Tag Archives: Ascot Vale

Hopping into spicy nirvana

Leave a comment
Hop & Spice, 230 Union Road, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9454 1806

Well, my-oh-my, what a really, really fine time we have at Hop & Spice.

At the new restaurant on Union Road, Ascot Vale, that is – a sister for the long-standing and much-loved bastion of Sri Lankan food on Ballarat Road, Braybrook.

Certainly, today’s Team CTS – Nat, Juz, Bennie, Veronica and me (Kenny) have all eaten at – and enjoyed – the latter multiple times, so are very happy to be taking the former for a first spin.

There are several things worthy noting about the new Ascot Vale Hop & Spice.

For starters, it’s significantly more swish than the otherwise perfectly fine utilitarian cafe vibes at Braybrook.

Yet despite that, and in defiance of the undoubted rent differential between the two locations, the prices at Ascot Vale appear to match those of the original (and still running) Braybrook eatery.

And that, we reckon, is amazing.

Especially for food this good – and Hop & Spice food is very, very good.

The food we enjoy is not only superb, but ranks among the most affordable in the western suburbs.

Or in Melbourne more broadly, no doubt!

My companions all opt for variations of the lunch special rice plates displayed photographically hereabouts and all costing in the $10 to $14 range, depending on choice of protein.

Only myself differs from the rice plate routine – ordering the lamb biryani ($16).

It’s wonderful and every bit as good as I’ve come to expect.

Onion-slivered rice, tender (and bone-free) lamb curry, egg, two kinds of yoghurt dip, curry leaves, crunchy cashews.

It’s testament to the kind of cool lunching we do that when I mock whine about not getting a papadum, as do all my table pals, an entire bowl of them is brought to our table!

Hop & Spice, Ascot Vale, is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.

Visit the Hop & Spice website here.

In Sinq with Ethiopian greatness

5 Comments

Sinq, 113 Maribyrnong Road, Ascot Vale Road. Phone: 0404 231 792

Sinq has been going just a couple of weeks when we visit, but it appears to be travelling really well.

Part of that is the location.

It’s on Maribyrnong Road, just around the corner from Union Road – the nearest Ethiopian eatery from here is in Flemington.

And the nearest massed congregation of Ethiopian eating houses is, of course, in Footscray.

So Sinq is a boon for Ascot Vale locals.

Though front-of-house man Ephrem tells me about 90 per cent of Sinq’s customers thus far have come from the Ethiopian community itself.

But an even more important factor in Sinq’s early popularity is the food – it is fantastic.

In some ways, eating Sinq’s offerings seems more like sitting down to a great meal in a nice Ethiopian home than in a restaurant – it’s got a real cool home-cooked vibe about it.

Ephrem tells me that they are taking great care in their choice and use of oils. The food here is notably less oily/buttery than most Ethiopian food we enjoy elsewhere.

There are couple of other keenly interesting indicators that exemplify the Sinq approach.

One is the injera.

Quite a few years back, there was a Footscray joint that made its own injera. It’s gone now and I’m unaware of any others that do so.

Sinq DOES make its own injera – and it makes it with the traditional grain, teff.

The result is a darker flatbread than the regular injera, with something of a nutty flavour and even crispy edges – a bit like those on a Sri Lankan hopper.

Another good example of Sinq’s fine cooking is the chicken stew, doro wot.

We’ve enjoyed pretty much every version of this dish we’ve ever consumed across the west.

But the Sinq rendition is different – instead of a runny/oily gravy, here it is a cooked-down and thick sauce that is almost like onion jam. It’s delicious!

Sisters and super cooks Eleni, Helen and Aster

All this is orchestrated from the kitchen by some serious cooking talent – Ephrem’s wife, Aster, and her sisters, Eleni and Helen.

There are separate menus at Sinq for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Soon after our visit, the restaurant switched to a phone ordering system so I am unable to post them here.

Suffice to say, anyone who has eaten at an Ethiopian eatery will find much – or a lot – that is familiar. With a couple of twists along the way.

We are assured that what is offered on any given day will nonetheless change according to what’s available.

Thus you will pay $35 per person for the combo deal we enjoy – but it is very unlikely to be the same.

The day before my return visit for photos and more questions, for instance, Sinq had two fish dishes on the go – one of barramundi, the other of basa.

Finally, before discussing our meal in more detail, it’s very worth noting that Sinq is now offering a Wednesday vegan lunch-or-dinner deal.

Six dishes for $20 per person or 12 dishes for $25 per person.

How good does that sound, eh?

So this is our $35 combo lunch repast.

Spectacular! A huge amount of food that we most certainly do not consume in total. And very much a bargain.

At centre is the previously mentioned doro wot – complete with two hardboiled eggs and two drumsticks.

