Next Up: Avocado Tomatillo Salsa

Blueberries + Goat Cheese

Take a log of goat cheese, top with a jar of blueberry jam, serve with crackers.  You fancy.  You tasty.  

Shortest.  Post.  Ever.  

Fondant Potatoes – A Creamy Crusty Blast from the Past

Every once in a while I get a food wish that instantly takes me back to culinary school. Things like aspic (not happening), larding a tenderloin (not happening), and pulled sugar (sort of already happened) always transport me back to those demos where the instructors fully admitted that we’d probably never use these skills, but since they were considered “classic techniques,” we’d have to spend time covering them anyway. Sure, makes perfect sense.

This fabulous fondant potato technique is a prime example. Made them a few times in school and loved them. Made them a few times at a hotel early in my career and loved them. Haven’t made them since, and not exactly sure why. They taste amazing, and as I try to make clear in the video, the texture this method provides is unlike anything you get by just roasting. The way the crusty, crunchy edges outside, works with the uniquely rich and creamy inside is truly a magical thing. 

I just think that we’re so used to the usual rotation of potato side dishes; fried, roasted, mashed, etc., that it’s hard to push ourselves to do a potato recipe that has multiple steps. In fairness, the multiple steps are super easy, but still. Anyway, if you’ve never experienced the old world awesomeness that is the fondant potato, I hope this video inspires you to try. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 6 fondant potatoes:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

3 large russet potatoes (other varieties will not work as well)

salt and pepper to taste

a knob of butter (a 2 or 3 tablespoon size chunk)

4 thyme sprigs

1/2 cup chicken broth or stock, more if needed
*Roast at 425 F until tender, about 30 minutes

View the complete recipe

Green green salad

Yummy crunchy lunch today! Romaine lettuce, apple, avocado, cucumber, lightly blanched broccoli and sugar snap peas, and a little bit of slivered pistachios.



Dressing was a store-bought Caesar - pretty boring, next time I'll make something myself.

New-season soba at Shimbashi

Disclaimer:  I ate here for free.  See end of post for full disclosure.

Once you get clued into seasonality, there's something deeply disconcerting about cafe menus spruiking  heirloom tomato bruschetta at this time of year.  Why stubbornly hang on to basil, avocado and all the other delights of summer when you can celebrate lovely roast pumpkin and wilted, garlicky kale?  What we're often unaware of is that like fruit and veg, nuts and grains also have seasons, and right now is buckwheat harvest time.

In Japan, soba noodles made from the season's first buckwheat are called shin soba and are highly prized for their particularly sweet flavour and delicate fragrance.  I've previously written about Shimbashi, Melbourne's only dedicated soba bar where Chef Taka Kumayama grinds buckwheat into flour and makes soba noodles with it daily on the premises.  Taka invited me back to try out shin soba, only available once per year.

Deep-fried soba to start.  Perfectly crisp and seasoned.

Shimbashi now have a dedicated sake sommelier!  I love this nigori-sake, unfiltered sake served cool, with a texture almost like drinking yoghurt.  We also had amazing, lolly-water yuzu sake and plum wine.

One of my all-time favourite foods - nasu dengaku, or eggplant with sweet miso sauce.  This was a sublime specimen - the eggplant flesh scored into diamonds, cooked till velvety-soft, with luscious, almost caramelly miso.  WOW.

Gorgeous oysters with ponzu sauce and fat petals of sashimi, all tangled up with fresh salad.

Tempura love!  Delicate wedges of pumpkin, zucchini and eggplant in light, blistered batter.  Only the Japanese can make deep-fried food seem healthy.

The main event.  I love how it looks like a prayer offering.  To eat, sprinkle the dipping sauce with spring onion and gently dunk strands of soba in.  Just so lovely.  I don't eat soba enough to be able to wax lyrical about new-season shin soba, but I can tell you that these are some mighty fine noodles.  You can taste the chef's passion in every bite.

