I think this Sunday Age article is kind of true – in the north there’s yoga for everybody (including dogs), hippies, fixies and all the girls look like they stepped out of frankie magazine. Which is why the shop Spelt Quinoa is perfect for the neighbourhood.

This little shop of healthy goodness opened about a year ago and it stocks bulk health food in the vein of Friends of the Earth and Organic Wholefoods. Inside you’ll find all the nuts, fruit, flour, pulses, grains and seeds you’ve ever dreamed of – including of course spelt and quinoa. You can buy the most popular products in grab-and-go paper parcels or buy only exactly how much you need, which ensures that your stocks are fresh in your pantry all the time.

Spelt Quinoa also stock gluten free bread every Wednesday and Mr Nice Guy vegan cupcakes are returning to the store soon.

If you’re confused by what’s what the owner Gemma is very helpful – we had a discussion about the relative merits of steel cut oats and rolled oats (steel cut oats for cooked porridge, rolled oats for bircher muesli), how to use amaranth and the popularity of her three muesli mixes. Apparently the good people of Fitzroy are obsessed with breakfast cereal! Who knew?

I came away with some pantry staples and will be back to have a further explore of the ‘secret back room’…

Spelt Quinoa, 40 Johnston St, Fitzroy +61 3 9939 9330

View MEL: HOT OR NOT in a larger map

Ah summer!

There are certain events that happen every year which really mark the season in Melbourne. Cricket. Tennis. The Suzuki Night Market. Free music in the parks. And one of my favourites, outdoor cinema.

Every year I try to get to at least one summer movie screening under the stars – it’s still a novelty outing for me. Despite growing up in balmy Brisbane, outdoor cinema never really took off while I was living there. I think people were just used to hiding from the humidity inside air-conditioned multiplexes and the thought of sitting on a rug battling bugs to watch an old film didn’t really appeal.

Melburnians are a much hardier lot! Despite the freezing, blustery weather that greeted us for our screening of The Blues Brothers at Rooftop Cinema, it was a sold out session. We wore long pants, jackets, brought a rug and still needed to hire another rug ($5 and totally worth it if you don’t dress up in ski gear, like one movie-goer we spotted).

Despite Melbourne’s unpredictable and at times inclement weather, Rooftop Cinema is a magical experience. Have a pre-movie drink at the Rooftop bar or enjoy burgers, fries and ice-cream from All-Day Burger (courtesy of the folks behind Beatbox Kitchen).

Listen to the sounds of the city’s nightlife rise up amongst the rooftops. Watch the lights of the city glow glamorrously against the fading light.

Then sit back in a deck chair, curl up under your blanket(s) and sing along to ‘Rawhide’ in the ‘mission from God’.

I heart you Melbourne. Thank you for bringing us Rooftop Cinema.

Rooftop Cinema, 6/252 Swanston St, Melbourne

In Fitzroy, it’s another day, another new cafe….

Backstreet Cafe is the new project from the people behind Birdman Eating and it takes some of what’s great about that Fitzroy stalwart and extends it beyond – or more precisely below. More on that later.

The cafe is located in a corner spot in amongst residential premises, though it’s not exactly a ‘backstreet’ as such because it’s right on the popular Napier Street bike path. Prime position is definitely via the street front tables, breezy yet shaded by a wooden trellised roof and an open view of the dining room within. Street side also provides great opportunities for style watching, particularly for the cycle chic ambling past.

The inside decor is almost too sleek for Fitzroy – everything is shiny bronze and black and it all matches :–) I particularly liked the laser cut geometry of the unvarnished wooden floor. Please don’t wear stiletto heels inside ladies!

The daytime menu ranges from traditional breakfast-y options like baked eggs, muesli and porridge but done with a twist, to more lunchtime fare like sandwiches and salads.

If you’re a meat eater then may I steer you towards something cured, smoked or salted. Why? Again, more on that later.

For lunch I chose the Salty Pork Roll with green olive tapenade ($9.50) which was a soft white roll containing slices of porky, salty, fatty deliciousness. The tapenade heightened the saltiness of the sandwich while lending a sharpness and piquancy to every bite. While I wouldn’t hesitate to return for that roll I overheard one of the staff highly recommending the Golden Muffin (sausage, fried egg, scormoza and tomato sauce) so that’s where I’ll be going next time.

For dessert the friendly waitress told me that the avocado brulee was amazing ($11.50). A perfectly crisp burnt sugar lid covered the pot of smooth green-tinged custard and I liked the Birdman Eating-esque presentation of the musical note sheet. A sharp crack with the spoon revealed a distinctly avocado flavoured custard (so slightly odd) but with a hint of citrus and flecked with vanilla bean seeds (so more traditional). I’m not sure whether I’d repeat the experience but it was worth trying.

Other items from the menu jumped out at me – a pomegranate tabbouleh, braised chickpeas, pork and saffron and kassler, grunkohl, toast and sous-vide egg will all be taste-tested at some stage. I’m not sure whether the dinner menu will be the same or not but I’ll soon find out as they’re hoping to open for dinner from next week along with the grant of their liquor licence.

Besides the fact that Backstreet will be opening 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the most exciting aspect of the cafe is down the stairs. Not the toilets to the right, but the providore and meat fridge to the left.

Yes, salivate against the temperature controlled unit filled with hanging house-made charcuterie! Sadly none of the cold cuts will be able to be sold as take away (I did plant the idea of a Fitzroy-based cured meat black market) but in about 2 weeks there will be other items you can take home with you – jars of preserves, tins of anchovies, Calasparra paella rice, homemade sausages and a beaut idea for takeaway lasagne. Basically you pay a deposit for the ceramic dish that the lasagne comes in and when you return the dish you receive your deposit back. Though if it’s a Le Creuset I might just decide to keep it (and forfeit the deposit).

I’m really looking forward to raiding that food store and trying out Backstreet Cafe morning, noon and night. Welcome to my backstreet!

Backstreet Cafe, 152 Kerr St, Fitzroy +61 3 9417 1212
Mon-Fri 7am-10:30pm
Sat-Sun 8am-10:30pm

Happy New Year! Hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing holiday break.

Apparently one of the best ways to stretch out that happy holiday mood is to continue one holiday habit in your everyday life. With Melbourne’s unpredictable heat waves, one holiday habit I’ll be continuing is daily ice-cream!

Fortunately in Melbourne there’s lot of places to choose from, though I’m pretty sure that Helados Jauja is the only Argentinian ice cream shop in town. It’s a small store front in the midst of the Italian gelati and serves up a daily changing mix of traditional ice cream flavours along with some more unusual offerings.

I like Helados Jauja for three  reasons. One, the ice cream is handmade on premises with natural ingredients – milk, eggs, fresh cream, fruit, nuts and even the mint is picked fresh from the potted mint plant on the counter bench. They don’t use flavouring, colouring or premixes so the ice cream you get has a fresh, clean and vibrant flavour. Now that I make my own ice cream I can really appreciate how different standard commercial ice cream can taste.

Secondly, Helados Jauja offers flavours I’ve never tried anywhere else (not having visited South America before) – soursop, yerba mate and dulce de leche with different mix-ins. They occasionally dip into Asian flavours too – coconut, black sesame and pandan have all made an appearance.

Finally, Helados Jauja is the work of Po-Lin, an ex-lawyer and ice-cream enthusiast who left a job that she’d expected to be her lifelong career to follow her dream of opening an ice cream store. I love hearing about people who drop out of the corporate world to do something they’re passionate about and which has nothing to do with a desk behind a cubicle!

