Cyprus Time, 74 Glengala Road, Sunshine West. Phone: 8589 1968
The shopping strip on Glengala Road in Sunshine West is one that falls squarely in our food roaming territory, but it’s not one we’ve visited often.
So it’s neat to be here – and thanks to Juz for the tip!
Cyprus Time falls into a category we fully adore – somehow places with something of a takeaway vibe serve some of the best restaurant-quality food we enjoy.
So it is here.
We expect the food to be closely akin to that of Greece.
It is – with a couple of cool twists.
Small chips are a good-size serve for $5.
We figure we’ve received the last of the previous batch, rather than first of a new one.
But it doesn’t matter and these serve to re-affirm our belief that the best chips are generally to be had from places that serve Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food.
Greek salad ($10) is another handsome serve, with the flavours nicely blended.
Mixed dips + pita ($12) are just OK and seem to be lacking a bit of the zing factor.
And while we really do appreciate that the tarama is made in house, it’s a bit too much on the sweet side for our tastes.
But the real action here, for us, is in the meatiness.
My lamb gyros is superb, the lamb meat that perfect mix of crunch and tender.
Bennie’s pork souvlaki is every bit as good, the cubed meat pieces just-right tender and seasoned lovely.
We love that the Greek-style pita has been stuffed, pocket style, rather than used as a wrap.
These two-handful jobs stay self-contained and undripping to the last!
The price for his is $16, the price for mine is $18.
We know there are folks who may think souvlaki/gyros prices heading towards $20 are a step too far.
But we have no problem with this when the food is good.
And going by recent experiences at both the Brotherhood in Seddon and Olive Oil & Butter in Yarraville, this is very much the going rate for such.
Cyprus Time carries a range of groceries – and they make their own sausages.
This pack of five costs us a good-deal $13.
We are expecting snags along the same lines as the Italian-style pork numbers we love so much.
But these are quite different thanks to the red wine and whole spices such as peppercorns and coriander seeds.
Noon, 31B Sun Crescent, Sunshine. Phone: 9078 9089
Things are certainly proceeding in a more measured manner these days at Consider The Sauce.
Quite a lot of that is due to events that have affected everybody and everything; and quite a lot, too, is down to me leaving the regular workforce.
So a couple of posts a month seems fine.
Urging these tendencies on is also about myself losing the hell-for-leather outlook that years back saw me hoisting four or five posts a week.
Losing, too, a hard-edged competitiveness I am happy to relinquish.
I no longer endlessly peruse news and reviews in other media outlets or keep myself up to date with what other bloggers are doing.
Yet while the stats tell me visitation and reader numbers are well down on a half a dozen years ago, it’s clear there remains a hardcore of readers, fans, supporters and friends who continue the journey with me and us.
These fine folks are by now, I’m sure, well aware of and comfortable with our modus operandi.
Stated simply, I think it’s largely about embracing uncertainty.
Seizing with glee upon the random and whacky!
So that means we often have only a vague idea of where we’ll be dining when we head out to eat.
And that means, too, being completely unfazed when our destination eatery turns out to be closed – regardless of whether Google or Facebook has informed us otherwise.
Opening hours have, as you all know, become even more random because of staff shortages, so it’s only sensible to be relaxed about the situation.
No menu?
No problem!
This kind of approach finds little sympathy with readers such as the gentleman who wrote me a pithy letter of complaint several years ago.
He’d responded to a review – I fully forget of which joint – by booking a table and driving all the way from a distant eastern suburb.
Upon arrival he found … the restaurant closed.
Not a happy camper.
For those happy to embrace the CTS ethos, we recommend Noon Restaurant, a newish place in Sunshine serving Sudanese food.
We’ve been frequent Sun Crescent visitors over the years to eat at such places as Panjali and Spicy King, but the premises occupied by Noon had escaped my notice because they’re tucked away some distance from the main grouping of shops.
Bennie tells me it used to be a tradies-style cafe.
It’s a huge place, but is doing quite good business on the mid-week night we visit.
No menu?
That is correct.
But between the items that are listed on the eatery’s DoorDash page and much arm-waving and consultation with our friendly server we get there.
She, by the way, is from Nepal – which strikes us as another splendid piece of random.
She intuits, correctly, that we – myself, Bennie and Veronica, joined by Justin later on – are pretty much open to anything and everything.
So that’s what we are presented with.
And what we are presented with is some very tasty tucker bearing a resemblance to other North African (and Middle eastern) food we have enjoyed, with a few engaging twists thrown in.
We dine without any pricing being made known to us, trusting in the process.
Lamb shank soup is tasty and packed with a robust sheepy flavour of the kind we are so familiar with from similar concoctions served in Flemington’s Somalian restaurants.
Though this one is quite a bit more fatty!
Then it’s on to some serious pot food – served in the manner of dips.
Two have meaty lamb bones residing within and at least one is made with okra.
They’re all good!
These are Bennie’s favourite part of the meal!
Served with these stews is a Sudanese-style flatbread.
A bit like a thinner, drier version of injera, it’s just right for the job at hand.
We’re also provided with some chubby Turkish-stlyle rolls. They’re fresh and warm and fit right in.
My favourite?
These super dooper barbecued lamb pieces, some on the bone.
They’re well cooked and some would consider the meat tough.
I’ll settle on “nicely chewy”!
They remind us of the cumin-laced lamb skewers we enjoy in regional-style Chinese places.
A word on the salad side trimmings served with our various dishes: They are all excellent, fresh and crunchy – something we invariably find to be the case in African eating places of various persuasions.
Justin and I make quick work of the fish – two tilapia, deep fried.
I’m usually quite snooty about these farmed fish, but these are fine.
