Dumplings in West Footscray and more tasty tidbits from around the traps

Sorry for the super long time between drinks, folks!  I have been really busy, and there are only so many things a girl can eat.  Although I did have a chuckle at this - it's pretty much my life!

Heh heh heh!

Anyway, I thought I'd make you a nice concentrated missal of all the goodies I've been chowing down on in the last couple of months.  Firstly, a shoutout to Tien, proprietor of Dong Que, hands down one of my all-time Footscray faves.

Dong Que do awesome coleslaws, from a prawn and pork with lotus root to this 'un, beef jerky with green papaya.

Their signature dish is bun ca thang long or turmeric-marinated fish served with lots of dill.  It's a northern Vietnamese specialty, related to bun cha Ha Noi (more on that later).  It's so popular that when you step into Dong Que, the air is redolent with gorgeous floral dill almost all the time.  To eat, you make a little DIY salad with noodles, herbs and fish.  If the supplied stinky anchovy sauce is too much, don't be shy to ask for the standard nuoc cham mam!

Dong Que were one of the stops on this year's Rickshaw Run.  I volunteered over a few sessions, as did the indomitable Kenny and Bennie from Consider the Sauce, as well as a number of FFB readers (big shoutouts to Chris, Mark, Jenny, Carolyn and Eve!)  We even had an awesome couple who had moved into Footscray barely a week before and liked what they saw so much that they signed up to volunteer too.

This is Eve who writes Conversation with Jenny who, despite her sylphic frame, managed to haul my ever-expanding person around one evening.  Thanks Eve!!  Footscray got some star power that night too with HaiHa Lee (next to me in the rickshaw), a long-time local resident and actor with many credits including Bed of Roses and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.  Her and partner Pier's go-to Footscray joint?  Not usual suspects Hao Phong or Sapa Hills - it's Tra Vinh!  Instant cred!

In other news, one day whilst roaming about, I found this little gem on the "other" side of Sunshine (near Dragon Express).

They sell gorgeous Polish cakes (I think by the slice) and plum jam donuts, plus take-home meals just like Babcia used to make.  (I had a Polish friend at school and I remember her mother pinching the skin on my forehead and saying, "STILL ROOM FOR MORE PIEROGIS!"  I think that's where my problems started.)  You can read more about Roli Poli over here at Pretty Wak by Amie Batalibasi, founder of Footscray's Colour Box Studio.

And while we're on the subject of dumplings, West Footscray's newest eatery opened just a few days ago!  It's called Magic Momo Kafe and it's the baby of Ravi (above).  Given the name, the four momo varieties are only a tiny part of the menu, which ranges from a big breakfast, to burgers or calamari and chips.  Everything is well priced, especially kids' options - from memory, pancakes with ice cream are about $4.

These chicken momos were yummy, the mince inside juicy and spiked with herbs, ginger and onion.  They can come simmered, steamed or fried, and Ravi said the steamed option is the most traditional.  We didn't get so lucky with the vegie version, which had collapsed somewhat.  Kenny and Bennie had better luck - theirs looked a bit plumper.  But surely all sins should be forgiven in the first week of opening!  (Magic Momo are at 588 Barkly St, West Footscray.)

What Magic Momo Kafe also have is a dizzying display of Indian sweets including four varieties of one of my faves, cham cham, which is almost like an eclair with a lightly-cooked gulab jamun-like exterior and a fudgy filling.  (It's the pink one above.)  They're all $2 each.

In other West Footscray news, Rino at Vari's Fruit & Veg has started offering seasonal organic fruit and veg boxes.  There are two sizes, $35 and $60, and you need to order by Wednesday for Saturday pickup.  He read me what was in both sizes and it's a very impressive amount of fresh organic produce.  You can also get eggs, and while I was there, Josh (aka, "the boss") and mum from Seven Hills Organic Farm came to drop off that week's order.  Boxes can also include Sourdough Kitchen bread (which Vari's actually sell fresh every day) and organic juice.  Call 9689 1491 for more deets.

West Footscray was pretty devvo that Andres and Shannon of Besito decided to hang up the arepa press, for family reasons.  The old site of Besito is currently under construction and is going to be the third Melbourne branch of Chawla's Indian.  According to their website, "Chawla's cream chicken was born not to die".  Yum, I think?!

Sunshine Pho Fever

The hottest ticket for me at this year's food festival wasn't Enrique Olvera's masterclass.  What had me glued to my computer, credit card in hand, waiting for the seconds to tick down wasn't the world's longest lunch.  The degustation I was craving was a three-course dinner with just one dish - Melbourne's favourite soup, phở.

