Brunswick, on Melbourne’s inner north has long been overshadowed by the more artsy Fitzroy and the very Italian Carlton, despite arguably having the highest concentration of specialty groceries, Middle Eastern bakeries and a plethora of restaurants serving Turkish, Afghan, Lebanese and Greek cuisine. This could be due to the sheer long stretch of Sydney Road, the suburb’s main artery, which makes walking the whole strip practically impossible.
Of course, the key to appreciating Sydney Road is not to ‘do it’ in 1 day, but to savour its different pockets over time. Sydney Road actually cuts through three suburbs – Brunswick, Anstey and Coburg – although Anstey is not really considered a suburb in its own right and is conveniently lumped into either of the bigger suburbs. The furthest reaches of the road in Coburg is home to many of the traditional Turkish restaurants and stalls selling succulent doner and shish kebabs, while in the Anstey portion halal butchers sit alongside Middle Eastern bakeries selling the famous Lebanese meat pizzas, baklava and zaatar spice mixes made of dried thyme, oregano and sumac berry powder.
The Brunswick part of Sydney Road is experiencing a sort of makeover that is also being felt in the once-sleepy suburbs of Collingwood and East Brunswick. Small, funky little cafes are mushrooming in little corners off Sydney Road that are obscure enough to be slightly mysterious yet easily accessible for inner city folks hungry for a bite or a strong, full-flavoured cuppa to unwind. The same forces that created Fitzroy’s rejuvenation, the rather adversarial combination of gentrification and cash-strapped students forced out from living in the city, are responsible for this timely addition to Brunswick’s street scene.
For these cafes deftly mix all the different elements of the suburb’s culinary heritage – Italian, Turkish, Lebanese – into a uniquely Australian interpretation that the inner north of Melbourne can claim as its own. Ray, one of the first of these cafes to open up shop, boasts on its menu board baharat baked beans with chilli labna and toasted pide; Arabian-style bircher muesli with cream, pistachios, poached fruits and honey; poached free-range eggs with capsicum pesto, spinach, fetta and dukkah and lamb kofta with hummus and lemon honey yoghurt, just to name a few. Common enough to not intimidate, but peppered with one or two unfamiliar ingredients to entice and excite in equal measure.
I’ve only recently discovered Ray, despite it being in such close proximity to my house. But I guess that’s part of what keeps Melbourne’s café scene so interesting. And it just goes to show that all that effort in remaining incognito – the unassuming exterior, the lack of signage, the off-the-beat location – actually does work! The coffee is supposed to be excellent, although on both visits I had tea – an act of rebellion perhaps, although one that I’m afraid is without cause. The next time I pop over at Ray I’ll be sure to get a coffee, and try more of their exotic fare.
Ray
332 Victoria St
Brunswick VIC 3056
Posted in Food | Tagged: Brunswick, inner north suburb Melbourne, Melbourne, Ray, Sydney Road | 1 Comment »
La Paloma, Brunswick
Posted by kampunghouse on July 15, 2009
Tucked away on an anonymous spot on Albert Street, a few steps shy of the traffic rush descending upon Sydney Road, La Paloma is like a little slice of Buenos Aires in bohemian Brunswick. Housed in a building that looks like it has seen better days, distressed walls with patches of stripped paint, weathered door and quaint wooden stools provide subtle clues to the atmosphere inside the café. The gleaming glass frontage and jade green tiles hint to a café that takes pride in itself.
Inside, a small blackboard announces the menu of the day. There are three or four dishes and two sweets – churros topped with dulce de leche and cake. I’m usually a sucker for sweets, but on this day I’ve come for the salad roll, which has received ecstatic raves in Melbourne food blogs. How often does a salad roll elicit such excitement as to compel people to wax lyrical about its merits? At first glance it looks innocent enough – tomato, cucumber, whole lettuce leaves, mashed seasoned avocado and a delicate layer of beef pastrami tucked into a rustic bread roll. It’s one of those things that make you say, “Pfft. I can make this at home” until you take a bite and realise, no, probably you can’t. The whole lettuce leaves provide visual novelty from the common chopped lettuce treatment in other salad rolls while the creamy, comforting avocado provide textural and savoury contrast to the crusty bread. But it is the beef pastrami which hands down steals the show, punching way above its weight in depth of flavour. You can opt to omit the pastrami, but you seriously are missing out.
