Balkan sanctuary

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Avliya Balkan Cuisine & Desserts, Shop 78, Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre, Point Cook. Phone: 0423 470 458

In a couple of decades adventuring all over, around and in Melbourne’s west, we have enjoyed quite a range of Balkan food.

But in a shopping centre? This is a new wrinkle for us.

We discover that Avilaya is tucked away in a corner of Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre in a cool spot that offers both indoor and outdoor dining.

The white and somewhat frilly ambience at first seems to indicate to us that it’ll be the kind of place we will for sure be offered to us coffee and sweets/cakes – and maybe burek if we’re lucky.

We’re wrong about that – Avliya offers a much more in-depth and broad range.

Even better, there’s a deep love of food going on here, evinced by the fact that everything – including bread and several kinds of side dishes and dips – is made in house.

Trahana ($7.50), listed as “traditional Balkan soup”, is a nice light starter – beef broth-based, it comes across as a sort of near relative of chicken noodle soup.

My Spicy Balkan Burger ($22.50) looks rather plain and unadorned, eh?

But it doesn’t eat that way at all!

The chargrilled bread remains moist and all delicious, the nicely-spicy patty is great and all the bits and pieces – including excellent and very hot crinkle-cut chips – are fine.

It barely needs the house-made ajvar I am nevertheless provided at no extra cost.

The more substantial offerings here are really big; I finish precisely three quarters of my burger, despite commencing with a robust appetite.

Bennie enjoys his by-request chipless Bosnian Souvlaki ($15.95), which is served with a nice side salad and tazatziki.

Me, I’m sort conflicted by the mixture of chicken and cheese!

Our second visit to Avliya is the result of a rather wonderful spontaneous accident – we’re in Point Cook having picked up a Gumtree comic purchase.

It’s hot and we’re a bit stumped for a lunch location and in no mood for going out of our way – so we plump for Balkan and braving the potentially ugly parking/crowd situation at Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre.

All that proves a breeze and we once again appreciate Avliya’s coolish and secluded location in the centre scheme of things.

And food-wise we do even better – this time taking the route of the aforementioned burek.

They are awesome – the best we’ve had!

We share the standard beef model (above, $15.95), served with a tub of yoghurt, and …

… and the zeljanica ($12.95), which we’re told is stuffed mainly with cottage cheese, some rictotta and a little bit of egg. The side tub of tomato goes just right!

Our goodness parcels make for a superb and lightish lunch.

One day we will journey to Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre intent on trying at least a couple of Avliya’s sweet treats/cakes – they really do look awesome.

But the substantial size of the meals at both our lunch visits renders them a no-go zone for us.

Steak of the art

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Bar Romanee, 25 Anderson Street, Yarraville. Phone: 9687 8451

In which we upscale one of our favourite lockdown treats into a real-deal dine-in experience.

Along with park picnics of takeaway food in slightly more far-flung environs of the west, we survived the most recent Melbourne lockdown thanks to several partakings of Bar Romanee’s Monday steak night.

Up to that point, we’d tried Bar Romanee for nothing more than a Cup Day steak sanger, also consumed in a nearby park – it was very good, too.

More in-depth exploration of the swish, clubbish joint being delayed, of course, by circumstances.

But our takeaway Monday steaks?

Hoo boy, they were utterly excellent – we both happily concluded they were the best we’d had from anywhere at any price at any time.

Being eaten on cardboard perhaps even heightening that sense of deluxe, our steaks were joined by good chips and wonderful slaw.

My suspicion that steak – and chips – were not suitable takeaway material was ameliorated by teamwork and the closeness of Bar Romanee to our home.

Park outside, grab the beefy goodies and then swiftly home – in each case, we were dining in style in well under five minutes.

But now things are a bit looser, we’re actually in the house on a Monday night.

What a lovely place this is!

There’s a Yarraville buzz on and there’s a nice crowd in, yet the buzz is not rowdy, noisy or oppressive in any way.

We’re told by our wait person that some Monday punters go with picks from the broader menu, but just about everyone we see around us is steaking it.

So we do, too.

It’s all brilliant – medium rare genius, a rich sauce, chips that are hotter than we’d managed to rush into our living room and superb slaw, studded with cuke and radish slices and scented with dill.

Look, we know there are other steak specials around – we’ve even tried some of them.

And some of them are significantly cheaper than the $30 Romanee price.

But in terms of deliciousness and value for money, Romanee is unbeatable.

Very sweet Greek

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Marko’s Greek Kitchen Bar, Shop 13/71-79 Kororoit Creek Road, Williamstown. Phone: 7013 0470

We’d eaten Greek at this specific address – located in Rifle Range Shopping Centre – but then things changed.

A whole lot of things changed, actually.

The virus came along.

And somewhere along that way, the place underwent a change of name.

And changes of personnel and, we suspect, management.

And the food changed – going from good/basic to something truly great, something to be adored.

Here’s how it unfolded for us …

Marko’s became one of a handlful of places across the inner west at which we regularly engineered lockdown picnics as a way of enjoying eatery food while eating-in was strictly a no-no.

And our orders were always the same: The combo deal of a basic souvlaki upgraded for an extra $5 with a serve of chips and a can of soft drink.

Bonza deals, packed neatly into carboard containers and swiftly transported to nearby Jawbone Reserve and equally swiftly consumed.

Consumed with ear-splitting grins.

Now we’re back for a sneaky eat-in lunch to see if our lockdown lunch joy holds up in a less stringent regulatory environment.

Yep, it sure does.

This is not mere takeaway food – it’s really excellent Greek tucker.

We’re well used to finding the best chips going around frequently come from eateries of various Mediterranean persuasions.

Marko’s is an upholder of that tradition.

The souvlakis are simply superb and simplicity itself.

These are not massive, two-fisted monsters, but real souvlakis of Greek tradition.

Toasted, Greek-style pita, garlic/yoghurt sauce, lettuce, tomato, onions and a few chips.

And the meat.

Ah, yes – the meat.

Each and every time we’ve visited over a couple of years now, we’ve reveled in lamb that is simultaneously crusty, salty and tender.

So wonderful!

We’re tempted to ascribe this meaty marvellousness to the fact we often seem to be the day’s first customers, therefore lucking into meat that has been exposed to the flame for a good while.

But, really, it’s happened so often, it’s probably wiser to conclude that these folks really, really know what they’re doing.