Beside the stew is a soft white cheese called ayib – a bit like ricotta or a very mild feta.

Scattered around are the familiar lentil offerings, veg such as beetroot and salad things.

There are two ground meat dishes – dulet at 1 o’clock and 11.45; and afagn at 9 o’clock – the latter being our most spicy dish.

At 3 o’clock are the familiar tibs. And at 7 o’clock are crispy tibs. Some may say the latter is simply wildly overcooked lamb, but it’s good eating by us anyway!

Finally, at 6 o’clock and 11.55 is gomen besiga, a greens-and-meat stew that is supremely yum. Also: A bit like an old-school southern American offering.

And … today’s lesson is: You really should get that Sinq-ing feeling!

Fusion on Union

Leave a comment

 

Fork & Fingers, 230 Union Road, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9041 2436

Consider The Sauce and one of its regular dining pals had been vaguely talking about a visit to Fork & Fingers to try its Indian fusion food for more than a year.

In the end, though, it was with four other regular members of Team CTS that the deed was done.

As the arrangement were being made, one of them quipped: “Butter chicken lasagne – that place has piqued my interest. I feel it’s either going to be really good or terrible.”

Did our experience of that dish, and the food in general, attain for us such polarised extremes?

No.

Perhaps it would’ve been preferable for it to have done so.

 

 

Union Road, a few years back, was a regular haunt for CTS, but ebbs, flows and new horizons have subsequently taken us elsewhere.

So it’s good to be back; I check out some of the eating spots and their menus before joining my dining companions.

Fork & Fingers lives in a long room done out lovely, featuring exposed brick and all sorts of visual stimuli such as posters and murals.

Half the menu here is dedicated to familiar Indian dare such as paani puri and beef madras.

But the other half is dedicated to Indian fusion dishes – and it’s for them we’re here.

We toss up various ways of going about ordering.

My suggestion that two orders each of the five main courses would see us right is discarded.

Instead, we order the whole menu – one each of the three starters and likewise the five mains.

That turns out to be just right in terms of quantity for we five.

The service is very good and I appreciate the willingness to up the lighting at our table so photography can happen.

Here’s what we have:

 

 

Skinny vegan tofu meatballs ($14) are two spheres of tofu and vegan cheese.

They sit on a salan gravy, are topped by grated radish and are good in a crumbly way – though the flavours are low volume (this will become a recurrent theme).

 

 

Crab roll with Indian pesto and asparagus ($16) is another good-looking dish.

Going by the texture, we conclude there is real crab involved, though there is no discernible asparagus.

The accompanying “spicy soya Bollywood masala chutney” and fruit chutney are fine, serving as a flavour boost for the mostly tasteless roll itself.

 

 

Bery Indian falafel ($12) taste less like anything with Middle Eastern roots and more like the pakora they resemble, with a rather doughy interior.

They sit on a a zingy, gingery and lemony sauce/gravy that is excellent.

A good “strawberry spinach salad with bold sesame sauce” sits alongside, housed in a parmesan bowl.

 

 

So what of the butter chicken lasagne ($20)?

The menu describes it thusly: “Our version of Italian lasagna, battered chicken with fresh basil, mushroom, our special tangy butter sauce, melted three cheese.”

I find it a muddle of muted flavours that cancel each other out.

 

 

Lamb vindaloo tacos ($19) are simply that and good in a no-fuss way.

 

 

Lamb rogan josh shepherd’s pie ($19), like the lasagne, falls short of expectations.

It’s OK, but the lamb filling is rather dull.

And the topping appears to have very little potato content; instead it’s very cheesy, strands stretching away from the bowl like mozzarella from a pizza.

 

 

I’m no fan of paneer, so unsurprisingly the charms of the paneer tika sliders ($19) elude me.

The cheese is stuffed between black brioche buns with coleslaw.

The “Indian poutine” on the side is lacklustre.

A lot of thought and work has gone into creating these dishes.

But I can’t help but feel that it has been misdirected.

All meal long I was crying out for more striking flavours, a much higher degree of zing, big hits of tongue-tingling excitement.

We’ve had a lovely night of good friends catching up.

But I do not recall at any stage, anyone at our table exclaiming …

“Oh, wow!!!”

Or …

“OMG – that’s amazing!!!”

Instead, it was more a case of:

“Hmmmm, OK, next …”

Would any of us re-visit Fork & Fingers?

Not for the fusion line-up.

The regular Indian fare?

Maybe.

And the Tuesday night buffet for $22 sounds like it may be worth a look-see-eat.

The pricing?

Some of it may seem a tad on the steep side – two tacos for $19?

But it all evens out somehow, our meal – including one drink each – rounding out at a fine $30 per head.

Writing this gives me no pleasure at all.

If you cast around for reviews online – Google, Facebook – you’ll find it is very much a minority view.

