Category Archives: Places we like to eat at

What a find in Deer Park!

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Western Pho, 2B Burnside St, Deer Park. Phone: 9363 0022

Think western suburbs and Vietnamese food and almost all of us will automatically think Footscray, followed by Sunshine and St Albans.

But Deer Park sports a Vietnamese gem.

Western Pho is a gorgeous little family run business situated just off the main Deer Park shopping strip.

It’s a first restaurant adventure for Phi and his wife, Ha, who does most of the cooking.

They’ve been up and running since taking over the premises from the previous operators about five months ago, and some time before that the place was a (mostly takeaway) Chinese establishment.

That heritage shows in the comfy old-school decor, which is these days adorned by a plethora of food photos.

The service is super friendly and caring.

And judging by the number of familiar locals coming and going, it seem Western Pho is playing something of community hub role as well.

Based on my most enjoyable lunch, I reckon just about everything on the menu would be worth trying.

It’s a long document, listing more than 100 items and boasting prices at the lower end of what you’d find in Footscray.

They’re all there – well most of “them”: Pho and other soup noodles, vermicelli, fried noodles, Chinese-derived dishes, one-person rice plates, rice paper and spring rolls, satay skewers and much more.

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I really dig it when Vietnamese restaurants provide small-serve portions of soup – it enables one to get a soup hit without dedicating a whole meal to it.

Western Pho has six of them, all but one of them priced at a very groovy $4.

The broth of my wonton soup is a little too sweet for my taste, but is still fine and hot.

The three tender-yet-pleasingly-chewy dumplings are joined by a couple of good pork slices and various bits of greenery.

Sometimes soggy, soup-laden lettuce leaves are just the ticket!

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Western Pho’s coleslaw, Phi tells me, is normally served “unspicy” but he’s happy to add some chilli slices to my order of the prawn and vegetable rendition ($11).

They’re the cream on what is a very good version of Vietnamese coleslaw.

The vegetables are so fresh and crunchy that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover my salad had been made from scratch in the kitchen.

There’s a lot of medium-sized prawn tails that have been split in two length-wise. They, too, are very fresh and quite delicate. But their flavour is so very, very mild that I rather wish I’d opted for the chicken or pork versions.

Joining the red chilli slices are plenty of roasted peanuts and fried shallots, with the whole dish basking in a pleasant but not particularly tangy dressing.

Deer Park punters are lucky to have such a cracking Vietnamese eatery in their ‘hood.

They do home delivery, too!

 

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Couldn’t live without it

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Bennie and I are yet to return to Spicy Corner in Tullamarine, and are unlikely to do so any time soonish.

But I am delighted to be able to report that this cool, old-school Sri Lankan joint in Tullamarine has become a regular, lovely part of my life.

The food situation at my current place of employment in Airport West remains as dreary as ever.

So I’ve been really happy to play a part in organising Friday “curry runs” to Tullamarine that are proving to be well worth the 20-minute round trip.

Today there were about half a dozen eager and hungry colleagues making inquiries and drawing up a list as early as about 10am.

It’s true that this cheap and simple Sri Lankan foods looks even less stylish and appetising than usual when crammed into plastic takeaway containers.

But it tastes mighty when being wolfed down at our desks.

Even better, the accompaniments to our choices of lamb or chicken curry seem to be changing as the weeks roll by.

Today, for instance, we were blessed with a swell dry green bean dish and a more creamy spud and cauliflower outing.

It’s not super-spicy food, but it does have a kick, thanks mostly to the added dry chilli mix, relishes and chutneys.

And certainly I’m no macho fool when it comes to spice/heat levels.

I have no truck at all, for instance, with the ugly chilliness perpetrated by Crazy Wings.

But today I noticed how profoundly better I felt after lunch when compared with how I felt before lunch.

I’d put it at about 20 per cent better.

I’ve read that there is actually a very real aspect to chilli addiction – if addiction is the right word.

But I reckon a lot of it is also due to very subjective and emotional factors.

Nevertheless, after today’s meal break I felt fully refreshed, of exceedingly good humour, full of goodwill and ready for many more hours of work.

Spicy food?

Hell, yes!

Energy drinks?

Meh …

The heat treatment – couldn’t live without it.

Spicy Corner is at 49 Dawson Street, Tullamarine.

Revisiting an old Willy pal

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Burger Culture, 3 Cole St, Williamstown. Phone: 9397 7156

Burger Culture, situated opposite Santorini Greek restaurant just off Nelson Place, pre-dates the likes of the now common Grill’d burger chain.

In fact, it was the first place Bennie and regularly hit to get our hands on affordable American-style burgers, different from the Aussie style and without setting foot in a pub.

We had many fine meals there.

But somewhere along the way, we ventured elsewhere, and I recall that on our last visit we were a little underwhelmed in particular by the thinness and mediocrity of the beef patties.

So I’m interested to check the place out again in what is an impromptu lunch in terms of venue.

Jacqui of Urban Ma and I had headed this way with a specific eat shop in minds, but it’s closed so we make do in a locale loaded with eating options but precious few really good ones.

And while what we get at Burger Culture will not win any awards, we nevertheless really enjoy our lunches.

The interior is bustling with lunchtime activity, so we grab an outdoor table even though it’s a rather chilly spring day.

For me, it’s the culture classic (above, $7.50) with “lean beef, tomato, lettuce, onion, tomato relish and culture mayo” with bacon as an extra.

For Jac, it’s the New Yorker (below, $11.90) with “lean beef, caramelised onions, swiss cheese, tomato, lettuce, tomato relish and culture mayo”.

The first and best thing that impresses me about my burger is the patty – this one has a real nice, real beefy texture and flavour, and the bacon is fine, too.

But I envy Jacqui’s more diverse and interesting sandwich – there’s mustard as well as the advertised ingredients.

What impresses both of us most about our meals is that combo deals encompassing chips and a can of soft drink are offered for a mere $3 extra.