Plenty of bones, but also plenty of mildly flavoured flesh.
Bennie and Veronica, not being the fishy kind, sit out the tilapia.
But they’re not done yet!
They spy a passing lamb shank, very much like the look of it, so order one for us all.
It’s the biggest shank I’ve ever laid eyes on – more like a smallish leg, really.
The meat is, it seems to me, very plain and almost unseasoned – but still yummy.
It’s been quite a feast – one for which we pay a few cents above $100, an amount that seems entirely reasonable for feeding four of us darn well.
But it was complicated – and still is in some ways.
And we’re sure that was and is also the case with all our readers.
For starters, we discovered we really don’t like take-away food – whether eaten on the hoof or at home.
The same is true, even more so, for delivered food.
All those containers – ugh!
And, it unsurprisingly turns out, what we really, really enjoy just as much as the tucker are the sights, smells, smiles and sounds of our fave eating places, old, new and still to come.
But such is our life-affirming addiction to western suburbs food and its undoubted benefits – nutritional, spiritual, emotional – that we did find a way.
It’s a mental health issue, hey?
Basically, we embarked on a rolling series of picnics, wherein take-away food from a revolving gang of some of our fave places was enjoyed at nearby parks and outdoor spaces.
I suspect that at least some of the time what we were up to was outside the restrictions in place at any given time, in terms of kilometres from home and perhaps social distancing.
But we certainly felt we were operating within the spirit of restriction requirements, if not the actual letter of them.
And, of course, we were far from alone in our adventures.
One of the place often favoured for our lockdown picnics was Spicy King, a Sri Lankan outfit in Sunshine.
I’d been aware of – and had eaten at – Spicy King before the world went all nutty.
But, to be honest, I found the food a bit on the basic and rough-hewn side and very, very spicy.
But over the course of several virus-induced outings, we fell in love with Spicy King’s food.
So, when we are able, we leap at the chance to dine in.
Wedo so grandly – two plates, two soft drinks, a pack apiece of chilli cashews and of chilli peanuts and we barely bust $30 in terms of spending.
Spicy King offers a range of rolls and snack items, as well as string hoppers and puttu, but the latter seemingly come into play at dinner time only.
Lunch is all about the bain marie and combos.
Bennie enjoys his deal of chicken curry, okra, breadfruit and two parottas ($10).
I, too, go for the chicken – I guess neither of us liked the bedraggled look of the lamb and beef options; such is often the way with bains marie.
My poultry is accompanied by rather chewy breadfruit, good dal and a jumble of beans, carrot and more, with my combo costing $11.
It’s all fine, though we both wish the beetroot dish had been available for this visit.
And we both love the coconut roti ($2.50) we acquire out of hungry curiosity.
Spicy King will continue to enjoy sporadic visits from us, lockdown or no, and we love having another Sri Lankan option from which to choose.
But buyers beware – the food at Spicy King is mostly very spicy. It’s no problem for us, but IS pretty much at the outer limits of what we find comfortable.
Coracle Cafe Restaurant, 63-65 Anderson Street, Yarraville. Phone: 9315 1411
We just love The Usual Joint.
The Sunshine cafe is far enough away from our home base to miss out on being subject to weekly – or even monthly – visits by us.
But we’ve had some cracking meals there so have no hesitation in heading that way for the first day of a new menu.
While our previous meals at The Usual Joint have been of a Vietnamese persuasion, the new list takes quite a different tack – with the usual capable crew taking a poke at the currently very “in” rice bowl fad and a likewise Japanese-influenced noodle salad.
We reckon they’ll be pretty darn good at it.
They are.
My salmon soba noodle salad ($17.50, top photo) is lovely and bursting with fresh, clean flavours.
The luscious cubes of chargrilled salmon are assisted by similarly configured tofu, enoki mushrooms and seaweed salad, the rice and greens quite heavily dressed in a sesame concoction. Not that I mind!
Bennie’s katsu chicken curry rice bowl ($16.50) looks just as sweet and tastes the same.
Here the potato and carrot pieces are swimming in the curry gravy while the crumbed, crunchy chicken is adjacent.
Rice, pickles and a big, fat dollop of may0 complete the picture.
Savoury offerings aside, what The Usual Joint prides itself on are its cream puffs and crepe layer cakes.
We’re big fans of the latter so indulge this time out in a ridiculously delicious wedge of their pandan and coconut ($10).
Swoon we do!
Coracle of Yarraville IS a local for us, one we should perhaps visit more often.
Though it is a very busy place!
Nevertheless, we are happy to heed a suggestion from a friend who knows her stuff and rates the current cooking here as terrific (Hi, Deb!).
She’s right; we enjoy some smashing food on our return visit.
The lunch offerings here evince a similar Japanese, fusiony outlook as at The Usual Joint – a little flashier and more elaborate, a few bucks more.
And well worth it.
My mapo tofu rice bowl ($20) is a dream.
The pork mince and tofu with Szechuan peppercorn and green peppercorn is a funky, earthy flavour bomb – and something quite different from the slick, glazed and glib versions often found in Chinese line-ups.
It is pungently wow.
Accompanying are choy sum, pumpkin in mirin, pickle carrot; and housemade soy sauce with Chinese pickles and cucumber.
And – to finish – perfumed iced tea gently clinking with ice cubes.
Bennie’s brothless kakuni ramen ($21) doesn’t quite have the same immediate knockout appeal, but he enjoys it nonetheless.
Kabuki, we’re told, means slow-braised pork belly in master stock.
That porky stuff is served with Japanese ramen eggs, light wabasi dressing, beancurd skin, charred baby corn and spinach ohitashi.
