white taro surry hills

White Taro, Surry Hills

There are some things that I’ll just never forget.

The birth of my nephews. The day I finally conquered the HSC and threw my protective elbow sleeve on a roof. The time I finally caught every single Pokémon in existence (before the dudes at Game Freak decided to release another five hundred to keep me up). When Tommy came back as the white ranger.

Wait what?

I am an unabashed fan of Power Rangers. It’s a terrible show but it kept me entertained for hours on end as a kid. Let me set the scene; the five main rangers are under absolute siege and are in desperate need of assistance. Their usual support in Alpha (the robot) and Zordon (the big floating head which is super weird in hindsight) are missing in action and rumours are abound that they’re conducting some experiment.

And then…there’s a flash of light. White light. A silhouette starts descending from the heavens and the white ranger is revealed (watch the full clip HERE).

From that point on, I’ve always associated white with awesome (as well as not being very resistant to stains).

Which is probably why my clothes are now stained with the delicious traces of awesome food from White Taro in Surry Hills:

white taro cafe surry hills

White Taro is one of Surry Hill’s newest cafes bringing with it a fusion between traditional Vietnamese concepts and Australian breakfast fare. It also brings the ever reliable coffee from Pablo & Rusty’s to complement the food as well as allow you to compliment your dining companion (believe me, my sweet talk whilst caffeinated makes non-caffeinated me look like a chump…in fairness, I’m a chump under the influence of coffee too but still).

white taro surry hills

White Taro joins a range of great fusion eateries such as nearby Jazushi and Devon Cafe. The question is, is it as good?

It’s devon-ately a contender.

Let me start whiting about the food.

white taro baked eggs
Baked eggs “bo kho”: Grain fed beef brisket with five beans and eggs in a special stew.

Put it this way, no one has to b-egg me to order baked eggs.

Instead the shakshuka-based recipes I’m used to sampling, White Taro’s version draws its inspiration from a traditional Vietnamese stew. You can see how this could be an awkward situation like when you bump into a dude who tried to add you as a Facebook friend after a chance meeting except you currently have him in Facebook purgatory.

Fortunately, this dish was super comfortable to indulge in.

There’s a hint of curry powder, tomato paste and star anise in play that form a holy alliance of flavour.You’ve got some braised beef brisket (second best way to have brisket outside of using the BBQ in my opinion), some beans and eggs which have just soaked up all the delicious flavours in this melting pot of delight.

white taro chicken burger
Viet skewer chicken on brioche with green mango, papaya, herbs, grain and seeds and aioli

Black is definitely not slimming in this case. I’d happily put on the extra pounds if I got to consume this delicious burger on a daily basis.

I’m all for novelty but the skewers within the burger definitely need to go. It does make sharing a lot easier but let’s be real, you’re not going to share this delicious creation. The chicken is smoky and tender like it just came off the grill at a family BBQ. The brioche bun is warm, toasted and buttery.

This burger tasted even better than it looked. Trust me, I’d never lead you askew.

white taro deconstructed banh mi
Deconstructed banh mi with crispy pork belly, house made chutney, crunchy veggie pickles, spiced kumquat butter, kimchi, chicken orange pate and a freshly baked baguette

There’s no way you’re going to get me to stop ordering this. You’re going to have to banh mi.

The dish is a smorgasbord of ingredients that allow you to create your banh mi the way you like it. Gone are the soy sauce, salt & pepper, carrots and coriander. You have some sour pickles. kim chi, sweet chutney and a very gamy sort of pate.

Oh and no more pink coloured pork.

You just get this:

white taro pork belly
PORK BELLY, MOTHER F*CKER.

….no complaints from me.

The lovely annachaannn and I put it all together and it came out looking like this:

white taro deconstructed banh mi
Yes, yes it was my idea to shove the chip in there

You’re not going to believe this but the s-taro of the show was the pork belly. Crunchy, fatty and melting away with every bite; it just did absolute wonders with the freshly baked baguette and all the condiments in attendance. I’m so glad I had the opporkunity to sink my teeth into it.

white taro cafe surry hills

Here’s the TL;DR for everyone else who’s excited for the upcoming Power Rangers movie:

– All of the dishes were superstaro calibre which is why I put so much effort into whiting about it.

– White Taro is Surry Hills’ next big kahuna, it’d be taro-ble if you missed out on going before the rush.

***

White Taro, Surry Hills

67 Albion Street

Opening Hours

Monday: Closed

Tuesday – Sunday: 7:00am to 4:00pm

White Taro Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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