And this excellent review on another Melbourne blog provides quite a different perspective.

Check out the Fork & Fingers menu – including menu – here.

 

Roll up for jaffles? I’ll be in that!

7 Comments
little7

 

Little Garden Cafe, 407 Mount Alexander Road, Ascot Vale. Phone: 0410 922 242

Down behind a Mount Alexander Road florist is a cool, green space just right for a chilled-out lunch on a sunny Saturday.

It’s retro central – in the form of armchairs, sofas and more.

And retro, too, in the form of the kitchen and serving area, for which purposes a vintage caravan has been pressed into service.

 

little2

 

Given the tight space situation, it’s no surprise the food line-up is equally tight and also light (see menu below).

That’s fine by us – on the way here we mused over possibilities such as Somalian, Chinese BBQ meats and dumplings but the truth is we’re just not THAT hungry.

 

little5

 

There’s goldfish in the house; we see two.

We’re told six.

 

little6

 

Our jaffles arrive looking pretty as a picture.

 

little9

 

Bennie adores his Doori Time! ($8.50) with its chicken and cheese swimmingly soaked in a delicious, piquant and dark sauce. It’s unclear if the shredded chook has spent any time in a tandoori oven but it matters not.

This jaffle comes with a pot of raita – nice touch, that.

 

little8

 

My Brekkie Time ($8.50) is good, too, though doesn’t have quite the same sort of flavour hit.

The ham is indeed cut thickly and it works fine with the egg and sauce.

 

little1

 

Our matching $3.80 cafe lattes are spot on.

It’s worth signing up to the Little garden Cafe Facebook page, wherein specials such as a Beefy Slaw sanger of “succulent bbq pulled beef, creamy housemade slaw, mozzarella cheese, toasted on organic sourdough” are regularly listed.

 

little3

Real Italian – $12

5 Comments
river6

 

Riverside Kitchen & Events, 55 Newsom Street, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9326 0525

The longer Consider The Sauce lives in the west, the more delightful are surprises we stumble upon of people and places that have been there all along.

Like Medway Golf Club, Riverside Golf and Tennis Club is tucked away beside the Maribyrnong River in a way that seems almost designed to evade casual discovery.

Even better – much, much better – the catering and food affairs at Riverside go way beyond what may be expected at a golf club.

I’m told that for at least a couple of years, Riverside Kitchen & Events has been running here, delivering the food and service of a traditional, old-school Italian restaurant.

You can check out the full Riverside menu here but tonight the four of us are here to take the place for a spin in the form of the Tuesday’s $12 pizza and pasta specials (see menu below).

 

river7

 

The place does has an attractive clubbishness that is not unexpected – it’s a cool place to spend some time and must be a true delight for a sunny summer lunch or early evening weekend dinner.

On a “research” visit a few days previously, I’d spied house-made zippoli, tiramisu and canoli!

The $12 Tuesday menu is a restricted selection of the menu proper’s pizza and pasta line-up – no surprise the five of each evince no presence of seafood, but that’s fine by us.

The food we enjoy is the real deal and of much better quality than we’d find at a similarly priced theme night at, say, a pokie venue or the like.

 

river4

 

Only one of we four goes for a pizza.

The Frank Special has mushies, bacon, basil, tomato and mozzarella.

At first we cynically start to think the pie is adorned with the dreaded “pizza ham” – but no, this is real bacon and it makes all the difference.

This is a good pizza, period.

For $12, it’s terrific.

 

river3

 

My fettuccine alla bolognese is simple but very enjoyable.

The rich sauce appears to have been made with real meat rather than brought-in mince and the noodles have the sort of suppleness that speaks of made-in-the-kitchen pasta.

We’re assured that all the Riverside pasta is created thusly!

 

river2

 

The pasta that comes with the spaghetti al cartoccio is likewise of fine quality.

The parcel’s contents are alive with the flavours of capers, garlic and olives.

This dish tastes and eats a whole lot better than it photographs.

And, as with all three of our pasta choices, the portion size is big.

 

river8

 

Bennie’s gnocchi piccanti has good but quite heavy pasta pillows bathing in a rich tomato sauce with chilli and hot salami.

He’s a little underwhelmed but it tastes fine to me and is quite spicy.

 

river1

Meal of the day No.9: Grandpa Joe

1 Comment

grandpa2

 

After a business coffee in Ascot vale, I’d planned on a Williamstown lunch.

But honestly, after our fruitful and enjoyable meeting is over, it feels like quite enough work on my day off – if you follow me.

I know there must be somewhere right nearby that will do.

A revered (by us) place we reckon is one of the very best eating houses in Melbourne is right next door to our coffee spot – but I don’t feel like anything quite so filling.

Ah, yes – Grandpa Joe, at 197 Union Road, will do just nicely.

