Tag Archives: Melbourne

Aksaray Turkish Kebab House/Stephz Gourmet Deli

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Aksaray Turkish Kebab House

74 Glengala Rd, Sunshine. Phone: 9310 1377

Stephz Gourmet Deli

64 Glengala Rd, Sunshine. Phone: 9364 7488

Having scoped this west Sunshine place out, unhungry, a few nights previously, I hold no great expectations on entering Aksaray for lunch – maybe a nice Turkish kebab plate: meat, salad, rice, dip, bread.

That changes as soon as I walk through the door and am immediately served a sample of a freshly made soup – as is every customer who follows me –  free of charge.

It’s a fantastic vegetable concoction – just carrot, onion, celery and seasonings of pepper, salt, oregano. It’s blended just right – well short of being a creamy soup, leaving some grainy texture that gives it substance. Marvellous!

Turns out this is the start of a major overhaul of the offerings available at Aksaray – an overhaul I suspect will make it far more interesting than just another kebab/dips joint.

In a few weeks time they’ll be unveiling a revolving lineup of soups, casseroles, stews and more home-style Turkish food – and I reckon that’s exciting.

For all that we love the normal restaurant fare of our various Mediterranean eateries, we all know it’s just one aspect of the various cuisines involved – eatery food and home food is different.

Bring it on – I’ll be there with my bib on!

My adana kebab lunch platter doesn’t reach the same heights as the soup, but does the job.

Chewy lamb adana is overshadowed by the strips of doner kebab provided usasked for; nice rice, tabouli that is of my preferred wetness, OK bread, slightly fried.

The star is the cacik – a creamy yogurt dip zingy with garlic and chunky with cucumber.

As I’m enjoying my lunch a steady parade of regulars comes and goes, many leaving with kebab sandwiches to go, many with lovely looking boreks of chicken or lamb, all having sampled the super soup.

The chicken borek ($3) I take home for the night’s dinner is brilliant, the shredded chook stuffing subtlety flavoured with parsley and pepper and the mouthfuls of pleasure enlivened by finely diced  onion, cooked but still a little on the crunchy side..

From there I amble up the road apiece to Stephz Gourmet Deli.

This is classic western suburbs.

Sited in what once was a servo, it’s a mix of continental grocery, Greek bakery and coffee bar – all with a Maltese waitress!


I have a crash-hot $3 latte and a 50c piece of what looks like biscotti, but which is emphatically non-Italian. It’s plain, almost savoury, topped with sesame seeds, is called – as near as Athena, another waitress, can translate – pazematia. Subsequent research reveals that a more precise term may be paximathakia – in any case it goes great with my coffee.

Being too full from lunch to countenance richer sweet goodies, I nevertheless ogle the cake/cookie displays. All the goodies are baked on the premises, with a range of rum balls looking particularly evil and desirable. I settle for a slice of very fine baklava to take home with me.

Aksaray Turkish Kebab House on Urbanspoon




Amin Cafe

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Little Khartoum Arcade/The Footscray Hub. Phone: 0401 008 957

The signs at either end – one on Nicholson St, the other on Albert St – still describe it as The Footscray Hub “Business Centre” – but in some quarters at least it is known as Little Khartoum Arcade.

Walking through it has become one of the “secret” treasures of living in the west.

There are money transfer places, shops selling T-shirts and cosmetic products, others with perfumes and spices – and even a few old-style barber establishments, one that recently gave me a fine haircut.

All of it speaks of Footscray’s African diaspora with a relaxed and “we belong” vibe.

The only disappointment for me has been the lack of an eatery from which to chow down and enjoy the great atmosphere.

I walked past the only place selling food many times, but was unimpressed by scant display of large samosas – sambusas in African parlance – so ambled on, bound ususally for Babylon or some other food place.

Than I heard  a whisper that more substantial fare was available from Amin Cafe for the asking.  I think I heard this very valuable information from Ms Baklover of Footscray Food Blog, but have been unable to find proof in either emails or blogs.

In any case, thanks!

For this information inspired me to inquire – with happy results.


After a brief discussion with the welcoming proprietor – yes, I am hungry, yes meat and rice will be fine – I am served with a meal that, no surprise, was familiar from our delicious forays to another Somalian refuge, Safari Restaurant in Ascot Vale.

My $12.50 lunch had some pan-fried lamb (halib) that looked a little gray and lacklustre, but was fine and tender. Also on board was a terrific chicken drumstick (doora), slightly coated with bread crumbs and seasoned. And there were some lettuce and tomato for colour and crunch.

But the star was the rice – as with so many of our experiences with north African and Middle Eastern food.

This was magic – but magic of a minimalist kind.

No sultanas, strands of fried onion, peas, almonds or other colour – just the odd bit of translucent onion and perfect rice, cooked in chicken stock with some lemon pepper and a seasoning mix called Zacin.

All my lunch was very mildly seasoned, but a small plastic tub of a fiery chilli condiment helped kick things along.

There are only three small tables at Amin Cafe, but they’re all taken as I enjoy my meal – all by what appear to be regulars.

As well, there was a steady trade from what I take to be similarly frequent customers for the sambusas – either lamb or fish – so I buy two for my next day’s work lunch. Even cold they’re good – lamb in one, canned tuna in the other, both with fine chewy pastry and filling given texture from cooked but still crunchy onion.

I’ll be back to Amin Cafe, for it gives me the same delectable satisfaction as eating at the communal table in the kitchen at Pelligrini’s in the CBD


Sekai Japanese Ramen

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Shop 194, 81 Hopkins St, Footscray. Phone: 9687 1088

Best to be upfront about it: If you hold to notions of purity when it comes to Japanese food, if you like real Japanese tucker – not Japanese-style – then Sekai will likely disappoint.

It is, by our reckoning at least, firmly of the latter persuasion – but our latest visit there tasted fine and seemed more, ahem, “Japanese” than the lacklustre “sushi rolls” hordes the have become so popular as lunchtime fare.

As such, Sekai is virtually identical to many ramen/udon joints found the length and breadth of Melbourne’s CBD.

Nor would I go as far as one punter at Urbanspoon, who opined there was “nothing Japanese about it”.

Our visit came about by way of Bennie’s determination to eat “on the other side of the street”, indicating the Footscray Market – and less restaurant-cluttered – side of Hopkins St.

On a much earlier visit, just after it had opened, I had the gyu tan don – ox tongue in red wine sauce  on rice ($10). It was wonderful.

This time, with son on hand, a mandatory order was always going to be a serve of their seaweed salad ($4).

Bennie loves it, and I do too, so I figured it was about time to find out what makes this dish tick – and if, as I suspected, it wasn’t half as healthy as it appears to be at first blush. Could something as slinky, sexy and delicious be all good?

Some subsequent research reveals that other than seaweed, the dressing commonly includes sugar, vinegar, a little chilli, sesame oil and seeds, soy sauce and even dashi.

Far from the evil I feared, then.

In any case, the Sekai version was sensational – more coarse and crunchy than we’re used to, but every mouthful was a slithery taste delight, with a lovely balance of sweet and sour flavours. It lasted – maybe – two minutes.

I really dig the way Bennie is fast developing a feel and intuition for what will work for him when scanning a menu.

