Monthly Archives: October 2017

Joyfully juicy

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Bird & Burger, 9 Napier Street, Essendon. Phone: 9090 7265

Bird & Burger lives in a premises long previously occupied by a similar operation with different management.

But this new lot are doing more than maintaining the location’s chicken shop tradition – they’re doing so splendidly.

Here be fast food that really is fresh and delicious.

 

 

The interior is mostly black and white, with eat-in seating options down to stools and a bench on one wall and a handful of snazzy ottomans facing the front window and another bench.

There are, however, tall tables and more stools outside.

 

My heart sinks a little when I see the plastic cutlery atop one of counters, fearing these useless tool may be served with my chicken.

But no!

Not only am I supplied with metal cutlery, my meal is presented on a black platter, with chips and coleslaw in similarly angular bowls.

It all looks marvellous.

Tastes that way, too.

The chips ($3.95) are hot, liberally salted and fine.

The admission price of $6.50 for my coleslaw seems, at first blush, a little steep for what I’m thinking is just a side dish to a chicken meal.

But here’s the thing – it is worth every cent.

In fact, I’ll call it right here and now – this is quite possibly the best coleslaw I’ve ever had in a chook shop.

Made mostly of red cabbage, and boasting subtle whiffs of tarragon and dill, it is well dressed without being sopping, has crunch yet is pliable – and is 100 per cent wonderful.

My chicken falls into the “Yes, It Can Be Done” category.

That’s right – even the very heart of the breast meat is as juicy as the rest of it.

My half bird ($10.50) is marinated in the mild chilli sauce that is chosen from a list that also includes lemon and herbs, crunchy creamed peanut and outback BBQ.

All is beaut and succulent.

 

 

The classic beef burger ($12.50) comes from a menu that includes two other beef burgers, five chicken burgers and a lamb edition.

Our burger’s lettuce, tomato, red onion, tomato relish and herb aioli are joined – upon request – by excellent bacon for which no charge is levied.

The beef patty is nicely charry and superbly seasoned with – I’m guessing here, as the staff mumble something about “top secret” when quizzed – oregano and other goodies.

Every aspect of this burger is an outright winner.

If CTS used points, I’d deduct one for the fact that this burger is such a gloriously messy handful that I resort, in the end, to eating it with a knife and fork.

But in this case, I care not because everything is just so damn tasty.

Bird & Burger is a fine establishment.

CTS metaphorically clicks its heels as it saunters back to the car.

Westie eats goss 18/10/17

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As in life, so be Footscray – i.e. change is a constant.

Taking shape on Hopkins Street is this dumpling joint.

Unlike Dumplings & More, a few doors along, this one appears to have Scottish ancestry.

 

 

The long-standing convenience shop on the corner of Leeds and Paisley streets is no more.

Coming in that space soon will be Impasto, dedicated to pizza, pasta, parmas – and pastries and coffee in the mornings.

One of the three partners involved, Mitch, tells they’ll be mostly after the commuter and passer-by trade.

 

 

Around the corner on Irving Street, and next to Thien An, a premises that has seen a handful of businesses come and go in recent years without making much of an impression is undergoing another makeover.

 

 

On Nicholson Street, down towards the university, one Footscray’s veteran Ethiopian restaurants, Harambe, is no more.

I’m told the new crew setting up shop here is also of African persuasion and that their plans include a bar.

Food, too?

I will find out!

 

 

On Macaulay Road in Kensington, what once housed Korean establishment Frying Colours will soon be unveiled as Kensington Food Hall.

The fit-out has advanced considerably since this photo was taken, going by their Facebook page, though no details yet on the offerings.

I’m told the new place shares management with Local Folk, around the corner on Epsom Road.

 

 

Directly opposite on Macaulay, stalwart pub Hardimans has closed its doors.

According to this story on the Pubtic website, the place has been bought by Open Door Pub Co – and they have massive plans for the site, including a thorough renovation that “will embrace a contemporary Art Deco feel, two new bars, a much larger kitchen including an artisan woodfire pizza oven, large ground floor garden area partially covered and heated, stage area, and an outdoor terrace and two function rooms on the first floor”.

 

 

Also in Kensington, on Bellair Street and next to Fruits of Passion, Saigon In Me has opened.

 

 

With its compact list of Vietnamese faves, this will – I suspect – do the locals nicely.

 

 

On Racecourse Road in Flemington, Korean place Gogi Gogi has closed and the windows are sealed over, presumably pending another incarnation.

I’m guessing, too, that manage here will still be with I Love Dumplings, a few doors along.

 

 

At Central West shopping centre in Braybrook, soon to arrive will be The Braybrook Stn, offering a breakfast and brunch line-up.

 

 

Centre management tells me it’ll take up some of the currently boarded-up space directly opposite the Commonwealth Bank branch.