 

grandpa3

 

The place is small and welcoming.

It’s done out in old wood and pale wood, with the classic old ceiling left intact.

Observing the customers and their inter-action with the staff, it’s reassuring this seems to be a favoured local hang-out.

I’m very interested to see if a place that isn’t one of the new-style places that specialises in American food, and sandwiches in particular, goes with a $15 reuben.

The answer?

Pretty darn good.

 

grandpa6

 

It looks a little on the small size but eats big.

Purists beware – there’s rocket.

Probably too much rocket.

But the corned beef is thick–sliced, very tasty and plentiful enough.

The cheese is melted and there’s “hunter’s cabbage” aplenty.

I like it that a fine not-too-sweet pickled cucumber is skewered on the knife that skewers my sandwich.

 

grandpa5

grandpa4

grandpa1

Saj revisited

2 Comments

saj21

 

Saj Mediterranean Grill, Shop 27 320-380 Epsom Road, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9078 2633

After a happy first-up visit to Saj, I was always keen for a prompt return.

Mostly to see if I could talk the staff into serving their marinated, skewered meats on a plate with accessories – my preferred option and delight.

Perusal of their menu – which can be seen in the story of that debut visit here – seemed to have the meats only available in wrap form.

As luck would have it, a return visit comes to be much more quickly than I had foreseen – five minutes after Nat Stockley and I arrange a quickie impromptu dinner, I’m in the car and headed for Ascot Vale.

And as it turns out, Nat’s eyes prove a lot sharper than mine – what I want is right there on the menu, he points out, under the heading of “Eat in deals”.

Oh happy day!

This is the sort of Lebanese platter I have been yearning for, and wanting in the west, for years.

We both order identical $14.50 plates with one skewer each of lamb, chicken and kofta.

The hommus and baba ghannouj are as on that first visit – excellent.

So is the tabouli, our plates graced with quite large serves of it in cabbage leave cups.

A special word of praise for this Saj salad effort – not only is it sublimely moist and lemony, it also includes the all-important fresh mint, something often omitted from eatery versions.

The meats are fine, especially the nicely seasoned kofta.

We both reckon, though, the meats have all spent about a couple of minutes too long on the grill, the lamb cubes in particular being overcooked – not to the point of being unenjoyable, mind you.

We mention this to the staff as we are paying and leaving, and are told of one customer earlier in the day who expressed distaste for having her lamb pieces “pink in the middle”.

So CTS advises open and frank meat discourse with the Saj folks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zing! Lebanese in the ‘hood

Leave a comment
saj10

Many thanks to Josh, Christine, Julian, You Know Who and Eliza for helping CTS check out the west’s new Lebanese eatery!

Saj Mediterranean Grill, Shop 27 320-380 Epsom Road, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9078 2633

Saj Mediterranean Grill replaces a short-lived Turkish establishment in the showgrounds’ shopping precinct, which has never held much allure for us.

It’s a terrific new arrival – and Consider The Sauce makes the most of our first visit by rocking up with a nice bunch of our regular dining companions.

It’s done out in stark fast-food style, but the food on offer – see menu below – goes quite a bit further than the bakeries our western Lebanese experiences have thus far been restricted to.

We get real plates and cutlery – and cheerful service.

Saj is named after the saj grills, rounded dome plates used to grill the flatbread.

CTS has only ever seen these before at this Coburg institution.

Between us all, we try a good-sized chunk of the menu – but without any intent to do so, we mostly veer away from the more substantial sharwarma and mashawi (grill) wraps.

Even Bennie – given complete freedom to order whatever he pleases (i.e. hamburger) – dines elsewhere.

The skewered meats in the display cabinet look the goods but will have await a follow-up visit.

What we have ranges from good to very good and we’re all very impressed.

Having a new Lebanese eatery in the neighbourhood is a clicking-heels event around here!

Beyond basic descriptions and prices, my assessments and comments are to do with those dishes I personally taste.

 

saj3

 

Kibbeh ($2) are hot, a little bit spicy, juicy and very fine. Some of my companions find pine nuts, but not so I.

 

saj8

 

Warak-arreesh (stuffed vine leaves, $1.50 each) are smallish, plain and just right.

 

saj13

 

Hommus ($5) is fresh and smooth but of only mildish taste.

 

saj11

 

Baba ghannouj ($5.50) is fantastic – it hasn’t got that prized smokiness but it IS fresh, lemony and full of eggplant flavour.

Both dips are served with the same flatbread used to make the saj pizzas, and more of it is brought to our table without being requested.

 

saj4

 

Did I say fresh?

Everything here is fresh-as – including this fattoush ($4.50), its joyful jumble of veggies beautifully dressed and anointed with crisp, fried bread.