The walls are painted Argentine blue, bullfighter red and Hispanic terracotta. There are small frames of Expressionist paintings of Spanish bulls, a little girl in a blue dress and a South American Indian man with a wizened gaze. The whole place drips with effortless charm and understated lust that marries the uninhibited passion inherent in the Argentine spirit and the whimsical eating habits of residents in Melbourne’s inner north. La Paloma is one of those cafes you want to adopt as your own, but how long can you hide the guilt of hiding it from everyone else?
La Paloma
259 Albert St
Brunswick VIC 3056
Posted in Food | Tagged: Brunswick, inner north suburb Melbourne, La Paloma, La Paloma Brunswick, Melbourne, mini cafe, new Brunswick, rue bebelons, Sydney Road | Leave a Comment »
Damascus for Munchers
Posted by kampunghouse on March 18, 2009
The Old City of Damascus is essentially a tangled network of alleyways criss-crossing and snaking through buildings patched up and conjured through centuries of trade and human settlement. This medieval city feels more like a village that has completely outgrown itself, with no planning or consideration for later, modern inventions such as the private automobile. This makes it the perfect city for the wandering pedestrian, with no cars in sight and all those narrow cobblestone alleyways to get lost in.
The authorities have done a rather remarkable feat naming and putting street signs for the myriad lanes that sew the entire city together, although the sheer number of lanes jutting out from the main thoroughfares renders the effort a token gesture at best, and a lost cause at worst. My Lonely Planet guidebook, in the interest of being thorough, provides a map of the Old City but is smart enough to advise visitors to disregard it, and instead walk straight in and lose yourself amidst the chaos. You’ll eventually find a way out.
The great thing about all that walking is that it works up an appetite, and Syria is a great place for the frugal visitor to hear his stomach grumble. Food is extremely cheap and Syrian food, like most Mediterranean cuisine, is not as confronting as say, the more exotic fare of the East.
It’s hard to pass off a helping of shwarma, the Arabic equivalent to the Turkish kebab, with the addition of gherkins and mayo. However, a full meal will slow my walk and discourage me from further munching, and that’s not cool. No, what I want is something leaning towards a snack, and thankfully there are plenty of stalls specialising in munchies. Most of them can be found in the left alleyway jutting out from the main thoroughfare of Souk al-Hamidiyya, just before the Roman colonnades that form the entrance to the Grand Umayyad Mosque. Here, among shops selling Qurans and touristy keychains and decorative glass beads are stalls selling pies with olive paste stuffing, meat and cheese, as well as the tasty lahmacun, a sort of pizza dish where spicy minced lamb is spread onto a thin dough and sprinkled with a squirt of lemon juice and chili powder.
There are also hole in the wall bakeries scattered throughout the Old City, selling buns which have the most wonderful texture – a delicately crunchy exterior that gives way to a soft centre. There is a croissant whose similarity with the well-known French is only in shape; the Syrian version is more bread than pastry, not at all flaky but much more filling, less decadent, more peasant. Complex carbohydrates are nice, but there’s nothing like a quick hit of sugar to get you going, so I often treated myself to a date bun, a long knotted bread filled with date paste, which is similar to the red bean paste of Asia in both colour and in the subtle flirting between sweet and savoury. The bun is shaped like a Bueno kinder bar, where you can tear off a piece to eat individually, although the expectation of course is to finish the whole thing eventually.
We always ended up buying lots of bread and sesame-topped buns from the bakery, and the breadman (is that what they’re called?), in true Syrian hospitality would offer complimentary pieces of pineapple jam tarts which simply…crumble in your mouth. I was instantly hooked. Is this true Syrian hospitality or a clever marketing ploy? I wasn’t sure.
