Category Archives: Places we like to eat at

Burgers out, 100% Nepalese in

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Magic Momo Kafe, 588 Barkly St, West Footscray. Phone: 9972 2616

So we never made it back to Magic Momo Kafe, after our initial momo-focused visit, to assess and enjoy its efforts at a trans-national menu – though we heard the burgers were actually quite good.

Too late for all that now, though, as the place has changed dramatically.

There’s a rather nice fit-out in a more restaurant style and the menu is now hardcore Nepalese.

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We remain bemused that chowmein is part of Nepalese food culture but we have come across it before – at our fondly remembered visits to the now defunct Fusion Cafe & Mo:Mo Bar in  Footscray central – and we’re happy to give it another whirl.

Magic Momo’s egg rendition ($7.95), with its egg noodles, cabbage and other vegetables, is satisfying if rather plain.

We’re inclined to say a heavier hand with the salt shaker and higher spice levels are required, but no doubt this dish is exactly the way it’s meant to be.

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Of course, a visit here simply necessitates a momo experience – so we go a fried serve of the pork numbers ($8.95).

They’re good, though rather small.

The casings are pleasantly chewy and mildly spicy innards blazingly hot and juicy.

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From the four-choice fish section of the menu we choose “Nepalese-style gravy fish” ($13.95).

It’s a bigger serve than the above photo suggests.

The gravy appears to be a no-nonsense tomato-and-onion-based number that is mildly spiced and has a heavenly, lemony tang. We’re later told one of the seasoning ingredients is dried oregano!

The flavour of the fish – butterfish, we’re told – is mild but comes through nicely, something quite rare in fish dishes from this broader part of the world.

This is recognisably the same dish as I’d tried a few nights previously, but the earlier portion (see photo below) was a good deal more moist and several degrees more excellent.

We love it that Magic Momo Kafe is providing an alternative on a stretch of Barkly Street that seems destined to reach doubles figures of Indian eateries in the not too distant future.

And we’re interested in trying what appear to be Nepelese-style versions of thalis they offer – chiura sets (with beaten rice as previously experienced at Fusion Cafe & Mo:Mo Bar) and khana sets.

See menu below.

On the basis of this meal, though, we suspect homely, simple and satisfying is the go here – rather than whizz-bang.

But often that’s a fine, thing, too.

 

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Sri Lankan for Sunshine

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Jaffna Chef, 21 Sun Crescent, Sunshine. Phone: 9311 3131

We’d spied Jaffna Chef in the process of being fitted out while walking to our rendezvous at Dragon Express for CTS Feast No.3 and took note.

Returning just a few weeks later, I’m surprised to find it up and running.

Though it appears that is a case of only just.

A modestly-sized grocery is still in the process of being stocked and the eat-in fare is so far restricted to a mostly regulation line-up of bain marie goodies, but I am nevertheless made to feel welcome.

I’m told that a more formal menu and longer list of dishes will be unrolled in coming weeks.

I look forward to that, and am happy to make do with what’s available in the meantime.

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My $8.50 plate is fine – and very familiar on account of the now regular work Friday lunchtime curry runs to Spicy Corner in Tullamarine.

The dal is coconutty, creamy and studded with still-crunchy green chilli.

The lamb curry is on the bone and bit fiddly. Still, it’s nothing unexpected – but take care of your teeth!

Like all else, the spud curry is at the higher end of spiciness.

 

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Community glue in WeFo

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Longest Lutheran Lunch, St Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 362 Barkly Street, Footscray

Cecil is the pastor who keeps an eye on Bennie’s school in north Sunshine.

Having known him for several years, enjoyed his company on quite a few occasions and even having sought his advice and counsel on various issues, I consider him a really cool cat.

Even if he does wear red socks with sandals in summer while out and about on his bicycle.

So it seems seriously remiss of me that until today I’ve never gotten around to visiting his Barkly Street church for a service or any other purpose – especially as Bennie and his mum, Deb, have been regulars for some time.

As it turns out, I could hardly have chosen a better day to show my face – today St Matthew’s is joining other Lutheran churches around the country for a proverbial long lunch.

I have an exceedingly grand time – and the food, as good as it is, is just part of the pleasure.

Even more important, there’s an all-embracing community vibe that lives and breathes inclusiveness.

So not only do I get to hang out with Bennie, Deb, Pastor Cecil and his lovely wife, Jane, and Tom, Bennie’s school principal, I mix it with a whole bunch of people.

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Heavily represented among the gathering of several hundred are many members of the Mara people from Burma. They share an evolving “fellowship” and church premises with the St Matthew’s congregation.

Sprinkled through the assembled masses are representatives of the Filipino, Sudanese and Ethiopian communities, along with many older folks and many, many youngsters of all stripes – some of whom aren’t even playing games on mobile devices.

For food, there’s a whole pig and a whole lamb being spit-roasted and dismembered, along with all sorts of salads and curries – and even some regulation snags in bread.

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I make happy with samples of a couple of the chook curries and more of the pork than I should. It’s simple, delicious and seems to have a whiff of ginger about it. It goes swell with the beetroot salad I spy on my second go round and a sublime potato salad.

Bennie does much as I do, though Deb is effusive in her praise of an old-school curried rice salad she has happened upon.

