Tag Archives: western suburbs

Pandu’s – an update …

11 Comments

UPDATE (July 29, 2012): Review of the new Pandu’s is HERE.

Dropping into the site of the new Pandu’s in Barkly St, I find the man himself in the house.

He’s a little reticent about having his photo taken, but couldn’t be more friendly and is happy to show me around.

And I gotta tell you – the place is looking a million bucks.

He tells me he actually had ritzy expansion plans for the former site in Buckley St well advanced before the rail link developments nixed them.

The new site entails a hefty increase in rent and a major investment – as these photos indicate.

Inevitably, this will involve higher prices for his take on Indo-Chinese tucker.

However, the prices at the old joint were rock-bottom cheap and he assures me his new price tags won’t be in the same ball park as those of a somewhat similar establishment up the road apiece.

Pandu is aiming for a late March opening date.

There’s going to be nooks, crannies and booths all over the place.

Incredibly, all the furniture is being crafted and constructed on-site.

The new restaurant will boast an Indian-style barbecue – not quite Tandoori cooking but with some of those elements. Sounds like a heap of juicy, marinated meats and vegetables to me!

This space (above) will be the site of the new kitchen.

In this area will be a waterfall and fish pond.

A sister blog for Consider The Sauce

2 Comments

FIND IT HERE

Originally, I envisaged Consider The Sauce might combine both the foodie themes for which it is now famed AND my musical loves.

However, as I climbed the steep incline of learning about blogging and its dynamics, I realised that would be muddying the waters.

As well, it seems – perhaps for the first in my life and perhaps only in the short-term – I am all “written out” when it comes to music.

For more than a decade now, it’s been part of my routine, upon rolling out of bed, to feverishly log on to the likes of the now defunct Blue Note bulletin board and forums at places such as Jazz Corner and Organissimo for endless, often fiery and frequently hilarious talk on all manner of music, along with politics, sport, religion and food. And, not infrequently, all at the same time!

The pleasure, enlightenment, wisdom and friendship I have been blessed with by being part of these conversations has enriched my life immeasurably.

Yet, as with others, the need is less pressing these days – indeed, as of today, it’s been about two weeks since I checked into the big O.

At the same time, though, doing Consider The Sauce has not only heightened my awareness of the food culture of the Melbourne’s greater western suburbs – it has done likewise for the western suburbs in general.

This, of course, is a very fine thing.

But along the way Bennie and I are coming across things, people, places and scenes that tickle our fancy, make us think and reflect or burst out laughing that simply don’t fit within the Consider The Sauce framework.

Of course, some of them have been getting a run here anyway – a car atop a shipping container in Tottenham, some apologetic graffiti in Sunshine and the like.

But now it’s time for these snippets of western suburbs life to have their own home at a sister blog to Consider The Sauce.

Called Snap West, its aim will be to post a photo a day of some of aspect of western suburbs life that has caught our eyes or turned our heads.

A photo a day doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’m sure there’ll be times when it’ll the last thing on our minds and quite a hassle.

Yet oddly enough, I have a hunch that it’s the snaps taken in those sort of circumstances that may end up being the most evocative.

Perhaps unlike Consider The Sauce, there will be no great ambitions for this new blog.

Hopefully, it’ll just simply unfold and evolve.

If folks visit and comment, that’ll be very cool.

If not, well that’ll be OK, too!

PS: I reckon the Vertigo theme of Snap West is gorgeous! How about it for Consider The Sauce?

Golden Grill Turkish Restaurant

5 Comments
Felafel plate at Golden Grill Turkish Restaurant in Werribee.

Felafel plate at Golden Grill Turkish Restaurant in Werribee.

Golden Grill Turkish Restaurant,  38 Station St, Werribee. Phone: 9741 7101

A dry argument, dry like wine?

Neither, but this is a story of dryness.

Golden Grill in Werribee had been on the radar for a while.

Somehow, I’d picked up the vibe that this was more than just a quickie kebab joint.

But every time, for quite a while there, I was in the vicinity, it was closed.

Today I’m in luck.

A bunch of uniformed chaps are bustling through the fag end of the lunch hour.

The marinated meats in the display at the front look succulent, as do the displayed sweets.

Out the back, Golden Gill becomes a real-deal Turkish eatery.

There’s lovely wooden furniture of a certain age – not antique, but not shiny new either.

There’s travel posters of Turkey – a couple of which I even recognise from them playing a similar role in our beloved Footscray Best Kebab House.

Also adorning the walls are newspaper clippings about the restaurant and photos of staff posing with happy customers.

It’s all good, it’s all familiar and it all augurs well.

So, as you can see, I am most favourably inclined towards Golden Grill.

So what goes wrong?

I order the felafel plate ($15.90).

Before then, however, I indulge in one of the place’s stuffed vine leaves ($2.50).

This is big and hard – making me think that for once it may have been better to have my dolma cigar heated through.

But all is fine once I’m into the eating of it – the tomato-infused rice has that distinctive, familiar tang. It’s delicious!

The felafel plate price is quite high, but I figure the gauge will be in the results.

The felafal balls themselves are large and also quite hard. The flavour is fine. But – oh dear – they are so dry that eating them becomes a jaw-taxing chore.