This means that, cost-wise, Burger Culture combo deals pretty much end where Grill’d stand-alone burgers start.

That’s good!

Our chips are just OK, though – we reckon they could be hotter and little more well done. But we consume them happily with little plastic tubs of tomato relish and chilli mayo that cost us 50 cents each.

The Burger Culture website is here.

 

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Consider The Sauce Indian Feast No.2

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PLEASE NOTE – THIS DINNER IS NOW FULLY SUBSCRIBED!!!

Hyderabad Inn – venue for the recent curry celebration involving Consider The Sauce readers – is one of our favourite places to eat Indian in Footscray.

Our other favourite place is Vanakkam, also on Barkly St but on the other side of the Geelong Rd.

It has been known for us to order dishes other than biryani there – but I have difficulty recalling the last time we did so.

Yep, we sure do love the Vanakkam biryanis – mounds of spice-perfumed rice hiding chicken pieces or goat on the bone, hardboiled egg, topped with raw onion slices, and fried onion, too; biryani-specific spicy gravy; raita.

MMMmmmmm!

So that’s what Jagadish will be cooking for us on Tuesday, September 24 – along with a range of mixed appetisers for starters.

Here are the rules:

  • No applications accepted from any of those who attended the Hyderabad Inn bash.  
  • 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.
  • Please state preference for chicken, goat or vegetable biryani. Stating such preference will in no way restrict guests from eating any or all of the biryanis on offer.
  • 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 Indian Feast No.2: Vanakkam, 359 Barkly St, Footscray. Phone: 9687 7224 Tuesday, September 24, from 7.30pm.

Mixed appetisers

Biryanis – chicken, goat, vegetable.

Could be burger of the year …

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Chase Kitchen, 80 Hudsons Road, Spotswood. Phone: 0423 742 460

The initial aim of our Sunday drive is to eyeball the tall ships parked in the bay at Williamstown.

But that plan comes to nowt when we find the traffic backed up way before our destination and even some way down The Strand.

No way – we’re not that keen on things nautical!

So off we go with lunch on our minds.

Bennie – surprise, surprise – fancies a burger; his dad’s fancy is turning to the roast lunches available in the vicinity.

Bennie gets his way, but that’s a good thing indeed in this case.

We park expecting to hit the Spotiswoode pub, but choose to check out the action on Hudsons Rd anyway.

And what do we find but a new arrival.

Well, relatively new.

Chase Kitchen is open for business on a shopping strip that has become rather competitive – there’s a hip bakery and three other coffee/breakfast/lunch places right across the road.

We decide to give it a go based on the Boston Burger advertised on the footpath blackboard sign and end up being really delighted we have done so.

Inside is a chic but mostly regulation cafe space with stools and tall tables at the front, other seating further in, a back room between the front counter and the rear kitchen, and a garden further out back yet to be utilised.

The service and welcome we are provided are exemplary.

Certainly, the sharing of our two choices – the burger ($14.50) and the pulled pork roll with Asian slaw ($16.50) – is obligingly handled by the staff.

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The pork roll is fine and generous, although the crunchy, creamy, delicious slaw rather overshadows the pork.

But the burger is better – Bennie even rates it the best he’s had this year.

That’s high praise from An Expert.

The patty has great flavour, although it does seem a little mushy – more of a meaty texture would be grand.

But what really makes this a burger supreme is the tangy, spicy mayo given a righteous kick from jalapenos and terrifically crispy bacon.

It’s really, really good.

We are both given heaps of thin fries that are hot, salty and pretty damn fine, too, though some of them seem a bit limp to me.

We are not the first Melbourne bloggers to cover Chase Kitchen – that honour falls to our pal Jacqui at Urban Ma – read her review here. Although it may seem a bit boring that Jacqui and her family ordered exactly the same as us!

 

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Backyard Vietnamese and a huge flying octopus

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Weasels Garden Cafe, 8 Murray Street, Abbotsford. Phone: 9410 0214

It’s been an ordinary sort of week.

No actually catastrophes, but the senior partner of Consider The Sauce has felt harried and frazzled, and a bit down on life to boot.

All of this was exacerbated by the sudden arrival on Friday morning of explosive lower back pain.

The last occasion of such a severe episode – a few years back – saw me attempting to soldier on and ending up in an ambulance.

So this time, Bennie and I know just what to do.

Nothing.

More particularly, the cessation of all normal activity.

So … no work, no getting paid for work (such is the life of the casual employee), no driving and – hence – no school for the boy. (Mind you, Bennie’s teacher is happy for him to miss a day of schooling for some quality home/dad time …)

Happily, all that horizontal rest and sleep pays profound dividends, so the next day finds me well on the way to wellness.

Not fighting fit mind you, so not up for anything too tumultuous or strenuous – so that counts out the Ethiopian festival in the mall.

But we ARE up for a leisurely drive to Richmond/Abbotsford, especially as we have a hunch our destination will provide not just fine food but also a tranquil, beautiful setting in which to enjoy it.

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Weasel’s Garden Cafe is, well, a garden cafe set in a Victorian home on a residential street about a block from the intense Vietnamese vibe of Victoria St.

After we’ve ordered, I get talking to the other person taking photographs of the lovely garden that features chillis and lemons and much else besides.

This is Jen, who is part of the family responsible for this newish business.

She tells me it is the brainchild of her sister, Linh, a keen gardener after whose cat the cafe is named, while their mum, Phuong, does the cooking.

The cafe has been open about five weeks, with most of the customers being just plain old Australian, with only the occasional visit from those of a more Vietnamese Australian persuasion.

Jen reckons that’s down to Richmond no longer being residentially affordable for the wider Vietnamese community, even while Victoria St remains one of Melbourne’s most storied Vietnamese precincts.

I reckon it could be down to Vietnamese folks being unused to chowing down in such a setting.

Could be we’re both right.

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Jen also tells me there was only one formal objection to the opening of the cafe on a residential street.

