Category Archives: Places we like to eat at

Meal of the week No.8: Footscray Best Kebab House

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After the excitement of the Dancing Dog building auction, Bennie, Che and I are up for lunch – a late lunch by our standards.

Footscray Best Kebab House is a long-time fave of Consider The Sauce – see older story here.

The truth is, though, that my couple of visits in the past year or so have had me wondering if this great place has lost its edge.

My solo meals seemed to lack some sparkle and the serves seemed a little on the mean side.

But on this visit, we work out a way to make FBKH really sing again.

For the three of us we order a large lamb kebab meal ($16) and three stuffed vine leaves ($1.50 each).

The stuffed vine leaves are fine but slightly redundant to our purposes.

The ordering of a main kebab meal for the three of us turns out to be a masterstroke.

The chilli dip is as sensational as ever and the yogurt dip (spinach in this case) is also beaut.

The salad is the usual cool and very unique-to-this-place jumble of vegetables.

The lamb is sensational, especially mixed with judiciously with both dips.

But here’s the thing – this single large kebab plate does all three of us just fine.

Much, much more affordable than ordering a small plate apiece at $14 – and it makes much better use of the big serves of the fabulous fresh bread that are routine here.

Brilliant!

Moonee Valley eats goss

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moon8

 

Big changes are afoot at Italian restaurant Vicolo, the Young Street venue for a memorable 2014 Consider The Sauce Feast.

Come early June, Maria will be closing the joint down for a couple of weeks for a major overhaul – this place is most definitely going to look very different.

Some time at the end of June, she will be reopening as Harry’s Bar, named after the Venice institution of the same.

And she will, of course, be serving that famous bar’s signature drink, the bellini (Prosecco sparkling wine and peach nectar).

Maria will retain some of the current and longstanding food, but the famed risotto list, for instance, will be cut to the lunch offering of 10 varieties.

Coming in will be an increased emphasis on pizzas and things such as goat and porchetta roasted in a stone oven.

As well, there will be breakfast and brunch offered at weekends.

Consider The Sauce will have a great reader giveaway for the Harry’s Bar opening night party so stay tuned!

 

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Moonee Ponds has a brand new dumpling place.

Dumpling House is at 2A Everage Street (phone 9372 9188).

Becky and Joseph have been up and running for only four days when I visit.

The room is bare-bones cafe style but the service is grand, and Becky is very keen to get customer feedback.

They have a longer, regulation-style Chinese menu (mainly for nights) but the lunchtime gist of it is two lists – one of “with rice” dishes and another of dumplings (see menus below).

 

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I just love the chicken and mushroom wontons in “peanut, chilli and spice sauce” (15 for $10.50).

There’s not much evidence of peanuttiness but that’s OK – if the descripition had been “with chilli-infused soup”, I would’ve ordered it anyway.

As is evident from the above picture, it’s fiery – in fact, at the upper limit of my spice threshold.

Yummy, though!

The wontons are fabulous – small, lovely of texture and with a nice, hefty hit of ginger.

And I love, too, the chopped bok choi.

Often such dishes are served with whole leaves, which can be both hard to handle and bitter.

These are neither and really lovely to eat.

They’re the best “dumplings” I’ve had this year – and that’s saying quite a lot!

Dumpling House on Urbanspoon

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On the other side of Puckle Street, in Pratt Street, what was until recently a Brown’s Bakery is in the process of being transformed, according to one of the builders I quiz, into “a fancy fish and chip place”.

Cool!

 

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Yarraville Mexican better

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Village Cantina, 30 Ballarat Street, Yarraville. Phone: 9689 8000

It’s been six months since Consider The Sauce’s first visit to the then newly opened Village Cantina in Yarraville.

I’m happy to return, especially as Bennie has yet to do so and it fits right in with our mid-week nothing-planned-for-dinner situation.

Without intending to make such a direct comparison to that first visit, we end up ordering two items had on that occasion – and it’s something of a revelation.

 

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First though we start with “street style chargrilled corn” with chipotle mayo, queso fresco and lime ($5).

Our single serve cut in two lasts all of about five seconds.

It’s yummy but oh-so-very small!

 

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Bennie’s beef burito ($14) is a big step up from the same item ordered by me on that initial visit.

This is much more deftly done with none of the solid if enjoyable stodginess I experienced.

The filling has very nice shredded beef and there’s salsa, sour cream and guacamole on the side.

 

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But the real eye-opener is the nachos ($13).

I’m not sure why I order this, as nachos can so often veer between acceptable bar/snack food for sharing and a gloopy, unappetising mess.

The new-look Village Cantina nachos has real good melted cheese, guacamole, black beans and salsa in great profusion atop a big mound of good corn chips.

But this nachos is lifted to a whole ‘nuther level by the fabulous strips of grilled chicken that have tremendous flavour and a bit of a cajun thing going on.

It’s the best nachos I’ve ever had.

There’s so much of it – and its tastes so good – I’m happy to fully share with Bennie once he’s done with his burrito.

Heck, it’d make a fine light meal for two!

 

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Greek feast for West Welcome Wagon

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TO BOOK FOR THIS EVENT, CLICK HERE.

