New Seddon supermarket: Update
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at, Places we like to shop at | Tags: cheap eats, Melbourne, Seddon, Supermarkets, western suburbs 2 Comments »
A Bongiovanni & Son Grocery Store - coming to Seddon; soon.
Hot Wings
Posted: February 19, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at | Tags: cheap eats, Chicken shop, Melbourne, western suburbs, Williamstown Leave a comment »
134 Ferguson St, Williamstown. Phone: 9397 0146
Want to know what Australia eats on a Saturday night?
Forget your fancy pants cooking and lifestyle shows, glossy magazines, newspaper reviews, food guides and food blogs.
Sit, instead, at one of the few inside tables at Hot Wings in Williamstown at the start of rush hour … and watch an amazing, ceaseless flow of customers come and go.
These are not groups of teens fuelling up for a night of movies or mayhem, or couples of any age grabbing dinner on the way home from a day out.
Nope, almost without exception these are parents popping in to grab obviously family-sized meals for family-sized families.
Think of this same scene unfolding at all the good chicken shops across Melbourne, then Victoria and then Australia – it’s amazing to contemplate.
There’s no doubt this is spectacularly unhealthy food.
But I doubt it’s any worse than, say, fish and chips, which seem to have acquired a patina of righteousness in the past decade or so, or the unfood of the franchises.
I doubt even that a chicken shop feed is much more of a no-no than the kebab and dips approach, or the whole five-course deal at a French establishment.
In any case, these places are hugely popular – a mainstay, for better or worse, of the Australian family food routine.
I’d love to know more about them.
When did they start? Where did the inspiration come from?
Are there equivalents in other countries, apart from the fried chicken of US fame?
You still find quite a broad spectrum of people running such businesses, but my impression is that these days they are dominated by folk of the Chinese persuasion.
And then, too, there’s hybrids – chicken ‘n’ pizzas, chicken ‘n’ burgers, chicken ‘n’ F&C, chicken ‘n’ kebabs, chicken ‘n’ the lot.
There’s nothing hybrid about Hot Wings – it’s a classic of the genre.
It’s all here – the scalloped potatoes, deep-fried chicken if you’re perverse enough to desire such, the gravy, the salads.
A couple of the salads look like they’ve been mayonaised to death, but there’s a decent looking Greek salad and even – wow! – a tabouli.
When the mood strikes me for this kind of food – about once a year – I prefer to head for the shop in Racecourse Rd, Flemington, or some other place that does eat-ins with metal cutlery and real plates.
But as I chow down at Hot Wings, I have no regrets – as what I experience is a peak chicken shop meal.
Timing is vital in visits to such food outlets.
If, when you enter, a new batch of chips is on the way and the final, bedraggled remnants of the previous lot are sitting there looking unlovely, head for the door … walk around the block or go somewhere else.
Tonight, I’m in luck – the chips are fresh, hot and wonderful.
The downer of having to use plastic cutlery is substantially decreased by the juicy quality of my half bird – even the deepest part of the breast meat is moist, requiring no help from gravy or such like.
This, in my experience, is a rarity.
As is coleslaw that is neither gloopy with or drowning in mayo.
That said, this one doesn’t quite back up its good looks – it’s plainly on the dull and bland side.
Cheese kransky @ Andrew’s Choice
Posted: February 18, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at, Places we like to shop at | Tags: cheap eats, cheese kransky, kransky, Melbourne, Sausage sizzles, western suburbs, Yarraville 2 Comments »
Bennie's goes the snag at Andrew's Choice in Yarraville.
Andrew’s Choice, 24 Anderson St, Yarraville: Phone: 9687 2419
Plans for a more elaborate and distant post-cricket lunch have been nixed by some scheduling clashes, so we keep it simple, cheap and very close to home.
I know there’s plenty of folks who swear by Andrew’s and their meats, snags, hams and other goodies.
We’re some-time customers only, based solely on their rather steep prices. Mostly frequented for a treat only by us, though I do love their taramasalata.
The Saturday fry-up of cheese kranskys, a close relation to the sort of weekend sausage sizzles offered by the likes of Bunnings, is another matter entirely.
There’s nowhere to sit and no soft drinks available, but the price is right – $4 a pop.
