Northern Soul

I first went to Northern Soul after a recommendation from the Sunday Age M magazine. You may have guessed by now that I devour the Sunday papers like a delicious roast meal, licking every last succulent bone...mmm bones. (Only joking, I think sucking on bones is gross - a hangover from my vegetarian days.)

This cafe doesn't quite have the shabby chic feeling of other cool eateries in the area. It doesn't have the ridiculously cramped seating and grandma's mismatched crockery but it has elements of style, if in a somewhat haphazard fashion. The decor feels half complete, like the owners ran out of money or confidence. Anyway, enough of that, I can hear you saying, what about the food?

No actually, let's talk about the coffee first. The coffee at Northern Soul is good. Very nice, in fact. Pleasant flavour, good head. 8/10.

The food? Well it's not bad. The first time I went to Northern Soul, I had pumpkin soup. Last weekend they had minestrone. Nothing fancy. More like you dropped around to your neighbour's house and they asked you if you wanted a bowl. The soup of the day ($8) comes with bread and is pretty tasty.

This visit, I had a cheese and bacon muffin ($4) and my sister had an orange and poppy seed muffin ($4). Although the flavour of my muffin was nice, (plenty of cheese and bacon), it did taste a little over seasoned. I think it may have been too much curry powder or something similar. Also, the muffin left me with a floury aftertaste. My sister had the same experience.

All in all, this cafe is a nice place to drop in for a cup of good coffee or a takeaway. But the lack of atmosphere, due to the confused decorating, doesn't make it an exciting place to breakfast on the weekend. And when there are other cafes that are so on the money, it makes Northern Soul... well frankly, a little soul-less.

Northern Soul

843 High Street

Thornbury VIC 3071

Ph. (03) 9480 2333

www.northernsoulcafe.com

Cauliflower and Roasted Beetroot in Blue Cheese Sauce

This is the third Karen Martini recipe I have sampled in the last few months. But unfortunately, it was also a dissapointment. Maybe I should quit while I'm ahead, however I have just one more I am going to try this weekend. But more on that later...


The dissapointing part was that the beetroot just didn't work in the recipe. It is too sweet against the saltiness of the blue cheese. The rest of the ingredients were actually quite moreish, so if you eliminate the beetroot it would be a success. However, I must admit that i used tinned beetroot, rather than fresh, but I did roast them as the recipe says.


Well I better stop crapping on and give you the recipe!

Cauliflower and Roasted Beetroot in Blue Cheese Sauce


2 bunches baby beetroot
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
1 large cauliflower, outer leaves removed
350ml milk
350ml chicken stock
1 bay leaf
40g butter
40g flour
100g Gorgonzola piccante (available at delicatessens)
60g Parmesan, grated

Preheat oven to fan-forced 180C (200C conventional). Wash and trim beetroot, leaving a little of the stem attached. Line a sheet of aluminium foil with baking paper and place beets on top. Drizzle over a little oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap up parcel and seal edge, then place on a baking tray and roast for 1 hour. Remove and set aside until cool enough to slip skins off beetroot. Increase oven temp to fan-forced 200C (220C conventional).

Cook whole cauliflower in a large pot of lightly salted boiling water over medium heat for 8 minutes or until just tender. Remove and set aside.

In a small saucepan, simmer milk, chicken stock and bay leaf over low heat.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and mix well with a wooden spoon to form a paste. Cook for 1 minute, then gradually pour in milk mixture, stirring to smooth out any lumps. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring continuously, until it thickens to a sauce consistency. Remove from heat and, using a spoon, beat in Gorgonzola and Parmesan until almost melted.

Slice cauliflower thickly length ways and lay in a 20cm x 30cm baking dish greased with butter. Top with beets and spoon over hot cheese sauce.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden. Serve immediately.

Dried Cherry, Chocolate and Almond Cake

I got this recipe from The Sunday Age liftout magazine, 'Sunday Life'. Since they have 'updated' the magazine (made the page bigger and did away with the glossy finish in favour of traditional newspaper), Karen Martini gets a 3 recipe spot each week. Not a bad gig for old Martini, I guess she is neither shaken nor stirred over her good fortune. Sorry, lame Dad joke...

