Mister Brisbane: Bahn mi odyssey
Where can I find the city's best Vietnamese pork roll? Plus: Cruising returns! (I hope!)
My latest suburban safari took me to Rocklea, for a wander around the Brisbane Markets site. I took some pictures, of course, and I bought a Vietnamese pork roll (banh mi) at the bakery in the strip mall. I first encountered this treat in a long-since-closed bakery in the Valley. They’re a simple, tasty East-West fusion of cilantro, pickled carrot and other veg, chilli and pork with mayo or butter, all inside the crunchy bread originally brought to IndoChina by its French colonisers.
I’m now keen to find other examples of banh mi in Brisbane. I know there’s a bakery at Kallangur that makes a great version, and a colleague told me I should’ve gone to Inala, where there’s a big Vietnamese community. A Google search informs me that there are plenty of other bakeries that make them. Does anybody have a recommendation for the best banh mi in Brisbane?
STATION FOR SALE
The sale of Grant Broadcasters to Here, There and Everywhere’s ARN stable has created a new radio giant. The immediate impact in Brisbane will be the forced (by government regulation) sale of 4KQ, a “heritage” station playing a gold format that also happens to be performing very well in the ratings right now. Who will buy it? Is the sale already a done deal? Stay tuned.
I CHOOSE TO CRUISE
As I write this, there are reports about the Federal Government allowing cruise ships back into Australian waters. That means Brisbane’s new cruise terminal will finally be able to serve its purpose. I fear (with good reason) that it will be too late for me to take a cruise during my Christmas holidays, but I’m happy to be able to have that option again in the future. I do realise that many people — mostly those who’ve never taken one — hate cruises. I had a passionate debate on Twitter recently with somebody who called cruise ships “floating petri dishes”.
I note that, while it’s true that 28 Ruby Princess passengers died of COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic, that was (he says, expressing an opinion) partly down to ignorance about the virus and subsequent mismanagement. If everything I’ve read is correct, cruising will be very safe when it does return. Overseas, we’ve seen such protocols as compulsory testing of passengers, insistence on vaccination, and the enforcement of distancing and mask-wearing where necessary.
I’ll do what it takes and I’ll continue to cruise whenever I can, because I love to travel, full stop. Cruises allow me to move from place to place in style, eat and drink well, and sample new places and “bookmark” them for return if I like what I see. Also, as I usually travel alone, I get to meet people on cruises, and the slow pace of the journey allows us to get to know each other quite well. It’s nice to be able to have a drink at the bar with the same people every night for a week, or two or three.
I have social-media friends I met on cruises, some of whom I've caught up with later in real life and all of whom I'd like to see again. Of course, I will still travel to places that cruise ships don’t go, and I am well aware that the cruise travel experience is not “authentic”. But, believe me, authentic experiences are often over-rated.
GOODBYE, BERT
I met Bert Newton when he was in Brisbane for The Wizard of Oz. I also wrote a story about a Today show competition to win Bert’s hair (above). A few days later, I got a call from a Channel 9 reception who said Bert wanted to talk to me. I immediately feared I’d made a mistake in the story and Bert was about to berate me. In fact, he was ringing to thank me. Believe me, that never happens. But it did with Bert.
I didn’t watch all of his funeral, but it was on while I was working, and I found myself trying to spot the celebs in the congregation. It wasn’t just the entertainers of Bert’s generation who were there, although there were many of them: the likes of John Michael Howson, Molly Meldrum and Philip Brady. What impressed me was the younger stars who were there to pay tribute to the master.
The likes of Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy and Mick Molloy, whose Late Show in the 1990s was only made possible because of Bert’s pioneering work with Graham Kennedy and Don Lane in the 1960s and 70s. Andy Lee was there, too, representing yet another generation of comedians.
And there was humour amid the tears. In a eulogy read by Pete Smith, Bert’s son Matthew recalled: “Our final conversation was different from the usual and we both knew it. We just said how much we loved each other. During this wonderful chat, my mother was pottering around in the background, adding her two cents in, as usual.
“At one point she took something into another room and the second she left, Dad leaned in and whispered, ‘I think she’s poisoning my food, Matthew.’”
What a way to go ... joking right up to the end.
FEEDBACK
Peter writes: “In answer to your question of old habits. Gave up in finally on watching Doctor Who! God, I hope [old/new showrunner Russell T] Davies can rescue it. But have taken up rereading Biggles, a habit picked up when I was 30.”
On the Brisbane suburb inspired by the location of Rome, Fiona says: “I live on the border of Seven Hills and had no idea. And now I know why the streets have odd names too. I must say that it seems unlikely though that the town planner had been on a Grand Tour and noted similarities. Just some canny 19th c marketing I think.”
Editor’s note: Some of hose “odd names” include Domitia, Favius, Servius, Claudia, Artemis, Trajan, Minerva and Oateson Skyline. Can you spot the odd one out?
Regarding my item about the wording on the Fry’s Turkish Delight wrapper, Ted says: “Why you buy this? King Ahiram’s restaurant at West End (despite its sometimes surly service) make their own Turkish Delight and it is wonderful (well I can only speak for 25 years ago when I was a Brisbane local and last dined there, but Google tells me it’s still there).” Can anyone confirm this?
On the subject of childhood hobbies that you’re revisited in adulthood, Michelle says: “I still draw and colour in.”