Meanwhile, we keep telling ourselves that the compact but alluring range of house-made cakes/slices/treats will have to wait until next time!

Myth lustre

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Myth Cafe, 48 Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne. Phone: 0460 659 400

Journeying to Myth Cafe – for the first of two visits – we muse about its location.

West Melbourne? Qualifies as western suburbs under our always rubbery definition!

West Melbourne? Kinda handy to our inner-west home, actually – a nifty, sweet drive that is easier to navigate than, say, St Albans or Werribee.

West Melbourne? Close to North Melbourne shops and Victoria Market, but not a part of either; just sort of a small nowhere it seems to us.

So despite the ease of our journey, we wonder: Why?

We soon find out.

Myth Cafe is located in shop-level premises of a modern apartment block. There are others like it nearby, as well as many cool houses, many of two levels, of the type so prevalent in the residential areas that fringe Melbourne’s CBD.

Moreover, this housing – and local workplaces – seem to provide a handsome supply of Myth Cafe customers.

For good reason – the Myth Cafe food is excellent. It is very affordable. It’s a small and newish operation that is destined to soar and is already garnering many hot google reviews.

Out advice: Get in before the hordes respond to inevitable coverage in Broadsheet, Timeout or similar.

Delivering Malaysian food, Myth Cafe is still in the process of marshalling its resources.

So far, this means its specialty – yong tau foo, “a very Chinese (Hakka) dish common in Malaysia” (thanks to a knowledgeable friend for insights on the food here!) – is served up during the week, with a small range of broader and more diverse dishes available on Sundays.

But sometimes on other days, too! It’s a changeable situation.

More advice: Lock into Myth Cafe’s FB page, on which its crew regularly updates what’s what and what’s to be got.

Yong tau foo? Ha! We’re very cool with that, having enjoyed it quite a few times at M Yong Tofu in Flemington and a few other places, too.

Bennie enjoys the chee cheung fun premium ($17.50), with the various surimi-style stuffed items surrounding wide noodles bathing a tangy bean paste-based sauce.

For me, it’s the same yong tau foo with curry noodles ($15.80) – it, too, is most excellent!

Predictably, we both enjoy the luscious stuffed eggplant the most, but all the yong tau foo is superb.

The great thing about it here is that despite all being made from the same base ingredients of smashed pork/fish/tofu, each piece/variety seems to have a different texture and even flavour.

Cooking smarts in abundance!

On our follow-up visit, we respond to FB notification that two of the Sunday specials will be available to us as week-day lunches!

Yay!

Stonking good they are, too!

My khao jam ($17) is a marvel of flavour and texture – it’s a sort of rice-based salad plate!

It’s served with fried chicken, salted egg (very, very, very salty!), fish crackers and various kinds of sublime crunchiness.

Bennie’s nasi kak wok ($15) is less flamboyant, but no less enjoyable.

Chicken curry and marinated fried chicken are accompanied by steamed rice and accesssories.

He particularly enjoys the marinated chicken.

And not for the first time, we muse that when it comes to fried chicken of various kinds, countries that start with the letters M and J generally have it all over those that start with US!

Kensington soul

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Sahara, 465 Macaulay Road, Kensington. Phone: 9372 5071

Did we miss Somalian food – and eating in Somalian restaurants?

Heck, yes!

As soon as we were able to do so, we headed to one of our faves – Mama’s Cuisine on Racecourse Road in Flemington.

Yes, yes, yes.

It was a lovely low-key return to something like normality.

Fabulous complementary lamb broth/soup and juice, super meat and rice.

This time, with much anticipation, we are headed to a new joint – this one in Kensington.

We had the existence of Sahara pointed out to us by Nat Stockley a long ways back. Between lockdowns, I think.

The premises will be familiar to anyone who has lived in the west for more than a few minutes – for decades, it was a Kensington landmark in the form of the Macaulay Road Taco Bill.

We never supped there.

Funny that.

Upon entering Sahara, we take in the spick-and-span surrounds and take much reassurance from the presence of locals enjoying typical Somalian fare – with bananas on the side.

We have a swell time.

The Sahara food we enjoy is terrific.

But be warned – serves are very, very big.

And there are some twists and tweaks here that are part and parcel of the eatery’s self-description as serving both African and Middle-Eastern food.

For instance, there is no complementary soup. No probs for us – we understand not all Somalian eateries partake of this tradition.

Nor are we offered bananas – but given the serving size, we do not pursue that matter.

Bennie goes for the mixed grill ($28) – and it’s a ripper.

One skewer apiece of chicken and lamb, another skewer of a tender kofta and a lamb cutlet.

All the meat is delicious and the kofta has a sweetish and very distinctive flavour – in a good way!

Nutmeg, cinnamon, cumin?

Something like that!

Bennie’s grill line-up sits atop plentiful fettuccine liberally doused in a good, basic tomato sauce and the salad bits and pieces on the side are fine.

My mandi lamb ($20) is equally wonderful.

We find Somalian rice is a bit like pho – they’re all the same and, at the same time, they’re all different.

This version – spiked with pomegranate seeds and quite light in colour but deep in flavour – is right up there with the best.

Plentiful fried/grilled veg hide equally plentiful lamb chops – again quite light in colour, more fawn than the usual deep tan, but very, very tender and easily eaten.

The Mid-East influence here is illustrated by my plate sporting not just the usual chilli and yoghurt-based dips, but also a good hummus.

I suspect Sahara will become one of our regulars.

The service has been fine, our food arrived at our table in good time and there appears to be ample parking available on adjacent Eastwood Street.

Steak in a motel

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Blazed Bar & Grill, Sunshine Motor Inn, 608 Ballarat Road, Aredeer. Phone: 9363 1717

We’re not real big on steaks.

Maybe because so much of the new-world food we love chops beasties up into bits more akin to bite-size.

But maybe, also, because we’ve had some very average steaks in the west, ones that have sat lumpen and leaden in our tummies.

But we can be persuaded.

During the most recent lockdown, for example, a couple of times we indulged in the Monday night $30 special from Romanee in Yarraville – perfectly cooked steak, fries, slaw, whipped home and being consumed within a couple of minutes.

I believe the same deal – eat in or eat out – continues to be offered.

Then there is Blazed Bar & Grill.

This has become a scratch that demands to be itched and I eventually co-opt Justin into a visit.

