Unearthing South-West Sydney’s Food Story (w/Sydney Food Boy)
EPISODE 13 — 15 APRIL 2022
“I see things differently now. When I eat food, I don’t just eat food, I don’t think about if the food is good or not. It’s about ‘What can I learn from this food?’”
ABOUT THE EP
Kevin, aka, Sydney Food Boy, our local food vlogger is on a mission to find the best food in Sydney, particularly South-West Sydney. We chat to Kevin about life as a food content creator, connecting to culture and community through food, and of course, his top food recommendations.
THE DETAILS
Sydney Food Boy's origin story
Life as an optometrist vs content creator
Kevin's journey with food storytelling
Creating content for TikTok vs YouTube vs Instagram
The untold stories of South-West Sydney
The significance of 'Best Cheap Eats in Cabramatta'
Best and worst parts of being a content creator
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Wendy
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. We have a special one today. Tracy, do you want to introduce our very, very famous...
Tracy
Oh, famous…big, big, big words. Today we have Kevin aka SydneyFoodBoy on the podcast with us. Welcome to the podcast!
Kevin
Thanks, guys. Thanks for inviting me.
Tracy
No we're really, really excited to have you here.
Wendy
One of our most famous friends I would say
Tracy
Yeah, it's crazy, because I guess we've known Kevin a while now like before SydneyFoodBoy, like I went to primary school with Kevin. And then, how did you know Kevin?
Wendy
Um, I met Kevin at a Year Six mathematics like extracurricular after school kind of thing at Cabramatta High School. Yeah, yeah.
Kevin
That was so long ago.
Tracy
Do you remember it?
Kevin
I do remember it. Like, we were so young the teachers had to drive us from our school to that school.
Wendy
Yeah, I do remember that. Yeah. And I think like throughout, I have just crossed paths with you at like, really random moments. Yeah. It's just weird how like, the whole world comes full circle. And now we're interviewing you on our podcast!
Tracy
Yeah. So for those who don't know Kevin, we'll hand it over to you. Maybe you give us an introduction on who you are, what your background is, you know, what's SydneyFoodBoy all about?
Kevin
Always have so much trouble answering this question.
Tracy
I know tough question hey.
Kevin
My name is Kevin. I'm 25 years old, born and raised in South West Sydney, which I'm very proud of. And I'm a content creator in food. So I do YouTube, and I do TikTok, I do Instagram, and it's all about food in Sydney, and mostly South West Sydney. Yeah. And my alias is SydneyFoodBoy.
Tracy
Nice. How about like, your like cultural background, your family where they come from?
Kevin
My parents were Chinese Cambodian. So, they're Chinese descent but they were born in Cambodia, raised in Cambodia. And then they came to Australia.
Tracy
Yo u speak Teochew at home right?
Kevin
Yes I do speak Teochew and I know you that you do too.
Tracy
Fellow Teochew speaker.
Kevin
Gagi Nang. Oh, you're Canto right?
Wendy
Yeah, I'm Cantonese. Yeah, there's, in our fellow listeners, this guy Gagi Nang as well
Kevin
Yeah I'm sure there are.
Wendy
So do you want to tell us how SydneyFoodBoy started? And maybe the story behind it if you have one?
Kevin
Oh, it's a long story. I think I first came up with the idea of SydneyFoodBoy when I was overseas. I was in Singapore. There's a very long story behind it. But I somehow ended up in Singapore by myself solo. And there's not much else to do in Singapore. Besides food, like everybody loves food in Singapore, and anyone that goes to Singapore comes back and talks about the food and says "Oh, the food's amazing." So I was there solo and I was trying to figure out like what to do. Because I had 10 days there by myself. And I guess I was going through Google, right, like best places to eat in Singapore. And I was asking people like, "Where do you eat? And like, what's your favourite place to eat?" We were asking locals and things like they were asking. I have family there too, so I was asking my family there. And then it ended up being like this whole 10 day food adventure.
Tracy
Wow.
Kevin
And the idea for SydneyFoodBoy, I guess there's two factors to that whole trip that sparked it. Number one was when I was doing all that, I guess, research into what to eat every day and I was reading people's articles, like the same couple of people kept popping up, you know, on the internet, talking about food in Singapore. And I was like, bro, this is so cool. Right? These guys are like, surely this is a job for them. Right? And these guys are doing something that I would love to do, which is, you know, just talk about food every day. And man, I was like, in a magical moment. Yeah, I suppose. And then the second thing was going through 10 days or that, yeah, it was very fun. Because, you know, all you do is like you're going around, you're exploring, you're learning stories, you're meeting the people behind the food. And this was something that I haven't had the opportunity to do very much before this trip, I suppose. Because you're always on like, you know, trips with friends. And just, you know, doing whatever that group wants you to do, which is very fun, of course, but this is the first time I had time to just slow it down and try different things that I'd like to do in travelling. And then... I guess it was it was an amazing feeling right? Like it was such an amazing feeling. And I asked myself at the end of the trip, I was like, how do I make it feel like this everyday I'm back home in Sydney, because this is such an amazing feeling and I never want to let it go. Right? And I guess on the plane trip home or like, even during the trip as wellm I kept thinking about it. I'm like, dude, like, you can either go home and go back to work, you know, your nine to five and that's that and just enjoy, like travelling once or twice a year for the holidays. Or you can do something different, like every single day. I was like, how do I make it feel like I'm travelling every day when I'm at home? And this is the reason why I started.
Tracy
I got chills!
Wendy
I think it was such a poetic kind of way to enter your journey into what SydneyFoodBoy is today. And I guess for our listeners, like by day, you're an optometrist right? And like how does that differ from SydneyFoodBoy?
Kevin
Oh, it's very different, I suppose. I went into Optometry because I really wanted to help people in one way or another. And it was a nice job, you know, like you're in healthcare, you're helping people to see, and I thought that was beautiful as a job. So I was like, I'll aim for that. And it's still very good in that... the thing I love most about optometry isn't even the helping people to see part. It's just, you know, meeting people talking to people that you wouldn't normally talk to and that keeps the day going. Right. And it's very cool, like in that regard. But as a job itself, Optometry is very, I think of it as a very systematic job. Like you go through every single patient. You know, what's their problem? How do you fix that problem? And you go through that in a systematic way. So a lot of people go into optometry and they get bored. Actually, a lot of my Optometry friends who graduated with they're so bored of their jobs right now, because that's the only way they see it. They see it in a systematic way so it is a very systematic job. It's very, like do one thing, and then the next thing and the next thing and like that's how you problem solve, whereas SydneyFoodBoy is completely different, it's just on the other end of the spectrum. It's very, like it's creative and in optometry, it's very hard to be that creative. So, I guess there's a lot of creative people stuck in a job that they don't like. I love my job as an optometrist by the way. I don't hate my job. I love what I do. But yeah, like you do miss that creative aspect. Yeah. So it is very different in that way.