Perhaps my eggplant dip, which has no smokiness but a nice garlic/lemon thing going on, will help ease the way?

Nope.

Claggy is the word.

If it’s possible for a dip to be dry, then this is dry.

I turn for help to the salad bits and pieces – which include some tabouli.

All is crispy, crunchy and fresh – but unadorned to the point of austerity.

My meal cries out for some moistness – specifically a generous hand with the olive oil and lemon juice.

Maybe next time the gorgeous-looking marinated meats spied on the way in!

Golden Grill Turkish Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Al’s Yarraville expansion

Leave a comment


That top bloke Al Fresco has enlarged his Yarraville options with the opening recently of a triangular outdoor space by Alfa Bakehouse.

The area – featuring more than half a dozen tables of various kinds – is adjacent to the outdoor dining area of Wee Jeanie.

The Wee Jeanie staff tell me their communal dining space incurs no council fee as its on their property.

Alfa Bakehouse presumably has paid the going rate for their much larger area.

And, again presumably, any Wee Jeanie customers having the temerity to attempt to enjoy their repasts at the bakehouse facilities would be greeted with a degree frostiness at best and a request to remove themselves at worst.

Still, it all looks rather lovely, doesn’t it, what with the trees and all?

Even if – as with the Ballarat St closure – the grass is fake!

Ajitoya, Seddon Festival

3 Comments

Hillbilly llama at Seddon Festival, 2012.

Ajitoya, 82 Charles St, Seddon. Phone: 9687 1027
Seddon Festival 2012, Harris Reserve, Seddon

Decisions, decisions …

The final cricket match of the season seen off, we are left with three delicious prospects for the remainder of our Saturday.

There’s the famed multicultural celebration called the Pako Festa in Geelong.

But a voluntary drive to that city when so many are mandatory means that idea is likely to remain a mere flicker of possibility.

There’s a more monocultural celebration going at the junction of Lonsdale and Russell streets in the Melbourne CBD.

But finally, especially given the rising temperature, we settle – much to Bennie’s satisfaction – on our local Seddon Festival.

A short, sweaty stroll up Gamon St and we’re there.

We’d already decided that in case the festival’s food offerings do not appeal that it’s best to have a Plan B ready to roll.

The fest food stalls seem more like snacky territory than the lunch proper we are desirous of.

Plan B is Ajitoya.

We had reviewed Ajitoya just a day or so after it opened, and have been back for a few meals since.

We’ve enjoyed seeing the place evolve and grow courtesy of soulful Facebook updates.

It’s time for another look.

Due to the heat and appetites of only medium stature, we stick with basic lunch orders rather than $16-21 sets.

Zaru soba at Ajitoya in Seddon

Bennie had some weeks earlier absorbed my enthusiasm about the cold Japanese noodles served here so has no hesitation in ordering the zaru soba ($13).

He loves it to pieces, merrily dipping the superb noodles in the soy-based dipping sauce into which he has stirred wasabi and spring onion slices.

There is something paradoxically both exotic and plain as can be about this dish, and it’s a winner for sure on a hot day.

Can I tell you how much I love my son and what he’s achieving?

In recent months, he’s gone from being a non-lover, non-eater of capsicum and tofu to happily eating just about all forms of both – and has even taught himself to use chopsticks, as he does here!

His father improvises by ordering miso soup ($4) and a trio of salads ($9).

Trio of salads and miso soup at Ajitoya in Seddon.

The miso soup is fine, the salads are something else again.

They are listed as …

Lightly shredded chicken salad with wasabi dressing.

Buckwheat soba noodles with pickled mustard greens, mayo and spice

Leafy hijiku with lightly fried tofu with daikon ginger vinaigrette.

OK … the chicken salad also has cabbage along with soy/tamari in the dressing; and the noodles have little or no pickle flavour, but do have a tingling chilli hit.

But I adore the way the three salads, and their distinctive dressings, work together – marvellous harmony!

This is another light and great meal for a hot day.

Ajitoya’s Adam tells me he’d have the whole counter cabinet chockers with salads if he had his way, but customer demand dictates sushi rolls remain a mainstay of the business.

I vote for more salads!

He also tells me he and Maya have learned to avoid too constant scanning of what different folk are saying about them at Urbanspoon. Yes, it can do a head in.

One customer, for instance, posted a review there on her mobile saying the food was fine, “but a bit pricey for what you get”.

Other customers have told them their prices are too cheap!

Looks, it’s true a short drive away you can get pho and the like for significantly less than you pay here.

At the same time, though, there are four places within a couple of blocks where you can pay quite a lot more for restaurant food.

Perhaps it’s the very cafe, if very chic, vibe or the display cabinet of sushi rolls that leads people to expect big serves for under $10 here.

Whatever … we have no issue whatsoever with the pricing, especially given the quality and presentation of the food, along with the service.

Ajitoya … don’t think of it as a cafe. This is a Japanese restaurant serving restaurant-quality Japanese food.

Back at the festival, the heat is killing and things don’t seem to have gotten any more lively.

The lawn expanses, subject to the full blast of the unrelenting sun, are unpeopled.

Shade is at a premium.