Helados Jauja, 254 Lygon St, Carlton

Following on from my carb-fest at La Madre Bakery recently I am excited to offer a giveaway of a selection of La Madre‘s new Christmas range!

The sweet and savoury treats come presented in a reuseable cookie tin and inside you’ll find a sample of:

• Vanilla Snowflake Shortbread made from Heilala Vanilla vanilla paste and topped with a sweet snowflake shaped fondant;
• Dark chocolate dipped dehydrated blood orange slices;
• Gingerbread Angels;
• buttery Stained-glass Window Shortbread, which make lovely edible Christmas ornaments;
• Bite-sized Parmesan and Nigella Shortbread;
• Cranberry & Pistachio Shortbread; and
• Almond & Vanilla Biscotti.

To win this box of deliciousness all you have to do is leave a comment below and a winner will be drawn randomly. Good luck!

If you’re keen to try some La Madre Christmas treats for yourself, check out their list of stockists. If you’re in the Geelong area, this year La Madre are making a limited run of 100 gingerbread houses, which can be bought constructed or flat packed for construction and decoration at home. Orders must be placed via phone (03 5272 1727) or email (info@lamadre.com.au) by Friday 9 December for pickup from their bakery in Geelong.

The winner of last week’s giveaway for The Casual Cyclist’s Guide to Melbourne is Valissa! Your prize will be sent to you very soon.

PS If you want another chance to win La Madre Christmas goodies – pop over to my parenting blog TOT: HOT OR NOT for your chance to win a La Madre Gingerbread House!

I’ve written previously about the great author events that specialist cookbook store Books for Cooks run. They are becoming so popular that they’ve started moving certain events out of their store – too many books and people to fit into a small space!

While the non-store events are generally not free, the great thing is that they tend to pick local restaurants with a particular affinity for the cuisine in question. So for the launch of Janet de Neefe’s cookbook Bali: My Island Home, we met up at Rice Queen for a talk by the author and four tastes from the book prepared by the Rice Queen kitchen for $20.

Janet began her talk describing how she came to live in Bali. She travelled to Bali with her family as a teenager and was immediately captivated by its exoticness compared to Melbourne. Ten years later she returned after university and met her future husband. She also fell in love with Bali and started collecting Balinese and Indonesian recipes from her sister-in-law and other locals – and with no formal culinary training opened her first restaurant. Janet and her husband have since opened restaurants Casa Luna, Bar Luna and Indus, a bakery, the Casa Luna cooking school and the Honeymoon Guesthouses.

I’m visiting Bali next year so I purchased Bali: My Island Home to gain an insight into the island and its cuisine. The big glossy tome not only gives mouth-watering recipes of Balinese dishes but the photos and text explore the daily life and culture of Bali. It was interesting flicking through the book and encountering new ingredients – fortunately there’s a glossary for things such as candlenuts and salam leaf.

As for the tastes from the book – I highly recommend the black tapioca pearls in coconut milk!

What’s better than a pop up shop? A pop up house!

Melbourne design blogger extraordinaire Lucy Feagins has brought her blog The Design Files out of the interwebs and into real life. With the help of The Project Agency’s Esther Navarro-Orejon, Lucy has turned a swoon-worthy Fitzroy warehouse conversion into an even more swoonworthy display home – where everything is for sale!

That means inside The Design Files Open House all of the furniture, artworks, homewares, textiles, plants and food (and in theory even the Mini) can be popped into your shopping basket. Here’s your chance to bestow the gift of good design to your friends, family or let’s be honest, yourself.

Here are some of my favourite picks:

Baggu backpacks and totes in an array of colours.

A coat rack from Tractor Home that reads in rainbow colours ‘It’s beautiful here’. Very Miranda July I thought.

Maiike softies and Made by Mosey fabric mobiles. Awww.

I am obsessed with lamps. And my current obsessions is with these Workroom lamps. See them here…

..and here….

….and here!

A festive table full of kitchenware and sweet treats from Phillippa’s.

And when you’re done shopping and browsing, hang out on the rooftop under the  Basil Bangs umbrellas and enjoy some coffee and sweet treats from Coffee Supreme/The Abbotsford Club.

The Design Files Open House, 40 Little Napier St, Fitzroy

Thu Dec 1 – Sun Dec 4, 10am-5pm
Online from Mon Dec 5 – Sun Dec 18

I didn’t realise that the Beechworth Bakery had stretched beyond to town of Beechworth to other parts of the state – but it’s pretty handy that there’s one in Healesville.

Beechworth Bakery  prides itself on being ‘Australia’s greatest bakery’. That’s a tall claim! But it is an old-fashioned bakery filled with old-fashioned  British style bakery items and queues form as a result of its reputation.

As an international guest was coming over for afternoon tea I thought the only thing to serve was lamingtons. And you can get a lamington sponge for $9.50 at Beechworth Bakery! It’s a bargain when you consider an individual lamington is around $3.

I also bought their famous vanilla slice and an Australian version of something harking back to Britain, an Eccles cake. Personally I didn’t like the layer of cream which topped the vanilla slice (I’m pretty sure that’s not traditional, right?) and the custard was nice but not outstanding. Also there was not enough of the flavour of vanilla for my liking. Sorry to be a bah hambug about the vanilla slice but I really didn’t think it worthy of its reputation.

The fruit Eccles was also a disappointment. It was a bun with apple, sultanas, currants and glazed cherries encased inside flaky puff pastry but towards the middle there was a hard knob of uncooked pastry dough that simply could not be chewed.

However, everything was redeemed by the lamington sponge. I would return to Beechworth Bakery for that delightfully light sponge dipped in chocolate and topped with desiccated coconut. I have to confess, not only did I have it for afternoon tea, I had it at dinner and then for breakfast the next day too!

Beechworth Bakery are also famous for their pies, including the Ned Kelly pie which is filled with steak, egg, bacon and cheese. What’s your favourite item from the bakery?

Beechworth Bakery, 316 Maroondah Highway, Healesville 1300 233 784

A sunny weekend saw us taking a trip out to the Yarra Valley, armed with a recommendation for lunch at Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander.

Unlike most of the other wineries in the Yarra Valley, Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander isn’t located on an expansive piece of green land – it’s just a straight turnoff from the Maroondah Highway into the carpark. The huge steel building is hard to miss, particularly as it’s located in the same vicinity at the White Rabbit Brewery and an outpost of Beechworth Bakery.

The website describes Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander as a ‘grown-ups’ playground’ and it’s a very apt description for the complex. Under one roof you’ll find a bright, buzzy bistro, a bakery and patisserie, a temperature controlled cheese room and cheese tastings at the counter, a coffee roastery and a selection of gourmet provisions for sale.

As a result of the many activities happening under this cavernous space, just be aware that it is very noisy. The concrete interior bounces all of the music, chatter and sound of kids running around to quite high levels.

The bistro menu covers tapas, pizzas, non-pizza main courses with a comprehensive selection of sides, kids dishes, breakfast, baked goods and desserts thrown in the mix.

After watching the pizza-maker working the organic sourdough dough with his well-practised elegant economy of movement and show-stopping throwing technique, our table of 6 decided to share five pizzas and two salads for lunch.