Then out come the cakes – including a rendition of our fave deep dark chocolate cake that Bennie has knocked out this very morning unaided by any parental supervision whatsoever.

It’s brilliant!

There’s also baked cheesecake, scrumptious hand-made cupcakes and much more.

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Jane wheels out a candle-laden hazelnut number from Hausfrau in celebration of her hubby’s birthday.

Everyone in the dwindling crowd happily sings Happy Birthday.

In a world in which the Uniting Church has been in the news for flogging off many churches across Victoria, devastating the communities involved, and in which the mega-churches seem to offer something of a worship equivalent of shopping centres, I worry about the future of such an enterprise as St Matthew’s.

So I talk to Simon, who happens to be chairman of Bennie’s school and is also involved in future planning for St Matthew’s.

He tells me that while the church is facing issues – among them, the property needs a comprehensive overhaul and Pastor Cecil will be retiring in a few years – the future is nevertheless secure.

Part of that is being under the umbrella of greater Lutheran family, and part of it, too, no doubt is the freehold nature of the land ownership.

But equally, the soul of the place would seem to admit no other option but continuing on.

One thing’s for sure – I shouldn’t let myself be such a stranger in future.

Thanks for having me!

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Handy addition to Racecourse Rd

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Pho House, 318 Racecourse Road, Flemington. Phone: 9372 1426

Flemington’s Racecourse Road is one of our favourite haunts.

One thing it did lack until very recently was a straight-up hardcore pho place.

Which probably accounts for Pho House being ultra-packed on the couple of times I’ve ambled past in the week or so since it opened.

No such problems early into a Saturday lunch session, with plenty of tables to spare.

Pho House is all regulation, though the dark-stained wooden chairs and the decor in general give the place a classy feel.

The orange-polo-shirted staff are plentiful, happy and on the ball.

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They do a few things differently  here, however.

For instance, rice paper rolls come in pairs for $5. As well, the “side dishes” portion of the menu has some dumpling entries, spicy salt calamari and even beef stew with bread rolls – all far from your standard pho joint repertoire.

They’re even doing laksas, though not on the day I visit.

One novel twist of which I heartily approve is the use of big metal spoons in the Asian style instead of the usual stainless-steel tablespoons.

Extra good for robust slurping!

Another point of difference – the pho varieties come in only two sizes, regular and large.

Being of substantial appetite, I order the large beef/chicken combination ($11.50), not caring much one way or the other if I will be getting my orthodox order of sliced beef/sliced chicken or something more elaborate.

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What I do get is a sort of compromise.

The chicken is all of the simple, sliced variety, but joining the really super rare slices of beef are some tendon, beef ball segments, sausage and even a couple of hard-boiled chicken eggs.

The broth is of strong flavour and blessedly unsweet.

It’s all really, really top-shelf stuff, making for a very fine pho experience.

I’ve been enjoying my lunch and the new Stephen King book so much that it’s only upon departing that it finally dawns on me that this handy addition to the Racecourse Road scene has come with a subtraction.

The premises that Pho House inhabits was formerly the home of that long-standing and much-liked veteran Vy Vy.

I wonder what’s happened to Tiffany and her family?

 

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Connected

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So, after many years of resistance, yours truly has finally gone fully mobile, as in mobile device.

With only minimal research, I sprung for a Samsung Mega.

As I spend all my regular working hours on a computer and many more online blogging and more, intuition led me towards big, as I didn’t want to be squinting at my new toy.

And so far I have no regrets about that.

Also a factor was the fact there’s a Samsung shop at Highpoint, so if I have an issue that cannot be resolved through Youtube clips and the like, I know I can get face-to-face help from the obliging geeks up there.

I have been bemused to read various reviews of this machine, many of which complain about its cumbersome dimensions.

I have no context within which to judge such judgments, but I have also noted a number of reviews that applauded such devices – I believe they’re now being called “phablets” – as being user-friendly for those with less than perfect eyesight and/or big and cumbersome fingers.

In fact, it’s so big that I can even read books on it. I’ve downloaded four, but truth to tell I don’t think it’s going to work for me in the long term – I suspect I’m just too much of an old-school bookish type.

Same with music.

I long ago joined the digital music masses in terms of CDs, but I still want those booklets, photos and essays that go with the premium reissues of the music I love from years long gone.

So far, only a very few people know the number, so when I receive an incoming call it’s still somewhat alarming to realise: “Hey, that’s MY phone!”

But it has already come in handy – I negotiated a short interview with a reporter interested in doing a story on The Westies, and it was a relief and pretty cool to be able to handle the matter professionally and not be using one of the office phones within earshot of all and sundry.

As a baby boomer, the internet alone remains astonishing to me.

So to have it all – or much of it – with me wherever I go is a trip, for sure.

But I have found there are limitations.

Gmail and Twitter are spot on.

Facebook and newspapers such as The Age are not so good.

Urbanspoon seems very limited to the location where me and/or my phone are at. Any ability to seek information outside those parameters seems truncated.

The biggest surprise and disappointment has been Consider The Sauce itself.

I receive immediate notification of new comments, but the visitation numbers are at least three to fours hours behind those I get on my home computer.

And, yes, I have apps for all of the above.

Bagels – the hole story in Caroline Springs

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Rosen’s Bagels

Say bagels, and most people would do as we do and think of, say, New York or Philadelphia or Europe.