Afterwards, the staff will come and top up your sauce pot with soba cooking water to make a warm "soup" that tastes so delicious and nourishing.

Sake pudding.  Wow wow.  The pudding itself is utterly luscious, like creme caramel.  Loved the tangy, marmalade-like lemon sauce on top.

Shimbashi has been open for about eight months now, and I think it's really come into its own.  The public hold Japanese restaurants to standards of authenticity far above any other cuisine in Melbourne, and Shimbashi definitely hits those heights.  It's a very Japanese restaurant, right down to the quirky, homely decor and the Japanese version of Smooth FM they play.  A refreshingly non-sceney spot.

If you want to catch the season's first shin soba, head to Shimbashi in the next week or so.  Of course you can still enjoy hand-made soba here year-round, as buckwheat keeps well - unlike heirloom tomatoes.

Shimbashi Soba (Facebook)

17 Liverpool Street, city
Open:  Mon-Sat 11.30am-2.30pm, 6-10pm

Disclaimer:  Shimbashi invited me and a friend to try shin soba on the house.  This was NOT conditional on subsequently writing a post, but I so enjoyed this meal I wanted to share it.  Shimbashi have not requested nor been given any editorial control over this post.

All about Strawberries

Nothing tastes better than a freshly picked strawberry, sweet and bursting with juice, still warm from the sun. Strawberries are easy to love--they are gorgeous to look at, delicious to eat and very healthy. But growing strawberries is no piece of cake. Their roots can be susceptible to rot and fungus, pests attack them and unpredictable weather patterns can make growing them a risky proposition. The California Strawberry Commission invited me to visit some farms and meet with growers. Here is some of what I learned about strawberries on my trip to the Central Coast.

California is the leader in growing strawberries, over 80% of all fresh and frozen strawberries in the US come from California and the majority come from the Central Coast. Why the Central Coast? The weather conditions with fairly warm sunny days and cool foggy nights are very good for growing strawberries, and the breezes coming off the ocean help keep the pests away. Strawberries are harvested for 9 months of the year on the Central Coast, that's more than just about anywhere else in the world! The peak season is April through June. 

Conventional crops are sprayed up to twice a month to manage pests, but significant research is being done by the California Strawberry Commission and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to reduce fumigants. Growers use bug vacuums and integrated pest management to remove pests safely from plants without chemicals on both organic and conventional crops. 

Plastic strips are embedded in the ground to allow for irrigation and any chemical applications which is easier on the fruit, the environment and the farm workers. Conditions are improving for workers, especially since harmful pesticides like methyl bromide and methyl iodide are no longer being used. The workers who pick strawberries are paid by the hour and by the amount they pick. At one farm, I was told workers make up to $17 per hour. 

After strawberries are picked they are transferred within an hour to a chilling facility where they are labeled indicating where, when and who picked them.  Strawberries are chilled down to 34 degrees, every hour they remain at ambient temperatures translates to a day less of shelf life. 

Nutritionist Mitzi Dulan recommends eating strawberries because they are low in calories, high in Vitamin C and also contain many other antioxidants and phytonutrients such as manganese, folate, iodine and magnesium. A one cup serving has only 45 calories but 3 grams of fiber (perhaps because each berry has 275 seeds?) and 220 grams of potassium.

To best preserve freshness, don't wash strawberries until you are ready to eat them. One other tip? Despite what you may have heard, a redder strawberry is NOT necessarily a sweeter strawberry. Strawberries come in a myriad range of pink, orange red and even white. 

Strawberries are a perfect topping for shortcake or cereal, in spinach salads or whipped up in smoothies. I also like them served with a bowl of Greek yogurt sprinkled with brown sugar. 