Tracy
You have an outlet now to kind of do both right and then to SydneyFood Boy. Have you always been like a creative person?
Kevin
Yes and no, yeah. Um, I don't remember the first time I was like, I realised I was creative. I think I didn't even like English back. But then, I had a HSC teacher, right in Year 12 English Advance. And she made me love English. Like, it was just memorising essays and stuff. I'm like, oh I'm good at this, not bad. I was doing creative writing stuff but still, it wasn't too creative. Like, it wasn't anything big for me. And I knew like coming out of high school, I just wanted to do Optometry. Like, I wanted to get into that uni. I wanted to get through that degree. I wanted to get that job. And I was so like, you know, tunnel vision on that. Yeah. And then after I graduated out of uni, that's when obviously you have a lot more time to relax. And then, like when you start your first year of your job, and you're just like, "Oh, what else can I do?" You know, I mean, because you've really hit that goal that you wanted to that you've been aiming for, for the past, what, six, seven years of your life? Yeah. And so you just sort of start doing things here and there, but still wasn't doing anything like very creative until I started the food writing thing.
Tracy
Yeah. How about food? Have you always been a big foodie? Even before that Singapore trip?
Kevin
I love food. Yeah, but I never thought to talk about. Like I used to love travelling actually. I was one of those guys where you know, every year even during uni, you just go on like one, two, three trips.
Tracy
I remember your travel videos were always so good.
Kevin
Thanks man, I appreciate that.
Tracy
Kevin's editing on his travel videos were like woah, next level.
Just for context, I used to go travelling like when I could and then I used to record everything on a GoPro and I used to like make that into a little video for me to like, look back and you know just memorise good times. Like with my friends and family and stuff. It was pretty cool. Those videos are still up on YouTube, just no one knows where to find them.
Wait challenge right? Go find his travel videos. He's actually a travel blogger as well.
Kevin
I actually really wanted to be a travel vlogger. Like dude, I was so excited to do like some sort of travelling like thatin my life but it just never fell through.
Tracy
You could always expand right. When the borders open, SydneyFoodBoy in Singapore, SydneyFoodBoy in Vietnam if you really want to.
Wendy
You could be like the Mark Nguyen but from South West Sydney though.
Tracy
Kevin La from South West Sydney.
Kevin
Those are huge shoes to fill. Yeah, I think for me, it's just me doing something fun.
Tracy
Yeah.
Wendy
Do you feel like because you're on TikTok, and now that's the platform to make those types of fun videos.
Kevin
Tik Tok?
Wendy
Yeah.
Kevin
Ooh, hard. I think YouTube is still the platform to, I guess, build a community...get to know people in a more intimate way like this. TikTok is very fast. You know, you'll see me for 10 seconds every day, every night and then scroll. Right. And like, how quickly can you capture that audience in 10 seconds? That's TikTok.
Tracy
Whereas YouTube, I love that you can you have time to tell the story as well. Like when you interview the store owners and their story in the food, like, I love that part of your videos. You can talk to them and actually get the story that you never really...likw, when you're eating food, you don't think about "Oh, why did they open up this restaurant? What's the background of the food?" So that's what I love with your videos that you can showcase that. I think that's awesome.
Kevin
Yeah. Appreciate that.
Tracy
No worries. Were there any, like pivotal moments or milestones in your journey with SydneyFoodBoy that stands out? When did it become big?
Kevin
Oh, I don't know, that's a very hard question. Yeah. Oh, I guess the first thing that I can remember where it was like, Oh, this is so cool like it's going to be more than just like a food Instagram, was when a journalist had reached out from the local newspaper? And I think it was under the Daily Telegraph anyway, so it's ended up being published in The Daily Telegraph. I'm pretty sure it's Daily Telegraph.
Tracy
I think it was. I remember the article.
Kevin
Yeah. Anyway, what the journalist said was, they wanted to write an article about what I was doing in representing South West Sydney. Because I think at the time, and even still to this day, South West Sydney gets a little bit of a bad rep - saying a lot of people think this is the worst part of Sydney, or it's just like, not great and there's so many more like nice looking affluent areas in Sydney. But everything I was doing at that time, and still to this day, was like talking about, you know, how much diversity how much culture we have in South West Sydney, and how beautiful it is to live here and to have, like, these sorts of experiences that you can make every single day. Yeah, right and just like meeting new people, trying new food and all that. And there was a journalist that had picked up on that and they had really liked it. And she just wanted to interview me and yeah, that was the first interview I did and that was over the phone. But from memory, that was the first time I felt like, "Oh, this could be big." You know? Yeah, I could keep going at this and have a lot of fun with it.
Tracy
Did your audience kind of grow from that? Like, was that a moment where it was like, you know, everyone knows who you are? He's on the newspaper. You've made it.
Kevin
It didn't grow heaps but for me, it felt cool. Yeah. Like, that's a cool experience, like having a whole article written about you. And like, you know, your hobby at the time. So yeah, it was it was cool, man. And at the time, I had only just started my YouTube to, like, I was on my second video or something like that.
Wendy
Wow. That's massive. I think it's a huge, like more personal experience, as opposed to like, "I'm only doing this to grow my followers," which I think is like, the best part of it. Um, do you think your audiences like on YouTube and on TikTok are different?
Kevin
Oh, very different.
Wendy
How so?
Kevin
YouTube is a, I guess a lot more local people who like falling back on other food creators, a lot of people will like me too. We love watching people like you know, Mikey Chen, Mark Nguyen, The Best Food Review Show and all them. Like, these guys are funny as. They're top of the top in this sort of space, you know what I mean? And like, we grew up watching them. I guess what I was doing, a lot of the local people were like, "Oh look, this guy doing stuff for Sydney, man. Like, it was cool." Yeah, and a lot of people still like, hit me up and say hi and stuff to this day. Like, they'd catch me eating at a restaurant or whatever. And they'll say, "Hey, man, you're the Mikey Chen of like, you know, Sydney?"