Yet while Michael Rosen originally hails from Los Angeles, bagels are a big part of his Jewish heritage.

As he says simply on his website: “I grew up eating bagels.”

For many years making his own had been a hobby.

But when he moved to Melbourne with his Australian wife a couple of years back, and settled in Caroline Springs, his bagel-making took on more of a cultural imperative.

There are bagels available in Melbourne, but as far as either of us are aware, none at all in the city’s greater west … save for those being generated by Michael’s new business.

“I wanted good bagels near me,” he says.

As well, he was coming into regular contact with a variety of US expats, Jewish and otherwise, who were likewise feeling profound bagel deficit.

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It took him the best part of a year to get into the righteous swing of bagel-making in a new country – there has been much testing and experimenting to learn how to produce an excellent bagel using different water, flour and oven.

But now he’s flying.

His regular gig is in the IT industry, and of necessity that can and will remain the case for the time being – he’s in no great hurry to go the full bagel.

But he is having a ball, all the while treating his bagel business in a smart and professional manner.

Putting his bagels on a more professional footing is bringing its own challenges.

He has forged a working relationship with his local Caroline Springs bakery, Let’s A Loaf, so has had to get to grips with working with more dough and much grander cooking facilities.

Bennie and I love hanging with him for a while in his Caroline Springs home as he talks bagels and bakes us up a superb batch.

Michael uses nothing but organic flour.

Also into the dough go fresh yeast, malt, salt and water.

Michael shows us how he breaks the dough mound into smaller, weighed segments and then deftly hand-rolls them into fat strands before – hey presto! – joining the ends.

Looks easy, no doubt takes many hours of practice!

It’s this hand-rolling that helps make Michael’s bagels even more magical – each is an individual with its own irregularities.

The bagels Michael will bake for us today, however, have been “maturing” in the fridge overnight.

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In small batches they are boiled for about a minute in water to which about a tablespoon full of barley malt syrup has been added.

It’s the boiling that gives the bagels their sheen, and the syrup that gives them their caramel colour.

From there, the bagels are left plain or dunked in poppy or seasame seeds, or a mixture of both with granulated garlic and onion.

Then they’re baked for about 20 minutes.

Demonstrating bagel versatility, we enjoy the bagel “pizzas” Michael has made for us as a late lunch snack, but we buy some cream cheese and smoked salmon on the way home for a more traditional and lovely bagel dinner.

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It makes us very happy that such an earthy, life-enhancing and ancient tradition is being continued right here in our west.

A list of current stockists of Michael’s bagels can be found on his website – here.

They include a mix of joints that sell bagels unadorned and cafes/eateries that are selling the bagels as prepared sandwiches of various kinds,

In the west, they include Scudela, Pepper Cafe and Wee Jeanie.

Michael is also making and selling cream cheese-based “schmears” to enjoy with his bagels – they come in plain, green onion and dill, and smoked salmon and chive flavours.

Michael will be at Williamstown Farmers Market, at Robertson Reserve, corner Cole and Hanmer streets, Williamstown, next Sunday (October 27) from 9am-1pm.

Rosen's Bagels on Urbanspoon

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Breaking news: Kenny joins modern world, takes notes using mobile device.

CTS Feast No.3: Dragon Express – so fine!

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Dragon Express, 28 City Place, Sunshine. Phone: 9312 6968

Wow, this really was a feast – course after course of splendidness issuing forth from the kitchen and a swell table of friends and followers with whom to share them.

So thanks very muchly to (from left to right) Cath, Daniel, Sian, Michael, some young whippersnapper, Klaire, Lucas, Danielle, Keri, Johnno and Sue.

Westies, each and every one of ’em.

And thanks to our charming host, Lim, and his brother Chay, who was taking care of business in the kitchen.

We had the stir-fried green vegetables and spicy chicken ribs of our previous visits – and they were terrific.

But I liked everything, some of it a lot.

Even the sesame prawn toast – something I don’t usually enjoy overly much – tasted delicious.

Menu: Chicken sweet corn soup, mixed entree, seafood combination bird’s nest, sizzling steak, stirfried green vegetables with garlic, salt and pepper squid, spicy chicken ribs, pork ribs with Peking sauce, special fried rice.

The venue and date of CTS Feast No.4 have yet to be ascertained – stay tuned!

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Announcing … The Westies!

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After more than three years and more than 600 posts, Consider The Sauce is just as excited as ever about the food of Melbourne’s western suburbs.

If anything, in fact, we’re even more amazed by our food riches and inspired by the people who produce them.

All that is true, too, for Lauren at Footscray Food Blog.

We’d like to think we’ve both played a role in helping to enhance the reputation of western suburbs food and the sense of community surrounding it.

But now we reckon it’s time to step things up a notch or two.

So in partnership with Footscray Food Blog, Consider The Sauce is excited to announce The Westies – the first food awards dedicated to Melbourne’s western suburbs.

The winners of the 2013 “Westies – Dishes of Distinction” will be announced at the annual Footscray Food Blog/Consider The Sauce Spring Picnic.

See you there!

We hope The Westies become a regular, yearly celebration of western suburbs food.