A paternal guiding hand is still sometimes required, but this time he got it right – his katsu don ($8.50) was just what he needed and desired.

A generous serve of crunchily crumbed pork doused in tonkatsu sauce rested atop what amounts to an omelette laced with carrot, peas and red onion, which in turn sat on a solid bed of rice.

Bennie loved it.

My pork ramen ($9) was more murky when it comes to matters of Japanese heritage – another Urbanspoon poster had a point when he quipped: “Ramen?? More like 2 minute noodles…”

It’s true the broth seemed more Sino than Nippon, and had little or no miso/soy tang, while the noodles likewise seemed far from authentic.

But it tasted good, the roast pork being generous of serve, both tender and chewy – and profoundly unlike Chinese roast pork. Greenery came via some nice spinach.

It was a quick, cheap and satisfying lunch.

If you’re happy with Japanese-style food and are prepared to select carefully, Sekai remains worthy of consideration.

Sekai Japanese Ramen on Urbanspoon

Hyderabad Inn

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551 Barkly St, West Footscray. Phone: 9689 0998

We’re surprised how many folks assume that because we’ve embarked on a food blog that we’re eating out more than ever.

That’s simply not the case – we’re just doing what we’ve always done, which means we dine out three, maybe four times a week.

I’ll concede that’s more than most people do – even in the cheap as chips west – but it hardly seems excessive to us.

The highlight, though, is always Saturday lunch – work/school done with, chores/shopping performed, it’s time to get on the fang with relish. So to speak …

This Saturday we are delighted to have our buddy Kurt along for the ride.

He broke his ankle a few weeks back, and has been experiencing varying degrees of pain, discomfort and inconvenience ever since, so we’re chuffed to get him out and about for a few hours.

Even better, this is his first dosa experience – and we’re thrilled it turns out be an excellent one.


We’d been keeping an eye on this place, half a video store refurbished, for a couple of weeks, waiting for it to open – ever since Bennie noticed the new signage.

In fact, we’d turned up a few days previously only to find it was their first day and they wouldn’t be opening until 5pm.

Happily, another new place – Wok Noodle – was a more than adequate stand-in on that day.

But it’s all on at Hyderabad Inn for Saturday lunch!

This is a nice, big room, tastefully kitted out in a somewhat spartan fashion – which suits us fine.

Unlike so many other places that serve doas, idlys, vadas and the like, this is a full-service Indian restaurant.

The menu boasts a full range of curries, tandoori dishes, Indo-Chinese tucker and so on. Most curries are priced around the $11 mark.


But we’re here for the south Indian goodies. They suit our budget better, we like the flavours and textures, and a fully satisfying meal doesn’t leave us feeling full … as in over-full.

There’s a wide range of dosas, uttapams and the like from which to choose – including a variety of combos.

Kurt goes for the Dosa Deal – dosa of choice (chicken in this case), one apiece of idly and vada, sambar, the usual coconutty sides and a can of soft drink.

This is an outstanding deal for $9.95.

The crumbly minced chicken is delicious, the vada doughnut is unique of flavour and surprisingly soft on the tooth, and the whole deal, including the sambar and coconut chutneys, is a delight. The idly, served on a separate plate, is less to Kurt’s fancy at first … but it, too, disappears in due course.

Bennie and I order the Chef’s Dosa ($10.50) and a lamb biryani ($10.50).

The Chef’s Dosa is stuffed with the same chicken and also separate portions of equally crumbly lamb, spiced paneer with coriander and the usual spuds. It’s all great, with the potatoes more gooey than found in your average masala dosa – almost like a stew.

I’ve never seen Bennie enjoy a dosa more.


The biryani is fine, if not quite meeting the same top-shelf standards as the rest of our order. Embedded in the spicy rice are fried onion strands and three tender portions of lamb on the bone, while the dish is rounded out by a lovely hard-boiled egg, runny raita and a gravy that also seems to have a high coconut quotient.

Cheap Indian food can sometimes mean cheap service.

Such is emphatically not the case at Hyderabad Inn – and that alone seems to make its chances of prospering, in what is becoming an ultra-competitive neighbourhood, very good.

We’ll be back for sure!

Hyderaabad inn on Urbanspoon

Hyderabad Inn website here.


Wok Noodle

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Shop 1/92 Charles St, Seddon. Phone: 9689 9475

Noel, Wok Noodle’s front man, reckons his joint is the first Malaysian restaurant in the western suburbs – and I reckon he’s right.

There’s a few places in Foostcray central, and a few more in Williamstown, from whence you can order a laksa or a mee goreng, but often the only relationship such dishes ordered in such places have with Malaysia is strictly nominal.

The nearest dinkum Malaysian, and really fine Malaysian at that, is to be had in Flemington – well within Consider The Sauce territory but not, as Noel points out, strictly speaking in the western suburbs.

So Wok Noodle is it – and very welcome it is, too.

In fact, it seems truly bizarre in a neighbourhood wherein within a few kilometres one can dine Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian and various African styles that it has taken this long for a Malaysian eatery to set up shop.

The previous inhabitant of these Charles St premises had lived a relatively long but obviously hard-going life as an awkward compromise between a snacky cafe and one of those places that sells pre-made meals for heating up at home. But their curries, stews, salads and soups always seemed so preposterously over-priced that I am suspicious of Wok Noodle in case there is connection or hangover from the previous tenants.

No, there is not.

Indeed, the prices are all ball park for this kind of food – soup and wok noodles all $10.50, Hainan chicken rice for $11.50, sambal dishes for $14.50 and up depending on your taste in seafood, two curry puffs for $5.

A plain roti costs $3.50, or you can have it with potato ($7) or chicken curry ($8.50), or peanut sauce ($6).

Gado gado costs $9.50.

As the above illustrates, the menu range at Wok Noodle is orthodox Malaysian – but that’s fine by us, particularly if the food is as consistently good as that presented us in our first meal.

The interior is bright and breezy, there is a good view of the kitchen action and chilled water is delivered unasked to our table.

My mee goreng is minus the tomato tang often part of this dish, and very mildly spiced, but nevertheless delicious. Big and bursty prawns, fishcake, tofu, chicken, egg, sprouts, some greenery all dance delightedly with a lip-smackingly fine dark brown curry gravy and egg noodles. It’s topped with shredded lettuce, while a slice of lemon on the side does good work near the end of my meal, tarting things up just when needed.

Not for the first time, Bennie finds the lure of both dumplings AND roast pork impossible to ignore, so orders the wonton broth – a basic brew of thin egg noodles with very good dumplings and slices of pig, greenery courtesy of choy sum, all in chicken broth. It’s plain but satisfying.

And that’s our first of what is likely to be many meals at Wok Noodle.

Wok Noodle on Urbanspoon

Lemat Injera Bakery

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157 Nicholson St, Footscray. Phone: 9689 006

There is much more to Ethiopian food – and the broader north African food culture that has become such integral part of western suburbs life – than injera.

But in many ways, injera is emblematic of colours, flavours and aromas that are so alluring.

So I am thrilled beyond words to be invited to witness injera being made at Lemat Bakery, in the heart of Footscray’s lovely African hub of Nicholson St.

The establishment is managed – and the injera made – by Sesen Assefa. Her genial and voluble husband prefers to stay in the background, but is happy to provide me all the information I need.