 

saj5

 

The tabouli ($4.50) is just as CTS likes it – wet and lemony. It’s a generous serve for the price, too.

 

saj6

 

The cheese and turkey saj costs $7.50.

 

saj7

 

Bennie describes his chicken fajita sanger ($10.50) with chook, caramelised onion, capsicum, mushrooms, avocado and cheese with “fajita sauce” as “nice”.

 

saj12

 

The chicken mashawi ($9) is skewered chicken with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and sauce.

 

saj9

 

A couple of us order the lahm bi ajin ($6) – saj of “mince meat, onion, tomato and spices”.

It’s nice enough but turns out the description is rather more lavish than what is pretty much the stock-standard “meat” pizza we get at other bakeries.

 

saj14

 

Mediterranean salad ($6.50) has the same fresh vegetables seen elsewhere with wonderfully chewy, salty chunks of grilled haloumi.

 

saj17

 

We finish off with a couple of choc banana sajs ($6.50) – a sweet delight with nutty extras!

We’re already looking forward to our next visit.

How can this place not be a hit?

 

saj1

saj2

saj18

saj19

saj16

saj15

Superb spicy Chinese

1 Comment

hon4

Hon’s Kitchen, 228 Union Road, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9041 4680

At first blush it would be easy to conclude the arrival of Hon’s Kitchen on Union Road is merely a case of one nondescript, generic noodle bar replacing another.

But a solo visit by yours truly – during which a rather fine beef noodle soup, a bit like pho but without the more pronounced seasoning in the broth, was enjoyed – has us thinking Hon’s Kitchen has hidden depths and riches.

Specifically, we have hunch that while black bean beef or sweet ‘n’ sour whatever may be the stock in trade here, careful menu selection may result in the sort of wonderful, top-class yet affordable Cantonese tucker we get from Dragon Express.

We love following our hunches – especially when they come good as spectacularly as they do tonight.

hon1

Special combination fried rice ($9) is good. But really, considering the richnes of our other choices, we should have gone with the identically-priced vego version or just plain rice.

hon2

Spicy chicken ($12.90) … truly superb!

Unlike versions we’ve had elsewhere that involve ribbettes and their bones, this dish is built around boneless chicken pieces deep-fried, with the resulting globules being delicious and marvellously crisp and dry.

Of course, the real prize here is the spicy, dry jumble of goodies that accompanies.

This includes three types of onion – crunchy brown fried shallots, green onion discs and slivers of fresh white onion.

It also includes two types of chilli – crunchy crushed numbers and evil-looking black-red bullets.

hon3

Spicy eggplant ($12.90) is every bit as good and equally chilli-hit, albeit in quite a different way.

This number gets there through deep-frying the raw eggplant chunks and then whipping them into a sauce with chilli, vinegar and some tofu bits.

This dish was started from scratch for us – we saw the eggplant being peeled and chopped.

That such a fine dish resulted so quickly is some sort of magic, the eggplant itself displaying a deluxe lusciousness that beats even Japanese-style eggplant with miso or the slippery big pieces found in laksas.

Perhaps there’s been a mono-dimensional aspect to our meal – chillies rampant in both dishes, both of which have been deep-fried.

But the spiciness has been by no means close to our outer limits and both dishes have been ungreasy.

And while we suspect our selections are most likely among the least frequently ordered at Hon’s Kitchen, their outright excellence just adds weight to our belief that when it comes to Chinese food, some smart ordering at a humble suburban eatery can deliver eats every bit as great as anything to be found in your high-priced CBD palaces.

 

hon5

hon6

Mister Nice Guy’s Bake Shop

10 Comments

mister3

Mister Nice Guy’s Bake Shop, 151 Union Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 0424 422 878

The are no animal products at all in any of the goodies available at Mister Nice Guy’s Bake Shop – including the beverages.

So I am faced with the usually unpalatable prospect of having my cafe latte made with soy milk or the like.

OK, I’m game.

mister6

My soy latte ($4.30) is pretty good – it’s strong and quite bitter in a good, coffee way. I’ve certainly had much, much worse in more orthodox and high-falutin’ coffee joints.

But there’s another kind of bitterness – just a whiff of something a little off.

Could I get used to it? Could I learn to like it?

Well, I’d certainly like to, because this is undoubtedly a place for which its worth cultivating affection.

My mini-cupcake ($2), for instance, is a delicate flavour bomb, with good chocolatey taste and lovely icing.

I restrict myself to that one small sample of the goodness going on here on account of having just completed a more substantial meal elsewhere.

But there’s much to oggle – a wide range of cupcakes, a pecan pie, brownies that exude serious intensity.

Bad luck if you’re after savoury filling here, though – as close as you’ll get are the cheesy scrolls made with vegan cheese.

mister5

But it’ll be a pleasure to bring Bennie to such a sugary haven – and he’ll for sure dig the artwork that comes into its own once the 3D spectacles are donned.

