Monthly Archives: March 2012

Footscray: Look up!

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Apart from the routine stories about food places of various kinds, some of the best fun we have doing Consider The Sauce is when a little lateral thinking or imagination kicks in.

Sometimes posts are generated by places or incidents we witness when out and about.

Sometimes they’re generated by conversations we’re having.

Sometimes, too, they bubble up and come to nothing or hunker down for some long-term hibernation.

Such has been the latter case with this idea until it was nudged from its slumber by a recent story by Ms Baklover at Footscray Food Blog.

My knowledge of the stories behind these intriguing glimpses of Footscray’s yesteryears is, in a very few cases, extremely sketchy.

For the rest, it’s non-existent!

Slavonija Continental Butchers

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Slavonija Continental Butchers, 75 Main Rd West, St Albans. Phone: 9366 2336.

The lovely staff at Slavonija Continental Butchers tell me the business has been in operation at these premises for about 30 years.

They answer my pesky questions as a succession of regular customers come and go.

They stock a nice but restricted line groceries such as pickled vegetables and so on.

But the main action here without a doubt surrounds the smoked meats and sausages.

Everything bar the salami is made in-house, I am informed.

There’s several different kinds of Polish sausage, the difference between them being something I only dimly grasp.

I buy a long length of low-fat Polish sausage at $20 a kilogram. If it tastes as good as it looks, it may become our default position for pastas, salads and bean soups and stews in which we use chorizo.

I buy, too, a half dozen frankfurts at $11 a kilogram.

This is about twice what we pay for unsmoked beef numbers at Al Amena at the Circle in Altona but still way short of what Andrews in Yarraville charges for their franks.

These are fat and pale pink, as opposed to the long, skinny and red that is more familiar. They are smoked, though.

Most of them go in the freezer, but I have two for dinner – just with bread roll, dijon mustard and pickled cucumber slices.

They’re damn fine, juicy and with a only a mild smokiness.

And yes – joy of joys – they go “pop”.

At that sort of acceptable price, these, too, could become regulars in our household.

I’m looking forward to exploring the Slavonija range at greater depth, especially with a view to tarting up our work/school lunches.

Pho Kim Long

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Pho Kim Long, 60 Alfrieda St, St Albans. Phone: 9364 4960

That the street frontage of Pho Kim Long is set a metre or so back from those of its neighbours and pretty much the whole of one side of Alfrieda St seems fitting.

This is an unfussy, utilitarian eating place, one unlikely – I suspect – to get much trade from visitors from elsewhere who are liable to gravitate towards some of the shinier establishments.

This is where locals eat – and there’s a lot of them.

As I saunter in, only two other tables are taken – one by a group of slurping senior citizens, a very comforting sight indeed.

By the time I’m done, the place is packed, with all heads over bowls.

Everything about the place – the tiles, the Buddhist shrine, the furniture, the menu, the tabletop accoutrements, the smell – is familiar and reassuring.

Pho Kim Long does pho every which way, but in only one size – and that appear to Large for $9.

That is what most of my fellow customers are tucking into.

I take another tack, ordering the vermicelli with pork and spring rolls ($9).

At first this looks a little on the drab side, but it’s fine.

The pork is on the oily side, quite thinly sliced, almost has a curry kind of tang to it and goes down a treat.

The spring rolls are ungreasy, crisp, hot and really good.

All the other ingredients are present and accounted for – crunchy peanuts, pickled vegetables, herbs and leaves including mint and some cabbage.

It’s good, even if not of the same stellar level of the vermicelli dishes at Pho Hien Saigon.

This is a nice lunch in a really soulful restaurant.

Pho Kim Long on Urbanspoon

Big Sam’s St Albans Market

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Big Sam’s St Albans Market, 3 St Albans Rd, St Albans. Phone: 9366 2237

Despite becoming quite familiar with the many wonders of the shopping and fun precinct that surround Alfrieda St in St Albans, Big Sam’s has until now escaped our attention.

For one thing, it’s often been closed when we’re in the neighbourhood.

For another, I heard – somewhere, somehow – that it’s nothing special.

A single, quick glance about as I enter amply demonstrates that latter point is untrue.

Instead of being just a single business, this appears to be many under the same roof and inhabiting quite a large space.

I don’t see any ordinary supermarket items such as loo paper or detergent, but between them the many stalls appear to have just about all the other bases covered. Certainly this is much more than a fruit and vegetable place.

There’s even a florist!

In that way, it’s a sort of multi-purpose market along the same lines as Sunshine Fresh Food Market – only a lot more meatier and a lot less halal.

There’s only a single seafood stall but a handful of butchers, each with a slightly different emphasis.

The prices are pretty keen.

I see several lots of tomatoes under the $2 mark. These are all very ripe – which is how I always buy them. Some are spoilt – but I have no problem at all finding some good still-firm ones to take home.

