Street Food…The people’s food – doing justice to a favourite

By Matthew Vari

Sunday, May 17, 2015 (Sunday Weekly Magazine, PNG)

Forget the proverbial talk about lamb flaps is not good for you. On the street people have got to eat- if you have a solution to give them access to prime cuts of beef, chicken, or fish at the fraction of the price then keep arguing.

That’s right people it is the food, mind you, not only for roots people, but the elite as well.
 

Tucked away in the suburb of Erima in the national capital district, one seller of the much loved sheep cuts is doing justice to the food- to extent of having customers converge from all corners of the city for a bite of Sine’s delightful formula.

Formula in the sense that every lamb flaps stall has its own way of serving combinations, with some serving it plain off the hot plate, some with bananas, sweet potato, shallots, lettuce, the whole works.

Sine’s combination, however, has set the standard when it comes to simple flavours, presentation, and cooking technique. Cooking on the street corner along Kanage St, further into Daure Crecent, you cannot mistake the stall. 

If you see a lot of people and vehicles congesting a particular spot then you’ve found him.

Something that started four years ago- Sine has developed into an open air barbeque slash, kaibar, slash restaurant, to use the term loosely.

Pieces of flaps, boiled to perfection, marinated and put to a hot plate. One has only to order a couple of pieces of meat to get the full treatment.

 

Kaukau (sweet potato) pieces are added in equal portions along with lettuces to garnish and a lime wedge for zest, PNG street food doesn’t get better than that.

He takes something that is considered a rushed untidy meal into a product that is now known for its presentation.