Unfortunately, efforts to synchronise all three partners and myself to be in the same place at the same time for a photograph were bettered by busy schedules all round.
Oh well – it’s time for an update anyway, especially as opening night is almost upon us!
Here’s the details …
The restaurant will be known as Bax Food Co and will operate out of the former home Gravy Train at 83 Gamon Street.
Opening night will be this coming Friday, February 20, on which night there will be 6pm and 8pm sittings.
Bookings can be made via roderick@bossmanfood.com.au 0402 751 108.
The “bax” part of their name comes from a casual style of eating in Jamaica whereby instead of sit-down meals, customers get a “bax” (box) full of goodies.
Bax Food Co will, of course, serve their food this way, too, though Roderick assures me some of the sides will be presented regular style on regular plates!
At the time of going to press, the menu was still being completed … but Roderick did number off several dishes that will be available:
Jerk chicken.
Oxtail stew.
Goat curry.
Salted cod.
Rice ‘n’ peas.
BBQ ribs.
Casava chips.
Spicy jerk roast corn with coconut jerk mayo.
Fish will be in the form of whole snapper, which will be the top-priced item at about $30.
BeeeasT Burgers, 1 Alexandra Avenue, Tarneit. Phone: 9974 6971
It’s difficult to imagine a more whitebread upbringing than school life in particular and life in general than that experienced by CTS in the ’60s and ’70s.
There were occasional exotic influences and people – though not much in the way of exotic food – but by and large Maori people and culture in particular were something that happened in textbooks, the North Island or the All Blacks.
A later career move that found me living, and surfing, in Gisborne and, before and after, in Wellington brought a more homogenous New Zealand to my life.
Still, the Melbourne move when it came was made at least in part because of the desire not to simply slip into a Kiwi sub-culture in, say, Sydney or Brisbane.
I love my Kiwi brothers and sisters, whatever their genre, but I have no desire to be surrounded by them at the expense of all else.
But after almost 15 years in the west, there has been a change.
It started – or, rather, I started to notice it – at Bennie’s primary school, where one of his best pals was a young Maori lad.
It continued with the thoroughly Kiwi-infused vibe of the Footscray Bulldogs Rugby Union Club, for which Bennie played for a couple of seasons.
In more recent times, I have enjoyed monitoring the ups and downs of the Altona Roosters Rugby League Club, though I have yet to make it to a game.
As well, I am enjoying observing through Facebook the beaut work of Victoria Maori Wardens and their efforts to keep Maori and Islander youngsters from getting into big trouble. I will make it a point to meet them one day.
I even diary-marked a couple of Waitangi Day functions this year – one in Elsternwick, one in Altona – but sadly missed both.
Maori may not flow in my blood but it resides in my soul, and is capable of surprising me with the force and profundity with which it sometimes surfaces.
All these things are but a reflection of the fact the Maori and Islander population of Melbourne’s west has increased dramatically in the past decade or so, drawn like so many of us from around the world by housing prices but also, these days, no doubt by a sense of community as well.
Honey knows all about it.
She and her family live in Point Cook, but Honey travels to Manor Lakes p-12 College for her regular gig as assistant principal.
Assistant principal of a western suburbs school of 1800 or so kids?
Oh yes, she knows very well the changing face of the west in general and its Maori/Islander face in particular.
Incredibly, Honey has another job – she is a co-owner and co-proprietor of BeeeasT Burgers in Tarneit.
And the BeeasT itself, which shares a small business precinct with the likes of branches of Briyani House and International Foods, is testament to the growing Maori/Islander community in the west.
The business has been up and running since November yet in that time it has amassed a staggering 9000-plus Facebook likes.
So it is with an easy smile that I front up for a chat and a feed.
In truth, aside from sweet potato chips on the menu (see below) and L&P in the fridge, there’s nowt that is particularly Kiwi about the fare here.
But there is no mistaking the nature of the management or the joint’s customers.
Many of the burgers listed are more complex and grandiose than fit my immediate needs, so I go for the Fair Dinkum ($10) – minus the pineapple.
All Beeeast burgers come with chips.
Those chips appear a tad nondescript but are really excellent and hot.
Similarly, my burger looks modest but goes down a treat.
It’s like a cross between an Aussie-style corner store burger and Grill’d, mostly because the very good patty has a real beefiness about it.
Rizq proprietor Abu maintains his restaurant is the only “authentic” Bangladeshi eatery in Australia.
I know of at least two that make claims to serving at least some Bangladeshi food but I reckon Abu is right.
I base this conclusion on the Rizq menu (see below).
There’s halim, a biryani and a “polao” – but those aside, the list is studded with dishes we’ve neither heard of nor seen before.
Of course, when you’re talking much rice and pulses and so on, what eventually arrives at our table is far from outlandishly different but still … we love the points of difference.
Rizq resides in the premises that formerly housed Indi Hots.
It’s a bare bones set-up but the our food is brought to us beautifully presented in earthenware bowls and our plates are similarly colourful and sturdy.
We love Abu’s keenness to explain the ins and outs of Bangladeshi food.
I usually go the fizzy route when it comes to spicy food, salty lassi maybe, mango lassie never!
So borhani ($3) delights.
To the yogurt base are added fresh mint and coriander, salt, a little sugar and enough of some kind of chilli to cause a nice, smooth heat burn in the back of my throat.