 

 

Now open in Sunshine Plaza is this no-frills operation offering a mix of Burmese and Thai food.

 

 

Mind you, you can also get their takes on dishes from a broader Asian catchment, as well.

 

 

This fine specials board offering of a rich pork curry did me good for lunch at a cost of $10.

The chicken broth was nice and peppery!

 

 

In Cairnlea, in the multi-use building adjacent to the shopping centre, a new Vietnamese/Chinese place has opened.

Sadly, we missed the opening night on-the-house banquet at Kim Huong.

But we hit it a few days later for lunch with the Urban Ma and her kids, so can verify that they’re doing a fine, bargain-lunch job with the likes of …

 

 

… broken rice with pork chop and …

 

 

… crispy skin chicken with wonderfully nutty, chewy “red rice”.

 

 

At Williams Landing Shopping Centre, Montezauma’s has opened since this fit-out photo was snapped.

Judging by the review and photos at the Point Cook Dining Facebook page, Tex-Mex fans will want to check it out.

Cool joint does Indian brilliantly

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Curry Cafe Canteen, 332 Racecourse Road, Flemington. Phone: 0498 003 970

Curry Cafe Canteen is a new arrival that adds much colour and wonder to the already diverse offerings of one of our favourite food strips.

It’s an outpost of an already established Curry Cafe in Northcote, with the Flemington branch offering a bit more of an accent on Indian street food.

The place – done out in wood and stools, and very chic in a comfy way – has been open just a few days when we visit for a Sunday lunch, but has been doing Uber deliveries for a month or so on the back of the connection with the Northcote mothership.

 

 

And – as we discover to our ecstatic delight – it is raising the bar for all Indian food offerings in the western suburbs.

Seriously.

It’s not so much that the menu (see below) offers anything unusual, spectacular or innovative.

It’s just that everything we try has the stamp of Indian cooking expertise all over it.

Even better, there is a level of freshness and an exuberance of flavour that leaves most Indian places for dead – including many that are rather more expensive and famous.

And they do it all at prices that fit, with room to move, into the cheap eats category.

And there’s craft beer and organic wine on the way.

 

 

Take Bennie’s pav cholle ($8), for example.

All to often, when we order an Indian snack dish the involves a chick pea curry, the curry is dull and appears and tastes tired.

No such problem here – the chick pea brew is fresh and alive with vim.

The buttered brioche rolls and kachumba salad are similarly fine.

 

 

My thali ($12) comes with vibrant lamb madras that puts the meat curries served in most Indian places to shame.

On board, too, are the same salad, a pappadum and rice.

The pickles vividly illustrate, again, the freshness of the Curry Cafe Canteen food and the care put into it.

I love the sour flavour boost that pickles give to an Indian meal, and am quite happy to accept commercial pickles.

But so often those pickles involve a chunk of mango that is as tough as old boot.

Here the pickles are made in house using lemon, lime, pepper, mango, lotus stem and garlic – and they’re soft.

Another point of difference is the dal makhani.

In most Indian eateries, this dish overloaded with cream.

Not so here – it’s a way more austere and plain pulse offering, and all the better for it.

 

 

While we’re about our Sunday lunch, we get some extras from the lunch menu.

Garlic naan ($2.50) and roti ($2) are very good.

Onion bhajji ($3, top photo) are excellent Indian onion rings.

 

 

A serve of two smallish samosas ($3) again affirm the high quality of the food here.

These are a bit more delicate than we’re mostly familiar with, expertly fried, have peas on board, are wonderful and are served with more of that salad and a nice tamarind chutney.

I’m told that the pav dishes and the thali set-up is available for lunch only.

I reckon that’s shame as thalis are so very, very cool for those dining solo – as I often do.

But the place is finding its feet, so could be open to persuasion in these regards.

But even going a la carte with the evening menu will surely be a winner.

After all, all curries are in the $10 to $13 range and half a tandoori chook costs $10.

 

The west and its food don’t need your validation

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New westie food ventures of the ritzy nature always generate a great deal of speculation, excitement and curiosity – and that is certainly the case at present with regards to the revamp headed our way at Harts Hotel in Middle Foostcray and Harley & Rose, soon to be up and running at the former location of Ovest in West Footscray.

In both cases, CTS has decided not pursue these stories as both establishments have already generated coverage.

So I know what you know.

But that doesn’t stop me and my friends thinking about what is happening and the dynamics at play.

Sometimes that interest becomes amusement and bemusement.

Last week’s story in The Age, for example, started with the words “Footscray: it’s the suburb that just won’t quit its upward trajectory”, while that same opening paragraph concluded with “Now, serious food is coming in hot”.

The story finished with “Upwards the west”.

For goodness sakes, who or what defines, in this context, what “upward trajectory, “serious food” and “upwards the west” mean?