For him, one with Original Chutney and the browned onions sitting to one side of the grill.
For his dad, one with Original Chutney and mustard. The onions look a mite sad-sack to me.
Our lunches are served not in buns but in thin-sliced white bread.
The bread falls apart. The condiments quickly spread to the paper serviettes.
Our lunches are delicious.
Personally, I could do without the cheese.
I know there’s snag purists who think cheese shouldn’t have anything to with kransky or any other form of sausage.
Apart from as an extra, of course.
Bennie loves the cheese. Loves the onions, too.
He loves the way these sorts of snags go “pop”!
A quick stop at the greengrocer and we’re home inside 20 minutes.
The Grand Tofu
Posted: February 16, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at | Tags: cheap eats, Chef Lagenda, Flemington, Laksa King, Malaysian food, Melbourne, Tofu, western suburbs 6 Comments »
Yong tofu goodies at the Grand Tofu in Flemington.
314 Racecourse Rd, Flemington. Phone: 9376 0168
Restaurant experience or eat-and-run?
That’s what hungry hordes descending on Flemington may ponder, particularly if they find full-to-overflowing the fabled Laksa King and the already storied Chef Lagenda, both just around the corner, but still desire Malaysian food.
They’re likely to find themselves entering The Grand Tofu, being well fed in a beaut joint and deciding that Plan C is the preferred option after all.
I suspect that’ll certainly be the case with us.
At Laksa King, in particular, they try to do the right thing by having a staff member you to your table, issuing menus, returning to take your order – the whole nine yards, which is fine really.
But, honestly, sometimes all I want is a bowl of something. Now.
Actually, describing The Grand Tofu as an eat-and-run place is a little unkind as the routine is pretty much the same – but there’s an ease and immediacy about it that I dig..
Sure, there’s a wall of those photos and a robust lunchtime crowd that appears to agree with my positive assessment.
The place is kitted out with nice dark-stain furniture, mirrors and hand-written specials notifications on paper.
But the smiling service is every bit as obliging and efficient as that of their two famous neighbours, the prices appear to near-identical and The Grand Tofu appears to have all their bases covered … and more.
For there’s a lot to try here.
As well as lobak on the entree menu, they have dumplings and entree-size soups of four denominations for about $4.50
As well as all the expected noodle, rice, soup and curry offerings, there’s the likes of Penang king prawn noodle soup ($12.80) and even butter chicken ($16.80) – described as deep-fried chicken w/ chef special sauce”.
Gosh – what’s that all about, I wonder? Indo-Malaysian?
Yong tofu with curry sauce base at The Grad Tofu in Flemington.
And then there’s the yong tofu lineup, which I choose to constitute my lunch in honour of the place’s name.
The glistening, glowing spread is all made in-house, I am assured.
You can go with one of three pre-chosen combos of six pieces each to go with your stock, curry or tom yum soup and noodles.
Or you can be real daring and go custom-built.
Both versions cost a fine $10.
Which is what do by ordering lightly fried pork and seafood ball, seafood stuffed eggplant, chicken dumpling, prawn dumpling, stuffed chilli and chicken-stuffed doughnut with curry soup and rice noodles.
As you can see, I erred on the side of naughtiness in ordering, but I doubt the vegetable options here are any more healthy than the meat or seafood alternatives.
In any case, they’re all good.
The dumplings all have a nice sogginess going on by the time I get to them.
I leave the eggplant until last, only to find it’s cooked wonderfully in the soup and is slippery slithery delicious.
The curry soup is no great shakes, but I’m heartened by finding a curry leaf, which I hope denotes it’s a house-made brew.
Besides, I get a nice kick from the stuffed chilli, which is both spicy and juicy.
The rice noodles are a nice alternative to the egg noodles I usually have with this sort of fare.
This a big meal – I don’t finish the noodles or soup.
I’m dead keen to return here with Bennie in tow – I like their style.
Carlton Chinese Noodle Cafe
Posted: February 15, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at | Tags: Carlton, cheap eats, Melbourne, Noodles 2 Comments »
Wok action at Carlton Chinese Noodle Cafe.
Carlton Chinese Noodle Cafe, 157 Rathdowne St, Carlton. Phone: 9347 1739
Carlton Chinese Noodle Cafe was among my first – maybe even the very first – experience with Asian cheap eats in Melbourne.