Very quickly we received  our pizzas on ceramic pizza stones 
– roasted 
eggplant, 
barrel-
aged 
feta, 
red 
peppers
 and parsley ($21), roast 
mushroom,
 asiago, 
black
 truffle 
oil, 
roasted 
garlic and 
parsley ($23), spicy 
pork 
sausage, 
buffalo
mozzarella,
 San Marzano
 tomato and chilli
 ($23), Calabrese
 salami,
 San
 Marzano 
tomato, 
oregano
 and 
buffalo 
mozzarella
 ($24) and prosciutto,
 San
 Marzano 
tomato, cravero 
parmesan and parsley ($24), plus two bowls of iceberg, 
witlof
 and 
chive 
salad
 ($8.50).

 The mark of good pizza is the base and these bases were thin yet held the toppings well and had been wood-fired to bring a hint of smokiness. Everyone agreed that the roast mushroom pizza was particularly outstanding. Earthy, juicy mushrooms enhanced by the heady twin aromas of truffle oil and garlic and topped with melted cheese – a culinary perfect match.

For dessert we each had a spoonful of the bread and butter pudding. It was a huge bowl of wintery comfort food satisfaction for just $10.50 and was made with french pastry, marsala soaked sultanas and vanilla bean custard.

My only complaint was that the custard had split by the time the dish arrived at our table. It didn’t affect the taste but seeing a pool of oil in the pudding (and knowing it was going in my stomach shortly) wasn’t very appealing.
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While individually the prices of each pizza were high (when you compare it to say Ladro, Queen Margaret or Espressino), our total bill plus a beer/soft drink per person only divided to $30 a head. A bargain I think for the quality and quantity of food.

If after your meal you’re still up for wine tastings it is available everyday between 10am and 6pm and  if you dine in the bistro you’ll receive 10% discount off any take-home wine purchases. You can take also winery tours daily at 11am and 3pm.

Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander, 336 Maroondah Highway, Healesville +61 3 5962 6111

10am to 10pm weekdays
8am to 10pm weekends & public holidays

La Madre Bakery is located in Geelong but well-known in Melbourne. Their bread is sold at discerning grocery stores and delis across the city, including my nearest stockist in North Fitzroy, The Green Grocer, as well as being used in cafes such as Pope Joan.

Their excellent reputation means that if you’re in Geelong or on your way to the coast and you like your bread it’s worthwhile dropping into their store. It’s not too far off the highway (an hour away from Melbourne) and it’s very easy to find amongst the small cluster of suburban shops. Just look out for the ‘Goodness Here’ sign and follow your nose for the aromas of a proper bakery.

Unlike many bakeries I’ve visited, the whole kitchen is there for customers for see. Dozens of be-hatted bakers stand at the stainless steel benches kneading dough, there’s a flurry of activity near the ovens and fresh bread is piled onto trolleys that are then rolled just metres away to the front counter. By opening up their operations for the world to see it’s obvious that they take pride in their process of baking delicious artisan sourdough and sweet treats.

My mission was to feed nine people for four days. So I went for the Seeded Sourdough Cob, Olive Sourdough, Sourdough Vine Fruit, Rye Currant and Walnut and a dozen Ciabatta loaves. Plus one of everything in the cakes and pastries!

With a jury of bread and pastry eaters our verdict on the Top 3 were the Sourdough Vine Fruit, the old school, not too sickly sweet caramel slice, with the winner being the light and moist double- chocolate lamington.

For other excellent bakeries closer to home, try Noisette, Fatto o Mano and Babka.

My travel to La Madre was made possible thanks to the Holden Barina.

La Madre Bakery, 18 Milton Street, Bell Park +61 3 5272 1727
Monday – Friday 7am – late
Saturday 7am – 1.00pm
Sunday 12noon – late

One of my discoveries for Melbourne Music Week is actually not directly about music. If you visit any of the bars at Melbourne Music Week you’ll find Lupe, an innnovative single serve filled wine glass that’s perfect for festivals and events. Today’s HOT Chat is with Georgia Beattie, the founder of Lupe (you’ll have to excuse the lack of accent on the ‘e’ of Lupe, can’t work it out on my keyboard!). Thanks Georgia!

Georgia, tell me a bit more about your background and the story behind Lupe?

I’ve grown up amongst all things wine. My father started making wine when I was young and of course he had us out in the vineyard picking grapes and getting amongst the very hands on process of making wine. I have worked with my father at his company Swords Select for the last 5 or so years which gave me a feel for the wine industry and running a business.

What inspired you to develop Lupe?

I was at a festival in Melbourne and I asked the bar staff whether I could have a glass of wine instead of the typical lolly water or beer that they usually serve.

It turned out that the packaging was the major limitation. Spirits and beer seem to have managed to create a user friendly package, I pondered why hadn’t wine?

So given my wine background and entrepreneurial drive I started prototyping my own single serve glass of wine. I came across some fairly major hurdles in the PET glass creation just about the same time I learnt of James Nash in the UK who had been working on a ready to drink wine product for the last 5 years.

I jumped on a plane with all that was remaining in my bank account shortly after finishing university and now I have the rights to Mr Nash’s product in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Having Mr Nash’s product opposed to my own creation gave me a much faster route to market as well as the confidence with a proven and tested product that was successfully selling in the UK and Europe.

What’s a typical work day for you and what advice would you give to someone starting their own business?

I usually go for a jog around the tan at 5.30 / 6am to prepare myself for the day (healthy body healthy mind). I have a coffee on my way to work (location depending on my mood – I don’t have a regular I’ll rotate between St Edmonds, Auction Rooms, Dukes Coffee, Cumulus Inc). Over a coffee I plan my day and to do list.

If I could predict the rest of my day it would make my life a lot easier, unfortunately I roll with the punches and try to cross as much as I can off my to do list.

What are your next plans for Lupe?

Lupe is essentially a packaging company so I’d like to walk down the liquor isle within 5 years and see all my favorite branded wines with a single serve version along side the 750ml bottle. We’re creating an entirely new market segment with the single serve that is complementary to the 750ml bottle. It’s going be extremely challenging but exciting at the same time. We’re currently in discussions with 2 large wine companies about packaging a single serve.

We recently launched in Japan and we’ll slowly roll out into Korea and Hong Kong next year.

When I worked in the CBD one of my shopping challenges was finding a good loaf of bread. I rarely had time in my lunch hour to travel to Queen Victoria Markets or battle the lines at David Jones Foodhall, which meant often I had to be organised enough to buy my bread on my way to work.

Fortunately, one of Melbourne’s best specialty bakeries, Phillippa’s, has now ably filled that gap by opening a cosy store in Howey Place, between Collins and Little Collins Streets. Just look out for the faux stone brickwork outlined onto the exterior of the shop, giving it a very European feel.

The city store offers  a selection of take-away provisions from Phillippa’s large range of products, including loaves of bread (yay!), packets of biscuits and slices, jars of preserves and their muesli and granola blends.

There are also ready-to-eat items which you can take with you or eat in at the mini tables at the back of the shop – a rotating menu of freshly sandwiches and mini breakfast rolls (highly recommend the crispy bacon and tomato), salads or soups depending on the time of year, cinnamony muffins filled with chunks of apple and cranberry, bite-sized morsels of Phillippa’s must-try caramel pear slice and breakfast cups of yoghurt, fruit and granola.

Note that there is no white bread available! The bread is made from wheatmeal, wholewheat honey, rye, grain and stoneground organic flours.

With Christmas coming up the seasonal range is also available in store. I am a huge fan of Phillippa’s pain d’epice which keeps forever and is great with cheese or on its own though I think there are better mince pies to be found in the city. On my next visit I’m also going to buy a canvas bread bag – these are great for keeping bread fresh.

