Category Archives: Places we like to shop at

Sweetness!

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Theo’s Greek Cakes, 11 Fosters Road, Keilor Park. Phone: 0434 099 450

We are delighted to herald the arrival of new Greek baking emporium on the smallish shopping strip on Fosters Road in Keilor Park.

Theo’s has all your sweet Greek dreams covered at great prices.

Parking is no problem.

And it’s simply a cool place to be.

 

 

We suspect most customers treat it as a shop, taking their goodies home.

But for eating-in purposes, the place is set up in simple cafe style.

 

 

Theo’s is very much about the sweeter side of life, but there are limited savoury options available.

We love our slices of spanakopita ($6).

Rich and flavoursome in a home-style way, they eat bigger than they look.

And at a place in which we would’ve been unsurprised about being presented with plastic plates and implements, we are very happy to have our lunch accompanied by real-deal unplastic gear, along with water.

 

 

For dessert, Bennie opts for this profiterol creation ($5).

He enjoys it, but perhaps not as much as he’d been hoping – likely because the chocolate is not the dark, more bitter kind he likes these days.

He plainly envies my politiko ($5, top photo).

And in that he’s right on the money – as this is superb.

It’s bit like a heftier Greek version of tiramisu, the base of syrupy semolina cake topped by a layer of cream and plenty of powdered coffee.

It is wonderful – and so healthy, too!

Our $4 cafe lattes are a fine foil for all this sweet heaven.

As an added bonus, a delicious trek to Theo’s can become a one-stop outing that includes, a few doors away, Frank’s Supermarket, a happy business a bit like a scaled-down version of Altona Fresh or Mediterranean Wholesalers in Brunswick.

Though, sadly, it is closed during our Sunday visit.

Theo’s joins the D’s Souvlaki is building a whole new food vibe at Keilor Park.

Long may they both prosper and the trend continue.

 

Expanded taverna

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Olive Oil & Butter, 196 Somerville Road, Kingsville. Phone: 9315 1060

Before there was Eleni’s, Meat The Greek or Brother Hood, there was Olive Oil & Butter.

Yes, the renaissance of Greek eateries in Yarraville and nearby suburbs was spearheaded by this Somerville Road institution.

We’ve done two stories on it, but they’re getting old now.

And in the meantime, Olive Oil & Butter has become a regular for us, but mostly for takeaway coffee and treats.

Eating in?

Not so much.

Time for another look?

Yes.

Because we feel like it for a post-kung fu Saturday hoot and lunch.

And because it’s worth recording that Olive Oil & Butter has expanded considerably, the dining area stretching down the back to an outdoor area.

These days it’s got a lovely feel of a real-deal Greek eatery with happy bustle all about.

Of course, this is Melbourne, so coffee and breakfast are front, centre and popular.

But the menu (see below) also features a nice round-up of rustic Greek dishes for lunch.

It’s for them we’re in the house.

 

 

Bennie opts for the open souvlaki ($23).

All present and accounted for as per the menu – two fine skewers of lamb, herbed pita bread, chips, tzatziki, tomato and onions.

He loves; he clean it all up.

I suspect he’s probably making unkind comparisons of the price-to-quantity ratio kind with his beloved Brother Hood in Seddon.

Buddy, that’s unfair – this is a sit-down restaurant situation and you’ve just had a lovely feed.

I get, as recommended by our wait person, the fasolakia lathera ($22, top photo).

Oh boy, this is so wonderful – green beans slow cooked in tomato, onion, garlic (and, I’m sure) a heap of olive oil.

Again, I can hear naysayers proclaiming: “What – $22 for a plate of overcooked beans?”

Ah, but there’s so much more here than that – this is rich and complex, the lemon potatoes and olives fit right in and it’s an ample serve for an all-veg dish.

So delighted am I, that I have another look at the menu and take note of the other home-style meal available here – spanakorizo, moussaka, yemista, fakes – for future consumption.

It’s these sorts of dishes that are the heart of Olive Oil & Butter.

We spy only one seafood dish on the menu, for instance, and the lavish mixed grills you’ll find at other Greek eateries are absent.

But, for me at least, that makes the place all the more appealing.

 

 

All of the above AND the outstanding sweet treats, many of them syrup-drenched, and …

 

 

… the equally terrific spanokopita, tiropita, kreatopita and bougatsa and …

 

 

… and a nice line in Greek groceries make this a Very Cool Place.

And the staff are always on-the-ball and smiling.

See earlier stories here and here.

 

Gordon Street Bakery

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Gordon Street Bakery, 63 Gordon Street, Footscray.

Much excitement has attended the arrival of a French bakery in Gordon Street, Footscray.

Several readers have contacted CTS to express their pleasure and curiosity.

For them and everyone else, we have good news – but we would also counsel patience.

The place is up and running – and baking.

But while it is done out in bright cafe style, the arrival of a coffee machine is a couple of weeks away.

 

 

The bakery is the work of Wilhelm Isaac (above), who tells me he’ll be providing simple in-house fare such as ham-and-cheese croissants and filled baguettes.

 

 

In the meantime, there’s goodies to go.

The baguette I take home is a ripper – crunchy, chewy, superb.

The kind of thing, in other words, that elevates the simple fillings I use – cheese, roast red capsicum, rocket, tomato – well into sublime.

OK, it IS Red Leicester I use – but that’s what is in the fridge.

And it isn’t it great to see Gordon Street Bakery join Karlaylissi in injecting some cool life into this dreary precinct?

Gordon Street Bakery is open 7am-5pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

 

Mid-East treats in South Kingsville

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Dukkah, 23 Vernon Street, South Kingsville. Phone: 9399 3737

Dukkah is a bright new arrival on Vernon Street.

The long dining room has been done up a treat.

 

 

It’s casual and elegant, spacious and warm.

There’s a lot of old, gorgeous wood in use.

At the bar in the form of doors (above) …

 

 

… and even rulers for the outdoor seating.