Tracy
That's a massive compliment!
Kevin
Yeah, that is a massive compliment because like I didn't see myself at that level at all, I'm just eating bro. Yeah.
Tracy
So Kevin, what do you want to showcase about our community like South West Sydney? What's your... Is there a mission that you have showcasing this area?
Kevin
I think I find it like really fun because I grew up in this area, and I think everyone else in this area, you know, and we all grew up together, we all have all these memories that haven't really been told. Yeah. Like just things about growing up in the area, things about, you know, having parents that a lot of immigrant families have around here, of course. And yeah, like we all have these like shared experiences, which sort of, in a way reminds me of when Subtle Asian Traits first came about, even though that's very big, and not in Melbourne anymore. Like, when I when Subtle Asian Traits came about on Facebook, people would post something and say, "Oh, look, my family does this." And then everyone would like it right? In some way or another I get that feeling a little bit too anytime I post about something, because I found the thing I love about writing about food is I drawback on memories. Like, you know, what does this food mean, for me, particularly Asian food, of course, because we grew up eating that. And anytime I write something on Instagram, or on my food blog, about a memory about food, and how I relate to that. Oh you should see the messages, man, like their such nice messages, just people messaging me like, "Oh, you know, I had this exact same experience," or "I went there when I was a kid and like this gave me that memory again and thank you."
Tracy
Aw that's so heartfelt.
Kevin
Yeah, yeah. Doing it like that makes me very happy.
Wendy
Yeah it keeps you going hey. Do you do you feel like you could ever do this like full time seeing like, kind of rewards coming through?
Kevin
I reckon I could. I reckon at the moment, like right now, I could drop Optometry and do this full time.
Tracy
Really?
Wendy
Wowww.
Kevin
Like, it's, it's gotten to a good point but I still love Optometry. I love practising in the optical space. You know? Yeah, seeing people's eyes and things like that still to this day. So I don't know when I'll make that transition or if I can. It's an option. Yeah, yeah, definitely an option, which is very cool.
Tracy
Yeah, that's really awesome that you have that. Like, what two loves?
Kevin
Exactly. Yeah.
Wendy
Got the best of both worlds... that's the best thing, right.
Tracy
Yeah. With your, um, you know you mentioned your food writing? Did your love of storytelling come from somewhere, like a particular place?
Kevin
With the food writing, um, when I first started SydneyFoodBoy... it started off like, regular blog. Like, I was eating something and then I was posting a picture and saying, "Oh, this is very cool, very yummy." I never never did the ratings and things like, just like, "Oh, I really liked this food." And then over time, as the posts went on, and Instagram back then, for context, right now, it's very like video heavy. Like, anytime someone posts a short form video, like a reel, it gets pushed a lot. And like photos, and written posts aren't getting pushed very much anymore. So there's a lot of transition happening on Instagram right now. But two years ago, it was very photo heavy, photo centric and anytime I would write something, it was, it was cool. Because like when I started writing about memories and stories, and not just about whether or not the food's good, but more about asking the audience "Have you tried this food?" You know, um, this is where this food comes from. For me, I was doing research too right, I was learning about the food I was eating, after I had tasted it in my mouth. And I had related everything that I had learned by you know, for example, talking to the other people at the restaurant, eating the same food, or talking to the owners of the restaurant, and what their passions are, and just like collating all of that into a written piece, underneath all the photos about the food and or photos of the food, sorry. And yeah, like it just became a bit of a... for me became art, like, I really liked it. And I liked doing it every night. And I would come home from work, and I would write a new piece every day. And it became like something ongoing for me.
Tracy
That's awesome. And the more you do it, the more you get better and better, right? Because yeah, finding ways to push it more creatively.
Wendy
Is there a particular creative process you go through with like writing versus editing videos for TikTok versus Youtube, Instagram, like all the platforms?
Kevin
I think the crazy thing about all that is, is every platform is very different, like extremely different. And a lot of the time I do lose balance a little bit. Like for example right now, in uh... what's the month?
Tracy
Now it's April. Yeah.
Kevin
It's early April 2022. And I haven't posted a YouTube video in like a month because I've been so out of balance. And I really need to get back into it, of course, and like that's on me. But yeah, with YouTube, it takes a lot of time because you have to go out there and film and all that. If I go and eat at a restaurant and film everything, it might take about two hours roughly. But the editing process for that YouTube video might take about 13 hours.
Wendy
Wow.
Kevin
Like yeah, like a whole day. Pretty much. So I had a system last year with YouTube, where I would go out to eat something, I'd come home, and then I would edit the video of where I ate the week before... to get a weekly video going. But then I lost that balance. So that's YouTube. YouTube is quite a lengthy process, but it's fun. And I know people who do edit YouTube videos that a lot, like much faster, right? I'm jealous, man.
Tracy
It takes time. I edit YouTube videos as well sometimes and it's just like, every little thing, right? The music and then like if you make one cut here, you redo the entire sequence and everything.
Kevin
Yeah, and I was using like a crappy laptop at the time too and it was a lot man. TikTok is different in that it's short form, so it is quite easy - or relatively a lot easier. I might spend maybe 30 minutes to an hour editing a YouTube, editing a TikTok video, sorry. So yeah, for TikTok, it was a long time before I found a good template. Right, because if you go on to TikTok right now, you'll see a lot of people just, you know, chuck a lot of videos into the app and let the app do the stitching and like over some funny music or whatever.
Wendy
Yeah, that's what I do.
Kevin
I mean, there's nothing wrong with that right. It's like, "Oh, you know, how do I separate myself as a creator on Tiktok from the rest of the pack?" You know, because if I just create all that stuff, and then you know, just have some voiceover or that you know, the lady voiceover. "Yeah, look at this."
Wendy
I know exactly which one.
Kevin
Then you're just following along with everyone else. Yeah. Whereas it took me a really long time to even be comfortable enough to do like a voiceover over videos, and then like learning how to, like, how many seconds each video clip should be... this that and yeah, so that took a long time. But now I've found that it's easier. And then for me, Instagram and like taking photos and writing...it got to a stage where I don't even think about it. Yeah, I'll sit there and write something and then I'd come out I'm like, "Oh, and that's nice. I like reading what I just wrote." Yeah, for me became, I guess you could say, meditative.
