Taste of the Territory
No matter whether you call it impetuosity, following his heart, or arch stupidity, Darwin chef and restaurateur Jimmy Shu has always operated on instinct.
It goes some of the way to explaining how, at the bulletproof age of 25, he left all that was familiar and dear in his home country of Sri Lanka and headed first to Singapore and then to Australia. And then, some 20 years later, why he upped stakes yet again and left a successful business in Melbourne to relocate to Darwin.
“It’s always been my idiosyncrasy to dive into things,” the owner of Hanuman restaurants in both Darwin and Alice Springs, says. “Then figure out how to make it work.”
Make it work he certainly has as Jimmy has now clocked up almost 30 years in the NT capital and enjoys continued accolades for his Thai, Indian and Malaysian fusion cooking as well as his constant pursuit of innovation. Even at the age of 71, he concedes he still operates by the seat of his pants and didn’t hesitate when he was offered the opportunity to present the eight-part series , which recently aired on SBS Food and is available on SBS On
