Tag Archives: cheap eats

Chadz Chickenhaus

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Chadz Chickenhaus, 475 Ballarat Rd, Sunshine.

It seems I may have hit Chadz Chickenhaus at a not particularly auspicious time.

There’s quite a few people milling about the front counter/bain-marie, waiting for various takeaway orders. Progress seems to be slow even though staff members are rushing here and there.

Despite having a somewhat rocky relationship with Filipino food, to me the bain-marie contents look pretty good.

But I stick with Plan A – I’ve come here to try their butterflied chicken and chips.

A little under half the tables are occupied, but all of them are littered with debris from previous meals and previous patrons.

Plates, bowls, cutlery, cans, straws, chicken bones and all sorts of food are all over the place – including on the floor.

After I place my order – half chicken chips with a can of soft drink ($10) – things look up as a young man starts to slowly clear the mess away. Slowly but methodically.

He gives it away, though, after clearing every table except mine. The floor stays the same.

I am summoned to the front counter to pick up my meal.

The serviette dispenser is empty.

The chips are poor and not hot enough, and the sweet, sticky sauce from the chicken has about half of them sodden.

I eat most of them anyway, on account of being hungry.

The chicken is just OK – far short of the sensation for which I am hoping. A bit tired and scrappy, lacking zing.

It’s tender enough, though, and the sauce is quite nice.

Average is the word.

As I leave, the scraps of my lunch join those of the table’s previous tenants.

Loving the sort of food we do at Consider The Sauce, and the kind of places that produce it, we learn to not be too fussy, to go with the flow and happily accept and even expect and joyfully embrace ups and down of various kinds with good humour and optimism.

We don’t like, want or expect fine dining or the service levels that go with it.

But … maybe just a bad day, eh?

For a different perspective on Chadz Chickenhaus, check out the review at Footscray Food Blog.

 


Mishra’s Kitchen – another look

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Mishra’s Kitchen, 18 Wembley Ave, Yarraville. Phone: 9314 3336

Our adventures have taken us elsewhere since our first visit to Mishra’s Kitchen, but we are delighted to grab a last-minute opportunity to step out for a quick midweek dinner.

The place still has something of the feel of a sandwich shop, but it’s more Indian restaurant these days.

In any case, we find the vibe charming.

As are the friendliness and service.

Moreover, we tell our waiter that we are here for a quickie bite, not for a night out – it’s already late-ish on a school night and we desire not to tarry.

Our meal comes quickly, efficiently and full of flavour.

Maybe it’s time for a new rule for us – stop ordering stuffed breads.

Our Kashmiri naan ($3.50) and mint paratha ($3.50) are good.

But really, the fillings – a fruity mince in the former, mashed spuds in the latter – seem to add nothing to our eating experience.

Could be plain old chapati, paratha, naan is the way to go for us henceforth – cheaper for sure, and quite possibly more in harmony with the curries we order.

Ordering chicken korma ($11) is an easy choice given Bennie’s enthusiasm based on a delicious experience shared with his mum on another visit.

It’s a good call – this is the sort of distinctive dish that make us love places such Mishra’s Kitchen or Yummy India in Deer Park and their super honey-infused lamb lajawab.

My photo is misleading.

For starters, there’s a lot more chicken in there than appears to be the case.

Nor does the pic convey, of course, the mild yet rich flavour of the gravy.

This korma sauce consists of almonds, cashews, yogurt, a little coconut, mace, white pepper, garlic, ginger and onions.

Also used are kewra water, a sort of Indian version of rose water made with pandanus flowers, and a sprinkling of raisins.

So different, so good!

Aloo gobi ($9) is more along the lines of routine curry house fare – a nice mushy blend of cauliflower, spuds and spices.

I like it fine, Bennie finds it just a tad too spicy.

It’s been lovely to revisit Mishra’s Kitchen and find it can easily fit into the quick meal context.

Chef Sanjeev suggests next time we try one of the fish dishes.

We’ll be taking him up on that – maybe it’ll be way of boosting the lad’s current and profound lack of enthusiasm for just about anything fishy.

Mishra's Kitchen on Urbanspoon

Fifty-Six Threads Cafe

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This guest post has been written for us by Consider The Sauce pal Peppy/Karen. You can read her reviews at Urbanspoon here – as you’ll see, she’s very much on the same page us! Thanks for the cool company, fine conversation and the write-up!

Fifty-Six Threads Cafe, 56 Derby St, Kensington. Phone: 9376 6885

This one is a diamond in the rough – newly opened Fifty-Six Threads Café sits at the bottom of the imposing brown public housing block on Derby St in Kensington.

The name is a combination of the street number (56), with the “Threads” representing all of the different cultures and communities entwined like thread – very fitting for the latest social enterprise by AMES in conjunction with Urban Communities, in which the “main objective is to provide employment and training opportunities for new migrants”.

How good is this?  Get a good feed and help those who are new to our shores obtain hospitality skills!

After following Consider The Sauce since moving to the area 12 months ago, I finally got around to telling Kenny how much I liked what he was doing in his blog. Less than a week later we had arranged to meet to check this place out for lunch.