Tracy
What is your favourite video to make and why? Or what was one of your favourite videos to make and why?
Kevin
I think it was the video on YouTube called "Best Cheap Eats in Cabramatta." Yeah, man, like from that video. I had so many comments, just people around the community commenting things like "Oh, I ate when I was growing up in Cabramatta," or, you know, "Anytime my family would take me to Cabramatta, I would come here. This is my family's favourite place. This is my brother's favourite." Yeah, it was just cool, man like just seeing, like a community come together over one video. And I think for me, when I made that video, that's what it was all about. Like it was never to... I didn't I never intended for that video to blow up, but it did. Like it was very cool. Like, people were messaging me like friends that I knew at uni, in high school and stuff, and like, "Hey, dude, you popped up on my, my YouTube recommendations. When did you do YouTube man?" So that was very cool. But I think the reason for that is there were so many likes and comments on that video of like I said, like people from the community just like wanting to share their own version of a story from one of the places I featured in that video. Yeah, and it was amazing, man. Like, I loved it. Yeah. Yeah, like best cheap eats, I suppose, it was just a little challenge thing for me, just to run through a couple of these restaurants but there were definitely like places that I as a kid, you know, childhood, where my family would take me, where I would go after school.
Tracy
Yeah, I was gonna say it took me back to after school and you know, yeah, you don't have a lot of money as a student so Cabramatta is the place to go.
Kevin
Yeah, just like buying things I loved as a kid, like, and I think people saw that in the video, which is very cool. When I was making the video, it was yeah, like, like I said, it never, I never intended for it to be a big video or anything. For me, you know, having had 15 videos down on YouTube already. I wanted to make a video which was more like a shoutout to everyone that grew up around me. Like everyone that grew up in the Cabramatta area. And just like, you know, tell our story.
Tracy
Yeah, I felt that, that felt like the heart of SydneyFoodBoy for me. One of the like, you know, this is one of the reasons why you could tell why you're passionate about what you do.
Kevin
So it's a video that means a lot to me. And yeah, like, I think just going by all the comments I got on that video , it definitely did help. And yeah, he definitely means a lot to like, have everyone, even the comments and stuff and yeah, like seeing people's parents messaging and stuff. And it was, it was very cool like it transcended generations. Yeah. And I say that meaning, like even people's older brothers in the generation before us, for example, even, you know, 10 years above us, 10 years below us, as mid-20 people right now, like they were having the same experiences now. And you realise that our childhood experiences, the ones that I'm trying to, like, tell in the video aren't just our childhood, - it's everyone's childhood. Like anyone who grew up in Cabramatta or surrounding areas, and had been to Cabramatta before. And we're from Asian immigrant families or, even non-Asian immigrant families. Like, we all had the same experiences and just memories of Cabramatta. Yeah, man. It was cool. Yeah. Like, that's, I think that video was the one that connected me to a lot of people in the Cabramatta community alone. Even like counsellors and Mayor and stuff. Yeah. The deputy mayor, sorry.
Tracy
Like what you said, I think like, it's like almost like a thread in a bigger piece of fabric, you know, that kind of forms Cabramatta. Like there's so many memories attached to that place and significance for generations, different people have different experiences, where it's like a really beautiful thing.
Kevin
100%. Yeah, so that definitely, to me, is probably my favourite video. Shoutout to Brian Nguyen edits, you know, my video editor, man. Couldn't have done that video without him. He's He's very good.
Tracy
Go Brian.
Kevin
Yeah go Brian man! If you guys need a video editor? Brian Nguyen.
Tracy
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Wendy
What are the best and the worst parts of being a content creator? And do you have any, I guess tips for people who want to get to where you are.
Kevin
The best part? Man, I don't know the best part. The best part is just like, overall, it's very fun, right? Because everything you're pushing, or everything you're letting out into the world is all your own work. And a lot of the time you get lost in, you know, just the daily motions of 'I have to put this video out, I have to put this post out." But every once in a while you'll take a breather and then you'll look back and look at all the content you've created. And be like, "Wow, like this is my portfolio in a way." Ever since I started, like, look how much I've created. And that's a very cool feeling. So I think that, to me, is probably one of the best things. And the second thing I would say that is the best thing is just the people that you meet along the way as well. Because, life is so much more than doing things yourself. Right? And how boring a life it would be if you don't meet other people, and just like see what other people have done with their lives and try to build on that and learn from yourself as well - not just in the food space, but just everything. Yeah. And I've seen that and I've learned that over time. Pretty cool. The worst part is, I don't know man. The worst part is, I guess, it's not even bad, but just the constant flow of it like it's hard to take a break because you always, like for me particularly, like I'm quite harsh on myself in that, I need to put this out every day and if I don't, then I haven't hit my goal. I'm like "Oh my god, Kev, why didn't you do that?" You know, but over time, I've learned to just like, let myself relax a little bit. You know, because it's healthier to not look at yourself in a negative way. And just be proud first and foremost of what you've done and enjoy the process.
Tracy
Yeah, you're gonna burn yourself out. And then I don't have long term damage or anything like that.
Kevin
Yeah, exactly.
Tracy
How do you come up with the ideas for your content? Like, which restaurants to eat at? And you know, what type of content you want to produce?
Kevin
Oh, I guess like the basis behind SydneyFoodBoy is to get people eating and exploring food that they haven't eaten before. And just like, for me, it's just always been about just going out and finding something new and then writing about it - not just about the food, but you know the story behind it as well. And yeah, like, I guess it just comes naturally, I suppose. Because if you go out to eat something new, like there's always something new to learn about the food. There's always a new experience there and just talking about that.
Tracy
Yeah, I feel like I always thought South West Sydney, the food scene was like Vietnamese, Chinese, like kind of generally Thai food.
Kevin
I mean, that's where we live.
Tracy
Yeah, where we live and the restaurants that you go to, it's like, I've never even like seen this place and I've been living here my whole life.