These bargain basement red capsicums are blemished – each one has what looks like some sort of frost burn the size of a 20 cent piece. But that aside, they are firm and fabulous. If the freezer at home didn’t have plenty of roasted and peeled ready to go, I’d be on them in a flash.

The market cafe has an Elvis thing going on … note the bongos.

I can see this place getting some handy usage from us when lunch adventures take us to St Albans.

It’s our kind of place with a really nice vibe.

Lara Food & Wine Festival 2012

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Lara Food & Wine Festival, Pirra Homestead, Sunday March 25, 2012

As a Lara Food & Wine Festival newbie, the first thing that strikes me as I pull into the dusty paddocks that are serving as carparks just a tick after noon is the sheer number of cars already in place.

Obviously, this is a much bigger and sexier operation than I had perhaps envisaged.

Inside the grounds of Pirra Homestead, I find the festival is set up with stalls swinging in a big semi-circle away from the lovely buildings and back, with more stalls in the middle.

On the homestead veranda, local musos do their thing at a suitable volume.

Somehow the endless parade of cover versions of such ditties as Sweet Home Alabama and the like seems just right.

The place is crowded in a companionable way and a long way short of discomfort.

The only queues of any magnitude are for prawns, calamari and Twistto Potatoes (“Korean spiral potato on skewers, with a choice of dipping flavours”).

At the other end of the festival set-up, a big crowd looks on as Matt Preston presides over the Ultimate Chef Challenge – basically cooking displays featuring locals chefs such as Leonie Mills from Jack & Jill Restaurant.

Despite the fact that MasterChef and the like make me grind my teeth, Preston impresses as charmer and it’s quite a lot of fun hearing him and the various chefs do their thing and tell their stories in the process.

I wish he was still doing the Unexplored Territory column in The Age.

I’d been warned by Kristine – long-time Consider The Sauce friend, American-born Melbourne resident, foodie and all-round good gal – to keep my expectations in check regarding the festival’s barbecue stall.

Nevertheless, I pretty much make a beeline for Smokin’ Barry’s Barbeque.

I expect to be able to spend some serious money on a plate of ribs and sides … or something similar.

So I am disappointed to discover they only have available beef and pork rolls and something called BBQ nachos, all for $10.

Verdict: Kristine is 100 per cent correct.

Bummer!

My pork roll is so bland it’s fast approaching tasteless.

I don’t know which is more surreal – that I paid $10 for this or that this outfit uses terms such as taste, flavour and succulent on its website.

I do oh-so-much better with a rabbit pie from the folks at Western Plains.

This is very yummy indeed and well worth the $7.50 I pay for it.

There’s quite a high bunny quotient, aided and abetted by chunks of sweet, tender, beaut carrot.

I stop and talk with Vanessa and Jonathan, who are manning the Cobram Estate olive oil stand.

I tell them that in our household their products have become the default setting when it comes to olive oil – fine products well-priced and widely available.

And if that’s the case for us, it must be so for many others, too.

How have they achieved such notable depth and breadth of market penetration?

A lot of hard work over a sustained period of time right throughout the company and with various assisting agencies, they tell me.

Along with substantial investment levels.

And the rapid growth of consumer awareness regarding the dubious nature of many imported oils has helped, too!

No such festival as this would be complete without at least one outfit doing the vego thing in the long and venerable traditions of the Hare Krishnas sustaining happy punters the world over.

Here that happy chore feels to adherents of Supreme Master Ching Hai.

They’re doing good business, too, with what appears to be simple noodles and the like, but as I’m full of rabbit and dodgy BBQ, I make do with a simple piece of tempura seaweed.

Oily but good!

I am given a show bag by a nice fella. It’s full of literature about the groups and its aims.

On the outside, the bag is printed with slogans promoting vegetarianism – “change your life” and the like – and a chook that proudly boasts that “we pray for you”.

Under “Be a vegetarian like them” are name-dropped a whole of host of celebrities and historical figures.

I tell the bag man that advocating the vego way by using the name of Gwyneth Paltrow makes me feel like heading straight out and tucking into a great big juicy steak.

A very rare great big juicy steak.

He thinks I’m joking.

Like all festivals, there’s an element of hit and miss about which tucker to select, while the festival scenario itself seems to restrict or compromise in some ways the available selections.

But the prices are good.

As well, there are plenty of stall offering samples of breads, relishes, olive oil and much more.

Entry to the Lara Food & Wine Festival is by gold coin donation.

The carparking is free.

Stallholders pay a little over $200, a price that is actually subsidised by the festival in terms of provisions of tents, tables and so on.

That latter information comes courtesy of the festival’s media person, Tara Iacovella, who I phone the next day for the lowdown.

This a purebred community event – there’s not a single person involved who is on any sort of payroll, and that includes the musicians and the likes of Matt Preston.