Ever since running a successful event at the Plough in Footscray to raise money for West Welcome Wagon, I have been wanting to run another.

It’s been what they call a learning curve.

Picking a suitable restaurant is easy.

Finding one with the required community spirit and generosity is significantly harder.

Finding one with both that is big enough to hold the sort of numbers required to raise a good whack of WWW-bound cash is MUCH harder.

 

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When the proprietor of Williamstown Greek restaurant Santorini contacted us with a view to having Team CTS eat at his establishment, I had a hunch.

“Maybe this is the one!” I thought.

And I was right – when I asked Craig if he would be interested in hosting a WWW fundraiser, he said: “Yes!”

And, just for the record, he did so before the CTS story about our fabulous dinner was published.

I’d earlier contacted Mia of West Welcome Wagon to tell her I was eager to organise another fundraiser.

Here’s what she said of West Welcome Wagon’s efforts to help asylum-seeker households in the west:

“We have had money flying out the door of late. So very many households arriving here with absolutely nothing … the influx was so sudden and great that donations in kind haven’t been enough and we’ve been buying things like food and paying for trucks to help move beds. My point being, we are definitely, more than ever, open to fundraising!”

So our June 24 feast date is more than timely!

Of course, a worthy cause is no reason not to have a bunch of fun and eat exceedingly well.

And for that, both Mia and I thank Craig and the Santorini team very, very much.

Here’s the drill …

At our fundraiser, there will be heaps of great food in the generous Greek tradition.

The ticket cost is $50 per person – with 40 per cent of the takings going straight to West Welcome Wagon.

(CTS will be taking none of it and we will be buying tickets.)

The banquet we will be served normally costs $55 – so we are getting it for $5 less and still raising money for WWW.

How cool is that?

 

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Here are the details:

West Welcome Wagon/Santorini/Consider The Sauce fundraiser

Santorini Restaurant, 1 Parker Street, Williamstown.

Wednesday, June 24, from 7pm.

Cost: $50.

Food: Banquet (see above).

Drinks: Not covered by the ticket price but freely available on the night from the bar.

Tickets: There are 50 places available.

TO BOOK FOR THIS EVENT, CLICK HERE.

We are looking forward to enjoying your company!

Croatian comfort food oozes soul

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cro7

 

Restaurant Katarina Zrinski, 72 Whitehall Street, Footscray. Phone: 9689 5866

It is a wonderfully improvised approach that takes us to Footscray’s Croatian Club this chilly Friday night.

It’s the usual drill – get in the car and seek food with a handful of only vague locations rattling around in our minds.

We’ve enjoyed the food at Restaurant Katarina Zrinski several times but it’s been at least a couple of years since we visited.

(Katarina Zrinski is apparently considered “one of the greatest women in Croatian history” – see wikipedia entry here.)

It’s good to be back in this big, cheerful room.

As expected on a Friday night, the place is pretty much fully booked – not full yet but working on it.

But we’re early enough to snag one of the undressed table, joining another pair of walk-in non-Croatian types.

On previous visits here we’ve mostly loved the grills – things such as cevapcici and raznjici (grilled pork pieces), served with chips and utterly brilliant cabbage salad of the kind so often found in cuisines of eastern Europe.

Tonight, though, and perhaps feeling the onset of winter in our bones, we go big on old-school Croatian comfort food.

 

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But not before tucking into a massive bowl of girice ($11) as found on the specials blackboard.

“You have got to be joking!” proclaims Bennie as our whitebait arrive at our table.

In New Zealand, I grew up regularly eating whitebait of a much smaller kind, usually mixed in a gloopy batter and fried as fritters.

These whitebait are much, much different – bigger, deep-fried, salty, crunchy and very fishy.

Despite his eye-popping surprise at being presented with so many fishes, Bennie likes them as much as I do.

There’s way too many of them for us, though – we don’t even eat half.

They come across to me as an ideal sort of snacky bar food along the same lines as beer nuts, though the staff tell me that is certainly not the intention.

From there we head into much more familiar and heart-warming territory …

Mains here hover around $18 for smaller serves and $25 for larger portions – more if you’re inclined to seafood.

But we’ve learnt from previous visits that the larger deals – especially of the non-grill meals – are humongously big.

So we get smart by ordering $17.50 serves of sarma (cabbage rolls) and “gulas”.

We do good as this turns out, on top of the whitebait, to be just right for two moderately hungry boys.

 

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The cabbage rolls are both different from any I’ve enjoyed before and as good as any I’ve eaten.

The point of different comes from the filling being less rice and more meat, in this case a tangy mix of both pork and beef.

The dollop of mash belies its plain appearance by being an excellent foil for the meaty rolls.

Until recently, Bennie and his mum enjoyed both our mains as cooked by a now former neighbour of theirs named Draga.

Bennie announces with a lofty voice of authority: “There’s no doubt that Draga’s cabbage rolls are better than these!”

Man, Draga’s cabbage rolls must be to-die-for!

 

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The gulas is a stunner – and very generous for a so-called smaller serve.

Atop gorgeously smooth mash, the beefy stew is rich and has heaps of tender meat.

