Hammer and Tong, Bluebird Espresso, Bayte

Fitzroy and Collingwood are every foodie’s dream come true. Big names are lined up on Gertrude, Brunswick and Smith Streets and there’s no lacking of options in regard to types of cuisine. One of my absolute favourites is brunch, and cafes are scattered willy-nilly. The question drives down to “which café should I visit” when you’re in the vicinity. This post covers something new, something old and something different.

Something new

Hammer and Tong 412
Rear 412 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy
Vic 3065
+61 3 9041 6033

Fakebooo and I decided to pay a visit to Hammer and Tong when we found out it had taken over Brix, a prominent name in 2012 Melbourne gastronomy. We had dinner with Ashley sometime last year and thoroughly enjoyed our meal. In fact, it was through Ashley that we’d learnt about Hammer and Tong. Ahhh it’s the great circle of… food.

Turkish Delight Housemade Fizz $3

I read about the fizzy rose drink on Leaf’s blog and knew I had to order it. The little girl in me delighted that I’d worn a matching pink rose dress on that very day. It was totally coincidental, I promise. The drink reminded me of Bandung, a rose syrup cordial mixed with milk, but carbonated. It was refreshing and lovely, and would be perfect in summer. Fakebooo had a single origin piccolo latte which was alright.

Piccolo latte $3.80

We both settled for eggs that morning. Booo felt like English muffins while I couldn’t go past anything with truffle. Neither a fan of hollandaise nor bacon, I didn’t pick at his dish. On the other hand, I was totally enamoured by my dish. The aroma of truffle oil was intoxicating and the sharp parmesan enhanced it even more.

Truffled duck egg on toast, parmesan and grilled asparagus $18

Hammer and Tong now does dinners too – I will be putting this back onto my wishlist!

English muffins with poached eggs, Istra bacon, black pepper hollandaise and spinach $17

Something old

Bluebird Espresso
134 Johnston Street
Collingwood
Vic 3066
+61 3 9078 7047

The Angmoh and I had visited Bluebird Espresso sometime last year when The People’s Market was up and running. He had the dukkah eggs, which he later declared was the best he’d ever had but had forgotten which café it was. I knew exactly what he was talking about when he mentioned dukkah eggs in Collingwood. I have a penchant for remembering who ate what at where.

Magic $3.50

Bluebird Espresso has been around for quite awhile now. It occupies a narrow corridor that extends out to a cosy little courtyard. The house blend coffees are made from Syndicate beans, which is astringent with deep bitter-tasting notes.

Dukkah eggs – mushrooms, spinach and feta on multigrain with poached eggs and dukkah $15.50
Add chorizo $2.50

The Angmoh had his usual dukkah eggs when we re-visited. It tasted exactly like the first visit. The dukkah was flavoured to The Angmoh’s liking and the spicy chorizo of excellent quality.

Brioche French Toast with sticky apricots, sour cherries, mascarpone and toasted almonds $14.50

I was torn between the 2 options of French toast: the usual had sour cherries, while the special had poached pear with hazelnut praline. I have a soft spot for sour cherries and finally conceded to the one on the daily menu. It was breakfast dessert heaven. The buttery brioche had soaked up just the right amount of batter, such that the bread was soft but not soggy and edges crisp and flakey. The sour cherries paired well with the sticky dried apricots, and the mascarpone made it sinfully indulgent.

Our My visit to Collingwood ended very well with me purchasing my first Black Milk leggings at a terrific steal!

Something different

Bayte
56 Johnston Street
Collingwood
Vic 3066
+61 3 9415 8818

Fakebooo and I headed to Bayte to get away from the usual eggs on toast with ubiquitous pairings of avocado or smoked salmon. We wanted something different and we certainly got it!

Lebanese coffee $2.50

Bayte offers Middle Eastern fare and the menu is chockas with foreign-sounding foods like kibeh and jibeen. We were also unfamiliar with several ingredients and didn’t quite know what to order.