To further that aim, the awards will celebrate three dishes a year chosen by us as excellent representatives of westie food rather than the awards going to the eateries themselves.

The selection process will take into account taste, consistency, pricing, and a sense of uniqueness or tradition.  This year’s winners will be decided after countless emails, Facebook messages, dining-out sojourns and an epic knock-down bar-room brawl.

Eateries responsible for producing Westies winners will be ineligible for similar honours for the following three years.

Footscray Food Blog/Consider The Sauce Spring Picnic,

Yarraville Gardens, Somerville Road.

Saturday, November 30, from 11am.

The Westies – Dishes of Distinction winners announced at noon.

On tour with Lauren

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One of the most profound of the many pleasures of bringing you Consider The Sauce has been our friendship with Lauren of Footscray Food Blog.

She’d already had her site up and running for about a year by the time we came along but she was sincerely welcoming right from the outset.

Since then, we’ve enjoyed countless laughs, more than a few meals and been a constant source of advice and support for each other. All the while discovering there can be a lot more to what we are doing than merely running a website full of reviews.

Many of you will be aware Lauren has been running food tours of various kinds in and around Footscray.

At first, these were under the auspices of the CAE, but today’s snack/street food tour of Footscray was part of the council’s Discover Footscray Tours program.

The plan is for Lauren to see out the year in terms of her already scheduled commitments before going out on her own.

And the sharing spirit continues … in some ways we are blogger competitors, yet it never seems that way.

So the idea, as it stands, is for me to inherit her CAE gig come the new year.

She’s done such a grand job for them, they were eager to have a ready-made replacement. And Lauren, bless her, had no hesitation it putting my name forward.

So there you go – early 2014 will likely see us both leading groups of happy food hounds around yummy westie neighbourhoods.

Still, it’s going to be a steep learning curve for me, so I am eager to glom as much information and advice from Lauren as I can.

So as future tour guide, hungry foodie and fervent westie, it was a pleasure to join Lauren’s other punters today.

They included our mutual pal Nat Stockly as well as regular readers of both our blogs, such as Cynthia, Sian and Michael.

Lauren was a lovely and very informative guide, and everyone had a fine old time.

I don’t want to give too much away about the actual stops made and food consumed – except to say that even an old hand such as myself was surprised to find the most glorious burek in the most unlikely of places!

Lauren’s tours are recommended – even to those of you who reckon you’ve got a good handle on our westie food.

New Year post-script: After much contemplation, I have decided against being a tour guide for the CAE. Instead, I will be focus on more and better CTS Feasts, the Westies (of course!) and hopefully other exciting projects! But please do check out Lauren’s tours.

On a photo shoot

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Today I happily hooned around select sites in and around Footscray central.

It was for a photo shoot – the subjects of which were Lauren of Footscray Food Blog and myself.

The camera was manned by a dapper snapper called Mike – who also happens to be Lauren’s dad.

You can check out his work here.

The photos are to be used in the campaign to launch – with much hoopla and fanfare, we hope – a joint and fabulous initiative of Footscray Food Blog and Consider The Sauce.

Details of this initiative will be unveiled and disseminated far and wide next Wednesday, October 16.

We’re VERY excited – and we hope you all will be, too!

A revered Melbourne joint – and now we know why

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Rose Garden BBQ Shop, 435 Elizabeth St, Melbourne. Phone: 9329 156

A business meeting in Flinders Lane finds us parking at Victoria Market and ambling along Elizabeth St checking out potential lunch spots for our return journey.

Meeting over, we are in plenty of time to avoid the notorious peak-hour rush at Rose Garden BBQ Shop – but only just.

By the time we split, the queue thing is happening.

But the truth is this place is run so efficiently, the turnover so high, that I doubt wait times ever get out of hand.

That’s just one reason we fall instantly in love with this place.

We’ve walked past it a gazillion times, yet this is our first visit.

Now we know why it’s so popular.

We love the signs on the wall, the menu that has far more depth than the BBQ meats with rice or noodles that the name implies, the service that is no-fuss without being brusque, the fact they have Top 10 menu list.

And we love the look of just about every single dish we see being served or consumed around us.

And, of course, the price is right.

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Despite the menu being more wide-ranging than we have been expecting, there are only a couple of snack-type appestisers.

Our fried wontons ($5) are fine.

The porky fillings are regulation but we really dig the light batter that seems to have quite a pronounced eggy factor.

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From the Top 10 list, Bennie chooses spicy cumin beef on rice ($9.50), which is excellent.

It’s oily but not off-puttingly so.

The plentiful beef is tender and delicious, no doubt due to MSG – but we don’t care.

The crunchy onion strands add texture and – best of all – the cumin seasoning is all the more fabulous for being quite restrained.

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As you can see, the broth in my soya chicken/roast pork soup noodles ($10.80) is quite oily, but it has good if not great flavour – and certainly it’s better than that experienced at Supper Inn a few days previously in a similar dish.

I had been intending to order my roast meats with rice, a little concerned how I was going negotiate the boning of the bird bits in the soup context.

But my absentminded ordering of the soup rendition proves no problem, for the meats are very, very good.

The roast pork is fat-free and without gristle of any kind, though I know full well that such can be just a matter of luck and timing.

The soya chicken is equally tender and gorgeous, with the meat falling easily from the bones.