 

 

Bennie and I choose the easy option of getting stuck into the share platter, which sells for $48 for two people.

It starts with three dips, all with clear and concise flavours – and all offering something different from most Mid-East eats emporiums.

Lemon turmeric hummus with Egyptian dukkah, fel-fel (chargrilled capsicum cream cheese with sweet paprika, walnuts and chives) and beet labneh (caramelised beetroot and yoghurt with black sesame seeds) come with good toasted bread that runs out just before we’ve slurped the last of the dips.

But as Bennie quips, more bread and we’d be stuff before the mains arrive.

 

 

And the mains?

Oh my golly gosh – they are splendid!

Two fat, exemplary cigars of lamb kofta – dense, perfect and with just the right mild level of ME-style seasoning.

Two skewers of chicken shish tawook with capsicum and red onion.

The chook chunks look sufficiently and worrying large to promise dryness, but such is emphatically not the case.

In other words, superb.

Out meaty skewers are accompanied by very nice quinoa tabouli and rice pilaf in exactly the right proportions.

As we gleefully devour all, father and son banter a bit about the merits of our meal – and its price.

Bennie reckons $48 is a bit steep, with the sort of deal he gets at his beloved Footscray Best Kebab House colouring his views profoundly.

I beg, very much, to differ.

Dukkah is a quite different sort of place and the quality – especially of the meats – is above that of the majority of kebab shops.

And the combined regular cost of our dishes from the menu would be $54.

 

 

No such quibbling is possible with the Dukkah desserts – and we try both.

Om ali – puff pastry pudding with coconut, cinnamon milk, hazelnut and sultanas served in a tagine – is the Egyptian version of bread-and-butter.

It’s wonderful, rich, quite heavy.

This beauty – which could easily serve two – clocks in at a very cheap $12.

Kunafa (layers of shredded angel hair pastry, mango and cream topped with pistachio dust and rose petals, top photo) is lighter, a good deal more playful – and just as tasty.

It, too, is priced keenly at $11.

The days when Vernon Street was a regular haunt for us – remember Famous Blue Raincoat? – seem long ago now.

As a food destination, the street faded for a while there, with the introduction of one-way traffic undoubtedly altering the neighbourhood’s dynamics and probably the viability of some business.

But perhaps Dukkah is joining other local businesses in creating something of renaissance here.

We’d like that.

Check out the Dukkah website – including menu – here.

 

Meal of the week No.48: Somali Star

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It’s always a nifty pleasure to visit the Footscray Hub arcade – a key component of what makes Footscray central such a cracking place to be.

But today we have another motive.

We’d heard that Somali Star was for sale – or perhaps even under new management?

So we’re here to find out what the go is.

Well, it turns out all is much the same.

The lovely Johara is still running the joint.

She tells me she was considering selling up for a while, but has since dug in for the long haul.

That means Somali Star remains a happy place that is very popular with the locals, especially those seeking the world famous sambusas.

For eating in, there is an appealing mix of Somalian and Ethiopian fare.

 

 

There being no pasta immediately on hand, Bennie is thwarted in his ambition to have such like with “beef curry”.

So he joins me in having a simple meal of “tips” with injera ($15).

The “tips” are wetter, and more tomato-based, than we normally get in this neighbourhood, but we still enjoy our lunches very much.

Somali Star is on Uber, though last orders are taken at 6.30pm when the arcade closes.

 

Westie eats goss 19/12/18

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The former home of once-loved, now-gone Michael The Deli at 50 Leeds Street, Footscray, is getting a revamp and a new life.

 

 

According to the building permit notification in the window, the new business here will be “a cafe during the day” and “a bistro during evening hours specialising in European cuisine”.

How intriguing!

 

 

In Stephen Street, Yarraville, the old takeaway shop at No.127 (opposite Yarraville Village Animal Hospital) is getting a makeover that definitely suggests “cafe”.

I am reliably informed this will be a second cafe for the owners of the popular and classy Kodama Coffee in Williamstown.

I wonder what’s become of the shark?

 

 

On Vernon Street in Kingsville, Dukkah has opened – though I’m told they won’t be running at full strength until a week or so into the new year.

 

 

The menu has the expected Middle-Eastern content, but also some touches of North African/Moroccan that have us even keener to try.

Review/story coming!

Get updates here.

 

 

At Central West in Braybrook, the ongoing saga of the fresh produce space will see an outlet of the Sacca’s chain “opening soon”.

 

 

In Moonee Ponds, the former home of the Ripples F&C joint – subject of the first ever CTS story – is being remade.

 

 

It will be taken over by Gourmet Kitchen Cooking School, which has been living a few doors away for years.

 

 

Right next door, Kingyo Izakaya has opened.

Run by the same folks who captain I Dream Of Sushi, also on Margaret Street, I’m told it’ll be more along the lines of grills/Japanese “tapas”.

 

 

Also in Moonee Ponds, the Pratt Street place once home to a Chinese eatery and (before that) a branch of China Bar, is now Dee Dee Thai Cuisine.

 

 

What looks like it may be a temple of mediocrity surprises Bennie and I when we drop in for lunch.

Choosing from the $15 lunch deal menu (which includes a can of soft drink), we are delighted by the sticky, rich panang beef curry with rice and …

 

 

… the papaya salad with Dee Dee wings.

Fresh, good, cheap.

 

Westie eats goss 06/09/18

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With several apartment blocks in the throes of construction, Footscray-on-Marybyrnong will undergo a population boom in coming years.

Truth is, though, the area has had apartment dwellers in their hundreds in residence for many years, so it’s perhaps a little surprising that more businesses haven’t been stepped up to service them.

Maybe some kind of tipping point has been reached?

One outfit looking to take care of these folks is Harry and Larry’s General Store at 4 Yewers Street.

Ambling up for a look-see, cynical me was ruminating along the lines of: “Yeah, yeah – organic cola and not the regular kind; and lots of over-priced ‘gourmet’ products!”