The event was Sunshine Phở Fever and I was burning up with anticipation.  What an awesome way to have a whistlestop tour of Sunshine's Vietnamese restaurants, meet the traders and compare bowls of phở almost side by side?  (...and hopefully nick Queen's Rose The Sun's phở urn.  I would like to lie under that, mouth agape, like Homer under a keg of Duff beer.)

Proceedings kicked off at the Granary.  Do you know why Sunshine is called Sunshine?  It was originally known as Braybrook Junction.  When the Sunshine Harvester Works agricultural machinery factory moved here, its workers were encouraged to settle in the vicinity.  They apparently petitioned to have the suburb renamed Sunshine in honour of this first employer.  Sunshine Harvester Works was at one point the largest manufacturer in Australia and these imposing iron gates in Devonshire Road are part of all that remains of this industrial behemoth.

A dispute between the owner of Sunshine Harvester Works and his employees led to the Harvester Judgment of 1907, a landmark legal case which enshrined in law for the first time that an employer must pay his workers a "fair and reasonable" wage.  I learnt last night that at the Granary you used to be able to have a coffee at the actual "round table" some of these deliberations took place upon.

We were split into two groups, and my group's first stop was Phở Hien Saigon.  This light-filled, popular restaurant serves southern Vietnamese-style phở from an intergenerational family recipe.

Owner Cung explained that they start cooking each batch at 9am the day before serving.  It bubbles until 9pm when it's turned off and sits overnight.  In the morning the broth is skimmed and served hot throughout the day.  When it runs out, it runs out - nothing is saved or reheated for the following day.  Noodles at Phở Hien Saigon arrive fresh daily too.  Check out what regular customer Mario has to say (and try not to scream when he applies the hoisin!)

"Say goodbye to Maccas boys!"  Love it!

The popularity of Cung's phở is such that he's expanding next door.  Phở Hien Saigon are also known for their banh xeo, available on Sundays only.  It's Cung's dad's recipe which he in turn learnt from his grandma.

This bowl of mixed beef and chicken phở was just heavenly - so crisp and clear in flavour, with quality beef.  Southern-style phở is less "spiced" than northern-style, relying more on fresh herbs to augment the rich beef broth.  Make sure you throw in some house-made pickled onions, available on each table.

Next stop, Sao Cafe for "phở stew".  Loving the red carpet!  Each restaurant on our tour had one rolled out...

...plus smart branding including bowls and placemats - excellent organisation and presentation.  Sao Cafe's signature dish is bo kho, a thick beef, potato and carrot stew most commonly enjoyed in northern Vietnam, close to the Chinese border.  It's usually served with bread for breakfast or with phở-style wide rice noodles at lunch and dinner.

Quoting from Gastronomy Blog:  "If Vietnamese noodle soups were a high school popularity contest, Phở would be crowned Homecoming King...  Bo Kho, on the other hand, would probably be chilling on the grassy knoll with the stoners; high and oblivious to the hype."  You need to try bo kho, and you need to try it from Sau Cafe.  This was sensational, with a thick, tomato-based sauce, tender carrot and potato and big chunks of beef, slow cooked until you could cut them with a teaspoon.  The basil on top provided a counterpoint to the rich, condensed flavours.

Last stop, Phu Vinh.  Phu Vinh's first store was in Footscray before they opened a second in Sunshine. 

Their signature dish is hu tieu mi, or rice/egg noodle soups, but upon opening their second store they decided to begin offering phở.

The lovely Stephanie explained that Phu Vinh's phở has a 24-hour cooking time and uses beef marrow and bones only (no chicken carcasses, which are apparently used as filler in some phở stockpots).  Theirs is a 45-year-old family recipe from the south of Vietnam.

I found Phu Vinh's phở good but on the sweet side for my taste.  Stephanie did explain that the longer cooking time is said to bring out more sweetness from the bones.  PS:  When I picked on Mario about the hoisin sauce earlier, you are technically not meant to add it to the soup, but rather put a little in a small dish and dip your meat in it sparingly (ditto the chilli oil or sate sauce in silver pots on each table).  But rules, schmules - do what tastes best.

Are you into Vietnamese three-colour drinks?  I admit I have never been - I find them too cloying.  Stephanie explained that they are a comparatively modern invention.  The original Vietnamese dish only had two colours - green jelly and red kidney beans - and was served with coconut milk in a typical rice bowl as a meal for labourers.  It was later fancied up with more colours and served in a glass.  I loved this original version, known as dau do banh lot, with slippery jelly "worms", sweet beans and the smooth crunch of ice in refreshing coconut milk.  I'm not sure if Phu Vinh do this all the time, but I'd love it if they would!