Kevin
I've been doing a bit of Fairfield lately. Yeah because it's close and I've been working there. Yeah, like one day a week. So in my lunch break right now like at work, I should only have half an hour but sometimes I come back like five or 10 minutes late. But what I've been trying to do is, when I first started working at Fairfield, I would go around Fairfield and see what's busy and just join that line. I think I've gone past that because I've hit all those restaurants now. So now what I've been doing is I've been going in, like, just out on the street and I see someone and if they know how to speak English, I would just ask them like, "Hey, where would you go for lunch? Like right now?" I just ask a random. Yeah, and some guys are really nice. They're like, "Oh, what do you like, you know? Do you like kebab? You like sandwich? Oh, that sounds cool." And then they're like, "Oh, you have to go...There's two restaurants here. You know, there's one right next to us. And there's one over there, but I like the one over there." And then I'll just go to wherever they told me, man. And that's a really cool way of finding new places to eat.
Tracy
That's true, I really like that asking the locals and people around, right.
Kevin
Because like, what do you do when you go travelling? Right?
Tracy
Yeah, you ask people.
Kevin
Yeah. you ask people local. Like why don't you bring that sort of notion to Sydney?
Wendy
I was just gonna say that. I was like, when I'm overseas, I feel a lot more confident myself or kind of at ease when I ask people. "Hey, like, where would you go to eat?" But then in Sydney, I don't do that at all.
Kevin
Isn't it weird?
Wendy
Yeah. And I think like...
Kevin
it was weird for me too right.
Wendy
Yeah, you feel so uncomfortable doing it but I think it happens in such an organic way. And these are things that you're not gonna find on Google reviews or anything like that. I think that's the way we find food right now. But I've never, it's never even crossed my mind to just hit up someone on the street and be like, "Hey, what would you recommend?"
Kevin
And I think only had the bravery to do that because I've done that before. Like, in Singapore, for example. Right. And I know that I can find a good place to eat or something new, just by asking someone. So why not try that technique in Sydney? And it worked, man, like, it's cool. So I do every once in a while and sometimes I find places like that.
Tracy
I might try the next, I have to try. When you go in like you're filming content in the restaurants, and most of the restaurant owners are pretty okay with that...sharing their story?
Kevin
Yeah, it depends. It depends what I'm filming for. Yeah. Like, if it's TikTok, for example, I can film with my phone very naturally to the point where they don't even know I'm filming. Right? With YouTube, it's different. Because with YouTube, I'm lugging around a camera. So I do ask for permission from the owners of the restaurant, and a lot of the time, you ask staff by accident, instead of the owner. And then the staff gets very shy and like they say "No, no no." They call and they go into the kitchen and tug someone in the back and say "You ask him." Sometimes you get those situations, but most of the time, everyone has been pretty nice. You got to ask with the smile, you know so then you coming from like, a friendly manner. And then yeah, like, the getting people to talk about their stories is a little bit harder, right? Because not every restaurant that I go to is, like English adept in that they can tell a whole story in English. You know, and I'm not about to film something in a different language and try to translate it because that's hard. Yeah, it's very hard, I've done that once. And oh, man, it was Chinese. And I don't like, I can't read Chinese at all. So I was asking my Chinese friend to translate it for me. And, you know, I didn't want to do that every single time. So I do pick and choose like, which videos have places where ask them to just tell their story a little bit. And then which other restaurants I tried to tell the story for them. Oh, I always like, you know, getting them to tell this story, because it's a lot more natural. And they know what they're talking about. Whereas, sometimes I'm just they're just like "Oh, yeah, this that."
Wendy
Yeah, I actually just like thought that, um, you know, Humans of New York. I feel like you are the same type of producer but for like food in Sydney. Yeah, you're the
Kevin
I love Humans of New York.
Tracy
Yeah.
Wendy
The way that they tell stories, I think feels like it's very similar to how you talk about food and the owners and the culture.
Kevin
Thanks, man. Yeah, that's a massive compliment.
Tracy
It's just like sharing stories that you don't, you're not used to hearing. Because like, you never the moment to even ask.
Kevin
The thing I love about Humans of New York is their... How do you say, like, they don't even tell the story, like the person, the content creator doesn't tell the story. It's completely based on the person, you know, they ask the questions too. And they just like rewrite it in a way and take a nice photo. But it's like, like getting people who have never told this story before, to tell their story. And I love that about them.
Tracy
It's like giving them a platform to tell their story.
Kevin
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Wendy
But I also think that like, so much story can be told with like a dish itself, right, like food. So I think that's why I made the connection. It's like they're not really telling you their story with words but just like how they've prepared a dish which I think is the most incredible experience. And for us, I think we've been very privileged that we've just, you know, we go in, we eat and then we leave. But I feel like I hope after, you know, our listeners hear you, I know for a fact, after this episode, I want to make more of an effort to do that.
Tracy
It kind reminds me of when you're overseas, you're always asking, I feel like I'm more brave. I'm like "Oh, why? Like,what's the meaning behind this dish? Like, why do you do this? Why? Why? Why? Like, what's the background behind the restaurant?" But yeah, like, in Sydney, when we're at home, you don't even like think about it. Yeah, just interesting.
Wendy
Have you learned anything super interesting in exploring, like, the food scene in South West Sydney? Like, has anything surprised you?
Kevin
Um, I'm not really surprised. More so just, I guess, bewildered by how much culture we really have. Right? Because when you grow up, it's a...like, you are in your own space. And us three, we all grew up in the Cabramatta area. Yeah. And like when someone says South West Sydney, like, okay, like, this is South West Sydney. But man, there are a lot of places that you can go in South West Sydney alone, where you can just pop in... actually, this is a surprise, here we go! You can just pop into a random suburb, and then bring your phone you know, just go walk around and just walk around in the streets and you know, into the alleyways and into the plazas and find these like cool businesses feeding or serving a community that you've never heard of in Sydney. Yeah. And like Fairfield to tell one story, is like a very highly...like you find out huge community of Iraqis, Assyrian. And even if you walk around, just Fairfield, main streets of Fairfield and in alleyways, alleyways once again, you'll find all these small businesses that you've never heard of, and you have no ideas, it's not on Google at all. But they're packed like they're packed with people, families, like from that community just going in. And you're like, "What the hell? This is in Fairfield?" Dude, we grew up in Cabramatta, like five minutes from Fairfield.
Tracy
It's completely different scene. Yeah, diversity is just like, yeah, different.
Kevin
That's just Fairfield. Right. Like, what if you go to Penrith, Blacktown, Granville, Guildford, like everywhere, just naming places on the train line. Yeah, the stations, Yennora. You just keep going. Even Yennora, like, I'm sure if you look hard enough, you'll find something cool in Yennora. Just these random, odd places. And I guess in a way you think, "Oh, why would you start a business here? Because it's not very busy. Like no one knows that you're here." But it's cool. Like to me, if I find a business owner, tell their story, man, like it's it's awesome to learn and to help support something like that along the way and it's cool.