Oh, OK – yes the local scouts get paid for their clean-up efforts.

But nor is the festival in any way amateurish.

But really … all-round this is a brilliant event, one that shows nothing but contempt for the hard-bitten cynicism of this journo/blogger.

And for that, I love them!

Los Latinos

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Los Latinos, 128 Mitchell St, Maidstone. Phone: 9318 5289

We were random but regular visitors to Los Latinos in the months after our write-up of the Maidstone Latin American eatery, early in its life.

But it’s been a while, so it feels nice settling in for lunch.

I’ve done what is almost unthinkable for me – leaving home without a book – but am satisfied enough with a house copy of one of the weekend rags.

It’s the wrong one and the wrong size, but I enjoy reading the foodie bits and the sports section anyway.

The menu seems to have grown quite a bit – featuring more seafood, more main courses and dishes listed by nationality – than found on the menu at the restaurant’s website.

The first thing I am told by a staff member is that tamales – one of several dishes on the menu marked with “not available” stickers – are in fact very much available.

I order them and end up very glad I have done so.

Isn’t there something totally magical and mysterious about food that comes in packages?

Think of dumplings, for instance.

In this case, the banana leaf wrapping on my two tamales unfolds to reveal two good-sized slabs of cornmeal masa (south-of-the-border polenta?), each one filled with some tender chicken on the bone, a couple of green olives, a long and well-cooked green bean and a big chunk of super potato.

It’s all delicious and filling – and a pretty good bargain, too, at $10 for the lot.

The benign seasoning levels and smooth pastiness of the corn mash are the perfect foil for the salsa/tomato sauce on the side. Drizzled across both tamales, it has a nice slow burn that eventually has a sheen of perspiration breaking out on my forehead.

Since Los Latinos opened, Melbourne seems to have contracted some form of Latin American fever, with quite a broad range of eateries generating a lot of talk and blogging and reviews.

And queues.

My lunch is a timely reminder that there’s a fine place just up the road doing lovely work along such lines – without the trendoid brouhaha.

Brimbank Festival 2012

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Brimbank Festival, Hampshire Rd, Sunshine, March 24, 2012.

Nice vibe, pleasant weather … but surprisingly little in the way of foodie excitement.

Maybe my expectations were too high.

So just the pictures this time out …

Lunch for $135 or gold coin donation?

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A few months back, I became involved through mega-big advertising agency Ogilvy, in a Bank of Melbourne promotion/competition tie-in with Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, for which for the bank is the main sponsor.

Some of the harder heads in the Melbourne food blogger community advised all those thinking of responding to the invitation from Ogilvy to think again, the main gist of their opposition being that it was just another example of big-bucks outfits treating bloggers with contempt and their content as worthless.

I forged ahead anyhow, and after a few ups and downs the whole thing is operating pretty smoothly.

You can see the Consider The Sauce “food tips” up there with those of a handful of other bloggers, all being utilised as teasers to get customers to submit tips of their own.

True, no money changed hands.

But I’ve enjoyed the experience, even when things got a little hairy in the preparation stages.

It’s a networking thing, getting the Consider The Sauce name out and about. I’ve made a nice contact and had a lovely lunch with her.

The number of visitors the promotion has driven to Consider The Sauce has been mostly on the pitiful side, but I had no great expectations in that regard. Positively, some of those who found us through the promotion were previously unaware of Consider The Sauce and yet have become regular visitors.

That’ll do me!

As part of the promotion, I was provided with two complementary tickets to the World’s Longest Lunch.

Now, my original intention was to play fast and loose with the unwritten arrangements of my whole relationship with Ogilvy, the bank and the festival by using these tickets for myself and Bennie.

But, as luck would have it, I was down to work that day and Bennie was in school.

So, through no great generosity of spirit or ethical righteousness, I did the “right thing” and gave them away to a Consider The Sauce friend.

You can read Daniel May’s post about the event here.

One thing is for sure, though, there’s no way – No Way, NO WAY – I would ever have attended that lunch had I been required to fund the tickets myself.

Judging by Daniel’s photos, this looks like it was a matter of a quite nice three-course meal and wines to match.

But $135 per person?

Blimey!

Daniel, too, being a paid-up Westie these days, was happy to concede he would never have attended had he not scored a couple of freebies.

I have no doubt the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is not setting out to gouge people, nor charging as much as they think the market will bear.

I’m sure they have good reasons for doing what they do.

When concerns are raised about their pricing structure – and I’m pretty certain I’m not the first to do so – I’m sure they can and do point to festival events that are free or low cost.

Nevertheless, as it stands I am simply unable to engage with festival in any meaningful way, mainly for one simple reason – I can’t afford to do so.

I’m a passionate Melburnite and passionate about the city and its food.

Consequently, it feels damn strange to feel so estranged – financially, socially, culturally – from an event that seems like it should be such a perfect fit for me, my son and our blog.

