Monthly Archives: December 2012

2012 in review

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center in New York to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 150,000 times in 2012 (Ed’s note: The precise figure ended up being 151,207). If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about eight sold-out performances for that many people to see it. (Ed’s note: Thanks WordPress – if Jay-Z was lucky enough to live in the western suburbs of Melbourne he’d really be in the top spot!)

Click here to see the complete report.

Glory We Cafe

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Glory We Cafe, 3/76 Old Geelong Rd, Hoppers Crossing. Phone: 9394 8845

If we lived anywhere in the vicinity of Glory We Cafe, we’d be habitual visitors for sure.

In other words, we’d feel compelled to turn a blind eye to the overwhelming use of plastic cutlery and containers.

Why?

Because this neat Asian cafe with a fast food vibe inhabits a part of the western suburbs of dismal foodiness, so much so that this is our first Hoppers Crossing story.

On one side of Glory We is an unlovely piece of Old Geelong Rd that is a seemingly endless string of discount furniture stores, while on the other is a small local shopping strip and all around are soulless supermarkets and car yards and parks.

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Glory We sells a hybrid mixture of yum cha and dumplings, Asian snacks and sweet drinks, and larger but still very cheap plates of the laksa and nasi lemak variety.

I’m told our yum cha selections are imported but our chicken rice and curry puff are made in-house. But we’d much rather live with brought-in dumplings than disposable implements!

The Taiwanese-style chook ($6.90, top picture) – served on a disposable bento tray with rice, mayo and salad – is truly fine, tender and beautifully seasoned.

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Bennie likes the prawn and chive dumplings ($4.80 for three), but I prefer the small pork dim sims ($3.80 for four) – they’re chewy in the right kind of way and flavoursome.

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I leave the “good” pork bun ($1.80) to Bennie as I dive right into a fabulous curry puff ($2.40) – lovely pastry, big chunks of vegetables and even some hard-boiled egg, with a mild curry sludge holding it all together.

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Bennie loves his ice shaving lemon fig jelly ($4.50), his wide straw perfect for sucking up the jelly blobs, though he confesses it’s more lemon than fig.

My boy’s growing adoration of weirdo Asian beverages is of significant budgetary concern.

Glory We Cafe on Urbanspoon

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Stag’s Head – beer every day

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Stag’s Head, 39 Cecil St, Williamstown. Phone: 9397 8337

Whatever the merits or otherwise of Williamstown as a food destination, we very much enjoy cruising the suburb’s back streets, especially those around the beach and its station.

There are heaps of lovely old homes and buildings to be eyeballed and the area seems to be defying whatever gentrification and “progress” is taking place nearby on Ferguson St and Nelson Pde.

One such building is the Stag’s Head, first built in the 1860s and reconstructed in 1887.

It’s a golden oldie and feels like it, even if the current management, fit-out, locals and food aren’t quite of that vintage.

It feels oh-so-comfortable, right from the threadbare carpet and bar full of nick-nacks through to wooden floors seemingly springloaded with age and comical signage.

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Even better, there’s a perpetually free pool table. Maybe it costs that little because at either end there’s walls that get in the way of sensible cue management.

Whatever – one of our games is abandoned because of the arrival of our lunch and Bennie beats his father in the other on a mere technicality (sinking white off black).

There’s a more formal dedicated dining room and a sunny courtyard, but we’re happy to perch on bar stools for our lunch visit.

The menu is compact, runs to two sides of A4 and includes “old favourites” such as chicken parma and  porterhouse for $20, three salads for $15-18 and five lunch dishes for $12.50 apiece.

From the lunch list we choose salt and pepper calamari and fish tacos.

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Bennie’s calamari is really fine – tender, mildly seasoned and of extreme yumminess when dipped in the lovely aioli.

Only problem is, for a lunch dish it’s light-on, with only a small rocket salad with a few parmesan flakes to accompany.

Maybe the key here is to make sure of a dish’s heft before ordering if one is keen of appetite.

In any case, Bennie for sure could’ve done with an equivalent serve of the chips that come with my tacos.

As it is, he makes do with a bag of beer nuts from behind the bar.

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My fish tacos are wonderful.

The fish – hoki from New Zealand – is mildly flavoured but goes beaut with the tomato salsa, red cabbage, chilli sauce and coriander.

The taco shells are, I suspect, store-bought. But I’m cool with that, especially as each taco maintains its structural integrity right down to the final tasty mouthful.

With the good chips on the side, I really enjoy a lovely light meal that seems priced just right at $12.50.

By the time we leave, I’m wishing the Stag’s Head was our local.

Stag's Head on Urbanspoon

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Bennie and Kenny go to Avalon Raceway

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It was the corn dogs what swung it.

For the past year or so, Bennie has displayed increasing indifference and even passive hostility to the idea of getting out and about in pursuit of sport.

Rebels, Storm or All Blacks?

Maybe.

Heart, Victory, Socceroos or – heaven forbid – T20 cricket?

No way!

But somehow he intuitively knows an outing to check out Avalon Raceway will be more to his liking.

And when his question about the likely availability of corn dogs is answered in the affirmative, it’s a done deal and off we go on Boxing Day.

