Monthly Archives: July 2011

China Bar

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10 Pratt St, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9370 1188

Like Kuni’s, the China Bar in Russell St was a familiar and regular part of my routine when working and living in the CBD.

It was and is a popular place, its reputation seemingly built on consistency and late opening hours.

China Bar, is of course, something of a misnomer, as most customers at the outlets spread across Melbourne order food that has its origins in Malaysia or even Thailand.

In any case, the China Bar in Moonee Ponds has never caught our eye in the same way.

Maybe that’s just down to change or to some unsatisfactory experiences at the Highpoint China Bar.

But a few weeks back we stopped by the Ponds joint to grab some barbecue pork to takeaway, if only to save ourselves making another stop, in Footscray, on the way home.

While there, we saw some pretty keen-looking tucker being consumed and made a mental note.

A return for a Sunday lunch was a surprise that maybe shouldn’t have been a surprise at all.

One of the dishes I almost always ordered at Russell St was the achar, so I am pleased to see it still on the menu.

 The price has crept up ($6), though. Should I?

Curiosity wins out, and I’m ever so glad.

It’s got carrot, pineapple, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber and sesame seeds.

It’s chilled, crunchy, only a little oily, with profound vinegar flavour but only a mild chilli hit.

It’s perfect in every way.

This augurs well for my main fare, another dish remembered with fondness from Russell St forays, one with which we’ve had hit and miss experience in the west – hainannese chicken rice ($10.80).

The soup is of perfect hotness, not too salty and tasty in a way that strongly suggests flavour enhancers. I care not.

The rice isn’t quite as super as I recall, but more than adequate.

The chicken is tender and flavoursome. I don’t mind chicken being bone-in, but if it’s bone-free I expect, demand that it be scrupulously so – as it is here.

There’s plenty of soy sauce-flavoured water under my chook to pour in the rice, along with an OK and mildish chili sauce and a lovely, coarse mash of spring onion, ginger and oil. The remnants of the soup also go on the rice.

It’s very, very good – even if just a smidgeon short of the achar’s outstandingness.

Maybe it just goes to show … nostalgia IS what it used to be and familiarity with the China Bar brand has bred some unjustified contempt.

On the basis of this visit, it seems the Moonee Ponds China Bar has the wood over those two much talked and blogged about Malaysian establishments in Flemington, Chef Lagenda and Laksa King.

If the achar and chicken rice are so good, there seems no reason why other Malay staples aren’t just as hot.

China Bar may not offer the same “eating out” vibe as those two Flemo places, but that’s of little concern to us.

I suspect we’ll be back soon.

China Bar - Noodle & Rice Bar on Urbanspoon

Kuni’s

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56 Little Bourke St, Melbourne. Phone: 9663 7243

The news at the dentist is not good.

Well, it’s probably pretty much OK for him, but not me, his long-time customer/client/patient/whatever.

What smug presumption had led me to believe would be a replaced filling worth a few hundred dollars turns out to be crown work going way over a grand.

This rather wipes out the satisfaction of hearing, later in the day, exactly how much the taxman is going to reimburse me this year.

Turns out my dentist is going to get more than half of it.

So it goes … what to do when in the CBD and needing a few rough edges finessed off the day?

Lunch, of course!

Before the advent of Bennie, I worked in or near the CBD for 20 years or so, even living in Flinders Lane for a couple.

Even since the move way out west, we made frequent CBD trips for wing chun and other adventures and chores. The martial arts logistics are beyond us, for the time being, so a city visit has become something of a novelty.

In my CBD years, Kuni’s was a favourite and a regular. I hit it for lunch often, and sometimes two or more times a week. It’s an old campaigner in terms of Chinatown in general and CBD Japanese eateries in particular, though it never seems get the same reverential press as the likes of Kenzan and Hanabishi.

On those working week lunches so long ago I almost always made a point of being on my ownsome, with a book or newspapers for company, as I sat at one of the stools at Kuni’s sushi bar.