Both Kenny’s blog and Footscray Food Blog have been favourites of mine since moving to this side of the city and they have helped me to discover the amazing places to eat and go to on the west-side, so I am honoured to be able to contribute a review to CTS.

What is nearly as important as the food to me is the service, and this place won me over as soon as I walked in – very friendly and welcoming.

Nothing seemed like too much trouble and I think they were genuinely interested in making sure that we enjoyed our meal there. The fit-out is full of timber and cool suspended lighting – honestly, you could be at any of the fancy new cafes in the area sitting in the sun-drenched dining area.

Now on to the food!

The menu is split into two sections, All Day Breakfast and Weekly Specials.

Sadly the chick pea chips had sold out (cry) so Kenny went with the chick pea, bacon and thyme broth ($8) and I went with the Beetroot tamarind and dill spring rolls ($12).

I must admit I did have a bit of food envy when Kenny’s huge bowl of chick pea goodness arrived – it was a generous serving of bacon and vegetables cooked with garlic, carrot, onion and of course chick peas with two slabs of sourdough just waiting to be dipped in.

However, when my spring rolls arrived I think we both ordered winners.

The substantial cigar-sized spring rolls were filled with chards of rich beetroot that the chef tells me were cooked in a sauce consisting of tamarind and rosewater syrup – I will be on the lookout for a bottle of this when I’m in the Asian grocers next time.

I have a crop full of beetroot at home that I need to use and this was such an awesome way to cook it.  The pastry on the spring rolls was crisp and flaky, the salad was fresh and the orange segments were a great addition.

I love a good mayo, too, and could have probably done with 10 of those little pots as it tasted so good.

I also had a latte, which was from the Social Roasting Company – couldn’t fault it.  They also have a coffee loyalty card system there as well – bonus!

I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to go and check it out for breakfast and lunch the next day, so I dragged the husband out for a snack.

We shared a 56 Threads Breakfast ($15) and the pita bread pizza with chorizo ($8).

OMG you must try this pizza out – it was a cheesy, meaty, saucy plate of awesome.

The breakfast was everything it should be – well cooked and runny poached eggs. Oh and the red onion jam – far out loves it sick – all big breakfasts should come with a serve of this.

And don’t think I didn’t take home a freshly cooked almond and apple muffin, a little slice of baklava and a plum jam tartlet – all amazing.

I wish there were more homemade goodies to take home – I bet those chefs out the back have lots of awesome recipes for cakes and slices – or maybe I just came on a day where they were cleaned out of the cakes.

I honestly just love this kind of initiative that supports the neighbourhood – sometimes I feel that I don’t do enough when it comes to being an involved citizen of my new community.

I wish I had more time and money to give.

When I went to pay (by the way, they accept Visa/Mastercard) I had to double check the amount due – after the quick (bad) calculation in my head I could have sworn I needed to pay more.

The guy behind the counter tells me “it’s not all about the money”.

Amen to that!

It was lovely to meet up with you for lunch Kenny, hopefully more of us western suburbs food addicted bloggers can get together again soon!

Fifty-Six Threads Cafe on Urbanspoon

Corio Bay Roadhouse

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Corio Bay Roadhouse, 383 Melbourne Rd, Corio, Geelong. Phone: 5275 120

The Corio Bay Roadhouse has the look to go with the name.

There are frequently trucks parked outside.

My waitress has a big, wide smile and tattoos on her fingers.

A month or so before my visit, the place had been burgled then torched by the same culprits, but happily this local landmark is up and running again.

Despite having driven past it twice on each working day of the past couple of years, I’ve taken my time about checking this place out.

Maybe that was to do with some of scant online information I was able to find referring to burgers stacked up like soldiers in a bain marie.

Yes, they’re here but there’s plenty of scope for fresh-cooked food, too.

Of course, this being a temple and monument to good nutrition and healthy eating, there’s a lot of frying going on.

Sarcasm aside, this place does good diner-style grub.

If I lived around here, this is where I’d come instead of hitting any of the various franchises that dot this same strip of highway.

My open burger with chip is an immense amount of food for $12.

The chips are good and the bacon really fine and crispy.

The egg is gooey and runny, but I doubt it’s free range.

Given the food genre, I’d happily do without the vegetable quotient and pay even less.

The burger itself is just OK – along the  same lines as those served up by the Embassy Taxi Cafe.

If you want to go without unmeaty trimmings, then the $15 mixed grill could be for you.

Even the magazine rack keeps the ambiance going.

I figure it’s probably a good thing this place is not open when I’m driving past on my way home after a night shift.

Corio Bay Roadhouse on Urbanspoon

Cafe Advieh

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Cafe Advieh, 71B Gamon St, Seddon. Phone: 0432 241 276

More often than not, Bennie gets over-ridden when it comes to choosing where we go to eat.

He’s a bit of a homebody at heart, so his dad’s wandering eye often has his eyes rolling.

He tolerates with good humour my restless adventuring.

But, really, instead of the long haul to Coburg or Deer Park – or even Sunshine or Moonee Ponds – he’d generally stay at home or within walking distance.

Today he gets his way – and we have a spectacularly fine lunch as a result.

We’d taken Cafe Advieh for a review outing early in its life, and have been back periodically – mostly ordering what we had the first time, the mixed grill plate.