Hats off to the Sunshine Business Association for creating such a fantastic event.  The other group got to try three different restaurants, namely Queen's Rose The Sun, Thuan An and Nhi Huong (2 Sisters). You can read Andrew of FoodsCrazy's wrap-up of all three via the links above, and see Jen's wrap of the same sequence I visited here.  I didn't mind being split into two groups, but my suggestion would be that diners should get a "cheat sheet" or booklet on the restaurants they didn't get to try that night (perhaps featuring the images and blurbs from the placemats).  That way we can keep the phở fever burning for the next few Saturday nights to come!

fifty-six threads Cafe - A Brunch of Cultures

I was invited to attend fifty-six threads' Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event, "A Brunch of Cultures", as a non-paying guest.  See end of post for full disclosure.

From the outside, my friend's Mazda was travelling at a sedate 50 kmh up Kensington Road, but inside she was fanging it.  Due to numerous babysitting stuff-ups, we thought we were going to be late for this epic five-course brunch, but as we approached I knew we were making good time.  "Turn here," I said when we got to Derby Street and a few seconds later, "Pull over there - here we are!"  She braked and looked around.  "Are you sure?"

fifty-six threads may have an unlikely location at the bottom of a Housing Commission block, but it's all part of the story behind this unique social enterprise.  It is run by AMES who provide humanitarian settlement services, English language teaching and work placement.  Their mission is "full participation for all in a cohesive and diverse society".  I liked them already, and I hadn't even tried their food yet!

In fact, I have had a long relationship with AMES.  My mum used to volunteer teaching English to migrants through their home tutor program and I started doing the same in my early 20s.  I still remember my first student, Thuy, who lived in the Richmond flats and who would make me awesome Vietnamese food after every lesson.  Over the ensuing years I had more lovely students from Sudan and Lebanon and somehow always managed to wrangle a delicious, home-cooked meal after every class.  What a scammer!

fifty-six threads has been open for just over 12 months.  It has been staffed and run like a regular business for this opening phase and now that good systems are in place, it's about to move into its next phase as a training ground for AMES clients including work experience, vocational training courses and work placement opportunities.  The cafe is also part of the larger Kensington redevelopment project which has seen new public and private homes built around the existing Commission flats in an attempt to integrate the estate both physically and socially into the surrounding area and create a vibrant, connected community.

I feel that food, coffee and restaurant culture are powerful tools that can be used for good.  Menus can set the bar for us at home by raising awareness of ethical, local produce.  The Cup of Excellence provides real incentives for Third World producers to produce stellar coffee, with accompanying monetary returns far above those which even Fair Trade certification would offer.  Cafes and restaurants can also give back to the community through not-for-profit or charitable initiatives such as at Kinfolk or training as through Scarf.  If you believe in an equitable, diverse Melbourne community, dining at fifty-six threads is putting your money where your mouth is.

Anyway, enough proselytising - onto the food!  Course number one was a gorgeous, warmed seasonal fig with creamy Greek yoghurt, pistachios and honey.  Just divine.  We then dove into a Middle Eastern mezze platter with really good olives, thick tangy labne, ful (mashed dried broad beans), pita, boiled egg and more.  Delicious and healthy!  Perhaps the hummus could have been more zesty, but if you thought I'm a coffee snob, I'm an even worse hummus one.

I loved this dish - an "Asian frittata" with snow pea shoots and sweet soy.  The eggy slice was silky and moreish, lovely with a quick swipe through the kecap manis-like sauce.  The snow pea shoots are so typical of that fantastic Asian tendency to use everything - not just the fruit, but the leaves, stalks and roots as well.  I've even seen chilli and melon leaves and stems for sale in Little Saigon - nothing is chucked out.

Last savoury course - a statuesque pork and fennel sausage and wickedly good bacon, both from venerable Carlton butcher Donati's.  They cuddled up next to a potato farl which I believe is Irish potato bread that has been fried - a bit like a giant potato cake!  I believe that fifty-six threads are moving to source all their meat from Donati's in the future.

AMES' first social enterprise was the Sorghum Sisters.  The "sisters" in question were a group of refugee women from the Horn of Africa who came up with their own catering business.  From these clever cookies came this selection of baklava, basbosa coconut slice, bikkies and honey-draped donuts. fifty-six threads use coffee from fellow social enterprise STREAT, also in Kensington.  My espresso was great, although I must say I popped in the week before and another short black then was really not good.  On that visit I didn't hear the tell-tale buzz of the grinder before the espresso was made.  I wonder if the grinder's hopper might have been full from a previous grind - to get the full flavour profile, coffee really needs to be extracted from beans ground to order, just seconds before pulling the shot.  Still, the short black this day was on the money.

