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 »
Stupidity and Racism Go Hand in Hand
Posted by kampunghouse on June 8, 2009
The police meanwhile, fending off accusations of indifference towards the attacks, have religiously maintained that the crimes are largely “opportunistic”, rather than racially-motivated. This despite the fact that only Indian students seem to be so consistently robbed and punched and threatened and stabbed over the past month. Thankfully, the Victorian Attorney-General has used the occasion to expedite the creation of hate-crime laws which would cover harassments based on race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. It is quite clear that the legislation is aimed at preventing attacks against any race, so it came as a bit of a surprise when a concerned Don Bruce of Watsonia sent a letter to the The Age (June 4, 2009) claiming that “your hate crime legislation seems to cover everyone except white Anglo-Saxon males, Rob Hulls. Apparently my safety and that of my son is considered to be of less importance”.
The wording of the proposed legislation made public so far goes along the lines of “”hatred for or a prejudice against a particular group of people”; it doesn’t actually highlight any race, so how is it that this legislation would not cover white Anglo-Saxon males? One gets the impression this particular Don Bruce is feeling a bit left out from all the media attention and public sympathy the Indian victims are getting. I could almost hear him cry “Oh poor me and my white Anglo-Saxon heritage! Take pity on me!”
And there has been widespread condemnation of those attacks by Victorian politicians, from both left and right, as well as the general Victorian public. The state has a long and proud history of multiculturalism and while there is an undercurrent of racism in Australian society, it is not unique to the country alone. What is interesting is that a significant portion of criticism hurled towards Indian students – while they are being the target of attacks – come from Indians themselves. They are usually Indian Australians hailing from upper middle class backgrounds who perhaps, through their criticism, wish to reaffirm that they are distinctly different (read: better) than their foreign counterparts. One Rahul Kapadia, from the millionaire’s suburb of Toorak, wrote in (June 7, 2009) to blame Indian students for the attacks, due to “their loud talking habits, lack of etiquette and lack of courtesy to fellow passengers, coupled with loudly playing iPods and shoving themselves into trains and trams in a “me first” attempt”.
I don’t know how much of it is true and how much is simply his own distorted stereotype of Indian nationals, but that can hardly justify the senseless bashings and stabbings being committed against them. The rude behaviour that Rahul lists could easily be ascribed to anyone in Australia, not just Indians. He further declares that “when such students, who also flaunt their wealth by wearing gold chains around their necks, decide to walk from desolate stations at odd hours in the early morning, hoodlums would attack such people regardless of whether they are Indian or not”. That’s not true. The closest thing to bling I see Indians sport are religious gold chains; they’re not flaunting their wealth, they’re affirming their faith. And no, they are not choosing to walk from desolate outer suburb train stations at odd hours in the early morning, they are forced to because that’s the only work shifts they can afford to do without clashing with their classes. But I wouldn’t expect Rahul from Toorak to understand the circumstances faced by people living without the luxury of private automobiles and an inner-city address.
Posted in Melbourne | Tagged: Australian Indians, curry-bashing, Melbourne, Springvale, St Albans, violence against Indians | 1 Comment »
Celebrating Water (What’s Left of It) in Melbourne
Posted by kampunghouse on March 22, 2009
March marks the end of what has been an extremely hot summer in Melbourne, and the city traditionally farewells the scorching season with a festival celebrating water, called the Moomba Festival. It’s quite different from conventional notions of ‘celebration’ where tonnes of the stuff would be carelessly used in lush abundance, such as the tomato-throwing parade in Spain. No, with a water storage level hovering at a mere 30%, the Moomba festival has taken on more serious themes like water conservation and the importance of using less and less.
Rain is such a rarity in Melbourne that everytime there’s a downpour, it’ll be on the 6 o’clock news headlines. “Melbourne awash with rain”, “Welcome shower for drought-stricken Melburnians” blurts out the newscasters with undisguised tones of joy. Because there’s not much you can do with water that’s not there, the water activities in the Moomba festival is mainly limited to water skiing type shows on the river Yarra that snakes through the city. The other drawcards are mostly wholesome family fun activities such as fun fairs, rides and a parade along the city’s main thoroughfare which is more community-minded than spectacular.
This year in an effort to make the festival more appealing to the younger crowds, a concert was held showcasing, we are led to believe, Australia’s hottest acts. I guess I blame myself for being naïve enough into thinking that a free concert could be any good. Having said that, many in the crowd appear to genuinely enjoy themselves, so it could be either they’re drunk or it just wasn’t my kind of music.
In early February a large slice of Victoria was ravaged by bushfires on a day where the mercury reached 45.6°C. It was a horrible day in the city where the strong winds made you feel like a giant hairdryer was being used to blow the Earth. I can’t imagine how it must’ve felt for the communities that were affected by the fierce fires. Many lives were lost and towns and houses completely ruined.
A huge concert was organised a few weeks later to build up funds for the fire relief effort. The photo above shows the weather on that day. How ironic that it ended up being the wettest day of the year so far. Weather-wise, Victoria is a most baffling place.
Melbourne has this lingering image as a wet, rainy city. This reputation is actually undeserved considering it now receives less rainfall than cities like Brisbane or Sydney which has often been seen as the sunny cities of Australia. I suspect the culprits behind this fraud are Melburnians themselves, who wish to cling on to Melbourne’s image as the most European of Australia’s cities by evoking memories of dark grey clouds and suited up city workers sheltering under uniform black umbrellas. In any case, it was a relief to experience some dark comforting gloominess once in a while. The bright blue sky and sunkissed earth thing was starting to bring me down.
Posted in Melbourne | Tagged: Black Saturday, bushfires, Melbourne, Moomba festival, Victoria | 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: AI Bakery, Brunswick, bueno kinder, Damascus Old City, lahmacun, Lonely Planet, Melbourne, shwarma, Sydney Road, Syria | Leave a Comment »