Today we take a different tack.

Bennie’s small dips platter ($10.50) looks rather modest in size but does the job.

He likes the two stuffed vine leaves, preferring them unheated as they as they hold their form better.

He likes all the dips, but rates the eggplant number the highest.

I try it – and as on previous visits am knocked out.

This coarsely textured take on a classic is simply wonderful, with a robust smokiness.

The serving of toasted Turkish bread is in correct proportion to the amount of dipping fodder, and that’s even with dad filching some to have with his meal. He lets me eat most of the kalamata olives, too!

This puts to shame the lacklustre dips platters served at so many cafes.

My zucchini plate ($14.50) has more of the same very good hummus and yogurt, cucumber and dill.

The latter goes well with my zucchini fritter.

This, too, is unheated and all the better for it. It’s quite wide but rather thin, nicely salty, and its unheated stature gives it a nice leathery chewiness. Leathery in a totally good way!

My two salad choices are amazingly, lip-smackingly fine.

The coleslaw is not so much slaw in the common mayo meaning of the word but more a regularly dressed salad. Its mix of two types of cabbage, onion and carrot is homely, crunchy, heavy with lemon and utterly moreish.

So often I’ve been served – often, surprisingly, in kebab places that should know better and care more – tabbouleh that is an unappetising jumble of dry, undressed parsley and bulgar.

As far as I’m concerned – and based somewhat on repeated makings of the version found in Claudia Roden’s Arabesque – it should be damp almost to the point of dripping wet.

As it is here, with even more of a lemon accent than the coleslaw.

On the evidence of this lunch and others, Cafe Advieh has mastered the terrific trick turning out food that is refined but also has more than a few rough edges.

That is likewise reflected in a slice of tremendous house baklava ($4) with which I reward Bennie for making such a great lunch call. As on previous visits, it’s luscious and heavily scented with individually identifiable spices.

As a friend sitting at an adjacent table – Hi, Peter! – remarks, this is Middle Eastern food that seems less like restaurant fare and more like home cooking.

Advieh on Urbanspoon

Television(s) – a good sign?

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In recent months I have enjoyed rapping on food topics with my Geelong Advertiser colleague Cameron Best, especially since our newspaper instituted a new restaurant reviews page.

Of necessity, this has been, for me, largely a matter of enjoyably reflecting on contrasts.

Between the sort of restaurants the newspaper wants to see reviewed and the restaurants that are actually in place and able to be assessed in Geelong and on the Bellarine Peninsula and the Surf Coast on the one hand.

And the wide open spaces of how Consider The Sauce chooses to define Melbourne’s western suburbs; the limitless style, payment methods and opening hours of the places we choose to blog on; and the less tightly focussed approach all that allows us, on the other.

Sadly, Geelong – for the moment anyway – lacks the sort of critical mass factors that leads to such powerful enclaves of multicultural eating in our west.

But a line in one of Cam’s recent reviews – of an Afghan kebab joint in the main drag Ryrie St – stayed with me.

My colleague was obviously nonplussed mightily by the presence of wide-screen televisions in said eatery, opining such electronic pictures and sounds were no more than a distraction from a good meal.

By contrast …

The Consider The Sauce eating-out experience is frequently accompanied by television.

Frequently, it seems, plural TVs are the go – often one over the doorway or entrance and another behind the cash register.

Now, I’d not for a second suggest such media capacity is any way to be taken as indicative of good things to eat forthcoming.

But …

We are well used to watching – even if somewhat subliminally – TVs blaring everything from Bollywood spectaculars to non-English news services and obscure South American soccer games as we are waiting to be fed.

So, not necessarily a good thing – but far from a bad one, for us, either.

And that got me thinking about what, for us, are some of the key signals that great food is at hand.

Kids, for starters.

Often they’re playing or doing homework at one of the tables nearest the cash register.

Of course, if we’ve been a regular for years at a place, the kids grow up and start taking a more labour-intensive role in the running of their family business.

And there could hardly be a more a more promising indication of food of our kind of inclination than the business card of Maurya Indian restaurant in Sunshine, which promotes a discount available to taxi drivers and students.

Personally, I’d nominate extremely flexible or even non-existent published opening hours as another good look.

Likewise, a complete lack of credit card or EFTPOS facilities.

Mind you, even that is changing – as is the engagement of our kind of eating places in general with the cyber wold in general and social media in particular.

Happily, a large chunk of my daily Facebook news feed comes these days from western suburbs businesses posting their daily specials, latest news and even general good wishes to their customers.

Tiles, mis-matched tables and chairs, mis-matched cutlery and crockery, dog-eared plastic-laminated menus, table-top accoutrements and condiments – all are somehow reassuring portents of potentially good things to come.

Seddon Wine Store

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Seddon Wine Store, 2/101 Victoria St, Seddon. Phone: 9687 4817

There’s competition facing Seddon Wine Store within spitting distance – one a big wine and beer and spirits emporium right across the road, the other a smaller bottle store more like your local pub, just up the way in Charles St.

Nevertheless, it’s made a handy go of it by specialising for the wine set.

Which is probably why we’ve never tried the place out – Bennie is as much a wine buff as his dad is.