Actually, it’s been at least three decades since I’ve had one of those battered critters, so I’m quite open to having one myself.

More pragmatically, I expect the food offerings to be on a par with what’s available at AAMI Stadium, but probably not as good.

As far as the racing goes, I’m not a serious petrolhead by any means, though I’ve always had a soft spot for what I consider to be the blue-collar, everyman variations – as opposed to the billionaire playground that is Formula One.

On that basis alone, I’m up for it.

We get to the track just before 6pm and I’m quite impressed by the number of cars and people already in attendance, even though the “hot” practice laps are just about to start.

Most punters, including many families, appear to have brought their own furniture and/or food.

Not us, of course, though we nevertheless find a cool pozzie against the fence, with wooden sleepers to park our bums on when we’re not eyeballing the racing.

Where we’re at, on corner three, means we’ll be splattered with mud for the rest of the day/night, but after a while we barely notice. Bennie thinks it’s all an absolute hoot.

Various groups around us utilise different and innovative ways to protect themselves from the slung mud, ranging from blankets and umbrellas to screening pinned to the track perimeter fence.

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The food situation turns out to be every bit as dire as I had expected – at first.

A single shack is selling hot dogs, pies, dodgy looking chips – with gravy for $6 – and that’s about it.

There’s not corn dog in sight.

Bennie later rates his hot dog as a six, once again raising for me doubts about the veracity of his rating system.

The chips are underdone, limp and awful.

My Routley’s beef pie is not hot enough and just OK.

Our food and drink costs us $15, which isn’t too bad. We’ve certainly spent more for worse at sports events in the past.

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Like speedway bikes, sprint cars have no transmissions.

And – according to this informative story at automedia – nor do they have differentials, the lack of which is covered by having the inside rear tyres significantly smaller than their outside equivalents.

We’ve packed ear plugs, though they turn out to be non-essential. But I do keep mine in for most of the night.

The sprint cars – ranging from about six up to 18 per race – put out a deep rumble in the laps leading up the green flag. The racing tenor itself is, of course, a good deal higher pitched but still quite pleasant when compared to the killer dentist-drill mosquito-whine pain of F1.

And even Bennie enjoys the racing.

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We don’t know one driver or car from the other, of course, but what with bearable noise levels, the smell of burning race fuel, some torrid racing and numerous bingles and prangs, it really is quite thrilling.

The cars are shunted on to the track by ATVs then push started by a team of utes.

It’s a buzz being so very close to racing vehicles yet feeling quite unthreatened. I suspect the cars may not be going as fast as they appear to be, and certainly no drivers are hurt in the various mishaps.

And still the mud flies!

After a half-dozen or so heats, I leave Bennie at our pozzie and go for a wander.

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Punters can get a beer at Sliders Bar – VB for $4 – but they don’t appear to be doing great business.

Maybe because all booze must be consumed “in-house”, although the racing can be watched on TVs while doing so.

A little further on I stumble upon the Dirt Track Diner.

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The food here appears to be somewhat different but of similar standard – think wilted burgers and leather-tough fried dim sims.

But wait – there’s more!

Yes, they have corn dogs.

I buy a couple for $5 each and make my way back to a wildly grinning Bennie.

He loves his and devours most of mine.

I’m disappointed. I expect the outer batter costing to be crispy – instead, it’s rather doughy.

I discover, courtesy of this informative piece at Wikipedia, that corn dogs appear to have originated in the US in the 1920s and that they have become a multicultural, multinational foodstuff.

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And so it goes …

I’m surprised we make it right through to the evening’s conclusion, the 18-car Gold Cup final.

Then we make a hasty exit, beating the crowds and getting on to the highway home in about five minutes.

For a family day/night out, we can recommend a visit to Avalon Raceway. Our tickets prices of $25 and $5 certainly compare real well with any significant sports event in Melbourne.

You may want to pack your own picnic lunch/dinner, though Bennie snorts with contempt at such a suggestion.

Sophisticated juice vending machine

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Wonder juicing machine, Moonee Ponds.

If this apparatus – situated in one of the generic mallways off Puckle St – simply dispensed juice it would not have grabbed our attention.

But this one does more than that – it squeezes the oranges to make the juice, too!

This is a new one on us, even if that does make us look like westie rubes.

For sure, we’ve got to give it a go …

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We’re not keeping precise score, but as far as we can tell about four or five of the smallish oranges go into our small glass of juice.

We don’t actually see them being squeezed, that part of the procedure being hidden from view.

But the whole operation goes really smoothly.

The juice is excellent – chilled and pulp-free.

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Had the full price of $3.50 been charged, we may have been hesitant. But we figure the “summer special” price of $2.50 is pretty much what a dedicated juice joint would charge anyway.

The receptacle is plastic, but what can you do?

It’s only later that a couple of questions occur to us:

Who cleans the machine?

And how often?

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A letter to KFC …

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Dear KFC Australia,

Hello there!

My 11-year-old son and I could before now hardly be described as fans of your, um, food – I mean, we find it difficult to picture what someone who  wants to win a year’s worth of KFC would actually look like.