The name in this case may be fuchka ($5) but the dish is recognisably the same as pani puri or gol gappe.
The chick pea mix is a bit more of a mash than we’ve found in Indian versions but the real star here is the tangy, tamarind-based sauce.
Buna khichuri ($14.50) is familiar from the similar, Indian khichdi we’ve made at home.
I love the mix of rice and lentils.
The many bits of mutton found within the rice are on the bone but the meat is sweet and comes from away easily enough.
Mazbaan mangsho ($12.50 is, as far as we can tell, a beef curry along the lines of a beef vindaoloo but without the vinegary sourness.
The bones are few and the meat is delicious.
My friends love it to pieces but this dish is a reminder to me that I’m not overly fond of mustard oil, the flavour of which is quite strong.
The two flaky parathas are excellent.
Mutton “old Dhakaiya style katchi biryani” ($14.50) is a typically complex and spicy biryani and just fine.
There’s no raita or gravy as per most versions served in West Footscray and elsewhere, but there are potato bits, which makes a nice change.
Morog polao ($13.50) is the only chicken dish on the menu and we like it a lot.
It’s quite a contrast to the biryani – the seasoning is a lot more subtle and Abu tells us the dish is finished with ghee.
That seems to be more of a flavour enhancer than anything, as the dish is far from super-rich or oily.
The chicken component amounts to a single, substantial maryland that looks drab, tastes wonderful.
This dish strikes us, somewhat, as Bangladeshi version of Malaysian chicken rice!
Due to the preponderance of rice dishes on the menu, we suspect Rizq may not be a frequent regular for us.
But for a change from the Indian offerings we regularly sup on in the inner west, it does us fine.
Mason Dixon American Sandwich Bar, 480 Collins Street, Melbourne. Phone: 8610 6316
Up this end of Collins Street, as well as there being some good lunch action going on in various laneways, there are also several swish food courts, all of which offer something interesting and good.
Mason Dixon is tucked into one of them.
They’ve been operating, IIRC, since about Christmas times and, by all accounts I’ve laid eyes on, are going gangbusters.
I’m keen to check out their sangers in the company the Urban Ma, Jacqui, and her hubby, Wes.
By the time Jacqui and I locate the joint following much confusion and consultation of device maps, the crowd is substantial – but Wes has been doing patient queue duty so our wait time is minimal.
Two of us go the cubano (pictured at top, $9.50) of roast pork, smoked ham, dill pickle, swiss cheese and “citrus mojo” on a pressed roll.
Our third sandwich is the reuben ($9.50) of corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese and russian dressing.
Both are served with a handful of mini-pretzels and a couple of plastic-wrapped Mentos.
Both our sandwiches are good and constructed right for the $9.50 price tags.
But there’s the rub … I do find both of them a bit bland and lacking in real oomph.
But for the kind of sandwich dynamite for which I have been hoping, $15 would be a more likely price demand.
And Mason Dixon, being pitched directly at the office lunch crowd, is nailing it in spades.
Jacqui passes by the next day and subsequently reports the queue is nearly out the door and on to the street!
If I our adjudge our sandwiches to have been slightly off target – for me anyway! – the cheeky slice of peanut butter cheesecake ($5) Jac and I consume after Wes has split is a direct hit of glorious gooey richness.
CTS enjoyed chatting with this happy and livewire bunch of young women. They’re all from Malaysia, all friends, have all been studying – on scholarships – at Melbourne University since July. As such, they’re apartment dwellers but were very happy to have collectively made the train trip to Laverton for “a taste of home”.
MiHub Night Market, Laverton Multicultural Hub, 95-105 Railway Avenue, Laverton.
After its premises was sold under it, some doubt surrounded the future of the MiHub institution.
So it was a happy hoot to attend its latest incarnation – as a “night market” at Laverton Multicultural Hub.
Best of all, the new night market set-up will continue on a near-monthly basis for the rest of the year.
MiHub will operate on the following Saturdays:
March 21 May 2 June 6 August 1 September 5 October 3 November 7 December 5
CTS was delighted to run into several readers who had rocked up in response to our preview story earlier in the week as well as a number of other friendly faces.
However, gauging by the number of people story checking that story out online, I fear some may have turned up quite late in the day and after I had departed.
Truth is, while the advertised ending time was 9pm, just about all the food had been sold and eaten by about 7pm.
Please keep in mind, this is a community initiative run by volunteers – not a professional, commercial festival or market that will cost you hefty admission fee or involve an hours’ worth of waiting in queue.
Aunty Nora has enthused to us that future 2015 MiHubs will be better and bigger and include music.
Turning up early is probably a good idea!
If all goes as tentatively planned, CTS will be on board as willing workers next time out in a dish-washing bid to introduce real crockery and cutlery to proceedings.
Among the attendees were dad Kelvin, mum Susan and boys Brendan and Ryan.
For this Tarneit family, the Laverton venue was the fourth at which they’d attended MiHub festivities.
I really enjoyed my superb, freshly-made murtabak with a slightly spice but very nice beef/vegetable stew.
And I loved, too, the delicate tuna patties, samosas and gulab jamun created and sold with a big smile by Masuma.
These tofu cubes had been stuffed with a garlicky mix of veg, bean sprouts and vermicelli then deep-dried to a crisp.
Full of tummy and hanging out with Aunty Nora and son Jake.