Wendy
Yeah. I know exactly what, like, alleyways you're talking about in Fairfield. I used to go there, like as a kid all the time. But I think like maybe last year, I just went to visit the Vinnies there and it had been used since I'd walk into the alleyway and it was like a shopping arcade. And there was like several stores selling spices, groceries, I think in particular, for like Iraqi and Assyrian type, and groceries as well. And I think like thinking about it now, I didn't even give it a second thought, like I kind of just walk past and it's a whole new world in there. And it's like you wouldn't even know to go there to buy groceries unless you lived in the area. And I think the same thing applies to Cabramatta, right? And I think it's the same with restaurants as well. Like a lot of people don't know where they're like good places are in Cabra, or, like, what each of the restaurants mean for us who have grown up here this all the time. Or what our like preferred pork rolls store is.
Tracy
The nuances in each neighbourhood, yeah.
Wendy
Yeah. Do you have any underrated recommendations? In South West Sydney maybe?
Kevin
Oh, in South West Sydney. I've been really enjoying, like, we love Asian food, you know, so I could give you any Asian food recommendation. Most people would know anyway, but I've been really enjoying, like, Middle Eastern food lately. We're talking Afghan cuisine, Iraqi cuisine, because... Out of all the cities I've been to, I think Sydney, like as multicultural as it is, has a very high density of the Middle Eastern community. Like more than a lot of places around the world. And that means there's a lot here in Sydney that we can find if you look hard enough. Yeah, like so you can find like kebab restaurants particularly like things cooked over charcoal. And there's a guy I follow on on Facebook and YouTube, his name is Drew Binsky. And I watch some of his videos sometimes and he's not a food traveller or anything, he's just a traveller. Like he recently hit every single country in the world.
Tracy
Oh, wow.
Kevin
Yeah. And he vlogged it right? And he's like, at the moment, I think he's in the Middle East and he'd just go to a random street in the Middle East and let's see what food they're cooking. And it just amazes me like you can do that in Sydney too. Like of course, it's like 10 times, 15 times the price here, Sydney prices, but you can, like that guy's there in the Middle East like around like halfway across the world right? And he's eating the food that I can find here - that to me is pretty cool. Yeah, so like underrated things would be like Afghan cuisine, I think is quite underrated. There's two restaurants I usually go to for that - one is Purple House in Merrylands and the other one, is Kebab Al Hojat. I said that in a Chinese way, my bad. I think their owned by the same people actually. But once more like a takeaway kebab-ish thing and the other one's like a sit down restaurant.
Tracy
Yeah, we've got to try it. I've never really had Afghan food.
Wendy
Neither. Yeah, it's crazy. Because a couple of years ago there was that whole HSP trend. Now that's died down and I feel like you're mentioning all these like restaurants again. And thinking about it, I haven't had like a kebab in ages.
Kevin
Yeah, and another one would be the one I found the other day, going back to those guys I was talking to in Fairfield asking you know where to go for lunch. And this one's Al Dhiaffah I think it's called Al Dhiaffah Al Iraqi. Yeah, in Fairfield and this place does Iraqi style kebabs. And it's very cool because like, like growing up, we knew kebabs as Turkish kebabs, doner kebabs. And you try all these different types of kebabs and you can see the different styles and techniques in how they make the kebabs and the flavours and the spices they use. Yeah, so eating like, um, Afghan style kebab is very different from eating Iraqi kebab. Iraqi style kebab is very tender, like, they use I think a lot more fat in the meat when they push it all together. It's cool, man.
Tracy
That's cool. Yeah. Learning heaps Learning lots. Yeah. How do you balance money, your wealth and health with all the food?
Kevin
Very good question. Health is hard, I've definitely been gaining weight. I think anyone would if they were eating big portions. So I've definitely been trying to hit the gym a bit more that but I realised it hasn't been working because I eat more than I gym.
Tracy
Well at least your gymming right.
Kevin
So I'm starting to do a little bit more cardio, I guess. Yeah, it's that, you know, just looking after yourself a bit more and just being a bit more conscious to not over eat every single day of the week. Yeah. It's hard, man like food is great. You know? Like, there's so many options out there. Yeah. Wealth is okay for me. Because you just gotta budget man. Like, you just know, this week, I'll spend this much on food and yeah, like it helps to, I guess, make money from SydneyFoodBoy in some way or another. Like sometimes I'll take brand deals, for example, and make a little bit on ads on YouTube, for example. And then, that money is just my play money. Like I'll just use it to buy food.
Wendy
Yeah, reinvest and reinvest.
Kevin
So for me, that's cool, like to even have the opportunity to earn a little bit of dosh. As little as it is like, it's still money that I can use towards buying food again. So it's cool, man. Yeah, it's not too bad. So I'm not dipping into my salary in Optometry, in my traditional career, as much as I thought I would.
Tracy
Right. So it's like almost like self sustaining itself. Like SydneyFoodBoy.
Kevin
Yeah yeah.
Wendy
Yeah. Awesome. Do your parents or your family know about SydneyFoodBoy?
Tracy
What do they think of it?
Kevin
My dad, my dad reckons I'm an advertiser.
Tracy
What do you mean?
Wendy
He doesn't understand.
Kevin
Yeah, he'll put up a video...uh, I'll put up a video and then he'll be like, "Oh, you advertising for this place? Do they pay you? And I'm like nah.
Wendy
Like, why do it?
Kevin
Exactly. He's like, "Why would you? Why would you advertise for this place without getting paid?" I'm like it's alright, Dad. And then every time I'd put up a new video he'd be like, he'd show someone else and say "Look on my son advertised for this brand."
Wendy
Aw that's so sweet though. Yeah, that's so classic of like Asian parents, right? It's like you don't do something unless you get like a reward for it in monetary value. But then they show their love through other ways. Like him showing other people what you do, yeah, that's a sign of love, which is great.
Kevin
Yeah, exactly.
Tracy
When did they first find out about or did they always know?
Kevin
I think...Well, first time I showed my parents, I was just like, "Oh, look, I'm doing this." They were like "Yeah, whatever." And then, I popped up on their YouTube and they're like, "Oh, so that's the advertising that you're doing."