Part of it is the online reviews – though I know well enough not to lend them too much credence.

Part of it, too, is the constant CTS desire to eat and blog in the less congested eating spaces of the west.

But mostly, I confess, I am simply tickled about the idea of chowing down in a motel – especially one located on an otherwise mostly inedible, “nowhere” part of Ballarat Road, just south the ring Road.

My slightly dodgy hunch and enthusiasm end up being fully vindicated – and Justin, too, is won over, despite initial bemusement-verging-on-wariness.

We are impressed right from the start thanks to the friendly staff and, soon thereafter, the presence of chef Varun Mathur.

Varun explains the sourcing and grading of the house specialty – steaks – and dispenses advice with genuine warmth that sets us at ease.

We are seated in the huge dining room, which is deserted on an early week night. There’s a few customers in the adjacent bar who presumably belong to the numerous trucks parked all over.

Then – steaks for two it is.

Justin is very happy with his sirloin ($36), remarking that it is very, um, unusual to be presented with his steak cooked precisely rare as ordered and in this kind of setting.

The chips are good and the salad much more varied, crisp and colourful than predicted.

We’d cynically expected a typically sloppy balsamic-based dressing, but instead he gets a good mix of coriander, lime, mint, chilli and vinegar.

My ribeye ($38) delights in every way – cooked medium rare, juicy, delicious.

I would’ve preferred the chips/salad combo to accompany, but choose the veg option simply for variety’s sake.

And I am stoked about that.

The saffron mash and chargrilled mushroons and asparagus are excellent.

Blazed has been a wonderful – and somewhat unexpected – experience.

But there are aspects here worthy of a return visit or three.

The dessert list’s vanilla slice for one.

And the $20 burger-and-chips combos available in the bar.

In the meantime, we depart with a simple conclusion – Blazed does meat biz every bit as well and in every way as at least three inner-west pub-type venues of high repute we can think of.

Hot stuff!

Spicy? Yes.

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Spicy King, 21 Sun Crescent, Sunshine. Phone: 0410 574 523

Did we miss eating-out food?

Cafe, eatery, restaurant, greasy-spoon, pub, hole-in-the-wall food?

Well, of course.

But it was complicated – and still is in some ways.

And we’re sure that was and is also the case with all our readers.

For starters, we discovered we really don’t like take-away food – whether eaten on the hoof or at home.

The same is true, even more so, for delivered food.

All those containers – ugh!

And, it unsurprisingly turns out, what we really, really enjoy just as much as the tucker are the sights, smells, smiles and sounds of our fave eating places, old, new and still to come.

But such is our life-affirming addiction to western suburbs food and its undoubted benefits – nutritional, spiritual, emotional – that we did find a way.

It’s a mental health issue, hey?

Basically, we embarked on a rolling series of picnics, wherein take-away food from a revolving gang of some of our fave places was enjoyed at nearby parks and outdoor spaces.

I suspect that at least some of the time what we were up to was outside the restrictions in place at any given time, in terms of kilometres from home and perhaps social distancing.

But we certainly felt we were operating within the spirit of restriction requirements, if not the actual letter of them.

And, of course, we were far from alone in our adventures.

One of the place often favoured for our lockdown picnics was Spicy King, a Sri Lankan outfit in Sunshine.

I’d been aware of – and had eaten at – Spicy King before the world went all nutty.

But, to be honest, I found the food a bit on the basic and rough-hewn side and very, very spicy.

But over the course of several virus-induced outings, we fell in love with Spicy King’s food.

So, when we are able, we leap at the chance to dine in.

We do so grandly – two plates, two soft drinks, a pack apiece of chilli cashews and of chilli peanuts and we barely bust $30 in terms of spending.

Spicy King offers a range of rolls and snack items, as well as string hoppers and puttu, but the latter seemingly come into play at dinner time only.

Lunch is all about the bain marie and combos.

Bennie enjoys his deal of chicken curry, okra, breadfruit and two parottas ($10).

I, too, go for the chicken – I guess neither of us liked the bedraggled look of the lamb and beef options; such is often the way with bains marie.

My poultry is accompanied by rather chewy breadfruit, good dal and a jumble of beans, carrot and more, with my combo costing $11.

It’s all fine, though we both wish the beetroot dish had been available for this visit.

And we both love the coconut roti ($2.50) we acquire out of hungry curiosity.

Spicy King will continue to enjoy sporadic visits from us, lockdown or no, and we love having another Sri Lankan option from which to choose.

But buyers beware – the food at Spicy King is mostly very spicy. It’s no problem for us, but IS pretty much at the outer limits of what we find comfortable.

Super Syrian

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Shaam Restaurant, 376 Keilor Road, Niddrie. Phone: 7021 1021

Well now – here we are.

Experiencing another post-lockdown catch-up/chow-down.

Presumably it’ll be the last one.

Ever.

But so nutty have the past few years been, no one would bet on that outcome, hey?

In any case, it is with no little joy that Bennie, Veronica and my own self head to Niddrie to meet up with the famous Nat Stockley.

It’s been a long time between drinks. Or meals.

We’ve had good meals in this neighbourhood, but it always strikes us that it presents as the sort of strip that should positively bristle with great eats yet always falls some way short of that promise.

No matter – we’re definitely up for some Syrian food.

What are we expecting?

Quite a lot that is familiar from our various other numerous outings involving Middle Eastern and/or Mediteranean food across the west.

And, hopefully, some pot/oven stuff that is less likely to be seen in a restaurant setting.

That’s what we hope for – and that’s what we get.

The service is good and our food arrives with admirable swiftness.

As ever, we really enjoy any iteration of the tradition found across many food cultures of serving guests dishes that simply arrive without being ordered.

Think of lamb broth and bananas in Somalian eateries. Or little, tasty appetisers at good Japanese places.

At Shaam, we get a good fatoush and …

… and a creamy hummus in that tradition. Lovely! These are priced, respectively, at $14 and $13 if specifically ordered.

Before moving on to our three main dishes, we indulge is some more little dishes.

Kibbeh traboulsye ($3 each) are fine and meaty, though could’ve been a bit more that just barely warm at their centres.

We don’t like wedges. Generally hate them, in fact.

So we are bemused and delighted when our order of batata harrah ($13) turns out to be … wedges.

Excellent wedges.