The couple met in the very early ’90s, in Sudan, and like so many endured many long years in exile and of menial jobs before opening their bakery in 2006 – just as the influx of north African diaspora into Melbourne’s west began in earnest.

In Ethiopia, injera is made with teff.

As it will soon be in Australia, restrictions on its importation apparently having been lifted or soon to be.

Given that teff is a grain of mightily ancient heritage, I reckon this can only be a good thing in a world in which the shrinking gene pool and diversity of seed stores is under threat.


In the meantime, like the Vietnamese community and others before them, the folks at Lemat have been doing just fine with what’s at hand, modifying recipes with locally available ingredients for the best, most authentic results.

That means the injera we have all been enjoying is made with a mixture of flours – maize, self-raising and wholemeal wheat, sorghum and barley.

The batter is fermented for 24 hours – no yeast or other agents are used – before being deftly poured on to hot, round platters.

In a minute or so, the injera – smooth side down, spongy side up – is ready to be equally skillfully slipped on to straw mats and placed on long tables with the rest of the day’s order.

As well the bakery produces “sweet”, unfermented injera for its Sudanese customers.

The Lemat output is split between restaurants, groceries and families.

The aroma is like that of any other bakery – but in many ways so very different. And quite intoxicating!


Out front, I delight in a half-hour conversation with Mr Lemat – a virtual crash course for me that ranges from injera and Ethiopian food in general through to Coptic Christianity, the dynamics of “facebook revolution” and the role they are playing in north Africa (including Algeria that very morning), the equally fascinating nuances and subtleties that accompany inter-actions between the various African communities in Footscray (and Melbourne in general), contemporary Ethiopia, the Sundanese separation referendum and much more.

As we are talking, the manager of Awash comes and goes with her daily order of injera, but it is no less likely that the staff of Khartoum – just a few doors up the street, and nominally a Sudanese restaurant – will drop in for injera to go with the Ethiopian dishes on their menu.

My humble thanks to the people of Lemat Injera Bakery for sharing with me their stories and their baking skills.


Yarraville Festival

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Yummo: Bennie hooks into a super iced chocolate ($6.50) at Co’klat; his mother wishes she was doing likewise.

Yarraville Central, February 11, 2011

The number of Yarraville Festivals we’ve hung out at is a bit of a blur, memory wise.

It’s always fun and cool in that it’s manageable in terms of size – just a few blocks and maybe 3-4000 people, tops. The St Kilda Festival it is not.

In terms of food, as with all festivals – it seems to me – the idea is better than the execution. All too often it seems we all get excited about paying for food that is not as fine and funky as we’d normally get, pay more for it and consume it in less than ideal circumstances from plastic containers.

This year I made do with a platter of rogan josh, rice, onion bhaji and samosa from the Tandoori Times stall – with a can of that Coca Cola stuff, the damage was a tad under $10.

I also had a cheapo sausage on a roll with heaps of mustard from one of several stands selling such like and gyros. I gobbled it up while talking to Keith from Heather Dell.

I got the day’s caffeine hit from Co’klat, a small, new place specialising in all things chocolate that had escaped our attention until our next door neighbour, Dulcie, spoke of its excellence.

I had two good coffees there, the second with Bennie and his mum. The boy loved his iced chocolate.

Co’klat was reasonably busy, but also like a little calm oasis in the middle of the festival noise and bustle.

As always with festivals, especially one as neighbourhood-oriented as this, was running into friends – crash, bang, wallop!

As I was wearing the official Consider The Sauce Spongebob T-shirt, a regular reader, Kristine, spotted me in the crowd and introduced herself. She’s also a fan of Footscray Food Blog, Bear Head Soup and the Africa Taste salad.


I saw the Ross Hannford Trio playing Tequila.

We marvelled at the mindblowing diversity of dogs in attendance – everything from microwave oven size to outhouse size, from drop dead gorgeous to the most ordinary of mutts.

We noted the high number ageing hippies, of both genders, in the crowd.

We walked round and round.

We went home.

Doing research into Winston Churchill’s third nipple.


Steampacket Hotel

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13 Cole St, Williamstown. Phone 9399 9600

I was in it for the company – which was all to the good, as I’m hardly enamoured with pub food.

Especially after our recent disappointment at the Ashley.

Our most local “local”?

Yikes!

But this was a fun night out – $12 steaks and free entry into that night’s trivia quiz.

My three dining partners – Deb from Bear Head Soup, her bloke Dave and Ms Baklover/Lauren from Footscray Food Blog – had heaps of good things, mind you, to say about the Station Hotel in Footscray.

And between the four of us we fancied we had enough all-round general knowledge – and few areas of arcane expertise up our sleeves – to put in a good showing in the trivia.

My previous visit to the Steampacket had been about five or so years before – to see my mate Ashley and his pals from the Louisiana Shakers pounding out some of their old-style New Orleans jazz.

Like so many pubs in the west, it has undergone change – although not so much as to completely ruin the place.

And there are no pokies!


The place was packed on Thursday’s steak/trivia night – and therein lies the biggest criticism we had.

The noise level was very, very high.

For most of the night it seemed to be at almost rock concert levels, forcing tablemates to shout instead of converse.

Indeed, such was the racket that we – cocooned in the pub’s dining room – were utterly unaware there had been a no doubt loud and raucous thunderstorm outside until I split for a few minutes to move my potentially ticket-attracting car.

The Steampacket boasts an inviting menu and a blackboard of specials at the rear of the dining room. It covers a broad range of steaks, seafood, pastas, salads, burgers, parmas and so on. If I return with Bennie in tow, it’ll likely be for the $11.90 main meal specials that are served on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6pm – see poster below for that week’s line-up.

But as pre-trivia repast, our entire table ordered the same meal – medium rare porterhouse. There are other, more pricey cuts available as part of the Thursday night deal, but none over $20.

We were all pleased with our meals – they did what was expected, if without sending us into raptures.

Steaks of a decent size and little on the chewy side. Yeah, yeah, I know – what did we expect for $12?

My chips were on the flabby side, and I could’ve done with more of them, and the salad bits and pieces were a tad straggly.

But the onion gravy I asked to be served on the side came in a little bowl, and was sweet and delicious for dipping into it every forkful of beef.

Yes, tartare sauce does float in beer.

The trivia was something else.

Bracing ourselves to be quizzed on all sorts of wide-ranging topics, we were instead assailed with probing queries on what amounted to little more than bogan pop culture.

We even had to take a punt on one of five entrants in a pot-skulling contest. We got that one right.

Still, we far from disgraced ourselves – or should that be the other way round, given that we did quite well and considering the general nature of the questions?

Dave stepped up with a few sports answers, and I opined – correctly – that if Winston Churchill had a third nipple I’d have known about it.

In the “sink or swim” section, and basing our answer on the fact that oil floats, we correctly guessed that tartare sauce would float in beer.

The trivia guy proved it – and then got a punter to skull the result. Heck, I don’t think he got any points for his for his brave efforts, either!

But mostly it was a matter of movies, TV programs, pop music and celebs that I’d barely heard of, let alone seen or heard.

When I returned the next day to take some pics, the staff said the previous night’s line of questioning should not necessarily to be taken as normal, and that the trivia quiz differed from week to week.