As far as I can tell, it’s cooked with not much more than onion and seasoned with little more than salt and pepper – but that means it’s sublime in its simplicity and packed with earthy soul.

Free advice: Don’t order the large gulas unless you’re sharing!

 

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I suspect that, for ourselves and many other inner-west residents, Restaurant Katarina Zrinski falls off the radar a little.

That’s a shame as the food is great, it’s a very family-friendly place and the service is fine.

Check out the Restaurant Katarina Zrinski here.

 

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Dancing Dog Diary No.6

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It’s auction day!

Bennie and I find ourselves in the rather melancholy position of heading for the big day via a funeral in Werribee.

Our pal Viki is crook so we pick up her son, Bennie’s ace mate Che, on the way through so at least she’ll be with us in spirit!

We arrive about half an hour before the auction.

 

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There’s already a lot of people about and there’s more and more as the minutes tick by.

There’s a lot of media types in attendance, too.

Though these days, with the internet and all, it’s impossible to tell the print folks from the TV folks.

 

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Many of my friends and colleagues from #letsbuythedog are on hand.

Then it’s on!

Given our own valuation had put the estimated value of the building to developers at about $3 million, I am surprised that’s precisely where the bidding starts.

 

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Auctioneer Tristan Tomasino fields a couple of bids from one gent standing away from the crowd, but then it comes down to competing bids from two blokes standing right in front of him.

The property is passed in at $1,575,000 and we eventually find out it has been sold to the highest bidder at an undisclosed price.

Even better – the buyer is an investor who intends to keep the existing tenants, leases and uses of building as is.

Victory?

Oh yes!

There is a fine account of what unfolded in the story at Domain – read it here.

 

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Apparently, in the end there were factors mitigating against developer interest so we ended up with three investor bidders.

Just how much the #letsbuysthedog campaign has been a factor in all this is hard to quantify.

The campaign fell well short of reaching its $1.5 million pledge target.

But getting to almost $60,000 in just a few weeks is an amazing result.

In every other way, it seems to me, the campaign has been an outstanding success.

 

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The harnessing of so much robust community spirit and the generation of so much media coverage has been wonderful.

As well, the project has connected many dozens of like-minded people, groups and businesses in a gratifying and profound way.

These friendships are a fine outcome all on their own – but who knows where some of them may lead?

Do I hope to fraternise and even work with any or all of my new friends on similar or other projects in the future?

For sure!

Stay tuned for future announcements.

It’s fair to say, though, that CTS Dancing Dog Diary entries will be thinner on the ground than they have been in recent weeks!

A prize-winning lunch

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Erika won our guest post contest with a wonderful piece of writing that touched people – read it here.

Now she’s done it again, finding that taking her family to Woven to enjoy their prize lunch evokes all sorts of fabulous family foodie memories.

She’s a star!

 

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By Erika Jonsson

When my sisters and I were young, Mum used to let us choose the menu for our birthday dinners.

The options were endless. Would it be pasta, Sichuan-style chicken, oyster beef or tacos?

Roast pork with crackling, chicken with lemongrass or wonton soup?

My mouth still waters thinking about it.

Funnily enough, my younger sister and I always chose the same dish, albeit with different sides.

Trish picked steamed vegetables (which I still find odd) while I chose corn and twice-cooked chips.

The meat was schnitzel – usually veal – that was succulent and tender, crumbed to perfection and fried

just long enough to cook through.

It was heaven.

Year after year our menu remained unchanged.

When I was 14 and nine months old, I started working at a toyshop on Friday nights and Saturday mornings.

My family lived out of town, so my little part-time job meant spending the night at my grandparents’ place.

They had immigrated to Australia from England when my mum was a child, and

Grandma’s cooking was Britain’s finest.

Pork pie, battered fish, Yorkshire pud, roast anything.

The only herbs I remember in her kitchen cupboard were salt, pepper and season-all.

Everything she cooked was simple but so tasty.

On Fridays before I started work, Grandma would cook big fat pork schnitzels with chips and corn – my favourite meal.

While the meat was the star of the show, the chips were really my favourite.

Potato in any form was welcome on my plate – with a combination of English and Swedish heritage, that’s probably no surprise.

My love for potatoes led to disaster when I left home and headed to the big smoke to study.

I’d been led to believe a fast metabolism was the reason for my then slim figure.

Well, my metabolism and I both got lazy at uni – and I put on about a dozen kilos by eating twice-cooked chips for dinner around five nights a week.

The day my knee-high boots wouldn’t zip up properly, I swore off chips, lost most of my potato weight and gave away my deep fryer.

Since then, chips have only been an occasional indulgence – a special return to my youthful addiction.

Last week I came as close as I ever have to ordering chips as a main when my family went to Woven in Yarraville for lunch.

And that was after I had already eaten my main.

My meal was a perfectly modern re-imagining of my favourite childhood dish.

The pork tonkatsu burger was made up of a juicy pork loin crumbed in panko inside a brioche bun with house-pickled daikon, Kewpie mayo sauce and a cabbage and fennel slaw.

Right next door to the burger was a generous serve of hand-cut chips, still in their skins – just like I like them.

Those chips transported me to Friday nights at Grandma’s, to special birthday dinners and to university over-indulgence.