Wow – what a great-tasting Melbourne cheap eats joint this is, and surely it’s the standout of a stretch of Elizabeth St crammed with eating options.

Excitingly, in terms of the long menu, we’ve only just begun.

See the review by Asian Restaurants In Melbourne here.

Consider The Sauce Feast No.3: Dragon Express

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PLEASE NOT: THIS DINNER IS NOW FULLY SUBSCRIBED!

It may seem that having a mid-week lunch at Dragon Express in Sunshine that exactly duplicates our first meal there – stir-fried green vegetables and spicy chicken ribs – is a bit on the predictable side.

It’s all Bennie’s idea, but it’s one I’m happy to go along with for the simple, perfect reason they’re very good.

It’s also Bennie’s idea that Dragon Express be approached to co-host the third Consider The Sauce Feast – and that’s another one to which I’m happy to assent.

We like the joint’s food a bunch and I’m confident a smart operator like proprietor Lim will see the PR and goodwill advantages in having a big tableful of western suburbs food hounds chowing down at a blog-hosted dinner, even if it does cost him in the form of providing food at no cost to the guests.

And so he does – and so the third Consider The Sauce Feast will be at Dragon Express on Tuesday, October 15, from 7.30pm.

There’s no surprise, either, in the fact the two aforementioned dishes will be on the menu, along with several more.

And I’m happy the focus will be on Cantonese food, rather than the restaurant’s offerings derived from other parts of Asia.

Sometimes Cantonese cooking isn’t all you need – it’s exactly what you need.

In this regard, Dragon Express strikes what seems to us a fine balance … Cantonese food every bit as good as or even better than more high-falutin’ places at prices similar to those of the most humble Chinese takeaway joints.

There are some guidelines I choose to lay down, but even on this Lim and I understand each other well – so much so that he finishes my sentence for me …

Says I: “Now look here, Lim, we don’t want to be having none of your sweet and sour pork or lemon chicken …”

Lim continues: ” … or black bean sauce!”

Here are the rules:

  • No restrictions this time around on those who have attended previous CTS dinners.  
  • First in, first served.
  • There are 10 places only available.
  • Fellow food bloggers welcome to apply but they will not be given preference.
  • No more than two places to be claimed by any applicant, though “singles” will also be accepted.
  • There will be no charge for our food but guests will be expected to pay for their own drinks.

To grab your place, send me an email telling me whether you want one or to places. The address is elsewhere on this site. Applying by commenting on this post will not work.

Consider The Sauce Feast No.3:

Dragon Express, 28 City Place, Sunshine. Phone: 9312 6968

Tuesday, October 15, from 7.30pm.

Chicken sweet corn soup

Mixed entree

Seafood combination bird’s nest

Sizzling steak

Stirfried green vegetables with garlic

Salt and pepper squid

Spicy chicken ribs

Pork ribs with Peking sauce

Special fried rice

Book ends for an Indiana Jones marathon

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Hooked, 172 Chapel St, Windsor. Phone: 9529 1075

Supper Inn, 15 Celestial Ave, Melbourne. Phone: 9663 4759

It’s halfway through the school holidays, it’s grand final day and we’re feeling exuberant and a little bit mad.

We’d sort of planned on watching almost all of the footy before hitting the road to St Kilda and the Astor Theatre for a 5pm start.

But we find the whole thing so pitifully boring, so we head out heaps early.

And, naturally enough, there’s little traffic to speak of, so we have plenty of time to wander down Chapel St eyeballing a vibrant part of town we rarely visit these days.

The bonus time factor likewise settles the dilemma of whether to eat before or after our three-movie marathon.

We finally settle on the specialist and classy Hooked fish and chippery, of which there is also a branch in Fitzroy. I’ve eaten here before, but Bennie hasn’t.

We’re expecting excellence of the same kind we regularly experience at Ebi in West Footscray.

That’s what we get, too, though at first we are somewhat taken aback at what seems like rather tight-fisted serves of both our fishy protagonists and chips.

But once we remind ourselves that we’re having the daily lunch box special for $10.95 with salad extra for $2, we devour our early dinners with much enjoyment and consider them good value.

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Bennie’s crumbed calamari is right up there with best I’ve had – grease-free, both fresh and nicely chewy, beautifully seasoned.

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My two pieces of blue grenadier are more substantial than they appear, deliciously tender and superbly cooked.

In both our cases, the chips are very fine and the Asian-influenced salad with pickled ginger does OK – so actually is way better than the usual salad components found at fish and chip joints.

The most lovely surprise of our meal comes in the form of a punnet of one of the sauces available for 95 cents.

“Sambol” is unlike anything sambol we’ve ever experienced before.

It’s actually far more like the sort of oiled and gingery mash usually served with Hainan chicken rice.

With deep-fried seafood and potatoes?

It really works!

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Booking a couple of tickets for the Astor’s Indiana Jones marathon was inspired by examination earlier in the week of the lacklustre school holiday movie fare on offer.

It’s a winning move and we have a ball.

We see three cracking good flicks for $20 in a gorgeous old theatre, sharing the experience with a happy, slightly geeky crowd that claps and cheers before and after each movie, during the more preposterous scenes and at some of the more crack-up lines.

There’s at least half a dozen cats dressed up as Indi, and one group with an Esky stuffed with food.