“Dirty” Chai $4.50

We started off with drinks. Fakebooo’s freshly brewed Lebanese coffee was thick and super strong. It would go very well with a dollop of condensed milk. I’d heard from Ashley (once again) that Bayte made a chai-spiced coffee, and I knew I had to try it. Aptly named “Dirty Chai”, it had a strong soy flavour and was a bit of an acquired taste.

(Left) Beyd me^li bi Summa^el Kafta Meshwi – sumac fried eggs served with barbecued lamb kafta skewers and baba ganoush $14.50
(Right) Manoushi bi^Awarma – charred flatbread topped with preserved confit lamb, labne, pine nuts and lemon $11

We chose ‘safer’-sounding dishes: a lamb manoush for Fakebooo and fried eggs with lamb skewers for me. Both dishes were of generous portions and extremely delicious. They had a tangy bite to them, from the labne on the manoush and the sumac on the eggs. My lamb kaftas were well-seasoned and I loved the soft and fluffy accompanying Turkish bread.

Halva and Pistachio Ice cream $4.50

We also shared a scoop of halva pistachio ice cream between us. It was simply wonderful.

I am keen to visit Bayte sometime soon again. I spied many a lamb wrap ordered as a takeaway and might just have to have one myself!

Melbourne CBD Eats

Melbourne CBD Eats

This post covers a few places in Melbourne that offer fast, cheap and delicious meals. Takeaway options are also available but either way, a perfect solution when the day’s been way too long and you just CBF to cook something.

Rose Garden
435 Elizabeth Street
Melbourne
Vic 3000
+61 3 9329 1560

Ahhhh this certainly brings back memories of being a student again. Rose Garden is situated on QVM-side of Elizabeth Street, surrounded by several other eateries. The good thing about this area is that each little bistro offers a different cuisine, so there isn’t terribly much competition, it just depends on what you’re the mood for at that time. There’s Menya for Japanese, Thai Culinary for Thai, Coconut House for Malaysian and my favourite, Rose Garden for Chinese-Malaysian-Hong Kong styled food.

Fried rice with shredded duck and preserved vegetables $9.80

I have to admit that I have yet to make much progress with the menu as I ALWAYS eat the same thing when I return. The fried rice with slivers of roast duck is packed with umami goodness and the combination of salty preserved vegetables with sweet peas and delicious duck always makes me salivate. The other dishes (which I finally tried) are the deep-fried chicken ribs, spicy green beans with mince and stewed pork with lotus root. All are fantastically delicious, but in my honest opinion, the fried rice should rank number 1 in their “Top 10 favourites” menu.

Spicy green beans with minced chicken on rice $9.00

Darac Grill and Bar
51 A’Beckett Street
Melbourne
Vic 3000
+61 3 9662 2441

Situated not too far from the cluster of the above mentioned eateries on Elizabeth Street is a hidden Korean gem, Darac. The bibimbap here is one of the best I’ve come across in Melbourne and is the dish I always order when I visit (this is beginning to sound familiar). There is good balance in ingredients and the hot stone bowl never fails to provide a crunch to the rice.

Beef Bibimbap $14

One of the frequently ordered dishes here is the spicy sausage stew, which comes served on a portable stove. Balanced delicately on the flames is a large platter with a mixture of noodles, vegetables, cheese and sausage. Hot soup or water is then poured over and everything gets mixed into a pale orange mess. Believe it or not, it is quite a ubiquitous dish. I have to give this a go next time.

Shanghai Street Dumplings
342 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne
Vic 3000
+61 3 9660 2250

Shanghai Street dishes out its namesake and other options such as rice and noodles are available. The dumplings are of better quality than the ones around Chinatown, with the skins not too starchy and the filling not too sweet.

Homemade Shanghai fried pork mini bun (6 pieces) $9.50

I really liked the fried mini buns: the bread was soft and slightly sweet and had a crisp bottom from being panfried. The filling was juicy and delicious.

Gongbao chicken with peanut and veg on rice

The Angmoh enjoyed his rice dish of Gongbao Chicken. It is different from that served in Sichuan restaurants as it comes with gravy, allowing the rice to soak up the tasty flavours.