Normally, I share my meals with my kids but not this day.

My husband, who had the bang-up burger with chips, also found his plate was under attack – but I protected my potatoes with a ferocity I didn’t know I possessed.

“Please, Mama? Could I please share your chips?” my son Joe pleaded after he had finished with his crumpets with honey, caramelised pear and mascarpone.

I feigned deafness and kept eating with greedy abandon, using my chips to mop up tasty drips of Kewpie sauce.

There is magic in food.

Smells and tastes can evoke stronger memories than pictures – such was the case for me at Woven.

It was a magical meal – I definitely plan to go back soon, though I’ll have to watch my waist.

Thank you to Dan, Dave and their team for a great meal and a great experience.

Thanks also to Consider The Sauce for offering such a special prize – I’ve never won anything so tasty!

Big Yarraville excitement

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little4

 

Little Advi, 16 Ballarat Street, Yarraville. Phone: 9689 0004

For a lot of people, particularly those who live and work in the village, their Yarraville eatery has arrived.

As you’d expect, the food line-up at Little Advi, which has slotted into the premises of a former boutique on Ballarat Street, closely resembles that of the mothership, Cafe Advieh, on Gamon Street.

Equally as expected, though, there is no diminuation in terms of quality, freshness, affordability and service.

 

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The place looks gorgeous, with a lot of old wood, brick and tiling.

The staff area really on the ball in every way.

The menu (see below) has brekky, wraps, focaccias and a longish list of really appealing plates with fritter, falafels, skewers, dips and salads.

 

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I go for the large dips plate.

I pay $13.50 but it’s so generous that the small at $10.50 may have been a wiser choice.

The dips – eggplant, yogurt ‘n’ cucumber and eggplant – are so fresh they sing with flavour.

Even better, they are personalised in the Advieh fashion, making them delightfully original in texture and taste, especially when sprinkled with sesame seeds and chopped pistachio nuts.

With them – and olives and two very nice stuffed vine leaves – come two Lebanese pita breads, brought in, warmed and more than enough to go with the dips.

Little Advi is s breakfast-and-lunch establishment.

 

Little Advi on Urbanspoon

 

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Dancing Dog Diary No.5

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IMPORTANT LINKS

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog Pozible campaign – click here.

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog Facebook group – click here.

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog website – click here.

Real estate listing – click here.

DON’T FORGET – THE AUCTION IS THIS SATURDAY AT 1PM

 

Another meeting and more new faces.

This time we’re at the Dancing Dog itself.

 

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There’s a nice social vibe going with drinkies downstairs before we troop upstairs to discuss the campaign.

Many people – by no means are all of them in attendance tonight – have done a great deal of work in the past few weeks.

The progress is summed up in relatively brisk fashion.

Truth is, a lot of the angles and leads that have been followed have ended in a sort of no-man’s land because of the tight timeframe – even if the goodwill that has greeted the team’s inquiries and feelers has been near universal.

 

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For the first time, I hear the suggestion that, in fact, the building may go to a residential buyer.

“Plan B” options are discussed.

What do we do if the property is passed in?

Is there a life or a purpose beyond this auction, this building for this group of people who have come together so magnificently?

I think: Yes.

 

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Then it’s down to plans for the auction itself.

We’re all hoping for a strong community turnout to show our collective affection for the Dancing Dog Building.

But … much more of a warm celebration than a demonstration.

DON’T FORGET – THE AUCTION IS THIS SATURDAY AT 1PM

 

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Sandwich culture in the west

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Thanks to Jill Rowe of Spice Bazaar for letting us publish her entry in our guest post contest – it may not have won but we love it anyway!

Check out the Spice Bazaar website – and their wonderful cooking courses – here.

BTW, Consider The Sauce is also a big fan of the Sourdough Kitchen sangers – they’ve regular work lunch fare this tear.

*****

I remember my school lunch sandwiches with disdain.

My evil step mum would work her magic on creating something that couldn’t be eaten.

By the time lunchtime arrived, the filling of warm plastic cheese, wilted lettuce, congealed chicken slice and soggy tomatoes had turned the white bread into jelly – nobody was surprised to see it in the bin.

Oh mum, you tried!

Sometimes I would buy a bread roll and a packet of chips from the canteen – definitely no discernible health benefits but at least it was crunchy.

More satisfying were the after school versions we made ourselves.

Fresh white bread, with exactly the right amount of butter and Vegemite

It was a science.

 

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Food is memory and I bet many South Americans remember their version with mother love.

It’s fresh white bread, a single slice of cheese with a slathering of mayonnaise – I’m sure this is their version of our Vegemite variety.

This humble looking, but tasty, sandwich was enjoyed at La Morenita and it did remind me of those Vegemite days.

 

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Nuevo Latino’s “midnight sandwich” is full of delicious pulled pork, crunchy pickled vegetables and mustard – totally addictive.

Think – delicious weekend roast leftovers, and after watching the soccer on a Sunday evening you start to get peckish.

Of course, you want  a midnight sandwich. It’s enough to carry you through to the next morning.

 

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Then there are the “sandwich-like” papusas, also served at Nuevo Latino.

These crafted corn discs ooze the meltingly delicious cheeses that make up the filling.