Here are some more unusual ways to use strawberries:

* Make salsa with strawberries, onions, cilantro and chiles

* Cut strawberries in half and top with a dollop of ricotta or goat cheese

* Puree strawberries and add them to marinara sauce and serve over spaghetti

* Use strawberries in a savory risotto 

* Toss strawberries with balsamic vinegar, sugar and a pinch or black pepper, gently roast or serve them raw

* Make a shrub by combining strawberries, vinegar and sugar

* Wrap strawberries in prosciutto or serrano ham, secure with a toothpick and serve them as is, or grill and serve

* Layer mozzarella and strawberry slices with basil leaves to make a strawberry Caprese salad

* Top toasted baguette slices with chopped strawberries and chives mixed with olive oil and lemon juice

* Use strawberries with cheese and greens as a topping for flatbread

More...

Additional strawberry recipes and a free strawberry recipe phone app (for iPhone & Android)

Meet the other food bloggers on this trip:

Jodi of Garlic Girl, Mitzi of Nutrition Expert, Jill of The Veggie Queen, Kristianne of My San Francisco Kitchen, Jennifer of Playful Pantry, Laura of Superglue Mom, Jess of Sodium Girl, Ivette of Muy Bueno Cooking, Kankana of Playful Cooking, Jennifer of Savory Simple, Nicole of Pinch My Salt, Claudya of Unknown Mami

Disclaimer: I was a guest of the California Strawberry Commission, I was not paid to write this or any other posts. 

Sea Tangle Noodle Slaw with Vietnamese Dressing

crunchy, tart, crisp, slippery, sweet, savory, tangy and spicy

this is my new favorite salad.  i've had it every day for a week.   by it's self, a great light snack or lunch, but topped with shrimp, shredded chicken, BBQ'd salmon?..a delicious, filling, low fat, low calorie meal.  fresh and easy when you have some made up in the fridge.   it saves well and gets even better as it sits.  

 i came across these strange Sea Tangle noodles at one of my Asian markets.  i always have to try the weird thing that i've never seen before.  

what a find!...these things are good!
the texture is soooo unexpected.  they are crunchy right out of the bag...i mean CRUNCHY!  they do soften a bit when the dressing is applied or after it sits.
the flavor?...there is none, so the noodles make for a great blank canvas.
great for filling up...they only have 6 calories per large handful.  perfect for watching the swimsuit waistline.


they DO come in a big "tangle"...easy to separate and the wad in the bag grows into a HUGE pile o'glassy noodles.

if the crunch is too weird for you, put them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes with a few squeezes of lemon juice.  them strain them and dry as well as you can before putting them in salad. 
they are also good warm.  i haven't come up with any recipes yet, but i did try this dressing on the warm soft noodles and i think it would make a great side for something...anything.

hey...they're only 6 calories !
eat them with everything.

ASIAN SLAW SALAD

about 2 cups Sea Tangle Noodles, rinsed and dried as well as poss.

1 1/2-2 cups savoy cabbage, sliced very thin

10 snap peas, sliced diagonal

1/4 cup frozen peas

1/3 cup shredded carrots

1 celery stalk, slice thin on the diagonal

 4 large basil...chiffonade

quite a few mint leaves depending on size...(i used about 10.  mine were very small)  torn or chiffonade

scallion or chives..i like just the green of the scallion.

toasted sesame seeds optional, but delicious add.

VIETNAMESE STYLE DRESSING

2 Tbsp lime juice

1 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 to 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

 1 to 2 tsp fresh ginger put through garlic press to extract juice and a little minced ginger.

pinch of red pepper flakes.

mix all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.  TASTE TEST...i might have added a little squeeze more lime.  put it in a glass jar.  i usually double the recipe so it's ready in the fridge..  give the jar a good shake before using.

NOTE...use sparingly so as not to over dress your salad.  the salad will save better and sesame oil flavor goes a loooonnnng way.   this was very good the next day for a packed lunch.

this is a bag to look for.  look carefully among the konjac and shirataki noodles.  it took me 5 or 10 minutes to locate another bag in the market.  i found this large bag at H Mart in irvine.  i have recently seen a few bags at Mother's Market, so i bet your local health food store might carry them.

by the way...this is "THE" fish sauce commonly used in Vietnamese cooking.  my friend Cathy gave me this big bottle of fish sauce that her Mom uses at her PHO restaurant in Little Saigon.  she says this is "the" one to use.  it is far better than the commercial one i bought at my local market.