Saha Thai Cafe, 431 Macaulay Road, Kensington. Phone: 9913 3663
To the CTS way of thinking, Macaulay Road in Kensington is something of an under-achiever in the food stakes.
So we’re way happy to be tipped to the existence of this cool Thai joint by colleague David.
It’s not on the shopping strip but across the train tracks and down the hill where things get very commercial/industrial very fast.
Anyone who passes this way with any regularity know how nutty the traffic situation can be.
Macaulay Road seems to be a rat run avenue mid-way between the more usual arterials of Racecourse and Dynon roads.
Nevertheless, in two visits to Saha, there’s been ample parking available on the other side of the road from the cafe.
Saha is a superior version of your typical neighbourhood Thai restaurant – I bet the inhabitants of the residential backwaters around here are very happy about its arrival.
As far as I can see, there is nothing really unusual on the menu, but what there is comes out well done, at good prices and served with smiles.
One could take the view that this a basically a takeaway place that has some capacity to do eat-in.
On the other hand, with its handful of lovely dark-wood tables and white-enamelled chairs, far better to think of it as a casual and cool cafe.
I’m told the veggie curry puffs ($6) are made on the premises but as always it’s hard to actually tell for sure – maybe they mean cooked in-house?
In any case, with their flaky pastry and good fillings, these are beaut.
Yes, the fish cakes are rubbery but in a nice way.
They also boast a nice spice kick and a pronounced tang of coriander.
The sweet chilli sauce is, I think, store-bought but tarted up in-house.
Saha chicken salad ($13) finds a mildly-spiced and juicy chicken mince jumble atop supermarket leaves.
It’s all fresh and works good.
Massaman curry ($14.50) is the spiciest of our selections but not overly so.
The sauce is rich, dark, smooth and sticky, and the beef is beautifully cooked and of good quality.
The disappointments here are the spud chunks – they’re under-cooked.
It’s on the mend and she’s hobbling around in the manner of folks wearing moonboots.
But still, it means our catch-up lunch will, of necessity, be in the vicinity of her North Carlton pad.
Her place, the soon to re-open local pub?
Whatever …
But, of course, I scope the neighbourhood out on the magic maps and …
“I see you have an Egyptian place nearby,” I say to her.
“We do?” she replies.
You see, the name The Stuffed Pepper conjured up in her mind visions of, well, Italian food – so she’d not taken much notice.
But it’s not.
Italian, that is.
Instead, it is very, very Egyptian – and becoming more so.
Oh sure, there are non-Egyptian items on the menu, but the feedback the wonderful Giselle is getting from her customers is along the lines of “bring on the hardcore”.
So she is, with a love and passion for her food and recipes imbued to her by her mum and dad.
All this is, of course, is music to the ears of Consider The Sauce.
Even better, as of February 28, The Stuffed Pepper will be doing dinners as well as lunches.
Below I have published the Egyptian sections of menu.
Corinna chooses the hawashi (closed Egyptian pizza, $12.90), which consists of ground beef, onion, tomato and capsicum combined with Egyptian spices spread in Middle Eastern bread and grilled until toasted.
It’s spectacular and very different from every other Middle Eastern pie or pizza I’ve experienced.
The meat filling is quite deep and very juicy.
The pastry is anointed with yogurt and very good tabouleh.
Wowee!
I go for the kushari ($13.9), which is described as a delicious Egyptian vegetarian dish consisting of green lentils, rice and tomato-based sauce topped with macaroni and finished with a crispy onion garnish accompanied with a garden salad.
It looks like a simple, humble dish.
It is, but it’s also very sexy.
Giselle furnishes me with a separate bowl of mildly spicy and very good yet thin tomato sauce, which I duly pour over my dish.
I mix the salad in as I go, as instructed.
It’s perfect and just what I was feeling like consuming.
I remark that with its combination of pulses, tomato, pasta and fried onion, my kushari has been like a solid version of the Iraqi soup that has become a feature of CTS Headquarters home-cooking.
Giselle laughs, as that soup is a staple – with variations – right across the Middle East, so she knows exactly what I am talking about.
All the Egyptian food at The Stuffed Pepper comes her family’s store of recipes, and is mostly prepared by her, too.
She even makes her own turshi from scratch, while the falafels are of the green variety, being made with fava beans and herbs.
She does have a cook, Nick, who is helping her out.
She tells me he is of Indian background but is rapidly “becoming Egyptian”.
I really wish The Stuffed Pepper was in the west.
As of the dinner debut, CTS will return with as many pals as we can round up.
Corinna and I only have a small sample of the lunch menu, but’s it’s top rate-stuff.
My mind boggles at what the meat, fish and various ful dishes might be like and how good they might be.
And how about beleela, “a combination of cooked and barley”, which is offered by Giselle in two version?
Check out the Stuffed Pepper Website, including full menus, here.
Ahhh – a free-hearted romp up the highway to Melton.
Somewhere along the way, I’d learned that an African restaurant had been established in Melton.
My impromptu journey is aimed at checking it out.
This is a trip I’ve been wary of undertaking even just a few weeks earlier.
Since then, new tyres all round and a long overdue service had been booked and paid for, so I’m a happy chappy heading into the sunrise.
Especially with Millie Jackon, backed by the pride of Muscle Shoals, wailing at length about the woes of her love life.