The Steampacket Hotel website is here.

Steam Packet Hotel on Urbanspoon

Babylon Restaurant

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152 Nicholson St, Footscray. Phone: 9689 3323. Open six days.

You can go the whole hog if you visit Babylon – or rather the whole sheep.

Roast whole lamb – pre-ordered and with all the trimmings of “rice, meat ball, boiled egg, nodule (sic), green beans, pistachios, carrots, fried onion” – will set you back $220.

You can also order a regular Aussie-style pizza or a Lebanese pizza – even though this nominally an Iraqi restaurant – and pasta or spring rolls.

There’s even a kind of chicken or lamb curry usually available from the servery out front.

There are heaps and heaps of the more expected kebabs, seafood, salads, dips and soups – and knowing just how good the soups around here, perhaps the Babylon variations should be a priority.

Whatever its ethnic heritage, Babylon fits in right swell with the swirling colours, tastes and general all-round good vibes of this part of Nicholson St, rubbing shoulders as it does with eateries and cafes of Turkish, African, Indian and Vietnamese persuasions.

But my favourite for some time has been the lamb shanks, which are also dispensed from the servery, the contents and quality of which seem to depend on the time of day. I suspect the later the hour, the more advisable it becomes to go a la carte, as sometimes the servery options look a tad jaded and dry.

On my previous visit I enjoyed an outstanding $10 meal of adana kebab with all the bits and pieces.

But for my latest lunch I’m in luck, with the platter of shanks sitting and glistening and waiting for someone to eat them. Can glistening be a verb?

One meaty shank with salad, dips and rice costs a really fine $12.

I’m happy to go with flow at Babylon so am unsurprised that this meal is different from the same order previously made.

The three dips – eggplant, carrot, yogurt/cucumber – are not quite as great and tasty as on previous visits, nor the salad.

And instead of the distinctive flat bread that manages to be both chewy and flaky, I receive a bowl of bread more in the Turkish vein. Though as its hot and fresh out of the oven, I’m happy.

The rice, as with that of so many businesses around here, is to die for – laced with sultanas, almonds, green peas and ma’akarona (vermicelli fried in butter). My thanks to Ms Baklover at Footscray Food Blog for the details of that last listed ingredient!

But it’s the shank that’s the standout – meat so very tender and easy to pry from the bone, smothered in a thick, gooey tomato-based gravy given added richness this time round by the addition of some soft white beans.

Despite the usual – and actually welcome – variations from visit to visit, Babylon sets a high standard and I intend to spend the next several years mining their menu to its depths.

It’s a big, roomy restaurant that can seem a bit gloomy when you’ve just wandered in from outside, but it’s fine for dining.

At night, there are often cheerful tables of Iraqi families. By day, a veritable rainbow of locals can be seen chowing down.

The coffee is very good, too, as are the sweets such as baklava.

There’s a five-item kids menu – all at $4.95 – that includes spag bol, chicken/lamb souvlaki and chicken fillets.

As I am paying for my lunch, I am bemused to notice a row of slim bottles of Crystal Hot Sauce – the very same brand that tarted up so many of my meals in New Orleans, but in this case the labels also printed with Arabic!

For coffee this time, though, I wander across to Cafe D’Afrique for a very excellent $2.50 latte.

I love this neighbourhood!

Babylon Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Chu Nam quan

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65 Alfrieda St, St Albans. Phone: 9364 5880

By the time I make it to the bustling Viet precinct of Alfrieda St, a sublime appetite is upon me.

First stop is Cairnlea, where I am keen to pursue some unfinished business at Kabayan Filipino Restaurant.

To my dismay, I discover it’s no longer there, being replaced by an Indian joint I deem to pricey for a quickie Sunday lunch.

Just around the corner and a few doors away, though, a shop in the process of being overhauled has a big sign bearing the Kabayan name, so maybe it’s merely moving house.

I figure some tangy, tasty Vietnamese tucker will do just fine, but on the way to Chu Nam Quan I stop by at not one but two Filipino groceries also bearing the Kabayan name, hoping to ascertain the restaurant’s fate.

At the first, I consider the staff are a tad too busy to trifle with me.

A few doors away is Vardar, at which Ms Baklover of Footscray Food Blog had a  fine old time a month or so ago. The sign on the door says, yes, they’re open for Sunday lunch, so up the stairs I go.

No they’re not.

(Aside to my buddy Roger: See, mate, I’d love to list the operating hours of the places we review, but even when there ARE stated hours, there’s no guaranteed they’ll be adhered to. Use the phone …)

At the second Kabayan grocery, right in the St Albans hub itself, I meet a bloke who turns out to be Mr Kabayan himself. He assures me his restaurant will be up and running at its new Cairnlea premises in a few weeks. We’ll certainly keep y’all posted on that.

So Chu Nam Quan it is.

Bennie and I, in our progressive exploration of Alfrieda St, marked this busy place down as one of supreme interest in our previous week’s jaunt to sup at Just Good Food. As well, a comment contributor at Footscray Food Blog had raved about it.

It is one of the rare places the trades in pho and a whole other range of soups, noodles and Chinese dishes.

I am aware that in ordering the tom yam soup in a Viet place I am taking a punt. But the truth is I’ve had me some fine tom yam soups in non-Thai places. And I really dig the idea of getting a taste of that irresistible flavour for a starter price.


My tom yam is emphatically not Thai – or not purely Thai.

Yes, it has that flavour, but it is viscous like Chinese soup – think chicken and sweet corn or, more appropriately, hot and sour.

Packed with lovely small prawns and chopped bits of calamari, tofu, carrot, broccoli, snow peas and red capsicum, it’s delicious – and at $4 quite a handy light meal all on its own.

This appears to be a fine thing, as I am initially disheartened by what appears to be a rather miserly chook portion that arrives with my order of rice with charcoal chicken (com ga nuong, $9).

But in this case at least, appearances deceive.

The chicken is more than substantial enough – and is right up there in the flavour stakes, too.

And like any punter who has eaten out Viet-style in the west with any regularity, I have had this dish many, many times.

The pickled bits of cabbage and carrot are joined – fabulously – by celery.

The dipping sauce is much spicier than I am used to, packed with long, fine strands of more carrot swimming around like the tresses of a punk hippie.

As both parts of my meal arrive more or less at the same time, the bowl of chicken broth that comes with the rice is barely warm by the time I get to it, but is too sweet for my tastes in any case.

Chu Nam Quan is a busy place – I reckon in the time I was there they turned over every table at least once.

Some of the meals I see being ordered and devoured around me look amazingly scrumptious, so we’ll be back.

For a moment, I wish there was some foolproof way of divining exactly the right dishes to order when trying a restaurant out for the first time.

But hit and miss is all part of the fun, eh?

Chu Nam on Urbanspoon

She’s Thai

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208 Somerville Rd, Kingsville. Phone: 9314 5556

How mindlessly presumptuous – and how profoundly wrong.

In all the years we’ve lived in Yarraville or thereabouts, we’ve driven past She’s Thai countless times, but never deigned to enter.

In my mind, I’d painted a picture of this eatery as a low-rent Thai place unworthy of our attention.