Note: For a taste of the lahmacun and Arabic-style pies, head over to A1 bakery on Sydney Road Brunswick, where they’re crisped up to order in the traditional oven.
Posted in Food, Syria | Tagged: Syria, Sydney Road, Damascus Old City, Lonely Planet, shwarma, lahmacun, bueno kinder, AI Bakery, Brunswick, Melbourne | Leave a Comment »
The Sweet Toothed Guide to Damascus
Posted by kampunghouse on March 15, 2009
The Middle East’s greatest contribution to the culinary world and global happiness is arguably the baklava, along with its many wonderful variations. These tiny morsels of pleasure, made up of a dense, nutty centre surrounded by flaky phyllo pastry drenched in fragrant syrup, works as a pretty good antidote to ward off afternoon fatigue. Just as your body feels sapped of energy along comes this wonderdrug disguised as food to get you up and going again. I often use it to fight off depression because I very strongly feel that relying on anti-depressant tablets to cure sadness is a bit radical, and I’m a rather moderate person by nature.
Damascus is dotted with shops displaying row upon row of baklava, stacked onto each other to form a sort of pyramid to entice the passing pedestrian. I almost always fail to resist the temptation. The best thing about baklava is that they come in small, manageable pieces, which allows you to sample 3 or 4 or 7 at a time, lending the illusion of excessive consumption when in fact you haven’t eaten that much at all. Contrast this with one of those jumbo cakes in the glass displays of Italian restaurants on Melbourne’s Lygon Street that leaves you totally ashamed of your gluttony once you’ve wiped the last remaining whipped cream off your face.
Another popular destination for the sweet toothed is the venerable Bakdash, an ice-cream parlour with décor stuck in the 70s which has become something of a Damascene institution, and a must-stop for tourists ever since it was included in the Lonely Planet to-do list.
This is one place where you won’t be spoiled for choice because the sole drawcard is the milk-and-rosewater flavoured Arabic ice cream known as bouzat haleeb. It has a distinctly gummy texture, primarily due to the use of mastic gum, an aromatic resin commonly used in the Middle East. For 25 Syrian pounds (1 USD = 48 SYP) you get the equivalent of about 3 overly-generous scoops of Bakdash’s famous ice cream coated in pistachios and redolent of the exotic delights of Syria.
Note: If you’re in Melbourne and curious for a taste of bouzat haleeb, Balha’s dessert shop on Sydney Road Brunswick has a passable version, although the texture is not as gummy and the serving size considerably smaller.
Posted in Food, Syria | Tagged: Arabic ice cream, Bakdash, baklava, bouzat haleeb, Damascus, Syria | 1 Comment »
The Engineer’s Approach to Sambal Terung
Posted by kampunghouse on July 5, 2008
The carefree use of oil, along with the labor intensive and time consuming process of deep frying the eggplants are inefficient remnants of cooking methods that belong to a bygone era, when food was solely prepared by stay-at-home mothers and obesity unheard of. To time-poor sedentary workers who are constantly anxious about putting on weight, sambal terung has become the culinary equivalent of asbestos. We could either abolish this dish from our diet (which for eggplant lovers like us is akin to gastronomic fundamentalism), or we could apply simple engineering solutions to minimize the financial, time and health costs associated with this much-maligned dish. The goal is to create a healthy and easy sambal terung dish without compromising its distinctively savory appeal.
Our definition of an “easy” dish is something that doesn’t demand more than 5 ingredients, and our sambal terung consists of
2 large eggplants
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon blended red chilies
and basic stuff like vegetable oil and salt.
Engineers like to work with arbitrary numbers that, based on experience, seem to work. In the same spirit, “2” was chosen to quantify the ingredients because, from experience, that amount seems to work and it makes for easy memorizing. Who has the time to look up recipe books when we don’t even have time to say Hi to our loved ones?
Begin by slicing the eggplants into rather large cubes of around 2-cm in thickness (again, based on experience and for ease of memory). Instead of deep frying the hell out of them, we simply place them in a shallow rack and roast in an oven preheated to 220ºC (can you see the numerical pattern here?) for 30 minutes.