Once parked in Melton’s High Street, I find Awel no problem.
The restaurant is a breezy, casual affair, with a different and bright tablecloth on each table.
A couple of those tables are occupied as I peruse the menu.
It’s a mix of Ethiopian dishes – there’s wats and tibs and the like – and dishes I suspect have a Sudanese flavour.
I go Ethiopian, though, with zilzil alicha ($12.90), which is described as diced lamb and seasoned vegetables slowly cooked in a green pepper sauce and seasoned with ginger and jalapenos.
It’s a typical Ethiopian meat dish, like a wet tibs.
The serve looks modest of size but is more than filling enough.
And best of all, it has a big chilli kick of the kind often promised by East African food but not always delivered.
The simple, crunchy salad, for which I am charged a little extra, is very good.
After my dinner, I chat for a good while with Amiol, who runs the restaurant with his wife, who happen to be in Africa catching up with the rellies.
Like her, Amiol is of Sudanese background.
He tells me Awel has been going for about five months and that the reaction of locals has been favourable.
But he is bemused by the outlook of some in the significant Melton East African community.
“In their heads, when it comes to food, they’re still back in Footscray,” her says. “They like our food but say, ‘Oh, if only you were in Footscray …'”
People can be so nutty!
Come on Meltonites – support this colourful and fine addition to your culinary line-up!
As I cruise on to the Western Highway home, Millie and the Swampers kick in to a funkified version of Feel Like Making Love.
Consider The Sauce has never before set foot in Chadstone shopping centre.
I’ve often been told that it is a bit more upmarket and swish.
This – an invitation to a blogger/media/industry tasting at D’Elephant Thai restaurant – is my chance to see if that’s the case, and to make very interested observations about the food on offer.
Especially in comparison with our very own reference point, Highpoint.
I’m aware that Chadstone is huge and that I see only a very small part of it.
Nevertheless, turning up typically early, I take in warmly regarded Malaysian and Chinese eateries, several classy-looking cafe-style outlets and a really fine grocer/greengrocer/deli – all within a few hundred metres of my destination.
D’Elephant Thai is a relatively new establishment, the management of which is keen to gauge the reactions of a mixed bag of invitees to their food (see menu below).
The place is nicely done out in cheerful style.
The event is very well run and the staff are wonderful.
I admire the joint’s aim of providing good Thai food at affordable prices in a shopping centre context.
As my handbag for the night, Nat Stockley, points out, some of the very best and most personality-laden Thai food in Melbourne is also some of the cheapest.
But for Bennie and I, in the west, Thai food is invariably a notch or two more expensive than the other readily available multicultural choices.
I enjoy the D’Elephant food.
A couple of dishes – a soup, a curry – are way to sweet for me.
On the other hand, several dishes have a good, feisty chilli whack going on – not something you’d normally expect in a shopping centre and something to be wildly applauded.
A centrepiece of the proceedings is a som tum station at which the papaya salad is being prepared from scratch for the assembled.
They should definitely think about making this a permanent fixture.
(The salad was good.)
Would we eat at D’Elephant Thai if it was at Highpoint?
For sure.
(Consider The Sauce was a guest of D’Elephant Thai management and we were served food from a pre-set event menu. Editorial input into this post was neither sought nor granted.)
D Asian, 68-82 Hopkins Street, Footscray. Phone: 8354 8387
By the time Bennie and I step through the doors of D Asia, it’s been open about six months.
Obviously, we haven’t been paying enough attention.
Though perhaps in this case, that’s something to do with the fact the restaurant isn’t on Hopkins Street proper, but rather looks out on the carpark and towards Franco Cozzo and Centrelink (into which dread office I most assuredly never wish to step foot again!).
D Asia is a typically warped idiosyncratic CTS experience.
The place is cavernous, complete with dance floor, bandstand and disco ball.
We are the only customers.
The menu is by a long way the longest I’ve ever seen – far too voluminous to photograph and publish here.
No customers, stupendously long menu?
Those are the sorts of things that normally see red flags hoisted.
But after visiting as a pair and then solo, and eating mostly well, I have to confess my curiosity about this abidingly strange and unlikely Indian restaurant remains high.
I will return to check out the many dishes of which I’ve never before heard.
With no pre-planned gameplan, Bennie and I find ourselves going happily all Indo-Chinese and all vegetarian.
The staff do the right thing by us by splitting our single serve of coriander lemon soup ($7.95) into two bowls.
It’s, um, super.
Mildly viscous in the familiar Chinese style, it’s refreshing and tangy, with tiny dice of vegetables providing crunch.
Golden fried potato ($12.95) is OK but is nothing more than battered potato stalks.
There is little or none of the advertised “marinated” factor.
This dish is, in our opinion, way over-priced.
Chilli baby corn is a much better deal at $11.95 – and a much better tasting one as well.
These are terrific flavour bombs, deep-fried and unoily.
There’s more than corn going on here, but it’s those kernals that provide the delightful “pop”.
Very, very yummy, they are.
Gobi manchurian ($10.95) is a good deal wetter than the rendition we’re familiar with from our favourite Indo-Chinese haunt.
It’s pleasant enough but no earth-shaker and is very oily.
As are our vegetable hakka noodles ($11.95), but we’d expect nothing different in a wok-tossed Indian dish.
They are fine, though, with plenty of diced and well-cooked vegetables.