That makes sense – after all, this is not a night-time joint and, besides, who wouldn’t want a lovely garden cafe serving coffee and Vietnamese food on their street, or even right next door?

Weasels Garden Cafe is working on several fronts – breakfast, coffee, Vietnamese food (see menu below).

But we’re definitely here for the latter, of which there are half a dozen offerings.

We drove here vaguely assuming we’d be supping on pho, but as it turns out we end up splitting a couple of very different dishes.

Bennie opines that what we’re served is very much your standard Vietnamese tucker of the kind we’d be served much closer to home.

He has a point – though the point is only so sharp.

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Grilled chicken with fried egg and rice ($12.50), for instance, IS standard issue, but all is freshness and the chicken is intense with marinade flavours and free of skin, gristle or fat. The egg is runny and perfect.

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Marinated pork with lemongrass, ginger, salad, herbs and vermicelli ($12.50) is just as fine, with the presence of celery and red capsicum making it stand out.

We enjoy our lunch very much, especially in such a grand setting. If we have any wistful desires they would be along the lines of wanting a little more chilli oomph and sharper, more robust flavours in both dishes.

By this time we are loving the joint so much we have easily abandoned the idea of stopping somewhere in Carlton for gelati, and dig in right where we are for coffee and a sweet treat.

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My cafe latte and his hot chocolate are just right.

Our gluten free rock crackle ($3) seems to be weirdly misnamed – world’s best hedgehog would probably be more accurate.

It’s both light and incredibly rich, and studded with puffed rice and (I think) dried raspberries.

It’s more substantial than it looks, too, so much so that my normally ardent sweet tooth son does not finish his portion.

By the time we’re done with Weasel’s, our only regret is that it’s on the wrong side of town.

This place has us hoping that some westie entrepreneurs might take up the challenge.

After all, we have hundreds of cool ethnic eateries in our wider neighbourhood and a growing numbers of fine cafes – but, as far as we are aware, none that combine both with quite this level of harmony and style.

As we depart, little do we know our day’s adventures are not yet completed – for we have yet to meet Tony The Kite Man.

Tooling home and driving alongside Royal Park – something we’ve done thousands of times before without finding cause to stop – Bennie spies something mysterious and thrilling in the sky.

So this time we do stop.

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In the middle of a wild paddock behind the hospital and high in the sky, what we find is a kite.

And not just any kite – this is the biggest by far either of us have ever seen.

It’s at least 50 feet long and in the form of an octopus.

Even better, instead of the tentacles being flat, plain cloth, they’re inflated by the wind.

It’s a magnificent sight!

We get talking to the kite’s flyer and owner, Tony, as the darkening sky threatens an afternoon apocalypse.

At some point, the kite shakes free of its moorings, so we all run off in pursuit.

Well actually, the other two run … I walk gently.

The kite is on its way to a gentle landing, but luckily Bennie apprehends its line spool before it becomes embedded in a tree.

As our new friend and kite expert quips: “All trees love kites and getting a kite out of tree is mostly impossible.”

The impending rain nixes out combined efforts to get the kite flying again, but somehow I’ll think we’ll be back some Saturday afternoon soon to see Tony in action.

As Bennie points out as we move on homewards, there’s something both marvellously exciting and sublimely peaceful about kites.

They’re good for the soul.

And crook backs.

 

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Linh, owner of Weasel the cat and Weasel’s the cafe.

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Back to our former local

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Victoria Harts Hotel, 43 Victoria St, Footscray. Phone: 9687 7581

This pub was once our very local local.

That was two moves ago and several years before the advent of Consider The Sauce.

We only ate there once, but yours truly spent time there – much time, actually – watching various football games in the days before a subscription to Foxtel made such unnecessary.

We no longer live so close, but we’re interested in checking out how it shapes up under “new management” – not that that is always, if ever, a particularly hopeful sign.

Inside, all remains much as we recall.

The new crew seems to come straight from the same template as the previous and the kitchen staff are wearing Jack Daniels polo shirts.

I even get called “Darl” when ordering.

The menu is very much your basic pub grub – steaks, some pasta, kids meals with chips for $10, a daily specials blackboard.

Bennie’s dinner desire is not featured on the menu, so he settles for chicken schnitzel ($17).

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The schnitzel itself looks rather ghastly – almost diseased, actually.

But that’s because the cheese is far more grilled than is usually the case.

The certainly brings out the cheesy factor, and Bennie’s meal tastes good to his dad.

And while I’m no expert and could be fooled in this regard, I’m pretty certain this is your actual slab of actual chook meat, as opposed to the re-constituted variety.

The chips and salad are OK, but the former seem to adhere to the dictates of a lack of generosity we seem to be coming across more and more lately in similar meals in similar places.

Health-wise, that may actually be a good thing, but still …

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My bangers and mash ($13 regular price, $10 for me as a blackboard special) looks unglamourous and drab.

But in the eating it is much better.

The snags appear cheap and nasty but are just the kind of tightly-bound Italian-style pork sausages we eat at home.

The mash is hot and plentiful; the gravy is dark and just the right kind of salty.

Both are classic cheap pub grub.

Having ordered this exact same meal in any number of places and received nothing BUT bangers and mash, I am pleased to see and eat the carrot and zucchini on the side.

There’s a big bunch of room in our lives for pubs and pub food that have none of the swishness of the Spottisswoode Hotel, Plough Hotel or Junction Beer Hall & Wine Room.

The Vic seems to be doing a fair job.

And certainly, the fact there’s a heap of locals lining up early in the week for a feed speaks well of the place.

But for similar food presented with a tad more panache, at similar prices and marginally closer to home, we’ll most likely stick with the Mona Castle.

As we depart, Bennie asks with puzzlement: “What kind of pub doesn’t have a burger?”

 

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And a yummy time was had by all …

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Hyderabad Inn, 551 Barkly St, West Footscray. Phone: 9689 0998

What a nice time we all had at the Indian Feast co-sponsored by Hyderabad Inn and Consider The Sauce.