Everyone is doing it hard – including the panting inhabitants of the animal farm.

Even the music has a sort of desultory, “can we really be bothered with this?” air about it.

Nevertheless, we spend an enjoyable couple of hours taking it all in, talking to friends we meet and just generally hanging out.

Food-wise, we make do with a yummy $5 serve of churros with chocolate dipping sauce from the nice people at Sourdough Kitchen.

ajitoya on Urbanspoon

New Seddon supermarket: Update

12 Comments

It’s open – see a rundown of our first visit here.

Hot Wings

1 Comment

134 Ferguson St, Williamstown. Phone: 9397 0146

Want to know what Australia eats on a Saturday night?

Forget your fancy pants cooking and lifestyle shows, glossy magazines, newspaper reviews, food guides and food blogs.

Sit, instead, at one of the few inside tables at Hot Wings in Williamstown at the start of rush hour … and watch an amazing, ceaseless flow of customers come and go.

These are not groups of teens fuelling up for a night of movies or mayhem, or couples of any age grabbing dinner on the way home from a day out.

Nope, almost without exception these are parents popping in to grab obviously family-sized meals for family-sized families.

Think of this same scene unfolding at all the good chicken shops across Melbourne, then Victoria and then Australia – it’s amazing to contemplate.

There’s no doubt this is spectacularly unhealthy food.

But I doubt it’s any worse than, say, fish and chips, which seem to have acquired a patina of righteousness in the past decade or so, or the unfood of the franchises.

I doubt even that a chicken shop feed is much more of a no-no than the kebab and dips approach, or the whole five-course deal at a French establishment.

In any case, these places are hugely popular – a mainstay, for better or worse, of the Australian family food routine.

I’d love to know more about them.

When did they start? Where did the inspiration come from?

Are there equivalents in other countries, apart from the fried chicken of US fame?

You still find quite a broad spectrum of people running such businesses, but my impression is that these days they are dominated by folk of the Chinese persuasion.

And then, too, there’s hybrids – chicken ‘n’ pizzas, chicken ‘n’ burgers, chicken ‘n’ F&C, chicken ‘n’ kebabs, chicken ‘n’ the lot.

There’s nothing hybrid about Hot Wings – it’s a classic of the genre.

It’s all here – the scalloped potatoes, deep-fried chicken if you’re perverse enough to desire such, the gravy, the salads.

A couple of the salads look like they’ve been mayonaised to death, but there’s a decent looking Greek salad and even – wow! – a tabouli.

When the mood strikes me for this kind of food – about once a year – I prefer to head for the shop in Racecourse Rd, Flemington, or some other place that does eat-ins with metal cutlery and real plates.

But as I chow down at Hot Wings, I have no regrets – as what I experience is a peak chicken shop meal.

Timing is vital in visits to such food outlets.

If, when you enter, a new batch of chips is on the way and the final, bedraggled remnants of the previous lot are sitting there looking unlovely, head for the door … walk around the block or go somewhere else.

Tonight, I’m in luck – the chips are fresh, hot and wonderful.

The downer of having to use plastic cutlery is substantially decreased by the juicy quality of my half bird – even the deepest part of the breast meat is moist, requiring no help from gravy or such like.

This, in my experience, is a rarity.

As is coleslaw that is neither gloopy with or drowning in mayo.

That said, this one doesn’t quite back up its good looks – it’s plainly on the dull and bland side.

Cheese kransky @ Andrew’s Choice

2 Comments

Bennie's goes the snag at Andrew's Choice in Yarraville.

Andrew’s Choice, 24 Anderson St, Yarraville: Phone: 9687 2419

Plans for a more elaborate and distant post-cricket lunch have been nixed by some scheduling clashes, so we keep it simple, cheap and very close to home.

I know there’s plenty of folks who swear by Andrew’s and their meats, snags, hams and other goodies.

We’re some-time customers only, based solely on their rather steep prices. Mostly frequented for a treat only by us, though I do love their taramasalata.

The Saturday fry-up of cheese kranskys, a close relation to the sort of weekend sausage sizzles offered by the likes of Bunnings,  is another matter entirely.

There’s nowhere to sit and no soft drinks available, but the price is right – $4 a pop.

For him, one with Original Chutney and the browned onions sitting to one side of the grill.

For his dad, one with Original Chutney and mustard. The onions look a mite sad-sack to me.

Our lunches are served not in buns but in thin-sliced white bread.

The bread falls apart. The condiments quickly spread to the paper serviettes.

Our lunches are delicious.

Personally, I could do without the cheese.

I know there’s snag purists who think cheese shouldn’t have anything to with kransky or any other form of sausage.

Apart from as an extra, of course.

Bennie loves the cheese. Loves the onions, too.

He loves the way these sorts of snags go “pop”!

A quick stop at the greengrocer and we’re home inside 20 minutes.

The Grand Tofu

8 Comments

Yong tofu goodies at the Grand Tofu in Flemington.

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

A more recent review can be found here.

Restaurant experience or eat-and-run?

That’s what hungry hordes descending on Flemington may ponder, particularly if they find full-to-overflowing the fabled Laksa King and the already storied Chef Lagenda, both just around the corner, but still desire Malaysian food.