I was wrong.

Some real smart thinking has gone into stocking Harry and Larry’s.

In a modestly sized yet appealing and light-filled space, they’ve stocked an amazingly comprehensive line-up of stuff.

Products run from the everyday to, yes, your more gourmet and specialty lines.

But the general impression I gain is that the prices are very competitive.

For instance, the likes of regular-line tinned tomatoes and cannellini beans seem only a little pricier than barn prices – and less expensive than in some supermarkets I can think of.

 

 

Harry and Larry’s is being run by Victoria Lukacs (left) and Jo Harvey, who plays a role at the adjacent Slice Girls West and Back Alley Sally’s.

 

 

Goodies in-house include fine cheese such as Marlo organic brie and camembert …

 

 

… to myriad hot sauces and condiments.

 

 

There’s a nice mix of cheaper and classier pasta.

 

 

Loo paper and …

 

 

… fur-baby necessities?

Of course!

 

 

Vegan-friendly condoms?

I don’t even know what that means!

 

 

There’s a kitchen shared with Slice Girls West, so the grocery store serves up a range of sandwiches.

 

 

And there’s a nice spot set aside should you wish to consume your sanger on the spot.

 

 

There’s enough fresh fruit and vegetables on hand to meet most needs.

If we lived locally, we’d be shopping here at least a couple of times a week.

As it is, I suspect it’ll become something of a regular shopping haunt anyway …

 

 

In Williamstown, a new place named Porters – on the corner of Nelson Place and and Ann Street – is being fitted out as we speak.

It’s part of the new Waterline Place apartment set-up and you can keep tabs on progress at the joint’s Facebook page.

 

 

Now this is exciting!

On the location of the former fruit/veg/organic deli on Vernon Street in South Kingsville is coming a Middle Eastern restaurant called Dukkah.

 

 

Operating with aplomb at the site of the old Fisher cricket bat “factory” in Kingsville is the appropriately named Willow Wine Cafe (126 Williamstown Road).

 

 

It’s run by the lovely Ellen, who will be a familiar face to many based on her long stint at the Plough Hotel.

 

 

The main dining space cleverly harnesses the old building’s verandah to create a wonderful summery feel.

 

 

At the moment it’s operating until 7pm Tuesday-Sunday, but later closing hours are being negotiated with local residents.

 

 

Is there any tougher strip than Gordon Street in Footscray?

Sadly, Indonesian restaurant Spice Klub has already closed.

Taking its place is Karlaylisi Restaurant, which is serving up Uyghur cuisine.

The menu is very long and features many, many pastry/dumpling dishes, cumin lamb skewers, tongues, house-made noodles, chillis and much more.

We’ll be taking it for a run very soon!

 

One word – cannoli

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Cannoli Bar, 23 Riviera Road, Avondale Heights.

Down an otherwise unremarkable Avondale Heights residential street a wonderful surprise awaits.

A once-was-a-corner shop has been turned into a chic, cheerful – and already very popular – cafe of the Italian variety.

 

 

Savoury offerings appear to be down to these good-looking pizza slices.

 

 

There are a plethora of sweet treats on hand – all, we are informed, baked and/or assembled on the premises.

But the place’s focus is a bit more singular than even that – as its name attests.

 

 

Yes, cannoli – fresh-filled after being ordered.

We try two at $4.50 each – one each of nutella and pistacchio.

I reckon they are beyond awesome.

Though Bennie is less impressed.

The fillings are creamy and a way less solid than, for instance, the cannoli offered at T. Cavallaro & Sons in Footscray.

I love the whole experience – including the fact that they are fragile and more or less explode upon being handled.

Who cares?

Goes with the territory!

Our cafe lattes are every bit as good, with just the right amount of bitterness.

Canoli Bar is open Wednesday to Friday 8am-3pm and Saturday and Sunday 8am-4pm.

 

 

Cool burgers; heaps of parking

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Burger Freaks, 656 Somerville Road, Sunshine West. Phone: 0403 595 189

Cruise up the outer end of Somerville Road of a night and you’ll not find a lot open.

Just about all the many commercial operations of many kinds have shut up shop until tomorrow.

Sure, some of the freight places work way outside 9-to-5 routines.

But the tradie-style cafes on almost every block are most certainly not open.

But Burger Freaks is.

 

 

Roshan Altendorff has been running Burger Freaks for about three months, with the daytime trade all about the local, hungry workforce.

Come night-time, though, it’s all about burgers – and home delivery. Burger Freaks is on both Menulog and Uber.

But why sit at home – and gamble with the fickle travelling ability of burgers – when you can pay a visit?

The Burger Freaks dining area is as unadorned – and virulently non-hipster – as you’re likely to find.

It gets points from us for that – but it would all be for nowt if the food isn’t up to scratch.

It is.

 

 

The chips ($4) are good and hot.

The Mate (top photo) – with beef patty, cheese, caramelised onion, beetroot, bacon, lettuce and BBQ sauce – costs $10.50 or $14.50 with chips and a can of drink thrown in.

It’s beaut.

 

 

The California ($11.50, $15.50) – with beef patty, double cheese, double bacon, BBQ sauce and American mustard – is a bit more flashy.

But just as good.

These are both really admirable and enjoyable solid, no-fuss burgers with nicely charred and good-quality meat.

 

 

As well as burgers, this place sells a revolving range of frozen meals for $4.50 and $5.50 depending in size, as part of the UrCommunity – Feeding Australia Meal Deals project.

They run to curries, pasta, stews and the like.

Burger Freaks is open for evening dining every night except Mondays.

See the Burger Freaks website, including menu, here.

 

Lebanese heaven

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Tanoor Breakfast House, 1/69 Forsyth Road, Hoppers Crossing. Phone: 8360 3468

As the less established parts of Point Cook, Tarneit, Truganina and Williams Landing have become more so in recent years, a number of eating houses have opened in response to a demand for Indian food.