On my follow-up visit, I try another Indo-Chinese dish – cutmet aloo ($4.95), which is described as “boiled potato dressed with Indian spices and served with tamarind chutney”.
Again, this is nice enough but no great shakes.
Then, just for to see what D Asia does with plain, workaday Indian food, I get a serve of mutton curry with roti ($10.95).
The fresh-cooked roti is fine.
The mutton is on the bone, and seems even more fiddly than is usually the case.
This is one of the most oily curries I’ve ever experienced.
And it’s the saltiest curry I can recall eating.
I like it a lot, though, although others’ mileage may vary!
D Asia?
What an enigma!
And I don’t think it’s really possible to be uncharmed by an eatery that has seven kinds of dal.
Or one that serves goat fried rice.
Or one that has 12 different soups on offer, including chicken or mutton suraba.
Or one that has a deep-fried Indo-Chinese dish call botanic vegetable.
Or one that seasons its gongura mutton with rosella leaves.
For all that I’ve been living in the west for a decade-plus, an occasional foray into the CBD remains pleasurable – especially when it’s with the primary purpose of having lunch with CTS pal Jacqui, the Urban Ma.
It’s a lovely reminder of a life that was once mine – though I never enjoyed the workplace views that Jacqui does from her 35th floor eyrie!
It’s a lovely, reminder, too, that Melbourne’s CBD is an ever-changing scene of side streets and laneways and small, affordable eateries coming and going.
In this case, jacqui has pinpointed Katherine Place as a suitable location for lunch.
The buildings here are newish, but it appears this little street may be coming to life in an eats sense – there’s an Indian street food place being prepared right next door top our bagel destination.
5 & Dime is a new enterprise that specialises in bagels that are “hand-crafted, boiled and baked using the traditional method”.
The bagels – there are nine varieties available – are terrific; chewy and delicious (see menu below)!
And the prices are very low – this is a beaut place to snag a cheap, sort-of healthy lunch for inhabitants of the CBD as it is towards the Flinders and Spencer end of things.
All the cafe seating is taken, so Jacqui and I quickly and easily arrange an impromptu “catch-up” picnic just outside.
We both order lox with plain cream cheese ($9.50), mine with an onion bagel.
And we share a poppy seed bagel with “green olive and za’atar cream cheese” ($5.50).
Not too long before we noticed the assembling of a Jerry’s franchise branch in Kensington, our friend The Burger King dined at the Tullamarine shop.
His verdict?
He was and is dismissive.
More recently, another friend – for whom Kensington is neighbourhood territory – implied he and his had a much more satisfying time at the new place.
So I decided to find out for myself.
The Kensington jerry’s is a smallish operation, done out in typical fast-food franchise fashion.
The seating is limited and rudimentary.
I found the service to be good and the prices to be very low.
But there’s the rub – on the premise of “you get what you pay for”, your Jerry’s burger will most likely suffer by comparison with the more pricey likes of Grill’d and other ritzy burger places.
The range of sandwiches – and even salads – is very long (see below), ranging through beef, steak, pork, fish, vegetarian and breakfast items.
I went with the She Hot! burger with beef, bacon, cheese, red onion, Tabasco aioli, lettuce and jalapenos ($7.90) and a small serve of chips ($1.90).
My burger was just OK, and as hinted at above pretty much what you’d expect for cents under $8.
It wasn’t nearly as hot as the number of pepper slices included might suggest.
It was a sloppy meal, with the structural integrity lapsing totally by the end.
Worst of all, the meat patty was bereft of beefiness and redolent of sausage meat.
I wouldn’t go so far as draw a comparison with “pet food”, as one Urbanspoon contributor has done, but you get the picture …
The best part of my dinner were the chips, which were terrific and plentiful.
Zomato international operations director Pramod Rao, CTS and Zomato Melbourne community manager Pranav Singh.
As far as I’m aware, there are three kinds of users for restaurant website Urbanspoon.
For many, it is simply somewhere to go for information about places to eat – including details such as phone numbers and opening hours, but also very much including opinions good and bad.
A second group does all of the above but also contributes what are referred to as “diner reviews”.
The third group consists of food bloggers, who stories are listed and linked on the Urbanspoon website in exchange for carrying eatery-specific Urbanspoon dinkii.
For the first named of the above groups, the recent news that the American Urbanspoon had been bought by the Indian company Zomato is probably of only passing interest, and perhaps none at all.
By contrast, for the contributors of Urbanspoon “diner reviews” – and some, such as our friends Nat Stockley and MelbourneMiss are very active indeed – and the food bloggers, the Zomato transaction is very big news.
Like many blogs, CTS derives many visitors from its relationship with Urbanspoon.
That relationship sees bloggers going unpaid for the goodwill and stature they bring to Urbanspoon but the actual work requirements are minimal – simply cutting and pasting a bit of code and making sure the paragraph or sentence that appears with the Urbanspoon link is appropriate.
Should my relationship with Zomato – once Urbanspoon is integrated into it – become any more complex, time-consuming or problematic, I’d seriously have to consider cutting my ties.
It’d be a bugger to lose all those referrals, but the truth is the number who become regular CTS readers is probably quite small – so I’d do it, no problem.
And from all I’ve read, the existing Zomato operation so far has not utilised bloggers anywhere it operates in the world.
