kong is available online and in bookstores from September 3.
