Japonais Sapporo, Paris by Bureaucrat

We accidentally stumbled across Little Japan in Paris. There's a few long rambly streets that run parallel against each other near the Pyramides Metro station in the first arrondisements (don't you love vague directions!).

With loads of Japanese eateries, a couple of Japanese grocery stores and a massive Japanese cartoon shop I thought I'd have a good chance of getting a tasty Japanese dinner.  There were several cheap and cheerful looking eateries in the area and I was dithering about trying to decide which one I should go to.

Long story short, I should have picked a different place. I was hoping for a comforting, carby meal after the long flight, and the oyakadon (chicken and egg on rice) was disappointing. As you can plainly see, it ain't pretty.  Kinda reminiscent and of the same ilk as Don Don back in Melbourne.  Claggy rice, not a lot of chicken, rubbery egg with pickled turnips tossed through it. I got it as a takeaway as I wanted to flop on the bed and watch TV while I ate it. 

Verdict: we wouldn't return

Overall

Eww. Avoid.  I know some of you are wondering why I'm eating Japanese while in France but bear in mind I had been on a plane for 24 hours and hadn't got the wherewithal to suss out where I should go for dinner. 

Address
37, rue Sainte-Anne
75001 Paris

Golden Leaf, Burwood East by Obelix

I normally associate Goldleaf with yum cha so it was not an automatic go-to when I’m seeking take away for dinner.  I was pleasantly pleased with my take away last Saturday night.  P and I were seeking a decent sort of meal without the palaver of actually scrubbing up and going somewhere.  


So I ordered a few choice dishes from Goldleaf Burwood and cooked up a batch of rice at home to go with the dishes.  The service was prompt, the food still piping hot and most importantly of all, there was no discernible MSG afterburn. 

For entrees, I decided to go a bit luxe and ordered the king prawns with wasabi sauce.  They don’t photograph all that prettily but in essence, they are large sized prawns, battered and fried with a wasabi and mayo glaze and topped with a sprinkling of pine nuts.  You can’t really fault any battered and fried prawns.  I would have preferred more of a wasabi hit rather than a mayo-y hit but on the up side, at least it was relatively kid friendly. 

For mains, we went with two dishes – a beef stir fried with seasonal vegetables and one of their specialities, the eggplant and seafood hot pot.  They were both generously sized and the eggplant seafood hotpot had a delicate smoky flavour – delish!  I was very happy with the amount of seafood throughout.   

The stir fried beef and vegs had a good variety of vegs and they were still crispy.  What’s discernible was that it was not smothered in a cornflour glaze as Chinese stir fries can sometimes be.  It was fresh and crispy. 

The above dishes were in the vicinity of $80 (we cooked our own rice) and fed the two of us with no tummy real estate to spare. 

Verdict:  We loved it. 

Overall

Whilst Goldleaf Burwood is better known for its yum cha (see Benny's review back in August 2011) or a la carte dinner, it is also worth considering for take aways. 

Pope Joan, Brunswick East by Bureaucrat

While I may have skipped most of my religious education classes at school, I do support women rising through the ranks in organised religions and, with that, I whole-heartedly support Pope Joan.

A glorious Saturday morning found us at Pope Joan for brunch.  We got iced coffees to kick things off.

The Lawyer and I shared a serve of Pope Joan's "kinda" full English breakfast.  I loved the creamy curds of the scrambled eggs, while the Lawyer loved Joan's baked beans.  Delicious, too, were the proper bacon and Cumberland sausage.

And because I couldn't resist, we got a side of herbed crinkle cut chips with the thick, deeply tomatoe-y Mr Wilkinson's red sauce.

Verdict: we loved it

Overall

Amen!  Get thee to Pope Joan for great food and ambiance. 

Support McAuley Community Services for Women's Charity High Tea

Here at Eat and Be Merry we love food and we really love food that's for a good cause. 

Stamford Plaza Melbourne will be hosting an exclusive high tea fundraiser this weekend for McAuley Community Services for Women’s family violence program.