Thus for bloggers, the questions surrounding the Zomato buy-out are many.
So I was surprised and delighted even to get an invite from Zomato’s Melbourne community manager Pranav Sigh to meet for coffee and a chat.
(I am just one of quite a few Melbourne food bloggers they are in the process of meeting …)
This in itself is a big change – my technical or procedural issues with Urbanspoon over the years have been minor and dealt with well and quickly, but always via email with Urbanspoon staff in Seattle.
So people on the ground is a whole new ball game, with Pranav – he’s a Kiwi by the way, having been educated in CTS’ home town of Dunedin – being just one of hundreds of staff being hired by Zomato around the world to manage the transition and the ongoing relationships with bloggers and other contributors.
When I meet Pranav, he has with him Zomato international operations director Pramod Rao.
We have a good frank, discussion.
I am eager to make my point main points – that food bloggers and contributors around the world are feeling a distinct level of unease, and that Zomato would be foolish indeed to discard, meddle with or downgrade in any way the contributions these many people make and the goodwill and stature they lend to their employer.
I can only take what they tell me at face value, but for the record I find them both to be smart operators who are fully aware of the issues and eager to reassure me on every question I have – and hence their pro-active approach to getting out meeting the people concerned.
So …
Branding apart, there will be little or no change in terms of Zomato’s relationship with its contributors, including bloggers.
Links with food bloggers are very much seen by Zomato as an asset.
The various leaderboards will continue, although the exact methodology for determining them has yet to finalised.
Zomato’s Melbourne staff count stands at present at nine but will rise to about 30.
Zomato’s aim is to update the details, including menus, of each and every restaurant every three months.
However, contributors will still be able to “Add Restaurant”.
To much greater extent than Urbanspoon, Zomato will be “social”.
Indeed, what Pramod shows me on his phone looks very much like a “Facebook-for-foodies” and actually very exciting.
Urbanspoon generated income – such as it has been – through the likes of Google AdSense.
Zomato, by contrast, will hopefully derive income by taking a hyper-local approach to advertising.
This throws up a whole new set of questions for me …
“What if,” I ask Pramod, “a potential Melbourne advertiser is prepared to spend big bucks with Zomato – but only with proviso that existing negative reviews be removed or altered?”
Kuni’s, 56 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne. Phone: 9663 7243
This particular foray to the CBD is about nothing more than spending Grandma’s money on a much-desired comic book.
Bennie’s accepts with good grace my point that perhaps a book or even an electronic game would be a better and more long-lasting present than a comic book – even if it is one that has won a Pulitzer Prize.
Accepts with good grace if note an entirely convincing display of agreement.
The first likely shop we enter does not have the desired item in stock, the second one does.
By the time we’ve made our way from Flinders Street Station to Spring Street, we’ve been up and down many laneways and in and out of many book and record shops just for the fun of it.
I’m somewhat amazed we’ve done so with me keeping my credit card in my wallet.
We stop for a coffee at Pelligrini’s and then it’s most certainly time for lunch.
Bennie loves Japanese food – particularly our local haunts Ebi and Ajitoya.
We both love them.
But as far as I am aware, he’s never dined in a swish CBD Japanese eatery.
Kuni’s seems to get mentioned less than some others when it comes to naming Melbourne’s more venerable Japanese restaurants.
As a one-time regular customer, I’m not sure why that is.
On the basis of our wonderful lunch, my affection for the place is only enhanced – the tranquil elegance, the service, the very good food and its pricing are a real kick.
We stick to the compact meals offered on the lunch list, Bennie’s selection pretty much a given considering his fascination for all things bento.
After slurping up his fine miso soup, he tucks with relish into his bento of the day ($19) of beef teriyaki, sashimi, tempura and some salady things.
It’s cost a few bucks more than a bento deal might in less storied and more cheap-eats style Japanese places, but the quality is there.
My own tempura lunch deal ($22) also begins with miso soup along with marinated bean sprouts and a beaut chawanmushi.
There’s not a lot of content in my savoury custard, but it’s so silky and sensual, I simply do not care.
My tempura offering is superb – as good as I’ve had, hot, ungreasy and featuring a wealth of vegetables and seafood.
In addition, I get spinach with a sesame dressing and some pickled zucchini.
What a simple and lovely lunch it’s been for two lads leg-weary from retail therapy!
Le Bon Ton, 51 Gipps Street, Collingwood. Phone: 9416 4341
Are regular readers discerning a trend here?
Yes, it seems we’re methodically – without actually meaning to – checking out Melbourne’s outlets for BBQ and other things to do with the American South.
This is driven largely by besottedness with that part of the world in general.
I’d have to say, after several tremendous meals, my skepticism about what is possible and available in Melbourne in this regard is evaporating; Le Bon Ton continues that trend.
Our pursuit of this food is driven, too, by the simple fact we love it to pieces.
In this case, “we” refers to an extended CTS “A” Team that numbers six and involves Bennie, myself and four great pals who also love getting on the fang.
We wish another “A” Team member, the fabulous Nat Stockley, who would fit like a glove into this happy aggregation, was with us!
Le Bon Ton is in a former pub in the back blocks of Collingwood.
It’s a big place rather extravagantly set up, with a lot of time – and no doubt money – spent on creating a Southern aura.
It works.
The place rambles just like some old-school New Orleans restaurant, with many rooms and a beaut outdoor dining area out back.
