My Restaurant. It's All Yours

Photo reproduced from The Age Online

"...it has my South Yarra friend wanting to claim it as her local even though it's 10 minutes' drive away"
Matt Preston, The Age

Imagine, if you will, a creamy sweetness that make your taste buds shriek, fused like a fine lacquer to a shattering shard of crispness. For most people this is heaven, and even though - due to a surfeit of taste buds -I am not a sweet tooth, I too was transported.

They say our predilection for foods that are both sweet and fat is a consequence of primal instinct. Apparently food occurring in nature that is not poisonous is generally both fatty in texture and sweet, which makes it desirable to all mankind. We are all also drawn to things that are thin and crisp, hence the popularity of deep fried snacks like crisps.

But I digress; you might assume - given the description of this particular confection - I was in a fine patisserie, eating a concoction originally served upon gilded platters to people of royal extraction. You'd be wrong.

I was at My Restaurant. No, not my own restaurant, that's the name of the venue. The setting itself is a scruffy low rent building, but bucking the trend for cafes and bars filled with grubby thrift-shop style furniture, it has clean modern dining tables and chairs, seating about thirty people at a push.

Common to modern dining venues there is also the ubiquitous open kitchen, but this one is fronted by a bain-marie filled with curries. Ok so, it doesn't sound flash, but it is honest and clean, your cutlery sits in baskets on the table with paper napkins and you can clearly see the selection of beverages in the drinks fridge, which you may happen to sit next to.

But I don't tend to frequent venues based on décor, hype or fashion. My favourites are all about the food. So this place is one of my little secrets, a place where I don't have to fight for a table with people who want to be seen, and I am loath to give it up, but that amazing sweet has loosened my tongue. Location-wise, My Restaurant is off most people's radars, being away from Chapel Street in the least sexy part of High Street, Windsor, not far from Edwards Tavern.

In the last couple of years I've probably eaten more meals at My Restaurant than anywhere else, because not only is the food delicious, it is cheap and unpretentious. The service is friendly and eager, and I like that sometime's the staff's kids are doing homework at the next table. I also like that I can get a meal ay My Restaurant, after 9pm after going to the theatre on a Monday night. And I don't think we've ever spent more than $14 for two courses, inclusive of drinks.

My Restaurant is a Mamak (Tamil Muslim) restaurant. It is halal, serving food from Singapore, Malaysia and South India. Although open for lunch seven days a week, you won't be able to dine here on Friday or Saturday night. The clientele is mostly South East Asian along with students of all nations and those who have travelled and developed a taste for such food. And the food, including the excellent roti, is cooked to order. The turnover is fast, with regulars also picking up takeaways.

The menu lists sixty two items - of which there are about thirty vegetarian options - however you will see even more items adorning the walls on a vinyl banner. Some of these items, such as idlis are only available on Sunday. There are Murtabak, stuffed roti with a side of curry sauce; long delicate Dosai, fermented rice crepes rolled with a variety of fillings and served with sambol and chutneys; fried noodles and Biryani rice's. I prefer Nonya style noodles, so am not a fan of the three Mee Goreng listed.

There are two curries however, that I might even crawl over hot coals for: the goat curry -which I can never resist - and the Chilli prawn. The goat is complex, unctuous, slightly oily and tender. The prawns seem a simple dish but strike a perfect balance in flavor. Both can be ordered to have with rice, roti or vadai; either may be ordered in medium or large portions.

Often I'm drawn to the Roti meal – a thali featuring a generous serve of roti, raita and three curries from the bain marie. Unlike many venues in Melbourne, the roti is made to order. Various curries, many of them vegetable, that don't appear on the menu can be tasted in this package, though invariably I cannot resist making the goat curry one of them. Like a small child at a sweet counter, I take my time choosing my three curries, frequently succumbing to trying something new at the suggestion of the staff.

Recently the treasure trove of a bain-marie gave up a minced lamb curry, subtly spiced, containing chunks of potato in a thin, non dairy based sauce that fabulously lacked the cloying fattiness of many lamb dishes. It also boasted a chicken curry that had the silky texture of poached chicken in a delicious creamy orange sauce seasoned with a garam that tasted vaguely of nigella seeds.

The raita changes too, my favourite is the bright green mint raita which is a perfect palate cleanser and bridge between the various curries and takes the edge of any searing chilli hits. I have tried to get the recipe, but it's a firmly held family secret.

Roti is a specialty at My Restaurant. I love watching it being stretched, tossed and folded on the large griddle. There are twelve varieties listed, you can have it with an assortment of embellishments: onion, eggs, cheese, chilli, banana and other sweet toppings. And then there's the wonderful Kottu roti – where it is finely shredded with a manic two handed chopping action on the griddle plate, then tossed with seasonings, green chilli, egg and your choice of meat or vegetables.

