Duo bring the taste of the Orient to Donnybrook

Village Harvest restaurant is set to open its door to the public next month utlising predominately Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese and Thai flavours on the menu.

Johnston said the seed for the idea was planted five years ago.

“December last year we actually started negotiations with the previous owners over the building. It was about April when the settlement of the building was done,” he said.

“It was an empty shell when we bought.”

The back floor had to be ripped into in order to build a new floor for the kitchen.

Ngu said they conducted restaurant reconnaissance in Donnybrook to see what was missing.

They looked at four different locations before deciding on what was previously a convenience store on State Western Hwy 1.

Johnston said they would only serve fresh food with real spices and authentic flavours – and absolutely no frozen meat or fish.

Head chef Ngu started off as an apprentice under Neil Perry in Sydney.

After a few years at Rockpool Bar & Grill and Spice Temple, he moved on to finish off his apprenticeship at Park Ave Cafe, where he received a NSW state medal and won TAFE apprentice chef of the year in 2012, before ending up as the executive chef of Green Olive in Sydney for a year.

“The reason for an Asian restaurant is it keeps me busy and my mind creative. It would just be silly of me not to dabble in different kinds of cuisine considering the produce we have at our doorstep,” Ngu said.

“It just gives me a broader range to combine flavours for menu ideas instead of just churning out the same stuff.”

The reason behind the name of the eatery is down to the dishes being village inspired.

“[The word] ‘village’ means quite a bit; in a village you bond over food and it’s a daily event for village people.

“Every meal was a special meal, every dish meant something.”

Johnson said the concept was designed around sharing food with family and friends so people could interact.

Village Harvest is anticipated to open early to mid November.