Next Up: An Old Potato Recipe That Has Nothing To Do With Golf

I hope you all enjoyed as nice a Father’s Day weekend as I did. I got to take in a baseball game, fireworks, and golf with my father-in-law, Al, who shot a masterful 78 at the Wildhorse Golf Club. 

It was a lot of fun to watch, and I came in a very close second…with a score of 97. If you had any fears that I might quit doing this blog to compete on the senior golf tour, you can relax.

Anyway, I wish I could think of a clever way to segue from golf on Father’s Day to the next video, but I can’t (if we’d played “skins” during the round I would have had a better chance).  So, I’ll simply say, our new video features a very old recipe, Fondant Potatoes. Stay tuned!

Bok Choy Salad

When was the last time you ate Ramen noodles?  I mean the crispy kind in the package where you just add water?  For me, I'm thinking college might have been the last time?  And I probably chased it down with Bacardi Limon shots.  (I might throw up, excuse me).  Well, coincidentally, a college friend sent me a recipe that included Ramen noodles, but in the form of a salad.  A Bok Choy Salad, with crisp greens and crunchy noodles, almonds, sesame seeds and a sweet and salty dressing (recipe here).  It was SO GOOD.  If you're going to a party and you're in charge of a side, please make this.  Or, as the recipe suggests, make it a dinnertime meal by adding sliced chicken and mandarin oranges!  Exclamation mark!  This salad excites me!  Seriously, the texture and flavor is wonderful.  Next time, I'll add some red pepper flakes for a little kick.  Make it.  Affordable + crowd pleaser + delicious.

*tip: after browning the noodles, nuts and seeds, let cool and then place in a plastic bag - I found it was easier to break apart the noodles once in the bag*

Summer salad

A friend asked what lenses I use for my food photography. Ha! My poor Nikon is gathering dust, I rarely even snap pics with the iPhone.



Anyway. It doesn't look like much, but a salad like this is so refreshing and goes with almost anything. It's cubed mango and watermelon, a squeeze of lemon juice, a little chopped up mint and lots of crumbled feta cheese. Mmmm. Good stuff.

Next Up: Beerbecue!

Blais Runner.

Chances are, you have probably heard of Richard Blais. Most likely from television. Most likely from reality television: Top Chef, Top Chef: All Stars, Life After Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef, and his own show on the Science Channel, Blais Off.

But here's why you should know Richard Blais: he received an AOS in culinary arts from The Culinary Institute of America and has studied under chefs Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, and Ferran Adrià. Blais also studied at Chez Panisse. He currently runs four restaurants, three in Atlanta: The Spence, Flip Burger Boutique (also one in Birmingham), and HD-1 (also known as Haute Doggery). In 2011 he released his cookbook, Try This atHome: Recipes from My Head to Your Plate. And, finally, he is slated to open another spot in San Diego in December.

It looks like he's also running marathons as well - Blais Runner (I had to do it). With a wife and two daughters, Blais is a busy man, to say the least.

So you can imagine my good fortune to be able to catch him for an interview recently to talk about the South, pimiento cheese, vinegar and his perfect picnic.

FFF:   I’m curious about how you got to Atlanta.

RB:   I’m a native New Yorker and I was dating a girl whose dad was a restaurateur in Atlanta. I was working in Manhattan at the time at Restaurant Danielle and the restaurateur asked me to come down there and take over the restaurant and I did.

FFF:  When was that?

RB:  That was a long time ago, 1999-2000.

FFF: I know that you’re not known necessarily for Southern anything, but I’m curious where you see the trajectory of Southern food and how you fit into that and what’s happening in the South, food-wise, right now.

