In Australia, we are lucky that we have a diversity of people from every part of the world. This has brought to our table the world's cuisine, of which the most popular is South East Asian. The Blue Ginger Restaurant, in Balmain, is famous for serving some of the best Asian dishes in the area. It is always very popular and is on our favourites list.

When Les Huynh, the owner of The Blue Ginger restaurant, brought out this book of the same name, we were keen to see if he managed to transfer to paper the ever so popular dishes that he is famous for serving to the well-healed locals who frequent there. Well, on the whole, Les has managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat, for he has captured the essence of the restaurant. So, we have a cookery book that will allow you to prepare and cook dishes that has that authentic taste.

The book is presented in three parts, being imaginatively called first, second, and, if you can't guess by now, third. This sets the whole style of the book, presenting dishes in a simple manner without any fuss. Accompanying the recipes are some mouth-watering photos to whet your appetite.

To finish this review, lets look at some of the dishes I like. There are Vietnamese steamed crabmeat frittata with watercress salad, Twice cooked quails with pepper and salt mix, Green fish curry with Thai apple eggplant, Braised pork with young coconut and water spinach, Frangelico jelly with coconut sauce and Pandanus panna cotta with mango and passionfruit. These are just a few of recipes out of a hundred odd in the book. Finally, I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a South East Asian cookery book that will help them develop their skills. It is a perfect introduction and reference to many popular dishes from this region, cooked with local Australian ingredients.