And now to the piece de resistance, that wonder of wonders I described in the beginning, Tissu Roti. A circle of paper thin roti cooked with ghee is folded into a cone. Unctuous condensed milk made rich with the melted ghee or margarine, or both, is poured over the hot cone of pastry and fuses like caramel to form layer upon layer of toasted sweetness.

Its arrival strikes awe as it sits likes Harry Potter's sorting hat upon the table; a perfectly crisp roti and so fine as to be like caramel lacquered pastry. It's irresistible as you gradually eat your way around the cone, pulling off more crisp, sticky shards that melt in your mouth. A small pool of the caramel - like a vaguely salted, thin, Dulce de Leche - sits at the base of the plate and can be used to dip into for those who prefer their desserts extra sweet.

Wiping the unctuous sweet ooze from my face, I washed down the Tissu Roti with delicious, strong, Tea Tarik, containing yet more condensed milk. It's probably the most sugar I've consumed in the last month, but boy, was it worth it. Now, imagining the sweet crunch between my teeth has me wanting it and goat curry all over again.

Now my secret's out, please share it sparingly. I'd still like to get a seat.

My Restaurant and Takeaway

186 High Street, Windsor, Victoria ph: 9521 4100

(also published at Deep Dish Dreams)

Freedom fighter food from The Abyssinian

There’s a lot to be said for ethnic restaurants. They usually offer big, cheap hearty meals often cooked from the heart.
They also often offer the chance to reacquaint oneself with monosodium glutamate, fluorescent strip lighting, surly service and dodgy lino.

Then there’s The Abyssinian (277 Racecourse Road Kensington, Victoria 3031, 03 9376 8754), run by two Eritreans, which has taken the genre to another level and avoided all the crap which is why it was packed out the night we were there.



First there’s the look. The bar could be from an exotic resort anywhere on the African continent. The wooden tables and chairs are simple and solid and look great. Meanwhile, the walls are backed with African paraphernalia. It really works.
I’m not the only one who thinks this. I was eating with my favourite viking, photographer and Photoshop guru from the land of ice who together with her fiance - an up-and-coming architect - who have an eye for such things.
The service is run by Vittorio Silvestro, who is an Italian Eritrean and brings great service to the restaurant floor and really cares whether or not we are enjoying ourselves.

Then there is the kitchen run by Rahel Ogbaghiorghi, a former freedom fighter who has made her home in Melbourne. What a story (I need to interview her).
The food centres around large dustbin lid-sized shared plates of either vegetable, meat or fish served either with flat or rolled Injera, a sort of giant savoury scotch pancake. It’s made by mixing a special flour with water and letting it ferment.
The idea is to rip of some bread and pinch up some food to eat. Not only does it save washin-up but I'm guessing some small corner of the environment.
Our starter for $6 was a huge portion of Melanzany, garlicky grilled cubes of marinated eggplant that come with chilli and rolled injera.
We followed with Hoswa, mixed vegetables with Injera ($17), slowly cooked cubes of lamb called Zighini ($18) and Goat on Kemmam Sauce ($20), slowly cooked with cloves and cinnamon with the outstanding spice cardamom.
The wine list fits with the vibe and the price of $117 for four bellyfuls and more than we could eat. Let me say that again, $117 for food and wine for four. A litre carafe or red costs $20 or $6 a glass and goes well with the dishes that we requested to be authentically spicy.
This is the kind of place that is really for this credit crunchy moment. It’s delicious and hearty, comes in huge portions and won’t break the bank - you could easily eat for about $20 a head which means I'm nominating The Abyssinian for Very Cheap Eats.

And I want to go back. You can see the original post here on my personal blog.

Next stop, comfort food

Himalayan Sherpa Nepalese Curry
340 Bridge Road Richmond Vic 3121

As far as cheap eats go, there’s no short supply of Indian or Chinese offerings dedicated to the hungry students who so prowl around for that homesick hit. Supply demand, they say. And in the rush-rush of it all it’s easy to overlook the tiny country of Nepal, which gets all the altitudinal attention and little to its cuisine.

Which brings us to Himalayan Sherpa Nepalese Curry – a tidy place nestled amongst much larger restaurants but easily punching well above its featherweight status. What with its woody interior replete with soft lighting set behind ancient theatre masks and various clusters of paraphernalia, the easygoing mood is palpable.

The moment you step in, smiles break out from staff, followed by menus with a reasonable variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, set out clearly on handmade paper that still circulates in present day stationery used in Nepal. Service is attentive for the few waiters available, whom must work very hard to stay trim just to slither in between seated patrons on such a full and boisterous night such as ours. Yet the room does not echo with clattering cutlery and which is a big plus dhanyabad very much.