Phillippa’s City Store, 15 Howey Place, Melbourne +61 3 9671 04030
Monday-Friday 7am-5:30pm
Saturday 8:30am-2:30pm

Stuck for a unique, Melbourne-themed Christmas gift or holiday souvenir?

Then make sure you get to Melbournalia, a series of pop up stores open now in the lead-up to Christmas. Over the next few weeks four Melbourne CBD venues and one repurposed newspaper stand will host displays of Melbourne design goodness, with HQ being at Melbournalia Home in an out-of-the-way laneway (naturally) off Franklin St.

Melbournalia Home is a stylish converted warehouse filled with stationery, jewellery, homewares, fashion, coffee, art and design from some of Melbourne’s best-loved boutique design brands.

My covet list includes:

Gorgeous Neighbourhood throw and picnic rugs from Otto & Spike and make-your-own mobile from Ink & Spindle.

Tram roll cushions from Poulier & Poulier.

 Mattt cases for notebooks and laptops.

In 2011 our kitchen calendar is by The Design Files. In 2012 our calendar will be the designed by the giggle-worthy Able and Game.

Tonight Melbournalia Captains opens at Captains of Industry (Level 1, 2 Somerset Place, CBD) with a launch event 6-8pm and everyone’s welcome! Enjoy some wine and browse the Captain’s selection of Melbournalia gifts for the modern gent.

Obviously there’s only room for five places to be featured in that article so let me redress the omission of the institution known as Dandee Donuts.

Melbourne is home to a couple of famous of retro doughnut vans – Olympic Doughnuts just outside Footscray Station, the American Doughnut Kitchen at Queen Victoria Market and Dandee Donuts.

The purple and yellow van is parked near the fruit and veg section of the market and the constant queue of young and old will lead you there.

The doughnuts are freshly fried, piping hot balls of squishable fluffy dough with a squirt of super-sweet strawberry jam inside. Order double jam if you dare! It comes in a paper bag which you can rip open to lick the sugar coating clean at the end :–)

Dandee Donuts is an unmissable treat which will complete your visit to Dandenong Market. In fact, I’m sure it’s the feature of many people’s childhood memories.

Where are your favourite doughnuts in Melbourne?

Dandee Donuts, Dandenong Market, cnr Cleeland and King Sts, Dandenong +61 3 9791 4785

Tuesday 8am – 4pm
Friday 8am – 5pm
Saturday 7am – 3pm

To be exact, my thoughts are turning to where to eat at the beach and the coast. And one of my recommendations is Wye River General Store.

As the name suggests, it’s a general store which operates for the citizens and visitors of the tiny hamlet of Wye River. The store combines post office and banking services and stocks daily necessities like milk, toilet paper, Mars Bars and Weetbix.

Yet evidently Wye River dwellers are a particularly discerning lot, as their general store also stocks Istra smallgoods, Martelli pasta and other gourmet items that wouldn’t be out of place in a smart inner city deli.

Even better, attached to the store is a lovely cafe serving hearty, wholesome food at reasonable prices.

The fitout is airy and full of exposed brick, wooden slats and light – very much hallmarks of Melbourne architects Six Degrees. The dining room has a fireplace for cosy winters while the outdoor decks make the most of summer balminess. The adjoning playground means that kids are free to run to and fro, from the swings to the slides to their lunch, lending the cafe a particularly relaxed holiday atmosphere.

The cabinets have ready made sandwiches and salads while the sit-down menu is fairly simple – soup, pizzas, pie and a few main dishes.

RM had the duck and celeriac pie ($16) which came with a side of sweet relish and fresh salad greens. A rustic dish with sophisticated elements, it was let down a little by too-dry pastry though saved by the relish.

My fish and chips ($25) was some of the best I’d ever had. The fish was so incredibly moist and fresh that it was a wonder that the juices didn’t turn the beer batter into a soggy mess. I liked the big fat non-oily potato wedges and the aioli too.

For dessert I opted for an inhouse-made lemon tart from the cake cabinet ($4). While the classic pastry and curd combination was well-balanced, the glistening
curd’s consistency was too runny so that as soon as I broke into the pastry case all the lemony goodness spread like lava on my plate. It was very unbecoming having to spoon up lemon curd :–)

To plagiarise an advertising slogan, Wye River General Store is easy, breezy, beautiful. I recommend driving that extra 20 minutes past bustling Lorne and enjoy the tranquility and excellent food at Wye River.

Wye River General Store, 35 Great Ocean Rd, Wye River +61 3 5289 0247

I once held a bake-off amongst my friends where everyone had to bring a baked dessert for judging (and eating). J and B brought a beautiful chocolate babka which was suspiciously excellent…and after a few drinks it was revealed that on a friend’s tip they had bought the babka from Aviv Cakes & Bagels!

I’ve been dreaming of that babka for close to 5 years now and decided that it was time to revisit Aviv. Being in Elsternwick the bakery caters well for a large Jewish clientele – bagels, strudels/kugels, pastries filled with poppy seeds – and Italian/Continental style biscuits and cakes. The bakery is super busy and there are only a handful of chairs and tables so most patrons, including me, opt to take away.

The chocolate babkas are sold by weight and my typical one feeding around 10-12 people cost around $27. It was a gorgeous buttery ring of sweetened risen dough and chocolate paste and a large hunk is perfect with a cup of tea.

There is no need to toast it (like brioche) as I think it’s better as is with just a little ‘freshening up’ in the oven if it’s been sitting a bit. It didn’t go dry or stale over the weekend during which we nibbled at it bit by bit, though on Saturdays they do produce a mini-babka.

The poppyseed strudel was around $15 and was stuffed with a rich, almost savoury poppyseed filling. I like my pastry a little flakier in the French style, but it was still buttery and light.

Aviv is an old-fashioned bakery with a strong following. I’m sure it will continue churning out its classic bakery items like the chocolate babka for many generations to enjoy.

My travel to this cafe was made possible thanks to the Holden Barina.

Aviv Cakes & Bagels 412 Glen Huntly Road  Elsternwick +61 3 9528 6627

We’re so lucky to have Books for Cooks in our city.

This independent book store in Fitzroy is Australia’s only retailer specialising in books on food and wine. The five rooms of an old Victorian terrace typical of the area are filled floor to ceiling with densely packed books, from the popular to the obscure. There are couches and chairs for browsing and the staff are always on hand with information and advice.

Books for Cooks also occasionally hold events in their small store. Talks and signings from visiting authors are normally accompanied by a free glass of bubbles and some tastes from the featured cookbook made by Amanda, one of the owners of the store.

From their mailing list I found out that Australia’s own Willy Wonka Adriano Zumbo was going to be visiting to promote his cookbook Zumbo: Adriano Zumbo’s fantastical kitchen of other-worldly delights. I am a huge desserts fan and I love Zumbo’s cakes and macarons, so I was not going to miss this event.

Adriano was a very personable speaker, even though he described himself as ‘not much of a people person’. We learnt about his beginnings baking in his parents’ supermarket in store bakery, his stint at a French sourdough bakery, his favourite cookbooks (Larousse des Desserts, Ramon Morato’s Chocolate), his favourite bakeries and patisseries in Paris (a long list, including Laurent Duchene, Fauchon, Pain de Sucre, Pierre Herme, Arnaud Delmontel, Laduree - but only the macarons, not the cakes), the challenges of managing 97 staff and looking forward to mechanising his processes, his most outrageous failed dessert (chocolate eggplant macaron, anyone?), his new dessert train at The Star and finally, the key to making winning macarons (finely processed almond meal, knock the air of the meringue, don’t eat macarons fresh but leave for 24 hours).