I was on nodding familiarity with a number of other regulars who adhered to the same routine as I. There seemed to be a sort of unspoken expectation that this was our own individual hideaway and secret. A refuge, if you like, wherein conversation was to be discouraged.

The sushi bar at Kuni’s – sigh! – is where I head to sup and sip the devastating dentist visit out of mind, body and soul, with a copy of hot-off-presses GRAM Magazine for reading purposes.

LIke many other Melbourne stalwarts, not much has changed at Kuni’s over the years, though some remodelling has seen those stools have been replaced by ordinary chairs.

And the prices have crept up, of course. The daily bento is $19. Teishoku dishes such as wafu steak or sukiyaki with rice and miso soup are all $20 or more. Yakisoba noodles are $16 and most of the various sushi/sashimi combos at or around the $30 mark.

There’s cheaper Japanese places in the vicinity, but there’s a sure pleasure to be had at chowing down in a real dinkum bona fide Japanese restaurant.

So much so I am happy to pay $18 for the vegetable set, enjoy every bite and sip and consider it money very well spent, even if just for old time’s sake and assured banishment of the Dentistry Blues.

The miso soup is good, the right temperature and studded with tiny cubes of tofu, though lacking seaweed or mushrooms.

The tempura I eat first while it’s hot and crispy. It’s very good and made up of a piece apiece of pumpkin, potato, carrot, green bean and capsicum.

The agedashi tofu is beaut, the two still-crunchy chubby chunks of silken tofu swimming in a broth of dashi and mirin and topped with a sludge of finely grated daikon and also ginger. Quite refined and mild of flavour, I love it.

The sesame spinach is just OK, its coldness lending it a clamminess that seems out of step with the other, fine dishes.

My three pieces of cucumber-stuffed hosomaki sushi are fine, and have a little mound of pickled ginger for company.

A bowl of rice, which as per usual I only nibble at, and that’s it.

It’s been a delight to revisit an old friend and find that some things never, or hardly ever, change.

Crown work clocking in at $1200 or more? I’ll worry about that in a few weeks’ time!

The Kuni’s website is here.

Kuni's on Urbanspoon

Falafel Omisi

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359 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield. Phone: 9523 8882

Despite the many and spectacularly varied food options on our side of Melbourne, there are some things it simply doesn’t do.

Kosher/Israeli food is one of them, unless our western suburbs are hoarding yet another surprising secret – always on the cards!

That’s why we’re on adventure time as we head over the bridge, up Kingsway and Brighton Rd, and along Glenhuntly Rd. The Sunday noon-hour traffic is a cruise. West coast hard bop from Frank Rosolino and Charlie Mariano goes down a  treat. Wheee!

That latter thoroughfare is traffic hazard, so plentiful and interesting are its foodie options. Maybe food bloggers should be made to drive with blinkers on!

In no time, though, we are at Hawthorn Rd, securing a two-hour car park right opposite Falafel Omisi.

It’s been going a mere eight days, is the brainchild of Yaakov Omisi, and is based on his grandparents’ Middle Eastern cafe in Israel.

The style is cheap ethnic fast food, but very comfortable and welcoming for the likes of us.

The menu is compact and easy to navigate.

We start with the falafel plate ($10), pretty as a picture.

It boasts a handful of average chips, a mixed green salad of the type so familiar to us from our various Middle Eastern haunts, a mayo-dressed red cabbage salad, unadorned white cabbage and carrot, and nice glob of good fresh hummus.

The highlight is the good serving of fresh, hot falafel balls. They’re lightly crispy on the outside, with pale golden interiors.

Next up is malawach ($8) – “pastry served with a boiled egg served in a pita pocket with choice of salads”.

The crunchy flat bread seems to be an Israeli version of the universal flat bread.

The filling is fine, although lacking – by our tastebuds – something by way zest and vim.

In fact, our food is plain.