They’re likely to find themselves entering The Grand Tofu, being well fed in a beaut joint and deciding that Plan C is the preferred option after all.

I suspect that’ll certainly be the case with us.

At Laksa King, in particular, they try to do the right thing by having a staff member you to your table, issuing menus, returning to take your order – the whole nine yards, which is fine really.

But, honestly, sometimes all I want is a bowl of something. Now.

Actually, describing The Grand Tofu as an eat-and-run place is a little unkind as the routine is pretty much the same – but there’s an ease and immediacy about it that I dig..

Sure, there’s a wall of those photos and a robust lunchtime crowd that appears to agree with my positive assessment.

The place is kitted out with nice dark-stain furniture, mirrors and hand-written specials notifications on paper.

But the smiling service is every bit as obliging and efficient as that of their two famous neighbours, the prices appear to near-identical and The Grand Tofu appears to have all their bases covered … and more.

For there’s a lot to try here.

As well as lobak on the entree menu, they have dumplings and entree-size soups of four denominations for about $4.50

As well as all the expected noodle, rice, soup and curry offerings, there’s the likes of Penang king prawn noodle soup ($12.80) and even butter chicken ($16.80) – described as deep-fried chicken w/ chef special sauce”.

Gosh – what’s that all about, I wonder? Indo-Malaysian?

Yong tofu with curry sauce base at The Grad Tofu in Flemington.

And then there’s the yong tofu lineup, which I choose to constitute my lunch in honour of the place’s name.

The glistening, glowing spread is all made in-house, I am assured.

You can go with one of three pre-chosen combos of six pieces each to go with your stock, curry or tom yum soup and noodles.

Or you can be real daring and go custom-built.

Both versions cost a fine $10.

Which is what do by ordering lightly fried pork and seafood ball, seafood stuffed eggplant, chicken dumpling, prawn dumpling, stuffed chilli and chicken-stuffed doughnut with curry soup and rice noodles.

As you can see, I erred on the side of naughtiness in ordering, but I doubt the vegetable options here are any more healthy than the meat or seafood alternatives.

In any case, they’re all good.

The dumplings all have a nice sogginess going on by  the time I get to them.

I leave the eggplant until last, only to find it’s cooked wonderfully in the soup and is slippery slithery delicious.

The curry soup is no great shakes, but I’m heartened by finding a curry leaf, which I hope denotes it’s a house-made brew.

Besides, I get a nice kick from the stuffed chilli, which is both spicy and juicy.

The rice noodles are a nice alternative to the egg noodles I usually have with this sort of fare.

This a big meal – I don’t finish the noodles or soup.

I’m dead keen to return here with Bennie in tow – I like their style.

The Grand Tofu 3 on Urbanspoon

Oliver’s Garden

2 Comments

Oliver's Garden in Queen's Park, Moonee Ponds.

Oliver’s Garden, The Strand, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9372 0438

The kiosk in Queen’s Park in Moonee Ponds is such a lovely setting that I wish it was closer to home – or, leastwise, that we had something similar.

The last time we visited was with our pal Kurt on the midway point of a longish Sunday bicycle ride.

If memory serves, our meal that day was BLT, nachos and a burger. Without reaching any great heights, they all did their job.

And also went some way to nullifying the truism that Melbourne does food in its parks about as well as it does bayside dining.

Truth is, I’m not even sure kiosk is the right term these days, as the eatery in question is operating under the name Oliver’s Garden.

For this week-day lunch, I’m in a burger mood, so am none too hopeful – the online menu, found on the establishment’s website, lists none.

But I’m in luck – though the news it’ll come in a Turkish loaf is unpromising.

Burger at Oliver's Garden ($14).

Initial impressions don’t do much to bolster confidence, either, as the beef patty looks way too small for the bun. And the $14 fee is starting to look a little on the high side.

But the hands-on experience is a winning one.

The chips are crispy, well-cooked, hot and very fine.

The burger meat belies its size by being full of beefy flavour and pretty much in the right proportions to its sandwich colleagues.

The dressing of grated beetroot, dill pickle bits and dill mayo is nigh on perfect in a suitably burgerish way, as is the fresh Turkish bread.

This is a burger meal that rates in quality, taste and price alongside the likes of Grill’d and Burger Edge.

Though my tiny bottle of that Coca Cola stuff for $3.50 is outlandish.

Oliver’s Garden does a range of breakfast dishes, focaccias, salads and a kids menu that ranges from $5 to $9.

On the day of my visit, the blackboard next to the takeaway servery hole lists a bubble and squeak for $13 that sounds real nice. 

Whizzing to and fro on our various adventures, it’s easy to forget this place and its lovely surrounds – and that’s our loss.

Even on a crisp, overcast day there’s a leisurely ease around the place of mums and children and ladies lunching.

Oliver's Garden on Urbanspoon

Atithi Indian Restaurant

15 Comments

Atithi Indian Restaurant, 730 Mt Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds. Phone: 9326 0482

Atithi is an Indian vegetarian restaurant that takes its name from the Sanskrit phrase “Atithi Devo Bhavah”, which means “Guest are God”.

We like that approach!