Pork and prawn wonton in chilli oil with peanut and sesame butter sauce (15 pieces) $8.80

Fakebooo and I have also tried the Xiao Long Bao and dumplings in chilli oil. You can read about what we thought of it here.
Little Ramen Bar
346 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne
Vic 3000
+61 3 9670 5558

Just 2 shops down from Shanghai Street Dumplings is this small little newbie, with a big reputation. It is so popular despite its infancy, I’ve heard dishes have been sold out halfway through opening hours! The seating is limited and a queue forms rather quickly.

Charshu Tamago – $12.90

I had the Charshu Tamago Ramen, which offers slightly more charshu than the regular Classic ramen, and also comes with a soft boiled egg. I picked miso for the soup, which might have been a wrongdoing on my part. The miso was overpowering and overwhelmed the Tonkatsu broth. I might go for the shio (salt) version in future. The charshu is thickly sliced and has a good amount of fat and the soft boiled egg had a perfectly gooey yolk. The noodles were al dente in ramen standards and I would describe them to have “Q”, which is the Taiwanese way of describing noodles that have bite and bounce. While I personally prefer the charshu at Ramen-ya, Little Ramen Bar does dish up pretty good ramen.

Jonai Farms, BBQ Pork night

Jonai Farms
129 Morgantis Road
Eganstown
Vic 3461

I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely family out in Eganstown one dreary Sunday morning. I had an ever greater joy getting to see carefree pigs ears-afloppin’ and snouts-ascrunchin’. It was a trip out to Eganstown, approximately 15minutes away from Daylesford. The event was aptly titled “Eat Your Ethics at Jonai Farms”, which was part of the Daylesford Macedon Produce Harvest Week Festival.

I have become more aware and conscious of animal ethics since I moved to Melbourne. Ethically-reared free-ranging farm animals were uncommon in Asia and the more unfortunate fact was that few Asian meat consumers cared where and how the meat came about. I have been practicing “Meatless Mondays” and supporting free-range farming for quite a while now.

It was a delight to tour the Jonai Farm and seeing Tammi’s rare breed Large Breed pigs happy as, well, happy as pigs in s***. I will not go into too much detail but I do implore that you read about Tammi’s philosophy behind her way of farming. Fakebooo has written a beautiful elaborated post of our visit. Have a read and delight at the wonderful pictures of those cute oinkers!

Some of the highlights of my experience at the Jonai Farm are:

-          Happy pigs, free-roaming, able to express themselves in all ways possible

-          Family integration amongst the Jonai, with the children remarking that it’s great the family works together

-          Delicious homemade food literally from farm to table

The Jonai farm welcome the general public to tour their property and to purchase meat fresh off the farm. Booo and I departed, but not without taking home some ribs and loin chops. A barbecue night was in order.

The Angmoh graciously hosted the pork fest. Well, he had to, he was the only one amongst us 3 with a BBQ. I fell in love with the salad Tammi had made that day and attempted to replicate it. It was basically a zesty, refreshing coleslaw of shredded kohlrabi, celeriac and apple, with half a finely-chopped Spanish onion mixed in. The vegetables were then simply dressed with lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

The Angmoh took his manly duties very seriously that evening. He fired up his barbeque, cranked it to the hottest possible setting, and in went the pork belly, skin scored and rubbed with salt. The smell of charred pork and smoke soon filled the air. It was the most tantalising smell ever. The temperature of the BBQ was turned down after 15 minutes, the belly was then given 30 minutes, and after that, a final heat blast to ensure crispy cracky crackling!

The ribs and loin chops went in next. The ribs were marinated with store-bought sauce (I forgot all about it and would have made one from scratch but oh well) while the chops were rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper. They were in for about 3-5 minutes each side, and dinner was finally served!

It was a delicious, gut-bursting meal. The pork belly was perfect with tender meat and symphonic crackling. The chops were full of flavour and the ribs bone-sucking, finger-licking worthy. I do have to point out that the pork belly was from a butcher in South Melbourne Market, and would highly likely be from a female pig, while the chops and ribs purchased from the Jonai Farm were from a male pig. The boar taint was apparent in the latter, but of a mild form and extremely tolerable. I admit that I may wait for the farm to sell gilts before I make my next purchase.