Peel one apart (it’s how you tell a good one), fill with a little curtido and sauce, fold together and eat like a Salvadoran.

Forget that diet for today!

 

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Inside Little Saigon market hides a Vietnamese treasure (well there are lots of treasures here but here we are talking about bread and sandwiches).

IMHO this is the best version of banh mi.

At Nhu Ngoc bakery, ask for the “combination on a tiger roll” and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

 

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So I was searching for the “perfect sandwich” – and I found it at the Sourdough Kitchen in Seddon.

One made with fresh sliced sourdough bread, highest quality sliced ham, perfect pickles, bitter fresh rocket and a home-made chutney.

Wow!

If my mum could have made me a sandwich like this, I would have eaten lunch every day.

Meal of the week No.7: Kebab Surra

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surra41

 

There are three – THREE! – new restaurants of the Afghani/Iranian/Persian persuasion CTS is keen to get cracking on …

In the meantime, Footscray’s own, Kebab Surra, has become a regular since our initial write-up.

I’ve become used to getting a most welcome bowls of lamb/barley soup with my meals here.

That isn’t forthcoming when I order chela kebab ($14) – but that’s OK because what I do get is terrific.

Nice rice.

Two sublimely juicy, meaty skewers of marinated chicken; no such thing as too-dry chook breast meat here!

Tangy yogurt with cucumber and dried mint.

Most excellent fresh bread – like a cross between Turkish bread and naan.

Chewy and excellent.

And – instead of the usual mixed salad – a much more finely diced effort in the Indian style.

No wonder Kebab Surra has become a very firm favourite of Joe.

 

Dancing Dog Diary No.4

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IMPORTANT LINKS

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog Pozible campaign – click here.

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog Facebook group – click here.

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog website – click here.

Real estate listing – click here.

 

Consider The Sauce is unusually late in getting moving this Sunday – time to go!

Besides, the great and extensive work some of my #letsbuythedog colleagues and friends are doing is making me feel like a bit of a malingerer.

 

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First stop is Officeworks to get some flyers run off.

They’re pricier than I expect so cut back on the number I hoped to buy.

 

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First order of business is to get my wheels suitably adorned – then it’s off to Footscray.

The only firm idea I have is to tape flyers to the lamp posts in the neighbourhood surrounding the Dancing Dog building itself.

 

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But first – of course – lunch: pretty good Somalian meat ‘n’ rice from Jazeera Cafe in Paisley Street.

 

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Back at the Dancing Dog Cafe itself, things take a heartening turn that seems emblematic of so much that is happening with this campaign in terms of support, friendship and community bonhomie.

Jo, one of two Dancing Dog staff members on hand, makes me a brilliant cafe latte.

She grabs a handful of flyers to put in the nearby university and at Footscray City Primary, where her kids go to school.

 

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Then two of my #letsbuythedog compatriots – Viki and Chela – arrive.

Viki, too, grabs a bunch of flyers.

They’re here for the regular Sunday Westword poetry bash – so I leave a bunch of flyers for the gathered poets, too!

 

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It’s clear my supply of flyers will be gone in the next day easily just through the normal course of living and working in the inner west.

How cool is that?

 

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Supa fun, super burgers

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Supanova, Melbourne Showgrounds.

Supanova is a celebration of pop culture, and – more specifically – all things comic, scifi, fantasy, gaming and more.

Bennie and I attended in 2009 and had a fine time.

Back then we did some planning, taking banh mi and a big bottle of Coke.

This time around, it’s an impromptu day and we suffer for that.

For starters, while Bennie reckons the entrance fee is $30 it’s actually $40 on the day.

Plus $10 for parking.

So we’re up for almost $100 before we even get in.

As well, it seems Supanova has grown A LOT in the intervening years.

Even after nearing the showgrounds, it’s takes almost a full hour to secure a parking spot.

 

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Then it takes more than half an hour to work our way to the front of a ticket queue that stretches for about 400 metres.

Of course, we can’t blue about this too much as we could depart at any point – no one is forcing us to endure this bullshit.

But, heck, we could’ve just about walked from Yarraville and gotten in quicker.

 

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There must be a better way – especially for an event that costs so much to enter, only for patrons to be greeted by more queues – for food, autographs and photo ops – and many, many more ways to spend more money.

And after all, if you’re going to attend such a party, there’s no point in doing so if you’re going to be a complete tightwad about it.

 

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Anyway, we persevere and get there in the end – but by then I’m plenty cranky and exasperated.

What to do?

Eat!

Instead of standing in line for any of the in-house offerings, we don our wrist bands and head around the corner to Zigzag Burgers ‘n’ Salads.

Since our initial visit here, I’ve been back once by myself and am very happy to return once more.

 

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Our burgers are excellent and the hand-cut chips are better than before.

Zigzag is now our official go-to burger joint – yep, above and before 8bit, food trucks and any place else you care to mention.

 

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Thus fortified, we enter re-enter Supanova with glee and enjoy a giddily fantastic few hours.

The main hall has many hundreds of stalls and I’m thrilled.

Unlike Bennie, I’m not really into to comics and gaming but I find plenty to keep me entertained.

