Hawker Food On Main Street

By Edwina Williams

A Local Ballarat Article

ANGELINE Tan's family have been passionate about food for generations.

Her grandparents ran a successful restaurant in Malaysia, and her father, Don, has been a chef in Australia for over 20 years; now the face behind Midlands' Don's Kitchen.

Recently Ms Tan, her mum, dad, brother and sister-in-law saw a CBD opportunity they couldn't pass up. and now they're the family behind Malaysian Chinese food spot, Hawker on Sturt.

"Our specialty here is peking duck, barbecue roast pork with cashews, Malaysian dishes like curries,curry laksa, beef rendang and curry chicken,"she said.

"We have a homemade siu mai, one of our street foods in Malaysia, made with pork, prawns and mushrooms.

"People will enjoy the authenticity. They're all our own family recipes from my grandma with our own flavours infused."

The cooking space at Midlands might be Don's Kitchen by name, but the new space has Mr Tan all over it, and has been busy since it opened on Friday.

"Dad's in the kitchen every day roasting duck. It's been overwhelming; every day we've sold out.Seeing the support made us happy and scared at the same time." Ms Tan laughed.

"We'll see what the response is, and what dishes Ballarat likes. We're going to limit orders so we can fulfil everyone on time."

The Tans knew Hawker would be a risk. especially in the COVID economy, but they wanted to try and fill a gap in the market.

"The nearest peking duck, or authentic cashew pork, you'd have to get in Melboume," Ms Tan said. "These are some of our favourite foods, we do them at home...so I said to dad, why don't we try selling it here, and if this doesn't work, we can try something else."