On this lovely Sunday, we’re back in modest force simply to eat.
And we do.
Really, really well.
In quite a few ways, Afghan Bread – which spruiks Afghan and Persian cuisine on its window signage – is the epitomy of what CTS adores in an eating place.
Seemingly something of an accidental restaurant, its dining room (such as it is) has just a few tables and chairs, the place’s bakery operation spilling out into this area via a flatbread-carrying conveyor belt.
The menu is mounted above the serving counter, with the prices being very low.
The service is welcoming and smiling, albeit requiring goodwill and patience to surmount happily a language barrier.
There you go – just about everything we love!
And while, given its nature, this isn’t the sort of place to have won attention and plaudits in the wider community (yet), the buzzing coming and going we observe as we enjoy our meal leaves no doubt this is very definitely a mainstay of the Afghan community and others “in the know”.
Bennie and Deb both choose the tikkah kebab ($15).
This consists of fabulously delicious cubes of high-class lamb, barbecued just right.
The serves are huge.
Marinated?
We think so, though nothing so robust as cumin. The meat speaks and eats for itself.
Bennie even opines: “I think this may be the best lamb I’ve ever eaten!”
The meat dishes are accompanied by a wonderful dipping sauce – minty, vinegary and of only mild spiciness.
Cheap prices?
Well yeah, but the dishes are basic – add-ons up the overall cost just a little.
We order two breads ($2 each), a bowl of yoghurt ($5) and a plate of rice ($5).
But even then, we eat royally for a miserly total of $55.
And most of the rice and yoghurt – and one of the breads – go home with us.
My chicken korma ($13) is cooking of quite different kind.
More stew than curry, it is a typically Afghan concoction – cooked down, tomatoey, mildly seasoned.
It, too, is wonderful.
And not a bone to be found.
Because of my excitement over our Sunday lunch, I forget to photograph the bread.
So I return a few days later for a solo lunch, this time choosing the shami kebab.
So far as I can tell, these are the same as – or very similar to – what in other places are usually referred to as shish kofta.
The meat is sublimely juicy and I buzz with the joy of it.
The shami kebab ($13) plus one bread see my lunch costing $15.
We’ve been hearing the talk – that Yarraville cafe Naked Egg has been doing fab takeaway meals.
So we check them out.
And the outcome is outstanding.
Some takeaway meals don’t suit us as we don’t have a microwave oven.
So I get two serves of chicken cacciatore at $18 each.
Actually, with its sausage and beans involvement, it’s more a cassoulet.
But let’s not split hairs, eh?
Bennie has somehow become the tightwad of the family, so gets a bit sniffy about the asking price of $18 a serve.
I beg to differ.
Adamantly.
Our “stew” is gloriously rich and delicious, with seeming multitudes of chicken bits, sausage and vegetables, all in a rich, thick sauce of profound delectableness.
Expert cooking going on here, methinks.
In a restaurant setting – oh, those were the days and hopefully will be again – I’d expect to pay in the mid-$20s or even more.
So this strikes me as very good pricing. I expect any decrease in price would inevitably mean a drop in quality.
The side serve of spuds and sauerkraurt is OK, but no match for the main event stew.
In a word: Fabulous!
For another take-home meal, we venture a bit up the road – to Panjali in Sunshine.
This time, I’ve phoned in our order beforehand and the whole procedure is sweet and swish, our food (mostly) awaiting when I turn up.
We get two murtabaks – one lamb ($12.90) and one chicken ($11.90).
It may be thought in some quarters that anything involving flatbreads purchased for later heating up is a recipe for ugh.
But we know from previous experience that is not the case with murtabaks.
Panjali murtabaks, anyway.
Our Saturday night meal is, well, orgasmic.
Perhaps we’ve been missing a certain level of spice and oil and funkiness?
Anyone else in that bag?
In any case, our Panjali meal of murtabak has us both ooh-ing and ahh-ing an sporting happy grins.
Not only do the murtabaks re-heat very well, but the accompanying gravies – one beef curry and one dal and vegetables – are wonderful.
If driving into these parts of Sunshine West is an unusual occurrence for Team CTS, then …
… heading this way for Japanese food at a restaurant that is open for lunch on a Wednesday is positively surreal.
Wasshoi Sunshine West is tucked into a rather unlovely conglomeration of businesses at the corner of The Avenue and Fitzgerald Road, within earshot of the Ring Road.
Before its arrival, we had been unaware of the sibling business in Prahran and the fame of its founder, Ikuei Arakane, and his role in Iron Chef.
Japanese food?
Well, yes – of a kind.
There’s no sushi, sashimi or chawanmushi here.
There’s not even chopsticks – we are provided wood sporks with which to navigate our lunches.
And the basic menu (see below) features what look like banh mi.
Wendy, the sparkly and very welcoming boss lady, suggests the fare is “Japanese street food”.
Hey, that’ll do us!
Eat-in facilities are of a basic fast-food variety, but perfectly fine.
Miso soup is advertised in a sign on the counter as costing $3.
But we suspect that just about everyone who comes in during these early times – our lunch takes place on the shop’s fourth day – is getting a complementary cup by doing the social media “like” routine.
In any case, it’s perfect and delicious.
There’s three don/rice dishes available – beef, chicken and pork.
I go with the pork belly ($15.90).
Bennie chooses the beef brisket ($15.90).
We enjoy our lunches.
The meat is very good – definitely a step up from what usual expectations may be for this kind of fare in this kind of fast-food setting and location.
Though I reckon the pork has the upper hand in terms of tender and tasty.
The kimchi is OK, but rather bland.
There is one simple change that could lift these meals from merely to good to verging-on-great – ditch the iceberg lettuce and replace it with shredded cabbage!