And if that’s the case for myself – with all the positive motivation I have – for how many more Melbourne folks is it even more true?

It may be unfair, but there’s an abiding impression that the festival merely packages – at premium prices – goodies that are available all year round.

And in Footscray, that means every day of the week, including Mondays and Christmas Day.

I’ve also heard some grumbles about pricing at the Geelong leg of this year’s festival

It could be, mind you, that myself and other like-minded folks are simply out of the loop with the festival in a more fundamental way.

The big names seem to be a key part of the festival’s marketing and appeal.

Yet the celebrity chefs and the like seem far less heroic or notable to me than the ordinary chefs, food folk and business people I talk to and meet on a weekly basis.

Meanwhile, the Lara Food and Wine Festival will be held on Sunday, March 25, at Pirra Homestead.

There’ll be plenty of food you can pay for at this bash from an impressive and long list of exhibitors and stallholders.

I’m particularly interested in Smokin’ Barry’s Barbeque.

It’s been a long-time lament of mine that ‘Merican style barbecue goodies such Really Great Ribs and so on are such a rarity in Australia and Melbourne.

But based on the slide show at their site, it looks like a good bet these folks have it nailed.

And they have a killer slogan: “You don’t need teeth to eat our meat!”

But a colleague who is something of a veteran of this festival tells me there’ll also be no shortage of exhibitors offering samples of their wares.

If I don’t contract “festival fatigue” the previous day at the Brimbank/Sunshine celebrations, I’ll be there.

Admission to the Lara Food and Wine Festival is by gold coin donation.

Casa Italica: Out with the old, in with the new …

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Despite being fond of Casa Italica, it’s not been a frequent haunt for us – much like the rest of Williamstown.

I am surprised, then, when in the neighbourhood to discover the place has been gutted and a major building operation is underway.

However, the two young builder blokes I talk to assure me Casa Italica will still be present when the works are completed.

There’s apartments being built – and a carpark to service them.

And the Casa Italica space looks like it’ll be a whole lot more roomy and expansive.

This is pretty exciting, as the previous configuration was a little on the pokey side, and was perhaps even hampering the sort of service and products and eats they were of a mind to offer … in a neighbourhood in which such expansion will surely be a winner.

The perfect meal …

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1. Cucumber, tomato, red onion, red capsicum, salt, freshly ground black pepper, oregano, olive oil, red wine vinegar, kalamata olives (stone in), feta cheese.

2. Finely chopped garlic, salt, finely chopped cucumber, yogurt.

3. Pita bread.

Sometime I make far more than enough so there’s plenty left for the next day’s work lunch or dinner.

I’m sure the nutritional value is shot by then and, of course, it’s not fresh.

But you know what?

Often it tastes better.

Same scenario works with a mixed Italian salad.

I’ve been told that white cheeses – feta, mozzarella, ricotta and so on – are less fatty than the yellow ones.

Nevertheless, I usually order low-fat feta.

Sourced usually from Sims or our local IGA, I notice no decrease in flavour.

Sad to say, this one – from Coles in Williamstown – was flavourless.

Altona Beach Market

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Altona Beach Market, Pier St and Logan Reserve, every Tuesday.

It’s other business that has brought me to the Altona Beach shopping precinct, so it astounds that I walk right into the middle of a market – on a Tuesday of all days.

But here it is, stretching up and down Pier St and into some of the park places nearer the beach.

It surprises as much to learn it’s been going – every Tuesday – for five years.

Truth to tell, though, business is far from brisk, despite the beautiful sunny Indian summer weather.

Chris tells me his performance skills, which he utilises in the promotion and sales of his sooper dooper chopping and slicing contraption, are well honed.

But, today at least, he laments the total lack of an audience.

Other stallholders I talk to grumble good-naturedly about too much wind and too few customers.

By 1.30pm, several are already packing up well ahead of the advertised closing time.

Walia Ibex

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Walia Ibex, 2B Clarke St, Sunshine.

It seems a little odd that the flowering of African culture and food that has occurred in the past decade or so in Footscray has not been mirrored in Sunshine or even slightly further afield St Albans.

Well, Walia Ibex – named after a threatened Ethiopian species – is making a start in Sunshine.

The place is kitted out in such a way that it could be interchangeable with any one of half a dozen African eateries in Footscray. No bad thing, that!

A lunch here about a year ago was quite nice, but more in the meat-and-rice Somalian tradition.

These days, the place is more like a proper organised restaurant, with a menu and all!

And the food is a whole lot more focussed – this is Ethiopian tucker through and through, with three different kinds of tibs, doro wot, kitfo and gored gored all featuring on the list.

All meals are a very reasonable $12.

I order the vegetarian combo – “yetesom beyaynetu” – not because it’s cheaper, it’s the same price as the rest, but because I don’t feel like a meaty meal.