But nor have we been antagonistic – ambivalent or apathetic would be closer to the mark.

Until now.

Now we detest your company and its greasy products.

You see, what we are fans of is sport – which is why we indulge in the affordable luxury of pay TV.

At this time of year, when there’s not much going on, we’re definitely up for watching a bit of T20 cricket, the domestic competition of which has provided us with much viewing pleasure in previous years.

This year, though, that enjoyment has been severely lessened by the rampant repetition of KFC adverts – on and on and on and on ….

Worse, this year they feature the Madden brothers, a couple of charmless US rock “stars” of a band so hot most Australians have never heard of it and are probably glad that that’s the case.

Worse again, the pair have been involved in vegetarianism and animal rights in the past, although you guys seem to be confused about that according to the website Umbrella.

It’s all very confusing, not to mention profoundly irritating.

I mean, do you really think showcasing a couple of, ahem, animal rights activists, or at the very least sympathisers, in your ads is a winner in terms of marketing?

Especially when it comes across very clearly they’re in it just for the money and it’s also very noticeable they are not shown at any point in the act of consuming your products?

Whose idea was it to employ these has-beens?

But then again, we are pretty much out of the loop when it comes to corporate marketing and branding.

So for all we know getting a reaction such as this letter from disgusted punters could have your PR and marketing types wildly high-fiving.

But the fact remains – we now hate your “food” and we hate you.

Cheers, Kenny

Food trucks in the west: Generating a buzz …

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Jakob’s Kitchen/White Guy Cools Thai @ Yarraville Gardens

We’ve never been  clear on what the impediments were that kept Melbourne’s growing food truck scene out of the western suburbs for so long.

Whatever they were, they now seem to be points of the moot variety – as the food truck floodgates appear to have opened.

Who would’ve believed a few short months ago that on the Saturday before Christmas, Yarraville Gardens would be graced with not one, not two but THREE food trucks?

Yours truly has had some pleasure exploring the truckies, but for Bennie this is a first, so he’s suitably excited.

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We head straight for Jakob’s Kitchen, which specialises in sausages and kranskys and the like.

We both get smoked cheese and chilli kransky.

We’re given a significant discount on account of us turning up about 20 minutes past opening time but things not really being up and rolling.

This discount is afforded us, we hasten to add, before the boss – Andy, dad of the eponymous Jakob – discovers we are punters of the blogging variety.

But even at the full whack of $8 we’d have no cause for complaint – our snags are fine!

The chilli hit is just right for both of us, the onions do their job and the cheese is flavoursome.

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I had thought that’d be lunch for us completed, but after a pleasant jaunt around the park and the taking in of the summery sound of leather on willow – and as this is Bennie’s first food truck outing – we prolong our eating by hitting White Guy Cooks Thai, the crew of which is by this time operating right next door to the snagmobile.

On its first visit to Yarraville, I’d gone the curry route.

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This time we both get banh mi sliders ($4) – pork belly for him, prawns for me.

They’re incredibly delicious – the main ingredients, the creamy mayo, the seasonings, the fresh rolls all insanely good.

That’s it for us – we’ll leave it to other hungry locals to partake of Dos Diablos Mobile Cantina, which is also due to arrive any time at Yarraville Gardens.

Jakob's Kitchen on Urbanspoon

White Guy Cooks Thai Mobile Food Truck on Urbanspoon

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Lazat Malaysian Restaurant

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Lazat Malaysian Restaurant, 495 Ballarat Rd, Sunshine. Phone: 9312 7880

Lazat is a new Malaysian eatery in Sunshine, and a very welcome in that it is the suburb’s first of that denomination – AFAIK.

It’s accessed from an always busy and unlovely stretch of Ballarat Rd – miss the turn-off an you’ll be going around the block. Although we’re pleased to learn there is also access from Hampshire Rd – turn off at Chinese restaurant Golf Leaf.

Lazat occupies a building formerly home to a short-lived place called Grills Plus and, before that, a Souvlaki Hut (I think …)

Some of that fast-food vibe lives on in the set-up and decor, but we enjoy a lovely and late (for us) lunch.

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Moreover, the service is spot on, our food arrives with admirable speed and there is a welcoming presence in the form of manager Francis, who has landed here after helping launch Chef Lagenda in Deer Park.

Perhaps best of all, in an area where late-opening joints are difficult to find, Lazat is open until 10pm every night of the week except Saturdays and Sundays – on which it is open until 11pm!

There’s outdoor seating and a function room available.

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We enjoy having our pal Carl, a former Geelong Advertiser colleague of mine, along for the ride so can go a bit further than just a bowl of noodles or rice each.

On the other hand, us hungry boys plump for regular Malaysian eatery mainstays that mostly satisfy without really setting our worlds on fire. With one fine exception …

Curry puffs ($5.80), prawn dumplings ($6) and lobak $5.50) – all are average in the good sense of the word and are gobbled up with glee.

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The star of our show is beef rendang ($16.80).

The is very mildly spiced but the gravy is deep, dark and rich and the meat is fall-apart tender.

Better yet, it’s of a far better quality than we’re mostly familiar with when ordering this dish – there’s no gristle or fat here. At all.