But I digress. What meal ends without dessert? I had made a lemon-syrup pistachio cake just a couple hours before dinner. I adapted the recipe from The Little Loaf, and made it in a single loaf tin. I had reduced the overall amount of sugar (180g for the cake and 25g for the syrup) and would recommend doubling the syrup recipe for a giant single loaf (in my case) as I had just enough to soak half the cake. It was marvelous, if I may. It was moist, not too dense and uplifted with the tangy syrup.

The barbecue pork night was a success. Happy pigs make delicious pork, especially with the help of a clever little machine, manned by an Aussie bloke.

Bistro Guillaume

Bistro Guillaume
8 Whiteman Street
Crown Entertainment Complex
Southbank
Vic 3006
+61 3 9292 4751

The Angmoh and I have survived a year together. He puts up with all my hangry irritable manners while I educate him on the finer points of dining, which will be pointed out later in this post. We decided to celebrate our anniversary at Bistro Guillaume.

Mussels marinieres $23

The restaurant is located in Crown, situated along the river side of the establishment. The dark tables dimmed by the hanging billowy lights provide a cosy intimate atmosphere. The alfresco tables overlooking the Yarra also make wonderful people-watching opportunities.

Spanner crab salad, avocado, cucumber and coriander $24

As we pondered the menu, The Angmoh displays an interest towards the escargot in the entrée section, and asks if ‘it is the same as the fruit bun’. Yup, that’s my man.

 VS

The mussels were served on a warm heavy plate, steaming with the wonderful aroma of fresh sea and wine. The broth was creamy and not too thick with the mussels tender and not overly chewy. The crab salad was an utter delight. It was possibly the freshest, sweetest crab salad I had ever had. The avocado provided a velvety backdrop and the capsicum mousse enhanced the sweetness of the flaky crabmeat.

Deboned Tajima wagyu rib-eye, crispy Kifplers and béarnaise sauce $72

The Angmoh had his eye on the Tajima wagyu, which was on the specials board for that evening. The Tajima breed of cattle is reputed to produce excellent marbling and meat quality. It is the exclusive genetic line of all Kobe beef, and fortunately for Australians, Tajima cattle have been imported here and restaurants have been offering steaks from these locally-reared animals.

The Angmoh’s steak was simply amazing. His words of ‘That steak is f***ing incredible and one of the best steaks I’ve ever had’ negated the necessity to describe how delicious, how flavourful and how meltingly tender it was.

Venison tenderloin with beetroot and horseradish $37

My dish of venison with beetroot was superbly pink! The meat was cooked to perfection, succulent without a hint of gaminess. The beetroot puree was lusciously creamy but I found myself wishing for the horseradish to cut through. I unabashedly added mustard and that certainly worked too.

Chocolate délice with violet ice cream and sour cherries $18

Though stuffed, we certainly couldn’t leave without dessert. The Angmoh’s chocolate délice was smooth and extremely rich in cocoa. I loved the subtle violet ice cream and couldn’t get enough of it. My lemon tart was citrusy and tangy, topped with a burnt-sugar crust (think crème brulee). It was perfect.

Lemon tart with crème fraîche $18

Our evening at Bistro Guillaume was a splendid way to celebrate our first year. The food was well-executed and the ambiance was romantic. I anticipate another delicious year ahead for The Angmoh and I, and hope to expand his foodie education.

Directional Brunching

I love brunch. And I have a zillion brunch places to blog about. So I’ve decided to group them up. This post will feature a café in the letters of the compass.

NORTH

St. Ali North
815 Nicholson Street
Carlton North
Vic 3054
+61 3 9380 5499

St. Ali is a long-standing reputable café in Melbourne. The original is located in South Melbourne, and sometime late 2012 a sister café was set up in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, with a simple no-nonsense name to it.

St. Ali North is located next to a playground, and runs along a bicycle trail. The café not only provides a route to travel between the two branches, it also offers a ‘ride-through’ takeaway coffee window. Very hipster indeed.