Truth is, though, we so habitually inhale tucker that is spicy or otherwise heavily seasoned – not to mention salty and oily! – that we are happy assume that we frequently struggle with subtlety and nuance.

Certainly, we enjoy our lunch.

And we’ll return for more of those falafels. And to try the sabich ($8.50) – “fried eggplant with a boiled egg served in a pita pocket with choice of salads”.

After we’ve eaten, Yaakov is happy to spend a little time with us, talking about the food, the restaurant and his family’s roots in Yemen.

Outside of Israel, he explains, there are Jewish communities – albeit often tiny – in just about all Middle Eastern countries. Rather a different perspective on the endless “us versus them” nature of media coverage of the Middle East, eh?

As well, he maintains that Israel – being so richly multicultural – is unparalled in the world in terms of its food offerings.

That’s something to think about for a dad who has always thought his first foodie holiday with Bennie would be in New Orleans or Vietnam.

The Falafel Omisi Facebook page is here.

And thanks again to fine folk at GRAM Magazine for the tip!

Falafel Omisi on Urbanspoon

7-Eleven slurpee

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In Bennie’s rugby competition, scores are kept not at all, or at least very informally.

Thus there is some debate about the result of today’s game.

I reckon Box Hill beat Footscray by at least a couple of tries.

Bennie reckons it was a draw.

No matter – Bennie laid on a couple of beaut try-saving tackles full of grit and determination.

For which endeavours he was named man of the match, along with his mate Netty, both receiving coupons for a 7-Eleven slurpee.

Of course, redeeming our coupon was a matter of utmost urgency following the completion of the game.

So we headed straight to our nearest outlet to get the whole loathsome business over and done with.

He chooses orange spider as his flavour.

He, of course, loves the hell out of it.

I ask him if it is sweet or sour.

“A little bit of both, actually,” is the reply.

He finishes it back at home.

“That was really, really good,” is his final summation.

Gave him a brain freeze, though!

Tai Hoong Cafe

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197 Nelson Place, Williamstown. Phone: 9397 5781

Does the Vietnamese food found in Melbourne’s restaurants lessen in yumminess the further it gets away from Footscray, Sunshine, St Albans, Victoria St and Springvale Rd?

Sadly, based on our mid-week jaunt to Tai Hoong, it is tempting to draw just such a conclusion.

This is doubly disappointing.

For one, we’ve had some cracking meals here in the past.

For two, one of the dishes we’ve enjoyed most is one we order to share on this occasion.

The bo luc lac ($13) seems a pallid version of the lively dish we’ve enjoyed previously, even if those visits were a while back.

The runny fried egg is good, as is the rice.

The beef is tender but a tad gloopy with some sort of soy sauce, one that seems to have a vinegary flavour to it. Mind you, for all we know this could be a proper and authentic variation, and it is quite tasty. The onions are a little under-done.

There’s a complete absence of garnishes, cucumber, tomato or any sort of greenery. Perhaps we only realise how integral such items are to a dish such as this when they’re missing.

We’re mighty hungry, so wolf the lot – but this falls into the category of just OK.

The chicken curry with rice – also $13 – is considerably better.

The bowl holds a surprisingly large amount of tender, boneless chicken pieces and – so pleasingly – an even greater number of luscious potato cubes.

Still, despite the inclusion of a handful of curry leaves, the flavour and taste factors are so middle of the road as to define blandness, putting this also into just OK territory.

Tai Hoong remains a pleasant suburban eating house, and while the prices we pay are $3-4 higher than those in Footscray for the same fare, we hope the ordinariness of our meal is an aberration.

After our meal, and still feeling a mite hungry, we head along Nelson Place with the idea of indulging in a sweet crepe and coffee hit.

We are shocked to discovery the crepery has been replaced by a Croatian restaurant.

The menu is of mouth-watering nature and includes all sorts of seafood, wild boar and apple strudel. It’s pricey, but we make a mental note for future reference.

