Meaty menus

I've been wading my way through a list of cafes that seems to be ever expanding. My focus is mainly from the brunch perspective - for those that haven't noticed its definitely a favourite meal period. And along the way I've become increasingly aware of the appearance of two distinct varieties of menu. One with lots of choices and another that seems to be a little limited and not always because of the number of dishes. Both styles usually have a few of the conventional English style breakfast items such as eggs with bacon and sausages together with selections a little less traditional such as beans or mushrooms. But even so, at times I feel it's a battle to choose a dish, why I ask?

Now I'm no vegetarian, not even close. But I do like menus that allow me to choose a dish that has a balance of components and scrambled eggs, even if they are truffled, served with pork and fennel sausages is a lot of animal! Consequently it’s the menus with a little less meat that I find most appealing and seemly I find these in business staffed by lots of women. Now I know that physiologically we girls require less protein in the diet and meat provides higher percentages of protein than say cheese or legumes but does it really impact so obviously on the way the menu is structured???  A question to explore further I think,  do women write less meat based menus?

Any way the menu at Milkwood is meaty without all the meat! Even the pork and fennel sausages come braised with heaps of onions, which created a better balance. There's also tomato butter beans with feta, lemon thyme mushrooms with ricotta, avocado with lemon oil and potato gems just to mention a few of the choices. And the sweet and fruity porridge, muesli and pancakes all sounded good too – ah next time! (The lunch baguettes and cakes on display looked appealing as well). Besides the grand choices I particularly liked the structure of the menu where one could almost 'build' your own dish. Tasty and generous serves of real food I feel. And efficient service to boot.


Milkwood, 120 Nicholson St, Brunswick East.

Fresh is best

'Unherbed' pho

New to my list of Bridge Road favourites but already well discovered by many of Melbourne's pho lovers is Pho Chu The. I love the simplicity of a Pho Restaurant - Beef Pho or Chicken Pho (pronounced 'fer'). For those in the know, as there is not much of a menu as such, a few extra treats for your pho can also be ordered, like tripe; beef tendon or congealed blood! And for the really hungry or those needing textural contrasts, the other option is to start with a plate of crispy Vietnamese spring rolls - the ones that you wrap in the lettuce with a few herbs and dip into Nước Chấm.

As I was simultaneously inhaling the warm aromatic steam and picking fresh herbs into my broth the conversation on the next table, which is never very far away in such establishments, caught my interest. The mention of ex-students often draws my attention. This conversation is about how ludicrous the advertisement for a well known supermarket chain by a celebrity chef is. "I only want the freshest and the best", the Chef states. "What chef would want old and the worst", the young man jeered. It seemed a particularly relevant comment when I inspected the supreme freshness of the crisp mung bean sprouts which were about to follow the seemingly ‘just-picked’ holy basil into my bowl of fragrant broth. The essence of Vietnamese cuisine, as it differs from other Asian cuisines, is in it's defining simplicity and freshness. And certainly when I was shopping for food, cooking and eating in Vietnam, a few years back, the focus on these elements was paramount and seemingly far removed from the mind set of the 'one-stop' supermarket shop on a weekly/fortnightly basis that has become a common Aussie routine. So I say ditch the 'Big Two', shop local, shop small and shop often.

Pho Chu The  Bo Ga
270 Victoria Street, Richmond

Nyonya Kueh

I tried so valiantly to eat my way through the cuisine of Malaysia during my recent trip yet since returning I have discovered I didn't even scratch the surface. And it seems I did a pretty average job at 'Nonya' style dishes in particular, perhaps in part because we didn't get to Melaka in the south - next time for sure!