Besides, we’d long ascertained that what food there was on hand was of a lightweight variety.

But today that seems just right, as my lunch companion, Lady Rice, is no more hungry than I am but we’re both up for some vino and engaging conversation.

The Seddon Wine Store food list – see below – was actually introduced some time after the store opened.

It reads like something between tapas and antipasto.

As neither of us are ravenous, we go for the grazing plate ($18).

The olives are the hit – few in number, big in flavour.

The terrine, too, is good, especially wrapped the fine bread and a dab of mildish but tasty mustard.

The pancetta (or maybe it’s prosciuitto?) seems rather flavourless to me, as do the marinated mushrooms, which look like enoki, but are darker and bigger.

The hard Italian cheese – that’s as good an explanation as I afterwards get – is good with the little dab of quince paste.

All this is OK, but the conversation is better.

We talk about the Lady’s new blog, my slightly older one and our respective journeys.

The contrast, in a Melbourne context, could hardly be greater, but oddly enough we’ve ended up in spaces and places that are recognisably of the same planet and city.

Our light and snacky lunch suits us fine.

But while it may be unfair, it hardly bares comparison with the fresher, zingier, superb, significantly larger and only slightly more expensive antipasto spreads the Consider The Sauce boys regularly enjoy at Barkley Johnson.

And while there may be ways of chowing down with more specific items on the food list here, I suspect treating the place as a tapas bar could get rather pricey.

It’s prudent, I surmise, to think of it as a place that does some eats for drinkers rather than as a place that does drinks for eaters.

Seddon Wine Store on Urbanspoon

 

Slavonija Continental Butchers

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Slavonija Continental Butchers, 75 Main Rd West, St Albans. Phone: 9366 2336.

The lovely staff at Slavonija Continental Butchers tell me the business has been in operation at these premises for about 30 years.

They answer my pesky questions as a succession of regular customers come and go.

They stock a nice but restricted line groceries such as pickled vegetables and so on.

But the main action here without a doubt surrounds the smoked meats and sausages.

Everything bar the salami is made in-house, I am informed.

There’s several different kinds of Polish sausage, the difference between them being something I only dimly grasp.

I buy a long length of low-fat Polish sausage at $20 a kilogram. If it tastes as good as it looks, it may become our default position for pastas, salads and bean soups and stews in which we use chorizo.

I buy, too, a half dozen frankfurts at $11 a kilogram.

This is about twice what we pay for unsmoked beef numbers at Al Amena at the Circle in Altona but still way short of what Andrews in Yarraville charges for their franks.

These are fat and pale pink, as opposed to the long, skinny and red that is more familiar. They are smoked, though.

Most of them go in the freezer, but I have two for dinner – just with bread roll, dijon mustard and pickled cucumber slices.

They’re damn fine, juicy and with a only a mild smokiness.

And yes – joy of joys – they go “pop”.

At that sort of acceptable price, these, too, could become regulars in our household.

I’m looking forward to exploring the Slavonija range at greater depth, especially with a view to tarting up our work/school lunches.

Pho Kim Long

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Pho Kim Long, 60 Alfrieda St, St Albans. Phone: 9364 4960

That the street frontage of Pho Kim Long is set a metre or so back from those of its neighbours and pretty much the whole of one side of Alfrieda St seems fitting.

This is an unfussy, utilitarian eating place, one unlikely – I suspect – to get much trade from visitors from elsewhere who are liable to gravitate towards some of the shinier establishments.

This is where locals eat – and there’s a lot of them.

As I saunter in, only two other tables are taken – one by a group of slurping senior citizens, a very comforting sight indeed.

By the time I’m done, the place is packed, with all heads over bowls.

Everything about the place – the tiles, the Buddhist shrine, the furniture, the menu, the tabletop accoutrements, the smell – is familiar and reassuring.

Pho Kim Long does pho every which way, but in only one size – and that appear to Large for $9.

That is what most of my fellow customers are tucking into.

I take another tack, ordering the vermicelli with pork and spring rolls ($9).

At first this looks a little on the drab side, but it’s fine.

The pork is on the oily side, quite thinly sliced, almost has a curry kind of tang to it and goes down a treat.

The spring rolls are ungreasy, crisp, hot and really good.

All the other ingredients are present and accounted for – crunchy peanuts, pickled vegetables, herbs and leaves including mint and some cabbage.

It’s good, even if not of the same stellar level of the vermicelli dishes at Pho Hien Saigon.

This is a nice lunch in a really soulful restaurant.

Pho Kim Long on Urbanspoon

Big Sam’s St Albans Market

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Big Sam’s St Albans Market, 3 St Albans Rd, St Albans. Phone: 9366 2237

Despite becoming quite familiar with the many wonders of the shopping and fun precinct that surround Alfrieda St in St Albans, Big Sam’s has until now escaped our attention.

For one thing, it’s often been closed when we’re in the neighbourhood.

For another, I heard – somewhere, somehow – that it’s nothing special.

A single, quick glance about as I enter amply demonstrates that latter point is untrue.

Instead of being just a single business, this appears to be many under the same roof and inhabiting quite a large space.