We make do with a cone apiece – choc caramel for him, chocolate gelati for me – from the Ice Cream Shoppe next to Tai Hoong.

As we window shop the other end of Nelson Parade, Bennie comments about the number of joints hereabouts that have signs advertising “$17 specials” for the likes of parmas, steaks and the like.

Hmmm, moving right along … and homewards bound.

Tai Hoong Cafe on Urbanspoon

Pho Ngon

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6 East Esplanade, St Albans. Phone: 9364 3838

The body has long been accustomed to the fact small-size pho is perfectly suited to my time in life.

The mind still has problems.

Thus it is that I gaze greedily at the medium and large bowls that whiz by, contrasting them with contemplation of what seems like a paltry serve in front of me.

The mind, of course, is playing tricks.

My lunch – a small serve of beef and chicken combo – is plenty big enough and plenty good, especially once loaded with bean sprouts and greenery.

The broth, clean and fresh, is of the mild, restrained variety, being neither overtly beefy nor heavily influenced by seasoning such a star anise.

The beef is very good, and that the chicken has some of the cool, chewy and gristly bits – instead of mere sliced breast meat – is fine and dandy by me.

Pho Ngon is a brand new old-school pho joint in St Albans, the existence of which we have been alerted to by CTS visitor Josephine.

The furnishings in black-stained timber, the menus on the wall – all is as you’d expect.

Pho prices are $7, $8 and $9.

But while pho, spring rolls and vermicelli dominate the menu, Pho Ngon boasts enough extra rice and noodle dishes – beyond the predictable – to offer more variety than might otherwise be expected.

Bennie, just for instance, couldn’t be happier with his dry egg noodles with crispy chicken (mi ga chien don kho, $8.50).

An unexpected plus here is the use of flat egg noodles, which give his meal the appearance and feel of a rustic pasta dish from another part of the world entirely. The noodles are awash with a sweetish, garlicky sauce and embedded with crunchy shallots, bean shoots, onion and cashews.

The serve of chicken is largish for this kind of dish and appears to be good and tender, coming away from the bone easily.

The soup-on-the-side Bennie leaves enjoyably until last. He tells me it’s not salty, not sweet, just OK.

Also a bonus are the outgoing cheerful of the staff – completely accepting of and unthreatened by photograph-taking, God bless ’em – and the 10 per cent “grand opening discount” we receive.

We almost have them fooled that I am merely Bennie’s older brother.

We find out, too, that the only we’re going to get our hands on one of the fluorescent orange polo shirts bearing the Pho Ngon logo worn by the staff is by working there.

A quick post-lunch stroll up one side of Alfrieda St reveals that the place previous known to us as Just Good Food has had a name change.

Moonee Ponds Kebab House

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Shop 1/19 Homer St, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9372 7569

There are times when Puckle St, Moonee Ponds, and surrounds can seem like a foodie playground rich with potential.

There are others when it conveys to us something of a profound mediocrity, even during a bustling Saturday lunch hour.

The latter is the case for us in this instance, with the joint we had specifically set out to try closed and others surveyed while wandering around offering little by way of inspiration.

Always, though, the Consider The Sauce team is willing to embrace with fervour the splendid concept of the silver lining.

So it is that we finally chow down at a place we had previously passed by on numerous occasions.

If our typical Turkish kebab shop meal doesn’t quite match the lofty heights of our favourite, it does the job, the price is very right and we’ll visit again in a heartbeat if we are in the area and looking for a cheap, tasty feed.

We had already survived the folly of shopping on empty stomachs, filling up on the makings for a big pot of minestrone and the related but different ingredients for an even bigger pot of chicken stock at Fresh On Young.

Unsurprisingly, though, our appetites are humming as we head for lunch.

The fare is very basic at Moonee Ponds Kebab House – only four dips, and the pides seem pricey at $7.

We settle on the lamb-off-the-spit platter with red capsicum and the cacik/yogurt/cucumber dips, with two stuffed vine leaves on the side at 90 cents each.

