Charles and Gamon, 2 Gamon Street, Seddon. Phone: 9689 0203
When Bennie was a just-born, I made my first property foray to the west with a view to finding somewhere for us to live, as the CBD studio bachelor pad simply wasn’t cutting it any longer.
House-scouting required, of course, a coffee break.
And I distinctly recall there wasn’t a lot of choice.
In fact, I doubt there’s any more than handful of businesses in the Gamon/Charles/Victoria neighbourhood that are now as they were then.
The chicken shop?
Probably.
But the area has certainly changed – a LOT.
Our coffee stop that day – I may even have had a burger – was made at a joint called the Bowser Cafe, which was housed in a rather ugly brown building that did little to hide its service station heritage.
The Bowser eventually became Sabroso – and I reckon the premises may have at some point before then housed another eatery of some sort.
I trust readers with more reliable memories than mine will tell me if that is the case.
In any case, Sabroso passed us by, our sole visit being a coffee/hot choc stop while out enjoying a late-night amble.
And now Sabroso is gone, replaced by a rebranding exercise called Charles and Gamon.
From what I gather, the same proprietors are still in place with the name change at least partially driven by a desire to distance themselves from the Spanish food that previously was in place.
Now C&G is doing a nice line-up of bistro-style food, including what look like really splendid mid-week meals of comfort food for a very fine $17.
Check out the full menu at the C&G website here.
Not much appears to have changed apart from the name, though there is some vintage wood panelling about the place.
Based on our outstanding Sunday roast lunches, C&G is doing good things.
We’ve been roasting a bit lately – see here and here – but the C&G meals really are the best we’ve had in the west so far.
At $20, they’re a little more pricey than what is available elsewhere but they erase any doubt about getting what we pay for from our first bites.
We consider our lunches a bargain.
Both the roast chicken and …
… the slow-roasted lamb shoulder are abbreviated versions of dishes available at greater length and prices on the C&G menu’s “for the table” section.
The chook is a slightly unappealing yellow-khaki but is a cracker to eat – moist, juicy, delicious, with good gravy and a nice touch of rosemary.
The lamb is gorgeous – crusty, tender and, like the chicken, of good size.
It’s the kind of lamb that wouldn’t be out of place in a really fine Greek eatery or even a barbecue place.
Our spuds are simply wonderful.
No shortchanging in evidence here, with both our plates having plenty of crisp roasted spud chunks that fall into the “moans ‘n’ groans of pleasure” bag.
Slaw?
With Sunday roasts?
Hey, it may not be traditional – and it may even be done as a cost-conscious measure.
But our fresh slaw works incredibly well with the meats and potato.
These have been killer Sunday roast meals.
consider the sauce 
Haha….that is me and the fam in the background…we were there today too!
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Hi Amy! How was your lunch?
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Hi kenny, The lamb and potatoes were great, but would have appreciated roast vegies rather than coleslaw and some extra gravy…but pretty good overall..
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Interesting – I’m sure a lot of people would say that about the slaw but I loved it.
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Before the Bowser was Berry’s Charcoal Grill. It was operating when we came to Seddon (not Seddon West as the post office seems to calling it — where is Seddon East?). Berry and his wife used to serve us cevapi on a regular basis, with their famous Russian salad and the even more famous chocolate mousse. For a while this was a regular weekly haunt for staff of The Western Times to hold our debriefing lunches before starting the week’s news gathering again. I believe Berry still loves up the street, but have not seen him for a while.
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Hi there, buddy! Of course, I should’ve known you’d have the goss about this! A reader on FB gave me the same info without the details but I guessed that it was that East Euro style of grill-house. How fabulous!
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The name was BERY’s Charcoal Grill. Not sure what the proprietor’s actual name was but Mr Bery will do for here.
My GF way back in the late 70s lived close by and we used to go there every Monday night, probably to get our systems up and working again after a weekend of football, boozing and carousing. Mr Bery’s or perhaps more correctly Mrs Bery’s chicken noodle soup was always a hit @ .50c a bowl whilst the cevapis were $5 a plate and the mixed grill was I think, $7.
Somewhere in these archives I think I have told the story of Bery and his original charcoal grill which was resurrected into the much loved monstrosity of a building on the old servo site.
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Bery Babic died 2010 & wife predeceased him
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lives up the street is more accurate
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Probably both!
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Ken., Seddon Deadly Sins was about the 2nd or 3rd place to open in the Seddon precinct and still does great tasty treats and splendid coffee.
The Sunday Roast at Charles and Gamon reads ,from your description , to be mouthwatering, particularly the lamb shoulder.
For mine , I don’t mind paying what effectively is less than the cost of a coffee , for the quality you describe.
Based on your review of Little Foot food offerings , went there last night and you’re spot on – better than good.
They had a skewered ‘roo on the specials list and it was superb- ‘roo can be like shoe leather unless either cooked in a flash or a slow marinade. This was the latter and I haven’t tasted better It was served with a spiced relish – brilliant.
Excellent value too.
Their was live music -without a cover charge, Leena and Steven who brilliant.
There’s a generosity of spirit afoot at Littke Foot. !!
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Tony, was Le Chien before Deadly Sins? Remember when Le Chien used to be round the corner, near the chicken shop, and it was mainly about the LPs? (A bit like White Rabbit in Kensington, but more basic.) You could only get coffee and sandwiches I think.
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Hi James! Yes, I think you’re right – except it wasn’t around the corner. It was, however, half the size it is now – before expanding by taking over the TAB! Lots of Blue Note jazz and stuff and simple, basic food.
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Yes James , spot on , Le Chien was up and running at a similar time to “148 Victoria Street” the previous name for SDS
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