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It's so easy to always go to the same suburbs, take the same roads, go to the same places. But in doing that, you sometimes forget that the road goes the other way, that Fairfield is just down that way....
Brad and I ended up in Fairfield on a lovely Sunday, strolling up and down Station St scoping out our options. It's literally a 10 minute drive from my place, why haven't we come here sooner?!
During our stroll, amongst the more obvious cafes, bustling, people littered about in the sunshine, a shy green doorway and what looked like a boutique store caught my eye.
The store was called Organic Gertrude, selling absolutely everything you could ever want organic, from baby food to vitamins to fruit and vegetables and at the very back, hidden away was Gertrude's gorgeous little kitchen, or well cafe actually.
I can't quite remember how I noticed the cafe at the very back, there might have been a sign outside, or I was convinced as I peered in there was more than meets the eye. It's my inner foodie radar at work! The chalkboard menus, green walls, book shelves and dessert display just exuded the charm of being in Nan's kitchen. Quirky, but comfortable. Although a small space, the high ceilings and mirrors along one side of the room really expanded the room.
Latte as usual for Brad and a mug, not just a glass, a big, beautiful, chunky mug of chai latte, all for me! The coffee served here is fair trade organic and I'm pretty sure the chai was as well. Whilst I admit to not being completely into the organic food movement (my chai was yummy, but not overwhelmingly more so than usual), I do think fair trade is something that we should all support.
And so it came to the hardest part as usual. What to order. After uhm-ing and aah-ing and oo-ing over other people's dishes that came out (the sandwiches look absolutely giant! And very fresh) we settled on our usual favourites. Eggs.
I got the roast vegetable frittata (okay so not eggs in it's entirety, but it's still very egg-y!) with some tomato chutney on the side. The two prominent stars of the frittata were the asparagus and tomatoes, two of my favourite vegetables, so I happily ate this lovely warm dish with great relish. It was light and quite springy, and the tomato chutney was a nice little addition for a sweet tooth like me. A little less bite than I might have encountered with other chutneys in the past, but there were little raisins in it which really made it quite sweet, which I personally like as well. Maybe I'm just too easy to please. Hmmm.
Brad got the omelette, with onions and a few other things inside....I'm sorry, I thought I would remember this time! The plate was giant though, served with two pieces of crunchy toast and a generous, fresh looking salad. I had a few bites of the omelette and thought it was really lovely, again the texture was quite light and fluffy and it was hardly oily.
As I said earlier, I'm not as into the organic movement (more so because I'm lazy than anything else), but I suppose if it means we eat in season more and teach ourselves to pay more attention to what we're putting into our bodies instead of using pesticides and storing methods that allow us to produce any product under the sun at any time of the year, then it might not be such a bad thing to encourage a bit more.
And in a place this charming, how can you not want to buy everything off the shelf?! I only lament that they didn't have outside seating so that I could enjoy the sun!
Organic Gertrude/Gertrude's Kitchen108 Station St Fairfield, 3078
Ah, I'm sliding into the terrible food blogger habit of being behind in my posts. Naturally. It kinda happens since we do eat all the time anyway.
Although this time, it might have benefited me, as I managed two visits to this location, which means....yup, more food porn for everyone! And a warning of a ginormous post in your immediate near future....should you choose to keep reading!
The first visit was triggered when David told me he was going to be in Fitzroy in the evening on a Sunday that I had to pick up my mum from the airport, which David decided he'd accompany me to. Hence dinner was in order!
After perusing Urbanspoon for a while, I settled on Yong Green Food. Whilst vegetarian places don't usually immediately spark my interest, or Asian places for that matter, looking at the menu and the indolent cook's review, the concept of 'raw' meals tickled me.
This is what I love about Melbourne, unpretentious, simple and honestly, not too exciting from the outside right? I'm fairly sure if I were a resident of Fitzoy, I probably wouldn't saunter this far down Brunswick Street, or if I did, I would completely walk by without noticing. But then you open the door....