Roasting the eggplant in the oven not only minimizes oil and effort, it also frees up time to chop the shallots and garlic and blend the chilies. The Italian way of roasting eggplant involves brushing the surface with olive oil. We found this to be redundant – at least in the case of sambal terung – because the flavor comes from the sambal oil which is added later.
After the eggplants have been roasted, fry the aromatics in about 100 ml of oil. Bear in mind that no oil has been added prior to this process, so 100 ml (approx. 6 tablespoons) is not at all unreasonable. When the air is dancing with the unmistakable fragrance of the sautéed aromatics, add in the freshly blended red chilies and continue frying. I stir only occasionally, because I want some of the chilies to be left idle on the base of the wok until it chars a little to give it a smoky flavor, and also because I’m lazy.
After the chili is thoroughly cooked, add the still-hot roasted eggplant, season with salt and stir gently to exfoliate the eggplant with the sambal mix. You will end up with a dish perfect for the terung lover – smoky eggplant covered with savory aromatic sambal, with just a pleasantly meager trickling of oil.
Posted in Food | Tagged: eggplant recipe, resipi sambal, sambal terung | 3 Comments »
How to Perform Random Acts of Gluttony
Posted by kampunghouse on December 3, 2007
In the spirit of subversion and the hope of defeating the evil force that is political correctness, we are proposing a Glutton’s Day where observers can perform random acts of gluttony. This can be as simple as enjoying a whole bucket of fried chicken, not sharing a plastic bagful of pisang goreng, or juggling 5 big balls of pegedil with your mouth. Make a Nyonya happy by buying 2, 3 or 10 chunky slices of kuih. Exfoliate your skin with a rich layer of melted chocolate, and lick yourself clean afterwards, or have someone do it for you. Feed your soul with a generous serving of nasi ayam, sooth your senses with a slurp of the broth, and satisfy your teeth’s primal urge by grinding the accompanying roast chicken. Finally, extract the meager juices by sucking on the bone.
If, God forbid, you are approached by a well-meaning dietician or concerned citizen worried about your stomach-stretching orgy, we recommend borrowing a line made famous by our local politicians and tell them not to “meddle with my internal affairs”.
Posted in Food | Tagged: how to be happy, how to lose weight | 2 Comments »
Can The Durian Be Jansson’s Temptation? Swedish Simplicity Vs Malaysian Extravagance Part 2: Food
Posted by kampunghouse on February 9, 2007
Sifat kedua-dua negara ini juga boleh dilihat dalam budaya masakannya. Makanan Malaysia memang terkenal dengan kekayaannya – kaya dengan cita rasa, kaya dengan ramuan dan kaya dengan minyak dan marjerin. Chef-chef asing, misalnya Anthony Bourdain (chef dari New York yang handal dalam masakan Peranchis dan terkenal dengan gaya mutu keunggulan Dunhillnya) terpesona dengan keberanian masakan Malaysia menggunakan berpuluh-puluh rempah ratus dan cili, yang amat ditakuti kebanyakan orang Eropah dan Amerika.Apabila kita kira betapa banyaknya marjerin yang digunakan dalam roti canai, santan yang hadir dalam segala jenis lauk Melayu, ataupun minyak babi yang sering dipakai dalam masakan Cina, bolehlah dirumuskan bahawa tukang-tukang masak kita tak takut mati.