That has not been the case for those desiring Middle Eastern and/or the food of the eastern Mediterranean – until now.

Tanoor Breakfast House – don’t worry, it does lunch, too! – is here to make our day and maybe even our year.

It doesn’t serve full-blown Lebanese food as found at Riviera at Edgewater.

Instead, it serves (see menu below) a wonderful range of pizzas and pies (man’oush and man’oush calzone) right through to a Lebanese Big Breakfast and a Turkish Big Breakfast.

Best of all, for our tastes and wants and needs, it serves a wonderful line-up – under the heading Traditional Breakfast – of dips and the like served with accompaniments and house-made bread.

Oh yes!

This is the kind of thing for which CTS routinely travels to upper Sydney Road.

Now Tanoor Breakfast House has rendered those sometimes tedious and stressful traffic-light drives to Coburg superfluous – and we couldn’t be happier.

“Hummus b Lahme” comes with three components:

These still-warm and fresh-as housemade breads.

The full suite of salady and tart accessories – pickled turnip, cucumber and chillis; green olives; fresh mint, tomato and onion.

And – oh, the glory of it! – a generous bowl of smooth, fresh hummus, in the middle of which sits an equally generous serve of lamb mince studded with toasted pine nuts.

It all works and tastes like a dream, the sourness of the pickles complementing perfectly the sweetish sheep meat.

The pine nuts – with their unmistakable yet subtle flavour and characteristic soggy crunch – are the icing on the cake.

This is simply fabulous food.

It costs $10.

Which is frankly ridiculous, as it is tantamount to a light meal that could easily serve two.

The falafel plate ($12), with a slightly different configuration of bits and pieces, is just as good.

Just the turshi (pickled turnip) in terms of pickles.

And, this time, a wonderful wet-and-lemony tabouli and small bowl of tahini to join the hummus, bread and tomato.

The half a dozen falafel orbs are superbly fried, of mild flavour and quite delicate.

Our takeaway coffees are great.

Tanoor is open seven days a week from 6am to 3pm.

A whole lot of good

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Eka Wholefoods Cafe, 129 Buckley Street, Seddon. Phone: 0412 485 132

At Consider The Sauce HQ, we figure if we ever went completely meat-free, our diet would be based mostly around the foods of the Mediterranean – African, European, Middle-Eastern.

Your actual “vegetarian food”?

Not so much.

Yes, we are cynical about such stuff.

Some of that is down to probably unfair baggage and previous bad experiences, including some with vego slop right here in the west.

Why have any truck with such food when the various national cuisines deliver meat-free food so effortlessly and with such delicious panache?

No doubt that’s why we’ve gone so long without trying Eka Wholefoods.

And why, after ordering, we are a mix of anticipation and crossed fingers.

We need not have had any fears, as what we lunch on is very fine.

 

 

The joint is the expected mix of one half wholefoods of many kinds and one half gorgeous cafe, a tranquil space in which we enjoy stopping for a while.

 

 

Bennie loves his bao tempeh sliders ($12.9).

The crispy but seemingly rather salty tempeh dances with organic kimchi, house-made peri-peri sauce, grilled shitake mushrooms and caramelised onion.

This pretty food goes down a treat.

 

 

My soba noodle salad ($16.50) is even better.

Joining the organic noodles are cherry tomatoes, chopped toasted almonds, black sesame seeds, cinnamon-crusted organic tofu and a sesame-lemon dressing.

This salad is expertly done and a pleasure to consume.

We depart without trying the good-looking range of sweet treats but with some brown rice and tamari in hand.

It’s been wonderful to have our skepticism so wonderfully rendered daft.

Check out the Eka website here.

 

 

CTS 2017 – the highlights reel

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SOUL FOOD FOR MELBOURNE

Without a doubt, the highlight of the CTS year has been our enjoyment of the Somalian food of Racecourse Road in Flemington.

Even aside from the fabulous food, this has been a joy on other levels.

Not least in the fact that Bennie is as enthusiastic as I, as are various of our friends.

So thank you to #Somalia Eats, House Of Mandi, Deli Afro, Somali Dish and New Somali Kitchen.

There’s one remaining bona fide Somalian joint on the strip yet to be covered by CTS – though I have eaten there several times.

In the coming year!

These Somalian riches mirror, from my perspective and in a distinctively African way, the deep traditions of soul food of the American south – great food and heaps of it, priced right; every day food for every day people.

When, about a month ago, I asked the proprietor of one of these salubrious establishments why he kept his prices so low, he replied:

“Because I want everyone to be able to enjoy our food.”

 

 

ALSO ON RACECOURSE ROAD

Of course, the fabulous Flemo strip is about more than Somalian tucker.

In that regard, it’s been a pleasure to partake of the fine Indian goodies on hand at Curry Cafe Canteen.

 

 

IN YARRAVILLE

We love, love, love the bo kho (beef stew) at Friend Or Pho – available at weekends only.

This Vietnamese staple is available elsewhere in the west.

But none, in our experience, have the viscous lustre of this rendition.

 

 

We steer away from the more daintified and pricey items at Cobb Lane on Anderson Street.

Instead, we adore their humble carrot cake.

So moist, so yummy, such delectably creamy frosting, such a bargain at $5.

In the meantime, our most habitually frequented Yarraville eatery remains the wonderful Pizza d’Asporto.

 

 

LEBANESE ON THE LAKE

We are happy that Riviera has brought a happy, bustling Lebanese vibe to Edgewater.

We hope to return soon.

 

 

SUNSHINE SOCIAL

A few weeks back, Bennie and I enjoyed a Sunday lunch at Sunshine Social – our first visit there since our initial story.

It was just a regular, non-blogging visit so we didn’t take pics.

I wish we had.

Chicken burger for him, fish burger for me – so wonderful, with great fillings (including slaw) and heaps of beaut chips, at a winning $13.50 each.

We admire the spirit and smarts that have gone into Sunshine Social.