So first thanks go to chef Nagesh and his staff for so generously providing us with such a fine meal.

My own favourites were a spicy, creamy tomato soup with a garlic and ginger kick, and – somewhat surprisingly – the homely delights of a fabulous peas pulao and simple dal.

Mind you, we all loved the gulab jamun with insanely good pistachio ice cream as well!

Thanks, too, to CTS readers Russell, Loren and Brenton, Kat and Natasha, Ms Baklover of Footscray Food Blog fame and Bianca, Alastair and Michelle, and Kelly and Alison for attending.

So much fun to converse with so many westies with so many mutual and overlapping interests, pertaining to foodiness and much else besides.

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Bennie surprised and delighted all – including his dad – by firing off really good pen-and-paper caricatures of everyone present.

I knew my boy had some drawing skill, but this was something else.

Wow!

Where did that come from?

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The evening’s consisted of the following:

Soup

Cream of tomato soup

Appetizers

Spinach Pakora

Chilly prawns

Chicken tikka spring roll dosa

Chicken Manchurian

Mains

Paripu (South Indian & Srilankian style dal)

Vegetable Taka Tak

Chicken Do Payaaza

Lamb Kohlapuri

Rice

Basmati rice

Peas Pulao

Breads

Amritsari Kulcha (most famous in Punjab & nobody serve in Melbourne)

Mixed breads

Desserts

Gulab Jamun with Ice cream

See earlier Consider The Sauce stories on this restaurant here and here.

This gathering was a joint initiative of Hyderabad Inn and Consider The Sauce, the former of which devised the evening’s menu. Our guests did not pay for their meals.

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Mediterranean Keilor

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Rose Creek Estate open day, 2 Craig St, East Keilor. Phone: 9337 5471

At 2 Craig St, East Keilor, there’s a large, two-storey but otherwise unremarkable suburban home.

There’s also 300 olive trees surrounding a vineyard and much more besides.

Including, but in no way restricted to, a fabulous garden, all sorts of fruit trees and a superb chook family.

The whole set-up is so magnificent, we’re surprised we haven’t heard about it before – or the annual open days.

Then again, it’s situated in a suburb that seems part of the west but through which we travel only on occasion but rarely (never) have a reason to stop.

Regardless, we so enjoy our visit that even if it’s a long time until we return – perhaps for the next available open day – we feel a good deal better about the world just knowing this place is where it is and as it is.

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When we arrive, there seems to be a couple of hundred folks enjoying the day, with as many coming and going as we take it all in.

Indoors, there are wine and oilve oil tastings going on, and a long table replete with samples of olives, cheese and simple bruschetta of bread, parsley and oilve oil.

Before Bennie gets carried away by gorging himself on fare that is, after all, meant to be considered of the sample variety, we seek out more serious tucker.

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I’d been informed somewhere along the way that pizza is often the Rose Creek open-day go.

No pizza today – instead, there’s good-looking sausages being given the heat treatment over coals and served in bread rolls with leaves and brushed with a thyme branch dipped in herby oilive oil.

Yes please!

We’re a little taken aback at the asking price of $10 – the two apiece we have been contemplating could set us back $40.

But the proof is in the eating, and on that count we have no complaints at all, and one serve each is plenty.

The bread is fresh and wonderful, the snags even better.

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They’re made, I’m told, to order by a butcher to the estate’s specifications and using its pepper sauce and semillon. They’re rustically stuffed with gorgeously meaty, high-quality pork the like of which we never see in our usual pork sausages at home, regardless of where we source them.

From there, and before we score a very fine cafe latte and a hot chocolate, it’s a case of us city boys ambling all over, and up and down, sucking up what seems to us like a miraculous Mediterranean vibe in the midst of Melbourne suburbia.

Check out the Rose Creek website here.

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More room, pho sure

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Pho Hien Saigon, 3/284 Hampshire Rd, Sunshine. Phone: 9311 9532

Pho Hien Saigon has long been a great place.

A great place that delivers great food with service that is efficient and consistently prompt yet always friendly.

Unfortunately it’s because of the above factors that getting a seat or table here has often been tricky, especially during any of the joint’s many peak hours.

So it’s really neat to discover that these days there’s a whole lot more room – double, in fact, with the restaurant expanding to take in the adjoining property.

So now it’s double-fronted instead of single-fronted.

And all of it worthy of a quickie write-up.

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As previously noted, I usually visit this fine eatery to eat just a single dish.

For today’s impromptu, early, post-footy lunch, I mix it up by ordering a medium $9 bowl of pho.

It’s excellent in every way.

The broth is strong and flavoursome.

The sliced beef is far from raw and already pretty much cooked by the time my bowl is placed upon my table, yet it retains an overall pinkness I’ve never before seen in pho.

The  equal measure of brisket is fat-free – something also unusual in pho.

The herbiage, sprouts and fresh red chillis are all just right, too.

A Jolly good time

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Jolly J’s, Port Phillip Arcade/232 Flinders St, Melbourne. Phone: 9650 9989

Jolly J’s is situated in Port Phillip Arcade, which is a lunchtime magnet.

It has a cheap and perennially busy multi-Asian joint, and Thai and Japanese places.

Further on – in Scott Alley, Bennie’s address for the first six weeks of his life – there’s a creperie.

At Jolly J’s, customer can order fish and chips, a steak sanger or even raisin toast.

But in all the years I’ve been eating here, I’ve never seen anyone eating any of those things – or anything like them.

Nope, just about everyone goes for a curry plate of one sort or another.

And everyone always includes a reassuringly high number of fellows of Sri Lanakan persuasion, usually a mixture of suited business types and younger, hipper students. Or folks who look like they could be students.

On this particular visit, though, I see several customers getting stuck into what looks like a pretty groovy Sri Lankan version of nasi goreng – bowl-mounded pile of rice, the same condiments that accompany the curry plates, hardboiled egg, papadam on the side.

And it’s only as I’m leaving that I realise after all this time that the restaurant actually has a menu, which features among many Sri Lankan and Western dishes kothu roti.