I have such fond memories of working with AMES, and I'm happy to know they are still working hard to make the path of settlement a little easier.  This mesmerising image is called "New Life in Australia" and is by Nay Ta Gay Wah, an entrant in AMES' annual refugee fine art prize, Heartlands.  I encourage you to look through the past winners, whose stories are both heartbreaking and heartening.  fifty-six threads' name is inspired by the many threads of the community weaving their stories, skills and passions through the cafe.  I love this vision of Australia - a beautiful tapestry of talents and tales from all around the globe.



fifty-six threads
56 Derby Street, Kensington
Phone:  9376 6885
Open:  Wed-Sun 7.30am-3.30pm

Disclosure:  AMES invited me and a guest to join the senior communications coordinator of AMES at AMES' 2013 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event, "A Brunch of Cultures".  Attendance was not conditional on writing a subsequent post.  Neither AMES nor fifty-six threads have sought nor been given any editorial control of this post.

Footscray needs you!

My babysitter is smiling.  Why?  She is about to cash in the next fortnight, when the Food and Wine Festival comes to town!  For the last three years, Footscray has started to have a real presence in the Festival.  Our signature event is the Rickshaw Run, a madcap dash around five or so of Footscray's best Vietnamese restaurants to sample their house specialties, with music and street food along the way.

I love this event because it was created by the community.  The Footscray Traders Association run the event, and it's powered wholly by volunteers.  And that's where you come in!

There are three ways you can get involved.  Whatever the role, each volunteer gets a free meal and a warm fuzzy feeling about being the face of Footscray, one of Melbourne's most misunderstood yet actually marvellous suburbs (yep, I know I'm preaching to the choir).  The event is fully sold out, so people are super keen to learn more about the much-maligned west.  Let's show them how awesome we are!  Do three sessions and get a free T-shirt, and I promise I'll high-five anyone I see wearing one if I see you round the markets!

The jobs up for grabs are:

MARSHAL

• Stand in key locations around the course
• Direct rickshaws
• Alert pedestrians of approach
• Possible use of walkie talkie and chance to say "copy that", "over" and other awesome lingo.

RESTAURANT HOST

• Stationed at entrance of venue
• Seat patrons
• Liaise with restaurant owners and staff
• Liaise with marshals as to whether guests need to speed up or slow down.  When they need to speed up, offering to eat the rest of their spring roll is not encouraged.

RICKSHAW DRIVER

• Pulling the rickshaw!  I'm assured it's not as hard as it seems and women are more than capable of doing so. 
• Brief training will be given before your first session.
• You'll need to wait outside venues while guests are eating inside - plenty of time to let passers-by have a squeeze of those muscles.

The sessions go for around four hours (roughly 11.45am-3.30pm for lunch, 5.45pm-9pm for dinner).  The sessions are:  Dinner each night from Friday 1 March to Sunday 10 March; lunch on Sat and Sun 2-3 March and Sat, Sun and Mon 9-11 March.

I am volunteering as a restaurant host and Kenny and Bennie of Consider the Sauce are volunteering as rickshaw pullers.  This is such a fantastic grass roots event and a chance to be an ambassador for your area.  Plus, there's free food.

Come join us!

You will??  Email Ben Coyle, President of Footscray Traders and also owner of the Dancing Dog, on  president@footscraytraders.com.au.  For any questions, you can also call Ben Coyle on 0434 100 567 or Grant Miles on 0418 326 618.  PS:  You are awesome!

Rickshaw Run

I know I'm guilty of it.  You stumble across a quiet place where you're the only customer.  Against your better judgment you order and are rewarded with an amazing meal.  Each time you go back, you're almost always the only customer and the food's always just as good.  It seems like it's your little secret, but in the end, secrets are best shared.

I want the streets of Footscray bustling after 6pm on a Saturday.  I want these hardworking businessmen and women to succeed widely and make all of Melbourne fall in love with their wonderful wares.  Footscray will never "run out" - there will always be enough for everyone.

The Footscray Traders' Association is a grass roots organisation run by Footscray's traders to advocate as a united voice.  They have created a fantastic, unique event for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival that is now in its second year.  The Rickshaw Run, currently sold out despite running for lunches and dinners across a two-week period, is a whistlestop tour of Footscray's Vietnamese restaurants.  I was invited along by Grant Miles of the FTA to check it out.

First stop, D&K Live Seafood for freshly shucked oysters to the beat of Japanese drummers Wadaiko Rindo.

Salty, plump and luscious!