Their deliciousness is lifted, a lot, by the piquant “traditional dressing” of chilli, garlic and coriander.

On to our main courses …

The shish tawook platter ($27) has a familiar look to it, with all the nuts and bolts in good working order.

The chicken meat is a little dry and very garlicky.

Pot food, unrestaurant offerings?

They come to us as Syrian specials of the day as indicated on the menu.

I endeavour to discover their names and get only the non-evocative “daily dish meat” (top photo, $25) and …

… “daily dish chicken” ($22).

The lamb shank dish comes with an intense tomato sauce liberally studded with okra.

The chicken dish is the best of our meal.

The plain maryland swims in a wonderful and very lemony spinach sauce.

Both these dishes are rather austere in terms of seasoning and in relation to the sort of spicy, fiery food we devour so frequently.

But we relish the righteous home-cooking vibes. And the superb rice/pasta.

We’ve enjoyed our meal very much and reckon a bill total that clocks in at just under $30 per person – including a round of drinks – is pretty darn good.

Will we return to Shaam?

Sure thing!

Let’s have a chat

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Chatkora’s, Unit 4, 45 Leakes Road, Laverton North. Phone: 0499 333 295

“There’s no furniture so it’ll be great!!!”

Interesting to reflect how my enforced (but now perfectly harmonious) removal from the regular workforce and the ongoing shock of the virus and its various upheavals are impacting Consider The Sauce.

The unfolding CTS future, it seems, looks something like this …

A much less frantic pace – maybe one post a week or every fortnight.

Much more eating at home. And sleeping in.

And, perhaps most importantly, posting only about those places that really, really excite us and that we consider deserve much wider exposure and appreciation.

So, as it stands, there’s little or no chance we’ll be covering any cafes or bars – or the latest “it” place that is being raved about in the other strands of media – during the rest of this year and beyond.

As an indication of that revamped CTS ethos, it’s fair to say that our current favourite places, the subjects of regular visits, are Panjali, Hop N Spice and Chai N Dosa.

Oh yes, street food galore!

It’s that sort of zeal that finds us roaming to Laverton North to try the Indian street food of Chatkora’s.

It being around Sunday lunch time, we are restricted to the brunch menu, rather than the more extensive dinner list (see menus below).

No problem!

As for the lack of furniture, well we make happy with an impromptu car boot picnic just like all the other customers.

Besides which, a Chatkora’s bricks-and-mortar eating house is taking place right behind the current truck’s location and will be unveiled in coming months.

The food here hails more from India’s north than the South Indian fare of Chai N Dosa and, I suspect, from Delhi in particular.

But it’s a long way from being heavy as it’s all-round vegan from top to tail.

We find the food delicious.

The wait times are a little longer than you may expect, but it’s worth it and just everything appears to be prepared from scratch.

They even cook up several different kinds of chick pea curry for different menu items.

This kind of food seems to rely very much on a mix of wet and dry ingredients, the combinations of which simply would not work in a pre-prepared sense. All that zingy crunch would be lost!

Take my Amritsari bheega kulcha ($14) for instance.

How good is this?

Toasted flatbread is anointed with chick pea curry, shredded daikon, red onion, a green minty sauce and coriander.

It’s wonderful!

Bennie is equally as pleased with his Pindi chole bhature ($16).

Given the space limitations of the truck, we can happily live with the breads being pre-made.

They’re still good, as are the rich chick pea curry and the attendant accessories.

So delighted are we with our lunch repasts, we are excited to return a week later to explore the more extensive night-time menu.

My Amritsari nutri kulcha ($16) is fabulous and something a little bit different.

The toasted flatbreads are quite fluffy.

The curry and its wonderfully tasty gravy are studded with soy meat bits – that’s where the “nutri” comes from.

Not really my thing, but it works fine.

The raita has small, soft pearls of … maybe puffed rice?

And the pickle bits are house-made. They have a whiff of mustard oil about them – again, not really my thing, but it’s not too strong.

Bennie’s chole aloo tikki burger ($14) has stuffing of a quite dry chick pea mix and what appears to be a potato patty/rissole.

He likes it fine.

On the side are a tangy tamarind sauce and crisps that come across as a vegan version of prawn crackers.

Having so much fun are we that we top off our dinners with super kulfi icecream-on-a-stick ($5) – mango for him, pistachio for me!

Chatkora’s?

Go on, make that drive.

It is open for dinner Tuesday-Sunday and lunch/brunch of Saturdays and Sundays.

Visit the Chatkora’s website here.

Street wise

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Chai n Dosa, 310 Ballarat Road, Braybrook. Phone: 0420 262 274

“Street food”?

Ugh.

That term has been soiled and sullied into meaningless submission, perhaps by too many “lifestyle influencers” and perhaps also too many careless and glib mentions in various media outlets.

Of course, at the point this kind of coverage in those kinds of places of that kind food springs forth, there’s almost certainly little that is “street” about the “food”.

Here in the mighty western suburbs of Melbourne, we all have regular access to real-deal street food.

At Chai n Dosa that availability runs to seven days a week.

OK, OK – if you want to get all technical on me, Chai n Dosa is not actually on any street.

Instead, it’s on what used to be on a used car lot.

Used car lot?

Anyone who has been up and/or down this particular stretch of Ballarat Road will know exactly what I mean when I say … it’s the one with the wagon wheel!

But in every other way, Chai n Dosa is the epitome of street food.

Low prices.

Rudimentary eat-in facilities. Just a handful of chairs, actually. Though there are a handwash basin and plenty of paper napkins on hand.

You’ll find those napkins handy as you’ll want to do what all the other customers do – ignore the plastic cutlery and eat with your hands.

And do so while sitting on one of the chairs – or squatting or standing; or maybe using your car bonnet or boot lid as a picnic table.

We use the boulders embedded in the adjacent nature strip – and for sure we aren’t the first to do so!

The menus (see below) are mostly vegetarian and mostly familiar.

The Chai n Dosa crew serve up the likes of chicken pulao later in the week, but for the rest it’s all about carbs.

We like the look of the bonda!

But for our Sunday lunch, we stick to the familiarity of masala dosa ($8.50) and …

… idly and vada ($8.50).

The food is all excellent – and the vada are particularly noteworthy.

They’re a little crunchy on the outside and fluffy inside – and that’s a far cry from the the doughy doughnuts sometimes served up elsewhere.