The serve looks quite modestly sized but proves more than adequate for a lovely lunch. The single piece of injera is matched just right with the food in terms of proportion.

There’s lentils three ways –  a dry and crumbly mix of small brown lentils studded with slices of fresh green chilli; smoother and wetter red lentils that look like they’re cooked with tomatoes but are actually made, I’m told, with a special “Ethiopian chilli powder” (it’s very mild and unspicy); and finally a luscious and turmeric-yellow mix that looks likes it’s made with moong dal or channa dal but which is described as being made with “African beans”.

I love the way these three pulse components complement each other with contrasting colours and textures and flavours.

A highlight is the gorgeously multi-coloured mix of beautifully cooked beetroot and potato – I wish there was a whole lot more of it – while the stalwart mix of cabbage and carrot is tender and just about as lovely.

This is plain, homely food and I love it. It’s a little less oily than similar fare I’ve enjoyed elsewhere, too.

Walia Ibex already has the feel of being something of an African community hub, with lots of folks coming, going, chatting.

If I lived anywhere nearby, I’d be there on a weekly basis.

Collectors Aircraft Models

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WARNING: Explicit non-food content!

We firstly stepped into this shop with a view to grabbing a quick, quirky photo for our new play thing, Snap West. But what we found was so cool we figured it was worthy of its own more detailed post.

For those from the broader community who come here for the eats, we apologise.

For fellow westies, we hope you are tickled at least a little bit as much as we were …

******

Collectors Aircraft Models Australia, 40 Cranwell St, Braybrook. Phone: 9318 1276

It was only a few weeks into the new routine of school in Sunshine that Bennie and I altered our route.

Instead of heading up Ballarat Rd and confronting the sometimes white-knuckle stress of turning right against the incoming rush hour, we started going straight ahead at the Ashley St lights and on to Cranwell St, past car yards and factories and beyond to school.

This may not be faster, but it’s more fun and far more relaxing.

We pass parks, a huge Buddhist temple complex and even a couple of junkyard dogs for whom we feel sorry.

And it has brought riches – most notably some classic graffiti that cracks us up still on an almost daily basis and the tasty South American delights of La Morenita.

But it’s very unusual for us to be cruising this neighbourhood later than about 8.15am or on a Saturday.

But that’s certainly the case today as we’re on our way to pick up our mate Daniel.

Thus it is we pass a sandwich-board sign outside an older style industrial property that immediately has us parking and going or a look-see.

Given the premises, I envisage some sort of makeshift operation – maybe something like Dirt Cheap Books with wings.

Instead, what we discover is a well-established shop that has been in place for about 13 years.

The lovely room is crammed with aircraft models of many different sizes, shapes and configurations.

There’s even a couple of airports!

I figure this is some sort of blokey refuge along the lines of anoraks and train spotters, and that the average age of the customers is somewhere between 45 and beyond.

But proprietor Terry Mahoney tells me his customer base is a lot broader than that, and that business is pretty good.

As with a lot of niche operations these days, Terry finds a lot of his business comes from the online direction.

Consequently, he finds the lack of passing trade a small price to pay for the comfort and minimal overheads his unusual Braybrook location provides.

He tells me that the old-school factory set-up of which he is a tenant also houses an operation that produces gut tennis strings and surgical sutures.

Check out Terry’s website here.

We may never step foot into Terry’s shop again … but we dig the hell out of the fact it’s there!

Dal deluxe

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I learned this style of dal cooking from Yamua Devi’s book, The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking.

Sub-titled Lord Krishna’s Cuisine, this book details spiritually inclined Indian cooking that eschews – marvellous word! – garlic and onions.

Instead, many of the dishes use chillis, ginger, lemon juice and coriander.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups pulses

1 tsp turmeric

salt (optional)

good-sized chunk fresh ginger/galangal

1 fresh green chilli

3 ripe or very ripe tomatoes

1 tsp cumin seeds

oil

1 lemon

1 small bunch fresh coriander

Method

Unless using red lentils or moong dal, soak pulses overnight or at least for the best part of a day. In this case I use channa dal and urad dal because that’s what I have most of on hand.

Drain pulses, place in big pot.

Add turmeric and salt.

I know, I know – salt is Bad.

But I find if I don’t add it to my Indian cooking, it just doesn’t have anything resembling the sort of authentic Indian flavour I seek. Moderation is the key – in this case I use a teaspoon of salt. I suspect an Indian restaurant or household may’ve used 3-4 teaspoons!

Give the salt a miss and you’ll end up with a tasty meal that is of vegetarian nature rather than Indian. And that’s fine, too!

Cover with plenty of water, bring to boil and cook on low heat until pulses collapse into a near-mush.

It’s important at all stages to keep the water content very high – in fact, higher than you may think wise.

When served, dal always coagulates on the plate or in the bowl.