Anyway, I have been pulling out several of her recipes and have been hankering to cook all them, especially this cake recipe. I thought I would try the cake out on my workmates, you can never score too many brownie points or brownies (sorry lame joke again) at work. Unfortunately, this cake was a little disappointing. For one, I think the cooking time was too long by about 10 mins, as the cake was quite dry around the edges. And secondly, the cake was too dense. Normally I am in favour of a nice dense cake, but this recipe took denseness to a whole new level. (Or maybe it was merely the cook who was dense...sorry that's the end of the puns I promise!)

It was also quite a fiddly procedure as I needed to use several bowls and saucepans to pull off the whole procedure. Also the 28cm tin wasn't nearly big enough for the amount of mixture I ended up with, so I baked the remainder in a loaf tin. (No complaints from my parents who scored this portion). However, after stating all these criticisms, I do think it's a recipe that could be tweaked and perfected. Maybe after a few lessons from Karen herself...

Dried Cherry*, Chocolate and Almond Cake

Rich and fudgy, this heavenly cake is a decadent finish to a fine dinner.

150g dried cherries

400g caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp extra

2 knife-tips of bitter almond essence

310g unsalted butter, melted

265g dark chocolate (70 percent cocoa), melted

10 eggs, separated

90g cocoa

150g almond meal

115g sour cream

150g ricotta

double cream, to serve

Preheat oven to fan-forced 140C (160C conventional). Combine cherries, 80ml water and 100g caster sugar in a small pan and simmer over medium heat for 3 minutes, until sugar is dissolved. Add almond essence, stir and remove from heat. Set aside.

Combine butter and chocolate in a medium bowl.

In a separate large bowl, whisk egg yolks with 200g sugar, then fold into chocolate mixture. Fold in cocoa, almond meal, sour cream and half the cherries.

Whisk egg whites until frothy, slowly add remaining 100g sugar and beat until soft, silky peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture, then pour into a lined 28cm round spring-form cake tin.

Combine ricotta, 2 tbsp extra caster sugar and remaining cherries in a bowl. Dollop mixture over the top of cake.

Bake for about 1 and half hours (the centre will be a little fudgy). Remove from oven and cool to room temperature in the tin.

To serve, dust with cocoa and serve with double cream. Accompany with strong coffee.

*Oh yeah, forgot to mention that this cake originally calls for dried cherries. Now dried cherries are extremely hard to come by in Melbourne. I tried my local Coles and even Leo's Fine Foods in Kew, however neither stocked dried cherries. then I tried trusty old Google and thanks to another food blogger who had diligently walked this path before me, I found out that David Jones is the only place that stocks them. Now this blogger did warn that they were expensive but I thought, bah, they can't be that bad...but yes they were. David Jones retails imported dried cherries from USA for $8.50 per 80 grams. My recipe called for 150g of dried cherries. So I ended up substituting the cherries with cranberries, which ended up working well as the cranberries were sweetened with sugar.

Afghan Village

Since Matt Preston's glowing review of this restaurant last year, many diners have flocked to Afghan Village. My siblings and I dined there on Tuesday evening, earlier this week, and it was a full affair. Full as in packed with punters but also full as in our content bellies...ahh.

We were tossing up whether to have the $40 banquet but instead decided to order various entrees and mains to share. My sister being the only vegetarian in the group, was pleased that there were many veggie-friendly dishes on the menu.

We started with dips and naan, cauliflower and sticky rice, an eggplant dish and a similar dish made with potatoes. Unfortunately I can't access a menu to give you the correct names of these tasty morsels but we enjoyed every bite. Especially the cauliflower curry with sticky rice. The rice was a surprise side (which we didn't realise came with the cauliflower) and the gelatinous velvety texture of the rice was very inviting and moreish.

For mains we ordered chicken curry, okra curry, lamb kofta, jasmine rice and naan. All dishes were tasty with a nice deep rounded flavour from the spices. The okra was especially delicious, with a pleasant acidic flavour presumably due to vinegar being added to the dish.

In general the style of the food seemed to be a cross between African and Indian style cooking. The curries were Indian in style but with flavours that stemmed from an earthier, more robust range of spice combinations.

As Matt's review claims, maybe the stars had all aligned to form perfect constellations the night he dined at Afghan Village, and perhaps that was the case. However, they weren't far off the night we went either...