The rest of the retro-styled decor and vibe are happy and friendly, as are the staff.

 

mister1

mister4

mister2

Pete’s Charcoal Stop

5 Comments

Pete’s Charcoal Stop, 562 Mt Alexander Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9375 1169

Charcoal chicken shops = coleslaw and chips.

That’s the pretty much hard-and-fast rule for at least one half of the Consider The Sauce team.

So what am I doing breaking with such entrenched tradition?

I’d been alerted to the merits of this chicken shop several months previously by someone who knows about such important matters.

I’d stuck my nose in at the weekend for a look-see … and discovered that this particular business has a distinct Mediterranean flavour.

There’s dolmades and dips and more.

The takeaway menu lists mousaka, pastistio and spanakopita.

So I go with the flow …

And order some of scrumptious-seeming potato segments residing in tasty- juices instead of chips to go with my half-chook.

And Greek salad instead of ‘slaw.

The spuds are beautifully cooked, but I confess to expecting more by way of lemon/oregano zing. Still, a nice change.

The salad is good, the vegetables are fresh and there’s quite a lot of dressing but not much seasoning.

The bird itself is tender through and through – something that can’t often be said of such places, especially when it comes to the often-dry breast meat.

My chicken is a good roast half-bird – that is, it’s minus the crinkly, crunchy, blackened and pungent/salty skin.

My meal – including a can of soft drink – clocks in at a fine $14.

I suspect next time here I’ll revert to chips/coleslaw type.

I know that if I lived nearby, this would be a far-too-regular haunt.

It has the vibe that tells me it’s run by people who know exactly what they’re about when it comes to charcoal chicken, kebabs and burgers.

Safari Restaurant

3 Comments

Safari Restaurant, 159 Union Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9372 7175

It’s been far too long since we’ve sailed in the Safari – certainly at least since our early review of this fine Somalian eatery.

So long, in fact, we’re not even sure if it’ll be functioning as we remember on this Friday night with appetites inspired by some overdue winter outfitting.

The Consider The Sauce boys have been shopping and are hungry.

Happily, as we enter we discover everything is as we remember it. Indeed, the place seems busier than was the case on any of our previous visits.

The menu, however, seems to have been streamlined somewhat, but as we soon learn – to our complete and joyful satisfaction – the food is the same and just as good as ever.

We toy with idea of ordering Big Mandy Rice For Two ($32), but this is described to us in terms of being good for big fellas, very hungry.

So we back off and discover there’s a menu item just made for us – The Regular ($13).

This consists of a plate of Mandy Rice and your choice of lamb, beef, chicken steak or fish.

As on previous visits, our bowls of their incredible meat soup are brought before we’ve even placed our order proper.

This is a broth of lip-smacking sensations – spicy, heady with meatiness yet light on meat itself.

It’s simply wonderful.

Bennie’s chicken steak – hidden under a tasty array of grilled sautéed carrot, capsicum and onion – is more plentiful than it looks. The chicken meat is tending towards dryness but falls short enough of that to pass for tender, and has a wonderful charred-like flavour.

I like his chicken, he digs my lamb.

The sheep meat has form and structure yet is far from chewy and falls easily from the bones.

In both our cases, the rice is splendid – cooked in stock, spiced, every grain glistening.

As ever, our meals are helped along by long, tall glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice clinking with ice cubes.

Killer soup, terrific meat, sensational rice, just the right kind of vegetable accompaniment, freshly squeezed juice … $13.

This is a fantastic bargain.

The service here is friendly but efficient.

We can’t recommend Safari highly enough to anyone hankering for African eating a bit different from Footscray’s mostly Ethiopian fare.

Safari on Urbanspoon

Yemeni Restaurant revisited

6 Comments

124 Union Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9372 0854

Yemini Restaurant had been one our earliest outings here on Consider The Sauce, but as the “under new management” sign has been up for some months, we deem it time for a return visit.

The main change seems to be a much tighter and more focused menu – this is no cause for alarm; indeed it may be good news.

The handful of dishes now available all clock in at $12.

A few weeks previous, on my ownsome, I’d had burmah – “Bedouin-style tender lamb on the bone slow-cooked with khubz (traditional Yemeni bread) on rice”. It was pretty good, too, the meal coming to my table in a very hot pot, the cooking liquid then poured into a bowl for soup purposes. It was much like the lamb broth at Safari Restaurant up the road, only much more spicy and piquant.

The meat was eaten separately, with flat bread that looked suspiciously like blandola store-bought roti. Wrong! This was the royalty of  flat bread – flaky and rich and impossible to stop eating.

