'Throw another prawn on the barbie!' is still typical of the Australian cuisine experience but now the prawn is more likely to be marinated in olive oil, lime and fresh ginger, and may be served with wild mushroom risotto and lemon oil or Sichuan-style braised eggplant.
Modern Australian cuisine is created with high-quality base ingredients cooked in a variety of ways that reflect the country's multinational make-up. Many young Australian chefs who trained in the 1980s and 1990s worked with a wealth of fresh and varied ingredients in a multicultural environment, and are now delighting diners the world over with their skills.
In turn, these young chefs are receptive to learning new skills in overseas kitchens. They find freedom in Hong Kong to develop their ideas and present the results to appreciative and sophisticated diners from all over the world.
The Kowloon Shangri-La's executive sous chef Michael McCalman, who hails from South Australia, likes nothing better than to throw a piece of whole wild barramundi on the barbecue.
In fact, the Kowloon Shangri-La's recently opened Cafe Kool boasts a large barbecue imported from Queensland, Australia. Chef McCalman was excited about creating the cafe's new menu. The experience has allowed him to experiment and push the boundaries for modern Australian food.
'Some of the Cafe Kool dishes are already perhaps a bit too modern for a regular coffee shop but they fit the cafe's concept well. On the a la carte menu are such items as shaved beef carpaccio with a roasted beet/citrus creme fraiche dressing, rocket and Parmesan, or whole wild Northern Australian barramundi, and a Kool red cherry churned ice-cream with sweetened shortbread biscuits.'
Mr McCalman is a good example of today's globe-trotting Australian chef. As well as Australia, he has worked in England, Ireland, Azerbaijan, and now Hong Kong. He sums up the new cuisine as 'the mixing of different ethnic traditions, techniques and produce, coupled with explosive colours, the freshest ingredients, limited handling of produce, and an eagerness to do the new - a bit like the lifestyle loved by so many Aussies.'