But that’s a maybe for next time.

Today, as it almost always is, it’s a wonderful plate of “rice with 3 veges & 2 meats” for $11.50.

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Once I’ve inhaled my papdam, I’m right into it …

Good lamb and chicken curries.

A nice dal studded with silverbeet and curry leaves.

A smooth, delicate mix of cashews and peas.

A rather fiery spud-and-onion concoction.

A tangy “coconut sambol” and raita much more substantial with cucumber and tomato than is normally the case in the sort of Sub-Continental places Consider The Sauce habitually haunts.

The heat level seems to rise as my meal proceeds, so in the end my brow is beaded.

But it’s all good. Really good, actually.

Though there is one puzzling aspect to my lunch – this is the first time I can recall eating here and not being served at least one dish that includes eggplant.

 

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Thali, burger and chips

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Sri Murugan, 27 Watton St, Werribee. Phone: 9741 9656

Sri Murugan is a first restaurant adventure for Rathi and Vellayan.

They’ve been up and running for about five weeks, bringing their native Sri Lankan food to the party and combining it with your regular fish and chips and burgers, the ins and outs of which the previous, Greek management imparted to them before splitting and leaving the lovely, friendly couple to their own devices.

Based on our swell Sunday lunch, we reckon they’re doing a pretty good job of handling both aspects.

The place unmistakably bears all the hallmarks of its origins as a genuine, old-school Aussie chippery and burger bar, yet the menu is also festooned with Sri Lankan dishes.

We have a four-way bash at quite a wide bunch of it.

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I’m happy to let Bennie have his way and the lad does real good with his burger pack of one with the lot, chips and a can of drink for $8.

Unlike our previous outing with this style of burger, this one is a glorious hands-on delight, with real beefy meat patty, gooey egg and all the bits and pieces you’d rightfully expect.

The chips are hot and OK in an average sort of way, but the burger is an outright winner.

As Courtney opines: “Sometimes it’s just got to be a fish and chip shop burger!”

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Two vadai (90 cents each) served with coconut chutney are a delight – softer and more moist than is often the case, they’re liberally studded with green chilli. The masala vadai ($1) doesn’t impress quite as much.

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Likewise, a three-piece serve of idli ($6) goes down well with the same chutney and a portion of thickish sambar/dal.

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Rice and curry turns out to be a lovely looking thali.

The star without doubt is the lamb curry, which is coconutty, rich and delicious.

The chick peas are good, too, and have a similarly hefty chilli whack.

The vegetable serves – one of cabbage, the other a mixed concoction of zucchini, beans and carrot – are way overcooked but suffice.

Still, at $8 – and especially if the vegetables were replaced with a dal of some sort – this is a bargain.

In admirably curious spirit, Courtney and James get busy thumbing their mobiles to find out about kothu rotti, and order a couple based on this Wikipedia entry.

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The first, lamb kothu rotti, is the darker and heavier of the pair.

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The second, egg kothu rotti, is both kinds of lighter.

But both are damn tasty, stuffed with all sorts of vegetables and chopped rotti, and with a whiff of wok hei about them.

They are a very satisfying feed, coming across as something like a superior Sri Lankan version of fried rice.

We’re all impressed with the food, service, our ability to enjoy such a wide-ranging meal and the sublime hipness of finding such a cool mixture in the west.

We’d actually started the day meeting up at a foodie pub up the road apiece, but have no regrets about adjourning – based on a CTS reader tip (thanks, Martin!) and mutual gut instinct – to this multi-approach joint.

We wish them well.

Werribee, we’re happy to reflect, is becoming a happy hunting ground for us.

 

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The Rolls Royce of bureks …

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Balkan Fresh Burek, 351 High Street, Preston. Phone: 9470 2433

All too often the bureks we see around the west look forlorn, past their use-by dates and/or like poor second cousins to other products – even including pies and the like.

Our expectations for Balkan Fresh Bureks are a good deal loftier.

After all, the place seems to have a proud manifesto encapsulated in its very name.

We’re not disappointed.

The place itself is a modest but pleasant cafe, already doing brisk business – both eat-in and take-away – even though it’s still before the noonish hour.

But so serious are they about their bureks and their freshness, that they’re not even on display – that honour sits with sweeties alone, such as bakalava and tulumbi, syrup-drenched doughnuts akin to rum baba or gulab jamun and of which we also grab a very delicious couple.

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There’s only three flavours of burek – cheese, spinach (with cheese) and meat (with onion).

Full square and circle/scroll bureks lob in the mid-$20 range. Individual slices are $7 to eat in or $6 as takeaway.

As our party includes a grubby and barefoot boy straight from a rugby game, and as we’ve got some homeward driving to do before we can really relax into the weekend, we grab a couple of takeaway slices to join our doughnuts and hit the road.

At home, our slices are wrapped in foil and gently warmed in the oven before we split the goodies between us.

These are superb bureks.

The flaky pastry is rich and buttery, yet also supple and even elastic.

Bennie prefers the more robust flavour of the meat number, although his dad finds it rather plain and apparently lacking in the advertised onion.

The spinach number is, by contrast, too mild for Bennie but his dad digs the extra colours and textures of fresh spinach and smooth cheese. That’s cheese as in bland – this is your ricotta, so there’s none of the salty bite of fetta going on here.

And at $7 a slice, this is bargain territory – after our lunch we’re both fully full, despite eating only the equivalent of a single slice each.

Dang, we sure wish this place was closer to home and not a mere rugby stopover in a season soon to be ending.

 

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When a place goes bad – or at least a little off – do you want to know? No matter the cost and consequences?

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On Sunday night, Bennie and I visited an old favourite we hadn’t checked out for a while.

We’d heard there were new owners running the place.

Indeed, about the time this joint was on the market, our previous post on it received quite few visitors. Prospective buyers doing their research?

Would the food in particular and the experience as a whole be of the same excellent standard as previously?