The vine leaves themselves are somewhat on the chewy side, and a little bitter, too. But the rice innards are excellent and lemony.

The bread is fresh and warm, and the dips lacking character and zing, though perfectly adequate for the job at hand.

The lamb and the salad are top-notch. In fact, at $12 and of a size more than ample to feed the pair of us, the lamb platter is an outright winner, especially given that we know of other such establishments where such is going for $14 and more.

The layered lamb is fresh, not too greasy, a little on the crunchy side and has the lip-smacking, salty tang so essential to this genre of tucker.

The salad – not tabouli – is ultra-fresh and crunchy.

Meat, salad, dips, two stuffed vine leaves and a can of that Coca Cola stuff? The fee of $15.80 is a super dooper bargain, and the service is smilingly friendly.

Heading somewhat aimlessly home, we stop at Crumbs Organic Bakery in Ascot Vale for cafe latte, hot chocolate and a shared and stupendously moist chunk of chocolate brownie, along with three or four hands of Uno, at which Bennie bests his father through his usual means – cheating. (Just kidding!)

Bennie has had school holiday rugby-free Saturday, but we make another stop on the way home to watch some of the Footscray big boys run around. Thankfully, the lad is sufficiently stuffed and has a ball hooning with some of his teammates that we depart knowing the burgers and egg-and-bacon sangers can await blogging coverage on a future game day.

Chiba Sushi Bar

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43 Puckle St, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9326 2916

Japanese curry? Doesn’t get discussed by curry nuts in the same zealous manner as spice-laden dishes from throughout Asia – and, these days, the rest of the world – does it?

And while I’ve known folks who have lived in or spent some time in Japan who have a soft spot for that nation’s version of curry, for me it’s always been a matter “prefer others” when it comes to Japanese food.

Today, though, I take the plunge.

The lure isn’t desire or appetite. It’s the description propped on the counter at Chiba Sushi Bar:

Now that sounds good for lunch on a bleak and chilly day.

And so it proves to be.

Chiba Sushi Bar is the sibling of Chiba Japanese Restaurant in Hall St, a block over from Puckle.

During my half-hour or so in the place, it does a brisk and pretty much non-stop trade in sushi rolls, the popularity of which is also reflected by some rave reviews at the joint’s entry at Urbanspoon.

Perhaps there’s quite a lot to be said about takeaway sushi rolls purchased from an establishment that has real and meaningful ties to a more formal and proper Japanese restaurant.

Along with the rolls, they serve a small range of other dishes – katsu curry, chicken katsu curry,  tofu and vegetable curry, unadon – on rice, also with miso soup as part of the partaking fee.

My soup is good and hot, with some diced tofu but minus all but the barest glimpses of greenery. Sadly, it is served in a polystyrene cup.

I also get a Japanese soft drink of the peach persuasion. Getting into the fizzy sweetness defies my best efforts, so the staff eventually show me how – by pushing the marble at the top down, where it rattles around as you quaff. Neato and refreshing but at a price ($3.50).

My pork curry and rice, annoyingly, comes served in plastic and looks a rather modest serving.

It’s fantastic and the serve size proves more than adequate!

The root vegetables – potato and carrot only, as far as I can tell – are finely diced and meltingly tender, so much so that they are virtually part of the gravy. The pork pieces are likewise tender.

The gravy itself is blazingly hot and stays so until the very final mouthful. My ragout/curry has a nice but mild chilli undertow.

Calling this a curry in the same sense as we think of India, Thailand or Malaysia is a stretch. But taken on its own terms, it’s a winning lunch.

Well satisfied, I depart knowing I’ll forever remember this as The Day I Learned To Love Japanese Curry.

UPDATE: A friend has just informed that Japan-style curry sauce comes, she thinks, from a tube. Well, it’s pre-made anyway – check out this wikipedia entry.

You know what? I don’t care!

Chiba Sushi Bar on Urbanspoon