And you have one of the coolest walls I have ever seen in a restaurant. Although it does help that I am smitten with dragons. A fairly dim and earthy room, with raw and well loved wooden tables and chairs, mixed in with cherry blossom decorations on the walls and a few more cushy looking seats. It's an eclectic mix which keeps it from being 'hippy' or overtly Asian.
So everything at Yong Green Food is vegetarian. Having said that, choices here are certainly not sparse. There's almost half a page dedicated to 'raw' meals, food that hasn't been cooked at all followed by another page and a half of starters and mains, then another page even, with noodles, wraps and desserts. Phew! You have a great selection of gluten free and organic dishes as well. It was really quite sad to try and narrow it down to just a few dishes to try!
To start, a chai latte with almond milk. Have to say I couldn't really honestly taste the difference, although the texture of the milk seemed a bit different.
David got a pink smoothie with strawberries, bananas and almond milk. This was one of the best smoothies I have ever had. Everyone needs to stop going to the smoothie/boost outlets and come here instead. I don't think I've ever tasted a smoothie that's had the taste of the strawberries and bananas come out this distinctively, it was disgustingly thick in the best way possible. The only problem I really foresee is being completely filled up on smoothie before the meal starts!
We started with the 'Tofu Pocket Platter', tofu pocket filled with rice and soy tuna. I hardly call two pieces a platter honestly, but the two pieces that were there were a very very decent size. This was a very refreshing start though, I'm not sure what they marinated the soy tuna in, but it was absolutely delicious and startlingly cold.
Our 'raw' item of the night, a cashew bread sandwich. Crispy cashew bread filled with tomato, cucumber, avocado and lettuce with beetroot walnut dip and raw tomato sauce. Entirely gluten free to boot! So whilst not quite a sandwich that I was thinking of, I was in love with the ferociously pink beetroot dip and just the overall colouful and fresh appearance of the dish. Was a treat to the tastebuds too, with it's various textures. And that tomato sauce on top? It was like spreading sundried tomato all over the sandwich and with me being a bit of a tomato-phile, I was in heaven. Don't you just love knowing that you're just putting awesomely good stuff in your body too?
Next up was the Thai green curry, served with absolutely delicious brown rice. I don't remember the last time I had so much rice. There's just something about the small grains, the more wholesome taste, the rougher texture. It absorbed the curry beautifully, in which there was a surprising amount of kick (although not too much for a kid brought up in a Malaysian household. It was too much for David though), the curry and spices really came through nicely and hey, I love super soft broccoli.
I insisted we had to have dessert and chose the strawberry 'raw cheesecake' for us. It supposedly contains cashew, coconut oil, agave, almonds, sunflower seeds, sultanas, dates and coconut. The coconut certainly came through and was far more prominent than the strawberries, but I loved the density of this and the delicious crumbly cake base.
Yum yum!
After telling my mother about the place and how the menu excited me, I found myself back at Yong Green Food later the following week.
More raw dishes were had! Nachos with chia chips (chai seeds, capsicum, carrot, onion and gralic) served with cashew cream, guacamole and sunfried seeds (sunflower seeds, tomato, onion and spices). The chia chips were really very tasty (loved the seeds!) and had an interesting texture, whilst not wholly crispy, there was a nice crunch. I only wish there were more chips and more dip!
The aptly named 'rawsagne'. Layered zucchini with mushrooms, onion, cashew cream and raw tomato sauce. It really just looked like a great big beautiful vegetable cake. The zucchini was sliced so thin and was so light and refreshing I kept mistaking it for cucumber! And gosh, the cashew cream sandwiched through really added a lovely smooth texture into it, a bit of richness, but not too heavy.
Our raw 'Nutty Burger', a burger pattie made of carrots, walnuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, vegetables and herbs. Served with raw tomato sauce and cashew cream (there seems to be a pattern developing here...). You'd certainly think that with the abundant use of cashew cream and similar ingredients that everything would taste the same, but the way things are bound together seem to continuously be different, creating different textures.