This was based on the unfounded inkling that it was just another cheap eat Thai place that mostly likely purveyed food that wasn’t anything special or worse – and at prices a good dollar or two higher than charged for similar and better at our many local Viet and Indian favourites.

But finally, mid-week, curiosity wins out and through the doors of She’s Thai I amble.

From the moment I cross the threshold it’s clear my presumptions are without any basis.

This is a lovely neighbourhood restaurant.


The open kitchen bustles, with adjacent casual area for customers awaiting takeaway orders and the neighbouring more formal dining room adorned with Thai woodwork and decorations. Thai music tinkles in the background and there’s even a table laid out with recent newspapers for those waiting or dining solo.

To cap it all, cackles of glee escape the kitchen as I start taking photos – always a good sign!

I question the gent of Western persuasion – as the nearby sign reads, “She’s Thai But I’m Not!” – about the Thai provenance of the chive dumplings ($5). The gist of his reply seems to be they are to be found in some areas of Thailand while having obviously having a transnational heritage.

I order them anyway. A mistake – but the only one of my visit. These Thai chive dumpling may be paragons, but for me they are too plain and lacking flavour. The two flat dumplings remind me of nothing so much as the spring onion pancakes you find in some Chinese establishments.

My gang massaman (brown beef curry) is much, much better.

I’ve had this dish many times elsewhere, usually enjoying the mild but deep mix of peanut and coconut vibes with chunky meat and – always! – the potato pieces that sing with flavour, so tender they almost become part of the gravy.


The She’s Thai massaman curry ($12.50) is quite different – in fact, more like a goulash, so sticky and gooey is the gravy. The beef is chunky and tender. The coconut flavour is more restrained than I am expecting, though the peanut quotient is high thanks to the pleasing crunch of the many skinless half nuts on offer. They join the expected spuds, crinkle-cut carrots, heaps of pineapple and basil leaves in completing a rich and delicious dish.

A few nights later, I phone in a takeaway order for chicken pad thai ($11.50), which provides a lovely at-home meal of egg noodles, egg, bean sprouts and juicy chicken pieces.

She’s Thai doesn’t do home deliveries, but no matter for us – the place is so close that barely five minutes need pass between leaving and arriving home with the goodies.

And we’ll surely be returning to take in more of the menu on a dine-in basis – for sure something with a bit more colour and zing and spice from the stir fry and salad listings.

I’ll be excited to do so, as She’s Thai is a gem of a place.

Meanwhile, I’ve also had an insider’s thumbs up on At 43, the new Thai place in Yarraville that is Cafe Urbano by day!

She's Thai on Urbanspoon

Dosa Hut

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604 Barkly St, West Footscray. Phone: 9687 0171

Dosa Hut, as far as I’m aware, was the first to bring dosas and the like to our part of the world – and for that I’ll be forever grateful.

For the past year or so, it fell out of favour with us, and by then there were other places to get our dosa fix – most notably,  Vanakkam India.

The reasons we moved on from Dosa Hut were simple – in its earlier days the place had a makeshift ambiance that made us feel a little ill at ease. It was a bit like we felt we were sitting amid hurried preparations for an eatery that was soon to open – rather than enjoying one that was already up and running.

As well, the service had a sort of distracted air about it.

Following a Thursday night foray, I’m very happy to report that Dosa Hut has changed – for the better.

The place has had a low-key fit-out that makes it seem much more welcoming. There’s an extended menu that takes in not just dosas, idlys, vadas and biryani of various stripes, but also noodles, uttapam, omelettes, a range of snacks and even a modest list of Indo-Chinese dishes.

There’s even a display cabinet to one side of the servery filled with fine-looking Indian sweets.

As well, the service could not be more efficient or smiling. I wasn’t counting, but I reckon I received my dosa about five minutes after ordering.

Here and elsewhere I have experimented with various dosa types – variations including onion, cheese, egg, chick, lamb and so on.

But for me, and countless others no doubt, masala dosa is the king.

My Dosa Hut masala dosa ($7.50) was beaut.

Every element of it was fine – crispy pancake, potato stuffing laced with mustard seeds and curry leaves, sambar and two chutneys, one that seemed to be tomato/chilli-based and the other of creamy coconut.

A warning though: All three accompaniments had a degree of chilli hit about them, even the usually cooling coconut number. Nothing to worry most anyone used to eating out in the west, but their combined heat might be a little too incendiary for kids.

It’s real nice knowing Dosa Hut has become a place we’ll be returning to again.

In the meantime, things are changing in Barkly Village.

Opposite Dosa Hut, what used to be an old-style pizza/pasta joint is now a swish new thin-crust genuine Italian pizza place called Gusto On Barkly that is Very High on our “to do” list.

And a bit further down the road towards Footscray proper, what was once half a video rental establishment is soon to become another dosa/biryani outfit!

Oh happy day!

Salaam Namaste Dosa Hut on Urbanspoon

Just Good Food

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Please note: These premises now house a restaurant called Phi Phi.

28 Alfrieda St, St Albans. Phone: 9310 9881

St Albans is such an unknown quantity that picking a place to eat is a bit of a lottery, but we resolve to not stress at all about where we’re going to eat or what we’re going to eat there.

As it is, a few seconds after ambling on to Alfrieda St, our choice is more or less made for us as we spy an emporium whose splendid name we had noted with approval on a previous visit.

Just Good Food?

Sounds good to us!

In we go to a bright and cheerful room, to be greeted by efficient but friendly staff – table, menu, order are all organised with cheerful briskness.

For this Saturday lunch shift, a couple of tables of folk are already chowing down.

Just Good Food is a hardcore Chinese place on a street dominated by a Viet vibe.

I reckon they probably turn on some splash-up and pricey seafood for dinners, and the few steamers we see about the place suggest there is yum cha to be had, too.

But for lunch, the usual range of rice and noodles seems to be the go, so we go with that flow by both ordering two-roast combos at $9.

“I want to try duck,” says Bennie – so duck he gets, accompanied by barbecued roast pork on rice.


Of the many unexpected joys that doing Consider The Sauce has conferred upon us, that it has become such a delicious father-and-son project is paramount.

Moreover, Bennie insists on reading each story just after it is posted, playing a vital proof reader and sub-editor role by pointing out mistakes, keeping his eyes peeled for likely looking fang venues and – in this case – taking some of the photos.

I order the barbecued roast pork, too, with soya sauce chicken in egg noodle soup.

As more food exotica enters our neighbourhood, Chinese roast meats can almost be seen as old-school in the same vein as steak and black bean sauce, but sometimes they simply hit the spot perfectly.

This is one of those times.

Our meats are very good indeed.

The pork is a deep pink and as lean as any I’ve seen. The soya sauce chicken is moist and juicy, even the meatier segments which can sometime be on the dry side, although as ever care is vital for any one of a certain age with a multi-thousand dollar dental investment to protect. Beware of them bones, folks!

Bennie likes his duck, especially once he works his way past the more bony bits – mind you, for a lad who digs chicken feet, a bit of skin and gristle is hardly hard labour either.

He makes appreciative noises about how the meat juices have soaked into his rice, while my soup is hot, a little peppery and light on the grease. Along with the meat, we both gobble up our bok choy pieces, making us feel all virtuous.

And then we’re done. What a beaut lunch – and just what we were looking for.