For our Saturday lunch we tell the staff we are two hungry lads – but not THAT hungry. Would it be possible to enlarge, for a suitable fee, one of the main plates for sharing purposes?

Certainly – and a $5 premium is agreed upon.

As we wait, there arises a certain amount of tension and unease concerning our – OK, my – photographic activities that require quite some minutes of dialogue across and language and cultural barriers.

I succeed, eventually, in assuring them our intentions are only of the highest order, and that, no, we will not be sending them an invoice for a write-up on our website and that, yes, we fully intend to pay for our lunch.

Whew!


I doubt there’s much difference between the standard plate and our deluxe version, but it matters not, for it just right for the pair of us.

Our lamb mandi – “slow-cooked lamb with baharat (mixture of Yemeni spices) served with rice, salad, shitni (green chili sauce) and Khiar bil laban (cucumber dip)” – is similar to meals we’d under the joint’s previous incarnation, with some key differences.

No sign of the green chilli mash – this time the spice hit comes with a much greater kick from red/brown dip that consequently requires much more judicious imbibing.

The rice is minus the sultanas and strands of deep brown fried onion of earlier visits – but it’s even better. In fact, it’s much MUCH better. Rice to inhale, rice to dream about. The mixed jumble of yellow and white grains, obviously cooked in some form of stock, have through them some translucent onion slices and some seasoning that appears to include at the least black peppercorns. It’s very plain but astounding in its effect.

The two pieces of lamb – Bennie is lucky enough to score a four-point rack – are sublimely crusty on the outer and tender on the inner. A piece apiece is more than enough.

After we’d restored goodwill with the staff, we are told that menu changes are afoot, with more and different choices in the offing. We’ll be watching with interest.

Because Yemeni Restaurant, whatever changes have been or are about to be wrought, remains a singular gem  of our western suburbs food scene.

Yemeni Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Safari Restaurant

5 Comments

159 Union Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9372 7175

Yes, another gem in Union Rd – this one just as tasty, affordable and, in its own mesmerising way, just as exotic as Yemini Restaurant up the road a piece.

Like that joint, Safari Restaurant’s stock in trade is a roll call of meat, veg and carbs.

As such it seems an ideal place for those who find the very idea of tibs, doro wat, injera and other items bought to Melbourne’s inner west by the African diaspora a step too far or just too weird to even contemplate eating.

Describing Safari’s food as “meat and three veg”, though, does it a grave disservice – for this Somalian fare is much, much more delicious than that humble label implies.

Bennie and I have been regular visitors this year, but for my most recent lunch I was joined by my fellow DeadHead Kurt.

There was a little confusion while ordering, so we ended up both getting the $17 meal of lamb (hilib, on the bone, three pieces), rice (barris) and accompaniments.

This was overload for lunch, so it’s helpful to know that there’s a $15 version available, with the rice and meat coming on the same plate, and the same side dishes and vegetables provided.

But even at $17, our lunches fully qualified for a hearty western suburbs cheap eats thumbs up.

You see, at Safari meals come with what, in New Orleans and South Louisiana, is referred to as “lagniappe” – that is, “a little something special”.

In this case, that involves, first up, a long, cool drink – either freshly squeezed orange juice clinking with ice cubes, or a much sweeter and richer milk-based concoction that I personally find too cloying.

Second comes a bowl of soup.

Bowl of soup? That sounds miserable and woefully inaccurate to describe what is clearly the most delicious thing I’ve eaten this year thus far.

It’s a bowl of simple broth, yes – modestly seasoned with a little chili, coriander, lemon pepper and garlic. You may even find a few strands of meat, or the odd slice of carrot.

But at it’s heart this is simply, magnificently Essence Of Lamb As A Work Of Art.

Gosh, it’s good!

On to our main courses – and more magic.

The rice was plain, but brilliant –  seasoned, again with restraint, with garlic and coriander, and cooked in vegetable stock. Worthy of gleeful inhalation.

My three pieces of lamb, one of which was a cutlet, were tender, tasty and wonderfully free of fat and/or gristle  – not always the case with food such as this.

Completing the picture were some good salad greens and a goodly amount of a sensational pan-fried jumble of onion, carrot and capsicum, which was heaven with the rice and generous smears of the tangy chili sauce provided.

As a point of difference, Kurt split his carb order 50/50 between rice and spaghetti. The pasta was OK – but it was just pasta, and certainly not a patch on the divine rice.

After our wonderful lunch, we spent some time chatting to owner Mohamed Shide about his food, the restaurant, its multinational clientele and the story that brought him to Australia and, finally, his own eating shop in Ascot Vale.

It’s a long story that involves war, many years, separation from family and other trials and tribulations – the sort of moving odyssey that is so intrinsic to Australia.

So happy were we with our repast and our conversation with Mohamed that I gaily strolled away without paying. Happily, I also left my wallet on the counter, necessitating my return anyhow.