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Our gado gado is a cause for puzzlement.

The mix of tofu, hard-boiled egg, snow peas, bok choy and broccoli is good mixed with a nice peanutty sauce.

But $14.80 seems a really steep price for such a dish.

No matter – we’ve enjoyed our feed, and Bennie and I suspect we’ll be back soonish to try such Malaysian benchmarks as Hainan chicken rice and/or mee goreng.

We take Carl to La Morenita for coffee before calling it a day.

 Lazat Malaysian Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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Lentil As Anything

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 Matty (left) with Lentil As Anything pals.

Lentil As Anything, 231 Barkly Street, Footscray. Phone: 9689 9784

You all know the drill about Lentil As Anything – pay as you go, or pay as you deem it worthy, or pay what you can … if you can.

The place has been through some well-publicised downs and ups, but seems to be hanging in there.

The reason it hasn’t become a regular for us relates strongly to a couple of rather ordinary meals we had there early in the piece.

Bennie, in particular, has a displayed a profound unwillingness to entertain the idea of a return visit.

For my part, not warming to the place has more to do with the sheer, overwhelming plainness of the food I’ve had there – this just doesn’t click with tastebuds used to the supercharged seasoning of all the other places we habituate, and moreover it all reminds me of vegetarian food nightmares.

And that’s a shame, because in terms of community engagement, Lentil As Anything is darn brilliant and the seasoning tactics reflect the place’s umbrella philosophy.

So with a brief shopping visit to Little Saigon Market dispensed with, it’s time for another look.

I’m rapt to be able to put together an Asian-themed plate with ease – and there’s seasoning to spare.

And this means I don’t have to mess with other offerings, such as coleslaw, sweet potato and pineapple salad,  baked macaroni.

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Dal – smooth and delicious with onion texture and a nice chilli kick

Spiced beans – lukewarm-turning-cold, but nice and crunchy if a bit stringy at times. There’s a nice chilli zing here, too.

Potato and bottle gourd salad – not as snappy as its companions on my plate, but quite acceptable.

Overall, it’s a fine lunch – and with seasoning and spice levels that could see me becoming a more regular visitor.

It’s as I’m completing my eating and looking to snap a few interior photos that I run in to an old mate from my Sunday Herald Sun days, Matty the photographer.

I am utterly amazed to learn he has been volunteering at Lentil As Anything for a couple of years and even occasionally working at the Ethiopian joint next door.

Equally surprising seems the fact we haven’t crossed paths before now in the west.

Matty and I, like most of our then colleagues, played the newspaper game very hard in every kind of way, most of them extremely unhealthy.

Yet here he is, deeply embedded in Footscray and seemingly happy as all get out to be so profoundly connected to the community.

He talks with pride of the work Lentil As Anything does and we share a moment of wry reflection on how what seemed so very important then seems of so very little account in our new lives.

It’s been good to see you, brother!

Lentil as Anything on Urbanspoon

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Grill’d Yarraville

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Grill’d Yarraville, 18 Anderson St, Yarraville. Phone: 9687 1107

The corner of Anderson and Ballarat streets, the heart of Yarravile … it’s where we live; well, almost.

It’s certainly where we shop for all sorts of things, get haircuts and the occasional beer, browse, partake of coffees and gelati and ice-cream, run into friends, see the odd movie, buys books … yes, well, it IS where we live.

Have done so for years and presumably many years to come.

So seeing a flash new franchise hamburger outlet operating on the site of the former post office is shocking to the point of confrontational.

Will it come to be thought of as an eyesore?

Or will the passing of time see it become just another part of the local furniture?

I have noted, though, that in the few days it’s been open it has been doing very good business, although I’ve yet to see any locals – locals I know, that is – taking the place for a test spin.

On the other hand, I doubt very much that I’m the first to give it a go.

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Inside, looking out on to the so very familiar street life is quite a surreal experience.

The interior has polished concrete floors, lots of wood, a newspaper rack – always a plus.

The young or youngish staff are decked out in a variation of the very cool Grill’d T-shirts and obviously doing a diligent and enthusiastic job of taking care of their customers.

As this is my first visit – and future ones are likely to be on the rare side – I lash out for something a little bit saucier than my usual burger with bacon.

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The Hot Mama ($13.50) has beef, roasted peppers, dill pickle, tasty cheese, tzatziki, salad and harissa paste.

When the not-so-young bloke who serves me asks me about chilli preferences, I say mild.

As it turns out, my burger is far hotter than any of the Indian, Thai or Sri Lankan food that it has been my pleasure to eat in the previous couple of weeks.

So hot it leaves my lips tingling.

My plain white bun seems not as fresh as I’m used to getting at Grill’d outlets, so I fear my burger will messily crumble. Happily it holds together quite well.

The cheese element is good in that it actually has flavour, unlike you know McWhere.

The meat component is as tasty as ever for a Grill’d product, although the harissa dominates all.

Cos lettuce leaves are terrifically crunchy, though I detect no flavour of texture of roasted peppers.

Which doesn’t mean they’re not in there – more likely they’re just swamped by the other robust flavours, including a good dose of dill pickle and yogurt sauce.