The accompaniments – sambar and chutney – are likewise exemplary.

And you know what?

It’s all very subjective, but we reckon the food tastes better and we enjoy our meal more for it being had from such a funky street food set-up.

Vietnamese thriller

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Hu Tieu Go Ong Map, 2/203 Ballarat Road (actually on Gordon Street), Footscray. Phone: 9077 7099

How lovely it is to see the oft-times gloomy and unlovely group of shops on Gordon Street, as it meets Ballarat Road, finally hosting some food businesses that are surviving instead of lasting just a few months or weeks.

The latest addition – Hu Tieu Ong Map – is doing more than surviving.

It is positively thriving.

Our long-time buddy and fellow eats nut, Juz, spotted it and tells us every time he passes, it is brimming with happy customers.

When we finally get there ourselves – for two Saturday lunches – we find it equally packed with happiness.

The food quality is high and the service cheerful.

But what sets Hu Tieu Og Map apart is its menu (see below).

Here you’ll find many dishes that are otherwise unseen – as far as we know – in Footscray, Sunshine or St Albans.

They include quite a few featuring the likes of snails and clams.

The noodles are house-made – as is, I suspect, just about everything else.

We are encouraged to try the house signature “knock” noodles ($12).

They can be had as soup or dry with the soup on the side.

Bennie goes all porky with his.

While mine is all about sliced pork and prawns.

In both cases, our soups boast a meaty bone and the dipping sauce has a depth of flavour and lustre rarely seen in Vietnamese restaurants. We attempt to discovers its ingredients, but that mission gets lost amid paying and laughter.

We very much enjoy our knock noodles – the overall vibe is a bit like a cross between more familiar hu tieu dishes and pho.

Deep-fried prawn gyoza ($8 for five) are crunchy taste bombs.

The prawny innards are immersed in a mix that we find is akin to the gingery/oily/garlicky mash usually served with Hainan chicken rice.

It’s only upon revisiting the menu that I realise my curry chicken noodles ($13) we most likely meant to be served with a side dish of sprouts and greenery.

No matter at all because I love all of this.

It’s very mild in the Vietnamese way and has carrot chunks in addition to the chicken. Like poultry bo kho!

This is the familiar grilled chicken vermicelli ($13.50).

Except in several ways it is not familiar at all – the Hu Tieu Ong Map version explodes with more flavour and texture and joy than just about any other rendition we have come across in the greater western suburbs.

It’s fantastic in every way.

And there’s a stack of roasted peanuts.

We love that.

Sri Lankan heights

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Hop N Spice, 284 Ballarat Road, Braybrook. Phone: 9310 2000

“Under New Management.”

They’re words that are regularly seen emblazoned on the windows of all sorts of businesses all over, including eating places of the western suburbs.

They represent many stories – new hopes and dreams, as well as shattered dreams and hard luck yarns.

Hop N Spice has new management.

I know this because one of the new bosses contacted me, just before we were all struck by virus/lockdown madness, with a view to enticing me/us to try out their food.

So, as Bennie and I front up for Saturday lunch, it’s taken this long for us to try the new-look Hop N Spice.

We have eaten here – under the previous regime.

At least a couple of times, though I am a little surprised none of those meals was recorded here at Consider The Sauce.

Then, a few years back, I arranged to meet Nat at Hop N Spice for dinner – this was as our mutual love of Sri Lankan food was reaching intense heights, as represented by our meals at the now defunct White Elephant in West Footscray and sadly missed Curry Leaves in Sunshine, as well as the superb Fusion Ceylon in Werribee and Kites in Clayton South.

I was a little early, so while waiting for Nat I entered the restaurant as it was then – and was aghast.

It was dingy and dismal.

Worse, in the hand-wash basin right there in the dining area were the remants of someone’s meal – or food scraps of some kind.

I beat a hasty retreat and we dined elsewhere that evening.

So it is with just a little trepidation that Bennie and I enter today’s Hop N Spice to do the CTS business.

And that trepidation, it very happily turns out, has been illogical and unfair.

Because in this case, “Under New Management” very much means a whole new deal.

The wash basin is still there and clean-as, but all else is changed.

The place looks bright and breezy, it’s spick and span and the food in the bain marie looks ace.

Even better, the super friendly staff are all smiles and welcoming, eager to explain the food to us when it’s needed.

That food is superb – and we are ecstatic to find such fine Sri Lankan tucker so relatively close to home.

Bennie’s meal deal costs $11.

This is absurdly cheap – I mean, really, this is 2021, not 2011 or 2001, you know?

(A slightly more elaborate set-up is available to dinner time for $13.)

His meal includes a great, tangy coconut sambol and jackfruit curry.

His third veg concoction looks like it involves celery.

The stalks are, we’re told, what in the world of Sri Lankan cooking/eating are known as “drum sticks”.

The stringy stalks are inedible.

Instead, you scoop out the tender, internal peas the same way you eat an artichoke.

Very nice!

His meal is capped off by papadum, rice and a very good lamb curry that is all tender meat and no bones, fat or gristle.

Like Bennie’s lunch, my lamprais (top photo, $13) is presented/plated with style and elan we seldom see in eateries of this kind.

It’s all terrific, though a slim band of banana leaf is all that denotes “lamprais”. No matter!

The same lamb curry is matched with the customary HB egg, pickled eggplant moju, fish croquet, sweet onion sambol and top-notch rice.

Hop N Spice?

We’ll be back for sure!

Top tasty cafes with a Japanese tang

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The Usual Joint, 32 Furlong Road, Sunshine.
Coracle Cafe Restaurant, 63-65 Anderson Street, Yarraville. Phone: 9315 1411

We just love The Usual Joint.

The Sunshine cafe is far enough away from our home base to miss out on being subject to weekly – or even monthly – visits by us.

But we’ve had some cracking meals there so have no hesitation in heading that way for the first day of a new menu.

While our previous meals at The Usual Joint have been of a Vietnamese persuasion, the new list takes quite a different tack – with the usual capable crew taking a poke at the currently very “in” rice bowl fad and a likewise Japanese-influenced noodle salad.

We reckon they’ll be pretty darn good at it.

They are.

My salmon soba noodle salad ($17.50, top photo) is lovely and bursting with fresh, clean flavours.