Books for Cooks have lots of other great events coming up in November, including a dinner with Luke Nguyen at Eat Drink Man Woman on 7 November, dinner with Andrew McConnell at Cumulus Inc and evening tastes with Janet de Neefe, author of Bali: the food of my island home. To keep up to date with their news, sign up to their mailing list.

As for my next Books for Cooks purchase? I reckon it’s going to be the Vintage Edition of the Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book. Retro-fabulous!

Books for Cooks, 233-235 Gertrude St, Fitzroy +61 3 8415 1415
Sun 11am-5pm; Mon-Sat 10am-6pm

However, I do have an interest in vegan food and vegan cooking, in the same way that I have an interest in any food that tastes good. So when Carla from vegan blog Easy as Vegan Pie advertised that she was starting beginners vegan cooking classes I jumped at the chance to learn some more about things you can do with tofu (amongst other things).

A group of us gathered around a large table at Milkwood’s front room while Carla held court with her trusty eBay-ed food processor, a portable gas stove and frypan and a plethora of ingredients I’d never heard of – Japanese silken tofu, umeboshi, liquid smoke, ‘nooch‘ (nutritional yeast, a cheesy tasting parmesan-substitute).

We were all handed recipe sheets to follow and passed around a plate of vegan sausage rolls to get us going. Over two hours we worked our way through demonstrations of vegan versions of caramalised onion quiche, basil pesto, pate, dill sour cream, bolognese and dark chocolate tart.

I think the key thing to keep in mind with vegan food is not ‘does it taste like the non-vegan version?’ but ‘does it taste good?’. My favourite dish of the night was the basil pesto, followed closely by the dark chocolate tart. In fact, I’ve just stocked up on a bag of nooch :–)

At the end of two hours I’d had a great night out – Carla was full of useful information and a relaxed and funny host (she’s very forthright with cutting corners in her cooking ‘who can be arsed?’). Everyone came with an open mind and a willingness to share, so it’s not like we were just sitting in silence during a 2 hour lecture.

I learnt about new ingredients, new shops and new methods of cooking. Apparently Homebrand food is often vegan and USA Foods is the place for all your (accidentally) vegan junk food needs. Finally, the food was tasty too :–)

The class is geared towards helping non-vegans tackle the basics of vegan cooking though I think vegans (a handful in our class) can still learn something new by sharing recipes, cooking and shopping tips.

Carla’s next classes are on Thursday 3 November and Sunday 27 November. Places are limited to 13 people so booking early is essential – the first class is already filling up. For more information, click here.

Is it possible that I’ve found the best satay sauce in Melbourne…in Zone 2?

Every family, every region and every country has their own satay recipe – and everyone has their favourite. I’ve eaten a lot of satays both in Australia and in South East Asia and I’m so excited about discovering the spicy satay sauce made by Sataylicious!

Sataylicious is a husband-and-wife run satay stall in vibrant and multi-cultural Dandenong Market. The couple make their skewers and sauces fresh on premises using a secret family recipe from Singapore. You can eat on the spot or take home skewers of chicken or beef (12 for $9.95) plus tubs of normal or spicy satay sauce ($3.95).

My pet hates with satay sauce are that they can be too sweet, too runny or too smooth and Sataylicious‘ spicy satay sauce is none of those – it contains recognisable chunks of peanut in it and has a real punch of heat of the ‘need water now’ variety. The meat was tender and marinated with a blend of strong-flavoured spices which were almost Indian in flavour.

I cooked twelve satays over an electric barbecue for the suggested 3.5 minutes on both sides and then tossed some green veg in the pan juices afterwards with a sprinkling of water. Served with some steamed rice and a saucer of spicy satay sauce and voila! Dinner in an easy 10 minutes. The remainder of the sauce I’ve popped in the freezer (it’ll keep for 6 months) until my next visit to Sataylicious.

Sataylicious, Shop W3, Dandenong Market, Cnr Clow and Cleeland St, Dandenong 0403154190

Tuesday 7am – 4pm Friday 7am – 5pm Saturday 7am – 3pm

Fancy a day out in the country? In just 45 minutes from the city you can be out in the vineyards of the Yarra Valley.

One of the most popular wineries in the Yarra Valley is Yering Station. It’s the first winery established in Victoria and is definitely worth a stop for the cellar door/art gallery, produce shop, boutique accommodation, restaurant and small Farmers Market open every third Sunday of the month. 

The Wine Bar Restaurant dominates the grounds and is a lovely place for a weekend lunch on a sunny day. Every table is bathed in the afternoon light streaming from the floor to ceiling glass wall that fronts onto a magnificient view of the Yarra Ranges.

The menu is Mod Oz, with Asian and Mediterranean influences. To start we dipped into the crusty bread and dukkah while waiting for our entrees – tempura soft-shelled Singapore crab, coconut rice, mint and crispy shallot ($24) and glazed duck breast with porcini, eschallot and leek dumpling, tatsoi and port reduction ($24).

The crab was delicately battered and the light crunch combined well with South East Asian influenced ingredients. My duck breast was very tender but the dumplings were not very successful, with a very thick dumpling skin that was still floury in the middle.

A similar heavy-handedness with dough seemed to afflict RM’s stodgy butternut pumpkin and spinach tortellini, which was combined with soya beans, miso and the overpowering flavour of the very pungent blue cheese ($34).

My main was very prettily presented but the quince glazed pork loin was over-cooked. Fortunately the slab of pork belly was pull-apart tender and sat atop an apple rosti with a dab of quince aioli ($38).

Overall the menu read better than the actual execution of the dishes. Given the glamorous location and fine dining feel of the restaurant we were a little disappointed with the imprecision of what I’d consider to be basic cooking techniques like making pasta dough and roasting meat.

However, Yering Station in general still gets a HOT. Why? Basically, the view and ambience of the restaurant is wonderful and it’s the kind of destination that I would bring overseas guests. If you catch the right Sunday you can walk off your lunch with a visit to the small Farmers Market stocked mostly with Yarra Valley gourmet products.

The produce shop has even more opportunities to buy jams and relishes and we finished off our meal with single-serve takeaway tubs of Gundowring icecream sitting in the sun.

So despite the below-par experience at the restaurant, overall you can still enjoy a great afternoon out at Yering Station.

If you want to read more about Yering Station and other locales in the region, check out my previous visit on the NGV Artbus.

The Wine Bar Restaurant, Yering Station, 38 Melba Hwy, Yarra Glen +61 3 9730 0100
10am – 5pm daily
Serving lunch between 12pm – 3pm with extended hours on the weekend and Public Holidays from 12pm – 4pm.

Did you visit Taste of Melbourne this weekend?

The exhibition can be pretty overwhelming, what with the huge crowds of people and the number of exhibitors and restaurants participating. So this year I restricted myself to a quick whip around the stalls that I was interested in (such as Yarra Valley Dairy, Gundowring, Enni) and the very interesting and educational Plumm Wine Glass Experience courtesy of PPR.

I’m not very knowledgeable about wine, let alone wine glasses. But thanks to Matt Skinner – wine writer, sommelier and presenter – I’m now a little more aware of how the shape of a wine glass can affect my appreciation of what I’m drinking.