Piccolo latte $4

Fakebooo and I visited on a sunny morning. The houseblend piccolo latte had a pecan-y nutty taste to it, while the single origin was floral with a slight charcoal finish.

Bone and Brew – Roasted bone marrow, morcilla, egg yolk emulsion, fennel, capers and toasted brioche, served with Black Filter Coffee $19.50

Booo’s brunch dish was a boldly unusual offering of bone marrow and blood pudding, bound together by a rick yolk emulsion. It came with black coffee, which helped cut through the richness, and perhaps enhance the strong flavours of the main ingredients. ‘He who endeavors to get fat’ lovingly scraped out every morsel of marrow. It was wonderfully satisfying.

Make Friends With Salad – Zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, crispy quinoa, olive dust $15

I opted for a far healthier dish of zucchini and tomato salad. The vegetables were prepared in different ways, the zucchini was roasted while the tomatoes were raw or dehydrated. The crispy quinoa provided a textural crunch.

Carrot and ginger cake – $5.50

I was still peckish and the ginger carrot cake was a perfect sweet ending.

As I live within walking distance to the original St. Ali, I might not visit her sister in the North anytime soon. However, I may just use the map provided one day: coffee in the South followed by a jog up to the North. Read about Booo’s take on St. Ali North here!

SOUTH

Chez Dre
287 Coventry Street (rear)
South Melbourne
Vic 3205
+61 3 9690 2688

The Angmoh, Booo and I visited Chez Dre on Good Friday. Having visited a few times, we were disappointed with the food on this particular visit.

Eggs Your Way – Scrambled on croissant $9.50
Add sautéed mushrooms $4

Booo’s croissant was buttery but the mushrooms were not too exciting. The same mushrooms were also on The Angmoh’s breakfast plate. They had an odd taste to them, possibly with an over seasoning of thyme. To make it worse, the eggs were overcooked and lacked a gooey yolk to soften the accompanying stale hard bread.

Grand Petit Dejeuner – poached eggs on sourdough, bacon, spicy lamb sausage, potato rosti, sautéed mushrooms, slow roasted tomato, avocado and tomato relish $21

Brioche French Toast – Caramelized apples, vanilla mascarpone and orange tuile $17.50

Unlike my counterparts, I opted for a sweet breakfast. The caramelized apples were pretty nice but the brioche was dry and hadn’t soaked up enough egg batter.

(Top) Piccolo latte $3.80
(Bottom) Magic $3.80

Our meal wasn’t entirely unpleasant. The coffees were lovely. The Symmetry beans are from The Maling Room and make a full-bodied coffee with deep intensity and dark flavours.

Green Tea, Mango and Black Sesame – mango jelly, white chocolate creme, black sesame brulee, green tea mousse $8.50

Booo felt like “something Asian” and orderd the green tea cake with black sesame and mango. It was extremely light and well-made. All the flavours came through beautifully and harmonized in a lovely manner.

I think I might give Chez Dre the benefit of the doubt for this particular visit, with it being a public holiday and possibly missing key kitchen staff. After all, my previous visits have always churned out delicious food with me and my tummy leaving satisfied.

EAST

Hobba
428 Malvern Road
Prahran
Vic
+61 3 9510 8336

Hobba is an absolute favourite of The Angmoh’s. He loves it for one good reason: sous-vide eggs. Eggs slow cooked at 62.5 degrees are a wobbly, unraveled gooey delight, and a must-have for The Angmoh.

Hobba Breakfast – Mushy, tomato, snag, bacon, relish, eggs $18

I treated The Angmoh to lunch one day after he had passed a work exam. He had his usual dish, which is basically a typical ‘big breakfast’ plate but with the all-important slow-poached eggs. Hobba has perfected the art of slow-cooking eggs, they absolutely melt in the mouth and are mandatory eating for hardcore egg fans.

Souffled omelette with spiced silverbeet, shanklish and tomato jam $15

My souffled egg turned out to be a baked omelette, which is a rather brilliant idea as the eggs came out airy and fluffy. Paired with tangy tomato jam and wilted silverbeet, it made a healthy lunch.