Wendy
So misunderstood. It's okay.
Kevin
I'll take it. Yeah. My girlfriend's parents love it, like, they watch it and it's pretty cool. The cool thing is like, I'll get, I'll get people I know, like friends, and their parents watch videos on my YouTube. And they'll take photos of their parents, like, you know, on the couch, just watching my video. I'm like, that is cool, man.
Tracy
That's really, really cool. Especially that you can relate to an older generation as well, it's not just young people. Our parents can also relate because they grew up in this area, or they've migrated to this area.
Kevin
A lot of people have asked me to do a video in Teochew.
Tracy
Oh, you should, I would show my parents that, they would love it.
Kevin
Yeah, maybe.
Tracy
That's a good idea. I don't know where you could find Teochew cuisine though.
Wendy
What is Teochew cuisine?
Kevin
It depends what type of Teochew you are, I guess.
Tracy
That's true. Because I'm Vietnamese Teochew.
Kevin
Yeah, I'm Cambodian Teochew.
Wendy
Ohhhh, I learned something new today.
Kevin
For like, us, I guess, there are like, very similar things that we eat, I guess, like my way of thinking about it is, it's not your everyday food. But it's more, you know, Chinese New Year traditional events, like what food gets put on the table, and that means a lot more culturally than what is served every day. What is served everyday might be just like some type of Vietnamese thing or Chinese thing.
Tracy
That's true. Yeah.
Kevin
But when it comes to like these, you know, events, or special days of the year, all this good stuff gets brought out. I'm like, oh, that's cool, man. Yeah and if I take a photo of that stuff, and I chuck it online right now, I swear all the Teochew people...
Tracy
They'll all come out. Chive pancakes.
Kevin
Gaginang right.
Tracy
Such a big community. Oh, strong community.
Kevin
It is very strong.
Tracy
Yeah, um, how has your life changed since SydneyFoodBoy?
Kevin
Oh, it's changed a lot, man. I guess the biggest thing is not having as much time as I used to anymore. Oh, there was a period of time, like in this whole process, where I was just like such a busy body man. Like, I never did anything else. And then Kelly, my girlfriend, made me start watching Korean dramas. Now we're having fun with that. I'm thinking like, "Oh, is that the reason why I haven't been doing YouTube videos lately?
Tracy
Me time. More me time.
Wendy
That's important though, like giving yourself time to just chill out? Because it seems like you're always just like, go go go, planning what's going to come next and that can be overwhelming.
Kevin
Yes. So that's changed, like not having as much time to myself, I suppose. But my like, to me, in my head. My me time is me creating content.
Tracy
I love that.
Kevin
You know what I mean, so like, to me sitting down and just making videos and stuff and writing posts like that, to me. It's fun. I eat a lot of good food now. It's changed to. Everyday is something different, which I love, you know. And even if it's the same food I had two weeks ago, like it's different. Because I see things differently as well now. Like when I eat food, I don't just eat food. And I don't even think about like, you know, "Is this food good or not?" It's like, "Oh, what can I learn from this food?" And if I'm by myself eating at a restaurant, like just a solo, solo date, I suppose you could call it, it's like, "Oh, you know? What can I get out of this experience man?"
Wendy
That's so good. Because people are so scared to eat by themselves. Yeah. And I feel like you're just like flipping that on its head and seeing it in such a beautiful way.
Tracy
I like that. "What can I learn from this food?" I really like that.
Kevin
Yeah I mean, you could you could bring that that thing, that way of thinking to everything, really. Like, it doesn't have to be food. Yeah, for me it's food but for you, it might be like creative stuff.
Wendy
Yeah, it's a lot more intentional, for sure. So cool. What's next for SydneyFoodBoy? Do you have any big goals coming up?
Kevin
I don't know man. What I always have wanted to do is I've always wanted to go overseas. Yeah, I don't know when it will happen. I don't know how I'll do it. But I really want to, even just for like six months. And like seeing whether or not I could just have fun overseas and do this overseas. I don't know if it'll work out but like that would, to me, would be like a lifelong dream. And even if I go for just like three to six months, that dream is complete.
Tracy
I think that's so possible. Like you can do it next year. Tick it off next year, take 3 months off from work and then you can just like do this.
Wendy
Yeah, like career break. We're still young. Yeah, it's very, very possible.
Tracy
Do you have a country that you want to go to?
Kevin
Probably Korea. I really like Korea. Yeah
Tracy
Korea's great. I've been twice and it's amazing.
Kevin
Maybe even like Vietnam? That'd be cool. I feel bad because I haven't travelled to like Europe or South America yet. And I have to. But I think the opportunity is in like, Korea and Vietnam, just like the amount of food there. And like, be understanding a bit more about those particular countries and cultures, and understanding about, you know, the geographies of each country, and how different parts of the cuisine vary, depending on which district in the country you go to. By just having a bit more of an understanding of that helps. Yeah, yeah. So I can definitely see myself, you know, overseas in those countries.
Wendy
Great.
Tracy
Watch this space.
Wendy
Yeah. Maybe SydneyFoodBoy goes international.
Kevin
Maybe one
Tracy
InternationalFoodBoy.
Wendy
Just change your alias for like six months.
Tracy
That'd be cool.
Wendy
All right. Well, we've got some dinner table questions for you.
Kevin
Oh, are we near the end already?
Tracy
Yeah, we are.
Kevin
Jesus that felt fast.
Tracy
I think we've gone through all the questions. Haven't we?
Wendy
Yeah we have.
Tracy
Yeah. Is there anything you want to touch on?
Kevin
Nah not really. I think it's just good for me to sit here and see you guys again? It's been so long, man. Yeah.
Tracy
Nice to just catch up.
Kevin
Years, It's been years.
Tracy
Yeah. Properly have a conversation, right? And not just like just like hi, bye. Yeah.
Wendy
If you had a day with a friend visiting from overseas, where would you take them?
Kevin
Oh, oh, it depends, though. It depends if I'm thinking like Greater Sydney, or I'm thinking South West Sydney.
Wendy
You can do both. What would you do if they were to be...if they were to go to Greater Sydney with you versus South West Sydney?
Kevin
Greater Sydney, I think most people that come from overseas, like if I'm being a technical thinker, like they would like to go sightseeing first. So I'd probably base where I'd take them around those areas. First and foremost. And like we're talking food, right?
Tracy
Yeah. Food or non food doesn't matter.