Afghan Village Restaurant
923 Burke Road
Camberwell VIC 3124
Ph: (03) 9882 2775
Mobile: 0408 018 001

Der Raum

After downing a delicious pho at Pho Dzung, my friend and I needed a fruity chaser to complete our dining experience. Although the red kidney beans, green jelly and coconut milk did sound enticing (hello! sarcasm peoples!), we needed something a bit stiffer. So onwards and upwards we went to Der Raum.

My mate found this place in the Melbourne 'Hide and Seek' guide and has wanted to give it a go for a while. After a bit of confused to-ing and fro-ing at the intersection of Swan and Church Streets, we found Der Raum nestled between some quiet buildings.

The place was packed with oh so cool, clean cut, we went to private school types but trying to ignore the clientele we joined the queue at the bar. Once we got closer, we were able to look at the menu which was fixed to the bar by a string, reminiscent of pens chained to bank tellers desks of a bygone era.

The menu was confusing and none of the drinks really sounded that appetising. My friend ordered a 'Fuck the Subprime' (Der Raum Kummel, Remy VSOP Cognac, Citrus Crusta & Champagne) but upon ordering, the bartender warned that it was a very dry cocktail. As we both wanted something sweet, he then suggested a 'Latin Threesome' which consisted of Sagatiba Pura Cachaca, Pisco Control, Havana Club Anejo Reserva, pineapple, lime wedges, brown sugar and buckets of crushed ice. It was a nice beverage but if it were not for the amount of effort that goes into making such a drink, I would say it wasn't worth the $20 that we paid for it. It was sweet and refreshing to begin with, but quickly became quite bland and uninteresting to the palate. I think the pineapple didn't quite work in the drink and another tropical fruit might have worked better.

But getting back to the real drawcard of this cocktail bar- the impressive array of spirits and the amazing waiters who make them. All bottles are suspended from the ceiling on bungee cords, and are simply unhooked as needed. Bar staff are run flat off their feet pumping out the liquid masterpeices as fast as they can to bored, thirsty patrons. And what an impressive display it is to watch them mixing drinks. It is like peering through a glass window at a group of scientists, mixing formulas in test tubes and measuring insipid solutions. It wouldn't have been out of place for them to be wearing lab coats. (In saying that they do have a drink called Pharmacy that comes with a glass bottle and a syringe with which the patrons can self administer their dose of medicine.) Probably the most impressive drink we saw being made, involved a blowtorch and a fig which is scorched and presented still alight on top of the glass.

This bar may be some people's cup of tea, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are loaded or good at picking up sugar daddies/mummies. It may have a better vibe on a school night but on Saturday nights it's way too pretentious. I would like to say it's a good place to try once but I'd be lying and would rather recommend another cocktail venue, like Polly on Brunswick St, Fitzroy, which makes delicious, fresh cocktails with a far more relaxed and funky atmosphere.

Der Raum

438 Church St

Richmond VIC 3121

Ph. (03) 9428 0055

www.derraum.com.au

Pho Dzung

I must sheepishly confess that I am new to pho and am still a little confused as to the correct pronunciation. Is it 'po' or 'fur'? Anyway, last night I was introduced to the world of pho and it didn't matter whether I could pronounce it or not, as my taste buds were doing the talking.

I consulted a Vietnamese friend who recommended a restaurant specialising in pho on Victoria Street, Richmond. I caught the train there, with the usual drunk racist idiots that you'd expect on a Saturday night (will spare you the details and reserve them for my other blog!) and walked 100 shops or so down Victoria Street to Pho Dzung.

We were greeted warmly and a table was promptly wiped clean of debris from the last hungry customers. I ordered a small pho with rare beef ($7) and my friend ordered a medium pho with sliced chicken($8). We also ordered some spring rolls with an unknown filling($8) as we didn't bother to ask what was inside. I mean really as long as it tastes good, do you really want to know? Particularly not when other dishes on the menu included tripe, cartilage and coagulated ox blood.

Before too long, the steaming bowls of pho arrived, along with the do-it-yourself style garnishes of lemon wedges, freshly chopped red chillies, Thai basil and bean shoots. Also the table was jam-packed with condiments including soy sauce and hoisin sauce. I added some lemon, bean shoots, basil and hoisin sauce. As I'm still a bit of a wuss when it comes to spicy food, I left out the chilli.