It it’s too thick in the pot, it’ll become an unseemly stodge when served.

So keep it really runny!

Meanwhile, dice the spuds into smallish bite-sized chunks and add to the dal about halfway through its cooking process.

You can keep the dal as a pristine dish if you’re cooking a proper Indian meal with other dishes.

But often we find adding spuds or carrots makes for an easier, quick-cook all-in-one meal.

Don’t worry about the spuds being overcooked – if they collapse a bit, it just adds to the texture. A bit like the spuds in beef rendang and the like.

As the dal mix becomes thoroughly cooked, slice the chilli, grate or chop the ginger/galangal and chop the tomatoes.

Sometimes I finely grate the ginger, but more recently I’ve taken to taking the time to slice it into thin strands.

This delivers more of surprising flavour hit and is inspired by the profoundly gingery dal I had at Maurya in Sunshine.

About this time, it’s a good idea to lower the heat under the dal mix even further if possible or take off the heat entirely.

Especially if you’re using gas, it doesn’t take much of a flame to have the pulses sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Heat oil until medium hot.

Throw in 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds and fry until fragrant.

Lower the heat a little and throw in the sliced chilli and ginger.

Stir and fry for 3-4 minutes.

Throw in the chopped tomatoes.

Stir and cook until the tomato pieces are just starting to break down but still holding their shape.

Throw tomato/ginger/chilli/cumin mix into the pot of dal.

Stir and let cook for five minutes or so until the flavours are emancipated.

When ready to serve and eat, throw in the coriander and, finally, squeeze in juice of a lemon.

We try to get small bunches of coriander and use the whole lot in one bang – stalks and all. It doesn’t keep very well.

Serve with rice, raita and your choice of breads and side dishes.

A Taste Explosion!

Selina Hot Bread

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Selina Hot Bread, 5/304-310 Hampshire Rd.

After some routine hanging out, goofing off and frisbee, it’s time for lunch in Sunshine.

We head under the Sunshine station underpass for Dragon Express, only to be disappointed to find it’s not open for Saturday lunch.

No matter – there are choices aplenty.

We settle on banh mi.

Selina Hot Bread is a Hampshire Rd fixture.

It may not have quite the same renown as Footscray’s Nhu Lan or the franchise-style signage recognition factor of Fresh Chilli Deli, but it’s busy and going by the customers coming and going it has its share of devoted regulars.

Roast pork for Bennie and Daniel, BBQ chicken for me – all at $3.50.

Our lunches are very, very good.

The rolls are super fresh and wonderfully crusty.

All the bits and pieces – including caramelised onions, pickled vegies, chilli rings, spring onion, coriander – are present in suitable quantities and quality.

When ordering and tossed the standard inquiry – “you want chilli?” – I’d replied, “Yes – lot of it!”

It seems my server took me seriously, however!

I love the extra kick and the tingling lips at the finish.

But the chilli levels are a bit over the top for Bennie and even Daniel, so I relent and buy two cans of that Coca Cola stuff.

It’s still a cheap and wonderful lunch.

In the process of writing this post I find a glowing review for the Selina banh mi – and a brand new blog seriously concerned with western suburbs food.

Welcome to Lady Rice!

Banh mi – such a familiar part of our scenery it’s sometimes easy to take it for granted.

But I know there’ll be a bunch of folks who will read this post and immediately say: “Damn – want one NOW!”

Kenny’s muesli

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With some variations along the way due to taste, immediate availability and cost, this is the basic mix I have been using for more than three years now.

I haven’t done the sums, but I simply assume it’s a helluva lot cheaper than buying even standard supermarket mixes – never mind the ultra-pricey lines that generally come packaged in cellophane!

Equally important as price is the fact that I get to have breakfast fare that is constructed precisely to my own tastes and is absent sugar and dodgy ingredients.

Ingredients

2 x 750 gram bags Black & Gold rolled oats

1 x 750 gram bag Black & Gold crushed oats

500 grams white sultanas

500 grams roasted almonds

(I almost always get my fruit and nuts from self-serve style Sunshine Fresh Food Market, as I can then suit myself as to the exact quantities.)

The bigger the container the easier the mixing!

Throw in the rolled oats and then the white sultanas.

Mix.

Chop almonds.

Add to container.

Finally, add the crushed oats and mix well – and carefully, especially if your container only just holds the amount of muesli being made!

This is obviously a very personal choice and quite a hardcore mix – those looking to ween their kids of sugary, packaged cereals can try any number of variations.

All and any kind of dried fruit, for instance, though cast around for options beyond sultanas, raisins and currants and you’ll be up for more chopping time.

Also, I can’t imagine eating this mix freshly added to a bowl with milk in the morning.

I soak it overnight in quite a lot milk so it doesn’t end up too claggy and too much like hard work.