 

 

GREEK REVIVAL IN THE WEST

This happy yarn still has a few chapters to be written – not least soon-come opening of Eleni’s in Yarraville.

But it’s been a pleasure, so far, to welcome Meat The Greek and Brother Hood Yiros + Grill to the neighbourhood.

 

 

OUR OLD LOCAL GETS A MAKEOVER

Only one visit so far to a once familiar haunt, formerly known as Hart’s Hotel.

But we reckon they’ve done a bang-up job.

 

 

OUT OF TOWN

An impromptu swing up the highway resulted in a superb meal at Blackwood Ridge Cafe & Larder.

What a find and what a feed.

 

 

COOL CAFES IN THE WEST

We love how so many very fine western suburbs cafes do such a great job by more than matching it with the rest of the city, yet do so by being widely dispersed and working hard to foster local and loyal followings.

This year, we’ve frequented a number of them – sometimes just for coffee, sometimes for something more substantial.

Among them have been Small Graces, the superb sides-as-tapas offerings (above photo) of which are a winning innovation.

Look out for dinner service, coming soon, at this lovely outfit in central Footscray.

We’ve also enjoyed the food and the vibes at Fig & Walnut, Jack B. Nimble and Cheeky Chewies among others.

 

 

A special mention for the Usual Joint in Sunshine North.

In more innovative thinking, this place only steps out for more substantial offerings at weekends – and even then, there’s only one dish prepared.

We dig that!

As well, their luscious crepe cakes are very popular – and for good reason.

 

 

FESTIVAL TIMES

At the start of 2017, I harboured ambitions to get CTS Feasts – rebranded at the CTS Western Suburbs Food Festival – once again running on a regular basis.

This proved more difficult than anticipated – the alchemy that brings food blogger/journalist, willing/enthusiastic restaurant and keen punters together can be elusive!

Such events are very much part of the ongoing CTS gameplan, but will obviously only happen when these ingredients can be successfully and harmoniously wrangled!

But there was no doubting the outstanding fun and food delivered at the three events that WERE held.

At Searz in Newport (above photo) …

 

 

… Sankranti in Footscray and …

 

 

… a fund-raiser at Fig & Walnut for Climate For Change.

Thanks very much to everyone who helped and participated.

And see you next year!

 

Tasty on the Hudson

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Hudsons Road Wine & Beer, 2/88 Hudson Road, Spotswood. Phone: 9131 1069

Hudsons Road Beer & Wine has been open just a week or so, but is already a big hit on that strip.

And so it should – it’s a very cool place where the passion for the produce speaks very eloquently.

The accent is on small producers and quality all the way.

 

 

The fit-out, including furniture from neighbouring Quazi Design, is sleek and welcoming.

Partners Alistair Smith (a long-time reader and supporter of CTS) and Leigh Boin stock about 200 beers and 150 wines.

The deli section is compact and the hand-picked philosophy no less evident.

 

 

My lunch, for instance, is a simple and superb platter that costs me $16 and is matched with a glass of La guardianese fiano from Italy.

On my board is an amazing, fine-sliced Mr Canubi capocollo of dry cured pork neck, free range from the western plains.

Also in attendance are a wedge of Challerhocker (Swiss) cheese, ciabatta from Candied Bakery across the road, a gooey quince paste and some fresh pear slices.

The deluxe board for $45 shapes up as a very enticing lunch for two that Bennie and I will try soon.

Alistair and Leigh will continue to fine-tune their business hours, but as it stands they are noon-11pm Monday-Friday, 10am-11pm Saturday and 10am-9pm Sunday.

 

Shiny grill time

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DeGrill, Sunshine Marketplace, Sunshine. Phone: 0402 189 860

A small, single-frame cartoon in the Sunday Age a few years back always makes me chuckle when I think of it.

Two blokes are surveying the Sunshine Marketplace shopping centre.

One says to the other: “Wow – this really is the United Nations of bogans!”

I like it because it’s bloody funny.

But I also like it because I like it that Sunshine Marketplace is like that.

We may live in Yarraville, hit the new fried chicken place in WeFo as soon doing so is viable and even frequent hipster places in Footscray proper … but we love all the west and its people and food.

Which is why CTS loves venturing to not only Sunshine, but also Werribee, Deer Park and beyond – and will continue to eat and review and tell stories from well beyond the ribbon that is the inner west.

 

 

So we applaud the opening of DeGrill at Sunshine Marketplace.

It’s a bold and adventurous move – it is situated, after all, right opposite Maccas and right next door to the cinemas.

I could say that DeGrill is aiming for the same sort of focus as Grill’d or Nando’s – but that would be doing DeGrill a disservice.

Because the menu is significantly more broad than such a comparison might imply.

I suspect the menu may have to be tweaked over time to find out what really works in this particular setting.

But over two visits, CTS and friends enjoy some good food and good service at (mostly) good prices.

The style is classy fast food and proper cutlery and crockery are in use, as are fine salt and pepper grinders.

 

 

There are three hot dog options on the menu, two featuring kransky or chorizo.

But the classic ($7.50) is constructed using a standard frankfurter.

So all is regulation here, but its recipient is pleased enough.

 

 

“Crispy” chicken ($9.50) has the wow factor aplenty.

The serve consists of three superbly cooked wings anointed with a tangy sauce.

Very good!

Especially when served with …

 

 

… a side of mash and gravy ($6).

This a rarity is Melbourne in general, let alone in a Sunshine shopping centre.

It’s OK, we all like it – but it’s not spectacular.

 

 

The menu’s “between the buns” section lists nothing that could be described as a beef burger, but based on our table’s orders of the cheese steak ($9, above) and …

 

 

… the only marginally different philly cheese ($9.50), this may be the way to go here.

Both are keenly priced and boast good ingredients and dressings.

The steak is thicker than routinely found in steak sandwiches and, best of all, is so well cooked that biting through for a mouthful is done with ease and without the whole sandwich falling apart.

Big thumbs up for that!