The place had been around 10 years before that, too – they hung their shingle out 10 years before I ever stepped through the door, opening for business in 1976.
Nothing has changed.
Oh sure, the prices have crept up – but you can still get a brilliant feed for $10.
The kids have grown up, but the main couple who run the place – he over the woks, she running about taking care of all the other business – seem as ageless as their restaurant.
I suspect there are locals who have been eating here – or taking away – on a weekly basis for decades.
There’s no doubt others, too, such as myself who once lived nearby, have moved on and out, but who still find it worth the drive.
The welcome is wonderfully friendly for all.
There are only three tables – two that can seat four at a pinch, and another that handles two diners.
Better, though, are any one of the half-dozen or stools at the bar, from where you can watch all the cooking action unfold.
It’s such a fixture and monument to great food – in my mind and doubtless the minds of the many loyal customers – that I find it extraordinary that there are no reviews of any kind for it at Urbanspoon and that I am able to find only one other blogger who has written it up.
The “Chinese” in the eatery’s name is a little misleading – yes, they do heaps of straight-up noodle dishes that can be described as Chinese, as well as won ton soups and so on.
But they also do the likes of mee goreng, Hainan chicken rice and laksas.
But here’s the thing – and what make this place and its food so darn magical …
Regardless of the original national identity of any of these dishes – Malaysian, Singaporean, whatever – the folk at Carlton Chinese Noodle Cafe do them their way, with individuality and personality, and caring not a whit for any traditions.
It’s almost as if this family restaurant has lived happily since its opening in its own space, going about its business in its own way as the city – and its food – has changed.
Just for instance …
The Singapore fried noodles – which I’ve been led to believe have only the most tenuous with Singapore in the first place – here come with a great brown dollop of peanut sauce on top that is quite unlike anything you’ll find in a Thai restaurant.
Similarly, the Hainan chicken rice is utterly like anything I’ve eaten under that name anywhere. Though, based on my one experience with it, I wouldn’t recommend it anyway.
One of fellow diners is eating a laksa that is a lurid yellow instead of the golden brown you’re more likely to find it Flemington.
Bennie loves the longish snack menu for one simple reason – they’re almost all deep fried!
Poppiah, sui mai (pork and beef), won tons, stuffed bean curd and more – they’re all good.
My two won tons (70 cents a pop) and a beef curry puff ($2.20) are sooper dooper crispy crunchy and astonishingly oil-free
This is a place of long-held routines, so I suspect that just about all those who come here have their favourites and mostly likely wouldn’t even think of ordering anything else.
For me, that’s the beef curry with noodles ($9.80).
It’s rare that in doing more than 200 posts for this blog that I’ve struggled to find the words.
But in casting about for the right ones to do this magnificent meal justice, I’m daunted for sure!
Like some dishes already mentioned, this a Carlton Chinese Noodle Cafe dish – and one that is quite unlike any curry I’ve had elsewhere around town.
You could say it’s sort-of in the Malaysian tradition, but without the coconut.
But that doesn’t quite nail it, either.
The gravy is incredibly rich and deep of flavour, but not at all heavy. It has a bit more of spice kick than found in most Malaysian places these days, too
The many beef pieces are almost totally fat-free and fall-apart tender.
And fall apart they do, as the eating progresses, adding to the richness of the gravy.
Likewise, my couple of potato pieces are tender and soaked in the magic.
Three pieces of bok choy sit atop, but soon they’re swimming in it, too, along with some chopped lettuce and bean sprouts buried under heaps of slippery egg noodles.
It’s brilliant!
You can order this with rice if you so desire, and there’s fine chicken curry as well, but I find the bone factor tiresome.
But how stupendously wonderful is it that what could quite possibly be Melbourne’s best curry meal is to be found in a humble Chinese noodle joint?
Third Wave Cafe
Posted: February 9, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at | Tags: Blintzes, cheap eats, Coffee, Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Russian food Leave a comment »
Third Wave Cafe in Port Melbourne.
Third Wave Cafe, 189 Rouse St, Port Melbourne. Phone: 9676 2399
Third Wave Cafe is a rather chic and appealing establishment a few blocks from the bustle of Bay St.
