Luke Nguyen laughs remembering the reaction from diners to his first Vietnamese restaurant.
"When I opened Red Lantern in Sydney 16 years ago you had to go out to the diners and say 'This is cooked this way but please try it, don't be afraid', that's how it should be done," says Nguyen.  
The 37-year old celebrity chef has played a big part in the transformation of the Australian palate with his take on pork banh mi and pho noodle soup gaining legions of fans over the years.
Nguyen, who combines Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai and Malay influences at his Fat Noodle outlets, says Australians are passionate and plugged into the plethora of Asian cuisines.
"Now no-one blinks an eye. Australians no longer just go out for Chinese: they says let's do Sichuan, let's do Hainan. Everyone loves to try the regional flavours of Asian food."
With Sydney now hosting the largest Lunar New Year event outside Asia, the food experience is right at the heart of the party.
Fat Noodle is one of more than 20 restaurants hosting stalls opposite Sydney's The Star casino, and Nguyen hopes this will evoke the best of street food from throughout the region. A similar food-and-drink Lunar pop-up market, also sponsored by Fairfax, will run in Melbourne's Docklands during the next fortnight.
While the Lunar celebrations are intertwined with Chinese New Year, Nguyen says it's an equally big party in many parts of Asia including his home town of Saigon, which will celebrate Tet on Monday.
"For me growing up as a kid, Lunar New Year was like Christmas," Nguyen says. "For us the main thing was food - coming together and cooking as a family and a massive feast. For us it was whole birds, whole fish and long, slow-cooked sticky rice cakes. We'll be trying to present some of those amazing cooking flavours at the Lunar market."
Australia's sparkling food reputation is also a big attraction for tourists including the fast-growing Asia segment, which is forecast to grow to 3.5 million visitors annually by 2020.
The number of Chinese visitors to Australia in a 12-month period surpassed 1 million for the first time in   January, and capturing a slice of the market is becoming essential for retailers and those operating hotel, casinos and tourist attractions.
Annual spending of $7.7 billion by Chinese tourists in Australia means tapping into their desires  - and taste buds - while their travel here has become big business.
Nguyen runs two of his Fat Noodle outlets at The Star's casinos in Sydney and Brisbane, and intends to open a third restaurant as part of the $345 million revamp of its Jupiters casino on the Gold Coast.
And he says Australia's first-class reputation for some of the best produce in the world will continue to attract tourists.
"We keep hearing back from tourists that our seafood and beef are the best in the world and I think the way we can make that work for so many different cuisines here really marks us out. You can see why people come far and wide to try us out."