 

 

Under the heading “from the grill”, DeGrill offers dishes such as a flat iron steak ($17 and $26) and chicken ($16 for half, $29 for full).

These and others may fulfill the implied promise of more hefty meals.

Sadly, the beef short ribs ($16) do not.

It’s common knowledge ribs are expensive to secure and are inevitably at the upper end price-wise wherever they appear.

It’s common knowledge, too, the beef ribs can be fatty.

But these are very fatty indeed, and the three segments amount to not much more than a brief meal of not many more mouthfuls.

As well, as per the eatery’s name, these rib bits are grilled and not smoked, as you’d generally find at the numerous barbecue-style places across the city.

The coleslaw ($4.50) lacks crunch – maybe because its main component is savoy cabbage?

It’s under-done in the seasoning/flavour department, too, though some quick work with the salt and pepper grinders soon fixes that up.

 

 

CTS is over the mega shake thing – too often they seem to involve poor quality ingredients and unjustifiably high prices.

This DeGrill brownie shake ($9) defies both factors – good price, nice shake.

We wish DeGrill well.

Maye its arrival will inspire others to hang out their shingle in the same locale.

Thanks to Annie and Ali for helping us with this story!

Check out the DeGrill website – including full menu – here.

Is karma real?

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Ah, Sims … our supermarket of choice.

Right outside this West Footscray institution can be an interesting place, too.

There’s racks for bikes; often enough, these are also used for tethering interesting dogs while their owners are inside shopping.

There’s always interesting people, too, coming and going.

We’re well used to running into friends and readers right here.

But in all our years shopping at Sims, I have never experienced an event as surreal as that of this week.

Pulling in for a typical mid-week, post-work top up of cat food and a few others bits and pieces, I amble towards the ATM to make a withdrawal.

Shockingly, as I get there I find a fistful of $50 notes hanging out of it.

Now, I confess to being guilty of having, in the past, absendmindedly left money – $50 one time, $100 on another – at ATMs.

But this is a first – finding “free” money at a money machine.

And in considerable quantity.

I deftly grab the cash and stuff it in my pocket, before going about the business of my own transaction.

And all the while I’m wondering about just how to handle this …

After all, I suspect that for whoever left this money here, this will constitute a cataclysmic event.

I know it would be for me!

I glance over my shoulder, seeing an old bloke shuffling with his shopping across the road to his car.

Maybe it’s him?

As I continue to ponder this dilemma, all the while going through the process of my own (much more modest) withdrawal, a young bloke comes out of the supermarket, approaches me and the ATM and asks:

“Did you find $400 here?”

Reply I: “Stand back a bit, mate, while I finish my business.”

Once done, I stroll a few paces away, followed by my new friend.

He tries a variation on his theme:

“Was there $400 there?”

I reach into my pocket, pull out the money – and count it.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven – sure enough, I have eight $50 dollar notes.

I hand it over to the young man, saying:

“Mate, this sure as hell is your lucky day”

He mumbles some not particularly gracious thanks and heads straight back into Sims.

I follow him, so see him head straight into the bottle shop.

Hell, that’s precisely what I’d do, too!

So my ethical conundrum has been short-circuited by the arrival of the money’s rightful owner.

I’m not quite sure how I would’ve handled it had the bloke not arrived.

The Sims staff subsequently tell me they’re well used to customers leaving all sorts of stuff in the aisles – including sums of money a lot bigger than $400.

In any case, IF there is any such thing as karma, I fully expect that when I go to check on my modest Powerball quick pick, the machine will cheerfully emit that tinkly winner’s tune.

Just kidding – I don’t believe in karma, and particularly not any tit-for-tat variety that sways lottery tickets!

The Consider The Sauce 2016 wrap

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Vietnamese in our hood

It’s not like we were consciously hanging out for Vietnamese food in Yarraville – perhaps because we have become so used to travelling to Footscray, Sunshine or St Albans, and thoroughly enjoying doing so.

But the arrival of Friend or Pho and Hoa Sen has had a profound effect on our lives.

Its the scratch we didn’t even know needed scratching!

Going by the numbers of people we see in these two different yet complementary places, we are not along in enjoying them.

 

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Vietnamese elsewhere

But we have also loved the trip to Avondale Heights, knowing our destination is Bao & Pot Cafe.

This wonderful Military Road establishment does a fine line in Vietnamese staples – including a sinus-clearing bun bo hue (spicy beef noodle soup).

But here you’ll also find the fabulous turmeric brioche lemongrass beef burger pictured above.

 

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Seriously sexy Asian BBQ

We loved Vietnamese of a different kind at Phi Phi 2 in St Albans.

Here they proudly serve table-top cooking with roots in Korea and flavours fully redolent of Vietnam.

Delicious in every way!

 

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Speaking of burgers …

If you were to gauge the state of the burger in our western suburbs going solely by coverage in Melbourne’s food media – be they grand, print, digital and/or vacuous – you’d think there’s nothing much going on save for one particularly famous Footscray joint.

We know better.

A whole lot better.

Because we enjoyed very excellent meals at Gemelli in Point Cook, Burger Business in Footscray and Burgernomics in Braybrook.

 

 

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Latin Foods & Wines

The move by Marco and Maria from humble digs in Sunshine North to a flash, new and much larger premises in Deer Park was in many ways THE western suburbs food story of 2016.

We love what they’re doing, with all our favourite sandwiches and more still available but joined by a much wider range of eating options, including parrillada, South American-style barbecue.

This happy event was covered in various stories, including this one and this one.

 

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Pizza d’Asporto comes to Yarraville

Equally exciting was the opening in Yarraville of a branch of Pizza d’Asporto.

Doubtless we’ll still feel like venturing to the cool Williamstown mothership, but now we have these folk just a few blocks away!

We were thrilled to attend the pre-opening party and have been back for mighty pasta dishes.

We are unsurprised Pizza d’Asporto has been an immediate hit.