On the table were five crystal wine glasses – four of them from the Plumm Vintage range. Plumm is a Melbourne based company who make an Australian-designed, European-made range of glassware. Their tagline is ‘Five wine glasses are all you need’ and their aim is to make wine appreciation accessible by providing wine specific glasses for everyday drinking.

The fifth glass was an ISO glass which used to be the only official tasting glasses used by wine professionals (they are also familiar to wine drinkers at festivals or vineyard tastings).

The four Plumm glasses had tastings of Louis Roederer Champagne, Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc, Barossa Babe Shiraz and Sticks No. 29 Pinot Noir. Matt introduced each glass, then each wine and gave lots of information about aromas, flavours and food matches.

With the Sparkling glass he explained that the wider belly compared to the lip enables the wine to breath and to let the wine hit the front of the palate first. Matt recommended that champagne be paired with something with a fatty texture or batter so that it would clean the palate for the next mouthful of food.

White A is suitable for aromatic whites with no oak, particularly young whites, in that in allows them to open up but not have their flavours and aromas lost in a big glass. The sauvignon blanc would be great with goats cheese, tomatoes, peas – basically food for this time of year.

Red A is for the ‘big reds’ such as those typically from the Barossa Valley. The bowl is still big enough to aerate the wine but not so large that all you get on your nose is the smell of alcohol. Matt suggested that the shiraz would be paired with hung meat, slow roasts or a chargrilled butterflied leg of lamb.

The flared lip of Red B is designed to deliver the wine to the middle of the palate and not the front, and the large bowl allows the wine to aerate. A classic pairing with pinot is duck as the acid cuts through the fatty meat to clean the palate.

Having the ISO glass for comparison was very effective in demonstrating to even a beginner how the same wine could smell and taste different in a different glass. It was so obvious! Basically, the narrow ISO glass completely shut down the aromas and fragrances of the wines (and we all know that smell is a huge component of taste) and its fat rolled rim, made for durability, meant that the wine was always delivered to the front of the palate and hence accentuated the acidity of the wine.

Not only was the session incredibly informative but the $40 ticket included a Plumm Wine Glass Pack (RRP $115) of the Sparkling, White A, Red A and Red B glasses. Plus the wine tastings of course! Good value.

After the Plumm Wine Glass Experience I’m now convinced that I need to overhaul my glassware collection. Plumm make a high-end handmade range (one piece of glass), the Vintage range (two joins in the glass and safe for the dishwasher) and an Outdoors polycarbonate range – perfect for Spring Racing Carnival and Moonlight Cinema.

Chapman Hill is a Victorian family-run olive grove just outside of Melbourne and I first tasted their olive oils at my local providores, Key Ingredients in Clifton Hill. Then I started seeing them pop up in other places I visited – such as Coin Laundry and Philippa’s Breads.

Chapman Hill produce extra virgin olive oil from three different olive tree varieties – Tuscan Frantoio and Lecciono and a West Australian evolved variety called New Norcia. Each of the varietals has different qualities, from grassy to peppery to nutty (my favourite is the nutty New Norcia).

If you’ve never tried them, here’s your chance. I have THREE prize packs of Chapman Hill‘s extra virgin olive oils to give away, comprising a full bottle of each of the New Norcia, Frantoio and Lecciono (RRP $77).

To be in the running all you have to do is leave a comment. Three winners will be drawn randomly and announced next Friday 2 September. Good luck!

Update 2 September: Congratulations to Borris, Samantha and Lee on being the prize draw winners! An email has been sent to you.

Sheryl Thai used to be an IT consultant. Then during the GFC two years ago, she was told that she no longer had a job. Not one to cry into her keyboard, Sheryl decided that it was time to fulfil her dream of owning a cupcake store, inspired by the famous Magnolia Bakery in New York City.

She started her business online but as demand outstripped supply she opened her first store in Glenferrie Road Hawthorn. Cupcake Central at Melbourne Central is her second store and my, is it pretty.

The branding has been designed by Matt of The Anatomy, who was also responsible for the branding of St Ali. The cute-retro-down-to-earth styling has been done by the talented Claire Laritt-Evans who also styled Market Lane Coffee. Best of all, the kitchen contains the kind of quality ingredients I choose for my own pantry – Callebaut chocolate, Madagascan vanilla – as well as some dream kitchen items like vintage filing boxes! Old-fashioned scales! Pastel SMEG fridge!

I was invited with other food bloggers to attend a cupcake making workshop where we got to make vanilla, red velvet and chocolate cupcakes, play with fondant and learn the art of frosting. I pride myself on being a bit of a baker (I did get a Kitchenaid stand mixer instead of an engagement ring) but even I learnt a few things.

Firstly, in order to get perfectly shaped cupcakes, use an ice-cream scoop to pour your mixture into the patty tins. Genius!

Secondly, after experimenting with different colours of fondant and different cutters, I never want to eat fondant icing again – it’s just like sugar playdough.

Thirdly, frosting a cupcake perfectly using a piping tip is harder than you’d think. Here are my shamefully woeful creations compared to the professional standard you’ll get at Cupcake Central.

Cupcake Central has a constantly rotating menu of cupcake flavours depending on the day of the week and cupcakes are baked fresh every day (apparently some of the mass produced cupcakes are baked 2 days before and iced – boo). I’m a fan of the chilli chocolate and chocolate hazelnut, while my friend said that the red velvet was the best she’d ever had. Give them a try and you be the judge :–)

Cupcake Central, Level 2 Melbourne Central Dining Hall, cnr Swanston and Latrobe Sts, Melbourne

Mon – Thurs 10:00am – 6:30pm, Fri 10:00am – 9:00pm Sat – Sun 10:00am – 6:00pm

Some of my highlights this year:

Karton. Living with a cardboard box never looked so good. I LOVED the low-lying Paperpedic bed (solid and very comfortable) which packs flat and can be stored in a cupboard or under another bed for lucky houseguests, the shelving units which you can paint in all sorts of colours and most of all their ram, part of their ‘Barnyard’ method of storage. I went online to buy a ram and it’s sold out already! But I’m told that new stock will be arriving in about a week.

Write to Me. I love the fitout of this stationery stall, especially the miniature typewriter that was apparently sourced from a store in Doncaster. Sadly, the machine doesn’t type teeny-tiny letters.

Edible Islands. Being an apartment dweller and quasi-green-thumb I like the idea that these planters designed for growing plants and veges on roof gardens, backyards and urban areas. Even better, they can be fit into lifts, through doors and up stairs. The planters are designed in Melbourne, made in Pakenham from 100% recycled plastic and come in a bunch of different colours.

DesignByThem. A Sydney-based design studio with a naive aesthetic. The cute StemTree brings a little bit of the outdoors to your indoors. It is gorgeous but unfortunately out of my price range.

Acewood & Mejo‘s Emotion Machine. Strap into their bike, start pedalling to power the car to play the music. As you pedal faster, your heartbeat increases and the music becomes more intense. The motion of your head and your mood’s brain waves are transformed into visuals on screen.

Chandelier and lamp by Jorge Criollo-Carrillo for Jam Factory. Jam Factory is a studio/gallery/shop in Adelaide which provides Associate training for tertiary-educated artists and designers. Staff and Associates work on Jam Factory products and commissioned pieces as well as their own work and commercialise it under the Jam Factory umbrella. I loved this chandelier by industrial designer Jorge Criollo-Carrillo made from unvarnished wood on the outside and smoked wood on the inside, barely treated with varnish. The lamp is made from walnut and oak and shares the same organic texture and shape as the chandeliers. Simply breathtaking.