Photo credit: Stamford Plaza Melbourne

Jackson's Court Charcoal Chicken, Doncaster East by Obelix

I like the village-y feel of Jackson’s Court, Doncaster.  It has something for everyone and it’s made up of local small businesses, not conglomerates.  Several cafes, grocer, deli, butcher, post office and an unexpected concentration of hairdressers.  As it happens my hairdresser is located there and one day whilst eavesdropping on a gaggle of women gossiping whilst getting their hair styled, I learnt that the charcoal chicken place at Jackson’s Court is pretty dang good.  So I decided to give it a try for dinner.  I call this reconnaissance.

 
It was comforting to see that this particular charcoal chicken shop used Lilydale’s free range chickens.  I ordered one of the family packs for $29.  This came with a mammoth sized charcoal chook, large bag of chips, tubs of gravy, peas and coleslaw.  This was enough to feed Kiddo and I for several days over several meals (sidenote: by day 3 I was thoroughly sick of chicken). I only mention this as it is an indicator of how many you can feed with the family pack.  I think a family of four would be stuffed to the gills with it.  Or if you have very young children or relatively light eaters, it could easily stretch to feed six. 

I shall cut to the chase to the charcoal chicken.  It was definitely one of the better charcoal chooks – tender, moist with the charcoal flavours coming through without being over powering.  There was a bit of stuffing, not the wet wodge of stuffing you would normally find in a supermarket roast chook.  It was a minute amount, almost like a seasoning inside the carcass. 

The chips were ah-mazing!  Good thick cut crunchy chips with a light sprinkling of chicken salt.  Generous bag of the stuff. 

Unfortunately as wonderful as the chook and chips were, the gravy and peas were a bit meh.  The peas themselves were ok.  They were just peas.  But the gravy was so full of starch, I could have tipped it out of the container and it would have stood on its own.  Even when served hot, the gravy was still in solid form.  It was a bit off putting.  The coleslaw was so so.  It was standard cabbage and carrot affair with standard issue mayo from a jar.  A bit too heavy on the dressing for my liking. 

Verdict:  We liked it. 

Overall: 
Jackson’s Court Charcoal Chicken does great charcoal chicken and chips.  I would definitely go back for the chook and chips but would steer clear of the lack lustre sides. 

Saines Saveurs, Paris by Bureaucrat

Oiu, oui! Is what I said when the opportunity came up for me to spend a few days in Paris. The fact that I would spend almost as much time on the plane as I would be in Paris was of no concern to me.  

Arriving at 6am on a Sunday, it was dark and really, really cold.  Nothing was open at the time and we couldn't check into our hotel until much later. So in the vein of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in Before Sunrise the Lawyer and I rambled around the streets of Paris and our fast-paced conversation was centered around what we could experience at this time of day.  

Our spirits perked up when we stumbled upon some food markets around the fifth arrondissement. A few fresh hot flat breads filled with cheese kept us going until we found Saine Saveurs, a bakery.  The French know what they're doing when it comes to bread - crusty and crunchy on the outside, light as air on the inside, and ever so full of real bread-y flavour.  This salami and cornichon baguette, which was slathered in real butter, was simply divine - parfait!

And how could we not get some pastries? I picked my favourite pain aux raisins, which was crispy, flaky and butter and had a generous amount of plump raisins and nice swirl of custard throughout.  And the pain au chocolat was simply wonderful - sweet but not overly so. 

Verdict: nous avons adoré (we loved it)

Overall

You can hardly go wrong when it comes to pastries and bread in France and Saines Saveurs didn't disappoint. 

Address

2 rue de Bazeilles

75005 Paris, 5e

Vicinity Cafe, Caulfield South by Obelix

I had the most inexplicable urge to eat a waffle one fine Sunday morn (nope, not preggas if you were wondering).  As I was passing through Glenhuntly Road, I randomly stopped at one of their cafes satisfy my waffle craving. 

So there I was a Vicinity Café scanning the menu with a slightly crazed and frantic look for waffles.  They didn’t have any.  But I had already sat down and engaged.  I couldn’t back away.  So I ordered the next best thing dripping in maple syrup – a stack of buttermilk pancakes. 