Falsafah makan Sweden mirip kepada senibina dalamannya yang ringkas. Makanan negara ini menggunakan banyak ubi kentang, ikan dan daging. Oleh kerana rempah-ratus dan herba jarang diguna, masakannya bergantung kepada krim dan keju untuk menaikkan kelazatan. Walaupun begitu, ia tidaklah semaju atau sepopular masakan Peranchis dan Itali yang lebih pakar dalam bab menggunakan krim dan keju. Masakan Sweden yang paling dikenali ialah ‘Swedish meatballs’ yang dipopularkan Ikea. ‘Gravlax’ juga agak terkenal tetapi kerana ia seakan-akan ’smoked salmon’, kebanyakan orang tidak dapat membezakan antara mereka berdua. Satu lagi makanan Sweden yang popular (dan digemari Team kampunghouse) ialah Jansson’s frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation), di mana ubi kentang dihiris halus dan ditabur dalam bekas, diikuti ikan bilis dan bawang besar. Ini diulang beberapa kali seperti lasagna dan krim dituang sebelum dipanggang dalam ketuhar. Ubi kentang yang halus itu sedap benar dilahap dengan ikan bilis masin dan bawang besar yang merangsangkan keenakan, ditambah pula dengan lemak krim. Meleleh air liur aku dibuatnya!
Walaupun masakan Sweden tidak se-’adventurous’ lauk-pauk kita, ada satu makanannya yang menggentarkan dan boleh mengalahkan durian dalam keupayaannya memengsankan orang. Surstromming ialah sejenis makanan ikan yang dituai (ferment) selama beberapa bulan dalam tin. Baunya disamakan seperti sampah yang dah lama tak dikutip. Jika durian tak dibenarkan dalam hotel-hotel mewah di Malaysia, Surstromming pula dilarang dalam rumah pangsa di Sweden dan hanya boleh dimakan di luar oleh kerana bau masamnya yang teramat sangat.
Posted in Food, Sweden | Tagged: negara Sweden | Leave a Comment »
Rakyat Malaysia Bertambah Gemuk
Posted by kampunghouse on January 25, 2007
Badan yang semakin gemuk bukan sahaja menyukarkan pergerakan dan merangsangkan perpeluhan, malah menyebabkan rambut kurang bersinar, kulit kurang bermaya dan mata kurang segar, ciri-ciri yang amat dititikberatkan oleh kaum wanita mahupun lelaki di zaman moden ini. Apakah yang menyebabkan fenomena ‘tayar pancit’? Malaysia sebenarnya mempunyai banyak persamaan dengan negara tergemuk dunia, Amerika Syarikat. Seperti negara itu, Malaysia mempunyai budaya berkereta yang amat kuat, disebabkan cuaca kita yang tidak sesuai untuk pejalan kaki dan sistem pengangkutan awam yang tidak komprehensif dan teratur.
Oleh itu, rakyat Malaysia tidak banyak bergerak dalam aktiviti seharian mereka, kecuali apabila membeli-belah di Suria KLCC ataupun One Utama yang boleh membabitkan perjalanan kaki beberapa kilometer. Ditambah pula dengan masakan Malaysia yang amat kaya dengan santan, margerin dan selalu pula digoreng, kita tidak bolehlah berpura-pura terkejut apabila mendapati perut kita mula berlapis-lapis. Bagaimana kita hendak mengatasi masalah ini? Oleh kerana cuaca kita tidak mengizinkan pergerakan ‘casual’, kita terpaksalah bersenam di gymnasium ataupun bersukan. Janganlah pula berebut-rebut ke Midvalley dan berboling, kerana kami tak pasti sekiranya boling boleh melangsingkan badan. (Percayalah, kami dah cuba)
Dalam hal pemakanan, tidak dinafikan memang susah untuk mengelak makanan yang bersantan dan bergoreng, apalagi orang Malaysia, baik Melayu, Cina mahupun India, amat pakar dalam bab goreng-menggoreng. Tetapi, dari asyik menggoreng segala jenis daging, cubalah memanggang atau merebus. Santan juga boleh ditukar dengan yoghurt rendah lemak; walaupun rasanya akan berbeza, kami gerenti ia masih enak untuk dilahap. Kami telah memulakan gaya pemakanan yang lebih sihat, dan ia sudah mula menunjukkan perkembangan yang positif, atau lebih tepat, kecutan perut yang positif. Memanglah, seperti kata sebuah iklan minyak sawit popular, goreng pun sodap!, tetapi demi kesihatan, kami rela memanggang ayam kami.
Posted in Food, Society | Tagged: gemuk, kesihatan, obesiti | 6 Comments »