Kevin
You know what, 10 years ago, I would have taken them to like," Oh, this is El Jannah". I've actually done that before, like, "This is El Jannah, try it, try it right now."
Tracy
EJs!
Kevin
Even from Melbourne, but like, you know, they don't have El Jannah there. Charcoal chicken and garlic sauce is not very big there. But I think 10 years ago, I would have done that. Now. It's just like, oh, like there's a lot of better restaurants with charcoal chicken and just like family owned ones, which are very cool. And I think, what I'll do is I'll like make a little list of different cuisines that I really love in Sydney and just take them to the best of each, like 10 of my favourite cuisines and what's the best restaurant to try a little bit of everything. But it depends where they come from. If they come from a part of the world, which is not very multicultural, I think that will blow their mind. All right. If they come from somewhere with where it's multicultural, I know this is not very big, won't blow their mind as much so I'll probably just take them to like Sydney icons. Yeah, food and things that we like, plus a little mix of places that we grew up eating in Cabra and surrounds.
Wendy
Go on a food Safari.
Kevin
Yeah, food safari is the right word. Yeah.
Tracy
So the next question. What do you like to do outside of work? And I guess food.
Kevin
Oh, normally the question is, "What do I like to do out of work?" And then I'll say food.
Tracy
You can't say food!
Kevin
I like playing basketball. So I'm very big on basketball. Yeah, I used to be bigger. Like, I used to love watching NBA and stuff like that. I don't have much time to do that nowadays, unfortunately. I still play.
Tracy
Do you play regularly?
Kevin
Yeah, yeah. I'll play weekly competition and things like that, on a team.
Tracy
We love social sports. Yeah.
Kevin
You need it, man. Yeah, you need it. What else? Oh, I love catching sunrises and sunsets.
Tracy
Ohhh, I like that. Yeah, you're
Wendy
Yeah you were very amazed at the sunset at my apartment today.
Kevin
I love that stuff. I love views man. Like, you know, it just makes you feel alive.
Tracy
Yes. There's something about sunsets and sunrises where you just makes you so like, zen and like, you reflect on your life. It's a moment of quiet for some reason.
Wendy
It makes you feel like everything is gonna be just fine.
Kevin
I've been couple of situations where like, I stop everything to look at the sunset and then it makes me late for the thing I'm supposed to be at. And then Kelly's like, "What are you doing, man? Like hurry up!" I'm watching the sunset Miss.
Wendy
Hey, if that's the reason why you're late, that's a good reason. Alright, last question. What would you lost meal on earth be?
Kevin
That is a very hard question. Tou keep asking me hard questions. It's got to be a bánh mì. That's my favourite food.
Wendy
Like do you like a pork roll? Or do you like a chicken roll?
Kevin
You know my death row meal, is like 10 bánh mìs lined up. Each one has a different flavour. I'm just enjoying myself. Yep, this is great.
Wendy
You really thought it through.
Tracy
Yeah, I'm actually not surprised with the answer with amount of bánh mì videos you've done.
Wendy
Where's the best one you've tried? The absolute best, favourite.
Kevin
It depends on the filling, because I have a lot of favourites for different fillings. I'll give you like, three or four. So if I want like the most classic one me, you know just the typical cold cuts of meat, cha, I would go probably Marrickville. Or Nam Fong in Bankstown. Yeah, those are both like really stacked but really good flavour and they do the classic one exceptionally well, like my favourite man.
Tracy
Well, hey, go Yeah, I love Alex n Rolls. But it's a bit, I feel like, it's not as your classic bánh mì place.
Kevin
Oh, that's different. If you if you're looking for like, one that has, you know, fatty, delicious, melt in your mouth meat, Alex n Rolls. Like their stuff is like "Woahhh". You eat that. And it's very non traditional,
Tracy
Yeah it's non traditional.
Kevin
Yeah, but that's stuff all like, oh just melt in your mouth..
Wendy
Yeah it's so good.
Kevin
If I'm looking for...a lot of people at the crackling pork roll these days. Crackling pork roll... the best I've had, probably Top Ryde has an amazing crackling pork roll and Lee's Bakery in Campbelltown, also has a great pork roll.
Tracy
Campbelltown??
Kevin
Yeah. So that one they do their bánh mì quite non traditional as well. But they put it on sourdough baguette. Oh, instead of normal typical bánh mì. Like if you like crunch, that's very good crunch, right?
Tracy
Yeah like rip the roof of your mouth type crunch.
Kevin
Yeah, yeah. And if I want like nem nuong, I'd probably go to my old local in Cabramatta which is Minh Hung.
Tracy
Where's that?
Kevin
That's the one on the corner.
Tracy
In the alley?
Kevin
No, no, that's the one on the corner where it says in yellow, "Hot bread". Yeah next to Vinh Phat. That one does my favourite nem nuong roll for two reasons. One is, they use this peanut sauce on top, which is very nice. Actually Lee's Bakery does that as well, like in a nice way, but this one's obviously close to home. And I've been eating it for a very long time. And the second one is how affordable it is? Yeah. That one is still, in 2022, it's $4.
Wendy
Woah still under $5?
Kevin
$4. Yeah. And it should be a lot more to be honest. I'm like, hey, man, like if I can buy two rolls for eight bucks. I ain't complaining at all.
Tracy
You're an expert on the bánh mì.
Wendy
Well, we'll have to pop all of this in our show notes for our listeners. But thank you so much, Kevin, for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed chatting to us. I've definitely enjoyed like, just being immersed in you explaining the story and talking about food now. You can tell you're a food blogger.
Kevin
Thank you so much for having me, man. So it's an honour to see you guys, do this as well. You know, like, who would have thought five years ago when we saw each other last that I'll be a food blogger and you'd be a podcaster. You know? That's cool man.
Tracy
It's really cool that we're all doing this. Our little creative side hustle. It's awesome.
Kevin
It's fun, man. Like, you know, just see you guys. We're all proud of each other. Yeah. Growing up in the same area too.
Tracy
Yeah. Yeah.
Wendy
Full circle!
Tracy
Yeah. Obviously put Kevin's details in the show notes and everything. For those who don't know who he is, go check him out. Thank you again for joining us and please check us out on Instagram @aseatatourtable.podcast. Thank you, everybody.
Wendy
Thank you. Catch you next time!
Kevin
Thank you guys.
Tracy
Bye bye.