 

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The real soul food of Melbourne

In the past few years, CTS has eaten – and mostly enjoyed – a lot of food in Melbourne that is promoted as being American-style barbecue.

Sometimes, this stuff is also billed as being “soul food”.

We love those favours, the meats, the sides.

But like everyone else, we pay for the, um, privilege.

We reckon it’s all a bit of a trendy con.

So let’s re-brand what “soul food” can and should be.

“Soul food” should be what local folks eat.

It should be cheap as.

In Melbourne’s west, what we consider to be dinkum soul food comes in many guises – including Vietnamese and Indian.

But it’s Somalian fare we most think of in this context.

There’s still a bunch of Somalian places for still to check out on Racecourse Road in Flemington, but we truly love the food at Deli Afro Restaurant.

OMG – the soup!

We also love hitting Somali Star Cafe in the Footscray Hub arcade for equally fine food, with Ethiopian and crash-hot sambusas also available.

 

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A very cool night in Footscray

Our other African highlight for the year came courtesy of fabulous Ethiopian food at Selam Authentic African Restaurant & Bar on Nicholson Street as we hosted our buddy Mietta and various of her family members on their annual pre-Chistmas night out.

We loved showing off a part of our world and really enjoyed the company!

 

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A Newport classic

Is Searz our favourite cafe?

Could be.

We do know that we’ve loved fronting up a few times to check out the Friday night specials, revelling in amazing food at superb prices.

And when we visit Searz, we just know that we’ll be indulging in BOTH the alluring blackboard desserts!

 

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Indian sweets of a different kind

Despite our very deep love for Indian food, that nation’s sweets have mostly been found by us to be way too cloyingly rich.

You can get those full-on delights, such as barfi, at Kumar’s Sweets in Derrimut.

But our whole mindset about Indian sweets has been transformed for the marvellously delicious yet less rich treats they produce based mostly on nuts and dried fruits.

 

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Beyond the western suburbs

How much to we love a drive to Brunswick East?

Very, very much when Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food is on the menu.

We’re happy to pay Teta Mona, Mankoushe and Moroccan Deli-cacy the ultimate accolade of wishing they were in the western suburbs.

 

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Non-food event of the year

Grand final day!

Latin Foods & Wines evening

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Latin Foods & Wines, 809 Ballarat Road, Deer Park. Phone: 8358 5503

Western suburbs food is ALWAYS exciting for Consider The Sauce.

But we reckon there’s nothing that’s been more exciting than the move of Latin Foods & Wines (aka La Morenita) from rather pokey digs in Sunshine to much bigger premises in Deer Park.

The business has grown, there’s a definite buzz and the eat-in options have expanded to include not just the empanadas and dynamite sandwiches still available but also proper, plated meals.

We’ve tried a number of those latter offerings and are so delighted with the whole new deal we are happy to put an extra 10 minutes drive time to get to Deer Park.

 

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A big part of the expanded business is the parrillada – South American barbecue.

It’s been running for a few months – mainly at the weekends.

But this Friday night sees its official launch and a test run for Latin Foods & Wines as a regulation restaurant operation.

I’ve been only too happy to organise a media/blogger table for the occasion; no “consultancy” fee has been paid – this has been just for the fun of it.

We get the same $50 set sample menu on offer to general customers, though in our case the food is complementary.

 

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We start with a trio of fine cocktail empanadas with various fillings.

I am familiar with the style of the two on the left through multiple eatings at LF&W, but the corn-crusted on one on the right – in the Colombian style, I’m told, and filled with mash ‘n’ meat – makes a nice contrast.

 

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Unannounced on the menu are cheesy bread items called pan de bono with mayonesa de ajo.

 

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Next up are (from left) …

Ceviche – in the Chillean style, I’m told, and made from very finely shredded hake; very lemony.

Causa limefia – mashed spud stuffed with chicken and topped with a slice of hardboiled egg.

Anticucho – from the barbecue, two beef cubes on a stick, with a slice of chorizo between them.

 

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It’s worth noting that South American-style barbecue meats are quite different from the US-style that has become so trendy in Melbourne in recent years.

The meat is served mostly unadorned and is, by contrast, well cooked.

But still delicious!

I had rather feared that we’d be served full-on platters of meats from the regular barbecue line-up – on top of all the other components of our set/sample menu.

That’s not the case – instead we get nice sample chunks of costillar (cumin-scented pork), pamplona (rolled chicken stuffed with cheese and ham) and parrillada lamd (scented with rosemary).

A good tomato and onion salad accompanies.

The fully appropriate sample-size portions mean we have plenty of room for desserts …

 

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… which are fabulous and, for several of us, the unexpected highlight of our evening.

Tangy pineapple gelato tipped with a wonderful chewy, caramelised cube of fresh pineapple.

Tres leche – house specialty take on the sponge layer cake popular in various forms throughout South America.

Merengue lucuma – a spectacular mix of merengue and chocolate on a biscuit base.

The when and how of the various components of the Latin Foods & Wines’ line-up – sandwiches/burgers, more substantial plates, barbecue – is far from settled, so I suggest you phone beforehand to make sure what you’re interested in will be available.

I’ve loved not just the food but also the opportunity to rub shoulders – and swap goss – with friends new and old.

 

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Among the former have been Cassandra from Hungry Cookie and Maggie from They Call Me Maggie.

 

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Also on hand have been Susan from the lovely FB page Point Cook Dining and her friend, Saba.

 

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The old pals sharing our table have included Jacqui, The Urban Ma, and hubby Wes.

Sorry, Nat Stockley and Jackie – can’t include a pic of you two as I didn’t nail a usable one!

Consider The Sauce and friends dined at Latin Foods & Wines as guests of management. We did not pay for our food.

Westie barbers No.5: Coffee with your cut?

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AXE Barbers and Baristas, Shop 1/1 Foundry Road, Sunshine: Phone: 0414 427 769

Being a cheapskate, I normally avoid hairdressers or barbershops with a chic look – polished cement floors, like that – as they’re usually ridiculously over-priced for my minimal, buzz-cut needs.