I don’t see any ordinary supermarket items such as loo paper or detergent, but between them the many stalls appear to have just about all the other bases covered. Certainly this is much more than a fruit and vegetable place.

There’s even a florist!

In that way, it’s a sort of multi-purpose market along the same lines as Sunshine Fresh Food Market – only a lot more meatier and a lot less halal.

There’s only a single seafood stall but a handful of butchers, each with a slightly different emphasis.

The prices are pretty keen.

I see several lots of tomatoes under the $2 mark. These are all very ripe – which is how I always buy them. Some are spoilt – but I have no problem at all finding some good still-firm ones to take home.

These bargain basement red capsicums are blemished – each one has what looks like some sort of frost burn the size of a 20 cent piece. But that aside, they are firm and fabulous. If the freezer at home didn’t have plenty of roasted and peeled ready to go, I’d be on them in a flash.

The market cafe has an Elvis thing going on … note the bongos.

I can see this place getting some handy usage from us when lunch adventures take us to St Albans.

It’s our kind of place with a really nice vibe.

Los Latinos

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Los Latinos, 128 Mitchell St, Maidstone. Phone: 9318 5289

We were random but regular visitors to Los Latinos in the months after our write-up of the Maidstone Latin American eatery, early in its life.

But it’s been a while, so it feels nice settling in for lunch.

I’ve done what is almost unthinkable for me – leaving home without a book – but am satisfied enough with a house copy of one of the weekend rags.

It’s the wrong one and the wrong size, but I enjoy reading the foodie bits and the sports section anyway.

The menu seems to have grown quite a bit – featuring more seafood, more main courses and dishes listed by nationality – than found on the menu at the restaurant’s website.

The first thing I am told by a staff member is that tamales – one of several dishes on the menu marked with “not available” stickers – are in fact very much available.

I order them and end up very glad I have done so.

Isn’t there something totally magical and mysterious about food that comes in packages?

Think of dumplings, for instance.

In this case, the banana leaf wrapping on my two tamales unfolds to reveal two good-sized slabs of cornmeal masa (south-of-the-border polenta?), each one filled with some tender chicken on the bone, a couple of green olives, a long and well-cooked green bean and a big chunk of super potato.

It’s all delicious and filling – and a pretty good bargain, too, at $10 for the lot.

The benign seasoning levels and smooth pastiness of the corn mash are the perfect foil for the salsa/tomato sauce on the side. Drizzled across both tamales, it has a nice slow burn that eventually has a sheen of perspiration breaking out on my forehead.

Since Los Latinos opened, Melbourne seems to have contracted some form of Latin American fever, with quite a broad range of eateries generating a lot of talk and blogging and reviews.

And queues.

My lunch is a timely reminder that there’s a fine place just up the road doing lovely work along such lines – without the trendoid brouhaha.

Brimbank Festival 2012

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Brimbank Festival, Hampshire Rd, Sunshine, March 24, 2012.

Nice vibe, pleasant weather … but surprisingly little in the way of foodie excitement.

Maybe my expectations were too high.

So just the pictures this time out …

Lunch for $135 or gold coin donation?

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A few months back, I became involved through mega-big advertising agency Ogilvy, in a Bank of Melbourne promotion/competition tie-in with Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, for which for the bank is the main sponsor.

Some of the harder heads in the Melbourne food blogger community advised all those thinking of responding to the invitation from Ogilvy to think again, the main gist of their opposition being that it was just another example of big-bucks outfits treating bloggers with contempt and their content as worthless.

I forged ahead anyhow, and after a few ups and downs the whole thing is operating pretty smoothly.

You can see the Consider The Sauce “food tips” up there with those of a handful of other bloggers, all being utilised as teasers to get customers to submit tips of their own.

True, no money changed hands.

But I’ve enjoyed the experience, even when things got a little hairy in the preparation stages.

It’s a networking thing, getting the Consider The Sauce name out and about. I’ve made a nice contact and had a lovely lunch with her.

The number of visitors the promotion has driven to Consider The Sauce has been mostly on the pitiful side, but I had no great expectations in that regard. Positively, some of those who found us through the promotion were previously unaware of Consider The Sauce and yet have become regular visitors.

That’ll do me!

As part of the promotion, I was provided with two complementary tickets to the World’s Longest Lunch.

Now, my original intention was to play fast and loose with the unwritten arrangements of my whole relationship with Ogilvy, the bank and the festival by using these tickets for myself and Bennie.

But, as luck would have it, I was down to work that day and Bennie was in school.

So, through no great generosity of spirit or ethical righteousness, I did the “right thing” and gave them away to a Consider The Sauce friend.

You can read Daniel May’s post about the event here.

One thing is for sure, though, there’s no way – No Way, NO WAY – I would ever have attended that lunch had I been required to fund the tickets myself.

Judging by Daniel’s photos, this looks like it was a matter of a quite nice three-course meal and wines to match.

But $135 per person?

Blimey!

Daniel, too, being a paid-up Westie these days, was happy to concede he would never have attended had he not scored a couple of freebies.

I have no doubt the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is not setting out to gouge people, nor charging as much as they think the market will bear.

I’m sure they have good reasons for doing what they do.