It’s a typically good Grill’d effort, though no better than their more basic and significantly cheaper burgers.

The snack-size chips ($3.50) are good but not up to the standard we’ve often enjoyed at other Grill’d outlets, such as Highpoint.

They’re only just hot enough and some of them are floppy. I suspect I’ve copped the end of one batch instead of the start of another.

Grill’d does good work, but I suspect I’ll continue to have NIMBY-type feelings about an outlet landing in the heart of Yarraville.

And be warned – a bells-and-whistles meal here pushes the upper boundaries of what constitutes a cheap eat.

My burger, chips and a small bottle of Pepsi nudges above the $20 mark – that’s twice what I paid for an incredible biryani a few days earlier.

Grill'd Healthy Burgers on Urbanspoon

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Vanakkam again

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Vanakkam, 359 Barkly St, Footscray. Phone: 9687 7224

Stepping into Vanakkam on my way home after an early evening social engagement, what I’m after is a feed while I read.

Certainly, the last thing on my mind is taking of photographs and blogging.

Especially as Bennie and I had done the business here a few weeks earlier and Vanakkam had featured in our yearly Top 10.

I do know what I am going to order – based on what we’d seen several customers eating on that previous visit, I am extremely desirous of biryani.

But as I soon as my meal arrives – goat biryani – out comes the camera.

For I have a hunch this’ll be the best biryani I’ve ever had.

It is.

All the usual components are present:

Vari-coloured rice of slightly less chilli kick than is generally the norm.

Plenty of meat pieces, on the bone but coming free easily enough; quite chewy, too, but that seems just right.

Raw onion slices and half a hard-boiled egg.

Typically runny raita and thin but tangy curry gravy I later discover is made especially to accompany the restaurant’s biryanis using tomatoes and cashews.

But wait – there’s more!

More fresh herbiage than usual, for starters, including coriander and even a little mint.

And – best of all – a generous garnish of delicious fried onions.

Eaten together, all these ingredients constitute a fabulous meal.

And one that is far closer to the complex, celebratory dish called biryani I imagine being served at weddings and the like but which I’ve long assumed beyond the budget constraints of any eatery.

This is plenty good enough for me and hands down the best biryani I’ve had in Melbourne.

As a Tuesday special, my dinner has cost me $10. Even at the regular price of $12, I’d consider it a bargain.

As I stroll back to my car, I realise the nagging lower back pain that has been a drag for several days – the sort of thing that inevitably presages much more severe and immobilising pain – has disappeared.

Whether this has anything to do with my biryani meal, I know not.

Our Top 10 for 2012

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Mighty thanks to our many visitors, eating companions, leavers of comments and providers of tips!

Remember, it’s only a list.

If I did it on another day, it’d likely be different.

And there’s lots of other places and people we like.

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1. COFFEE

We love the vibe at Cup & Bean in Kingsville – welcoming and cool without trying too hard.

We love, too, the simple, nifty $5 ham, cheese and pickle sandwiches Tim knocks us up for cheap lunches.

And every cup of coffee is perfection.

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2. TOP NEWS STORY

The opening of super ritzy grocery A.Bongiovanni & Son in Seddon really had tongues wagging.

We’re happy to report we’ve become regular customers.

And not just for specialty items, either. More than often than not we’re in there for regular fresh produce and groceries.

The arrival in the west of a food truck, White Guy Cooks Thai, was hot news, as well.

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3. SURROUNDED BY INDIANS

Is there any doubt the western suburbs – especially the inner west – have become Indian Central for Melbourne?

Especially at affordable prices?

We have no particular favourite – we do, however, have particular favourites at specific restaurants.

It’s been a matter of horses for courses and all that for wonderful meals we’ve had at Yummy India, Biryani House, Salaam Namaste Dosa Hut, Pandu’s, Vanakkam, Indi Chutneys and Mishra’s Kitchen.

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4. BURGERS/F&C

Rockfish at Edgewater is proving a grand regular for us when we’re in the mood for burgers and/or fish and chips – old-school, good service, table seating both indoors and out, tasty food.

We dig Dappa Snappa Fish Cafe in Williamstown, too!

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5. A TOAST TO THE ROASTS

The old-fashioned charms of a roast meal really kicked in for us in 2012.

The incredible $10 Sunday roast deal at the Spottiswoode Hotel was a highlight, but we loved our dinners at Bruno’s Coffee Lounge and the Famous Blue Raincoat, too.

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6. BEST NON-WESTERN SUBURBS JOINT

Abbout Falafel House in Sydney Rd, Coburg, serves thoroughly wonderful, delicious, fresh and cheap Lebanese food.

Some days we’re pretty sure it’s the best restaurant in Melbourne.

And there’s times, too, we’re convinced it’s the best eats emporium in the known universe …

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7. BEST FRANCHISE FAST FOOD

We’ve been back Guzman Y Gomez Mexican Taqueria at Highpoint several times and always enjoy it.

The food may not match it in terms of presentation and zing of your more high-falutin’ Mexican places, but it’s cheap and we like it.

8. MOST “OUT THERE” ADVENTURE

Some musing on the nature of “crab sticks” saw me visiting Austrimi Seafoods in North Geelong for a tour of their surimi factory.