Entrees boast a blend of traditional tidbits like momos (dumplings filled with chicken or vegetable fillings - $6.90) and pakoda (spinach based vegetable fritters - $5.90) amongst the more familiar samosa and calaramari rings there for those who incline towards the familiar.

Eggplant Ra Aloo and Goat Curry

But for those who like a mellower start, try the eggplant ra aloo ($12.90): lightly spiced slippery batons of potatoes and eggplant slowly cooked till a buttery texture albeit a little oily. Otherwise, the goat curry ($14.50), redolent of fiery ground ginger, cumin, curry leaf and cardamom is more an Indian head waggle than a gentle nod to tradition. This is best enjoyed with a round (or three) or roti, of which there are plain and stuffed versions ($2.80-$4.90).

Citrus wise there is sarbat ($2.50), an unsweetened lemon squash made on home turf, and plenty is needed if you want to cut through the richness in between each fine morsel. Served continental style is their masala chai ($3.50), a rather flat dilution that despite a longstanding brew, needs much more oomph from its prerequisite spices.

Sickly sweet but devishly addictive is the pistachio kulfi ($5.50), a hard mound of Indian ice cream flecked with crushed pistachios. It is smooth and lingers well with light buttery notes, making it taste like a variant of cookies and cream. But it needs more pistachio. Other fiendishly sweet friends include kheer (saffron rice pudding) and gulab jamun (fried cottage cheese balls in syrup) similarly priced, but if we had them altogether we would need a jab on insulin on the way out!

Takeway is available at 10% off eat-in prices, but the relaxed ambience is well worth to book in. After all, what’s the rush?

Hibari (South Yarra) 09

Hibari, at 479 Malvern Rd., continues to be an extremely popular Japanese restaurant despite low ratings from the AGF. It is small, seats 30, and noisy with simple wooden tables and uncomfortable wood chairs. Despite these deficiencies booking is advisable. We arrived for a midweek meal about 8.30 pm and after a short wait were shown to a recently vacated table. There we waited and waited and waited! I walked down to the business end of the restaurant and picked up some menus. We made our selections, still no attention, so I walked back and took some glasses and a jug of iced water and inquired if it was self service as we were ready to order! A waitress then came back to the table with me. We ordered gyoza, they promised five but sent six, here's a lone one,




spring rolls, they promised three but sent two cut in half,


and a potato and crab meat entreee, three as promised.



The gyoza were very nicely flavoured, the spring rolls had extremely crisp thin pastry but were a bit thin and dry but the potato and crab meat was particularly good, smooth and moist under a layer of crumbs, they were a subtly flavoured delight. For mains the sukiaki beef was numero uno with a raw egg to stir in if you wished,

I did, and a lovely slightly sweet well balanced sauce. The beef and crumbed pork curry

was gently flavoured. Mild and light and unoffensive I enjoyed it. The mixed seafood served in a pot at $22 the most expensive thing on the menu,

totally bland, despite some sort of putsy sauce which did nothing for it. Very disappointing. Ready to go, and experienced now, I went straight to the cash register. The person in attendance apologised and I paid the remarkably small bill. ($83 which included $4 corkage and a couple of extra bowls of steamed rice.

They have a modest and inexpensive wine list but also accept BYO.

This would rate as the worst service ever. It is a busy little restaurant, full when we arrived and I'm sure this level of neglect is unusual but it certainly makes one feel distinctly unimportant. The food was good and I would go back to try some other dishes despite the initial poor experience. I'm glad tipping is not, as in America, mandatory.

Score 13/20

The Espy's Ichi Ni rocks St Kilda

I instantly like it: Ichi Ni (03 9534 1212), the Izakaya, a Japanese style tavern/pub with food, which was opened last night next to The Espy by the owners of The Espy Vince Sofo and Paul Adamo. It rocks. Yes, there were some blips in service on the first night. But we weren’t even aware that our dishes were taking longer than expected. We were having a great time.

It’s a balmy late summer night. We are sitting on the large terrace enjoying the sunset. Dark clouds hang over Williamstown which is illuminated by shards of lightening. The Vomit of Tasmania sails by. I sup on my half pint glass of Sapporo and life feels good. Jak is enjoying the Tim Smith Adelaide Hill's Viognier 2008 which I later quaff too. It’s floral, fairly high sugar and goes great with the the tapas style menu and Yakatori, cooked in an open kitchen which has an impressive extraction system. There’s a great selection of wine,beer and saki a mix of crowd pleasers and boutique drinks with some beers and sakis than only Japan geeks will recognise.

The food is the same. Usually I’m a real pedant on how food is described. But since discovering Murphry’s Law I’ve relaxed a bit. Everybody seems to understand tapas as a generic term for small plates of food rather than the Spanish origins. So the “Japanese tapas” menu simply tells the great unwashed what they can expect - small dishes to pick on. We had a small tapas plate of Edamame, burdock roots and, bugger I’ve forgotten what else. We had decent tempura, not aspiring to the pinnacle of Tempura Hajime, but good enough to have us mmmmmming.