It resides in a stretch of Mt Alexander Rd near Puckle St in Moonee Ponds that often seems ripe for foodie adventures, but along which we find most places closed when we’re in the vicinity, Dr Strangeloves aside.

Earlier in the week, when passing by, we’d parked and gone for a look-see.

Our response to the restaurant’s motto, part of the outdoor signage, was damn near pavlovian.

“For Who Know Value of Taste.”

So eloquent, so adorable – this place went right to the top of our to-do list, and we’re back for real in just a few days.

On entering, we appreciate the whirring fans and AC on the job.

Both the walls and floor are tiled, while tables are dressed with cloth tablecloths and paper. It’s quite a nice , tranquil vibe.

Initially, we’re a little taken aback by the stern words placed at the bottom of each page of the menu warning us to be prepared for a half-hour 45-minute wait for a our meal.

We cover that base by ordering bhel puri from the Indian Street Food Menu – “Round puri, puffed rice and fine chickpeas noodles mix in onion, tomato, Fresh apple, beetroot, and potato served with chutney” for $7.

We know that in India such like as bhel puri are not ordered as part of a meal, but we often find ourselves ordering them as we are normally not in a position to adhere to afternoon snack tradition.

Bhel puri at Atithi.

This is less crunchy and crackly than I expect, but still a tangy way to get our dinner rolling. Bennie finds the raw white/brown onion quotient overpowering.

Mix veg sizzler at Atithi.

Mix veg sizzler – “mix vegies and pettish cooked in special tomato sauce serve in leafs bowl” ($15) – is a voyage into the unknown for us.

It’s super rich, gloopy and tasty.

Mixed under the cheese and tomato sauce is a jumble of a whole roasted green capsicum, corn kernels, peas, diced potato and carrot and more cheese.

It’s a huge serve – more appropriate for sharing among four people with a mix of other dishes.

This is much more than a tomato sauce, I subsequently discover when chatting to chef Mitesh Patel.

It’s actually a bechamel sauce made of, yes, tomato but also ghee, flour, milk, sugar, salt and pepper.

No wonder it seems so rich!

This sort of dish is not really Indian or Indo-Chinese – it’s more an Indian fusion sort of thing generated by Indian chefs working in Europe and returning home full of ideas and inspirations.

The mix veg sizzler comes from the continental section of menu, which also includes Pineapple/Veg Macaroni ($14) and Paneer Stick Sizzler ($17), which I presume must be even richer again.

From the Indo-Chinese dishes we’ve ordered hakka noodles – “Noodles cooked with special sauces and fresh vegetable” ($12).

Hakka noodles at Atithi.

This is OK, but seems a little on the pricey side. Bennie finds it too spicy, even though we’d said medium when asked.

The version enjoyed at the old Pandu’s benefitted from the having little bowls of vinegar and sauces soy and tomato on the side.

If there is an uneveness in our meal we’re happy to attribute it to a clumsy attempt to get to grips with a strange menu. More advanced navigation skills may have allowed us to choose more complementary dishes.

I’d originally envisioned basing our meal around one of the dosa selections, but the dosas are not yet available.

Perhaps we’d have been better off by gravitating towards the standard curry menu, which includes two kinds of dal, peneer and kofta dishes, and entrees such as pakoras. 

You can check out the Aitithi menu options at the restaurant’s website.

Nevertheless, we welcome the addition of a dedicated vegetarian eatery to our neighbourhood when often it seems Indian restaurants relegate vegetable dishes to after-thought status.

Atithi Indian Restaurant on Urbanspoon

She’s Thai – takeaway

4 Comments

Friday takeaway dinner from She's Thai.

She’s Thai, 208 Somerville Rd, Kingsville. Phone: 9314 5556

Isn’t it some sort of bureaucratic insanity that sees kids start the new school year on a Thursday or Friday?

In any case, we’ve stumbled across the finish line of another week, including Bennie’s two-day week and my own commuting-and-driving routine.

We’re worn out and the house is out of food.

We’ve already been out on the fang once this week and will do so again some time over the weekend, so all we feel like is some quality sofa time.

It’s the perfect opportunity to take our local Thai joint, only sparingly frequented since our initial story, out for another spin.

Keeping the price down by cooking our own rice, going for two mains and ignoring the temptations of the entree list, we order red curry chicken and – wanting the crunch and zing of a stiry fry – the preow wahn, which is described as “sweet and sour using ‘royal cuisine’ style”.

Takeaway dinner from She's Thai.

Stir fry? Really?

Call it what you want – in our house we’ll call it soup.

Truly, our preow wahn is unlike anything we’ve ever come across before that has been even remotely stir fry.

The jumble of vegetables and pineapple is OK, but the gravy – soup! – is like a close cousin of the Cantonese sweet and sour.

A lame cousin.

Our red chicken curry is better, though fairly minimalist in terms of size.

What seems to be the same vegetable mix joins the chicken pieces is a gravy that separates out into its separate components.

Am I correct in assuming this signifies home-cooking, as opposed supermarket sauces and coconut milk overkill?

Aside from our stir fry being nothing we’d label as such and a disappointingly low level of spice and zing, our dinner goes OK but is still disappointing.