The luscious cubes of chargrilled salmon are assisted by similarly configured tofu, enoki mushrooms and seaweed salad, the rice and greens quite heavily dressed in a sesame concoction. Not that I mind!

 

 

Bennie’s katsu chicken curry rice bowl ($16.50) looks just as sweet and tastes the same.

Here the potato and carrot pieces are swimming in the curry gravy while the crumbed, crunchy chicken is adjacent.

Rice, pickles and a big, fat dollop of may0 complete the picture.

 

 

Savoury offerings aside, what The Usual Joint prides itself on are its cream puffs and crepe layer cakes.

We’re big fans of the latter so indulge this time out in a ridiculously delicious wedge of their pandan and coconut ($10).

Swoon we do!

 

 

Coracle of Yarraville IS a local for us, one we should perhaps visit more often.

Though it is a very busy place!

Nevertheless, we are happy to heed a suggestion from a friend who knows her stuff and rates the current cooking here as terrific (Hi, Deb!).

She’s right; we enjoy some smashing food on our return visit.

 

 

The lunch offerings here evince a similar Japanese, fusiony outlook as at The Usual Joint – a little flashier and more elaborate, a few bucks more.

And well worth it.

My mapo tofu rice bowl ($20) is a dream.

The pork mince and tofu with Szechuan peppercorn and green peppercorn is a funky, earthy flavour bomb – and something quite different from the slick, glazed and glib versions often found in Chinese line-ups.

It is pungently wow.

Accompanying are choy sum, pumpkin in mirin, pickle carrot; and housemade soy sauce with Chinese pickles and cucumber.

And – to finish – perfumed iced tea gently clinking with ice cubes.

 

 

Bennie’s brothless kakuni ramen ($21) doesn’t quite have the same immediate knockout appeal, but he enjoys it nonetheless.

Kabuki, we’re told, means slow-braised pork belly in master stock.

That porky stuff is served with Japanese ramen eggs, light wabasi dressing, beancurd skin, charred baby corn and spinach ohitashi.

 

Homely and heavenly

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Afghan Bread, 250 Hampshire Road, Sunshine. Phone: 0468 559 955

The eatery/bakery known simply as Afghan Bread has been mentioned here before – as part of a CTS Westie eats goss post a year ago.

But that was just in passing.

On this lovely Sunday, we’re back in modest force simply to eat.

And we do.

Really, really well.

 

 

In quite a few ways, Afghan Bread – which spruiks Afghan and Persian cuisine on its window signage – is the epitomy of what CTS adores in an eating place.

Seemingly something of an accidental restaurant, its dining room (such as it is) has just a few tables and chairs, the place’s bakery operation spilling out into this area via a flatbread-carrying conveyor belt.

The menu is mounted above the serving counter, with the prices being very low.

The service is welcoming and smiling, albeit requiring goodwill and patience to surmount happily a language barrier.

There you go – just about everything we love!

And while, given its nature, this isn’t the sort of place to have won attention and plaudits in the wider community (yet), the buzzing coming and going we observe as we enjoy our meal leaves no doubt this is very definitely a mainstay of the Afghan community and others “in the know”.

 

 

Bennie and Deb both choose the tikkah kebab ($15).

This consists of fabulously delicious cubes of high-class lamb, barbecued just right.

The serves are huge.

Marinated?

We think so, though nothing so robust as cumin. The meat speaks and eats for itself.

Bennie even opines: “I think this may be the best lamb I’ve ever eaten!”

 

 

The meat dishes are accompanied by a wonderful dipping sauce – minty, vinegary and of only mild spiciness.

Cheap prices?

Well yeah, but the dishes are basic – add-ons up the overall cost just a little.

We order two breads ($2 each), a bowl of yoghurt ($5) and a plate of rice ($5).

But even then, we eat royally for a miserly total of $55.

And most of the rice and yoghurt – and one of the breads – go home with us.

 

 

My chicken korma ($13) is cooking of quite different kind.

More stew than curry, it is a typically Afghan concoction – cooked down, tomatoey, mildly seasoned.

It, too, is wonderful.

And not a bone to be found.

 

 

Because of my excitement over our Sunday lunch, I forget to photograph the bread.

So I return a few days later for a solo lunch, this time choosing the shami kebab.

So far as I can tell, these are the same as – or very similar to – what in other places are usually referred to as shish kofta.

The meat is sublimely juicy and I buzz with the joy of it.

The shami kebab ($13) plus one bread see my lunch costing $15.

 

Perfect.

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Sunshine Social, 64 Glengala Road, Sunshine West. Phone: 9312 0223

The post-lockdown adjustment to our eating out outlook will inevitably change, we mostly surmise.

But in the meantime we are fully reveling in a freshly found sense of freedom, a sort of giddy glee that is accompanied by an internal acknowledgement just what a joy and privilege it is.

Mind you, we are not full bore out there – yet. We won’t be standing, jostling shoulder-to-shoulder anywhere anytime soon.

But that’s OK as that’s never been our go anyhow.

In the case of our mid-week lunch at Sunshine Social, we have the place pretty much to ourselves. And the drive has provided some much-needed driving time for Bennie as he works towards getting his licence.

We rate the place highly, but since our initial story soon after it opened, our visits have been infrequent as it is just a tad outside our nearby locales to be considered a local.

But we have noted with satisfaction, upon viewing social media pics and comments, that the former servo has forged a handy niche in its own neighbourhood.

As per that first story, I order half a chook, chips and coleslaw – because that’s what I ALWAYS order when in charcoal chicken circumstances.

Bennie orders the same.

Normally, when we’re on blog duty, this would be a no-no.

But post-lockdown, this, too, has been adjusted to a less pernickety “do exactly as you want” attitude.

In this particular instance, the outcome pleases us both.

Because we absolutely love a meal we will be discussing for decades to come.

 

 

Our chicken meals differ from the one I enjoyed very early in the Sunshine Social story in two important regards.

For one, the price – $18.50 – is significantly less than the “proper restaurant” figure previously charged, putting it within just a couple of bucks of your standard charcoal chicken pricing for such a combo.

Given the quality of the food, this is an extraordinary bargain.

Because – no lie – this is the best charcoal chicken meal I’ve ever cosumed.

And that’s saying a huge lot.

The chicken, every bit of it, is succulent and juicy.

Yep, even the denser bits to do with the breast meat.