And always with fresh fruit – lovely stone fruit at the moment – and yogurt.

I have a friend who doesn’t soak hers, but roasts it, so I guess it’s more like granola. But then, she doesn’t chop her almonds either so she is a little strange on it.

I have another pal who soaks his muesli mix in orange juice – another weirdo!

(Just kidding, Penny, Kurt!)

Soaked or unsoaked, the Kenny Mix makes really good porridge in the winter months!

I could save money by buying unroasted almonds, but I like the crunch.

Depending on taste and budget, you can go a lot further, of course.

Sunflower seeds? Figs? Dates?

When I worked at Neal’s Yard Wholefood Warehouse in Covent Garden in the late ’70s, we made up a huge batch of muesli every week.

Into it went not just oat flakes but also rye, wheat and barley.

Not just almonds, but also brazil and cashew nuts.

Not just sultanas, but also chopped dried pears, apples, apricots and peaches.

And probably a few things I’ve long forgotten!

It was truly the Rolls Royce of mueslis and flew off the shelves.

But I like my mix just the way it is – I especially dig the white sultanas.

So juicy and sweet!

But I’ve probably put Bennie off them for life by once describing them as being like “big, fat white maggots”!

(That’s quite possibly me pouring honey in the attached Neal Yard link!)

The Grand Tofu … again

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Fried squid tentacles ($6.80) at The Grand Tofu.

The Grand Tofu, 314 Racecourse Rd, Flemington. Phone: 9376 0168

It’s been a pleasure attending the first rugby practice for the new season.

Bennie has dug being with his teammates again and running the drills.

The location – Footscray Park below Victoria University – lends itself to heading in various directions for a quick feed before heading home.

Bennie favours Ebi, but I persuade him Flemington is the go by mentioning that friends have tipped us that the fried squid tentacles at The Grand Tofu are hot.

After our recent and first post from there, I have been a little surprised and also gratified to learn – from comments left, other reviews and the tentacle recommendation from two former work colleagues whose family always has a firm grasp of the Flemo eateries – The Grand Tofu is widely regarded as a beaut spot that is more than holding its own with the famous alternatives around the corner in Pin Oak Crescent.

We’re happy to pursue the matter further.

After parking, we pass one of the few non-Asian eateries in the area.

We find it impossible not to glance at the dips combo an inner-city hipster with a Hitler moustache is eating at a window table.

He glares at us.

Much to my surprise, Bennie is largely unmoved by the tentacles – but his dad loves them.

The batter is unoily, crunchy and beautifully seasoned; the tentacles themselves are right on the good side of the chewiness concept.

Beware though – this a big serving, much bigger than it looks in real life or in the photo above.

Really, Bennie and I could share these and a single bowl of noodles for a perfectly filling meal.

Bennie goes for the yong tofu – six pieces, noodles, soup for $10 – his first experience with this particular eating experience.

He rejects the combos available and chooses his own – no surprise he steers strongly towards the meatier dumplings and away from the stuffed vegetables.

At first, this kind of meal seems just right for the lad – hey, it’s just like yum cha for one, right?

But he tires of it quickly and even leaves a couple of the dumplings uneaten. A case of too much of a good thing, perhaps?

His dad chooses the Penang king prawn noodle soup ($12.80).

This is good and a huge serve, but it strikes me as a tad uninspired.

The broth is suitably prawny, though the two fat beasties themselves are a on the doughy side.

Given the price, though, I suspect there are plenty of Grand Tofu dishes that’ll be more to my liking on future visits, while Bennie will definitely want the BBQ pork dry noodle next time around.

We’ve tried too hard, but that lessens not our affection for this establishment.

Bennie’s experience with oysters is minimal but his eyes glitter as spectacular, fiery serves of flaming lemon grass oysters are carried to adjacent tables.

And perhaps this’ll be the place to come when we feel like splashing out on chilli mud crab.

Returning to our wheels, we notice that the inner-city hipster with the Hitler moustache is talking to a lady friend at an outside table.

And having just about as much fun.

The Grand Tofu 3 on Urbanspoon

New Footscray IGA – a quick tour

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Supa IGA, corner Albert and Paisley streets. Phone: 9396 1404

Our first ever visit to the new IGA – one part of the site that used to be Dimmeys/Forges – gets off to a sour start when I almost get into a somewhat heated argument with the Seventh Day Adventists manning a booth outside.

Luckily, I pull myself up with a stern admonition – “life is too short for this BS” – and head inside.

We are wielding a shopping list of very modest length, so check the whole place out – right around, and up and down every aisle – before we start throwing items in our basket.

The store is done out in urban-industrial, which would be a tad oppressive if it were not for the incredible prevalence of colourful products of Asian derivation.

Truth is, many of the Asian products seem to be of the highly packaged and processed snack food variety.

I’ve been told my sniffy disdain for such fare renders me thoroughly unfit for residence anywhere in Asia, particularly Japan.