Did they fill my waffle void?  Yes it did.  It had the wonderful ratio of fluffy carbs, sticky maple syrup and butteryness.  It came with a compote of seasonal fruit.  I was a bit disappointed they were bananas for I loathe the big B but I guess there are some folks who like bananas softened over heat in a pool of butter. 

I washed it down with a cup of green tea. 

Saw this very apt sign on the way to the loos....

Verdict:  We liked it. 

Overall
Vicinity is a cosy café catering to the locals.  It does the usual all day breakfast and the lunch menu consisted of various burgers.  Friendly staff and quick service.  

Little Chef, West Melbourne by Bureaucrat

Opposite Operator 25 is a cute Asian eatery called Little Chef.  The food here is well priced and quite nice and I love the simple homely vibe to the place.

I corralled a bunch of us to go there one lunch time and we got the following dishes.

Big Fil got kung pao chicken with rice ($8.50) which packed a nice punchy heat to it.

To go with his dish, Big Fil also got some steamed buns... or at least that's what he thought he had ordered.  What come out instead was something that was very much like xiao long baos.  Equally tasty but I think he was thinking of something bigger and fluffier in mind.

Snooze went for the stir fried sting bean w mince on rice ($8.50).

Ruby Grapefruit and Ms No Meat shared the voluptuously, silky braised eggplant. The eggplant was luscious and had a nice caramely crust, and the gravy nice and savoury in flavour.

They also shared a rather generous plate of stir fried vegetarian hokkien noodles.

Last but not least, I ordered the seafood and veg stir fry with rice ($9.80).  Nice, simple flavours. Lots of cuttlefish, thin slices of fishcake and (ugh) seafood extender, and shrimp.

Verdict: we liked it alot.

Overall
Nothing fancy here but simple homestyle food.  Good prices - most dishes are under $10.  I'd go back again.  Service is polite and friendly.  The set up inside is spacious, clean and neat.

The Green at St Columbs, Hawthorn (by invitation) by Obelix

How often can you enjoy great cafe food, decent coffee and be altruistic at the same time?  You can if you go to The Green at St Columbs.  The Green is a social enterprise extension of the Jesuit Social Services, hands-on hospitality training program, Ignite, aimed at providing mentoring and training to long term unemployed and disadvantaged job seekers in the hospitality industry. The Ignite participants get to work along industry professionals led by Head Chef Kevin Dick. The cafe is built on the principles of self-sustainability and all proceeds go back into the Ignite Program.  It's an amazing worthwhile cause.

The Green is situated in the former chapel of St Columb's church.  It has a casual, rustic and very welcoming feel.  The staff are warm and friendly.  An ideal location for a quick coffee to brunch / lunch with work mates or with girlfriends or en famille.  The menu focuses on locally sourced and seasonal produce.  Some of the produce are actually grown on site.

MC and I kicked things off with a couple of drinks.

Speaking of all things locally sourced, I had Anushka Chai Latte laced with honey which could be best described as a 'hug in a cup'.

MC was very impressed with the decadent ice cream topped iced chocolate.  MC would like it be to be noted on record that the iced chocolate was one of the better ones she's had tasted.  And she has tasted a fair few in her lifetime.

Our main dishes.

Being the meat-fiend that I am, I ordered the Moroccan Lamb shoulder which was tenderly slow cooked and came atop a bed of quinoa, chickpeas and hummus and strewn through with greens.  It was wholesome food.  It tasted damn good and was good for me.

MC tackled the Spanish Eggs.  I had a little nibble of her's - it was all smoky paprika, flavoursome chorizo and salty feta.  A perfect brunch dish with flavours that packed a punch.

Realistically we didn't have much tummy real estate left after the substantially sized mains, however one could not leave The Green without sampling their baked-fresh-on-premises sweets.  And sample we did with this envy inducing sample platter.

We have here a cupcake with a fig puree on the left.  This one was my favourite, it was light yet buttery and had a distinct lemony zest running through.  A wickedly chocolately cookie on the right which MC claimed.  The blueberry muffin was in the middle which tasted more like a friand (loved).  The cardamon cookies were like souped up amarettos.

Perfect accompaniments to a pot of green tea.  Although next time I am keen to try The Green's Code Black coffee.