A casual glance may convey the impression this is just another nondescript inner-city cafe catering to workers of various kinds before, during and after their various employments.
Look just a little closer, though, and its apparent there’s a level of care and passion going on here – it’s in the various signs and it’s in the menu.
They’re serious about their coffee, they have a seriously good-looking line-up of paninis and – best of all – they have an interesting array of Russian dishes on offer.
I’ve been aware of this joint’s existence for a while, but have been in no great hurry to check it out.
But it scored a mention when I asked this blog’s Facebook buddies for suggestions of places to go for non-traditional breakfasting that goes beyond eggs-with-the-lot.
Breakfast is already done for today, but as Third Wave Cafe lies midway between a stimulating visit to Booktalk Cafe in Richmond and home, lunch is definitely on.
After I place my order, I feel a pang of regret as a couple of plates of Russian salad go passing by.
With the usual ingredients plus chicken and served with “artisan bread”, this looks seriously good for $13.
But my deal is done – meat blintzes ($16.50) it is.
Meat blitzes at Third Wave Cafe.
These look a little on the small side for the price, but I have a hunch that impression is going to prove deceptive and they’re going to reveal themselves as filling, if not hearty.
A bit like the looks of roti with curry at so many Malaysian eateries can slyly look skimpy!
I’m correct.
This is a really lovely lunch.
The blintzes and their filling are quite refined but at the same time quite filling.
The beef/pork mince is studded with very finely chopped onion and carrot.
The occasional whiff from the dill garnish and restrained dabs of the accompanying sour cream help every mouthful be an utter joy.
When my waitress asks how my lunch was, I truthfully and without hesitation say: “It was packed with awesomeness!”
The Third Wave blintzes also come in caviar, mushroom and cheese flavours, while other Russian items on the menu include borscht ($13.50), pelmeni (dumplings), syrniki (savoury pancakes, $14.50) and marinated shashlik ($20).
A Russian Sampler Plate of Russian salad, two types of blintzes (excluding caviar), meat dumplings and potato and mushroom torte costs $26.
I want to try everything … by the end of the week.
My cafe latte is pricey at $3.80 but very good.
The Third Wave Cafe website, including full menu rundown, is here.
Oliver’s Garden
Posted: February 7, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at | Tags: cheap eats, Hamburgers, Kiosk food, Melbourne, Moonee Ponds, Queen's Park, western suburbs 2 Comments »
Oliver's Garden in Queen's Park, Moonee Ponds.
Oliver’s Garden, The Strand, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9372 0438
The kiosk in Queen’s Park in Moonee Ponds is such a lovely setting that I wish it was closer to home – or, leastwise, that we had something similar.
The last time we visited was with our pal Kurt on the midway point of a longish Sunday bicycle ride.
If memory serves, our meal that day was BLT, nachos and a burger. Without reaching any great heights, they all did their job.
And also went some way to nullifying the truism that Melbourne does food in its parks about as well as it does bayside dining.
Truth is, I’m not even sure kiosk is the right term these days, as the eatery in question is operating under the name Oliver’s Garden.
For this week-day lunch, I’m in a burger mood, so am none too hopeful – the online menu, found on the establishment’s website, lists none.
But I’m in luck – though the news it’ll come in a Turkish loaf is unpromising.
Burger at Oliver's Garden ($14).
Initial impressions don’t do much to bolster confidence, either, as the beef patty looks way too small for the bun. And the $14 fee is starting to look a little on the high side.
But the hands-on experience is a winning one.
The chips are crispy, well-cooked, hot and very fine.
The burger meat belies its size by being full of beefy flavour and pretty much in the right proportions to its sandwich colleagues.
The dressing of grated beetroot, dill pickle bits and dill mayo is nigh on perfect in a suitably burgerish way, as is the fresh Turkish bread.
This is a burger meal that rates in quality, taste and price alongside the likes of Grill’d and Burger Edge.
Though my tiny bottle of that Coca Cola stuff for $3.50 is outlandish.
Oliver’s Garden does a range of breakfast dishes, focaccias, salads and a kids menu that ranges from $5 to $9.
On the day of my visit, the blackboard next to the takeaway servery hole lists a bubble and squeak for $13 that sounds real nice.