During the first interval, we see one bloke tucking into a can of Jim Beam & Coke AND a mighty slice of chocolate cake. At the next break, we spy the same dude wielding a packet of Malteasers.

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We’d seen Raiders Of The Lost Ark at the same venue about a year before, so it holds little surprise for us.

I haven’t seen the next two since the time of their original releases and have little recall of the storylines, so lap them up with glee.

Temple Of Doom seems to suffer, to my mind, from a lack of exotic locations.

From a foodie point of view, however, it does boast a couple of brilliant barbecue scenes.

The Last Crusade is more upbeat, goofy and rollicking, with Sean Connery a real cool addition.

Across the three movies, we spy two stunts that have received the Mythbusters treatment, though there may well have been others.

Given the slightly late start and the breaks between flicks, it’s after midnight before it’s all over, so the early dinner has turned out to be just the right move.

But now, of course, we’re up for supper. Bennie wants to have his first ever crack at congee, so off we go down St Kilda Rd and into the CBD, where we find a park easily.

Supper Inn is a late-night Melbourne institution, though my one meal here was so long ago as to leave me completely bereft of any detailed recollection.

No matter – it seems like the perfect place to continue what has already been an awesome day in the life of Consider The Sauce.

The restaurant is bustling and doing brisk business. The dowdy decor doubtless hasn’t changed in decades.

Most of the punters do as we do and roll their eyes and grimace as a series of rowdy (drunk) Hawthorn fans periodically spark up with tuneless renditions of their club’s theme song.

Footy club theme songs being perhaps even more loathed in our home than the dreaded Christian Music …

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I’m knocked out and proud as all get out that Bennie’s wanting to try congee for the first time – and that he orders the preserved duck egg with pork rendition ($7.50).

Even better, he slurps the lot up with glee. It tastes pretty good to me, too!

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By comparison, my rice noodle soup with roast pork is a dud.

I appreciate the wealth of bok choy and the pork is equally plentiful, on the sweetish side and rather good and meaty.

But overall, my supper is bland – and, at $16, it’s at least $5 more pricey than we’d normally expect to pay for such a dish.

Should there be another late-night out for us – and on the basis of this one, it appears that is certain be the case – we’ll likely head for another late-night joint, China Bar, around the corner.

There, should we wish to do so, we’ll be able to have a better quality version of the same soup noodle dish at a more modest price, and probably better food overall – or at least more in line with our tastes.

Still, we’ve fully experienced two grand Melbourne traditions in a single day – a movie marathon at the Astor and a post-midnight feed at the Supper Inn.

Happy sighs punctuate our drive home.

 

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Messy but good

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Dude Food Man at Yarraville Gardens

We head for Yarraville Gardens in a ridiculously brisk and windy spring twilight without dad doing his sums – figuring that $31 plus change should cover us.

We are forgetting, of course, that food truck food as it’s swept through the suburbs is not necessarily all that cheap.

So our immediately available funds fall a tad short of what’s required for our two burgers, chips and a couple of cans fizz.

This doesn’t faze the Dude Food dudes at all.

In the interests of happy customers, they happily make up the shortfall – and for that generosity we thank them.

But how do their burgers stacks up?

Especially when their goodies are more pricey than the outfit with which we are able to make a direct comparison – Mr Burger?

Darn well, actually.

In this case at least, it’s a matter of getting what we pay for.

Or mostly pay for …

(I have toyed with idea of relegating the close-ups of our sandwiches to the bottom of this story or not using them at all, so unappealing do they make our dinner appear.  Both burgers fall into a category that might usefully be termed “over-dressed”. But they’re here in all their technicolour glory – just rest assured what we enjoy tastes a whole lot better than it looks …)

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Bennie enjoys his pulled pork slider with “48hr cooked pork, crackling, coleslaw, house-made BBQ sauce” ($13), especially the smokey flavour of the sauce.

The coleslaw strikes me as a creamy delight.

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My Dude Burger with “160g Wagyu patty, iceberg, cheddar, tomato, caramelised onion, pickles, American mustard & aioli” ($13) is even better – a real hands-on treat.

The patty is of pronounced beefiness and has great, chewy texture.

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In many ways our chips ($7 with roasted garlic aioli) are the biggest surprise of our chow-down.

These are super-dooper chunky, hot, crisp, perfectly cooked and far and away the best chips we’ve had from a Melbourne food truck.

In truth, and on account of the cold blast of the weather, our meal is something of an eat-and-run excerise.

But on a warm evening and right next door to this or another park, we’ll be happy to return for more.

Best way to find out where Dude Food Man is serving is through his Facebook page.

 

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Best food at Highpoint? We think so …

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Dumplings Plus, Level 2, Shop 2518, 120-200 Rosamond Rd, Maribyrnong. Phone: 9318 4933

It’s only a shopping centre, but Highpoint has its strengths.

Today one of them becomes very apparent to me.

I am wrangling two lively boys for the next six hours or so, and the weather radar tells me the likes of fresh-air frolics at Point Cook Homestead or Altona Beach are simply not going to be workable let alone enjoyable.

So off we go to the Great Maribyrnong Retail Shrine On The Hill – where there may be a school holiday cast of thousands but where we will be dry and warm.