We figured arriving relatively early on a Friday night would see us right in terms of snagging a table.
We are wrong.
The place is jumping and packed.
No matter – after a brief cocktail-and-chat interlude that actually seems just right, we are seated and thereafter very well taken care of.
Most of our group went with the $49 banquet set-up just a few weeks previously at Meatmaiden, and ended up being happy with the results.
At Le Bon Ton, we baulk at their comparative offering of the Southern Pride deal for $59, not so much because of the cost but because we simply doubt our combined capacity to eat that much food.
So we go our own ways, ordering a couple of dishes to share and getting sandwiches and a meat offering based individual preferences.
This turns out to be a winning approach for us – and allows us scope to go with a couple of pies at the end of our meal.
The original inspiration for our Bon Ton outing was fried chicken.
Here it’s served as an entree of “Southern style buttermilk soaked tenders with cracked pepper white gravy” for $16.
We get two serves that allow us one piece apiece of very good, beautifully seasoned and coated chook.
Based on a recent visit here by two of our party, we also go the chili cheese fries ($15).
As all our food arrives pretty much at the same time, the photographic situation is intense so this rather blurry photograph is all I’ve got to show you of these delicious, decadent pimped-up spuds.
We get two orders of these, too. One would’ve done.
With the arrival of the brisket (half a pound of grain-fed Riverina Angus beef for $21) we wonder just how Melbourne’s BBQ emporiums who sell their smoked meats by weight go about maintaining consistent portion sizes.
Surely there’s not someone in the kitchen weighing up individual orders?
In this case, the serve seems very, wonderfully generous, so much so that the person whose meal it ostensibly is happily shares it with rest of the table.
Thanks, Eliza!
It’s very, very fine.
The Le Bon Ton cheeseburger of “150g Wagyu beef patty & crispy bacon w/ onion, lettuce, tomato, pickles, spicy ketchup & aioli” comes with a price tag of $16 and disappears down the gob of its owner in a flash.
Two of us select the brisket sandwich of “pit smoked chopped brisket with damn good BBQ sauce & slaw” ($16) – and what a sloppy, tangy, spicy joy it is.
Mine certainly eats bigger than the photo seems to suggest.
The “debris” of meats and dressings that tumble from my sandwich are far from being the least of the pleasure had.
Through our BBQ explorations, Bennie has developed a profound fondness for pulled pork.
He devours the Le Bon Ton version – “pit-smoked pulled pork with white onion, jalapeno, sharp cheddar & special sauce” ($16) – with relish.
It, too, is bigger and more hearty than first appears to be the case.
With a view to dessert, the Pie Mistress in our midst goes for the lighter delights of Gulf-style crab cakes with streaky bacon, bell peppers, celery and Old Bay aioli ($16.5).
She reckons they’re good and crabby. The sample I am afforded tastes lovely with a herbal blush that is familiar yet mysterious.
With such an amazing spread laid out before us, the otherwise fine buttermilk biscuits ($8.50 for three and served with chipotle and honey butter) seem something like bridesmaids.
Then it’s pie time!
What to choose, what to choose?
The Le Bon Ton pies are individually baked items that cost $12.
We collectively find the …
… chocolate and peanut butter mousse pie and …
… the banana cream pie to be utterly wonderful, though in truth the former seems a little on the bitter side to me.
We’ve made pigs of ourselves.
The food and the service have been grand.
The financial damage?
The $35 per person we pay is outstanding value.
Eschewing the temptations of hanging out all night in cocktail mode, we waddle into the night.
I skip breakfast before getting down to writing this story.
Check out the Le Bon Ton website, including menu, here.
In a lovely piece of serendipity, just before departing for Collingwood I had unwrapped a new CD arrival that has this tune as its first track:
Hellenic Flavours On Puckle, 25 Puckle Street Moonee Ponds. Phone: 93757064
Vicolo, 28-30 Young Street, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9372 9500
There’s been a number of eatery openings in and around Puckle Street lately and we’re up for trying one of them for lunch.
We know Hellenic Flavours will be a kebab shop that will also do hamburgers.
But we suspect that it may also be one of those nifty places that does a nice job of taking care of the fast-food requirements but one that also offers more substantial Greek food at prices way below those found in more formal Greek restaurant settings.
That’s just what we discover.
The place is done out in the expected mix of take-away and restaurant with plenty of seating and scenic photos from the Mediterranean adorning the walls.
A big work group sitting next to us is tucking with glee into $15 plates of various kebab meats (some of it on sticks), pita, salad, chips and tzatiki.
Cool!
There’s also available the likes of mousaka, pastitsio, stuffed vegetables and grills such as steaks.
We both go for the traditional lamb souvlaki ($11) and are happy with our choices.
Our wraps are encased in the usual, thickish Greek-style pita we suspect may have come from this venerable Braybrook institution.
There’s just the right amount of salad and sauce.
And the meat is crunchy crusted, salty, hot and delicious.
Next stop – dessert!
Not since a flurry of visits to the classic Italian of Vicolo – culminating in a beaut CTS Feast – have we been back.
Today we’ve been enticed through the Young Street doors by a Facebook item in which Marie spruiks her white chocolate risotto with hazelnuts.
It’s the biz at a very generously proportioned $12 serve – thank heavens Bennie and I share.
“Mmmmm – it’s good,” says I.
