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A North
East restaurant entrepreneur has brought the first Pan Asian
restaurant to the region, offering a combination of Vietnamese,
Cambodian and Thai cuisine.
Newcastle's
first Pan-Asian restaurant, Barn Asia, has just opened its doors at
123 Newcastle Road and marks the first of its kind on Tyneside,
bringing together the French-influenced cuisine of Vietnam with
unique dishes from other Far Eastern countries.
The restaurant
is the brainchild of Mark Lagun, the creator of renowned restaurants
such as Barn Again and Barn at the Biscuit Factory.
Mark travelled
to Vietnam with his chef, researching dishes and buying memorabilia
which he has shipped back to Newcastle to give Barn Asia an authentic feel.
"I am
a great believer in restaurants being a unique experience, that you
shouldn't be able to go cities around the world and see the same
places everywhere you go," he said.
"I'd
like to think that every restaurant I've ever been involved with
hasn't ever compromised on quality and that Barn Asia will be as
popular as all my other ventures have been."
The menu
offers a mix of small dishes, Asian-style tapas, curries and
barbequed food.
Diners can
enjoy imaginative meals such as Thai style sweet potato soup, fried
salted duck egg with Asian mushrooms, oyster sauce and prickly ash or
mussels with tiger beer and chilli jam.
Other
offerings including lemongrass skewered king prawns, Sichuan
cucumbers and shitake mushrooms pot-sticker dumplings with black
vinegar.
Mark also
intends to "make tea drinking fashionable again" and is
offering a range of speciality teas including lotus blossom brought
directly from Vietnam, which is served in glass teapots so that
diners can watch the blossoms open in the tea pot.
Bookings for
the restaurant can be made on 0191 221 1000.
"Barn
Asia really will be offering something very special," said Mark.
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