Just Good Food is one of those places that has multilingual signs festooned around the wall. From them we learn that they have live barramundi for $23.80 and oysters for $1.50 a pop. As well, there is a list of about 20 basic yum cha items costing between $4 and $5, though whether they are housemade or not we know not.

So it seems that Just Good Food may be quite a find.

While our meats were very good indeed, I’m not about to confer on them “best ever” status or anything like that.

But the service and warmth of welcome does put Just Good Food a cut above, especially from a certain Footscray place that boasts a similar lineup but from where he have long since stopped supping due to a frequently belligerent attitude.

As we approach the front counter to pay, we are spared the common routine of explaining where we had sat and what we had eaten,  a cheerful “$20.50 please!” greeting us instead.

In such places and at such times, it is a mistake to confuse a welcome briskness with a rude brusqueness.

The staff are completely at ease with our photographic efforts and even allow us a peek of the giant ovens out back from whence the meats emanate.

As we stroll back to the car, we are blessed and awed by witnessing what we subsequently discover is an amazing sun dog (photo below).

Yummy – some kind of Saturday lunch, eh?

Just Good Food on Urbanspoon

UPDATE: Fusion Cafe & Mo:Mo Bar

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Metro West Building, 27 Albert St, Footscray. Phone: 0401 328 334

THIS RESTAURANT HAS NOW CLOSED.

Since our earlier story about Fusion Cafe & Mo:Mo Bar, we’ve been back a couple of times, so this here is by way of a diary as we pleasurably go about eating our way through their menu.

We got a lot of good feedback about that first review, and things seem to be going well for this joint that in its own way is as singular as Yemeni Restaurant.

But the best thing we can do this time around is emphasise the telephone number – 0401 328 334.

You see, the other interior clients of the Metro West building – Centre Link and the like – are not open at night, so hungry potential customers are strongly advised to give the girls a call if access presents a problem. They’ll happily swing open the back door in Albert St for you.

Now ain’t that SO very Melbourne?

On a visit a few weeks back, Bennie had more of the mo mo (chicken and cheese, steamed), while our buddy Kurt opted for the chowmin.

I had the kukura ko masu ra bhat for $9.95 – a wonderful plate of mild chicken stew/curry with rice, a bowl of beaut black dal and trimmings.


For our most recent foray here, Bennie, too, opted for the chowmin ($9) – he gobbled up every shred of this cheerful stir-fried jumble of egg noodles, vegetables and chicken.

I had the chicken choilla with chura and aloo ka achar – “smoked chicken marinated with Nepalese spices and beaten rice”.

The chicken was served cold, the smokiness matched with the spicing to create a distinctive flavour, with chilli content about as high as I am comfortable with. The beaten rice? Sorry, I found this a little weird – crunchy and not unpleasant, but I didn’t feel it worked that well as a complement to the rest. The potato achar was terrific, however, being a sort of cold curried potato salad.

On both our recent visits our main meals have been preceded by a complementary bowl of clear chicken soup, in the way so familiar to us from the local Vietnamese eateries. We always love this! Our Friday night soups were heavy on the salt, but we slurped up every drop anyhow.

Hey – a few more visits and we’ll have more or less been through the menu!

In the meantime, we’re led to believe there are new additions being pondered and planned.

We’ll keep you posted.

Fusion Cafe & Mo:Mo on Urbanspoon

Kebabbque

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Waterfront City, Docklands.

Melbourne’s Docklands has copped some pretty strident criticism over the years, but on a nice summer’s day it can seem like a fine place to be – and maybe even a cool place to live.

Certainly, it appeals as somewhere between the CBD living that one of us still misses and the westie wonders that have become such a big part of our lives.

But food? That’s a different curry of fish completely.

Before we depart for the two-wheeled jaunt down Footscray Rd, I check out some of the places likely to provide tasty fare at Docklands. The prices scare me.

Bhoj, Mecca Bah,Yum Cha Dragon, Man Mo and more – we’d love to love you, but you’ll have to wait for a special occasion.

Wending our way towards the non-circulating Big Wheel – what a debacle! – we come face to face with the drab, mediocre side of the area.

Away from the undeniably attractive waterfront and its swish multi-million yots are dozens and dozens of clothing stores of no allure whatsoever.

And so we end up – again – in the food court area  surrounding the non-operative wheel.

I’ve read stories about how the traders here have been devastated by the wheel farce, so have some sympathy. But I have sympathy, too, for the many young families seeking something tasty and affordable as the heat increases.

There’s franchises and chains like RFC and a bunch more, an interesting looking burger bar and even a Chilli Paddi outlet. But mediocrity seems as prevalent as it does in the retail therapy sector.

Last time we were here the meal we, ahem, “enjoyed” was so bad I prefer not to reveal its ethnicity.


This time we settle on the Turkish of Kebabbque. I try to rustle up some enthusiasm for the vegetarian platter for a touch over $15, but Bennie’s adamant – donner kebab with chilli sauce it will be. Going with the flow, I order the falafel equivalent, with a 600ml Pepsi putting our meal at $21.30.

Our wraps come in a surprising form – the meat/falafel, their salady buddies and sauce are wrapped in the flat bread, which is then sealed and heated. The result looks and handles something like a burrito. On the downside, the salad quotient can’t help but be a bit wilted; on the plus side, it makes for tidy and unmessy eating. Pretty cool!

Bennie’s lamb meal – fully packed with that traditional, unmistakeable flavour of a million kebab joints – is clearly superior to my forgettable chick pea patties.

Our meal is OK, but I suspect we’d have been better off with the $12 noodles or laksa at Chilli Paddi – if a few dollars lighter.

There may be various reasons for visiting Docklands – Lord knows we feel some kind of weird attraction ourselves – but great cheap eats is definitely not among them. If you’re up for some card-bashing, well fine …

Despite sitting under a transparent awning, we gain little or no protection from the sun while eating our lunch, so we are done well by its completion.

It’s a pleasure to head up the river where the greenery and water lends a coolness to the day. For the first time ever, we take Dynon Rd home. Despite the cars, barbed wire and industrial scenery, it turns out to be a surprisingly shady, leafy bicycle thoroughfare.

We stop at Happy River Cafe at the Footscray Community Arts Centre for an excellent $3.30 latte and a pricey but fine $5 caramel milkshake. We used to visit the various setups on these premises quite a lot – as we used to frequent cafes in general … in the days before places where English, even when spoken very well, is a second or even third language came to dominate our outings.

But scoping out a neighbouring table’s $19 lamb cutlets with cous cous and $13.50 ploughman’s lunch with envy, we figure a return visit is on the cards.

At Happy River Cafe (above); Bennie checks out some tree limbs (below).

Khartoum Centre Restaurant

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145 Nicholson St, Footscray. Phone: 0452 639 329

Khartoum Centre is a popular place – groups of friends, young families and extended families come and go.

It seems the perfect place for Saturday lunch – especially after I had discovered a sensational new barber in “Little Khartoum Arcade”. So gentle, thorough, professional!

We’d been to Khartoum Centre once – for a nice falafel plate.

One young family near us is having fish with rice and salad, but most of the larger tables around us are tucking into big communal bowls of ful.

