Ashy's Afghan, Ashburton by Bureaucrat

There's no shortage of cafes along High Street, Ashburton.  Indeed, the family-friend Mr Burton and the lovely Two Seeds can be found along this lively strip of shops.  However, I was very excited to see a new eatery pop up - Ashy's Afghan.  

I think Ashy's Afghan used to be a typical cafe, but in probably the last year or so, it's changed into an Afghani restaurant.  This suits me fine as I love Afghani food.  An impromptu lunch with Boy Chick's playgroup buddies saw us check out Ashy's Afghan.

Inside, it's spacious and welcoming - great if you have kids!  Boy Chick's buddies and their grandparents haven't had Afghani food before.  As such, I recommended they go with something that's not too spiced or 'challenging' to eat.

It's lunch menu is very well priced.  The double skewer charcoal kebabs (chicken thighs or minced lamb) is an absolute feast at $13.90.  The photo doesn't do it justice in terms of showing just how big the serve is.  We got two of these.  I had one all to myself, and I can tell you I was stuffed! The chicken was tender and juicy.  It was lightly spiced with a little paprika and lemon. The rice was light and fluffy; salad was fresh; I didn't try the pita as I was just too full.  While this was very yummy, I would have liked a stronger char-grilled flavour on the chicken. 

Fat Cup, Blackburn by Bureaucrat

I've noticed there's been a few changes in the eateries around Blackburn train station.  So for morning tea one day, I decided to try one out - Fat Cup.  I like the name of this place - one of abundance!  First impressions were also good.  It appears that Fat Cup is a family-run business and the plentiful smiles and happy welcomes was very nice.  The bright and spacious interior was also a plus - and I also loved the little touches of native plants and flowers dotted around the place.

With a few cakes on offer, I decided to go with the lemon tart.  This was quite lemony, which I like.  However, did wish that it came with some cream just so to temper the sourness from the lemon.  

Street food, Mauritius by Obelix

Whilst I like the convenience of resort dining, it’s not really the way to experience local culture. Which is why the most memorable food experiences in Mauritius were either eaten on the streets or ‘grab & bag’ to be enjoyed later hunkered down in the hotel room, trying to dish out the morsels into the cups and saucers the hotel supply for tea and coffee.

Coconut by the pool

Here is a food-log (a flog?) of the delectable street food of Mauritius. This is just a mere sampling. I intend to go back in future years to conquer some more. But it’s a start. And I have started with good ole favourites.

Chef BBQ experience, Mauritius by Obelix

As abundant and convenient resort living is, after several days of endless buffets, I yearn for simple home cooked food, tailored to my taste buds rather than slabs of pre-selected food which I may not necessarily desire laid out for me.

Flambeed prawns!

With this in mind, we opted to stay in a villa with our personal chef. The experience was like having a genie in a bottle. Gino, our genie was able to conjure up whatever dish our taste buds desired. For our last supper before we headed home, we decided to have a seafood BBQ. As the dying rays of sun disappeared on the horizon, Gino stoked the charcoal embers by the pool over looking Pereybere beach, and we watched on, entranced. 

The Chicken Experts, Mt Waverley by Bureaucrat

A spontaneous decision to have a mid-week takeaway dinner found us at the Chicken Experts.  Located in the Mt Waverley shopping village, I've often inhaled the delicious charcoal aromas that are wafting from this local chicken shop.

The Chicken Experts touts itself as using La Ionica chicken. That's always a plus in my books.  There's the typical roast chook or the deep fried pieces.  While I was tempted to go for a piece or two of deep fried chicken, I resisted temptation and got a quarter roast chook with chips.  This was a fairly generous serve.  The chicken was moist and meaty; and there were plenty of chips.

Albion Polish Club, Albion by Big Fil

A work colleague once of the Polish persuasion but now a dinky di Aussie had long suggested that I check out the Polish Club located in far off Albion – the western Melbourne suburb, not ancient Britain. Given that it’s quite a journey for me it took some time to make it but I finally managed the nearly 2 hour public transport journey from the eastern suburbs to check out this bastion of Eastern European cooking.

First thing to note is that this is not a restaurant, not really. It’s not a cafeteria either but sits somewhere in between. You order from the menu at the register which really does feel a bit school cafeteria like, but the table setting is much nicer than at my school anyway and the food is delivered to your table. This in between arrangement probably reflects that it is not really a public restaurant even if open to the general public but part of a social club (duh, I hear you say but it does mean that the feel of the place is very different to most of the places we visit around town).


My choice for lunch and probably the pick of the day was the roast pork (sometimes it helps having insider knowledge). Originally on the plate it looked smaller than I’d expected but the slices of pork are cut comparatively thick. The meat was juicy, the cabbage slightly vinegary to cut through the richness of the pork and gravy, the potato smooth if not as creamy/buttery as I’d have liked.