Yes, there was a new crew running the place – and doing a grand job of it.

The service was tip-top, the smiles wides, with walk-ins being treated to the same standard of friendliness as the many phone-ins.

The phone barely stopped ringing the whole time we were in the house.

The food?

Well, on the one hand what we got was all anyone could rightfully expect of a pair of $5 burgers, bacon $1 extra, small serve of chips for $3.

But on the other hand, the chips were dull and quite a few of them were barely lukewarm.

The burgers seemed equally drab and a mite miserly, with the patties those cheapy kind that when cooked have texture and taste closer to meatloaf than a beefy burger.

It was an average meal but typical of the kind you’d expect from such an establishment. But it was notably less impressive than those we’d been served by the previous owners.

Were this a bigger business or a trendy one with plenty of supporters and fans and potential defenders, I’d be up for an explicit and honest review.

But … this is a lovely little “mom and pop” operation.

And as it stands – today, right now – I’m feeling squeamish about laying it all out. As well, it could be that other aspects of the food available – such as fish and chips – remain excellent.

So, dear readers, the question is: Do you want to know – no matter what, and no matter the cost and consequences, potentially quite damaging, to the businesses involved in such cases?

(To those of you really curious and who take the time to email me, I’ll spill the beans!)

A westie room with a killer view

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Lakehouse Restaurant, 55 Cumberland Drive, Edgewater. Phone: 9317 3649

Edgewater, a brand new suburb, is served at the top of its hill by a number of commercial enterprises, including a fish and chip shop of which we’re fond.

There’s eateries of the Malaysian and Thai persuasion, an Aldi outlet and a few other places we’re yet to sample.

Down the hill, at water’s edge so to speak, the feel is different.

Despite the many houses and apartments, the place seems to have a ghost-town vibe.

Where are all the people?

There’s a creperie and cafe/restaurant/deli, both of which we’ve hit for coffee without being tempted to go further.

But despite the slightly forlorn vibe, Bennie and I have taken to enjoying the undeniably gorgeous setting along the waterfront, quite often going for a ramble in the downtime between the school day ending and rugby practice starting across the road.

And when we’ve been hanging out here, we’ve always wondered about the large space at the river’s end of the main apartment building.

Obviously designed with a restaurant operation in mind, it perennially looked unloved and desolate.

In our minds, there seemed little chance of this neighbourhood having any kind of pizzazz while it remained so.

So we were delighted to hear from a local that the place was destined – in a few days’ time – for a new life as a living, breathing, operating restaurant.

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A few days later, during the week’s second footy practice, I take the opportunity to check the place out, in the process meeting manager George and maitre’d Lisa and snagging an invite to the coming Saturday night’s “soft launch” (full disclosure below).

Lit up and looking beaut on a chilly but windless winter night, the place is an eye magnet. Come spring time and summer, the outdoor seating on the Lakehouse balcony will surely become one of the great westie haunts.

I do worry, though, about the ability of this new enterprise to throw off the downbeat baggage of several year’s of inaction and non-use. Such things can take a while to overcome.

So I’m delighted to find that relatively early on a Saturday night the place has a cheerful buzz going, with about half the tables taken.

Lisa tells me some of the customers are friends or family of the Lakehouse crew, but plenty more are curious walk-ups or locals eager to check out this new arrival.

If I lived in this neighbourhood, I’d be hitting Lakehouse pronto, too!

The service and welcome are fine, and everyone seems to have a spring in their step.

The restaurant interior seems rather flash, yet on the other hand the are no airs and graces going on here.

The napkins are paper and there’s two wall-mounted TVs, one showing footy and the other cricket.

Likewise with the food offerings, represented by a shorter opening night list that will expand come the place’s official opening in a few days’ time, taking in the pizza oven offerings along the way.

Think solid bistro tucker with an Italian influence, the main course pricing of $22 to $34 seemingly pitched at getting the locals to think of the joint as a regular option rather than just as a swish night out.

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Crispy calamari served with a fennel, orange and cherry tomato salad ($15) is just fine.

The calamari is low on crisp but as tender and flavoursome as calamari gets. The salad works, too, helped by a smooth dressing that is both creamy and light.

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My two handsome bones ($28) are everything lamb shanks should be – really pungent with sheepish flavour, generously meaty and with the flesh falling from the bones.

The garlic mash has a slightly bitter edge to it, but both it and broccolini play nice second fiddles to the tremendous shanks. A greater quantity of juice/gravy would’ve hit the spot with me, though I know that’s not bistro style.

I’ve enjoyed my meal heaps but wonder about how good a seafood pasta might be at such a place – and whether there’ll be a hamburger on the regular menu.

Lakehouse Restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Sunday and for breakfast from 8am at weekends.

Disclosure: Consider The Sauce was provided a meal without being required to pay by Lakehouse management, which did not know which dishes would be ordered. No editorial input was sought or given.

 

NOTE: The menus below represent the Lakehouse opening night offerings – the regular menu will be along the same lines but, I’m told, longer.

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A tasty retreat in the city

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Fo Guang Yuan Water Drop Vegetarian Tea House, 141 Queen St, Melbourne. Phone:  9642 2388

The restaurant for lunch is part of a broader set-up.

The dining room proper has a meditation hall right above it, while the outer dining area – in which I am sitting – has a gallery right next door.

They’re all part of a Buddhist centre tucked away in an old Queen St building.

I’m loving the vibe. It’s almost as if I’ve arrived plenty early just so I could spend some time sucking it up.

In a lifespan rapidly approaching the proverbial – or should that be Biblical? – three score, the time I spent as a fully paid-up card-carrying Buddhist seems a long time ago and very brief.

But there’s no doubting the influence Buddhism in general continues to have on my life.

Even if that first-hand experience was in another country and involved the traditions of yet another country and what is generally regarded as a much more complex and some might even say political branch of Buddhism.

It’s a pleasure just to sit, as they say, and rapidly regain my equilibrium in what has been – so far – a crazy week.