The Otak Otak Prawns or Fish (Nonya fish custard wrapped in banana leaves) at Lims Nonya Hut is missing the banana leaves, difficult to get Lim tells us. The prawns are however tenderly cooked in a creamy custard of deliciously balanced coconut, kaffir lime, chilli, lemongrass, galangal, turmeric and shrimp paste on a base of betel leaves. Wow. As there was just the two of us we limited our ordering to just two dishes, our other choice a vegetable acar (a dish of mixed pickled vegetables and peanuts in spicy and sour sauce) oh and steamed rice.  The acar was maybe a little overpowering with the Otak Otak but again great textures and flavour balance. Next time I look forward to trying some old favourites like laksa and char kway teow.

And I couldn't resist ordering a serve of sweet sticky black glutinous rice with coconut milk; Malaysia being one of the few Asian cuisines that really does sweets. I think I became just a little addicted to the slightly gluey pudding like texture of glutinous rice as well as Kuih (Cake) also spelt Kueh. Kuih are bite sized Malaysian snacks made from glutinous rice, tapioca or mung beans and flavoured with coconut,  pandan leaves or gula melaka (palm sugar). Lim had just freshly made a few varieties of Kuih so we were treated to a 'small' selection including her Kueh Talam. Consisting of two layers, the top layer is made from coconut milk and rice flour and the bottom layer is made from pandan leaf extract, mung bean and rice flour. As you can imagine after already indulging in dessert, and not a light one at that, this last offering was just a bit much and we waddled out like oompa loompas, but thanks Lim great Nonya flavours.

Lims Nyonya Hut, 240 Blackburn Road Glen Waverley

Food for the sick

As the cooler months set in so too does the prevalence of illness. A few weeks ago the man was feeling 'poorly' and whilst I'd prefer to have been out and about rather than listening to him hacking away I do find providing comfort food comforting. Though I have to admit this task is a little fraught in our household as our cultural differences mean definitions of 'comfort food' vary.

During our recent visit travels I discovered that 'lightly' spiced soggy lentils is what northern Indians turn to when they are feeling  a little 'delicate'. I love the fact that no dish, not even that for the ill, comes with out spice. Asking for no chilli just meant dishes had extra pepper or ginger or other 'warming' flavours added! And I soon discovered that Congee (soggy rice porridge) was the Chinese version.

My idea of comfort food is more in line with the classic tradition of Chicken Soup, lovingly referred to as 'Jewish penicillin'. But my preference includes plenty of restorative vegetables not just watery broth. The corn chowder I eventually cooked was well accepted but I've learnt to add that 'little spice', even if its just a side dish of  chilli paste.

I hope you stay well this winter! If not rug up and call on foodie friends to supply comfort food, it will be good for their soul, but make sure their idea of comfort is the same as yours!

Where's the chickpea's?

Its lunch time and a salad with a bit of equilibrium sounds like the go rather than the more substantial chicken focaccia come burger that MDC ("my dining companion") has ordered. But once our plates are sitting in front of us I feel like my choice was just not right, mine seems a little 'light' and those fries on the other plate look tempting. Now that's when I know there's really something wrong - when fries look enticing!!!  That's not to say I can't be persuaded to indulge in a bit of fried spud, but not those out-of-a-bag skinny numbers. I'd already been silently dismayed when the customer on the next table ordering a bowl of such for her lunch, its not just the health aspect, its just the lack of culinary balance! That's it balance, there must be something missing! The attraction was the combination of roasted pumpkin, roasted parsnip, rocket and chickpea's topped with saganaki (grilled haloumi). Just a minute where's the chickpea's?  

A  quiet word with the waiter who suggested a replacement salad, which I didn't think was necessary although I did agreed when offered the missing legumes, and my salad was as it should be. I like the fact that the mistake was dealt with efficiently. Don't forget the chickpea's, I love the nutty creaminess of these little guys. And  if anything had to go I'd ditch the parsnip, it was a little on the 'woody' side. The chicken in the focaccia was delightfully smoky which combined well with the turmeric flavoured yoghurt, a nice change from mayo. (The fries where crisp and 'clean' tasting).