The Traveller. Gift packaging for wine that’s safe to post! The cardboard is produced from recycled board using a  minimum of 95% post-consumer waste and is printed with various designs, including some specifically Melbourne ones like Federation Square and Southern Cross station. The packaging has been tested to the same extent as Australian wine packaging and has been dropped from 7 storeys just to check your bottle of wine will be ok in the gentle hands of Australia Post. There’s a space to write your personal message so it’s your greeting card as well. I loved it much I bought one ($6) even though I couldn’t think of anyone I was going to be gift-giving wine.

Design Made Trade is on 21-22 July for trade and 23-24 July for public entry, 10-5pm all days.

Happy Bastille Day! While it’s not our national holiday, why not use it as an excuse to pop into new French boulangerie and patisserie Chez Dre?

Right near the bustle of South Melbourne Markets and down a bluestone laneway you’ll find a little bit of pastry heaven. Chez Dre is a large space which makes good use of its slightly awkward layout and lack of natural light by splitting the seating into two areas plus an outdoor courtyard, with a busy open kitchen curving along one side. I also admired the red spray-painted stencil floor which lent the mainly concrete and brick interior a welcoming warmth.

I was hoping to sit down for lunch on my weekend visit but obviously word has got around about this place already as there was not a spare seat to be had and a line up to boot. No matter, I just ensured I worked my way down the pastry cabinet. Total bill $56!

Baguettes: The bread is made in house and is an authentic French baguette – crunchy crust, chewy centre. To leave room for sweets I only had a half-size of the smoked salmon baguette with fresh dill cream ($6.50). While I liked the bread I didn’t particularly take to the filling as it was overpowered by wet slices of  too-sweet pickles. Little cornichons or just capers would have been a better match.

Lemon tart ($7.50): Ooh la la! This is a seriously good lemon tart. A light buttery pastry with a beautiful crumb encased the vibrant yellow curd (not too tart and not too sweet). I liked that instead of swirling the whole tart with meringue there was just a single stripe of soft marshmallow which had been torched quickly on top for presentation.

Yoghurt mousse with apricot jelly ($8.50): This was a set yoghurt mousse with a neat filling of apricot jelly inside and lightly dusted with desiccated coconut. I did not like this cake but I think it just wasn’t to my taste – to me it was eating yoghurt set in to a shape and I would have preferred eating plain ol’ yoghurt.  The pistachio cake base was also quite bland. Maybe one for the non-chocolate lovers out there (though in that case I’d steer you towards the lemon tart).

Chocolate eclair ($7.50): A tube of choux pastry split with a creme patiserrie studded with nuts – an unexpected yet delightful twist on the original. The eclairs come in chocolate, vanilla and coffee.

Chocolate cassis mousse ($8.50): While the chocolate mousse encasing a rectangle of cassis jelly and sponge was delicious, the most delightful part of this dessert was the hazelnut wafer base. No picture sorry, devoured too quickly!

Macarons ($3): When I asked the waitress which macarons to choose, she told me that the passionfruit was very popular and the must-try was the salted caramel. Both of the macarons were amazingly intense in their flavouring and showed good ‘feet’ but were inconsistent in their texture. The salted caramel was perfect in terms of lightness but the passionfruit macaron was too wet and cakey in its interior. The miniature macaron on the cassis had two large air bubbles in it.

Madelaines ($2.50): Fragrant with the heady scent of honey, these delicate shell-shaped cakes would be perfect sweet treat with a cup of tea or coffee.

Croissants ($4.50): Apparently the pastry item to try at Chez Dre is the flaky pastry croissant encrusted and stuffed with almond frangipane. I had that as well as a pain au chocolat. Both croissants were excellent but still not to the gold standard of the croissants at La Tropezienne.

Chez Dre is an indulgent refuel stop after a visit to the South Melbourne Markets. One of the pastry chefs there has assured that during the week it is less packed and it is  a much more relaxed experience – oh, and I have to try the chocolate tart.

Chez Dre recently won ‘Best Bakery Cafe’ in The Age’s 2011 Good Cafe Awards. Have a look at the other award winners here.

Chez Dre, Rear of 285-287 Coventry St, South Melbourne
+61 3 9690 2688
Mon-Sun 7:30-5pm

Melburnians are often tagged as being the shoppers and foodies of Australia, so a pop up shop selling fresh Australian truffles is a most genius idea for our city.

Madame Truffles has set up shop Thursday to Sunday 10am-6pm for the whole of July ie prime truffle season. Simon McCrudden and Bernadette Jenner are the brains behind Madame Truffles and both have other jobs, which makes their wee shop a project of love.

The pop up, in a garage annex of St Ali, has been designed and constructed by Melbourne creatives Greg Hatton and Leila Sanderson. and has a glamorous yet rustic feel to it. I loved the crystal chandeliers hung inside a wall-papered room built of corrugated tin, the lovely flower-bedecked vintage bike and the cute terraniums.

The shop has also been decorated with flowers by Katie Marx including the most velvety deep purple calla lillies.

The shop stocks three types of truffles from Tasmania, Western Australia and New South Wales, each of which has a slightly different aroma to it. The truffles are sold by the gram ($2.80-$3.50) and to make these little jewels go further you can also invest in a truffle cutter imported from Italy. Each truffle come packaged in a glass jar for storage (up to 7 days) and a little tag telling you the name of the dog that nosed the truffle up from the ground for you (my truffle is thanks to Izzie). Gives my little blog of earth a sweet backstory!

I’ve popped my truffle into a jar of arborio rice and will be using it to make the most decadent toasted cheese sandwiches (organic sourdough, gruyere, truffle shavings) and mushroom and truffle risotto.

If you can’t get to Madame Truffles, you can also buy fresh Australian truffles from Fresh Generation at Queen Victoria Market.

Madame Truffles, 12-18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne +61 430 017 480
Thursday to Sunday 10am-6pm
July only

In the middle of Italianate Lygon Street is a Francophile foodie paradise.

Charcuterie La Parisienne Pates is a white, bright storefront housing a long refrigerated counter full of smallgoods made by the owner/charcutier Stephane Langois. The shelves are also groaning with stocks of French food items like mustard, vinegars, jams and teas. There is a small eating area on the landing where you can sit down to have a light lunch of quiche, pie or filled baguette or gawk at the dessert cabinet of pastries and macarons.

It was the perfect one-stop shop for a French-themed dinner party I was hosting and I put myself in the hands of a friendly staff member as to what I should serve.

Her suggestion was to start off with some of Stephane’s reknowned pates and terrines, so I chose a pork and pistachio terrine, a rabbit and prune terrine and chicken and brandy pate (sold by weight). Each of them was declared delicious by my guests, with particular mention to the rustic chunkiness of the pork terrine and the smoothness of the pate.

Along with the terrines and pates I served thinly slice saucisson. According to The Age Stephane is the only person in Victoria who makes saucisson regularly. It had a nice pepper kick to it and apparently as  it dries the flavour will become more pronounced. Extremely moreish and fantastic loaded up on baguette (their bread comes from South Yarra bakery French Fantasies).

For mains I decided to serve confit duck legs with duck fat potatoes. Frankly at $9 per serve who can be bothered making their own confit? Each package came with a wad of duck fat so I simply popped the duck legs on top of some potatoes in a baking dish, dotted the duck fat around and on top of the meat and seasoned with salt and pepper (I also added thyme and garlic bulbs). In the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes with some green veges and it was an impressive ‘I made it myself’ dinner party moment.