Mum liked the idea of the kimchi pancake, I found it slightly doughy, but the flavours were interesting. The kimchi certainly came through!
Miso udon, this dish was a beast! This picture does not show the scale of this thing, it's pretty much served in a wok sized bowl! I forgot to get all the details down of this dish, but I know it had 'wheat chicken'. The broth was delicious, although I don't think it's too difficult to get miso down pat and the noodles looked quite thick and luxurious. However, the 'wheat' chicken was a bit of a let down, it really was much more like tofu than anything else.
Japanese curry with vegetables and 'soy' beef, served with brown rice. The 'soy' beef was a lot more impressive than the 'wheat' chicken found in the udon. It was quite a bit like having a really tender piece of beef, as it obviously didn't have the chewiness that you do otherwise get. I have been craving Japanese curry for a while, and I loved the thick and saucy gravy, nice and mild. That gravy over brown rice? Perfect.
Mexican chilli beans, honestly, probably the dish that least captured my attention out of all that we had. It was served a little bit cooler than I'd have liked it and for being called 'chilli' beans, there was pretty much no spice to them. More tomato and beans than anything else.
My brother, being the Japanese culture addict (which he probably got from me), couldn't resist the green tea raw cheesecake. Unlike the strawberry, the coconut was much more subdued in this variation and the green tea really came through. I just loved the goji berries on top, doesn't it just look gorgeous?
And for mum and I? A gluten free pecan pie. Oh yes. Oh yes. I can't remember what was in it, more coconut I imagine (as you could taste it) but it was a lot less dense and a little more crumbly and cake like. There was a generous amount of huge pecans in it and the cream they put on top? It made the pecan pie so delightfully moist, it was just perfect.
Phew. That's quite a lot of food. But in both my experiences at Yong Green Food, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. It is run by some lovely Korean women, who are just so friendly and attentive. Food comes out incredibly quickly, my brother commenting it was almost like being in a fast food place! And whilst maybe some of you are wondering if only vegetables will really keep you full, they really do. My mum commented the next day that she was completely satisfied the whole night and I had gone out after the second meal to a gig, danced the whole night away and never felt second hunger pangs coming on. (Normally I do sneak in a McFluffy on a late night out....)
I think I've become absolutely smitten with the place and I admire how this place seems to be quietly doing well for themselves, being completely full on Saturday and filling up quite quickly on a Sunday night.
Yong Green Food
421 Brunswick St Fitzroy
Fitzroy, 3065
Spuds. Potatoes. In the mind of an ex-serial-dieter, these are quite devilish, with their carbohydrates and habit of being dunked in oil and salt. Or even if they are a beloved jacket potato, they tend to be coated in cheese and oil. And more salt.
But lo and behold, if there's one thing developed countries like doing, is taking a guilty pleasure and making it, not so guilty. Meet Grill'd, Crust and Mad Mex. They've taken what is generally looked at being 'bad for you' food and made them the way they should have always been, with fresh ingredients and only enough oil to cook the stuff in. Not drown it! Along the way, these franchises have marketed themselves to appear hip and trendy, drawing in crowd bigger than just the health conscious and be the place to be at.
Meet Spudbar. Yes, I've heard of several 'Spud Bar' places in the past. I hear there was one on the end of Glenferrie Road, I recall seeing something similar in the Prahran area, but on Glenferrie Road (they're located in a couple of other places around Melbourne) this is a new tenant. Located not too far across the road from Grill'd on Glenferrie Road.
It's stripped back, grungy bare brick walls with a touch of smart green paint on new wooden boards and a chalkboard here and there.
Spudbar's philosophy is similar to what you've seen at Grill'd and Crust and the others, healthy living, never taking shortcuts on quality, freshness and nutritional value and are providing an honest approach to healthy, but convenient food.