... and I'd heard that the Vanilla slices where a hit, so decided to take a couple home to share for supper. I can see why they are popular, more creamy than custardy makes for a decedent texture but I do think the pastry needs to have a little more 'crunch' and I'm a fondant lover so icing sugar just doesn't make the grade not to mention the 'dusting' one gets upon consumption.

Station Street Cafe,  26 Station Street Nunawading

The value of stock - chicken stock that is!

Some time back I blogged about making risotto and I was given stick about my 'righteous' attitude towards home made stock. I suppose I'd have to concede that the waft of 'poultry essence' infiltrating every nook of ones home for hours on end might be a bit much for those who have an olfactory sensitivity. But today, after making my first batch in ages, it still seems worth it; well chicken stock at least, beef is a little more effort and I'm usually banned from fish stock when the family's about!

Firstly the bones are free at most poultry suppliers if you invest in just one other product, the preparation of the carrots, celery and onions need only be rough and then once the waters added and it comes to the boil it happily simmers away for a few hours. Cheap, easy and ready to be transformed into all manner of tasty delights.





Just over a litre flavoured with some ginger, garlic, soy and chilli became fish ball noodle soup for dinner. 150 mls went into a Neil Perry recipe for braised chicken from the Good Weekender section of the Age newspaper, to be served with soft polenta tomorrow. And lastly there's a two litre bucket to go in the freezer or perhaps make a risotto in the next few days.

I suppose there is also the grisly task of discarding all the 'debris' once the stock has been drained off. Perhaps it's a cook thing, and I know that there are some reasonable commercial products available so one doesn't need to resort to stock 'salt' cubes. I'd still like to believe there are a whole host of 'domestic' stock makers out there enlightened by the magnificence of fresh stock!

So what makes for the 'Breakfast Spot of the Year' status?

Jackson Dodds was voted The Age Cheap Eats 2011 Breakfast Spot of the Year. No way could this award be about location, situated way our west north at the end of the number 112 tram line in West Preston (and I know that Preston is the new Northcote but this is West Preston which is nearly Reservoir, okay I should stop here as I'm definitely sounding suburbist!). And after my last little rave about poor service (See What's not to like??? post) I certainly wasn't expecting to have my socks knocked off by the service.

So what's on offer? Quirky or a tad eccentric would describe the decor, definitely quirky was our waiter and the menu ... well a mixture of  mainstream but also a little unconventional. So was it good? No, it was excellent!!! Jackson Dodds,  to borrow a well used phase, is a 'feel good' kind of place. It's open, bright and has a team of youngish men (no girls to be seen the day we were there) who seem to really 'get it'. No pretences, no platitudes just pleasing service and tasty, actually scrumptious food, exactly what I want for breakfast or lunch.

One really doesn't need to be highly trained to run a great cafe that's not to say there's no qual's here I couldn't say and nor does it matter because they're doing it right. However I'm sure success is assisted by what's on offer as well as how it's cooked and served. I'm a firm believer that it is in the construction of a menu that one creates choice not by the sheer number of dishes. This menu has Eggs Benedict for the traditionalists,  Bircher Muesli for the naturalists (not the nudy type!), Pea & Haloumi Fritters for those looking for something a bit different, 'sandwiches' with grunt and excellent coffee/tea - all on a menu that is compact on today's standards. As well as the quality ingredients like free range eggs, bread with body and good house made (or at least superior) relishes and jams as many of us have come to expect. Another plus is the range of dishes that have all the nutrients represented in reasonable ratios - so often I find myself searching for an appealing sounding breakfast dish that is not all protein/fat! Well done Jackson Dodds, I'm looking forward to a return visit to try the ricotta pancakes with REAL Canadian maple syrup or the Dukkah eggs or maybe the Kedgeree and the plum and star anise jam sounds interesting.

I have to say this visit was on a weekday and I've heard it can be somewhat busy on the weekends, hope that doesn't affect the standard as it was such a delightful change from my recent experiences.

Jackson Dodds, 611 Gilbert Road West Preston