Surprisingly enough, that disappointment does little to dent our faith in the worthiness and integrity of She’s Thai.

Waiting to bat during the next day’s cricket match at Spotswood, Bennie calls it right: “It’d be better if we went there to eat their food!”

Not to mention relying on the staff for advice, making sure of much higher spice levels and more robust flavours, and maybe trying one of the handful of duck dishes.

And then there’s always the sticky and delicious massaman beef curry.

She's Thai - service with a smile!

She's Thai on Urbanspoon

Barkley St: KFC, Sweet Grass tea garden … and Indian restaurants

6 Comments

Formerly Taj Banjara, soon to be Vanakkam

It’s the end of Bennie’s first day of school for the year, his first in grade 5, so we figure it’s time to celebrate by letting him have his way with the mocktail list at Sweet Grass Bonsai Nursery & Cafe in Footscray.

But as we approach we take in the building activity on both sides of the tea house – time for some questions and answers.

Inside the premises that in recent years housed the Indian restaurant Taj Banjara, we talk to Jagadish.

He gives us the good news – the refit going here will soon house a new-look Vanakkam, formerly of Nicholson St and formerly reviewed here at Consider The Sauce.

Jagadish tells us that the menu in the new restaurant will be basically the same as in the old, including dosas, but that there will expansion along the lines of tandoori breads.

Opening day? Friday, February 10.

On the other side of Sweet Grass – and Vincent Vegetarian Food Mart – will be the new Pandu’s, at 351 Barkly.

Pandu himself is not around when I stick my nose in, but judging by the extensive renovationary activity going on, the new restaurant bearing his name is going to be bigger, more comfortable and swisher than the one that preceded it.

Let’s hope the prices stay the same, though!

The new Pandu's takes shape.

What an all-round boon this is bound to be – not just for locals (Hi, Juz!), but also for those of us who live slightly further afield.

The adjacent side streets are likely to offer some parking capacity, while the clearway restrictions end at 6pm on week nights.

Amusing or ironic? Both these new restaurants will help bring this stretch of Barkly St alive after being given the heave-ho from their previous abodes because of railway developments.

And, yes, Bennie goes for the Black Widow of vanilla ice cream, lime juice and cola.

In a big way: “This drink is so good I can’t not drink it!”

Slurp!

Closing Yarraville’s Ballarat St: A work in progress

4 Comments

Still in at least two minds about this.

Maybe once the works are completed, this’ll be a grouse space to hang out.

And it’ll surely be a winner for the duration of the Yarraville Arts Festival on Saturday, February 11.

On the other hand, the glossy, fake grass and plants-for-hire are already imparting a rather trashy ambience – a bit like a temporary enclosure at a racecourse during the Spring Carnival or at Moomba!

Earlier post here.

Amanie’s Bakery

2 Comments

Omelette with "the lots".

Amanie’s Bakery, Shop 4/280 Main Rd, St Albans. Phone: 9364 5333

No matter where you head in Melbourne for your fix Lebanese pies and pizza, they remain some of the very cheapest and finest food available.

The shop at the Circle in Altona is our default Lebanese pizza shop, due to both its excellence and the neighbouring shops, several of which have become firm and regular favourites.

It has a limited range, though, and in terms of an enjoyable eating-out-in-public experience, it doesn’t get more spartan.

Sometimes it’s only natural to want something a bit more colourful and entertaining.

That’s why we also really like Mankoushe in Brunswick and Al-alamy in Coburg.

Both offer broader menus that include things such as dip and falafel platters.

And both are way up there when it comes to interest, human and otherwise, and entertainment.

Amanie’s Bakery in St Albans resides somewhere between those two approaches, both in travelling distance from Yarraville and overall vibe.

The decor and furnishings are your basic ethnic cafe stuff, but the food list has all the basics and a few other items as well.

Mr Amanie, who has been here about 10 years, is a cheerful and obliging host.

Tending the Amanie's oven.

I’m here today to buy pies for the coming week – and, of course, for lunch, for which I desire something other than pies!

So I order the omelette “with lots”, which is going to cost me $5.50.

I’m half expecting that this will be served as the scrambled eggs are at Al-alamy – with pita bread, tomato slices, pickles and olives on the side – but I’m up for whatever eventuates.

That’s all to the good, as what I receive is a sort of egg pizza, with the omelette spread on the base and studded with tomato, olives and capsicum.

It’s been dusted deftly with chilli powder, which delivers a nice and spicy glow to what is just the sort of light lunch I craved.

Ms Baklover gives her rundown of this bakery’s gear  here at Fooscray Food Blog.

Meanwhile, it continues to be a profound mystery to me why Lebanese pizzas and pies – and sundry other dishes at the places that serve them – are not more widely celebrated as a brilliant and magical slice of Melbourne’s food scene.

Sweet Grass Bonsai Nursery & Cafe

11 Comments

Sweet Grass Bonsai Nursery & Cafe, 357 Barkly St, West Footscray. Phone: 0488 688 808

What was once a nursery is still so – but with a difference.

The commercial nursery that long resided at this address on this under-utilised stretch of Barkly St has become a beautiful bonsai garden and cafe.

It’s a calming oasis.