Always in this imperfect delineation effort is the feeling that we have also been talking about quality – meaning less of it in the Aussie renditions.
Well, at Not Just A Burger we find we can happily dispense with such dull figuring.
The burgers are just plain great.
Improbably, Not Just A Burger Cafe is located in a neighbourhood in which we would never have reason to look – a back water of light industrial action off Sunshine Road, about right opposite J.R. Parsons Reserve and the silos.
Paul and Maria (pictured above in pre-lunch repose) are on to a good thing here – they service the many local workers, but are also a building a reputation for night-time fare and deliveries.
This a bare-bones tradies place that offers many of the usual food choices (see below).
But the burgers are where the action is at.
And Bennie and I could not be happier with our lunches.
We both go for the N.J.A.B. Inferno ($12) with bacon added.
It’s all terrific – lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion, with jalapeno slices, N.J.A.B hot sauce and some Sriracha deftly combined for the just-right degree of heat.
Yes, the meat is thinner and wider in the Aussie fashion, but it tastes of real-deal beef.
My choice is regular bun.
Bennie opts for brioche.
Ha!
I can imagine various smarty pants quipping that the presence of brioche here marks this place as not a true Aussie-style burger joint.
Who cares, though, when the burgers are this good?
The crinkle-cut chips ($4) are fine and hot. We are provided a serve of Sriracha for dipping.
Be Quick boss Kurt Schwier is enthusiastic about Dietz range of organic, Fairtrade teas.
Be Quick Bargains, 465 Ballarat Road, Sunshine. Phone: 9312 7244
There has been a discount grocery on the corner of Ballarat Road and Leonard Street in Sunshine for a long time.
In fact, it was suggested by a reader as a worthy of a story right back at the start of CTS – closing on 10 years ago.
I didn’t follow-up then.
But now I’m in the place – and happily confess that’s because it’s been run for the past year or so by long-time CTS pal and fellow hardcore music nut Kurt Schwier.
Kurt’s background in the biz shows – I am impressed by the foodie-friendly nature of his line-up and, of course, the prices.
Use-by dates?
Well, they’re part of this sort of set-up.
Kurt tells me he his straight-up and honest with his customers about individual products being offered here.
My understanding is that for some products, those dates are vital.
For others they are less so – and for many, they are effectively meaningless.
For years, CTS HQ has been going through a pack of these every week or so. I wish we’d been paying this price all that time!
Kurt tells me his customers come from a wide catchment.
Sunshine locally, of course, but also from the likes of Caroline Springs, Taylors Lakes and Deer Park.
And among them come a wide range of folks with various European backgrounds, as well as many with roots in the Philippines.
Kurt knows his booze.
One of the first things Kurt did when taking over the business was install a suitable sounds system.
Of course!
He confesses the music is mainly for the enjoyment of he and his staff – but customers are free to enjoy it fully, too.
The volume is far from obtrusive, though the strains of good, funky sounds are always thereabouts.
The most impressive thing in Be Quick for the CTS foodie sensibilities?
This array of pickles and the like – almost all of which are regularly stocked items.
Though I’m told these sloths are also good, steady sellers.
I leave Be Quick with quite some booty – mainly cookies and so on – for which I have paid $15.
CTS observed yesterday, on the Cafe Sunshine Facebook page, a very nice looking falafel plate being spruiked.
A dish that wasn’t on the menu when we visited at the weekend.
And the dishes enjoyed on two previous solo visits by CTS senior are no longer on the current menu (see below), either.
Cafe Sunshine & SalamaTea is a newish operation right in the heart of Sunshine.
If they’re still finding their feet, some menu tinkering is for sure in order.
Even better, I suspect new and surprising dishes will continue to pop up here with regularity, depending on the whims and passions of whoever is in the kitchen and what is available from the joint’s suppliers.
This will suit anyone prepared to go with the freewheeling flow of the place.
Perhaps not so much those who expect a menu to be a menu and that’s that.
That would very much be their loss – for the food here is rather wonderful, provides a distinct point of difference in Sunshine and is ultra-affordable.
As well, the place is also very much about providing employment and more for refugees and asylum seekers. See Star Weekly story here.
The simple fare is largely of Persian nature, with eggs the big players, in a warm and welcoming cafe.
And I’m told evening meals are in the soon-come category.
Bennie likes his Persian breakfast ($13) very much – including the tahini dip flavoured with honey.
This is a surprise to his father, as it tastes just like the halva he generally sneers at.
Also included are fig jam, butter and a concoction of walnut and sheep feta.
All this is teamed with Afghan flat bread sourced from the Afghan bakery that has opened up just around the corner on Hampshire Road.
I share the same basket of bread – more is happily supplied upon request – with my Persian omelette ($15).
This is simple and sensational – eggs and feta sent into the dizzy heights by the plethora of fresh mint and other herbs on the side.
The vegan baklava (top photo, $3) does show the absence of butter – it’s drier than regular baklava – but is still enjoyable, as are our $3.50 cafe lattes.
Enjoyed by me on previous visits were a tangy noodle soup utilising a variety of pulses and …
… Persian scrambled eggs with feta and herbs.
Yes – a very, very close relative of my weekend omelette!
There are – I believe – three places serving the food of Afghanistan in Sunshine.
Amid the (mostly) Vietnamese hubub around Sunshine central and Hampshire Road, they are easy to miss – and Afghan Star is perhaps the most anonymous of them.
It looks, from the outside and inside both, like a humdrum takeaway joint of non-specific origins.
You can get a pizza here – with pineapple, if that’s your kind of thing.
The decor is utilitarian.
But after sporadic visits over the recent couple of years, I reckon it’s time for a CTS story.
