Eating With Jimmy Shu

Chef-turned-television presenter Jimmy Shu gives us a taste of the Top End, speaks to his Chinese-Sri Lankan heritage and shares his love of rare seafood delicacies.

- Jordan Kretchmer

You’ve been living in Darwin for 29 years now – how did you first come to Darwin? I was running three restaurants in Melbourne and I was always on the hunt for beautiful ingredients. Growing up in Sri Lanka, we’d always buy silver barramundi. I looked all across Australia for it but, back then, there was only brown barramundi. Eventually, I found Billy Boustead, who was breeding silver barra here in Darwin, and came here for it. Soon after I arrived, I stayed and opened Hanuman – I’ve been here ever since. Now every restaurant I open has a silver barramundi dish on the menu.

What are your food memories of growing up in Sri Lanka? My father ran a Chinese restaurant and was one of the first to make fresh egg noodles in Sri Lanka. He brought the first machine over from a Chinese expo, and I used to make 30 kilos of egg noodles for the restaurant and to sell every day. He used to put smiles on people’s faces, and that’s what I wanted to do.