When concerns are raised about their pricing structure – and I’m pretty certain I’m not the first to do so – I’m sure they can and do point to festival events that are free or low cost.

Nevertheless, as it stands I am simply unable to engage with festival in any meaningful way, mainly for one simple reason – I can’t afford to do so.

I’m a passionate Melburnite and passionate about the city and its food.

Consequently, it feels damn strange to feel so estranged – financially, socially, culturally – from an event that seems like it should be such a perfect fit for me, my son and our blog.

And if that’s the case for myself – with all the positive motivation I have – for how many more Melbourne folks is it even more true?

It may be unfair, but there’s an abiding impression that the festival merely packages – at premium prices – goodies that are available all year round.

And in Footscray, that means every day of the week, including Mondays and Christmas Day.

I’ve also heard some grumbles about pricing at the Geelong leg of this year’s festival

It could be, mind you, that myself and other like-minded folks are simply out of the loop with the festival in a more fundamental way.

The big names seem to be a key part of the festival’s marketing and appeal.

Yet the celebrity chefs and the like seem far less heroic or notable to me than the ordinary chefs, food folk and business people I talk to and meet on a weekly basis.

Meanwhile, the Lara Food and Wine Festival will be held on Sunday, March 25, at Pirra Homestead.

There’ll be plenty of food you can pay for at this bash from an impressive and long list of exhibitors and stallholders.

I’m particularly interested in Smokin’ Barry’s Barbeque.

It’s been a long-time lament of mine that ‘Merican style barbecue goodies such Really Great Ribs and so on are such a rarity in Australia and Melbourne.

But based on the slide show at their site, it looks like a good bet these folks have it nailed.

And they have a killer slogan: “You don’t need teeth to eat our meat!”

But a colleague who is something of a veteran of this festival tells me there’ll also be no shortage of exhibitors offering samples of their wares.

If I don’t contract “festival fatigue” the previous day at the Brimbank/Sunshine celebrations, I’ll be there.

Admission to the Lara Food and Wine Festival is by gold coin donation.

Casa Italica: Out with the old, in with the new …

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Despite being fond of Casa Italica, it’s not been a frequent haunt for us – much like the rest of Williamstown.

I am surprised, then, when in the neighbourhood to discover the place has been gutted and a major building operation is underway.

However, the two young builder blokes I talk to assure me Casa Italica will still be present when the works are completed.

There’s apartments being built – and a carpark to service them.

And the Casa Italica space looks like it’ll be a whole lot more roomy and expansive.

This is pretty exciting, as the previous configuration was a little on the pokey side, and was perhaps even hampering the sort of service and products and eats they were of a mind to offer … in a neighbourhood in which such expansion will surely be a winner.

Altona Beach Market

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Altona Beach Market, Pier St and Logan Reserve, every Tuesday.

It’s other business that has brought me to the Altona Beach shopping precinct, so it astounds that I walk right into the middle of a market – on a Tuesday of all days.

But here it is, stretching up and down Pier St and into some of the park places nearer the beach.

It surprises as much to learn it’s been going – every Tuesday – for five years.

Truth to tell, though, business is far from brisk, despite the beautiful sunny Indian summer weather.

Chris tells me his performance skills, which he utilises in the promotion and sales of his sooper dooper chopping and slicing contraption, are well honed.

But, today at least, he laments the total lack of an audience.

Other stallholders I talk to grumble good-naturedly about too much wind and too few customers.

By 1.30pm, several are already packing up well ahead of the advertised closing time.

Walia Ibex

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Walia Ibex, 2B Clarke St, Sunshine.

It seems a little odd that the flowering of African culture and food that has occurred in the past decade or so in Footscray has not been mirrored in Sunshine or even slightly further afield St Albans.

Well, Walia Ibex – named after a threatened Ethiopian species – is making a start in Sunshine.

The place is kitted out in such a way that it could be interchangeable with any one of half a dozen African eateries in Footscray. No bad thing, that!

A lunch here about a year ago was quite nice, but more in the meat-and-rice Somalian tradition.

These days, the place is more like a proper organised restaurant, with a menu and all!

And the food is a whole lot more focussed – this is Ethiopian tucker through and through, with three different kinds of tibs, doro wot, kitfo and gored gored all featuring on the list.

All meals are a very reasonable $12.

I order the vegetarian combo – “yetesom beyaynetu” – not because it’s cheaper, it’s the same price as the rest, but because I don’t feel like a meaty meal.

The serve looks quite modestly sized but proves more than adequate for a lovely lunch. The single piece of injera is matched just right with the food in terms of proportion.

There’s lentils three ways –  a dry and crumbly mix of small brown lentils studded with slices of fresh green chilli; smoother and wetter red lentils that look like they’re cooked with tomatoes but are actually made, I’m told, with a special “Ethiopian chilli powder” (it’s very mild and unspicy); and finally a luscious and turmeric-yellow mix that looks likes it’s made with moong dal or channa dal but which is described as being made with “African beans”.

I love the way these three pulse components complement each other with contrasting colours and textures and flavours.

A highlight is the gorgeously multi-coloured mix of beautifully cooked beetroot and potato – I wish there was a whole lot more of it – while the stalwart mix of cabbage and carrot is tender and just about as lovely.