Because I really do like this place.
And if the review visit – with Bennie Weir and Nat Stockley in tow – doesn’t quite reach the heights of my previous (solo) visits, I nevertheless remain enamoured of Afghan Star.
Here is less proper restaurant routine and more a place to grab some quick and very cheap Afghan food.
There’s a range of stews/curries called qorma. I’ve tried a couple of them; they’re good.
But really, the top action here is all about grilled meats.
But first let me note a couple of happy details – the sort of thing that tickles the CTS soul and makes us love places beyond the main gist of the food.
One is the wonderful fruit salad tablecloth with which we are blessed.
And, no, I am not being facetious.
The second is the stupendously wonderful flatbread – it’s hot, freshly made and enormous.
On each and every visit I have made to Afghan Star, I have taken at least half one of these home with me.
So good!
And if I order charcoal chicken, I end up taking some of that home, too.
Because a whole, excellent chook – with flatbread, some salady bits/pieces and a minty dipping sauce with a subtle yet important chilli kick – costs $14.99.
That’s a for-sure bargain!
The chicken is very, very good, best and most juicy/succulent on the bone, though inevitably a bit dry in the heart of the breast.
That’s what the minty sauce is for.
It’s a fine thing that there’s plenty of my chicken to go around, because Bennie is disappointed with his doner mix kebab platter ($10).
For starters, he doesn’t believe it accurately reflects the colour photo at the serving counter upon which he’s based his selection.
It’s OK – but amounts to HSP on a plate.
Much better – and returning to the heart of the Afghan Star matter – is Nat’s mix kebab platter, another $14.99 steal served on rice and with the same flatbread, salad and sauce.
The tikka/shish lamb meat is very tasty, though a tad on the dry/tough side. Just a tad …
The kobida/kofta minced lamb meat is much better – chewy and nicely (mildly) seasoned.
But really, these are minor quibbles – this kind of food/meat usually sells for more, and sometimes way more, than here.
Afghan Star gets the job done nicely and with smiling, efficient service – and all with a comprehensive lack of on-trend or hipster angles.
There’s no doubt the old Sunshine station – and its gloomy, even spooky tunnel/underpass through to City Place – deserved and needed to be replaced.
But given the new station edifice involves a much less direct and stair-heavy route, I wondered what impact the new station arrangements would have on City Place and the surrounding businesses and neighbourhood.
Surely, the curious would be much less inclined to venture to “the other side of the tracks” from Sunshine central and its much more numerous shops and eateries?
Well, yes – I guess so.
But something rather nice appears to be happening in the face of this enforced “separation”.
You see, it’s now possible to consider that City Place and the adjacent Sun Crescent constitute an entirely different neighbourhood.
Or even a different suburb – one with its own pace, space and vibe.
It’s very laid back, with none of the hustle and bustle of Sunshine proper.
I’d not go so far as to suggest this neighbourhood is prospering or constantly buzzing, but it does seem to be getting on with doing its own thing.
It’s tempting to describe the overall vibe as African, but that would be misleading.
There’s hairdressers/barbers, a cafe, groceries and an arts space.
The fine and long-term Chinese eatery Dragon Express remains in place, while around the corner on Sun Crescent is the utterly fabulous Panjali Banana Leaf Malaysian Restaurant, as well as a kebab shop, an Ethiopian place and a Sri Lankan outlet.
Back on City Place, Ghion is doing really good Ethiopian tucker and has become a regular haunt for those seeking a lightish casual lunch in a tranquil, relaxing setting.
I’m guessing it’s also on the ball come dinnertime.
The classic vegetarian combo yetsom beyaynetu is awesome here – as good as any I’ve tried.
Lentils/pulses three different ways; the familiar carrot/potato, beetroot and greens; sprightly salad – all beautifully cooked and presented, all in just the right quantities for a wonderfully balanced meal.
This winning offering costs a supremely cheap $12.
But if you visit Ghion on Wednesday – day or night – it’ll cost you a mere $10.
How good is that?
Among the various meat dishes, lega tibs ($13) is lovely.
It’s a tomato-based, zingy concoction with good lamb chunks and the onion providing nice crunch through being just the right side al dente.
Wait times at Ghion are spot on – long enough to bespeak much care in the kitchen, short enough to ward off hungry impatience.
On the Panjali menu, there’s dosas, vadai, dal and curries.
But you’ll also find roti canai, mee goreng and nasi lemak.
I cannot recall – in what is now many decades of trawling funky eats places all over Melbourne – any other eatery that so thoroughly, wonderfully expresses a particular school of transnational cooking, in this case Indian/Malaysian.
Panjali has been open about three months and is popular – as I discover on a CTS reconnaissance trip for Sunday lunch.
The service is warm and the prices are extremely cheap. It’s closed on Mondays, but other than that it keeps long opening hours.
House-made curry puffs ($5 for two) are ungreasy and have a thick casing that is nevertheless good; the spud-based vegetable filling does the job.
On my initial solo visit, I go for the eponymous banana leaf meal.
When Nat Stockly and I return for a more in-depth exploration of the menu (see below), he does the same.
The basic banana leaf meal costs $9.90 and consists of a generous rice pile anointed with vegetable-studded dal, with various vegetable dishes arranged alongside, along with rasam, yoghurt, pickle and pappadams.
For an extra $6, I top my meal up with a truly excellent and big fried chicken piece. The chicken has been freshly cooked and placed in the bain marie just as I order, so is an obvious choice.
For $8, Nat gets a serve of lamb curry. It’s quite good, but could’ve been a bit hotter.
Nat opines that often the state of pappadams can be taken as a fair indicator of the rest of a restaurant’s food.
