Where the West Things Are

So you've given it a lot of thought lately. You've known him/her for quite a long time now. You think to yourself, I'm a little bit older now and it's time. You're ready to take the next step. It's time for you to speak up. But you're a little worried - you know they're a little frigid when it comes to "new things" and the only "experimenting" on their mind is the titration you've gotta do for your chemistry class (and let's face it. Getting that water just pink was hard enough when you come from a broke ass high school in the Western subs where your pipettes just. weren't. accurate.) The struggle.

Before you read on thinking "The day has finally come. The West Things team have finally branched out to dating advice because I really can't tell anymore if the missus, Krystal, is sick and tired of the $10 schnitty at the local pub?!" To you my friends I apologise because, nope, where I'm heading with this article is just a little different.

We all have that one friend who's a little bit scared to try new things. They prefer "Modern Australian" to "Indonesian" cuisine. They think chow mien constitutes "Chinese food". They internally cringe at the thought of chicken feet or ox tongue or *gasp* balut (duck embryo). Oh hell no. I just went there. Unchartered territory. Oh the controversy of it all. Too far, Sarah, too far.

And right now you're pretending that the thought of this food disgusts you when secretly you know deep down inside that it's not all that bad because your parents made it for you growing up. Unless, of course, you are that (poor and sheltered) friend to which I say: live a little, take a chance, live on the edge, be a little ruthless. Or, in the words of my tacky and cheesy thirteen year old persona on Bebo:

•?((¯°·._.• ιη тнε εη∂ ωε σηℓү яεgяεт тнε cнαηcεs ωε ∂ι∂η'т тαкε •._.·°¯))؟•

- insert photo of two white girls with their bikini tops off standing on a bridge overlooking traffic through the wired fence -

This post calls for you to bring out the inner #yolo in you. You know that feeling you sometimes get at 3am when you're on Expedia looking at one way tickets to Europe thinking yeah, I'll drop it all, I'll just take 12 months off of my life and go travelling? Today, I challenge you all to channel that inner Beyonce in you and take a risk. Try something a little "exotic" and venture where no white 35 year old male has ever ventured before: to the streets of Western Sydney where everything is ethnic.

I'll even spoon feed you and tell you which places to check out. (And no, I'm not even going to lie and pretend that I'm not secretly admiring my pun. Oh the shade you should all be throwing my way right now...)

Sabu, Parramatta (Japanese)

PAZAR Food Collective, Canterbury (Turkish)

Papparich, Parramatta (Malaysian)

Holy Basil, Fairfield (Laos/Thai)

Jasmine 1, Auburn (Lebanese)

Meze Me, Rouse Hill (Moroccan)

Enigma at the Piazza, Castle Hill (Greek)

Anais Restaurant, Castle Hill (Persian)

SE Jong Korean BBQ Buffet, Campsie (Korean)

Images sourced from: Enigma at the Piazza, Holy Basil, Jasmine 1 now, Meze Me, Papparich Parramatta, PAZAR Food Collective, Sabu, Sydney Food Lovers, Urbanspoon.

Picture this. It's Friday afternoon. You whip out your iPhone 5C (because that's how we do it in the west). You decide to frolic through Instagram in search of some food porn because you know very well that's the only kind of porn you're remotely comfortable being caught scrolling through in public.

You start your ascent into what you know will be happiness with a photo of a perfectly seared piece of salmon. Oh, how that perfectly applied Hudson filter gets you in all the right places you think. Out of the corner of your eye you spot a Nutella filled doughnut just bursting at the edges. You begin to scroll through your feed even faster with anticipation. Boy, oh boy that cooked to perfection of a poached egg is just about to make you scream.

You're at your peak. You're on the edge. You're about to give up every fibre of your being to the delight that was the cream filled apple turnover you just scrolled past. And then — in the blink of an eye — your vision comes crashing down to pieces...All because some girl violated the rules of Instagram and shamelessly used the #foodporn hashtag on her #nomakeup selfie.

You feel defeated. Deceived. Cheated on even. Believe us, we feel your frustration. That's why we're serving you up the first edition of our weekly Food Porn Fridays. Check out our picks of Western Sydney's finest culinary delights on offer below with the confidence that you won't run into a poorly composed photograph of someone's desk lunch. This is what real dreams are made of people.