This is plain, homely food and I love it. It’s a little less oily than similar fare I’ve enjoyed elsewhere, too.

Walia Ibex already has the feel of being something of an African community hub, with lots of folks coming, going, chatting.

If I lived anywhere nearby, I’d be there on a weekly basis.

Selina Hot Bread

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Selina Hot Bread, 5/304-310 Hampshire Rd.

After some routine hanging out, goofing off and frisbee, it’s time for lunch in Sunshine.

We head under the Sunshine station underpass for Dragon Express, only to be disappointed to find it’s not open for Saturday lunch.

No matter – there are choices aplenty.

We settle on banh mi.

Selina Hot Bread is a Hampshire Rd fixture.

It may not have quite the same renown as Footscray’s Nhu Lan or the franchise-style signage recognition factor of Fresh Chilli Deli, but it’s busy and going by the customers coming and going it has its share of devoted regulars.

Roast pork for Bennie and Daniel, BBQ chicken for me – all at $3.50.

Our lunches are very, very good.

The rolls are super fresh and wonderfully crusty.

All the bits and pieces – including caramelised onions, pickled vegies, chilli rings, spring onion, coriander – are present in suitable quantities and quality.

When ordering and tossed the standard inquiry – “you want chilli?” – I’d replied, “Yes – lot of it!”

It seems my server took me seriously, however!

I love the extra kick and the tingling lips at the finish.

But the chilli levels are a bit over the top for Bennie and even Daniel, so I relent and buy two cans of that Coca Cola stuff.

It’s still a cheap and wonderful lunch.

In the process of writing this post I find a glowing review for the Selina banh mi – and a brand new blog seriously concerned with western suburbs food.

Welcome to Lady Rice!

Banh mi – such a familiar part of our scenery it’s sometimes easy to take it for granted.

But I know there’ll be a bunch of folks who will read this post and immediately say: “Damn – want one NOW!”

The Grand Tofu … again

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Fried squid tentacles ($6.80) at The Grand Tofu.

The Grand Tofu, 314 Racecourse Rd, Flemington. Phone: 9376 0168

It’s been a pleasure attending the first rugby practice for the new season.

Bennie has dug being with his teammates again and running the drills.

The location – Footscray Park below Victoria University – lends itself to heading in various directions for a quick feed before heading home.

Bennie favours Ebi, but I persuade him Flemington is the go by mentioning that friends have tipped us that the fried squid tentacles at The Grand Tofu are hot.

After our recent and first post from there, I have been a little surprised and also gratified to learn – from comments left, other reviews and the tentacle recommendation from two former work colleagues whose family always has a firm grasp of the Flemo eateries – The Grand Tofu is widely regarded as a beaut spot that is more than holding its own with the famous alternatives around the corner in Pin Oak Crescent.

We’re happy to pursue the matter further.

After parking, we pass one of the few non-Asian eateries in the area.

We find it impossible not to glance at the dips combo an inner-city hipster with a Hitler moustache is eating at a window table.

He glares at us.

Much to my surprise, Bennie is largely unmoved by the tentacles – but his dad loves them.

The batter is unoily, crunchy and beautifully seasoned; the tentacles themselves are right on the good side of the chewiness concept.

Beware though – this a big serving, much bigger than it looks in real life or in the photo above.

Really, Bennie and I could share these and a single bowl of noodles for a perfectly filling meal.

Bennie goes for the yong tofu – six pieces, noodles, soup for $10 – his first experience with this particular eating experience.

He rejects the combos available and chooses his own – no surprise he steers strongly towards the meatier dumplings and away from the stuffed vegetables.

At first, this kind of meal seems just right for the lad – hey, it’s just like yum cha for one, right?

But he tires of it quickly and even leaves a couple of the dumplings uneaten. A case of too much of a good thing, perhaps?

His dad chooses the Penang king prawn noodle soup ($12.80).

This is good and a huge serve, but it strikes me as a tad uninspired.

The broth is suitably prawny, though the two fat beasties themselves are a on the doughy side.

Given the price, though, I suspect there are plenty of Grand Tofu dishes that’ll be more to my liking on future visits, while Bennie will definitely want the BBQ pork dry noodle next time around.

We’ve tried too hard, but that lessens not our affection for this establishment.

Bennie’s experience with oysters is minimal but his eyes glitter as spectacular, fiery serves of flaming lemon grass oysters are carried to adjacent tables.

And perhaps this’ll be the place to come when we feel like splashing out on chilli mud crab.

Returning to our wheels, we notice that the inner-city hipster with the Hitler moustache is talking to a lady friend at an outside table.

And having just about as much fun.

The Grand Tofu 3 on Urbanspoon

New Footscray IGA – a quick tour

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Supa IGA, corner Albert and Paisley streets. Phone: 9396 1404

Our first ever visit to the new IGA – one part of the site that used to be Dimmeys/Forges – gets off to a sour start when I almost get into a somewhat heated argument with the Seventh Day Adventists manning a booth outside.

Luckily, I pull myself up with a stern admonition – “life is too short for this BS” – and head inside.