Ours are crisp and unoily.
I could eat them all day.
Perhaps it could be said this kind of food is not for everyone – the vegetables (cabbage, beans, pumpkin, okra, broccoli) are cooked down to quite an extent.
But the food and the place that serves it most certainly hit the spot with us, and will do likewise for dedicated CTS readers.
From the noodle line-up, mamak mee goreng ($10.90) is simple, lovely and surprisingly dry – in a good way.
No meat or seafood here, the dish getting its flavour kicks mostly from just cabbage and egg.
The many tempting roti variations will have to wait for another visit.
Instead we order chicken murtabak ($10.90).
It’s tremendous in every way – hot and fresh; and delicate and hearty at the same.
The stuffing is a great mix of onion, egg and shredded chicken.
And I love the lightly pickled fresh onion served on the side for extra crunch.
As we depart after a fine meal, Nat quips: “That’s my kind of food!”
And that, right there, gives me the headline for my story.
Perusing Sunshine Plaza on a casual walk-through, one might conclude it’s doing it tough.
There are a lot of premises without tenants.
The supermarket has become a Dimmeys.
The fresh produce/market Big Fields has become the otherwise identical Vicfields
And the deli next door has closed.
But …
There still exists here a community vibe of the sort that struggles to gain a foothold at the bigger shopping centre across the road and others of its kind.
The tables and chairs outside the aforementioned deli, for instance, seem to remain a friendly gathering place.
And Sunshine Plaza management continue to fight the good fight with regular FB updates on centre affairs.
Another crew that’s injecting life at the plaza is the one behind DaLat Hill Sunshine, which occupies one of the premises fronting Hampshire Road.
Despite its Vietnamese name, there’s no rice paper rolls or pho here.
Instead, they are going their own sweet way, developing a niche based around steak, along with regular cafe fare (see menu below).
Here you can get T-bone, ribeye, scotch fillet and the like at fair prices.
But the place’s big drawcard, one designed to get new customers through the door yet also remain an always available “special”, is the Special Rump Steak for $10.
We are a little surprised to be asked how we want our meat cooked, as we figure the $10 steak will be of the ultra-thin variety sometimes served as part of Vietnamese steak-and-eggs and for which precise cooking instructions are pretty much irrelevant.
So … medium rare for us both.
How good can a $10 steak be?
The answer, at DaLat Hill Sunshine, is … just fine.
Sure, you’ll not be chowing down here on prime, big-bucks beef, but our steaks are enjoyable nonetheless.
And they’re nicely sized for our Saturday lunch, steak not normally being something we would otherwise ever consider ordering for anything other than an evening meal.
And then, only very rarely.
Haha!
But what makes our meals more than just adequately satisfying – and propels them into realms of bargain pleasure – is the care taken with the accompaniments and the presentation.
The mashed potato is very, very good.
The asparagus spears are both cooked through and crisp.
The thin gravy is fine for meat dipping.
And even the rosemary garnish does its part by imbuing all with a just the right amount of perfume.
The service is fine and smiling – as are the Vietnamese iced coffees with which we depart.
South Sudanese Wrestling All-Stars at Chaplin Reserve, Sunshine: Inner states (Victoria, NSW and ACT ) v Outback states (SA, WA and Queensland)
Even after talking top several people, I remain – as an utter newbie should – largely ignorant about the finer points of South Sudanese traditional wrestling.
In this all-star tournament, the wrestlers and their camp followers are situated at opposing ends of the Chaplin Reserve soccer ground.
The wrestling itself – many bouts – is serious, though doesn’t appear to my untutored eye to be as tricky or technical as that practised at the Olympic Games, for example.
But it ain’t Mexican wrestling, either! Duh!
I’m told the young women self-create the beautiful chants in Dinkan dialect and that they’re all about supporting their teams.
A South Sudan take on We Are The Champions?
Hmmm, dunno about that!
But work of these singing queens is certainly more soulful, beautiful, stirring – and just plain better – than anything ever dreamed up by Freddie Mercury and Co; IMO!
While the athletes and their retinues were loud and proud in their finery, it is also notable that very many spectators among the big, happy crowd also are dressed to the nines and 10s.
What’s it all about?
Community!
I love it!
New pal Emily Yuille, who is very active in Melbourne’s South Sudanese community, provided the following appreciation!
Thanks!
“Wrestling is a contest traditionally between young men of the Dinka and Mundri tribes in South Sudan.
“Sport plays an important role in the lives of young South Sudanese people with wrestling being one of the greatest and most popular. People love it.
“While largely unheard of in Australia, the past several years has seen the sport grow across the country, with teams in most states: Queensland – Maroons Canberra (ACT) – Powerhouse, Melbourne – Lions, Adelaide (SA) – Cobras, NSW – Blue Warriors, Perth (WA) – Western Empire.
“The contest is all about showing strength. The contestants don’t hit each other. Using their strength they force someone to the ground and if you’re still standing, that means you win. There is no harm to done each other.
“Wrestling matches happen in three-minute bouts, with a draw declared if neither competitor can force their rival to the ground.
“For many, competing is often a rite of passage. In some families, people’s grandfather or uncle could also be a wrestler, so it goes down the generations.
“When you start wrestling for a championship, it means that they are a young man growing up and get to leave your family and your youth life.
“While only men compete in South Sudanese wrestling, the women play a valuable role during competitions, often providing encouragement and songs of support in their native languages.
“They make songs for their champions to give them morale and energy, they sing in Dinkan dialect, which also teaches the younger kids how to sing and communicate in their language and get connected with their culture.”
The South Sudanese Australian Traditional Wrestling Association Facebook page is here.