Even on a hot day, the temperature seems to decrease in the garden and adjacent seating area.

Having already visited the Sri Lankan grocer around the corner on the Geelong road, I’d dropped in to check the place out only to find there’s no food available.

An unsatisfactory lunch is had nearby before I return to truly luxuriate in and enjoy the setting.

Bonsai, of course, is a Japanese tradition, but the management here is Vietnamese and Buddhist, as some of the statutory reveals.

One of them tells me her partner is a landscaper whose passion is bonsai.

It’s his private collection – some of them seem surprisingly large to bonsai ignoramus me – that makes up the serenely designed garden that adjoins the cool, calm undercover seating area.

There are smaller, younger plants for sale in the rear section.

I ponder the mocktail list.

This is a document Bennie will no doubt study with intensity when the time comes.

Maybe a Dutch Treat – milk, cocoa, cinnamon and honey – will be his go.

Or maybe a Black Widow of vanilla ice cream, lime juice and cola.

The boy does love a sundae, after all.

They seem very reasonably priced at $5, but it’s a bit hard to tell without laying eyes on one and seeing how big they are.

I play creature of habit and order a cafe latte.

It’s fine.

I’ve had it good lately with fantastic coffee from diverse and non-standard cafe settings – Cup & Bean and Tico’s Drive Thru, for instance.

You won’t get a feed at Sweet Grass but it’s nourishment for the soul anyway.

Read another story on Sweet Grass at Fill Up On Bread.

Sims Footscray

18 Comments

The deli section at Sims in Footscray is a winner.

Sims Footscray, 511 Barkly St, West Footscray. Phone: 9687 2117

The Footscray branch of Sims doesn’t get quite as much of our time or money as it used to.

Other places – the Circle in Altona, Sunshine Fresh Food Market, the combo of our local Yarraville IGA and the Village Store a few doors along – tend to get our shopping action these days.

Still, it proves useful still on occasion – it often depends where we’re heading home from.

Will the big boys squeeze Sims out?

According to a very short article at Wikipedia, the Sims family package of supermarkets is now down to two – Footscray and Werribee.

Stores in Hoppers Crossing and Sunshine have been sold and rebadged under the macPlus Retail Group banner.

The two remaining Sims stores are affiliated with IGA in some way, but I seriously wonder how the Footscray branch is going to deal with the growing pressure of rapid growth – the store backs on to Bunbury Village – and the arrival of the big boys.

The Highpoint development project currently being erected will house a new Woolworths supermarket, and just up the road from Sims there’s an Aldi and a Coles at the Central West.

We like the range of Black & Gold sweeties at Sims.

Sims stocks Bickfords cordials – bit not the bitter lemon flavour! Grrrrr …

They do stock muesli basics, though. The white sultanas and roasted almonds for same are obtained from Sunshine Fresh Food Market.

Sims often has pretty good specials. I’ll be interested to see how these super cheap Italian tomatoes scrub up.

For a store that has quite a robust Mediterranean flavour, the range of oils and pastas is on the humdrum side.

For some splendid reason, the Footscray Sims just about always has really cheap red capsicums.

I love the way the smell of them getting blasted in the oven fills up the house.

Peeling and seeding roast capsicum is one of those Zen things – you’ll end up with a puddle of mush if you’re in any way cranky, impatient or hasty.

So soothing to just let your fingers ease the seeds and skins away!

The deli section at Sims is definitely one of the store’s strengths, with a really excellent range of cheeses.

The meat section is no great shakes, but there are quite often specials on items that are approaching the date they’ll have to be disposed of.

We tried a couple of these rather fine-looking but affordable pizzas … and found them to be not very good at all. The Village Store in Yarraville has a different and better brand.

I’ve often been frustrated when being unable to find fresh coriander at Sims. And then, when I do find some, I find it’s $3 a bunch!

The bread and specialty biscuit arrays don’t do much for us, but we like the range of rolls and buns for work and school lunches.

The ATM comes in the flavour of free – for my cards, anyway!

In some ways, that we don’t use Sims so much these days is a little sad for us. It’s just the right size – you know, not too big, not too small.

And it’s eccentric and and has a heart, unlike its corporate competitors.

Long may it remain open!

A little bit of Magic in West Footscray …

Leave a comment

It’s small, as far as vacant lots go.

Despite – or perhaps because of – a lack of attention, it’s far from overgrown.

We wonder how long it’s been here, like this.

The lovely little shack at the end exudes an air of mystery.

It’s shrouded in grey brambles and guarded by greenery.

The chimney may be a little off vertical, but it’s not crooked.

It should be.

At night, we imagine, the local Little Folk and other free spirits gather here to gambol.

We drive past often.

When we do, as if to reassure ourselves that all is right with the world, we slow down, crane our necks, just to make sure everything is still in place.

It’ll be sad day for us when it isn’t.

Tico’s Drive Thru

5 Comments

Tico’s Drive Thru has a stylish appearance.

Tico’s Drive Thru, 549 Geelong Rd, Brooklyn.

Tico is really on to a winner here.

Actually, there is no Tico.

The owner and proprietor of Tico’s Drive Thru is a cheerful and energetic chap by the name of Hugo.