But we know that we’re going to be taking our pulses that night in the form of  homemade dal, so we head off in a different direction.

There’s certainly a lot from which to choose. There seem to be no written menus – the food range is displayed in photos and lists at the end of the room, where customers place their orders adjacent to the kitchen. Unfortunately, the many intriguing photos have no captions, so it’s hard to place a dish’s name with its pic.

There’s Sudanese dishes, of course, but also an Ethiopian section, dips, salads, soups – and even a kids menu. A lot of the dishes seem to be close kin to those served by the likes of the Iraqi joint across the road and other Middle Eastern places.

Since our initial visit, we’d walked in and walked out several times, finding no one much interested in explaining the menu to us or taking our order. There seems to be an expectation that customers already know what they desire.

Today we soldier on – with an order of meat soup and mixed grill.


As expected, the meat soup, thoughtfully served to us in two small bowls, is a sibling to those found at our Ascot Vale friends Yemeni Restaurant and Safari Restaurant – meat soups in which nary a strand dead sheep is to be found but which are explosively, deeply meatly flavoured. But where those efforts are clear, tangy and spicy, the meat soup at Khartoum Centre is cloudy – but the depth of flavour is no less impressive.

The mixed grill is a delight.

Bennie declares the boneless pieces of fish – fluffly, light, mellow of flavour and with a soft (eggy?) batter – the best he’s ever had.

They share the plate with a handful of garlicky, pan-fried lamb cubes, some equally garlicky and charred pieces of chicken thigh and three similarly charred and tasty lamb chops.

Attending the lot are a small serve of finely chopped salad of tomato, cucumber and more, rice of no great distinction and good dollops of humus and cucumber/yogurt dip

(BTW, the Khartoum mixed grill was adjudged one Ms Baklover’s top five dishes when she was covered, with us, by Leader newspapers.)

The Khartoum mixed grill is a fine dish to share. Unless you’re a shearer taking your lunch break!

Satisfied, we arise to pay our bill. And discover that instead of the $3 listed for the soup, we are being charged $5. And instead of $16 for the mixed grill, we are charged $18. We don’t make a big deal of it, as at $25 including two cans of soda it’s still a fine cheap eat.

There’s so much food to explore at Khartoum Centre, but we’d feel happier about repeated return visits if we didn’t feel like we are somehow out the eatery’s loop. Maybe the fault is ours – maybe we need to be a little more assertive in such circumstances.

On the way back to the car, we meet the most friendly and beautiful tabby kitten. Gorgeous!

Tan Huu Thanh

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100 Hopkins St, Footscray. Phone: 9689 1887

There are few – if any – restaurants we have visited more than Tan Huu Thanh during our decade in the west.

For a while there it seemed like a weekly, or at least fortnightly, event.

Recently, for various reasons – including the pleasurable yet mandatory restless wandering that goes with doing a food blog – visits have been scarce.

So it is with some glee that we enter for a celebratory dinner – hey, we made it through to hump day, OK? – on this Wednesday.

The kids are a bit older, one not yet born we started hitting this joint is a happy little chappie and the smiles of welcome are like old friends.

This is a non-pho place in the heart of Footscray’s Viet precinct.

There are intriguing nooks and crannies on the menu we have yet to explore, but we do have our favourites, after all.

We love the entree size wonton soup for $5. With a handful of plump dumplings reclining in a clear and peppery chicken broth, it usually comes with a few slices of roast pork as a bonus and is a pretty cool light meal all on its ownsome.

We adore the diced cube steak and rice (com bo luc lac) and its crispy chicken sibling for $9.50 – for us, state of the art for these dishes hereabouts.

But tonight, just for kicks and because it’s been so long since we dropped by, we are lashing out with an order for sizzling steak (bo nuong vi).

Available in $30 and $40 sizes, this is tasty, (mostly) healthy Vietnamese food – and also bags of hands-on fun.

Brought to our table, along with a gas-fired cooker, are plates …

Of cucumber sticks, shredded carrot and pineapple.

Of rice vermicelli.

Of herbs, bean sprouts and lettuce.

Of rice paper.

Then comes a platter – the glorious centrepoint of the whole performance – of finely sliced beef, pretty as a picture, sprinkled with lemongrass and obviously prepared by a deft hand using an extremely sharp knife on, I have been told, meat that is partially frozen.

Finally, there’s a bowl of a dipping concoction made of fish sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper and a little chilli; and another of a butter and oil mixed and laced with some more lemongrass.


Once the cooker is fired up, we slop on some of butter/oil combo and wait for the grill plate to get hot.

Then on the meat goes – and the intense entertainment really starts.

It’s a preposterous fun balancing the nack of getting the meat nicely charred but not overcooked while simultaneously soaking the rice paper in the hot water provided.

When the meat is placed on the now soft rice paper, we add some of the herbs, vegies, vermicelli and attempt to roll – using our inexpert hands – our custom-made masterpieces into neat and tidy taste parcels.

We fail! But we get by – and it all tastes fantastic.

Before we know it, the lot is gone – consumed, down the hatch, devoured with zeal.

At $30, it has to be said this is not a large meal in an eatery and neighbourhood where the same sum will usually buy more food than two people can eat.

But it suffices.

And it may be that it is traditionally meant as entree to be shared among a whole table of folk. I’ll ask about that next time.

And there’s an added, not insignificant and long lingering bonus – as with the non-cutlery eating of Ethiopian food with injera, bo nuong vi leaves the perfume of a great food experience on one’s hands for many hours after the eating is done.

Tan Huu Thanh offers a similar dish – lau bo nhun dam – on the part of its menu devoted to  large soups for sharing and steamboats, in which the beef is cooked in vinegar water.

But the one time we tried it, we found the vinegar flavour scarce and water method rendered the rolling of parcels – difficult enough with out clumsy digits – into an unsatisfactory and mushy experience.

As we leave, we resolve to check out some of the more intriguing dishes on the menu on future visits – or, at the very least, order the $40 bo nuong vi on a visit when we’re both ravenous and feeling well-heeled.

Tan Huu Thanh on Urbanspoon

Ashley Hotel

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226 Ballarat Rd, Braybrook. Phone: 9317 9257

Like La Morenita, the Ashley Hotel is part of our daily school routine  – so much so that it seems like a case of the more we see it, the more invisible it becomes.

It was on our “to do”, list, however, with the lure of $15 roasts holding appeal.

As we set off on our bikes – Bennie giving his brand new three-quarter machine its first workout – it is the last thing on our minds, with a loose target of Sunday lunch in Sunshine lodged in our minds.

But by the time we get to the junction of Ballarat Rd and Ashley St, we decide that’s enough serious exertion for the day. It’s sunny, yes, but not too hot; and there’s a nice cool breeze helping out. But, frankly, we just can’t be bothered with the whole trek up to Sunshine from there.

We consider the Sri Lankan place just up the road, but decide the Ashley is the go – the final clincher being the big billboard outside talking up $10 lunches.

After locking up our bikes, we meander inside and check the place out. It’s big and spacious, with the pokies hard to ignore but not particularly overbearing in terms of ambiance.

Already, just a touch past noon, there are a number of tables in lunch mode, including some taking advantage of the seniors special offers.

