Island food is the future food for Australia.
“Bula Vinaka. Bula Vinaka”. An elderly Pasifika couple venture in and greet owners and fellow diners alike, discerningly assessing all that is offered from this newly opened cafe on Illawarra Road, Marrickville. Straight away, South Pacific's Finest creates a sense of community. This isn’t just a business, it’s a space to meet, greet, converse, and laugh. You come for food but you leave with social nourishment.
Up since dawn on a Saturday morning, the chef has put together an array of Island foods that capture a snapshot of a region where Kiribati alone is greater than the size of India. Sapa sui (Samoan chop suey), cumin-rich Fijian beef curry, cassava, fish, coconut, pies, cold salads, fruit, and wraps. The food is filling, fresh, fortifying, and grounded.
Palusami is the chef’s favourite, stewing coconut, corned beef, spinach and choy sum leaves. A vibrant pink catches your eye, this is corned beef the chef explains. “On the islands, there aren’t many cows, so we use canned meat”. Taro leaves have been substituted because they “aren't in season at the moment, you know when they get big and have that fur on them?” The chef notes that they could use frozen, “but we want fresh”.
The chef is a warm and welcoming lady, sitting down with everyone else to have her own lunch as well. Water, cutlery, and the general runner of the restaurant is the son, doing all with competency and diligence in his slick Nike TNs. Manning the ice-white La Marzocco coffee machine is an equally hospitable and friendly man. The cafe is stainless steel shiny, from juicer to grill, and sandwich press. The crisp white ceiling, floor, and tiles, are contrasted by an exposed brick wall emblazoned with a purple island sunset mural. The result of this is a cafe that is bright, ripe, and warm, even on a winter’s day. A mix of Island beats and mellow hip hop assist to transport you as well.
The chicken marylands are glistening, charred, juicy pieces. Standing there, attempting to pick what to eat for their “three choices plate”, a hot tray of mutton flaps comes out to be dished into the bain-marie. In 2020, Tonga banned the importation of mutton flaps. As chef elucidates, “we used to just get all the offcuts from NZ”, all the stuff people there didn’t want, “like these mutton flaps”. The gentle and astute Sunia Soakai who is now a Deputy Director of Public Health once recounted to the BBC in an article entitled How Mutton Flaps are Killing Tonga, “There's this whole generation in Tonga that was brought up on mutton flaps. Mutton flaps are the discarded parts of the lamb that are not fit for consumption in New Zealand. They were able to dump this stuff on the Pacific countries.” It’s not unusual for a kilo of mutton flaps to be eaten by one person in one sitting, he laments. And we can understand why. These were incredibly delicious, sweet, and rich. Shimmering melt-in-your mouth fat, succulent meat, and caramelised ends.
The chop suey is a crowd favourite, and it is not hard to see why. Par-cooked julienned carrots and long bean provided a fresh fun crunch to the dish, full of big-ginger energy.
Sitting in a thinned coconut milk with bites of acid provided by the onion and tomato, the fried fish is surprisingly light and clean. The beef and potato curry is punchy and equally tasty with either the fat cassava batons or rice.
To finish a plate here requires serious will-power. Everything here is island-sized, meaning that the portions are bulky and meat servings are aplenty. “Island muscles” as chuckled by the chef are certainly what the food here offers. The additional gift bestowed by South Pacific’s Finest is the after-effect of deep midday sleep. Who needs Temazepam when you can get knocked out by good food?
Ibis Tip: Some of the better meat pies we've ever had were in Suva, Fiji. Try a pie here with a great coffee for a quick and easy eat.
Ibis Tip: We have only visited this place once, and currently this isn't listed on GoogleMaps, so take a tour to the corner of Grove Street & Illawarra Road, Marrickville to find it. South Pacific's Finest - 395 Illawarra Road Marrickville 2204.
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