Tico, he explains to me, is vernacular for Costa Rican – in the same way as Aussie or Yank.

Hugo is Costa Rican, having moved to Australia about 27 years ago, and so is his Di Bella coffee.

He’d owned the triangular site on the corner of Geelong Rd, Francis St and Millers Rd for about eight years with not much idea what he was going to do with it until he dreamed up his bustling coffee enterprise.

Having driven past so many times, it’s a little surreal to be watching him and his staff as the endless streams of cars and trucks whiz by in both directions.

Hugo tells me they’re nearing the end of the morning rush hours, but they still seem plenty busy to me.

Tico’s produces about 700 coffees a day.

Incredibly, they sell about 750 coffees every week day.

And of those, Hugo says, about 600 are regulars.

He may not remember the routine orders of all those 600 or so, but he certainly knows those of the half-dozen or so cars that have pulled in as we are talking.

Most small/regular coffees are priced at $3.

My cafe latte is excellent.

There’s little or no room for a customer to linger, as this is a dedicated drive-by operation – the confined nature of the property allows nothing else.

But Hugo says future outlets will hopefully cater to sit-down customers, too.

The next is planned for Essendon.

This, the first Tico’s, sells a basic range of cookies, but a doughnut machine is in the process of being installed and should be in operation in about three weeks.

They give copies of the Herald Sun to customers, the wireless EFTPOS service takes no longer than a cash transaction and there’s an on-site ATM.

I feel fatigued just watching the Tico’s crew in action.

The TeaPot Cottage Cafe

1 Comment

25 Beach St, Werribee South. Phone: 0409 138 181

THIS BUSINESS IS NOW CLOSED

Is it possible to get a lunchtime feed in Werribee South?

This is my cheery challenge for the day.

My rudimentary online research bore little fruit – just unhelpfully vague mentions of a takeaway joint and some tea rooms.

And I can recall no eateries from our previous visits to Werribee South – and there were actually quite a few.

I find it interesting that even in our relatively short 10-year stint in the west, we have already gone through several phases – in eating and other contexts.

Gravy Train in Gamon St, for instance, and to a lesser extent Hausfrau in Yarraville used to be an almost daily part of our routine, for breakfasts and more.

But no more.

We’ve left the cafe habit behind, prefer our brekkies at home and save our pennies for much more interesting – to us – fare available for lunches or dinners.

Likewise, we were once reasonably frequent visitors to Werribbee Mansion, often availing ourselves of the light but tasty and affordable bar menu before gamboling in the lovely grounds.

Often, too, such outings would entail a leisurely drive through kilometres of large vegetable patches, around Werribee South and then home.

As was the case then, today finds me a surprised and delighted to drive through large areas of intense market garden activity before suddenly finding myself in a seaside holiday destination so close to Melbourne.

There’s a good-sized caravan park, outside the main entrance of which is the takeaway establishment, which I quickly verify is not for me.

There’s a coast guard station, a lagoon/estuary, jetty and play areas.

And then, just as I have almost completed a circuit of the entire burg, I come across the TeaPot Cottage Cafe.

This, of course, is the tea rooms business I had stumbled across online without discovering its real name or nature.

Its real nature is wonderful – this a charming, classic, old-school tea house!

As such, it perhaps behooves me to order something appropriate to such a setting – the scotch fillet steak burger or beef burgundy pie (both $18), for instance.

The breakfast menu includes “Eve’s Traditional Scottish Breakfast”, which shovels up potato scones, Ayrshire gammon (yes, I had to look it up), black pudding, Scottish sausage, Aussie eggs, baked beans and toast for $20.

Whew!

Had I a companion for the day, the ploughman’s lunch for two and for $30 would appeal.

But I chance my arm by ordering the beer-battered whiting ($18).

I enjoy sitting in overcast warmth at one of the outside tables, flicking through one of the local rags until my lunch arrives.

Oh dear! The salad bits are dreary and the tartare sauce is in the dreaded sachets!

The chips are better – a little under-done for my tastes, but they’re hot and taste fine.

The fish is better again – much better.

I’ve never been a whiting fan and certainly never order it when we’re out at one of our usual F&C haunts.

But this is really good!

What looks like a rather modest serve of four smallish pieces of fish is actually a surprisingly filling meal.

The fish is firm and flavoursome, and the slightly thick and chewy batter adheres to the fish admirably well. This all a bit chunkier than is usually the case with the sort of beer-battered whiting you find is flash F&C places or more expensive seafood eateries, but for me it’s a winning approach.

Even at $18, significantly above our normal F&C rates, I love my lunch, especially given the nice setting.

Back inside, I happily check out the classic tea-room decor, decorations and trimmings.

I don’t specifically recall laying my eyes on any doilies, but I’m sure they’re there somewhere.

I tell my host, Eve, and her staff (top photo) that their place not only reminds me of tea-room visit of my long-ago South Island childhood – it smells the same, too.

“I know,” says Eve.

My mum would love this place, for sure!

Eve also confirms what I had already suspected – the two-scone Devonshire teas with jam and real cream are the place’s best-sellers by a mile.

And no metric conversion necessary or even appropriate.

No EFTPOS available.

Teapot Cottage Cafe on Urbanspoon