Kylie shares the secret family recipes she grew up with; the inspiration for her own restaurant. Restaurant owner, author, award-winning chef and fifth-generation Chinese-Australian, Kylie cooks with irresistible energy and passion. Glamorous lobster salad, deep fried fillets of snapper with five different types of tomato, fresh scallops with mint, luscious organic bacon braised in red wine and Kylie’s famous crispy skin duck with blood plum sauce are all explained for expert and novice cooks alike. Being surrounded by a large extended family of all ages has provided Kylie with a plethora of colourful memories and inspiring, long-held family recipes. Kylie prepares her Auntie's recipe for home-style fried duck eggs. Cooked in the wok, they’re topped with shallots, chilli and oyster sauce, giving them a delicious crunchy, rich texture. Her version of a Chinese classic, sweet and sour pork, catapults the dish into the 21st century. Reflecting on endless hours spent at her Uncle Jimmy’s noodle factory, Kylie prepares one of his fabulous noodle dishes using lots of ginger, garlic and chilli. Pickled bamboo sounds exotic but bottling your own is simple enough. Kylie uses this unusual ingredient to complement her mouth-watering crayfish and chicken salad.
Kylie takes us through her Chinese versions of traditional Australian favourites. Cumin, fennel seeds, cardamom, star anise and cinnamon quills provide a taste of the exotic in Kylie’s Moroccan inspired lamb shanks tagine. The lavish dish is cooked over hot coals in a rustic ceramic tagine. Several hours later with the flavours infused throughout, the lamb is tender and falling off the bone and the guests are champing at the bit — it’s ready to eat. Kylie’s roast chicken provides a quick delicious meal. Fresh rosemary and tarragon, generous knobs of French butter, olive oil, garlic and shallots provide a wonderful essence to the dish. Finally, Kylie gives traditional fish and chips an inspired make-over. Fillets of snapper are coated in a light beer batter that Kylie deep-fries — an art in itself. Forget the chips, she prepares a deliciously light tomato salad in her mortar and pestle to accompany the golden fillets.
Kylie loves entertaining friends and family. Picking up the freshest fish she can find from the local markets, she prepares a variety of seafood recipes. On the menu— Hiramasa Kingfish Carpaccio, Salt and Pepper sQuid and delicious Stir-fried Mussels. Kylie’s Sydney restaurant, billy kwong, is famous for it’s mouth-watering dish, crispy skin duck with fresh blood plum sauce. She shows you how to prepare this lavish dish in your own home.
Chinese people are known as inventive cooks, making delicious meals from basic ingredients. Three generations of Kwong women make some party food. Kylie and her mum go head-to-head in the kitchen, to discover who makes the best noodle stir fry. Even though Kylie learnt how to cook from her mum, their method and style are completely different. Kylie’s brother is called in to judge the winner. Seafood to whet your appetite, Tasmanian scallops with mint and a fresh mud crab salad with the unique ingredient, pickled bamboo, are also prepared. And you can’t go past Kylie’s fool-proof version for tasty fried rice.
Equally inventive are Kylie’s recipes for Waygu beef brisket with caramelised eschalots, slow cooked honeycomb tripe with green peas and sautéed chicken livers served with a watercress and radish salad. She takes the finished dishes to a popular Chinese restaurant, the staff eager to sample her tasty dishes during their dinner break.
There's a party for the opening of an art exhibition and Kylie is doing the catering. Having studied art early on in her career, Kylie still maintains a passion for it. Chosen to cater for the opening of a special art exhibition, Kylie prepares a wonderful selection of elegant finger food. The delicate serves of salad with crayfish and soft boiled duck eggs and Japanese eggplant with garlic, olive oil and tomatoes will impress. As do her delectable chicken ribbon sandwiches.
Kylie has been invited to a delicious lunch by the sea. The only catch is that she has to cook.
Kylie is having a steamboat party for 10 friends at home: she provides the food, the guests do the cooking.
It's just after dawn in Shanghai's Fuxing Park and Kylie watches people do their early morning exercise - Tai Chi, fan dancing, even ballroom dancing. Kylie has a kerbside health check from a Chinese doctor.
Kylie takes a traditional English afternoon tea at the luxurious Peninsular Hotel in Hong Kong before showing us how to make her a glamorous tea time snack – king prawn toasts.
Kylie rides into Shanghai on the world's fastest train – the Maglev. Shanghai local Mency Zhang guides her through the town where she finds different kinds of street food, including 'stinky tofu'.
Kylie helicopters into Hong Kong, a city renowned for its restaurants and fine dining. But first she goes to the Wanchai street markets where every kind of fresh ingredient is available.
Kylie sips a cocktail at the gorgeous Rouge Bar, one of the trendy new night-spots that have opened along Shanghai's 'Bund'.
Kylie escapes Hong Kong's densely populated downtown. She travels by sampan to Po Toi O - a fishing village surrounded by beautiful outlying islands. Local resident Corinne Varty shows Kylie round.
Kylie joins early morning grooming inspection at the Chinese Cuisine Cooking Institute in Hong Kong. All trainee chefs must maintain the highest standards of hygiene and dress.
Kylie says a prayer at the Taoist temple in the Shanghai Old Town. She crosses the zig zag bridge to visit the mid lake tea pavilion where Bill Clinton and others have taken tea.