Magic $3.50

The coffees were ok. They were made from 5 Senses beans but lacked the deep dark chocolate tones I’ve found elsewhere.

WEST

The Duchess of Spotswood
87 Hudsons Road
Spotswood
Vic 3015
+61 3 9391 6016

Candied Bakery
81a Hudsons Road
Spotswood
Vic 3015
+61 3 9391 1335

Her Grace, the Duchess of Spotswood, has been a consistent favourite of mine. I’ve visited several times for lunch and brunch, and even when they offered a 3-course dinner. Alas, the dinner is no longer available, but the brunch menu still offers yummy English-inspired dishes, with a quirky pun to their names.

(Top Right) Jasmine tea – $3.50
(Bottom Left) Piccolo latte – $3.50

Coffee is by Small Batch and is fragrant, light and cannot be faulted. My Jasmine green tea was well-steeped and had a wonderful heady floral fragrance.

Idle Tongues – Seared ox tongue, Soubise sauce, smoked bone marrow croquette, poached egg and toast $17.50

Booo and I went for artery-clogging options this particular day with him having the ox tongue, while I had the pork jowl. Both of dishes were fatteningly, meltingly, gloriously rich. Certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Duchess of Pork – Crispy pig’s jowl, fried eggs, rich truffle sauce and toast $18.50

Being piggies foodies that we are, we hopped over to Candied Bakery, hoping to sample a few of their renowned sweet treats. Unfortunately, we went during closing time. Everything but the soft serve had sold out. Not to miss an opportunity, especially when the flavour of the week is peanut butter jelly, we had a soft serve each. It was thick and sweet, but the peanut butter flavour was only subtle, appearing on the palate infrequently. I also found it slightly on the grainy and powdery side.

Soft serve – Peanut butter and jelly (flavour of the week) $4.50

I’m hoping to visit again, this time to try their baked goods.

Red Spice Road (QV)

Red Spice Road
31-37 Artemis Lane QV
Melbourne
Vic 3000
+61 3 8660 6300

Having foodie friends is great. There’s never a lack of opportunity to try a new restaurant or simply get together for a massive feed. The only trouble is getting a date that suits everyone so our get together was keyed in 2-3 months in advance. It included Adrian, Ashley and partner Brad, Fakebooo, I-Hua and hubby Aaron, and Winston. Our plan was to get stuffed on the lunch banquet at Red Spice Road.

Red Spice Road has been around for a while, with the first restaurant on MacKillop Street. A new branch opened in late 2012 in QV, and it features a lunch banquet of 3 courses for $25, or 5 courses for $30. Cookie Monster had tried the banquet some time ago, and she was rather impressed by the quality and portions of the food. The mock-meat dishes (she’s a pescatarian) tasted like the real deal.

Red Spice Road (QV) occupies a bright large space. Although the menu features Asian food with a fusion twist, the décor is extremely westernized. A bar greets you right at the entrance and the furniture of pale tan wood is quite Scandinavian, all in rectangular arrangements.

It was pretty much unanimous that we would be ordering the larger banquet. The more the merrier right?

Minced Duck, Shiitake, Tofu and Green Onion Broth

Our appetizer of duck broth was a touch on the salty side, tasting quite similar to a watered-down version of braised black sauce duck. It did have a lot of flavour, and certainly readied our palate for what was to come.

The rest of the dishes arrived simultaneously. It was amusing when everyone started standing up and moving about to capture a perfect shot of each dish. It was like musical chairs with food.

Pork Belly with Apple Slaw, Chilli Caramel and Black Vinegar

Most of the dishes were very good. I-Hua waxed lyrical about the pork belly and she certainly had every right. It was caramelized to perfection with every ounce of fatty pork belly falling apart in the mouth. I loved how it was served with the black vinegar on the side. I used a lot of it, but in a good way. I love black vinegar.

Vientiane Style Beef Curry with Eggplant and Snake Beans

The beef curry was rich and slightly on the sweet side. I liked that eggplant was included.