As I reclaimed my wallet and attempted to pay, Mohamed attempted to wave my money away – unsuccessfully.

Mohamed, my friend, that’s simply not what I’m about.

If by writing this I can can send a few more people through your door, that’ll be all the payment I could wish.

Safari on Urbanspoon

Crumbs Organic Bakehouse

5 Comments

170 Union Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9375 4777

Knowing a birthday feast at Ebi beckons in the early evening, the familiar Middle Eastern/African meat ‘n’ rice options on Union Rd seem inadvisable.

I spy some scrumptious looking pizza slices in the window of Crumbs – they are calling to me!

The wholemeal base wages war with my knife and fork, but teeths and hands make easy work of it. The caramelised onion, mushhie and olive topping is sensational – sweet and salty and just right. My pizza is even more delicious than it looks.

And at $4, it’s a contender for the Cheap Lunch Hall Of Fame.

Crumbs is a beaut little bakery, done out in comfy style with formica tables and even lace table cloths. They’re not big on hearty or lunches – other than the ever revolving range of pizzas.

But they do a pretty good range of breads.

We like the sourdough and – especially – the fruit loaf.

Unlike some fruit loaves we know, this one is bread with some fruit in it – rather than the other way ’round.

But we like it.

Besides, it pays to have something on hand for breakfast when Bennie gets rolling eyes tired of porridge!

The range of sweeties is grand, ranging from a variety of cookies to brownies and so on. Mind you, a couple of the slices, packed with seeds and nuts, look more like health food than food … if you follow me.

A fine coffee, a peanut butter and chocolate cookie, fruit loaf to go and I’m out the door for $15.50.

Bargain!

Crumbs Organic Bakehouse on Urbanspoon

Yemeni Restaurant

12 Comments

124 Union Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9372 0854

It seems unlikely there is another Melbourne noshery in which the food is derived from a country as unknown as this one.

If you hear about Yemen on the telly it’ll be on one of those highbrow current affairs programs; and when you read about Yemen in the newspapers (broadsheets only, of course), the news will never be good.

None of which even hints at the country’s history and culture, of course.

No matter – such geopolitical concerns lie outside the realms of our focus here – how simply wonderful and wonderfully Melbourne that we have a slice of Yemeni food culture right here.

It’s a Yemeni restaurant called … Yemeni Restaurant.

It’s been open for 14 months, we discovered it soon after and we’ve been semi-regular visitors since.

As befits a country that sits at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, and adjacent the northern African nations of Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia, the food here will be oddly familiar to anyone who has trawled through any of the African joints gaily spreading through Melbourne’s west or who has partaken of the various longer-established Middle Eastern tucker options.

As well, as the cyber age follows the jet age, even regional food such as this boasts a touch of the cosmopolitan.

Thus the menu features fish and chips and pasta, while for breakfast there’s eggs various ways and the familiar foul.

Mind you, the opening hours are officially never earlier than 11am, so breakfast will be late if that’s the way you want to go.

Our usual order has been what I suspect is the standard Yemeni meal – mundi (meat and rice).

The lamb is on the bone, and has always been flavoursome and tender, although minus sauce or gravy. I love what places such as this do with the, ahem, more affordable meat cuts!

However, on my most recent visit (28/8/10), I was talked into trying the kebsa (chicken and rice, $12).

It was yummy!

A smallish but adequate leg and thigh were coated by and resting in a dark brown sauce/gravy. The multicoloured rice was studded with strands of fried onions and sultanas, while a jumble of salad bits completed the plate. Sitting to the side in little white bowls were creamy yogurt and a piquant salsa-like mash of green chilies.

The food is quite mild and not overly rich, but the chili concoction and yogurt do a fine job of providing zing.

We’ve also had a dish called mugelge – a sort of rich stew served with a flat bread called mullawah.

Others – such as the cous cous, falafel and Yemeni soup – await future visits.

The cutlery is metal and the crockery is real.

The owners tell me business is going well, and that they’re crowded and busy on some nights. For us – dropping in for a weekend lunch or an early mid-week dinner – we’ve mostly had the joint to ourselves.

The service is very friendly and the decor bog standard ethnic noshery – which is pretty much the place in the world where I feel most comfortable, outside my own living room, these days.

There’s a carpeted and cushioned area out back for a more stylish and traditional mode of dining.

Before stumbling upon this place, Union Rd was a thoroughfare we occasionally traversed in the course of going somewhere else.

These days it’s become much more of a destination itself.

There’s a somewhat similar and very good African place and an organic bakery that specialises in sweeties just up the road, along with a greengrocer, deli and butcher. A natty old-school Chinese place awaits exploration. More to come …

Yemeni Restaurant on Urbanspoon