The flavours of the pho were delicious. The beef was cooked all the way through but not tough, and the noodles were tasty with a good balance between broth and noodle. Also floating around the bowl were spring onions. It was a nice heart warming dish on a cold Winter's night and left me feeling very satisfied but not at all bloated.

All in all, this was a great experience. The only down points to eating at Pho Dzung were the usual lack of decor that you find in Asian restaurants on Victoria Street and the fact that I almost skidded over walking to the toilet in the back of the restaurant, as the floor was so greasy, presumably with other diners' spilt pho. (And unlike milk, this spilt pho, is something worth crying over...) But decor is not really a concern, as this isn't a restaurant to languish in for hours, it's a rough and ready 'do drop in' servicing Melbourne with some of the best pho out there, or so my Vietnamese friends tell me...

Pho Dzung

208 Victoria Street

Richmond VIC 3121

Ph. (03) 9427 0292

Decadant dinner of pancakes with lemon and sugar

When I was little, one of my favourite meal times was when Mum would make pancakes for dinner. Eating them was so naughty - imagine just eating dessert for dinner! Although it is not all that strange to eat a sweet main course in Europe, in Australia it does seem a little odd and somewhat lacking in nutritional requirements. Anyway, sometimes you just have to say stuff it, and eat what you want!

And so was my frame of mind last weekend. Not too mention also being quite poor, so making something that didn't require a trip to the supermarket was highly desirable. However, I did not have Mum's old faithful recipe. Instead I consulted my orange Stephanie Alexander bible and came across the following recipe:

250g plain flour
60g butter
pinch of salt
1 and half cups milk
3 eggs

Put flour into a basin and make a well. Warm butter, salt and milk until butter has melted. Break eggs into well and work in some flour. Add warm milk mixture and whisk until quite smooth. Refrigerate for 2 hours before cooking. The consistency should be like thin cream. If not, thin with more milk.

Heat a frying pan. Wipe pan with a piece of buttered paper for the first pancake. Life pan from heat, then ladle in batter and swirl to spread to edges of pan. Set pan back over heat. After 1 min, lift think outer edge of pancake with a fine spatula and flip pancake using your fingers or spatula. Repeat process.

The recipe was simple and different to how I remember Mum making pancakes, as the eggs are added to the flour and whisked to form a soft dough before adding the milk mixture. This part was quite fun, almost like making pasta from scratch. The end result of the pancakes was quite good also. The first pancake was a bit dodgy (as is always the case) but overall the pancakes were light and spongy.

Give ém a go one day! For breakfast, lunch or dinner ;)

For the Love of Pizza

There is a delicious takeaway pizza joint near my place called For the Love of Pizza. It's the sister shop to Meine Leibe in Northcote, which is dine in only and situated further up the road amongst the funkier section of High Street. I have tried two pizzas on their menu thus far and both have been delicious. Why? Well a nice thin chewy base and a delicious napoli sauce is always a good start with pizza and this ticks both boxes. Also the toppings are fresh and not too applied too sparingly or too heavy-handedly.

The pizzas I sampled were the 'New Salami' - tomato, mozzarella, salami, red peppers and black olives (chilli optional) and the 'Ham and Pineapple' (original name, I know) - tomato, mozzarella, ham and pineapple with fresh basil. But being original is not what this business is all about, it's just about making good pizza and making their customers feel welcome. The pizza blokes make a point of remembering your name and saying good bye to you in a sing-song voice as you leave the shop. It's tongue in cheek customer service but I don't blame them for the cheekiness, not when the pizza is this good...

For the Love of Pizza

487 High Street

Northcote VIC 3070

Ph. 9489 0703

The Fox Hotel

We spent a fun night at The Fox Hotel recently. It is one of those pubs you have probably driven past a million times but never ventured inside. It's location on the corner of busy Alexandra parade and Wellington streets, means that a lot of its clientele appear to be locals rather than passersby on a pub crawl.

The atmosphere inside the pub is cosy but exciting at the same time. The pub is owned by 3 woman and the all-girl bar staff are attentive and warm. The pub has a wide variety of beers from all over the world. I drank Budejovick (a Czech imported Budweiser) whilst I was there, and it had a nice deep 'hoppy' flavour.