For starters, I’m delighted to see more books than I recall from our previous Supanova outing.

 

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I’m supa happy to meet Justin Woolley, buy his book, a rather darkish fantasy/speculative fiction outing called A Town Called Dust, and get it autographed.

I have a longish and fascinating chat with Justin about book blogs, their role in book promotion and the inevitable spectre of corruption that can arise.

Very interesting!

 

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A little further on, I buy another book by another Melbourne author, get it autographed and enjoy talking with its author.

Steve P Vincent‘s Foundation is a ripping political conspiracy thriller – I’m up to page 100 and loving every word of it.

Steve is an Ascot Vale local and is fully familiar with the fantastic food of Safari.

How cool is that?

 

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Bennie, meanwhile, has bought some vintage comics and is eager to get a poster by Tony Moore, who was responsible for the artwork on the first six issues of The Walking Dead, which my lad only recently inhaled.

He gets his poster, has it signed and has a pic taken with the artist.

How cool is that No.2?

 

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This ease of access to Supanova guests – buy the product and get a chat, an autograph, a photo at no extra cost – is a vivid contrast to the cavernous hall in which the event’s superstars (none of which I’ve heard) do their thing.

Here punters are herded like cattle, wait times seem very long and the prices for autographs and photos averages around the $50 mark.

Stuff that!

 

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Back in the main stall hall, I am happy to take in some sports activity to fill in for the fact I’m missing out on my usual Saturday arvo soccer and/or league.

 

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After several hours, Bennie and I are getting leg weary.

We’re almost done but it’s still a gas to wander around checking out our fellow punters and the extreme efforts so many of them have made to get into the spirit of things.

 

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Supanova may not press my music and food buttons but to a large degree, I realise, these are my people.

Kenny – 58 going on 18.

 

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CBD Indian is bolly good

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Delhi Streets, 22 Katherine Place, Melbourne. Phone: 9629 2620

What fun!

Another leisurely day-off trip into the CBD to have lunch with the lovely Jacqui, the Urban Ma.

This time we’re checking out Delhi Street, right next door to the cool bagel place we hit a while ago.

Delhi Streets has a most admirable aim – to “do Indian street food most Melburnians have yet to experience”.

However, anyone who has hung out in West Footscray even a little in recent years will be familiar with most that Delhi Streets offer.

 

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The place may be new but it already has a nice lived-in vibe.

It may be geared to quickie lunches and takeaways but it feels more comfortable and intimate than that.

There’s chaat, thalis, dosas, uttapum and biryani (see menu below).

They also do wraps.

Personally, I don’t have use for wraps unless they’re a nice, lusty souvlaki or kebab.

But as Jacqui points out, this is an obvious menu direction for the joint to take on behalf of the take-lunch-back-to-the-office crowd.

 

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We share bhel puri ($6).

It’s fresh and crunchy, with a good dose of roast peanuts.

 

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Jacqui is new to the Wonderful World Of Dosas so I’m happy she gets a good one.

Her masala dosa ($10) is the goods, though the pancake itself is truncated compared to those in our westie faves.

The accompaniments are missing the usual chilli concoction but the sambar and coconut chutney are lovely.

 

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I go for the vegetarian thali ($10) – and it’s a doozy.

Good salad, rice and papadum.

Really good naan and cooked-down vegetable curry.

Outstanding dal that I think is made with aduki beans.

Read Jacqui’s review here.

Check out the Delhi Streets wesbite here.

 

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Dancing Dog Diary No.3

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IMPORTANT LINKS

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog Pozible campaign – click here.

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog Facebook group – click here.

Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog website – click here.

Real estate listing – click here.

 

Meeting No.3 and the second of which I have attended.

Familiars faces and new faces.

The Pozible campaign – link above – is tootling along but it seems clearer than ever we’ll not be reaching our target unless unless philanthropy of some sort comes into play.

But everyone is united that this project is worthwhile no matter what for a variety of reasons.

Other group beliefs are re-iterated:

The is a not-for-profit community group.

It is NOT anti-development.

It IS about retaining the Dancing Dog building as a community asset and space.

Many, many ideas and suggestions are discussed.

They include allies, a plan B, a heritage listing with more clout than the current one, promotions, media, an “angel developer”, and what to do on auction day.

But time is running out, so we must stick to the, um, “pozible”.

 

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Our plan of attack – to spread the campaign as widely as possible online and offline.

You never know what could happen.

We might just make our target or a “white knight” might step in.

Or we might just scare off developers who have no regard for what we love about the building and encourage those who are keen to do something community minded and inspired.

What we do know, is the more support we can show for this campaign, the more likelihood there is of a good outcome of some sort.

One thing that struck as I drove to Seddon for meeting …

If the building should fall into the hands of developer with no sympathy for widespread community regard for the building, the result could be not just townhouses/apartments the likes of which have been built in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

It could be worse as the site is so prominent, standing as it does on a corner.

And as it is what greets motorists and pedestrians when they enter the Foostcray CBD from the Albert Street overpass, it could even be argued that the building is something of a gateway to Footscray.

Not, perhaps, to the same degree as Footscray Road or Dynon Road/Hopkins Street river bridges … but still.