I’ve watched with bemusement as the original post has become a regular, daily Google go-to story for searches such as “is there tripe in seafood extender” and “what are crab sticks made of”.

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9. FAVOURITE RESTAURANT

It’s a tie!

We only made it to Safari in Ascot Vale once this year, but we continue to hold the establishment, its fabulous Somalian food and the welcome in the very highest of regards.

Ace Japanese place Ajitoya in Seddon has become a regular for refined comfort food – even if that is a contradictory term.

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10. BEST SANDWICH

We adore La Morenita in Sunshine every which way, even if Bennie has gone off having cold empanadas in his school lunches.

All the sandwiches are good, but we especially love the chacarero of steak, cheese, tomato, mayo, greens beans and hot green chilli.

The beans squeak!

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11. TOP MEAL

Such a simple, earthy pleasure – chicken curry with a fresh baguette roll at Xuan Xinh, a rather anonymous St Albans cafe.

Albanian Community Festival

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Albanian Community Festival, Footscray Park.

The Albanian Community is being held at the portion of Footscray Park right opposite Flemington Racecourse.

It’s the perfect setting – families have thrown rugs and are relaxing on the hill overlooking the sound stage and stalls, where most of the cultural and social action is taking place.

It’s so perfect I wonder why this space is not used for such celebrations more frequently.

Alabania is a small country so it’s right that this is a small festival.

But the vibe is wonderful and I have a grand time.

There’s only two food outlets – one selling baked good of both savoury and sweet varieties, the other selling meat-stuffed rolls – but what I have is just right.

But more of that later.

The most fun I have is meeting, and peppering with questions, the lovely Shelley, who is overseeing the fascinating display mounted by the Australian Albanian Women’s Association.

As ever I did some basic sleuthing about the country and what food I might encounter at the festival, but I am nevertheless woefully ignorant about Albania and everything to do with it.

Shelley, breaking off at various times to greet friends and relatives, happily and generously answers my questions at length.

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Shelley with some of the belongings brought by her parents on their voyage to Australia.

She tells me Albania is necessarily a multi-lingual country that is predominantly Muslim but with some Catholicism in the north and Orthodox Christian in the south.

She tells me of the unfolding surges of migration to Australia that started in the Depression era, with most of those Albanians being market gardeners and the like, so they mostly ended up in Shepparton.

Subsequent migratory waves were spawned by wars, both World War II and in Kosovo and, eventually, the collapse of communism.

While being a small nation tucked between Greece, Macedonia and the Adriatic Sea, Alabania was not spared the notorious attentions of Mussolini, Hitler or Stalin.

The Republic Of Albania was founded in 1991.

Shelley tells me that for younger generations of Australian Albanians, such history is becoming increasingly less significant.

She first travelled to Albania, the home of her heritage and ancestry but not of her birth, in 1982 when the country was still under communist rule.

Completely unsurprisingly, she found it a an extraordinarily bracing experience.

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Shelley points to her father’s former house in Albania and some of the mementos she gathered when she made her pilgrimage there.

I run into Enzo from Just Sweets, who is out enjoying the day with his family.

Like me, he reckons the simple $5 rolls – chicken or beef “chevap” – are wonderful.

Fresh, crusty rolls, simple cabbage and carrot salad, and marinated chicken or beef skinless sausages.

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I have one of each and they’re perfect in every way.

A funny thing – as I parked at the sports grounds a little way up the river, I was dismayed to realise I had failed to hit an ATM on my way to the festival.

As it turns out, my $20 is plenty enough to eat real swell AND buy groceries on the way home.

Ambling around the festival, I happen across another, smaller and unrelated gathering at which I bump into Pastor Cecil.

He’s looking just as suave and cool as ever, especially in the Burmese jacket given to him by his friend, Khai.

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White Guy Cooks Thai

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White Guy Cooks Thai, Yarraville Gardens. Phone: 0423 214 290

Food truck in the neighbourhood?

In fact, just two minutes’ drive up the road?

Frankly, I can’t get there soon enough.

This is such joyous news that I am therefore surprised to learn that I am White Guy Cooks Thai’s first customer for the day.

Then again, I also learn this enterprise has only been on the road – so to speak – for about a week and that it’s “very early days” in every regard.

The White Guy Cooks Thai crew members on duty for my Saturday lunch visit, Dave and Rachel, tell me the business did have to work patiently with the council to get approval to trade in the west, but that there were no great or insurmountable problems.

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Predictably, of the food available I go for the curry dish.

My massaman beef and potato curry with rice and Asian coleslaw ($11.50), served with recyclable container and spoon, is outstanding.

The rice is fine/OK.

The slaw is sweetish and tangy, rather limpid and wonderfully chewy.

The curry is very mildly spiced and the gravy is of lovely stickiness.

The meat is a just-right tender, as are the potato pieces, which are joined by carrot and fresh basil and some mung bean sprouts.

It’s fantastic lunch that’s not spoilt at all by the highish temperature, lack of seating – the garden stone wall does a fine job anyway – or the wind, the latter at least keeping the flies mostly at bay.