To eat, I ordered porterhouse steak with mushroom sauce, mash and salad. The steak was about $24.50 which I thought was very reasonable. My dish had a nice flavour, the steak was cooked well (medium rare) and the salad was fresh with a tasty dressing. Overall, I was enjoyed the dish considering the price, however it did lack a bit of oomph. I think a different sauce on the steak may have helped, as the mushroom sauce was a bit bland.

Others on the table ordered beer battered baramundi, dusted with lemon myrtle and served with chips, salad & wild lime tartare ($17); salt and mountain pepper squid w chips, salad and wild lime tartare ($17) and the vegetarian of the group ordered a vegetarian burrito. The burrito was reportedly very nice, however it was served with plain white rice, whereas a spicy mexican style rice may have been a better accompaniment. Overall, everybody seemed to enjoy their dinner, especially the salt and mountain pepper squid.

We had a few more beers and then a few of us ordered dessert. There are only two desserts on the menu, and we ordered 3 of the same dessert - fried apple gyozas rolled in cinnamon sugar served with caramel sauce and ice cream ($8). (In case you are not familiar with gyozas, they are Japanese dumplings. They are most usually savoury but can be made with sweet fillings also.)

The desserts were wolfed down, the lucky owners moaning with pleasure as they devoured the plates. Due to their reaction, I was begging to try some and finally my sister relented and gave me her last bite of gyoza. I was surprised by the deliciousness of the dish. The sweet but tart flavour of the apple was balanced perfectly against the slightly oily pastry of the gyozas and the sweetness of the caramel sauce and ice cream not to mention the slightly gritty texture of the cinnamon sugar. I am definitely going back to the Fox if only to order this dessert for myself.

In fact, I am definitely going back to the Fox Hotel due to the ambiance and the fantastic selection of beers. Also I should mention that the music was refreshingly different, with lots of old skool fifties and sixties and just some plain good nineties music, like PJ Harvey. At times I felt like it was my iPod playing. There is also a pool table, plenty of seating and a dance floor in the back room. The clientele seem very cool, but in more of a grungy Melbourne way, than a superficial Chapel Street way. All in all, an awesome pub!

The Fox Hotel
351 Wellington St

Collingwood VIC 3066

Ph. (03) 9416 4957

http://www.thefoxhotel.com.au/

Mixed Business

My sister and I ventured to a lovely cafe this morning called Mixed Business. It's in Clifton Hill in an intriguing looking shop. It follows the current trend of discreetly signposting cafes, so that it is almost impossible to tell that it is an eatery, if it weren't for the chairs and tables outside.

There was a slight wait to be seated but we were directed to a bay window to wait on a padded seat on the windowsill. (If you have to wait a while, they bring you coffee in the meantime.) The cafe was very busy but it's a nice big space with ample tables and chairs, so you don't have the claustrophobic, 'I'm in the way' feeling that many poky cafes have these days.

First up we ordered coffee and it was delicious. My latte had a nice head of foam and the coffee itself had a well-rounded roasted flavour without being too bitter. We had to wait a little while for the coffee (and the food) but the waiting staff were polite and friendly and apologised for the delay.

Next I had poached eggs on sourdough with pancetta, parmesan and roasted tomatoes. The ingredients were bursting with flavour inside my mouth, especially the perfectly roasted and sweet flavoured tomatoes. (I asked the staff where they bought their tomatoes - Mecca greengrocers on Queens Pde.) Also the combination of the parmesan, scattered basil leaves and pancetta was a beautiful marriage. And the eggs were perfectly poached, with a wonderful gooey middle.

My sister had a hot bread roll filled with olive tapenade, tomato, spinach, avocado and goat's cheese. She said she could taste each flavour distinctly, and the ingredients were fresh and delicious.

Overall I was incredibly impressed with the food and it is a far superior cafe to many others in the local area. I will definitely be back and I can't wait to try the other dishes on the menu. Also it was reasonably priced with the bill coming to $28 for two coffees and two plates of food.

Mixed Business

486 Queens Parade

Clifton Hill VIC 3068

ph. (03) 9486 1606