“Yes, and so healthy,” quips Bennie.
Haha!
It’s nothing of the sort, of course.
But nor is eating this glorified rice pudding quite exactly like the decadent, silky and out-there experience of consuming a panna cotta, creme brulee or even a pavlova.
The al dente rice gives it a bit more substance and chewiness than that.
Consider The Sauce may have views on the varying food, service and even the social media hubris of West Footscray’s Indian restaurants, but right from the start we’ve considered them a community asset.
Still, as much as we love our Indian tucker, we also dig the heck out of diversity – so we’re delighted to see something very exciting happening in one of the neighbourhood’s landmark buildings.
The double-storey building at 572 Barkly Street has been vacant and unused, so far as we are aware, for several years.
Its history includes time spent as an ANZ bank branch and as home for a Serbian Social Services And Support group.
That latter was still active when we were living just around the corner, many years before CTS.
My very strong visual recall is that “social service and support” meant, in this instance, a very blokey spot for coffee and gossip!
That’s the (potted) history.
The future is … Ovest.
The new eatery, at this point scheduled to be unveiled to the eating and coffee-slurping public in February, is the baby of Ben Sisley, his wife Stephanie and Alex and Kate from Seddon’s Sourdough Kitchen.
Ben has a long history in Melbourne’s hospitality industry, including more recently stints food styling in the corporate world and, before that, time with Mr Wolf in St Kilda and, before that, with Madame Joe Joe, also in St Kilda.
Ben tells me Ovest (it means “west” in Italian) will offer food that will be based around the joint’s pizza oven – think pizzas and the likes of seafood and steak dishes using the same cooking apparatus.
Ben talks enticingly, for instance, of whole snapper lightly crusted/dusted with flour, seasoned, pan-fried and then quickly grilled in the pizza oven.
“We will be tightly focused in terms of opening hours and menu at the start, and then we’ll see where the public takes,” he says.
“This is a great location and we think the area is ready for something like this.
“We see us catering to everyone from people grabbing an after-work drink right through to young families.”
What that means is … no pasta, no breakfast, dinner and maybe lunch on selected days.
Nor will there be entertainment offered – the open kitchen will play that role.
“The food is the entertainment,” Ben says.
And, thanks to a liberal licence being secured, there is the possibility of 1am finishes on Saturdays and Sundays.
“But we won’t be sitting around chewing up money on wages if there’s no customers around,” Ben quips.
Significant renovations are underway on the ground floor of the old bank building.
But in some ways it appears to be almost purpose-built for the likes of Ovest.
The classic ’60s/’70s style bar is cool as!
The area around the entrance will be for more casual, drop-in customers, with the rear area offering dining of a more formal variety.
Consider The Sauce has received a good deal of medical advice in the past six months or so.
Some of it was about food.
“We really like Siam Kitchen in Newport,” the doctor said. “The wok dishes and salads – not so much the curries.”
That’s the kind of advice – medical or otherwise – we’re happy to follow!
Truth is, Siam Kitchen has been on our radar for a long time.
The restaurant occupies the same strip as the recently covered Odd Spot Cafe.
We are expecting a modest, typical suburban Thai eatery.
So we’re surprised and delighted to discover within a really love room dominated by dark wood and tastefully decorated.
We’re happy to report that by and large the service and food reflect those good first impressions.
This place is a handy and classy notch or two better than the phrase “suburban Thai eatery” implies.
It’s early in the week but the place is busy, with a good half of the tables occupied and a constant stream of takeaway customers coming and going.
There’s only one front-of-house staff member at hand and she’s working very hard indeed, though some kitchen folk help out by bringing full dishes out and taking empty ones back in.
It’s Bennie and I only tonight so we keep it simple by choosing two entrees and two mains plus rice.
The entrees satisfy rather than thrill us.
We whip through two roti breads served with satay sauce ($5) in quick time though it’s all rather nondescript and the sauce lacks punch and is too sweet for us.
Crispy golden bags(tang tong) of marinated pork mince with garlic, spicy onion and herbs served with sweet chilli sauce ($6.90) are way better and much more interesting than your average won tons.
The chilli sauce, too, is a flavour hit, boasting more zip and depth of flavour than your typical commercial version.
I cannot tell if this one of those commercial brands tarted up in the kitchen or one made from scratch – either way, very nice!
Seafood pad cha of – “traditional” stir fry with peppercorn, ginger, eggplant and mixed vegetables ($14.90) – is my selection based on the eggplant component.
As it turns out, the eggplant is pretty much the least of it.
There’s plenty of seafood that tastes very fresh – I slurp up the mussels as Bennie is uninterested, and the scallops have terrific flavour.
Best of all, there’s nothing tame about the seasoning levels here – it’s a spicy blast.
Crispy chicken salad with herbs and chilli topped with peanuts ($13.90) is Bennie’s choice and the outright highlight of our meal.
The chicken bits really are crisp, and delicious to boot. And we love the crunch of the peanuts.
There’s a significant chilli hit here, too, and real tang thanks to coriander, mint and lemon juice.
Unlike some people we could mention, we’re by no means Thai food experts – but for what it’s worth, the Siam Kitchen menu appears to have no really unusual dishes or surprises.
That said, this is the best Thai food we’ve had in the west.
Check out the Siam kitchen website, including menu, here.
consider the sauce 