All through this the staff are attentive while ironing out the wrinkles of the first night. The onshore breeze blows out the tea light candles that are placed on tables on dishes. The dishes are replaced by newly lit candles in glasses - again again and again.
Each time we order something the waiting staff have to boot up their electronic note pads. One gives up and has a notebook as back-up.
Another is concerned our food hasn’t arrived. We are having too good a time to care. Apparently there was a mix up in the ordering and the waiter who took our order apologies. I hope he didn’t commit sepuku as we didn’t see him for the rest of the night. Plus he complimented me on my wagyu, unagi (eel) and okra yakatori order - which was also apparently mixed up although we didn’t even notice until we were told.

I loved the eel. Jak loved the wagyu. We both mmmmmed our way through the crunchy okra. We were only out for a snack so didn't have pudding.

We spent $105 although about $60 was on booze. But this is a sure fire candidate for Very Cheap Eats because you can eat for under $20 and get a reasonably priced beer, glass of wine or saki.

If you are heading for St Kilda, head for Ichi Ni. Tweet-me-up as I may already be on a table across from you. Or if not I’m drop in for a swift one and a quick skewer.

Want to review for Very Cheap Eats? Email me.

This is double posted on my own blog Tomato.

Han Guuk Guan

Last night, I ventured out into one of my almost forgotten places Han Guuk Guan, for Korean. It is this little hidden hut-looking place on the fringe of the city and the Carlton Gardens, in an offshoot, surrounded by orifice buildings.
They actually serve a combination of Chinese and Korean food, but I have never even bothered with the Chinese menu.
They serve everything with the pickles on the side, and their menu is extensive as to go from appetisers, cold dishes, hot pots, shared dishes, rice dishes, soups and Korean barbecue.


We started with the steamed Mandoo, filled with pork and served with a chili vinegar. $8.

The pickles, free with every meal.

This is my spicy hot pot of tofu, mushrooms and fish egg sack in action. It comes with a bowl of rice, as do all the individual hot pots. $13 It is actually spicy, so beware if you're used to spicy food actually being mild.

Not pictured is my dining partner's pork marrow and spare rib hot pot with egg and potato noodles. $11

Very tasty and with many vegetarian options. When I first came here, the upstairs could be booked out for karaoke and they have a giant plasma TV up there, which is distracting when you're just dining for fun.

The kitchen closes at 9:30 and is run by a Korean grandmother which ensures that nothing is bastardised and you can make requests or alterations to your meal at will.

Han Guuk Guan
13A Victoria St, Melbourne
03 9639 1747

Shimbashi: soba noodles are so good

The best and best value food in Surfers Paradise has long been the tiny Korean and Japanese joints hidden in its low-rent 1970s shopping malls. But it is also worth escaping the main tourist drags for Chevron Island where soba Master Yoshinory Shibazaki & his wife Keiko are bringing Japanese food on the Gold Coast to a new level.
The restaurant Shimbashi Soba on Chevron is a local manifestation of the well-known and reviewed (even by those who really know Japanese food) Jugemu & Shimbasi in Neutral Bay.
The first clue that this restaurant, which has been opened for just a year, may be something special is the grinder and the stone bench top in the window. Daily flour is ground from Tasmanian organic buckwheat and soba noodles are made in the traditional manner.
The second clue that this place is good is the number of Japanese eating there.
The menu advertising the health-giving properties of the soba noodle, the fact that it lowers blood pressure, strengthens capilliaries, reduces cholesterol, has high vitamin C, reduces fat in the liver and slows ageing of the brain.
The food is also an absolute bargain, possible one of the best cheap eats you'll find in Australia.
In the summer humidity of southern Queensland we opted for a can of cold tea each - green and oolong. There is Sapporo on tap and a small list of good saki and sochu by the glass and bottle.
While soba and udon are the speciality there also are other dishes. We started with six room temperature pieces of salmon sushimi ($12) and two pieces of tempura Crystal Bay prawn ($6) that are almost a match to Tempura Hajime in Melbourne.
A huge $13 bowl of Oroshi - cold soba with grated radish and wakame - that Jak couldn't finish.
I was warned that my Taromi ($15) contained fermented soy beans with a strong flavour. It was delicate and with a strange but enticing sticky texture, thin sticky slices of okra and cold soba.
It also serves many dishes on the traditional zaru, a sieve-like bamboo tray.
This is a place where you can easily eat well for under $20 and worth the diversion, even if its a two hour flight to Queensland. The most annoying thing of all is that I discovered this place only a few days before I leave for India.
I'm double posting this on my personal blog Tomato.