As well there’s a delectable whiff of American-style barbecue cooking about it.

Oh boy.

OMG.

The coleslaw – a handsome pile – is the perfect foil. It is perfumed with dill and only lightly dressed.

That’s quite a difference from the mayo-laden slop served up pretty much universally in old-school chicken shops.

We kinda like that tradition, too, but it’s super awesome to be fed something with way more class.

(The coleslaw has been substituted at our request for the green salad normally served with this meal. We are unsure whether this arrangement will be available to all customers and/or at all times.)

 

 

To cap it all off, we both receive and enjoy substantial serves of very excellent chips.

 

 

Oh yeah – as a starter we also enjoyed our serve of roast beetroot hummus with flatbread for $5.50.

But as we depart it’s a little tricky to even recall that particular dish as it is overshadowed by perfect poultry.

Visit the Sunshine Social website, with menu and prices, here.

 

Malaysian heights delight

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Orange Hat Cafe, 16 Harrington Square, Altona. Phone: 0433 264 887

We reckon it’s pretty cool to see life – and food – blooming at Harrington Square, and Orange Hat Cafe is right in the thick of it.

We have visited previously.

But that was pre-winter, pre-lockdown – and subsequently seems a long time ago.

So, inevitably, I end up asking the same questions again.

Or more precisely, inquiring exactly what kind of food does Orange Hat serve?

The answer is Malaysian. With a hint of Singaporean. And a flourish of Indian – especially with a new chef on board, one with an Indian family background.

As well, some of the staff members wear hijabs, so of course the food here is halal.

So I figure Orange Hat is something of a halal twin for another of our favourite places, Panjali in Sunshine, where the food is likewise Malaysian, but the spiritual flavour is Hindu.

Not that any of this matters, really, but I do like to get such things right.

And besides, the most important things about Orange Hat are the following – the welcome is toasty warm, the smiles wide and the food very, very good.

If we lived in Altona, or anywhere near it, we’d be here once a week.

At LEAST once a week.

Orange Hat Cafe is gearing up again after the long, unopen winter.

We’re told “specials” such as banana leaf meals will return in the new year.

And – who knows? – perhaps the current opening hours of Thursday-Sunday and noon-5pm may be extended.

In the meantime, we are restricted – during our Sunday lunch visit – to the “Permanent Menu” (see below).

And that is no hardship at all.

 

 

Bennie rates his nasi lemak rendang ($14) as right up there with “the best” he’s ever had.

It’s all very simple, with all the requisite bits and pieces laid out beautifully.

The beef is very coconutty – and manages the neat trick of having the feel and flavour of homecooked food, as opposed to restaurant cooking.

Cool, eh?

 

 

My mee rebus ($12) is a 10/10 soup noodle dish; it’s superb.

There are plentiful cubes of no-bone lamb in there and lots more besides, all luxuriating in a viscous “shrimp/peanut broth”.

Hardboiled egg, noodles, bean sprouts, tofu.

You get the picture.

It’s a big serve at a low price.

 

 

Having enjoyed our savoury lunches so very much, we are in such an expansive mood that we partake of a trio of the sweet offerings – the pinkish kuih lapis (steamed layer cake), the yellow bingke ubi (baked tapioca cake) and apam gula melaka (a sort steamed apple cake).

We love the first two; the last, with its earthy flavour, not so much.

We reckon Altona locals are extremely lucky to have Orange Hat Cafe in their backyard.

And we also reckon westies from all over, and Melburnians generally, should make the drive and the effort.

 

Classy Japanese for Footscray

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Hanzo Babekyu, 45 Leeds Street, Footscray. Phone: 0487 935 550

Leeds Street is such an integral part of Footscray Central that it seems a little odd to be heading right there to eat, such has been the somewhat scrappy nature over many years of its food stature.

But headed there we are.

Furthermore, after many months of of a diet consisting mostly of healthy, splendid and frugal homecooking, we are very open to throwing some money around on a lavish Japanese lunch and are hopeful we will be able to so at Hanzo Babekyu, a swish-looking new arrival.

The place certainly looks the part.

Alas, we discover the more elaborate a la carte menu is in operation at evenings only.

Likewise the varied at-table barbecue feasts that commence at about $40 per person.

So that means we are restricted to the tight lunch specials list (see below).

So how do we do?

Are we served a disappointing rendition of “food court Japanese”?

Well, the prices are certainly in that ball park, with the entire line-up falling between $13 and $17.

But our lunches, we are super happy to report, eclipse whatever associations have been generated by the bargain-basement prices.

We eat very well.

 

 

My chicken curry don ($13.50) is a supreme outing of its kind, with the all-important ratio of rice to gravy just right.

There are heaps of onion slices in there.

And there seem to just as many good chicken pieces, carrot slices and green bean segments. Incredibly, all these show signs of having been chargrilled before being doused in the deep brown and rich curry sauce.

It’s a winner!

 

 

Bennie is equally knocked out by his “Makunouchi” bento ($15).

We’re not sure if the pickles are house-made; nevertheless, they make a nice alternative to the standard pickled ginger we’d normally expect at such prices.

Underneath waving bonito flakes are a trio of deep-fried spheres that are very tasty. They are gooey and appear to contain potato, octopus and perhaps more.

Good beef teryiaki is matched by a prawn/veg concoction of almost Cantonese construction. The prawns, a generous serve, are significantly bigger than expected.

Even the mixed leaves that constitute this bento’s greenery are top notch.

While the more detailed options and barbecue offerings at Hanzo Babekyu must await another day – or night! – we have been delighted with our Saturday lunch, concluding we’ll be returning before long for a repeat.

 

Uyghur in Footscray Central – tops!

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Kiroren Restaurant, 253B Barkly Street, Footscray. Phone: 0435 555 658

Meeting Justin on a Friday for a feed at a small family restaurant where it’s cash-only and the ordering requires patience because of a language gap – NOW it feels like we’re out of lockdown and Consider The Sauce is back in business!

Truth is, my dining companion had his eye on this eating house before lockdown, so it’s a pleasure to follow-up on this Uyghur place.

 

 

The restaurant dining room looks plain and comfy – but as it’s fine, if a little cool, we settle into the sole outdoor table.

The menu is longish, the prices orthodox and the fare very similar to that offered by Karlayisi on Gordon Street.

And that means we already have a pretty good idea of what we’re about to order.