But at new Sunshine outfit AXE Barbers and Baristas I do good.

And I get a fine cafe latte, to boot!

Mind you, “Axe” seems like a rather threatening name for a barbershop …

 

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… but that changes when I meet barista Engin (left) and barber Xavia, and learn that the name is made up of their initials and that of a third partner, Allan, who I don’t meet.

Xavia provides me with an expert buzz-cut for a price not far removed from those charged by the St Albans and Footscray Vietnamese hairdressers I usually use.

 

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These blokes will do well, I reckon.

There’s not a lot by way of service businesses at the Gold Leaf end of Hampshire Road, but there is new apartment activity representing potential customers.

There’s parking close by at both Hampshire Crescent and Sunshine Plaza.

Check out the AXE website here for hours and prices.

 

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Westie eats goss 30/9/16

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Village Cantina in Ballarat Street, Yarraville, is for sale.

The agent’s listing points out that buyers will have the opportunity “to continue current cuisine or redevelop into a hipster café”.

 

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A few doors along, and also on Ballarat Street, Naked Egg (in the premises formerly filled by Hausfrau) is now doing dinners, the menu featuring a line-up of solid, old-school Italian dishes at good prices.

 

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At the other end of Ballarat Street in the village, Friend or Pho will soon be licensed.

 

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On Barkly Street in Footscray, right next to Ames, will soon be an bar/emporium of the craft beer variety.

It’ll be called Bar Josephine.

 

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Also on Barkly, right next to Nando’s, the big, new Indian place Sankranti has furniture in the house – but it still looks like a lot of work is to be done.

Nonetheless, one of the chefs told me they’re planning on an October 10 opening.

 

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Big is definitely not better in the world of CTS, of course, but I am looking forward to taking this place – and its massive menu – for a spin.

 

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On Nicholson Street in Footscray, Cafe D’Afrique is a coffee/food stalwart of the African scene.

It is closed for renovations – we’ll be very interested to see what eventuates.

 

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Across the road, at the entrance to the Footscray Hub, Kulan Eatery has opened.

 

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It is a halal place that is offering a line-up of Footscray-themed burgers.

CTS soon try!

 

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At Harrington Square in Altona, Waffee is closed for renovations.

The spot next to the Maltese cakey establishment Borg’s will soon be an ice-cream shop – though CTS has been unable to discover, yet, if it is going to be gelati or regular ice-cream, or whether it will be house-made or of the more commercial and/or brought in variety.

Also opening at Harrington Square, in the premises formerly occupied by Altona Curry House, is Birdcage Altona Cafe.

Footscray soul food

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Somali Star Cafe, Footscray Hub (arcade between Nicholson and Albert streets).

The Footscray Hub arcade mostly seems wonderfully changeless in its lively Africaness.

But it’s only ever had, to the best of our knowledge, a single food outlet among its various hairdressers, clothes shops and more.

These days that shop goes under the moniker Somali Star and is, I reckon, at least the third incarnation of that food space.

It’s a small – there’s two simple booths so seating is restricted.

But most customers are of the takeaway variety and come and happily go for the sambusas.

 

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The sign saying “the sambussa is back” is, we reckon, a bit misleading.

Because we’ve had these African versions of the samosa from here before – but never like this.

 

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Oh no, these are bigger and better by quite some margin …

 

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… and, in the case of our lamb number, absolutely delicious, the flaky pastry generously stuffed with minced meat, onion and herbs.

And at $3.50, they’re a superb, dead-set bargain.

Effectively a light meal all on their own, it’s a sure thing these henceforth will feature at least once a week in CTS work/school lunches.

But while our sambusa is profoundly enjoyable, it is a holding pattern – pretty much – for our more substantial plates.

 

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Unlike its predecessors in this space, Somali Star has a wall-mounted menu, from which we are happy to make our selections.

We’re warned there’ll be a wait time of about 15 minutes. But we don’t mind that as we very much enjoying the moment.

That wait time stretches to more than 20 minutes but we continue to care not – even when one of dishes is forgotten, or did not register in the first place.

What we get is unfussy, very enjoyable Somalian food.

 

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Pasta/beef ($12) displays the Italian influence on north African food.

The noodles go just right with a sauce that is a bit like a Somalian version of spag bol.

Both are excellent.

The salad bits on the side are fresh and zingy and the commercial chilli sauce is added at our request.

 

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The rice/lamb ($13) comes without adornments – maybe because it has been rushed once the friendly realised our order for it had gone awol.

We’re familiar with Somalian rice being cooked in stock, seasoned with the likes of pepper and cardamom and served with slivers of onion.

This rice is quite different, pan fried (I think) with onion and small meat chunks.

The lamb is something else.

Normally, when eating lamb in neigbourhood/street food places, be they Indian, African or other, we are used to getting lovely meat that is nevertheless sporting its fair share of bone, fat and/or gristle.

We don’t mind that at all, as the quality cooking of the meat itself invariably outweighs the extraneous bits.

We admire the cooking skill that makes such delicious food out of the cheapest cuts of meat.

In the case of this here Somali Star lamb, we get all the cooking skill and none of the rest – save for the single, visible bone piece.

The meat is very simply cooked/grilled, and – as far as I can tell – unseasoned.

But it is so wonderful, tender and yummy that I reckon a heap of much flasher eateries/pubs/cafes would be happy to serve it and charge a whole bunch more in the process.

Soul food is a term bandied about a bit these days, often in tandem or alongside BBQ food of the American variety.

Given my interest in American roots music and culture, I find that appealing.

But when such food is served in trendy places and the prices hurt, it can seem like something of a pose.

Let’s think, instead, of Footscray soul food, western suburbs soul food as a bowl of pho.

Or a WeFo biryani or dosa.

Or a couple of plates of cheap, delicious Somalian food at Somali Star.

 

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