Whizzing to and fro on our various adventures, it’s easy to forget this place and its lovely surrounds – and that’s our loss.
Even on a crisp, overcast day there’s a leisurely ease around the place of mums and children and ladies lunching.
Atithi Indian Restaurant
Posted: February 5, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at | Tags: cheap eats, Indian food, Indian restaurants, Indian vegetarian food, Melbourne, Moonee Ponds, Vegetarian food, western suburbs 14 Comments »
Atithi Indian Restaurant, 730 Mt Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9326 0482
Atithi is an Indian vegetarian restaurant that takes its name from the Sanskrit phrase “Atithi Devo Bhavah”, which means “Guest are God”.
We like that approach!
It resides in a stretch of Mt Alexander Rd near Puckle St in Moonee Ponds that often seems ripe for foodie adventures, but along which we find most places closed when we’re in the vicinity, Dr Strangeloves aside.
Earlier in the week, when passing by, we’d parked and gone for a look-see.
Our response to the restaurant’s motto, part of the outdoor signage, was damn near pavlovian.
“For Who Know Value of Taste.”
So eloquent, so adorable – this place went right to the top of our to-do list, and we’re back for real in just a few days.
On entering, we appreciate the whirring fans and AC on the job.
Both the walls and floor are tiled, while tables are dressed with cloth tablecloths and paper. It’s quite a nice , tranquil vibe.
Initially, we’re a little taken aback by the stern words placed at the bottom of each page of the menu warning us to be prepared for a half-hour 45-minute wait for a our meal.
We cover that base by ordering bhel puri from the Indian Street Food Menu – “Round puri, puffed rice and fine chickpeas noodles mix in onion, tomato, Fresh apple, beetroot, and potato served with chutney” for $7.
We know that in India such like as bhel puri are not ordered as part of a meal, but we often find ourselves ordering them as we are normally not in a position to adhere to afternoon snack tradition.
Bhel puri at Atithi.
This is less crunchy and crackly than I expect, but still a tangy way to get our dinner rolling. Bennie finds the raw white/brown onion quotient overpowering.
Mix veg sizzler at Atithi.
Mix veg sizzler – “mix vegies and pettish cooked in special tomato sauce serve in leafs bowl” ($15) – is a voyage into the unknown for us.
It’s super rich, gloopy and tasty.
Mixed under the cheese and tomato sauce is a jumble of a whole roasted green capsicum, corn kernels, peas, diced potato and carrot and more cheese.
It’s a huge serve – more appropriate for sharing among four people with a mix of other dishes.
This is much more than a tomato sauce, I subsequently discover when chatting to chef Mitesh Patel.
It’s actually a bechamel sauce made of, yes, tomato but also ghee, flour, milk, sugar, salt and pepper.
No wonder it seems so rich!
This sort of dish is not really Indian or Indo-Chinese – it’s more an Indian fusion sort of thing generated by Indian chefs working in Europe and returning home full of ideas and inspirations.
The mix veg sizzler comes from the continental section of menu, which also includes Pineapple/Veg Macaroni ($14) and Paneer Stick Sizzler ($17), which I presume must be even richer again.
From the Indo-Chinese dishes we’ve ordered hakka noodles – “Noodles cooked with special sauces and fresh vegetable” ($12).
Hakka noodles at Atithi.
This is OK, but seems a little on the pricey side. Bennie finds it too spicy, even though we’d said medium when asked.
The version enjoyed at the old Pandu’s benefitted from the having little bowls of vinegar and sauces soy and tomato on the side.
If there is an uneveness in our meal we’re happy to attribute it to a clumsy attempt to get to grips with a strange menu. More advanced navigation skills may have allowed us to choose more complementary dishes.
I’d originally envisioned basing our meal around one of the dosa selections, but the dosas are not yet available.
Perhaps we’d have been better off by gravitating towards the standard curry menu, which includes two kinds of dal, peneer and kofta dishes, and entrees such as pakoras.
You can check out the Aitithi menu options at the restaurant’s website.
Nevertheless, we welcome the addition of a dedicated vegetarian eatery to our neighbourhood when often it seems Indian restaurants relegate vegetable dishes to after-thought status.