We find the food to be excellent – with one minor mis-step on our part.

 

 

Tarhamak salat ($14) is described as “cucumber salad with garlic sauce”.

It certainly looks garlicky!

However, we discover the bulb flavour is rather muted in favour of sesame oil.

The salad is wonderful – cool and delicious.

There was a time – not so long ago – when I would’ve grumbled a bit about paying $14 for a plate of chopped cucumber.

But no more; this is worth every cent, so expertly done is it.

Heck, it could even be described the highlight of our meal!

 

 

House-made noodles?

Of course!

Aqqik gorush chopi kormisi ($15) is described as “stir-fried rice noodles with chicken, onion, bird’s eye chilli and celery” – and is affixed with three chillis, denoting extreme heat.

In true, we find it to be only mild in the spice department – perhaps the cooking was tweaked to accommodate the paleface pair sitting outside.

No matter – we love it anyway.

Typically, we find it to be not so much in the stir-fried style; it’s wetter than that – and more like the soup noodles found in other Asian parts.

 

 

There’s a smallish dumpling offering here, but we have no qualms about ordering what appear to be the orthodox steamed versions.

Tugra ($15) of beef, onion and “veg” are top notch.

 

 

Naturally, this being an Uyghur establishment, we order some barbecued lamb.

Koroga kawap ($8) is lamb ribs.

They’re fatty, cumin-infused and gorgeous eating.

 

 

Nope, these aren’t figs – they’re borak kawap ($6).

Unfortunately, the lambs kidneys are a bit too offal real for both of us.

But considering all else we have enjoyed, that seems no big deal.

We figure Kiroren is a very handy addition to Footscray Central eats options.

The burgers? Just as great as the view …

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The Eatery at MDGC, Mt Derrimut Golf & Community Club, 475 Mt Derrimut Rd, Derrimut. Phone: 8737 9011

The Mt Derrimut Golf Club has been on our “things to do” list for pretty much as long as Consider The Sauce has been going.

A quick afternoon visit after I’d picked up Bennie from his current, Truganina, place of work quickly elevated the place up our list of priorities. Beer, chips and a superb view went down a treat.

A few weeks later, we are back – the day is overcast, Melbourne’s CBD is a smudge on the horizon, but our spirits are high.

Oh my, how good is it to be out and about again?

 

 

In terms of eats, the venue is finding its feet again after the long lockdown months.

So for the time being, a basic bar-style menu is on offer, with a more elaborate list and such things as Sunday roasts presumably still to come again.

On the drive, I’d confessed my scepticism about the quality of the food we might encounter here, so much so that I was quite prepared to ascertain the beef burger patties are made in house – the dreaded frozen patties seemed like a possibility.

Once perusing the menu (see below), we realise its adamant proclamation of quality renders such an inquiry unnecessary – so we order and wait.

The food is really, really good, the service unobtrusive and the timing spot on.

 

 

Bennie digs his chicken burger ($18) a whole bunch, eventually rating it 8.5/10.

The panko-crumbed chicken is substantial but very fine, while all the bits and pieces are just right.

The chips (included in the price) are just as excellent, hot and crisp as on our earlier visit.

 

 

My spicy beef burger ($18) is sensational.

It’s bereft of any greenery or veg.

But the ingredients are wonderful.

Onion rings provide little by way of flavour, but compensate by contributing cool crunch.

Best of all is the bacon.

It’s outstanding and there’s heaps of it.

How often does burger bacon barely pass muster or deliver little or no flavour?

That’s emphatically NOT the case here.

The “siracha mayo” is only a tad spicy, but the beef is real-deal delicious and chewy.

For those suspicious of mixing burgers and brioche: These were really good and fresh. And, unlike so many burgers, they held together supremely well. My last mouthful was a perfect gobful of meat ‘n’ bacon, topped and tailed by similar-sized pieces of bun. Impressive! No falling apart.

This is a 9.5/10 burger – maybe even a 10!

Really.

Bennie wonders if my extremely high rating can be attributed to many burger-free months or the high spirits of liberation.

Nah.

 

Melb’s best tacos

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Dingo Ate My Taco, Chifley Drive/Coulson Gardens, Maribyrnong. Phone: 0413 513 977

The photos that came by text message from Bennie are blurry – side-by-side tacos snagged while on one of his lockdown ambles, one that found him as far away as northern Maribyrnong.

Maribyrnong the suburb, not the LGA!

But the excited phone call that quickly follows could not be more focused.

“These are the best tacos I’ve ever had!” he enthused.

Well.

That’s enough for me – so here we are, tootling off on official Consider The Sauce business for the first time in about six months.

We’ve had some good tacos in our time – but we’d be lying if we had you believe they’re among our very favourite things to be found in the wonderland that is western suburbs food.

But I’m sure open to persuasion.

The Saturday lunchtime scene at Coulson Gardens is relaxed, with just enough people – many in picnic mode – to create a bit of a buzz without feeling crowded.

That’s quite a contrast from the scene we can see across the river in Essendon, where the cricket crowds seem to be heaving.

The crew manning the Dingo food truck is a happy and willing one, and they help us make our choices from the whiteboard menus.

We go with family special #3 – the birria quesataco plate of three beef brisket tacos served with coriander, onion and salsa and a side of “consume”. This costs us $19 each.

As well, being of profoundly robust hunger, we chuck in a tub of corn chips and salsa for $5.

The consommé is nowhere near the spiciness its fiery red hue suggest. But still – very nice, very beefy.

The tacos?

Here’s the CTS verdict – they really are the best tacos we’ve had in Melbourne.

A bit crunchy, a bit chewy, both nicely cheesy and greasy – and all-round delicious.

As well, these tacos – and, indeed, the whole experience – have a street food vibe about them.

Perhaps tacos should only EVER be enjoyed from a food truck?

With the corn chips/salsa and a couple of Jarritos soft drinks thrown is, our lunch has cost us $53.

We’re fine with that even if it seems just a tad pricey for a food truck meal.

We believe it will be some time before we start to deviate from the home-cooking habits that have developed through lockdown and so have resolved that when we do eat out that there will be no cutting of corners or tight-fistedness.

As well, the heft of the meal dispels any lingering suspicions that tacos are a good way to spend quite a lot of money and still feel hungry.

We don’t start to feel peckish for dinner until well into the evening.