I think about the fun to be had in meeting another blogger, Katherine, who writes prolifically in her own pithy and fetching style at New International Students.

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The card motto on our table seems weirdly un-Buddhist to me – but I could well be wrong.

And I think, of course, about food on offer here.

It’s a hardcore vegetarian place, with mock meat prominently featured – something that still doesn’t grab me.

But there’s plenty of other action.

There’s daily specials that appear to be served in bento boxes with bowl of soup on the side that look like they play he same role as miso soup in Japanese box meals.

There’s quite a long list of $8 appetisers such rolls, puffs, dumplings and buns that would seem to offer scope for a nice vego yum cha sitting for two or more people.

And there’s stir frys and soup noodles of various kinds.

But I wonder if I’m soon about to wish we’d chosen somewhere with higher levels of salt, oil, spice and oomph.

And surely ordering laksa in such an establishment is an invitation to be presented with something watery, anaemic and comprehensively lacking in spice or heat levels – or any allure whatsoever.

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I order the laksa ($12).

I’m instantly surprised and delighted.

There’s three chunks of what I presume are mock beef. I eat one. It’s chewy, meaty but – to my mind – kind of creepy.

I wish they’d replace the mock meat with eggplant, but other than that my laksa is a winner.

The spice levels aren’t extreme but it’s identifiably an authentic laksa, denoted – if the taste, flavour and texture were not enough – with a great many curry leaves.

In addition to the regulation egg and rice noodles and bean sprouts, there’s broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, tofu and – most delightful of all – shredded cabbage.

I’d be happy to get such cabbage an any laksa – vegetarian or otherwise – anytime. It’s cheap, healthy and adds textural interest.

This is a beaut laksa – not as fine as, say, those from my favourite laksa joint, but much better than the listless, weak speciman Bennie and I shared the previous week at the new dumpling place at Highpoint.

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Curry puffs ($8) are excellent – grease-free with crisp short pastry outers and mildly spicy spud-based innards.

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Katherine likes her vermicelli with vegetarian dumplings in vegetarian minced pork sauce with soup on the side ($10.50).

It’s presented in a sort-of Korean/Japanese fashion and I’m pretty sure it tastes a whole lot better than it looks.

Certainly, my companion cleans her bowl so it gleams.

For all its charm, I wouldn’t want to visit here to too frequently. I reckon the prevalence of mock meat and certain sameness across the menu might lead to interest fatigue.

But as it’s a tranquil, affordable hideaway/retreat, if I was working in the CBD I would be a regular – even if it was of the sometime variety.

By the time we leave halfway through this mid-week lunch sitting, the place is doing brisk business.

Nice to meet you, Katherine!

 

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The way ahead …

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Consider The Sauce, three years old this month, remains a wild joy for myself, and for Bennie and I together.

Other people seem to like it, too!

Eating out at many and varied joints spread mostly across Melbourne’s west and then writing about them has been and will remain the core activity of CTS.

As well, we will continue to reflect and write on related subjects – and some not even close! – as the mood strikes.

But after three years and 500+ posts, I’m now both delighted and bemused to have this thing, the sum of which is way more than a domain name, a borrowed blogging platform and a bunch of restaurant reviews.

I’m of a mind to use it to do stuff, and hopefully to do good.

The signs have been there … in the Paella Party, and in the forthcoming Indian Feast at Hyderabad Inn.

I have no problem with setting up, or helping set up, one-off showcases for restaurants or other businesses, especially when I reckon a particular eating house is worthy of greater recognition.

There may be future events where CTS readers are invited to a feed for free, as the generosity of Hyderabad Inn has ensured.

Equally, there may be dinners or tastings for which a fee is charged.

And there may be events set up specifically for bloggers.

Somewhere along the way I will no doubt try to eke out some income for myself.

It all depends on the circumstances of any given situation or plan.

What else?

Suggestions anyone?

Frankly, I’m making it up as I go along!

Indian feast for lucky CTS readers

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Hyderabad Inn, 551 Barkly St, West Footscray. Phone: 9689 0998

PLEASE NOTE: ALL PLACES FOR THIS EVENT HAVE BEEN CLAIMED!!!

Consider The Sauce really likes Hyderabad Inn.

In fact, we’ve written about it three times – once early in its life, once as part of my ongoing search for crash-hot biryanis, and most recently to check out the dining room’s revamp.

We’ve never had anything less than a swell meal there.

Somehow, though, the lovely Nagesh and his crew seem to remain something of a “best kept secret”.

So we are very happy to embrace his offer of a one-off feast for Consider The Sauce readers and followers.

Numbers are extremely limited.

There will be no charge for the food but attendees will be expected to pay for their own drinks beyond water.

The dinner will be on Wednesday, August 28, from 7.30pm.

And while there’s no onus on our guests to do anything but enjoy, I’m sure Nagesh would be rapt if some punters felt sufficiently inspired to pen some nice words at Urbanspoon or comment on the subsequent CTS story!

Here are the rules:

  • First in, first served.
  • There are 10 places only available. If you miss out – and most, I’m sure, will … stay tuned
  • 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.

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.

Before he nutted out the menu, I made three strong recommendations to Nagesh – no butter chicken, no lamb rogan josh and no tandoori chook!

Here is the menu he has devised for us:

Soup

Cream of tomato soup

Appetizers

Spinach Pakora

Chilly prawns

Chicken tikka spring roll dosa

Chicken Manchurian

Mains

Paripu (South Indian & Srilankian style dal)

Vegetable Taka Tak

Chicken Do Payaaza

Lamb Kohlapuri

Rice

Basmati rice

Peas Pulao

Breads

Amritsari Kulcha (most famous in Punjab & nobody serve in Melbourne)

Mixed breads

Desserts

Gulab Jamun with Ice cream

* No fee is being paid to Consider The Sauce for helping facilitate this event.