Being a French charcuterie of course there is a wide selection of imported cheese. My picks were a Fromager d’Affinois (similar to a brie), Saint Agur Blue (apparently a mild blue cheese that even non-blue cheese eaters like) and my favourite French cheese, Comte.

Grand total for the bill was about $160 for 8 people and we didnt even get to eat the cheese! I’ll definitely be heading to La Parisienne Pates again for no hassles, no fuss and delicious dinner party catering.

• La Parisienne Pates, 290 Lygon St, Carlton +61 3 9349 1852

A few months ago I lost my head at a charity auction for Twestival and placed an outrageous winning bid on a macaron tower by LuxBite. Fifty macarons, all to myself! *mwah-ha-ha-ha*

There’s been a lot of hoo-hah about macarons in Melbourne and the consensus from the blogosphere seems to be that South Yarra dessert cafe LuxBite make some fantastic ones. They are particularly reknowned for combining Asian flavours into this quintessentially French sweet – a rare example of successful fusion cuisine?

My friend and I decided to meet at the bright and pretty cafe for a catchup. While the place is small, it’s pretty hard to miss as eEmblazoned on the window is what I might adopt as my life motto ‘Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.’

We decided to share the afternoon tea set for two. For $42 I think it’s good value – two drinks (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, chai), three finger sandwiches (why not four? makes it a bit hard to share between two people) plus two desserts and four macaron flavours of your selection.**

Such is the strength of LuxBite ‘s word of mouth recommendations that at 3pm on a Monday they’d sold out of their signature macaron flavours, Kaya Toast and Peanut Butter and Jelly. Never mind, there was still lots to choose from!

I like slightly more savoury flavours in my macarons given that they are essentially a baked sugar confection and both J and I loved the punchy tang of the kaffir lime. On the other hand, we thought that the white peach and jasmine paled in comparison – if you’d asked me what flavour I’d just eaten I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. Similarly, loved the saltiness of the salted caramel but didn’t get too excited by the rather subdued Heilala Vanilla Crème Brulee.

Overall the texture was right on – a thin crusty shell, soft centre, good ‘feet’ and no air pockets, with a balanced quantity between the shell and the filling. However, one gripe – the Salted Caramel macaron had been mixed such that I think some of the sugar had crystallised so that certain mouthfuls felt like chewy toffee.

As for the desserts – we enjoyed both of our selections ‘Supersized Love’ a giant decadent macaron wagon wheel/Ferrero Rocher hybrid and the Black Forest mousse (normally $8.50 each). Both of the desserts consisted of variations on light, fluffy mousse layers though the Supersized Love was a particular winner with  its crunchy crust of hazelnuts.

The three sandwiches were pleasant but unremarkable, though particular mention should be made of the lovely sweet relish accompanying the smoked ham toasted finger.  Frankly we were too excited about the sweets to take much notice of the sandwiches!

On the way out I couldn’t resist taking some macarons home with me, particularly as I wanted to try some of the other flavours. They travelled well on the bus in their divided casings and that night RM and I polished off another eight macarons, with particular highlights being the non-traditional flavours of O-O-Oreo and Choc Cherry.

For more macaron and dessert reading, check out posts on Famish’d macaron tasting, dessert evenings with Pierre Roelofs at Cafe Rosamond and the pop-up store for the Sweet Studio.

**I used a prepaid voucher purchased from The Agenda Daily, a daily email with reviews and recommendations for Melbourne (and Sydney), so it only cost me $21. I have been impressed with the unique discounts provided by them (unlike your standard group buying sites offering hair removal one day, discount pizza the next). You may have noticed that I’ve installed a widget on the right hand side of the blog to help promote their offers – feel free to have a look :–)

• LuxBite, 38 Toorak Rd, South Yarra +61 3 98675888

As if Fitzroy didn’t have enough markets already, on the first Saturday of every month the carpark of Fitzroy Primary School sprouts the Fitzroy Market.

What makes this market special? Well, it is small enough to enable dedicated browsing at every store and it has a lovely chirpy community feel to it. The market also raises money (through its gold coin donation entry fee) for various charities in the neighbourhood - Cultivating Community, the Fitzroy Learning Network and Live Wires programs.

It’s pretty much a car boot sale and I found the vintage/secondhand clothing and accessories on offer to be interesting and of good quality. I’m not much of an expert op shopper but in the space of my half hour visit I found a couple of gems, which pretty much never happens.

Pretty vintage girls dresses in excellent condition from the 80s (which makes me vintage too!).

A lightweight coat with a broderie anglaise like hem. There are stains on the front of it but for $15 I thought it was worth the gamble to take it to the dry cleaners.

Some homemade jam from the St Marks Church stall. I went for a large jar of plum jam $6.

Spotted – sequinned hotpants, leather handbags and a barrow full of terracotta tiles, all in one stall!

For market-going sustenance, a vegan, gluten-free black forest cupcake made by Carla, blogger at Easy As Vegan Pie, as part of the Vegan Bake Sale to raise funds for RSPCA Queensland. Vegan never tasted so good! (PS Carla just got accepted by CAE to teach vegan cooking classes so maybe she can teach you how to make these amazing cupcakes.)

Happiness by the Melbourne Ukelele Collective!

Every year around this time I do a little taste-run of hot cross buns in Melbourne. Ostensibly it’s to provide blog readers with information but really it’s just an excuse to eat a lot of fruity, spicy, sticky bread (I’m a purist – chocolate chips should not be found in hot cross buns!).

Sadly this year’s Hot Cross Buns challenge has been curtailed by my being away in the lead-up to Easter. I’ve only managed to sample the buns from Fatto o Mano but feel free in the comments to let everyone know the location of your favourite buns!

Fatto o Mano is a little organic bakery nestled down the bottom end of Gertrude Street, near Birdman Eating and Ladro. The storefront can be easy to miss if you’re not looking for it, but its location is often signalled by a lunchtime queue and if you look closely you’ll be lured by the rows of loaves and rounds of pizza in the window.

To make the most of my single hot cross bun outing, I bought three buns as well as a coffee scroll, vegan cookie and three slices of pizza, all on the recommendation of Twitter. Grand total $27.

First, the main event – the hot cross buns. RM and I seriously pondered our judgement and decided that while the generously proportioned buns were quite good, they weren’t amazing. I like my buns with chunkier fruit whereas RM thought that the fruit quotient was spot on. We both agreed that we liked our buns spicier. Finally, the airy, squishy texture was fantastic – nothing worse than a rock hard bun.

Out of all my other purchases, my favourite was the coffee scroll. It’s not something that I would normally order as I don’t drink coffee (but I do eat coffee-flavoured products!) but this huge scroll is worth a repeat visit. The swirl of thick cinnamon-spiced bread was topped with an enticingly aromatic coffee icing that you could smell through the brown paper bag.

Our three slices of pizza were potato and olive, mushroom and pancetta. The base was more of a sturdy bready variety than traditional Italian pizza a taglio and the fresh flavoursome toppings were very prettily arranged. For $4 a slice it was a bargain lunch but I didn’t fancy the base enough that I’d be lining up for it again.

My final item was the vegan cookie. The cookie is made with oats, cranberries and nuts and it was unpleasantly hard to chew, to the point of hurting my back molars. Perhaps it rates well compared to other vegan cookies but as I’m not vegan I can indulge in buttery, soft-centred cookies and won’t be switching my allegiances to vegan cookies any time soon.

Fatto o Mano, 228 Gertrude St, Fitzroy 0+61 3 9417 5998