Heck, I may even go back for dinner! (Having been told they’ll be open until at least 8.30pm.)

Like ’em on Facebook so you’ll know they’re at.

Thanks to Andy of Krapow for the tip-off!

White Guy Cooks Thai Mobile Food Truck on Urbanspoon

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Cinnamon’s Sri Lankan Cuisine

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Cinnamon’s Sri Lankan Cuisine, 530 Little Collins St, Shop 1, Melbourne. Phone: 0412 939 482

A fellow in-office food hound had enthusiastically tipped us to an interesting alternative for what has come to be known as “Curry Friday”.

So off I trooped up Little Collins St with a colleague to be really, really impressed.

I mean, how often is it that you’re in a food court situation and the air is redolent with the aroma of cooked curry leaves?

And where there are dozens of people happily queuing for a lunchtime spice fix?

We did good, but takeaway is only a takeaway, as good as this lot was, and only ever a second-best option.

As well, while ordering I’d got a good eyeful of the magnificent-looking eat-in platters being dispensed, and that made returning for a proper sit-down lunch a matter of some urgency.

Even if that required a train trip to the CBD on a day off.

On the upside, it was the perfect opportunity to fulfill a long-standing lunch invite from Andy of the world-famous Thaicentric website, Krapow. Andy works at this end of the CBD so has all the top spots nailed, and later gives me a mini-tour.

Turns out he’s familiar with Cinnamon’s, is a fan, loves the eggplant curry as my colleagues did the previous week and is definitely up for a lunch meet.

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Cinnamon’s, a CBD sibling of a more formal establishment on St Kilda Rd and another branch in Docklands, is pure food court aesthetic – adjacent to a Hudson’s coffee outlet, a noodle place and so on.

But more accurately, it’s better to describe it as part of a rambling warren that is a jumble of office block lobby, various eateries and retail services such as a newsagent, drycleaning and so on.

The surrounding area is very food-intense, with some places looking very appealing and others seemingly of the quick-and-forgettable lunch fix variety.

There’s plenty of table seating to be had at this Cinnamon’s, though.

Even better, the food is served on large, handsome, square, white plates.

And having seen the sort of quantities being dispensed to customers the previous week, I am well aware that my lunch with Andy requires no more than the basic three curries, rice and raita for $10.50.

I believe that there are specials of a more specifically Sri Lankan nature on some days of the week, but today the colourful options seem like a basic if very attractive curry array that look not much different from one of the Indian species. Perhaps there’s a lighter touch, more coconut and more dry curries, such as cabbage and potato.

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Andy goes for the $10.50 plate of chicken biryani, eggplant curry, beef curry and an ace-looking dal, with a dollop of raita on the side.

Andy’s choices make me confront a straitlaced belief about of Indian/Sri Lankan food I am unaware I have been harbouring.

For me, biryani is biryani and a meal in its own right, and so has no business sitting side by side with curries on a mixed meal deal.

(I can hear Andy’s snort of derision even as I write …)

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So I get a very excellent plain white rice flecked with herbs the nature of which I do not know, a dry potato curry, the eggplant curry and the spicier of two chicken curries. (And, no, that’s not a fly sitting atop my rice …)

It’s all sensational.

The spuds have the aforementioned curry leaves and red capsicum, some chilli and turmeric. Simple and delicious.

The eggplant is sweet, smoky and packed with the sort of real-deal aubergine flavour that most of its kind hardly ever are.

The two chicken pieces are fall-apart good and the gravy thinner than would be found in the northern Indian equivalent.

One of the topics Andy and I discuss over lunch is how for so very long the Eurocentric meal template of appetiser/entree/main course/dessert had, in Australia, been forced on various cuisines, frequently giving a quite misleading picture of how such food should be eaten … and, of course, jacking prices up, too.

In the past decade, we seemed to have moved on from that rigid sort of set-up, and Cinnamon’s is testament to the change.

We’ve paid $10.50 for three curries, rice and raita.

Getting a similar diversity in a more formal restaurant situation will likely cost at least $20 and even $30.

And not too far from where we’ve supped in the CBD, there are places where you’d be looking at $40 or even $50.

Bravo!

Cinnamon's Sri Lankan Cuisine on Urbanspoon

Penang Road

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Penang Road, 177 Clarendon St, South Melbourne. Phone: 9690 0536

My non-blogging journalism career seems to be mirroring, in its own way, the rapidly changing nature of work in Australia and no doubt elsewhere.

After 15 and more years on the one masthead and pretty much two decades with a single employer, I am on to my third workplace in as many years.

I’m finding myself nimble enough to keep pace with changing circumstances and enjoying the various challenges.

Even better, a far higher number of the stories I am working with are to do with coffee and/or food and/or restaurants than has previously been the case, even if mostly they’re about places I am not viscerally interested in or can afford.

At my new South Melbourne office, home of the The Weekly Review and associated enterprises, there are a few familiar faces from other places and times, but a lot of shared history even with those I have never met before.

Ironically, the one staff member with whom I share a deep and lengthy job history went unnoticed by me, so long had it been since we worked together.

It was only when partaking in a discussion of the local lunch options that he reminded me of all that and the metaphorical penny dropped. Turns out he’s hip to Consider The Sauce, too!