As per the name, Spudbar delivers spuds, steamed (I assume after having it) with a variety of toppings. Although, rather than wrapped in foil like a jacket potato (as I also was somewhat expecting) it's served in a bowl and filled to the brim with fresh goodness.
I went with the Chilli bean and salsa spud, although I paid a little extra to have a sweet potato instead of your usual 'spud'. Mild chilli bean, tomato salsa, chilli flakes, corn, chese, broccoli, light sour cream, chives and topped with corn chips, it was really quite a lot! There were so many toppings, it really took me a while to dig in and find my sweet potato, although when I did find it, was really soft and oh so sweet. Just gorgeous! There wasn't quite as much kick to this from the chilli bean and chilli flakes as I would've liked, but I still really enjoyed it. Was actually too much for me to finish that day, had to leave some behind!
Brad got the classic and best selling, Crispy Bacon Spud. This naturally comes with bacon and cheese as well as mushroom, shredded cabbage, baby spinach, tomato salsa, light sour cream and chives. Also good and he finished all his before helping himself to mine.
I like that there's another option on Glenferrie Road other than Grill'd for something quick and reasonably priced. And I find that this doesn't weigh you down as much afterwards, as there's obviously not as much meat in these as a burger!
Spudbar717 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn VIC
Spring. Makes you think of flowers, sunshine, pretty floral printed dresses, hayfever and random sprinklings of rain.
And I suppose that's what you usually get, unless of course, you live in Melbourne. This girl is a little bit schizophrenic. She'll be all sunshine and 25 degrees early on in the week and then come the weekend, when I want that gorgeous disposition she was displaying before, when I'm planning to be at the Caulfield Cup, she gives me hail and torrential rain the day before the event.
Yes I've decided Melbourne is a she, how else would you explain all those mood swings?
I love going to the races and do make the effort to be there at least once a year, my favourite races to attend being the Caulfield Guineas or the Caulfield cup. I tend to find the Flemington racetrack is even more overrun with drunken teenagers and bogans and just gets too busy for my tastes. So this year, despite the horrible weather nearly canceling the cup, I rounded up a few guys and we suited up and dolled up (the latter probably just being me).
Initially we had planned to go to a cafe a couple hundred metres away from the track, because I couldn't really find anything else popping up on yourrestaurants.com, but just a hundred metres or so from the train station, this little place caught my eye.
And all I really did want were eggs anyway.
So we trotted into Restore Cafe Bar, as the clouds started to part and the sun tried to squeeze through the cracks and was greeted by one of the most jovial Asian men I have ever met. Full of energy, full of smiles and ever eager to help, putting together some tables by the window for us. It was meant to be!
Coffees for the boys and a chai latte for me. Beautifully frothed milk, and incredibly comforting in the chill 15 degrees. Quite a number of people popped in and out with takeaway coffees, understandably, they are pretty good.
And then, it was eggs for everybody!
Both the boys got the big breakfast, both with poached eggs, it smelled absolutely amazing as it was set down in front of them. Whilst the presentation not the most elegant, the boys seemed to enjoy themselves well enough!
I went for the omelette, this picture does no justice as to how big it was, it really was huge! Lovingly hidden within that, there was ham, cheese, mushrooms and chives and onions inside. I really loved the abundance of chives and onion, really gave a lot of flavour to the whole thing and the cheese....oh the cheese! It was also remarkably not that oily at all, the eggs was quite fluffy (although flat) and although I was initially daunted by it's size, it didn't take very long for it to be demolished away! Have to prepare the tummy for all that bubbly on the track!
This is the sort of place I'd love to be a regular at, friendly staff, homely food. Whilst breakfast was delicious and a great way to start the day, I unfortunately didn't do very well at the races and ended up down $25! Darn!
But we were so thankful that the sun did come out and we were only showered on twice!
Restore Cafe Bar18 Derby Rd Caulfield East, 03145
In the jungle, the tiger is king.
Except in this one, where curry is king.
What?