We are wielding a shopping list of very modest length, so check the whole place out – right around, and up and down every aisle – before we start throwing items in our basket.

The store is done out in urban-industrial, which would be a tad oppressive if it were not for the incredible prevalence of colourful products of Asian derivation.

Truth is, many of the Asian products seem to be of the highly packaged and processed snack food variety.

I’ve been told my sniffy disdain for such fare renders me thoroughly unfit for residence anywhere in Asia, particularly Japan.

So be it!

That said, in many ways this supermarket is a typical IGA – especially when it comes to non-food items.

This may be the only Australia’s only IGA sporting live seafood tanks, but I know there are supermarkets of other persuasions who do likewise.

The non-live unfrozen seafood range seems quite good.

On the other hand, the deli counter and bakery sections do little to impress.

The fresh produce selection seems pretty handy, but hardly offers staunch competition to nearby Little Saigon Market.

The fresh meat range seems particularly lame on this Saturday afternoon

All of which makes us think this may only be an occasional stop for us – when we’re in the area, ready to shop and figure and we can cover all our bases there.

We find bargains though.

There’s broccoli at $1.50 a kilogram, for instance, and Zafarelli pasta at $1 a 500g bag.

From the endless range of Asian sweets, savouries and frozen lines, Bennie chooses a Meiji Yan Yan Double Cream.

This turns out to contain biscuit sticks and strawberry and chocolate sauces to dip them into.

He loves it, of course, but tells me the ratio of sticks to goop is out of whack, and that he has to resort to scooping out the rest of it with his fingers.

Life’s so bloody hard sometimes!

VU Halal Kitchen

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"Baba-ghanouj" plate at VU Halal Kitchen.

"Baba-ghanouj" plate at VU Halal Kitchen.

VU Halal Kitchen, Building M, Level 0, Victoria University, Footscray. Phone: 9919 4300

Given the radiant brilliance of some of our Middle Eastern adventures lately – particularly at Coburg’s Abbout Falafel House and Al-Alamy – the surprise isn’t that the newish VU Halal Kitchen doesn’t quite match them but that it delivers a good and worthy shot at it with very similar prices.

I’d first stumbled across VU Halal Kitchen after trying out Cafe Noodle House, which is situated in a nearby campus building.

Subsequent attempts to try the campus Middle Eastern fare were thwarted by the festive season, catering commitments and the end of the academic year.

Now, in early March, Team Consider The Sauce is on the job and mighty hungry.

While we understand the business requirements that dictate the food cater to a broad base of students, you’ll be unsurprised to learn we ignore completely such fodder as the burgers, parmas, pastas and the like … although those seem to be the choices of the few other customers there are.

After being told several times the dips came with “Turkish bread” only, what turns up is a pleasant surprise.

"Hommus" plate at VU Halal Kitchen in Footscray.

"Hommus" plate at VU Halal Kitchen in Footscray.

The trimmings aren’t quite as substantial or sparkling as we get in Coburg, but they’re much appreciated anyway. Both kinds of pickles are commercial but lovely and crunchy.

The terrific bread is made on the premises.

I subsequently am told by VU Halal Kitchen proprietor George that it’s oil-free, which helps give it a nice chewiness when fresh and not unpalatable crunchiness when an ancient half-hour or so old.

The “baba-ghanouj” plate ($7) is the star of our lunch, the dip itself being redolent of smokiness, lemon and garlic in about equal measures. Very good!

The “hommus” plate, at the same price, is not as impressive, with the dip sporting a blandness  that makes it seem like a wallflower.

Spicy potato curry pie at VU Halal Kitchen.

Spicy potato curry pie at VU Halal Kitchen.

We order the spicy potato curry pie ($4) out of sheer curiosity and are a little disappointed. As you’d expect, it’s quite a lot like an elongated samosa – except that the curry potato stuffing is very much at the outer extremes of mildness. It’s OK.

Dressed zaatar pizza at VU Halal Kitchen.

Dressed zaatar pizza at VU Halal Kitchen.

The dressed zaatar pizza ($4.80), too, suffers by comparison with the superior equivalents available at our usual local haunts – but not by much.

After lamenting that our otherwise incredibly vibrant westie food situation lacks an Al-Alamy or an Abbout Falafel House, I am gratified to learn from George, who is of Egyptian background, that VU Halal Kitchen in fact boasts an Al-Alamy connection.

That operation’s Ahmed is overseeing the kitchen affairs here in a supervisory role, which hopefully augurs mightily well for the future.

Falafels are in the near future, as will be  – I fully expect – a degree of tweaking and improving.

A western suburbs place serving Middle Eastern food that goes beyond pizzas and kebabs needs to be encouraged.

George, by the way, highly recommends the awarma (minced meat cooked with scrambled eggs, $10) and shak-shooka (scrambled eggs mixed with tomato, onion and cheese, $10) – both served with aforementioned bread and pickles.

Two more points …

Given the possibility the bar set-up of which the kitchen is part may be otherwise needed for a function, we strongly suggest phoning an hour or so before your planned lunch … just to make sure.

And the drinks situation is far from ideal – extremely small bottles of soda pop and Mount Franklin water all clock in at $3. But then again, this is a bar – rather than a campus cafeteria.