Is it solely down to celebrity foodie names like McConnell, Builders Arms and Cutler and Co?

That often seems to be the case when it comes coverage of westie food happenings in non-western Melbourne media of various levels and varieties.

Or is just about the sleek/chic/hipster/trendy/groovy look and feel of such places that drives such coverage and proclamations of progress? And even if the food is in no way adventurous or new?

A combination of both, I’m guessing.

And the very use of words and concepts such as upwards and trajectory in a food context themselves bespeak a mindset that is narrow and competitive.

I’d argue that, depending on rather different criteria, that there is serious food happening every day of the week in the west – and not just the inner west, either.

Even if it mostly falls outside your world view.

In regards to the same story, two pals have pointed out to me – without prompting – that phrases such as “panzanella with local vinegar” and “a coiffed traditional pub menu” read like hipster parody.

Though that may be attributable to The Age and its writer, rather than those behind these businesses.

As ever with such happenings, I am interested to discover whether these joints will be merely in the west – or OF the west.

Some launches from the recent and not-so-recent past illustrate how some folks have gone about getting the locals onside.

When The Plough was relaunched a few years back, the publicists and management ambled up and down Victoria and Charles streets, inviting the local Seddon businesses and their staff to the opening night party.

Likewise, when the Calombaris empire made its move into Williamstown at Hellenic Hotel, local traders and notables, western suburbs media  – and, yes, this blogger – were well represented at the launch festivities.

Just this week, a new Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant opened in Cairnlea.

Unfortunately, Bennie and I were unable to attend the opening night on Tuesday.

We would love to have been there.

Because the eatery concerned, Kim Huong, did it in style by throwing a full-on banquet involving the likes of roast pork, fish coleslaw, abalone, scallops and barramundi.

At no charge.

For whoever in the community was interested in attending.

Way to go – now THAT’S a good way to build engagement with the locals.

Let’s imagine, in a parallel universe, this scenario …

In which a flash new eatery in the western suburbs is opening, but with a buzz built solely around foodie star power and with publicists/marketing crew with few or no contacts in – or knowledge of – the west.

Opening night sees a parade of the habitual red carpet/bubbly hordes front up for one of their very rare visits to the western suburbs, which are usually only for just such events.

As a friend opined to me: “They’d have a great first week; I’d check to see where they’re at in six months.”

The simple truth is – as it currently stands – drawing people to the west across the Maribyrnong remains a very uphill battle.

So non-celeb, regulation westies will be your bread and butter – whether you like it or not.

And in the inner west, and in West Footscray in particular, that means lots and lots young families.

My guess – informed by speaking with countless people, food industry types in the west and sometimes idiotically forensic analysis of Facebook community pages – is that for many such folk, eating out is a once-a-month deal, and even that’s a stretch for some.

Winning regular, local clientele is a tricky business – but can be done.

Not for a minute am I advocating wall-to-wall karaoke and $15 parmas.

But what won’t wash, either, are high prices, beautiful plating and small serves that leave punters seriously out of pocket and looking for a kebab.

It’s also been put to me this week that apartment arisings in the inner west – including those of the multi-storey kind on the banks of the Maribyrnong, but also others of less magnitude – are creating an instant population with disposable income (some of the DINK variety) ready to burn on flash eating and perhaps even fine dining.

The inner west may get there some day – and maybe quite soon.

But not yet.

See you at Harley & Rose?

Could do!

But we’d need to see the menu – and prices – first.

Maximum yums

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Blackwood Ridge Cafe & Larder, 812 Greenhills Road, Blackwood. Phone: 5368 6707

There are many interesting eating experiences to be had in the more outlying and rural areas beyond Melbourne’s western suburbs, but CTS has only, over the years, fitfully explored them.

Honestly, most often the greater west seems quite vast enough for us.

But sometimes, things simply click.

In this case, a pal (Hi dale!) posts online some pics of her family’s up-country Saturday lunch – and we are intrigued and excited.

A quick check of the calendar, and we realise a Sunday adventure is definitely on.

We have a full tank of petrol and all current bills are paid – meaning there’s a little wriggle room for something a little more upmarket and extravagant than our regular cheap-eats routine.

So, next morning, off we go!

Along the West Gate, on to the ring road and up the Western Highway … past Bacchus Marsh and Myrniong, turn right.

Into the hills and eventually the depths of Lerderderg State Park.

The gravel-roaded approach to our eating destination is through dense forest, leading me to envisage our lunch may be of the log cabin variety.

But no … the trees eventually give way to a more trimmed and tidy rural scene, with Blackwood Ridge Cafe & Larder, and the associated nursery, tucked into what appears to be a small village.

 

 

The cafe itself is in a modern but cosy building off from the nursery, surrounded by lovely gardens and looking out on to a small lake or dam.