We order – fish and chips for me, calamari and chips for him. Two pots of that Coca Cola stuff ramp the price up to $27 and beyond cheap eats boundaries.

I do the right thing, asking if it’s OK to take photos. “No”, comes the firm reply. I try some halfhearted arguments, but give in graciously – I seriously want to enjoy my lunch. The thought of surreptitiously snapping off a few pics crosses my mind, but I can do without the aggro – or even the potential aggro.

As we wait for our meals, we adjourn to the adjacent Sportsbar, which looks like a pretty cool place to take in a big game, with its comfy couches and bank of telly screens – even if about half of them are showing nothing more than various odds concerning that afternoon’s cricket match at the MCG.

The Sportsbar menu is a little pricier, with likes of chicken parma, burger and rump steak clocking in at $12.

The main menu is far more extensive, with salads at around $15, mains $17 to $24, pan-cooked fish about $22 and grills from $26 up to $32.50.

The usual suspects are available on the kids menu for $8.50.

Our meals arrive and a look of befuddlement accosts our faces.

I wander over to once more take in the large poster, with prominent photographs, that describes the $10 meal line-up. Sure enough, the photos representing our respective meals contain salad offerings.

Our meals are thoroughly minus greenery of any kind, but still OK. However, they look like bare-bones takeaway feeds, which makes the $27 price tag a little galling

Chips, very good.

Fish, modestly proportioned but with a nice crispy batter.

Calamari, a nice sized serve with crunchy crumbed coating, but lacking flavour.

Tartare sauce, whether house made or not I know not, but tasty and a whole lot better than sachets.

As we leave, Bennie points at the poster and says: “Dad, look!” He’s pointing at a narrow strip of relatively small type that runs along the poster’s bottom.

It says, with no equivocation, served with “chips only”.

I have no doubt that the colour scheme –  orange type on a red background – is deliberately chosen so that eyes already diverted by the colour photos above will simply slide past the warning without even seeing it. Bluntly, our meals did not match the large photographs, while the written warning that such would be the case was hidden in plain sight.

There may be bargains at the Ashley, but I figure they’ll take some serious pondering to unearth – and certainly there’s no guarantee that bargains, should they indeed exist, are the “bargains” the establishment goes to such trouble to advertise.

As with the plainly-spoken but slyly camouflaged warning about the lean ‘n’ mean nature of the $10 meals, I seriously doubt that anything about the Ashley – pricing, signage, menu wording, the lot – comes about by accident.

The hotel is owned by the AHL Group, which is 75 per cent owned by Woolworths Ltd, with the balance held by the Bruce Mathieson Group.

They’re in it to make money, of course, and I have no problem with that. But it’s hard to feel well disposed toward it when we a feel not so much like guests or even customers … and more like units of potential profit.

We truly love to love the places we eat at, but when pushed we, too, can bring a semblance of scientific calculation to decisions about where we spend our money.

On the way home, we take the opportunity to have a a quick wheel around Ashley Gardens BIG4 Holiday Village. Wow, it’s really spiffy – lots and lots of real nice looking cabins and units, and a cool pool, too.

I ask the staff if they allow non-guests to use the pool – for a suitable fee, of course.

Receiving a negative answer, I yell out to Bennie: “No go, mate – we’ll have to sneak in at night!”

Just kidding, folks!

Closing in on Yarraville, we stop for coffee at Africa Taste Bar. We know well taking photos is fine with the management, but in this case they oblige by taking one of us.

The Circle revisited

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Lebanese Bakery, 41 The Circle, Altona North. Phone 9391 7991
International Foods, 37-39 The Circle, Alton North. Phone: 9399 3434
Al Amena, 29 The Circle, Altona North. Phone: 9399 2526

Doing the Consider The Sauce has wrought various changes in our habits and lives.

For one thing, it’s made it tougher to regularly visit our favourite haunts. Though the eateries the made the top five we provided to Leader newspapers have certainly all been revisited since the story was published.

On a brighter note, we are looking at our vast and intriguing neighbourhood with new eyes.

We are taking more interest in the shopping strips and precincts we pass as we cruise around. This is a good thing!

More prosaically, blogging has altered our more mundane and earthy shopping habits.

To that end, The Circle in Altona has become our favourite. It’s a bit of drive from our Yarraville pad, but worth it for the breadth, cost and pleasure of the enterprise.

We’ve finally twigged that the hub has an IGA, at which we can pick up staples such as Black & Gold rolled oats to make muesli.

We get the dried fruit and nuts for the muesli at The Circle Fruit Fiesta, along with all the fruit and vegetables we need, and sometimes pasta and tinned tomatoes.

But before we get around to that sort of stocking up, we now routinely stop at The Circle’s Lebanese bakery for lunch, so’s to make sure we aren’t indulging in the folly of shopping on empty stomachs.

This place doesn’t seem to have a name as such – various searches revealed that out there in listings land it’s still annotated as “The Circle Fish and Chips”, even though it’s these days a spartan Lebanese pizza-and-pie joint that enjoys considerable business.


Eating in, we love the $2 oregano pizza topped with our choice of very fresh cucumber, green capsicum, tomato, black olives and onion at 50c per item. Rolled up and presented in a form that looks just like a takeaway kebab, these could technically be called salad rolls – but the deserve far better than to be compared with the insipid salad rolls dispensed by your average sandwich shop.

For taking home, bunging in the freezer or for school/work lunches, we favour the spinach and cheese pies and the fabulous chicken and tomato pies. The latter are stuffed with chopped chicken and juicy fresh tomatoes, and liberally seasoned with oregano. Careful, though – when heated the high fluid content can lead to scorching heat of the food napalm kind!

Next door is International Foods, which has a large grocery/dry goods section we are only starting to explore and a good range of fruit/vegetables that is nevertheless more modest than that of Fiesta next door.


But what we do like, a lot, at International Foods are the individually wrapped pieces of nougat, which come in a range of eye-snagging colours and flavours – several with pistachios, one covered in dried rose petals and one, we found recently, that tastes like cough medicine past its use-by date. No matter – these are another hit for lunchbox inclusion.

Also at International Foods are a range of wrapped Lebanese cakes for $2 a pop from Balha’s Pastry in Brunswick. Again, these are big on pistachios – dates, too. More fine lunchbox fodder.


A few doors further on is Al Amena, a small and typical halal butcher.

In due course we will surely be buying some of their affordable chicken and lamb, but in the meantime we are totally hot on their hot dogs. My ears pricked up when told by the staff that their hot dogs were made for them by a South African sausage maker, it being well-known that that nation knows a thing or two about snag manufacturing.

We love our hot dogs, and always have some in the freezer.

We especially love the heavily smoked porky varieties sold by the likes of Andrew’s Choice in Yarraville. Good as they are though, they’re sold by Andrew’s at exactly the same price as their ritzy snags – that is, nudging towards $20 a kilogram.

That works out at about $2 a single hot dog.

The hot dogs at Al Amena, by contrast, are an incredibly cheap $8 a kilo.

No pork, of course, and not smoked, but they have their own alluring beefy flavour – and at that price, we’re sold.


Yemeni Restaurant revisited

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124 Union Rd, Ascot Vale. Phone: 9372 0854

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

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

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

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

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

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

Certainly – and a $5 premium is agreed upon.

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

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

Whew!


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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