White Taro

Silence. It’s the mark of an amazing meal and it’s all I heard at my table when I ate at White Taro. Silence punctuated by a few moans and profanities of delight. Who needs old school hip hop or indie tunes drowning out your conversations when you have a soundtrack like that.
My salmon roll was so much more than I expected — perfectly cooked salmon fillet, fork tender but with enough structure to hold its own in a squid in roll with papaya slaw and chilli jam. Perfectly balanced and gloriously messy. The accompanying chips were perhaps a bit over-​salted but the unctuous, almost El Jannah level garlicky aioli kept me coming back for more.
My colleagues declared the deconstructed pork belly Bahn Mi their new favourite dish in all of Sydney, no small feat given we work in the heart of Surry Hills. It’s a sight for the eyes/​Instagram feed, all crusty baguette and cucumber rose and thick juicy pork belly fingers and tiny jars and quenelles of this and that on a wooden board. And the taste, they tell me, is just uhhhhnnnff!
All this Vietnamese café magic is housed in a shoebox of a shop and served by sweet and efficient staff. There really isn’t that much space, just a few tables inside and a tiny courtyard out and vertical garden back. Let’s hope SMH or Time Out don’t pick up on this place any time soon, I want it allll for myself.