Go here for a short SBS story and film about South Sudan wrestling.
Which is why CTS loves venturing to not only Sunshine, but also Werribee, Deer Park and beyond – and will continue to eat and review and tell stories from well beyond the ribbon that is the inner west.
So we applaud the opening of DeGrill at Sunshine Marketplace.
It’s a bold and adventurous move – it is situated, after all, right opposite Maccas and right next door to the cinemas.
I could say that DeGrill is aiming for the same sort of focus as Grill’d or Nando’s – but that would be doing DeGrill a disservice.
Because the menu is significantly more broad than such a comparison might imply.
I suspect the menu may have to be tweaked over time to find out what really works in this particular setting.
But over two visits, CTS and friends enjoy some good food and good service at (mostly) good prices.
The style is classy fast food and proper cutlery and crockery are in use, as are fine salt and pepper grinders.
There are three hot dog options on the menu, two featuring kransky or chorizo.
But the classic ($7.50) is constructed using a standard frankfurter.
So all is regulation here, but its recipient is pleased enough.
“Crispy” chicken ($9.50) has the wow factor aplenty.
The serve consists of three superbly cooked wings anointed with a tangy sauce.
Very good!
Especially when served with …
… a side of mash and gravy ($6).
This a rarity is Melbourne in general, let alone in a Sunshine shopping centre.
It’s OK, we all like it – but it’s not spectacular.
The menu’s “between the buns” section lists nothing that could be described as a beef burger, but based on our table’s orders of the cheese steak ($9, above) and …
… the only marginally different philly cheese ($9.50), this may be the way to go here.
Both are keenly priced and boast good ingredients and dressings.
The steak is thicker than routinely found in steak sandwiches and, best of all, is so well cooked that biting through for a mouthful is done with ease and without the whole sandwich falling apart.
Big thumbs up for that!
Under the heading “from the grill”, DeGrill offers dishes such as a flat iron steak ($17 and $26) and chicken ($16 for half, $29 for full).
These and others may fulfill the implied promise of more hefty meals.
Sadly, the beef short ribs ($16) do not.
It’s common knowledge ribs are expensive to secure and are inevitably at the upper end price-wise wherever they appear.
It’s common knowledge, too, the beef ribs can be fatty.
But these are very fatty indeed, and the three segments amount to not much more than a brief meal of not many more mouthfuls.
As well, as per the eatery’s name, these rib bits are grilled and not smoked, as you’d generally find at the numerous barbecue-style places across the city.
The coleslaw ($4.50) lacks crunch – maybe because its main component is savoy cabbage?
It’s under-done in the seasoning/flavour department, too, though some quick work with the salt and pepper grinders soon fixes that up.
CTS is over the mega shake thing – too often they seem to involve poor quality ingredients and unjustifiably high prices.
This DeGrill brownie shake ($9) defies both factors – good price, nice shake.
We wish DeGrill well.
Maye its arrival will inspire others to hang out their shingle in the same locale.
Thanks to Annie and Ali for helping us with this story!
Check out the DeGrill website – including full menu – here.
Sunshine Social is a hit and hoot and we love it to bits.
This is the biggest thing to hit Sunshine West for years – the adjacent Glengala Road shops barely seem to have changed for the best part of a decade.
In fact, this may be the biggest western suburbs food story of the year.
We bowl up just a few days after opening day, eager to check out the vibe, try the food and see if the widespread community interest and hopes are being fulfilled.
The answer is a rousing “yes” – albeit with a couple of food mis-steps noted below of the very easily forgivable these-are-very-early-days variety.
The old servo has been done up a treat, the swish fit-out preserving the old-time feel of the building and, best of all, the wonderful roof that once sheltered filling-up motorists from the elements.
It would be easy to describe the furniture, fittings and general ambience as “industrial”, but there is a bit more warmth to the place than that might imply.
As well, even on a busy Friday night, the noise levels are surprisingly subdued.
Three of us have drinks, two starters, three mains with various sides and a single, cheapo dessert and pay just a tad over $100 – so Sunshine Social represents good value for money as well as a whole heap of fun.
We arrive early after having dithered about a later start time involving a bigger assemblage of Team CTS, but are glad we’ve reverted to 6.30pm kick-off as the place rapidly fills up after that.
Sunshine Social doesn’t take bookings – it’s not that sort of place – so while it’s as hot as it is right now and the curiosity factor is high, it would be wise to pick your time with some thought.
Loosely based on the concept of old-school charcoal chicken shops, Sunshine Social goes from there to offer a menu that broadens out to take in some multicultural ideas, all the while offering a cohesive gameplan.
Marinated olives and chargrilled vegetables ($7.50) are a delightful way to get our meal underway.
It’s a deceptively big serving of beaut olives of various colours and dimensions and long strips of gorgeous red capsicum, zucchini and eggplant.
We try two of the five dips at $4.5o a pop (punters can get the lot for $16).
I am outvoted in my desire to try the beetroot and whole bean number.
Instead, we get the eggplant and pistachio/pea/mint versions.
The former is rather dry and crumbly but has robust roast cumin flavour.
The latter has little by way of nuttiness, the pea and mint dominating in a smooth operation.
Given the charcoal chook inspiration going on here, I was only ever going to order one thing – the very same thing that I ALWAYS order in chicken shops: Half a chicken with slaw and chips ($28.50).
The price here is higher, of course, but no more than expected.
The chicken near the various bones is excellent, moist and delicious.
The breast meat is dry – as it so often is, no matter the price.
But it’s not terminally so, and certainly all this could easily be fixed up with a small pot of gravy as per charcoal shop tradition.
The chips are very fine and the slaw – much drier and different in style from the usual – a crunchy, lightly-dressed delight.