Some fruit & veg shopping, checking out the book and games shops, lunch at Dumplings Plus … a perfectly acceptable and pleasurable way to fill a few hours.

Since our first visit, we’ve being hearing mixed reports about the new dumpling joint in the new food court section of the centre.

Truth is, we’ve had a few ups and downs ourselves.

We earnestly suggest, for instance, that if you’re looking for laksa that you’d be well advised to look elsewhere.

Nevertheless, Bennie and I have lucked upon some fine dishes on separate visits – me, solo, and beef brisket soup; Bennie with his mum and their dumplings with chilli.

So we’re intent on trying both again and comparing notes in the company of Bennie’s school buddy.

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My earlier encounter with beef brisket soup ($9.80) had involved an incredibly deeply and lustily flavoured broth and heaps of dark, well-cooked and virtually fat-free meat.

Today’s outing seems rather anemic by comparison but is still quite respectable.

So it goes with dishes – bo kho is another – that vary depending on the freshness or otherwise of a particular batch. And with freshness not always being a good thing.

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Our dozen steamed dumplings ($9.80) come as half pork, half vegetable, not that we can tell the difference – it’s a lottery!

But both kinds are good in a chewy, rustic way.

I am bemused, though, by the sauce in which they swim.

This seems way more about soy and hardly at all about chilli, with only the mildest of spice kicks detectable on about every third mouthful.

So even on a good day, it seems, Highpoint’s Dumplings Plus can be a hit and miss proposition.

But it’s still, for us, the best eats to be had there.

Although we are aware that for many folks, that’s no sort of marker at all.

Management may like to revisit its seating policy.

As we arrived and ordered at the front counter, a group of three women were “reserving” a table each as they awaited friends.

When we left a half an hour later – and having eaten our lunch with three of us crammed onto one of the tiny, exterior two-seater tables – only one of their pals had arrived and they appeared to be a long way short of ordering, never mind actually eating.

At such a popular eating spot with no lack of customers and extremely high turnover, this seems a bit rich.

Perversely, we drive home in bright sunshine.

So very Melbourne!

Yummo – CTS Feast No.2 at Vanakkam

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

Our second Consider The Sauce Feast was every bit as enjoyable as the first.

Bennie and I made some new friends, all of whom had never eaten at Vanakkam before, so we were thrilled to be able to share one of our favourite restaurants with them.

So our thanks firstly to Jagadish and his staff for turning it on for us in such splendid fashion.

Thanks, too, to Amy, Giselle, Daniel, Rochelle, Paul, Jacqui of Urban Ma (read her post here), Wes, Charles, Bronwyn, Danielle and long-time CTS supporter Keri – we loved hanging with you and talking food and more, and cherish your ongoing support for Consider The Sauce.

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Our mixed appetisers were three.

Unsurprisingly, gobi 65 and chicken 65 were somewhat similar in terms of seasoning and batter, but still different.

The cauilflower gently crunchy, the chicken plump and meaty, they were both nevertheless excellent in every way.

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The Vanakkam onion bhaji Bennie and I were already familiar with – with their crisp chick pea batter, we reckon these are Melbourne’s best onion rings.

Then came the chicken biryani – lots of it.

The heavenly spiced rice and all its accoutrements – raw and fried onion rings, hardboiled egg, vibrant red and spicy gravy, raita – all seemed just as fine as ever to us.

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Sunday Herald Sun’s Victoria’s Top 100 Food Experiences (yeah, right, whatever)

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After spending more than two decades working for the Sunday Herald Sun and other organs of the Murdoch empire, I am these days extremely firm in my resolve to never, ever pay for any of them.

But today I buckled, buying a copy of the Sunday rag on my way to an impromptu picnic lunch in Yarraville Gardens, figuring that sniggering my way through the liftout section grandly entitled “Victoria’s Top 100 Food Experiences” would see me through lunch.

Look, I know that lists are made to be the subject of debate and even argument.

And I’m aware that by responding I could be charged with feeding the beast, but …

There’s a lot of old standbys in the 100 – Abla’s, Pelligrini’s, the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant and so on.

I’m cool with that – there’s a reason such places are famed, and that’s because they’re often very good, immensely enjoyable or both.

No surprise, either, to see a swag of celebrity chefs and restaurants get a run. But imagine how much more room and numbers they’d have had to truly sing Melbourne’s praises had they grouped these luminaries together instead of allocating so many of them their very own places on a list of 100.

Ho hum …

And we are happy to see CTS faves such as Oasis Bakery, Books For Cooks and Brunetti included.

But the western suburbs?

Let’s just say my cynicism and low expectations have been amply rewarded.

The Station Hotel gets listed in the “No.2: Steak” section.

Of course.

And then there’s this:

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And that, rather dismissively and one-dimensionally, is it.

If I’ve missed anything, it’s been buried.

Ebi doesn’t even get a nod in the fish and chip section.

This is all to be expected.

So what I find even more staggering is that as far as I can tell there is not a single mention of Indian food or food traditions and culture, western suburbs or otherwise.

At all.

Sheesh!

(There’s undoubtedly other major ethnic cuisines also treated superficially or not at all, but I can’t be bothered to add them up … OK, I’ll name-check one other: North African.)

What’s that I hear you say?

“No such list can possibly cover all bases to everyone’s satisfaction.”