She’s Thai – takeaway
Posted: February 4, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at | Tags: cheap eats, Kingsville, Melbourne, Thai food, Thai restaurants, western suburbs, Yarraville 4 Comments »
Friday takeaway dinner from She's Thai.
She’s Thai, 208 Somerville Rd, Kingsville. Phone: 9314 5556
Isn’t it some sort of bureaucratic insanity that sees kids start the new school year on a Thursday or Friday?
In any case, we’ve stumbled across the finish line of another week, including Bennie’s two-day week and my own commuting-and-driving routine.
We’re worn out and the house is out of food.
We’ve already been out on the fang once this week and will do so again some time over the weekend, so all we feel like is some quality sofa time.
It’s the perfect opportunity to take our local Thai joint, only sparingly frequented since our initial story, out for another spin.
Keeping the price down by cooking our own rice, going for two mains and ignoring the temptations of the entree list, we order red curry chicken and – wanting the crunch and zing of a stiry fry – the preow wahn, which is described as “sweet and sour using ‘royal cuisine’ style”.
Takeaway dinner from She's Thai.
Stir fry? Really?
Call it what you want – in our house we’ll call it soup.
Truly, our preow wahn is unlike anything we’ve ever come across before that has been even remotely stir fry.
The jumble of vegetables and pineapple is OK, but the gravy – soup! – is like a close cousin of the Cantonese sweet and sour.
A lame cousin.
Our red chicken curry is better, though fairly minimalist in terms of size.
What seems to be the same vegetable mix joins the chicken pieces is a gravy that separates out into its separate components.
Am I correct in assuming this signifies home-cooking, as opposed supermarket sauces and coconut milk overkill?
Aside from our stir fry being nothing we’d label as such and a disappointingly low level of spice and zing, our dinner goes OK but is still disappointing.
Surprisingly enough, that disappointment does little to dent our faith in the worthiness and integrity of She’s Thai.
Waiting to bat during the next day’s cricket match at Spotswood, Bennie calls it right: “It’d be better if we went there to eat their food!”
Not to mention relying on the staff for advice, making sure of much higher spice levels and more robust flavours, and maybe trying one of the handful of duck dishes.
And then there’s always the sticky and delicious massaman beef curry.
She's Thai - service with a smile!
Barkley St: KFC, Sweet Grass tea garden … and Indian restaurants
Posted: February 2, 2012 Filed under: Blah blah blah | Tags: cheap eats, Footscray, Indian food, Indian restaurants, Melbourne, western suburbs 6 Comments »
Formerly Taj Banjara, soon to be Vanakkam
It’s the end of Bennie’s first day of school for the year, his first in grade 5, so we figure it’s time to celebrate by letting him have his way with the mocktail list at Sweet Grass Bonsai Nursery & Cafe in Footscray.
But as we approach we take in the building activity on both sides of the tea house – time for some questions and answers.
Inside the premises that in recent years housed the Indian restaurant Taj Banjara, we talk to Jagadish.
He gives us the good news – the refit going here will soon house a new-look Vanakkam, formerly of Nicholson St and formerly reviewed here at Consider The Sauce.
Jagadish tells us that the menu in the new restaurant will be basically the same as in the old, including dosas, but that there will expansion along the lines of tandoori breads.
Opening day? Friday, February 10.
On the other side of Sweet Grass – and Vincent Vegetarian Food Mart – will be the new Pandu’s, at 351 Barkly.
Pandu himself is not around when I stick my nose in, but judging by the extensive renovationary activity going on, the new restaurant bearing his name is going to be bigger, more comfortable and swisher than the one that preceded it.
Let’s hope the prices stay the same, though!
The new Pandu's takes shape.
What an all-round boon this is bound to be – not just for locals (Hi, Juz!), but also for those of us who live slightly further afield.
The adjacent side streets are likely to offer some parking capacity, while the clearway restrictions end at 6pm on week nights.
Amusing or ironic? Both these new restaurants will help bring this stretch of Barkly St alive after being given the heave-ho from their previous abodes because of railway developments.
And, yes, Bennie goes for the Black Widow of vanilla ice cream, lime juice and cola.
In a big way: “This drink is so good I can’t not drink it!”
Slurp!
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