So be it!

That said, in many ways this supermarket is a typical IGA – especially when it comes to non-food items.

This may be the only Australia’s only IGA sporting live seafood tanks, but I know there are supermarkets of other persuasions who do likewise.

The non-live unfrozen seafood range seems quite good.

On the other hand, the deli counter and bakery sections do little to impress.

The fresh produce selection seems pretty handy, but hardly offers staunch competition to nearby Little Saigon Market.

The fresh meat range seems particularly lame on this Saturday afternoon

All of which makes us think this may only be an occasional stop for us – when we’re in the area, ready to shop and figure and we can cover all our bases there.

We find bargains though.

There’s broccoli at $1.50 a kilogram, for instance, and Zafarelli pasta at $1 a 500g bag.

From the endless range of Asian sweets, savouries and frozen lines, Bennie chooses a Meiji Yan Yan Double Cream.

This turns out to contain biscuit sticks and strawberry and chocolate sauces to dip them into.

He loves it, of course, but tells me the ratio of sticks to goop is out of whack, and that he has to resort to scooping out the rest of it with his fingers.

Life’s so bloody hard sometimes!

VU Halal Kitchen

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"Baba-ghanouj" plate at VU Halal Kitchen.

"Baba-ghanouj" plate at VU Halal Kitchen.

VU Halal Kitchen, Building M, Level 0, Victoria University, Footscray. Phone: 9919 4300

Given the radiant brilliance of some of our Middle Eastern adventures lately – particularly at Coburg’s Abbout Falafel House and Al-Alamy – the surprise isn’t that the newish VU Halal Kitchen doesn’t quite match them but that it delivers a good and worthy shot at it with very similar prices.

I’d first stumbled across VU Halal Kitchen after trying out Cafe Noodle House, which is situated in a nearby campus building.

Subsequent attempts to try the campus Middle Eastern fare were thwarted by the festive season, catering commitments and the end of the academic year.

Now, in early March, Team Consider The Sauce is on the job and mighty hungry.

While we understand the business requirements that dictate the food cater to a broad base of students, you’ll be unsurprised to learn we ignore completely such fodder as the burgers, parmas, pastas and the like … although those seem to be the choices of the few other customers there are.

After being told several times the dips came with “Turkish bread” only, what turns up is a pleasant surprise.

"Hommus" plate at VU Halal Kitchen in Footscray.

"Hommus" plate at VU Halal Kitchen in Footscray.

The trimmings aren’t quite as substantial or sparkling as we get in Coburg, but they’re much appreciated anyway. Both kinds of pickles are commercial but lovely and crunchy.

The terrific bread is made on the premises.

I subsequently am told by VU Halal Kitchen proprietor George that it’s oil-free, which helps give it a nice chewiness when fresh and not unpalatable crunchiness when an ancient half-hour or so old.

The “baba-ghanouj” plate ($7) is the star of our lunch, the dip itself being redolent of smokiness, lemon and garlic in about equal measures. Very good!

The “hommus” plate, at the same price, is not as impressive, with the dip sporting a blandness  that makes it seem like a wallflower.

Spicy potato curry pie at VU Halal Kitchen.

Spicy potato curry pie at VU Halal Kitchen.

We order the spicy potato curry pie ($4) out of sheer curiosity and are a little disappointed. As you’d expect, it’s quite a lot like an elongated samosa – except that the curry potato stuffing is very much at the outer extremes of mildness. It’s OK.

Dressed zaatar pizza at VU Halal Kitchen.

Dressed zaatar pizza at VU Halal Kitchen.

The dressed zaatar pizza ($4.80), too, suffers by comparison with the superior equivalents available at our usual local haunts – but not by much.

After lamenting that our otherwise incredibly vibrant westie food situation lacks an Al-Alamy or an Abbout Falafel House, I am gratified to learn from George, who is of Egyptian background, that VU Halal Kitchen in fact boasts an Al-Alamy connection.

That operation’s Ahmed is overseeing the kitchen affairs here in a supervisory role, which hopefully augurs mightily well for the future.

Falafels are in the near future, as will be  – I fully expect – a degree of tweaking and improving.

A western suburbs place serving Middle Eastern food that goes beyond pizzas and kebabs needs to be encouraged.

George, by the way, highly recommends the awarma (minced meat cooked with scrambled eggs, $10) and shak-shooka (scrambled eggs mixed with tomato, onion and cheese, $10) – both served with aforementioned bread and pickles.

Two more points …

Given the possibility the bar set-up of which the kitchen is part may be otherwise needed for a function, we strongly suggest phoning an hour or so before your planned lunch … just to make sure.

And the drinks situation is far from ideal – extremely small bottles of soda pop and Mount Franklin water all clock in at $3. But then again, this is a bar – rather than a campus cafeteria.