We’re hungry, so waste no time getting into the menu, despite being a bit early.

The menu, no surprise, is cafe-style tucker split into a range of small share plates, two larger share items and a handful of desserts.

 

 

Twice-cooked wedges of potato with herbed mayo ($10.50) are fine and very hot.

The serve eats bigger than it looks – a recurring theme.

 

 

A pet CTS dislike are those dodgy and dull Turkish rolls served in so many cafes.

So I am delighted to learn the Turkish bread listed online as accompanying the shared braised, spiced meatball dish ($29.50) has been replaced by couscous.

All is very good.

The half-dozen meatballs are chewy and fragrant, and – again – offer more substantial eating than appears may be the case.

The currant-studded couscous is marvelllous, as are the salad offerings and the rich, sticky tomato sauce.

 

 

I’m not sure, at all, how my son became such an ardent lover of vegetables and salads.

It’s unreal and wonderful – sometimes he gazes upon a serve of veg with something that appears to be akin to lust.

Such is the case with our blackened carrots  ($12.90), which are an undoubted highlight of our meal.

The baby carrots, in a variety of colours and textures, are served with nigella and sunflowers seeds, and topped with coriander and tahini labneh, all lubricated by honey.

 

 

By this time, we are feeling well fed and pampered indeed, and seriously throttling back our plans for dual desserts to a single.

But what the hey – it’ splash-out time, and it could be a long while until we’re back this way again.

So two it is.

And they’re both puds.

Parsnip pudding ($13.9) has real-deal parsnip flavour to go with its ginger, currants and spices.

It’s served with vanilla crème anglaise and “our own lemon thyme and creme fraiche ice-cream”.

This is the stuff of sweet dreams, the only slight drawback – and the only one of entire meal – being that the ice-cream is rock hard, requiring at first some rather robust chiselling.

 

 

Brioche bread and butter pudding ($14.50) is every bit as good, served with candied blood orange, manuka honey crunch, mandarin crisps and almond praline.

This pair of wonders, and a couple of good cafe lattes, cap off a superb meal in a wonderful setting.

A few months back, after a similarly ritzy meal, Bennie opined that not only did he not really rate “expensive food” but he also thought it money not well spent.

As we depart Blackwood Ridge Cafe & Larder, he’s having some serious second thoughts about that line of thinking.

(And not that this place is expensive, either!)

We recommend a road trip outing to Blackwood very, very highly.

Check out the Blackwood Ridge Cafe & Larder website, including menu, here.

 

Amazing vegan

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Jack B. Nimble, 132 Mitchell Street, Maribyrnong. Phone: 9317 9792

Here’s a new CTS hobby – finding flash food in cafes, especially when it’s way cheaper than in more formal settings, let alone a fine dining context.

It goes – sometimes, but not always – with chefs opting out of the rat race of high-falutin’ dining for a more manageable lifestyle.

Punters may have to sleuth among the eggs a gazillion ways and smashed avo, but the effort is often worth it.

We had some grand luck in this regard recently at Small Graces in Footscray.

Jack B. Nimble?

Well, truth be told it had somewhat moved out of our radar coverage since our initial review soon after its opening.

But in one of the wonderful ways in which social media – often maligned – can enhance our lives, I became a while back FB buddies with one of Jack B. Nimble crew.

Consequently, I was entranced by the photos she was posting of the dishes being created there.

“Hmmm,” thought I. “That looks fabulous.”

“Oh boy,” surmised I. “Time for a return visit!”

So Bennie and I did just that.

 

 

My choice (top photo) – and, yes, it was one of the photos I’d seen on FB as posted by Jack B. Nimble chef Deb – is a medley of mushrooms on cauliflower rice with grilled pepper romesco, sesame, spiced pepitas and soy bean crisp ($17).

Forget the vegan nature of the dish, the price tag and the cafe setting – this is amazing.

The cauliflower rice – made, I’m told, by simply whizzing some raw cauliflower and tempering it with some sugar and salt – is a fabulous bed for the various fungi.

And the mushies – including what look like discs of spud in the photo and on the plate – are superb, mostly still firm, lightly fried, full of flavour.

Deb tells me that “sesame oil makes anything taste good” – but I’m not buying it.

There’s some profound cooking smarts going on here.

Some fine greens and just the right amount of that romesco sauce complete the picture of fantastic dish.

 

 

Bennie’s pick – southern fried chicken burger ($17) – also hits the spot.

It’s served on non-brioche roll – I can hear the cheers about that from some quarters.

The chicken is well fried and accompanied by chipotle aioli, cheese, lettuce and tomato.

On the side is fine slaw – something we always appreciate.

Deb tells me the Jack B. Nimble menu is destined for a soon-come spring freshen-up.

But almost certainly the mushroom medley will remain – after all, it is her mum’s fave dish on the menu.