Ben is deeply involved in the business development side of things and is the office wine writer/guru to boot, so not so coincidentally likes a good feed, too.

So when he robustly enthuses about the Malaysian place just around the corner, I take notice for sure.

Still, work continues to be deadline-driven, so opportunities for lunch escapes are not that common.

Finally, though, we escape for a brief but spectacularly fine Malaysian lunch.

Penang Road has a modest facade, so gives little away about what goes on within.

Stepping through the door, though, I am pleasantly surprised to find a cheerfully busy restaurant with quite classy dark wood furniture, a step up from, say, Coconut House.

Penang Road has all he expected bases covered – laksas, rice dishes, noodles and snacks.

The place is quite crowded but we quickly score a table and get down to perusing the menu, placing our orders at the counter and getting our “number”.

Our food arrives with gratifying haste – and it’s brilliant!

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Ben’s chicken rice ($9.60) looks fabulous.

Very good rice and plain soup/broth with what I suspect are chicken balls floating in it – neither of us get around to finding out, so intent are we on the meatier side of things and a wide-ranging conversation.

Best of all, the all-important mix of soy sauce, oil, chicken broth, ginger and garlic in which his boneless chicken resides is way more plentiful than is the norm in Melbourne’s Malaysian cheap eats joints.

And it’s tasty, too.

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My “chicken chop with rice” ($9.90) is superb, though it’s a nutritionist’s nightmare in almost every conceivable and excellent way.

Same fine chicken rice and broth, albeit minus the balls.

Good fried egg atop the rice.

Plenty of chilli sauce of just the right heat levels on the side.

And the chicken?

This is truly “OMG fried chicken” of a kind to make the Colonel blush with shame.

It’s boneless (despite being described as “chop”), crispy, wonderfully chewy, ungreasy and so plentiful that I am unable to devour it all, despite rampant deliciousness.

The garlicky, spicy tang of our lunch lingers with gusto deep into a hard-working afternoon.

I find it thrilling that such a beaut Melbourne cheap eats experience has eventuated through evolving changes in the media landscape.

Than again, it’s not surprising at all … and how about those prices?

Penang Road on Urbanspoon

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Spotswood Farmers Market

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Spotswood Farmers Market, Spotswood Primary School, Melbourne Rd, Spotswood.

Farmers markets have never been a regular thing for us, but we can see that changing as we enjoy a couple of hours at the Spotswood edition on a sunny Saturday.

Apart from fresh produce, preserves, bread, coffee and so on, we are most impressed with the range and quality of the food to eat right here and now that is available.

There’s kids and dogs of all sizes and descriptions, some live music, displays and many interesting things to see and experience.

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Bennie just loves his popcorn chicken and sausage on a stick from Ghost Kitchen Taiwanese Street Food.

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Ghost Kitchen also serves noodles and spring onion pancake, the latter for $7.

Sounds a bit steep, I opine.

I’m told they’re pretty much dinner plate size and are used as a wrap for various fillings.

One of those fillings is “Asian doughnut”, the mental picture of which has me furrowing my brow and Bennie cackling with glee.

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The Ghost Kitchen folk tell me they’re a relatively new to the game and have even been trying a few music festivals, but the younger punters at such events are allegedly hard to feed, with the discussion usually going something along the following lines:

Ghost Kitchen: “Hello, how can I help you?”

Punter (eyes glazed, swaying slightly): “Water …”

Ghost Kitchen: “Cool! Interested in something to eat?”

Punter: “Water …”

And on like that …

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I am most impressed with the work of a stall called Falafel People.

The falafels are quite coarse in texture but unoily and crispy and fresh.

The eggplant dip I sample is outstanding – smoky and lemony.

The hummus, not so good.

They’re not set up to deliver the platter spread I am familiar with after many visits to upper Sydney Rd, so I make do with a falafel wrap.

It’s a doozy – cucumber AND turnip pickles, good tabouleh and those falafel balls.

Falafel People on Urbanspoon

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Bennie moves on to a cone of Timboon ice cream.

Salted caramel? Blimey – genius at work!

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Then he has his sketch portrait drawn by David from St Marks Anglican Spotswood.

St Marks is also running a snag stall – $3 for Andrews sausages sounds pretty good to us, but by now we’re done with eating … until dinner time.

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The Hobsons Bay City Band has me bopping – sort of – with a medley of Four Seasons hits.

On the way home, having decided as usual to make our way back to the car via back streets, we meet some new friends.

We are lured into a garage sale by a swell-looking lemonade stand.

Off to one side are a plethora of large, deeply green leaves.

Inquiring as to what they are, I express my surprise – despite being a food nut, I’ve never before laid eyes on fresh bay leaves, only ever having used the dried variety for cooking.

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The lady of the garage sale house in turn expresses her surprise at my ignorance.

“I know you guys,” she says. “I follow your blog!”

This turns out to be Kristie, so we spend the next 10 minutes or so – while happily imbibing Ella’s Most Excellent Lemonade – discussing westie food topics at large, including the general uselessness of Williamstown and other subjects addressed too scathingly to go into here!

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