 

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Yum cha in Castlemaine

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Taste of the Orient Yum Cha House, 223 Barker Street, Castlemaine. Phone: 5470 5465

Bennie and I are up Kyneton way to spend some time on Helen’s ranch – but first we’re checking out the Castlemaine market.

I’m impressed with the depth and breadth of the fresh produce and the likes of preserves on hand but it’s mostly lunch we’re after.

The best we see is an inside crew from one of the local Chinese joints doing what looks like some pretty good yum cha.

But there’s a queue and, silly me, we haven’t got enough hard cash on us to do the job.

So it’s in to Castlemaine proper we go.

 

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We amble around the town’s CBD but find it hard to get a good reading on what’s on offer.

After years of trawling through the west, it seems we have some sort of in-built wisdom that means we can assess an eatery very quickly – good, bad, yes, no, worth a shot?

Not infallibly, mind you, but reliably so.

In Castlemaine, it feels as if every place we pass will sell us a crappy BLT and take about an hour to serve it.

Sorry, Castlemaine!

So we hit an ATM and prepare to head back to the market.

 

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Just as we are departing I see it – the very same Chinese restaurant that is doing yum cha at the market.

It’s open and, yes please, that’ll do fine!

Vegetarian dims sims (top photo, $7.50) taste OK but seem to have the consistency of sludge and thus lack the sort of textural contrasts I am expecting.

 

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Organic pork and carrot dim sims ($7.50) are juicy with porkiness and very good.

 

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Deep-fried organic tofu ($6) suffers by comparison with more highly seasoned versions we get in Malaysian establishments but is still good.

 

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Crystal vegetarian dumplings ($7.50) have all the crunch and texture I expected from our other veggie selection and are excellent.

Steamed buns are mostly Bennie’s preserve, but even I completely love the …

 

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… free-range pork $4) and …

 

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… free-range chicken and ginger ($4) items we have here!

The latter is juicy, meaty and fragrant with ginger.

Both buns are light and undoughy.

We’ve had what I consider to be a top-rate and very affordable yum cha feed.

Bennie is somewhat less impressed – is he becoming a cranky, hard-to-please teen?

And it’s true my judgment could be subjectively coloured by the lack of anything else in Castlemaine that called strongly to us and the sheer delight of finding a classy yum cha emporium right here.

Still, with just a few minor quibbles, I consider that what we eat is mostly as good as anything we’d get in Melbourne places – and a whole lot better than we’d get in many.

Meal of the week No.6: Dosa Corner

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Consider The Sauce may end up doing a more substantial write-up on Dosa Corner, the new Indian place opposite long-established Dosa Hut on Barkly Street in West Footscray – when there are a tableful of mouths to feed.

In the meantime, here’s the goss.

Dosa Corner has been open about a week, there’s incense burning, the place is bright and cheerful, and the service good considering this is a snack-type joint.

The menu is quite long and super cheap.

There’s dosas aplenty, of course.

But there’s also chaat, uthappams, quite a few Indo-Chinese dishes, biryanis and a trio of sweets.

Get a load of the above-pictured pooris!

The freshly fried breads are a little smaller than usual but very good.

The gloopy dal/vegetable mix is excellent.

The other accompaniments are those that attend your typical dosas.

The price?

$5.

How’s that for a brilliant light lunch?

 

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Hardware overkill

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The is the new Bunnings that is rapidly nearing completion at the Footscray site of what was once the HQ for the Forges/Dimmeys empire.

As we were driving past yesterday, Bennie asked:

“Who is going to shop there?”

Good question, I reckon.

This behemoth will join newish Bunnings outlets at Altona and Highpoint.

There are others in Sunshine, Melton, Hoppers Crossing, Werribee Caroline Springs, Taylors Lakes and Essendon.

And of course, Bunnings has competitors – there’s Mitre 10, Masters/BCF and Home Timber & Hardware outlets scattered across the west, too.

Indeed, there is one of the latter just a few hundred metres from the new Footscray Bunnings location.

As anyone who has even so much as glanced at a television in recent years will attest, all these companies spend A LOT on advertising.

Their slogans are as embedded in our collective brain as deeply as any irritating pop song.

 

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I’ve heard it said that such edifices are what has closed down neighbourhood hardware stores.

I’m sure that’s true – there used to be one of the smaller variety in Anderson Street, Yarraville.

But it doesn’t explain the growth explosion of these mega-stores.

Mega-stores?

More like aircraft hangars.

Or aircraft carriers.

And I know the greater western suburbs are experiencing tremendous growth and a steep population increase.

But that doesn’t do it for me, either.

After all, these places are becoming so ubiquitous that they’re the hardware equivalent of 7-Eleven, Subway or Maccas.

What is going on?

Post-script: The answer to the above question – or some of the answers – are to be found in this very good piece from August last year in The Monthly.

Thanks to Amy for the link!

 

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Dancing Dog Diary No.2

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The Let’s Buy The Dancing Dog Pozible campaign went live last Thursday morning.

By early evening, it had accrued just over $1000 in pledges.

“OK – cool!” thought I.

A mere 12 hours later that figure had swelled to more than $30,000.

Wow!

How did that happen?