Verdict:  We loved it.

Overall
Come down and support The Green.  It's a wonderful social enterprise initiative, providing skills and work experience for long term unemployed and disadvantaged job seekers.  It supports local producers.  But most of all, come down for the great food and drinks and the welcoming ambiance.  You'll be glad that you did.

Pappa Rich, East Malvern by Obelix

Kiddo and I been repeat offenders at Pappa Rich Malvern East.  Probably because we have been exercising our retail muscles a wee bit too much at Chadstone Shopping Centre and Pappa Rich is conveniently located within. 

Left to right: lychee soda, grass jelly w soy milk

To cool our heels, we generally go for an iced drink to kick start the meal.  I’m quite partial to grass jelly and generally go for the grass jelly with soy milk or the grass jelly with barley.  I find the soy milk version the better of the two.  The dense and creamy soy almost has the texture of ice cream by the time they mix it with the tiny ice particles.  The net effect is that it’s more like a solid needing to be scooped rather than a liquid drink. 

The barley version is not for the squeamish.  They blitz the barley grains so the texture unfortunately is a bit like…chuck… so you’ve really got to tame down your gag reflex and just focus on the pleasant grassy flavours of barley.  And because the barley water is so much less dense than the soy milk version, you have to brace yourself for the kick of gelatinous cubes of grass jelly hitting your hard palate as it rushes up the wide diameter straw as you suck. 

Kiddo on the other hand, does not stray far from her lychee soda.  This is a real thirst quencher with mint, lime and the obligatory pair of lychees in the soda. 

Being a creature of habit, Kiddo always orders the Ipoh Hor Fun.  It is rice noodles in a “prawn head broth”.  I quote from the menu!  It sounds a bit off putting, prawn head goo,  but it lends a deep seafood flavour to the broth which Kiddo slurps up.  It comes with fine slices of chicken breast, a handful of bean sprouts, chives and a side of chilli with soy to spice it up ($12.90). 

I on the other hand have been trying to branch out from my usual comfort orders of Nasi Lemak and roti.  Recently I’ve tried the Chilli Pan Mee ($12.90).  Everything about it was quite delightful in texture and flavour – the aromatic ikan bilis, the nubbly bits of chicken mince, the fresh steamed veggies, the spicy heat of the dollop of sambal and the runny egg which you are urged to mix through to combine.  The noodles were the rice noodle variety but somehow the edges of these noodles were almost fluted.  This gave it a rustic and chewier texture rather than silken one.  It was different but I do prefer the traditional silky cut rice noodles. 

On another occasion, I tried the Wat Tan Hor ($12.90).  In a nutshell this was a big plate of wok fried rice noodles swimming in a deep pool of egg gravy.  It was a fair call to say there was almost more gravy than noodle but I’m under the impression that that is the way it’s supposed to be.  The smokey wok burnished noodles float in the eggy ocean with flotsam and jetsam  offish cakes and choi sum, chicken and prawns.  It was filling and delicious.  I wasn’t sure if one should ‘drink’ the sea of gravy or not.  Was it soup or sauce? 

And yet on another occasion (yes embarrassingly enough we went back twice weekly in the span of a fortnight.  If only there was a frequent flyers discount!), I tried the Hainanese Chicken Rice.  I have long dismissed this dish as mere boiled/steamed chicken with rice but that was in my ignorance.

Since holidaying in Singapore recently, I have come to the gratifying epiphany that this dish is deceptively complex.  The chicken should be silkenly tender, the soup clear and resonating with intense chickenly-ness.  I hold the chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia as gold standard.  Nothing I have had in Australia as come close to the mark.  The Hainanese chicken rice at Papparich doesn't either but it is one of the better chicken rices I have had in Australia.  The chicken was tender and deboned, the soup clear and nourishing but my palate was still searching for the elusive intense chickeny-ness of the chicken rice in Asia.  

Verdict:  We liked it. 

Overall:  Pappa Rich in Malvern East serve up a solid repertoire of hawker stall favourites.  It is consistent in quality and service time is quick.  See our posts on other PappaRich Nunawading, Pappa Rich QV and Pappa Rich Glen Waverley.