The meat served with Nat’s order of “lamb shoulder with Mediterranean herbs” ($22.50 with one side) is tasty.
But we are both surprised the sheep meat is sliced and more like your regular lamb roast than the fall-apart epic the phrase “lamb shoulder” automatically suggests to us. And there’s not much sign of the advertised herbs, either.
In both the cases of my chicken and his lamb, neither of us feels the sweetish coating (chicken) or sweetish sauce (lamb) do anything to enhance our meals.
Chicken options with more high-powered seasonings taking in lemon, chilli and turbo-herbs would be a good move, we reckon.
The no-hesitation thumbs-up of the night goes to Bennie’s fried chicken burger ($13.50).
He loves the big, succulent, crisp chunk of fried chicken and gives his burger – abetted by slaw, cheese and jalapenos – an 8 out of 10.
He gets chips with his sandwich and an extra order of slaw on the side that is plenty big enough for both himself and Nat.
During the course of our meal, we’ve pondered dessert.
But predictably, we’ve loaded up plenty on the savoury segments of the menu, so treats such as choc ripple biscuit cake with peppermint slice shavings and cream will have to await a return visit.
I do grant Bennie his wish for a house-made choc top for $4.50.
He likes it.
You can tell by his unbridled display of passion and delight and enthusiasm for the camera.
We decide that there is nothing else quite like Sunshine Social in all of Melbourne – not that we know of anyway.
Sure, there’s a gazillion hipster burger places and almost as many barbecue joints and similar.
But a self-described “grill” that has no steaks and little seafood?
Nope.
On the basis of community reaction and our experience just a few days into its life, the place will endure and then some.
It is destined to become something of a second home to many.
And next time, we may expand our ordering horizons to the likes of pork ribs, grilled calamari, a range of meat on sticks or Moroccan lamb snags.
Check out the Sunshine Social website (including menu) here.
Being a cheapskate, I normally avoid hairdressers or barbershops with a chic look – polished cement floors, like that – as they’re usually ridiculously over-priced for my minimal, buzz-cut needs.
But at new Sunshine outfit AXE Barbers and Baristas I do good.
And I get a fine cafe latte, to boot!
Mind you, “Axe” seems like a rather threatening name for a barbershop …
… but that changes when I meet barista Engin (left) and barber Xavia, and learn that the name is made up of their initials and that of a third partner, Allan, who I don’t meet.
Xavia provides me with an expert buzz-cut for a price not far removed from those charged by the St Albans and Footscray Vietnamese hairdressers I usually use.
These blokes will do well, I reckon.
There’s not a lot by way of service businesses at the Gold Leaf end of Hampshire Road, but there is new apartment activity representing potential customers.
There’s parking close by at both Hampshire Crescent and Sunshine Plaza.
Check out the AXE website here for hours and prices.
In the past year or so, CTS has dined yum cha – see here and here.
But as enjoyable as those outings were, in places that run yum cha a la carte and to order and without trolleys, we figured it was time for the real deal.
You know the drill – huge barn of a place, high noise levels, trolleys whizzing everywhere.
So CTS and a bunch of willing pals hit Gold Leaf in Sunshine.
Typically, Bennie and I arrived first and somewhat early.
We were forced to cool our heels with other early arrivers as the staff meal tables were cleared and then – in we went!
Within half an hour, the joint is packed and rocking.
With a group of eight eating madly, I don’t even think about keeping note of individual items and their prices.
Suffice it to say, it really does make a difference – the food here was of a very high standard and the service fine.
We had many of the staples and a few more adventurous things.
Eating the divine roast pork/crackling, for instance, I placed in my bowl some of the attending noodles – only to learn I was eating jellyfish for the first time.
It was lovely!
It was a wonderful experience and the price – a buck or so over $30 per head – equally splendid.
But some things never change …
As we’re wrapping up desserts and wrapping up generally, I notice even more trolleys sallying forth laden with very interesting a delicious-looking items.
Ah well, that’s the end of an era in western suburbs food history.
Marco and Maria from Latin Food and Wines (frequently referred to as La Morenita in the many stories we have run about them) have moved from their long-time North Sunshine redoubt for a great new home in Deer Park.
There’ll be more about them and that right here at CTS in due course …
It seems the sleepy Berkshire Road shopping strip that has been such a big part of our lives for so many years will become even more somnolent.
But food things there are still ticking over.
The newest arrival is the roti-producing outfit called Madam Curry, which has moved from Sunshine Plaza into the premises formerly occupied by a failed South American eatery.
My understanding is that for the Madam Curry operation, serving walk-up customers curries, rotis and the like is strictly a second-string affair to the contracts they have to supply rotis across the city.
Thus as I arrive at their new digs for lunch I am wondering who will actually be stepping up for a lunch-time feed in the back streets of North Sunshine.
So I am happily surprised that as I am lunching, two different groups of local workers/businessmen come and go.
Madam Curry’s stock in trade may be supplying rotis to the Melbourne hospitality industry but it seems catering to the lunch trade in a neighbourhood where there is not much food to be had is a smart move.
The eat-in/takeaway menu (see below) covers a tight range of reasonably priced starters, roti canai dishes, wraps and noodles.
Prawn dumplings ($5.50) are nice – plump and flavoursome – without having the oomph to be expected from a top-line yum cha joint.
The prominent appearance of curry leaves is a good sign of home-cooking in my chicken curry with roti cani ($9.90).
The curry IS good, made so far as I can tell from thigh meat and featuring a goodly number of spud bits in a tasty, mild curry sauce.
The roti is OK but does have something of a mass-produced taste/feel to it.
consider the sauce 