The rickshaws are gorgeous and are actually very relaxing.  The "runners" (all 80 of them) are all volunteers, responding to local ads.  I think this says a lot about Footscray's community.

Next stop, Little Saigon, an indoor market that bursts with colour, smells and life.  I love the descending bidding wars between the stallholders that happen at closing time - as they drop their mango prices down, dollar by dollar, the crowd swings back and forth en masse from each fruit stand.  The group before us has never been here before and left with plastic bags groaning with fruity bargains.

Samples (as well as the many out for the public).  This longan or dragon's eye was new to me - it was sweet like a lychee and quite delicious.

Next stop, the ever-friendly Sen for DIY rice paper rolls, complete with expert tutorial.  I finally worked out how to get the prawns on the outside of mine like in the shops!  The secret - well, you'll have to go next year ;-)

We kept saying, "Oh, we really shouldn't have another".  Let's just say this sort of restraint didn't last for long.  The dipping sauce here is gorgeous, thick, peanutty and creamy.  It's made with coconut milk and a special vegan ingredient, cooked green mung beans!

Rolling, rolling...  In a rickshaw, you feel separate from "the street", kind of like you're in a pleasant bubble, yet still part of it in a way you don't if you're in a car.

Hao Phong are a Footscray stalwart and are reliably busy every night of the week.  Here we sat down to lovely, steaming bowls of pho.

I got lucky with warm, soothing chicken.  I couldn't taste the pho spices in the broth all that much but it was a great bowl of soup with fresh pho noodles and really tender chicken meat.  LOVED the house-made crispy garlic and onion sprinkle!

If you've ever wondered what's in the sugar dispenser on the table in many restaurants, it's Vietnamese "sate" sauce (pronounced "satay"), vaguely similar to XO with dried chilli and dried seafood in oil.  This isn't for adding to your pho (float the chillis in the broth if you want more heat) but for dipping your meat - I loved this combo (new to me) of sate sauce and hoisin (in a squeeze bottle on each table).

By now we were worrying for George, our trusty rickshaw man, as our combined weight was increasing with each stop, yet he remained irrepressibly bubbly and excited for our next stop.

A Footscray success story - Sapa Hills started on Hopkins Street only a year or two ago but already have a new branch in Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn.  Tam, the owner, is divine.  Loving their smart new check uniforms.

Sapa Hills are probably best known for this dish, bun cha Ha Noi.  It's a northern Vietnamese BBQ dish where belly pork and pork patties are marinated and cooked over charcoal.  Smoky and juicy, they're mixed with the thinner sesasoned fish sauce dressing and tossed with noodles and herbs to make your own salad.

Dong Que, one of my favourite restaurants - their coleslaws are fantastic, as well as their crepes, rice flour cake with egg, Vietnamese tacos...  I could go on.  Dong Que made it into The Age Cheap Eats this year, woohoo!

They're best known for their traditional Vietnamese spring rolls.  The tiny, cigarette-shaped ones we know so well are really a more recent invention.  The wheat wrappers most places use are much easier to handle and make the rolls much more robust.  The true method is to use rice paper, just like the cold rice paper rolls at Sen above, with a meaty pork, noodle and mushroom filling.  The rice paper gives a really delicate yet deliciously crackly skin.  Roll in lettuce with a few mint springs - gorgeous!

Despite the extra kilos on board by now, George kept us rolling up to the last stop, Pho Tam, for our choice of sweet drink.

Pho Tam are one of the only places I know that do the full "Vietnamese coffee ceremony", if you like.  Each cup is brewed individually with the Vietnamese version of trendy filter coffee - a tiny silver contraption that drips the hot coffee slowly onto a raft of sweetened condensed milk.

Help from the maestro - when the coffee's all dripped out, whip it up and pour it over for sweet, icy deliciousness.

This is a great way for newcomers to Footscray to experience it.  I love the rickshaw aspect of it - so much more fun than just walking around the circuit.  Each dish that Footscray Traders have picked is a house specialty - not surprisingly, as they know what's good at their own place!  It's also really cool to walk right in to each restaurant to a dedicated, perfectly-set table and receive your dishes within three minutes of entering.

This year is totally booked out (although you can go on the waiting list) and next year there will be new restaurants and new dishes.  If you've never experienced Footscray, of if you're trying to "sell" it to suspicious friends or rellies, I think this is an awesome place to start.  Even if you're a die-hard Footscray foodie, I still think you will discover something new - I didn't know how good Sen's rice paper rolls were, and I would definitely order the pho ga again at Hao Phong.

Most of all, I love that this is a unique Footscray creation made and owned by the community.

What would be your ultimate Footscray food crawl?