Well, yes.

But in that case, it should’ve been entitled “100 of Victoria’s Top Food Experiences”.

That’s a subtle but important difference.

The conclusion I draw from this is simple: Support your favourite food blogs.

At least I got to gleefully use the rest of the rag as my tablecloth.

lil nonoms live situation road test

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lil nomnoms @ Yarraville Gardens

Trying out the prospective lil nomnoms food at the new food truck outfit’s launch party in Brunswick is one thing – seeing what they’re actually serving now they’re on the road is something quite different.

So having chosen other options the previous day when the van was in Point Cook, I’m happy to check out lil nomnoms at a venue much closer to home – what I reckon we can all safely now refer to as “Yarraville’s food truck strip” – for a lovely spring lunch.

Spring rolls ($2, though mine are “on the house” on account of Nam recognising me!) are both agreeably crisp and chewy.

Instead of being made with pastry of any kind, these are made with a crispy fried lacework of vermicelli. I’m sure there are names for this style of roll – Vietnamese, English, other – but some rudimentary sleuthing has failed me.

(Post-script from Lauren at Footscray Food Blog: “Anh hoi or ‘angel vermicelli’ – a personal fave. Goes into the lettuce for wrapping.”)

“Tiger” banh mi is longer and skinnier than you’ll get in Footscray central.

At first, I fear my roll is going to bland out on me but by the time I’m a third of the way in the chillies and other goodies kick in fine.

It’s a good ban mi, though it’s worth noting that at $7.50 it’s pretty much twice what you’ll pay at your garden variety banh mi joint.

There’s a different dynamic at play here, though.

This is springtime and the right time for food trucks, and I’m having a fine old picnic using the Murdoch tabloid at which I spent so many years as a tablecloth.

Steamed bao with pork belly ($8) is my meal’s highlight.

The spongy steamed bun encases quite a generous serve of pork belly slathered with a slippery and sticky sauce mostly generated by the cooking process and involving the likes of star anise.

Chilli, cucumber and coriander complete a picture that is a tasty and wonderfully messy handful.

Hopefully, the lil nomnoms’ crew will be making regular westie stops.

To find out where they’ll be, best to “like” their Facebook page.

 

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A Saturday in Altona

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First stop is the sugar-hit haven of Just Sweets.

I’m here to meet new pal Kathy for coffee and talk.

She’s these days running a newish blog – check it out here – so we talk shop.

Even though her site is recipe-based, unlike Consider The Sauce, we find plenty of common ground – especially as she’s a long-time Williamstown resident and has a “real” career very much in the food industry.

With much gaffawing, giggling and eye-rolling, we move from food and restaurants on to careers, families and life in general.

On top of our coffees, Enzo provides us both with delectable choc-covered dry-frozen strawberries. Yum!

As we depart, I promise Enzo I’ll return with Bennie before Christmas for some serious sweet treat business.

Kathy and I wander around the corner to the farmer’s market at Altona Primary School on Blyth St. It’s on the third Saturday of every month.

It’s a very small affair but of high quality and nice vibes.

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It’s here we meet Bec of Bec’s Bakes.

She’s from Sunshine, is an eager baker and keen to leverage her passion into some sort of business.

It’s early days, though – this is her first ever market!

Business has been fine, she tells us, as I buy a $5 apple cake to take home.

As Kathy and I say our farewells, my mind turns to the serious matter of lunch.

So I stop at the Greek Grill on Civic Parade – I’m interested to see of this multi-facted chicken shop/burger bar/Greek restaurant hits the spot with its burgers.

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My $5.50 cheeseburger with bacon is obviously at the low-budget end of the burger spectrum but shows that good things can be done even at that sort of price.

It’s a quick meal but the tastily real meat is juicy, nicely seasoned and even green-specked with herbs, presumably parsley.

Not bad at all!

The chips are fresh, hot and plentiful but not as excellent as I have been hoping for.

One more stop before home – Altona Fresh on Second Avenue.

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 My shopping needs are minimal – some beef-and-pork snags, spuds for a salad, bananas.

But as always, it’s kick to hang out for a while in this outstanding foodie emporium, rubbing shoulders with the ticketed throng crowding around the deli counter.

So happy this place has become part of our regular routine!

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Pod at P.I.D. – something exciting for WeFo

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Meet Fiona, Mary and Jess.

Mary – she’s the one in the middle – is the proprietor of Post Industrial Design, the grooviness emporium at 638 Barkly St in West Footscray.

Soon she’ll be sharing that space with Fi and Jess and their new cafe/eatery called Pod.

Fi will be a familiar face to many Consider The Sauce readers on account of her varying roles over the years at Cafe Fidama, Touks and Sourdough Kitchen.

Jess reckons the lack of gas for cooking sits well with the food and drink philosophy to which he and Fi will be adhering.

I’m sure there’ll be some heartiness involved, but much will be of the lighter variety and you won’t be seeing the likes of a Big Breakfast at this joint.

Their motto – inscribed on their business card – is “Darn Good Food”.

While almost all of the hard yards of fitting out remain to be done, Fi tells me they’ve already started making their own pickles and cordial.

How good does that sound in terms of hopeful signs for really yummy, hands-on and soulful tucker?

They’re aiming for an early November opening.

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