Easter has slowed things down, unsurprisingly.

But as of this writing – early evening on Easter Sunday – the pledge amount stand at more than $37,000.

Wow!

Maybe we can really do this!

In the meantime, the campaign’s Facebook page has been filled with enthusiasm and all sorts of exciting and inspiring link and stories.

Even to the most ardent optimist, however, it may still seem like a preposterous long shot.

So is there a point to all this if we fail to reach the required amount?

Oh yes there is!

As Katerina said in an email gee-up to supporters:

“Already, these meetings have brought people together and brought out all sorts of wonderful stories. Even if the campaign doesn’t win, it’s been worth it just for these moments. Come and enjoy the inspirational community spirit. And remember, even if we don’t get the money we need to buy the building, the better this campaign does, the more we are putting developers on notice that they will have a fight on their hands if they do anything really inappropriate.”

Personally, I am already enjoying the community goodwill and spirit being displayed by all and sundry.

And given the networks of connections and relationships that are being utilised, it’s unsurprising that some things are becoming nicely personal.

The best friend of my son, Bennie, is a lovely lad named Che.

When they first became pals, they were both attending the same Sunshine primary school and Che lived with his mum, Viki, and sister, Chela, in North Sunshine.

A few years back, they moved to Yarraville – and just a few blocks from us.

The boys’ friendship has deepened since then and yours truly is slowly, bit by bit, getting to know his mum and the family in general.

One thing I have learned through conversation and Facebook is that Viki is a really, really good singer.

What I did not know until #letsbuythedog is that she has a rich and intense history with the Dancing Dog.

Here’s what she posted for the Let’s Buys The Dancing Dog Facebook group:

“I love this place – I’ve spent many a Sunday afternoon here with the Westword poets. My kids love the cookies they serve. Our band has played gigs there and we made one of our video clips there. I hope this place can remain as a space where people make music/poetry/art/socialise as before. I don’t know if this helps in any way, but here’s a video clip we did, much of which was filmed at the Dancing Dog, the fact of which epitomises what it means to me and many others. The people at the Dancing Dog were very supportive when we made this.”

 

 

And here, just as a matter of record, is the Biggin & Scott video spruiking the building:

 

 

Remember: The auction is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, at 1pm!

Altona joy

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The House Of Beans Cafe, 25 The Circle, Altona. Phone: 0419 375 397

Bennie always showed more interest in the F&C shop at one end of The Circle’s shopping strip than I.

But that wasn’t hard as mine was pretty much zero.

My lack of curiosity continued when the premises became a cafe that – and here I am, judging a restaurant by its cover – seemed to offer little more than basic coffee.

So it is only happy circumstance – the Lebanese pizza shop up the road being closed – that forces me through the door to see what’s on offer.

My prior judgments based on appearances prove to be utterly false.

 

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In fact, House Of Beans serves a nice longish range of Lebanese food – think falafel, foul, hommos and the like – that puts it on the same footing as the fabulous Abbout Falafel House in Coburg.

And about that I am ecstatic.

Just think – no more driving to Sydney Road!

Unless we feel like a drive, of course.

For my first visit, I go for the “kefta in bread” ($6.50) and a small serve of fattoush ($7) (top photo).

 

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At first blush the kefta found between layers of lovely, toasted house-made flat bread appears to be very similar to the pinkish meaty smear found on your basic meat pizza up the road and elsewhere.

It’s nothing of the sort.

This is much more juicy, well seasoned and delicious – in short, it really is lamb kofta in a sandwich.

Marvellous!

The generously proportioned fattoush is wonderfully fresh but, if anything, the dressing is a little too lemony.

And regular readers will know that I really like a lemony dressing.

On the basis of what I’ve already, tried I am excited upon returning with Bennie.

Nahida helpfully explains the ins and outs of the five different varieties of foul on offer – basically they’re all variations on red beans, depending on the addition or not of tomato, tahini or chick peas – but we perversely go in the opposite direction.

 

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I let my young man have his way with an order of the most expensive menu item – mixed grill ($15).

It’s a ripper!

There’s a skewer apiece of kofta, lamb and chicken.

They’re all fabulous – heavy with amazing chargrill flavour, juicy and tender.

Throw in a good gob of hommos, some rice and the same good salad mix, and you’ve got a splendid meal.

 

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My falafel plate ($10) looks a little on the bare-bones side until the arrival of …

 

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… a fabulously tangy bowl of green olives, pickled cucumber and chillis, mint and onion with which Bennie and I both make happy.

The falafels themselves are fresh and yummy though a tad on the dry side for my tastes. Next time, I’m sure some yogurt will happily be provided to moisten things up.

 

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Nahida brings us some foul to try regardless of our regular order.

This one is an oily mix of red beans and chick peas that is slightly surplus to the rest of our meal.

But we enjoy most of it anyway.

I love how its plainness works in a harmony of contrasts with the various contents of our pickle bowl.

We love what Banjo (he declines to tell me from part of Lebanon his name comes), Nahida and their family have going on here and what they bring to the table in terms of swelling the depth of Middle eastern food available in the western suburbs.

We suggest you get there pronto – but take on board that House Of Beans Cafe is a lunch-only establishment.

 

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