Brad and I walked by Easy Tiger, quite accidentally, before it opened and the place immediately caught my eye. Upon arriving home I quickly googled up a storm and was super excited to discover it was to be a Thai restaurant and opening soon!
So whilst I wanted to go in the first week it opened, with life getting in the way as it does, we settled on a little date night the week after.
You could still smell the waft of new paint and freshly unwrapped furniture rush by you as you opened the door, as off putting as it might sound, it's quite exciting as well. And you get used to it after the initial entry.
First Huxtable and now Easy Tiger, with the clean modern lines, simple colour palette and an easy spaciousness. No clutter around here! There was an adorable little couch area up near the front of the restaurant, one long communal table which filled up with chatty diners throughout the night and a few smaller tables for two, or when put together for four or more.
Upon being seated we were immediately each presented with a cup of blooming tea in these gorgeous little cups. From Bodum. Kind of tempted to pick up a set for myself.
We decided to start our night with a little bottle of Ranman Tokusen Gingo sake, which were served in champagne glasses, a fun little twist I reckon. As our waiter informed us, it was indeed quite a bit heavier, rich and creamy. I tend to favour dry sakes, but this was really gorgeous and I couldn't get enough of it with it's full bodied flavour. At 16.5% it hits you pretty hard!
The suggestion was to either go with the preset banquet or pick a curry to be king, with maybe a salad and son in law eggs. And rice. Rice is very important.
We went with the latter suggestion and added an entree to it.
Betel leaves with prawn and fresh coconut started our meal. And don't forget a good dusting of shallots there too. I picked this as I remember having something similar in a Thai restaurant in Malaysia (go figure), and I wasn't disappointed. When wrapped up, they proved to be formidable sized crunchy mouthfuls, and surprisingly juicy, the juices trickling down my wrist with every bite. Not the most elegant thing to eat, but definitely fun and really great textures and flavours, a hint of shallots there, a crunch of peanut here.
Duck and watermelon salad with green chilli, mint and peanuts. The duck was lovely and tender and was an interesting, but suitable, contrast to the refreshing mint and watermelon. Flavours were mixed and quite complex, but still very enjoyable. The chilli had a nice little bite to it. I did like the colour the watermelon added to the dish as well.
Curry is one of those things that is really just impossible to shoot prettily. Especially if it's Malaysian inspired since Malaysian curries are well...brown. And kinda lumpy. Hmm, not really that sexy unfortunately.
For our 'King' of the table, we went with the Panaeng curry of pumpkin, baby corn and thai basil. At first bite, both Brad and I just went quiet, retreating back into our own head spaces to enjoy the rich and hearty flavours. I loved the thick and heavy gravy, it was perfect the perfect thing to just drown my fluffy rice in. The pumpkin was soft, but not mushy and I loved the curry leaves tossed throughout, adding that extra warmth to the curry when bitten down on. I did lament a little bit that I wasn't seeing or getting the taste of the baby corn, I was expecting to see it bobbing up in the curry at least!
Son in law eggs, highly recommended by our waiter, so we caved in and got one each. They are eggs, soft boiled for just 5 minutes and then fried so that they are sealed and a bit firmer on the outside. I loved how they looked when presented to us and was very excited to pop them open. I can't help but play with my food. The insides just exploded out and saturated the rice. It was just delicious, there was a sweetness to them, adding yet another flavour palette to our rather complex meal already. I loved these. If I didn't say that already.
Brad and I ate family style, with all the dishes coming out quite quickly, one after the other. After divvying up the portions, I like how hearty and filled up my plate looked. It was just a nice size for one, although I was a bit fuller than I expected. Once again, we both had to say no to dessert this time. You'd think I'd learn my lesson eventually!
Service was just impeccable, I don't think I've met such hospitable and charming staff in a while, quick to bring water, quick to bring drinks, efficient in explaining the menu and so helpful with suggestions. And chatty as well. I had a wonderful night and look forward to exploring more of this jungle soon.
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