Pure delight on a Kensington back street

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La Tortilleria, 72 Stubbs St, Kensington. Phone: 9376 5577

Like so many other folks, we were knocked out to hear about a new Mexican joint in a Kensington back street, dedicated to churning out high-quality tortillas and serving lovely eat-in goodies, and doing both with wide smiles.

Knowing La Tortilleria was bound to be an immediate and surefire hit, we resolved to hold off doing a Consider The Sauce story on it until after the dust had settled.

Bennie and I visited for a nice, sunny Sunday lunch on the verandah soon after, but we – or, rather, I – blew it.

So intent were we on chowing down, we forgot about the all-important chilli sauces and salsa available inside.

So while we enjoyed our food, it’s true to say we found it rather rudimentary.

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Returning for a fab mid-week lunch and a somewhat overdue catch-up with very good CTS pal and neighbour Rob turns out to be a wonderful thing.

I enjoy the hell out of Rob’s evident surprise in finding such a brightly and funkily adorned establishment in such an unlikely setting.

It’s a fine but chilly day, so we’re rapt to snag one of the inside tables with no trouble at all, endowing us with a prime position to enjoy our lunch, its cooking and preparation, and the various other comings and goings.

For Rob, this is his first experience with the wonderful bubbles of Jarritos soft drinks.

He goes mandarin and is stoked; I go tamarind and wish I hadn’t.

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Consistency is vastly over-rated in my book.

So I’m delighted to report that our guacamole is both smoother and more lemony than the rendition Bennie and I had been served.

It’s delicious, though in this case I find the corn chips rather too gnarly and too much like hard work.

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The meatier side of our lunch is equally tasty.

A beef taco ($4.50) each, with the soft tortillas embracing simply beautiful beef still pink in the middle and topped with raw onion and coriander.

Loaded up with chilli sauce and salsa, they’re sublime.

To finish, a $6.50 gringas each.

These are sinfully sexy tortilla sandwiches of pork and gooey melted cheese.

Similarly dressed with the nearby condiments, these, too, get the big thumbs up from both of us.

Everything about La Tortilleria seems so right that we adore it without inhibition.

I’ve heard, though, of queues, so choosing your time to visit is worth some deliberation.

As far as we know, Ms Baklover scooped with the world with her Footscray Food Blog story about La Tortilletia – read it here.

 

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Shopping centre Malaysian – really good

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Nyonya House, Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre, 300 Point Cook Rd, Point Cook. Phone: 9394 8881

Nyonya House is in Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre, so we keep our expectations prudently in check.

No matter the ambitions, we fully expect the necessity of also serving coffee, cake, breakfast and more to compromise – perhaps seriously – the nature of the Malaysian food on offer.

We are dead wrong.

As becomes apparent as we scan the long, illustrated menu (see below), and as is confirmed when we enjoy a fine lunch.

This is some serious stuff going on here, the Malaysian menu seeming to have quite a notable Singaporean influence.

All the expected bases and dishes are covered, but there are a few unusual and intriguing items as well.

But with a couple of exceptions, we stick to standard dishes.

Our choices are served promptly and the service from a handful of different staff members is full of smiles and patience with our many questions.

The decor and ambiance are bog standard shopping centre, but the food vibe is of a much loftier standard.

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Char koay teow ($11.80) is average in a good way.

It’s less greasy than the norm and light on wok hei, but the spice level is a little higher than normal and the $2 extra we pay for inclusion of Chinese sausage is well spent.

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Jala are lace-like crepes – see recipe here.

They’re so delicate – eating them is akin to enjoying a meal of Sri Lankan hoppers.

We have them with chicken curry sauce for $6.80, but they’re also available as a full serve with chicken curry for $12.80. Maybe next time!

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Chicken nasi goreng ($12.80) is OK, but as ever seems to me just glorified fried rice with not much zing. Still, it suffices as a base for all else on our table.

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Achar ($6.80) is fantastic.

All Malaysian restaurants should serve this, but we don’t see it that often.

More to the point, this is a great version – sweet and sour, crunchy, and it’s a good-sized serving, too, with plenty to go round a table of four.

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Beef rendang ($16.80) is another big hit with everyone at our table.

Yet it’s unlike any previous rendang any of us have tried.

There’s no discernible coconut, for starters.

Instead, the rich, smooth gravy is heavy with black pepper, while the large chunks of beef are fat-free, firm and even a little crusty on some of the extremities.

It comes across as curried, Asian-style take on a hearty beef stew from Italy or central Europe.

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For company today we have Courtney and James.

We met them at the Paella Party, where they told me they routinely rely on Consider The Sauce and Footscray Food Blog to know where to go to eat.

My immediate thought on being told that was: “Stuff that! Time to rope these guys into helping us do some of the heavy lifting!”

Turns out they’re definitely not your passive blog readers, are in fact zealous and adventurous in pursuit of mostly cheap but always funky foodiness, and are thoroughly hip to and appreciative of Malaysian food.

Even better, as the four of us chow down it becomes clear that we have more than food in common, with the conversation zooming from science fiction and fantasy writing to anime and manga, various football codes, politics, travel, films, comics and more.

I even come away from our meal with a short but enticing list of books titles to explore.

Meeting them was a gas; having lunch with them has been even better.

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James and I mostly leave the “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” over our desserts to Bennie and Courtney.

Sago pudding ($2) is quite firm but very nice, with the caramelised sugar adding a lusty touch.

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Iced kachang ($5.80) is all about Bennie, with no comment from his dad necessary.

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Muar chee ($5.80) are cute, bursty, gnocchi-like dumplings made from glutinous rice and coated with finely chopped peanuts and sugar and sesame seeds.

Courtney loves them; I’ll sit on the fence.

What a find Nyonya House is – it strikes me as easily the equal or better of anything thing in Flemington, or Melbourne generally.

There’s plenty of scope to be more adventurous on future visits.

I’m keen to try out some of the one-for-lunch dishes such as laksa, chicken rice or the aforementioned jala with chicken curry.

And I wonder how crash-hot the $13.80 lobak or the $4.80 wonton soup might be …

 

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