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.
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!
Closing Yarraville’s Ballarat St: A work in progress
Posted: January 31, 2012 Filed under: Blah blah blah | Tags: Ballarat St, cheap eats, Melbourne, Street closure, western suburbs, Yarraville 4 Comments »
Still in at least two minds about this.
Maybe once the works are completed, this’ll be a grouse space to hang out.
And it’ll surely be a winner for the duration of the Yarraville Arts Festival on Saturday, February 11.
On the other hand, the glossy, fake grass and plants-for-hire are already imparting a rather trashy ambience – a bit like a temporary enclosure at a racecourse during the Spring Carnival or at Moomba!
Earlier post here.
Amanie’s Bakery
Posted: January 29, 2012 Filed under: Places we like to eat at, Places we like to shop at | Tags: cheap eats, Lebanese pizzas, Melbourne, St Albans, western suburbs 2 Comments »
Omelette with "the lots".
Amanie’s Bakery, Shop 4/280 Main Rd, St Albans. Phone: 9364 5333
No matter where you head in Melbourne for your fix Lebanese pies and pizza, they remain some of the very cheapest and finest food available.
The shop at the Circle in Altona is our default Lebanese pizza shop, due to both its excellence and the neighbouring shops, several of which have become firm and regular favourites.
It has a limited range, though, and in terms of an enjoyable eating-out-in-public experience, it doesn’t get more spartan.
Sometimes it’s only natural to want something a bit more colourful and entertaining.
That’s why we also really like Mankoushe in Brunswick and Al-alamy in Coburg.
Both offer broader menus that include things such as dip and falafel platters.
And both are way up there when it comes to interest, human and otherwise, and entertainment.
Amanie’s Bakery in St Albans resides somewhere between those two approaches, both in travelling distance from Yarraville and overall vibe.
The decor and furnishings are your basic ethnic cafe stuff, but the food list has all the basics and a few other items as well.
Mr Amanie, who has been here about 10 years, is a cheerful and obliging host.
Tending the Amanie's oven.
I’m here today to buy pies for the coming week – and, of course, for lunch, for which I desire something other than pies!
So I order the omelette “with lots”, which is going to cost me $5.50.
I’m half expecting that this will be served as the scrambled eggs are at Al-alamy – with pita bread, tomato slices, pickles and olives on the side – but I’m up for whatever eventuates.
That’s all to the good, as what I receive is a sort of egg pizza, with the omelette spread on the base and studded with tomato, olives and capsicum.
It’s been dusted deftly with chilli powder, which delivers a nice and spicy glow to what is just the sort of light lunch I craved.
Ms Baklover gives her rundown of this bakery’s gear here at Fooscray Food Blog.
Meanwhile, it continues to be a profound mystery to me why Lebanese pizzas and pies – and sundry other dishes at the places that serve them – are not more widely celebrated as a brilliant and magical slice of Melbourne’s food scene.
Recent Comments