Fried Barramundi wok Tosses with Choy, Bamboo Shoots and Roasted Chilli Paste

The fish was crisp with the bokchoy and bamboo shoots adding to the crunch.

Chicken and Pumpkin Laap – Minced Chicken, Pumpkin, Herb, Roasted Rice Powder, Shallot and Crouton Salad

The other remaining 2 dishes of the lunch banquet didn’t quite stand out. The laap was pretty tasty but the pumpkin was a deterrent for me. I hate pumpkin.

Spicy Rice Fritters with Smashed Peanuts, Tomato, Green Onion and Coriander

The rice fritters were downright odd. They were shaped into little spheres and reminded me of mini Asian arancini. The fact that the banquet included steamed Jasmine rice made it even more questionable: who eats rice with rice?

Twice cooked Lamb Ribs with Mint, Lychee and Avocado Salad $35

The extra dish of lamb ribs was the allure of dining at Red Spice Rd. Adrian and Winston specifically requested that this dish be ordered as it is not included in the banquet menu. Although it was not the exact same dish from MacKillop (that comes with chilli jam), the QV version was pretty darn good. The meat fell off the bone and the unusual topping of avocado and lychee worked harmoniously with the cumin marinade.

Everyone was close to bursting by the end of the meal. Most of the dishes were pretty tasty and all of it came in generous serves. Having the lunch banquet was certainly a delicious and cost-effective way to test the waters of Red Spice Road. I reckon I might visit the MacKillop branch in future and get me a side of ribs with chilli jam.

Demitri’s Feast

Demitri’s Feast

141 Swan Street
Richmond
Vic 3121
+61 3 9428 8659

Demitri’s Feast is a gem along the many eateries on Swan Street. It dishes up all-day breakfasts, heartier lunches and daily specials, all with a Greek influence. I had taken my brother and sister-in-law a couple years ago and we enjoyed the food tremendously. I had my eye on the sweet breakfast dishes and succumbed to the semolina pancakes with rosewater syrup. It was fluffy and rich and heavenly. Sometime later I found out that the other choice of baklava French toast was simply to die for, and I knew I had to return.

The Angmoh, Fakebooo and I visited one Sunday for lunch. Booo had just knocked off work, The Angmoh had completed a rowing session along the Yarra and I had woken early for gym and a long walk with the Sausage. We brought with us an immense appetite.

Chai latte (Corporation teas) $3.80

The courtyard is quirkily decorated in a pleasantly quaint fashion with suspended green bottles housing colourful flowers, recycled olive oil containers as seats, and an odd variety of plants along the back wall (there’s even kiwi!).

Smashed Avocado with bacon, confit cherry tomatoes and poached egg $17.50

Booo’s dish of smashed avocado had all the basic breakfast elements: avo, bacon, tomatoes, egg and toast. While the avocado was “smashed” to a smithereened-paste, the overall dish was tasty and generous.

Leek Prasopita – handmade filo with leeks, herbs, ricotta and feta $10

I liked my pie dish. The sweet leeks and fresh herbs contrasted nicely with the cheeses, and it was all housed in a buttery flaky pastry. It has a filling of leek, instead of spinach, and resembles Spanakopita, which I’ve yet to try.

(Left) Grilled ox tongue with tzatziki $19.50
(Right) Salad of grilled zucchini, pine nuts, currants and rocket

The Angmoh decided to try one of the daily specials. His dish of grilled tongue, albeit slightly on the small side, was full of flavour and extremely delicious. He speedily polished all of it up, decided it wasn’t enough and had some fruit toast to complete his lunch.

Organic Fruit Toast (Baker D. Chirico) with choice of condiments $7

Booo and I went halvsies on the Baklava French toast. I suspect as it was approaching closing time, we were given the last of the brioche. Not that we were complaining, each slice was fat and thick and extremely fluffy. Drowned in orange blossom syrup, it was sweet buttery heaven.

Baclava French Toast with walnut praline, sweet yoghurt and orange blossom syrup $15

Demitri’s Feast has been around for quite a while. It is unassuming, very pleasant and offers a certain comforting ambience to enjoy delicious Greek fare.