RB:  It took me a while to really embrace Southern food as a stubborn Yankee, self-admittedly.  I think the thing about Southern food is that it is not a trend.  It’s all about heritage, ingredients and recipes.  There are a lot of young, modern chefs that are now bringing back heirloom seeds.  It’s never going to go out of style.  Southern cuisine happens to be the trend at the moment but it’s not molecular gastronomy or small plates - it’s history and tradition and it’s not going to go away.

FFF:  What do you think the great Southern food cities are right now?

RB:  A few I haven’t been to that I want to visit.  Certainly I think Charleston is a great food city.  Obviously, I’m a little biased to Atlanta - I think Atlanta is great.  I have not been but I need to get to Oxford, Mississippi.  I think that is a place that is just calling me, and I need to get out there. There are so many cities now.  It's not just about one place. There are great chefs and great restaurants in every city.

FFF: Any specific restaurants or chefs that come to mind?

RB: I'm a fan of all my colleagues and peers. I think Sean Brock (Husk in Charleston), who is a good friend of mine, is one of my favorite Southern chefs. He's from Richmond. I think Hugh Acheson is doing a great job. There are just so many. I mean certainly (Steven) Satterfield (Miller Union in Atlanta) and Anne Quatrano (Star Provisions), who I don't think a lot of people know. She is a chef in Atlanta and one of the best chefs in the country, if not the world. You don't hear her name a lot but she's been around.

FFF: I want to know what you're cooking/playing with right now that's seasonal or that's just weird and crazy that is really inspiring you.

RB: Herbs and flowers and the idea of what happens after we pick them: rosemary flowers or blossoms on other herbs. The whole seed to stalk thing. Cooking with the seeds as well as the stems as well as the blossoms. Herbs and flowers are what I'm into at the moment, but it changes every day.

FFF: I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Peru and ingredients sourced from the Andes. Do you think that is the next big thing? If not, what do you think is?

RB: It's funny you say that because I'm opening a restaurant in San Diego in December and my business partner and I are taking a trip to Mexico City and Peru. So, yes, I don't know if it's the next big thing, but people definitely want to know what's going on there.

FFF: I feel like right now the egg is the new bacon. I'm wondering, what is your ideal preparation of an egg, if you had to pick just one?

RB: It's not going to be as romantic as you would want. I like a good sunny side up egg, but cooked really hard on one side. So the bottom is crusty and all browned on the edges. I'm a native New Yorker, so Egg on a Roll style. I mean, who says roll anymore? No one says that except for my dad. But, yes, cooked hard on one side.

I think scrambled in a microwave probably would be my second. Using the microwave is pretty inspiring to me at home. People give it a bad knock, but it's usually the food that goes into it, not the technology itself.

FFF: You're on your way home in Atlanta traffic at about four o'clock in the afternoon and you get a call from your wife announcing that four of your friends are coming over for dinner in two hours. What are you going to do?

RB: Pasta. For sure. I'm on a big extruding pasta kick so we always have a number of shapes ready in our kitchen. Our kids are even making it. So I would say a pasta of some sort with some garlic, some vinegar, some fresh herbs and a little touch of butter.

FFF: Pimiento Cheese.

RB: Love it. I love it on a sandwich. I also love it on a cracker. As a matter of fact, I just did an event in Napa a couple of days ago where that was my dish. It was a big, fancy Napa Valley wine auction and I served it pretty much like a grilled cheese. I did a riff on it using Jack cheese and poblano peppers instead of pimientos, and a little bit of horseradish and chiles.

FFF: Duke's Mayonnaise?

RB: I love Dukes Mayonnaise! I'm a big fan of Duke's Mayonnaise. It's got more of an acidity to it. I like it on white bread, too. Soft, white bread... I'm a convert of the pimiento cheese sandwich and we eat it a lot. I even buy it sometimes, prepared from Whole Foods, and I have no shame in that. I also like it as a topping for a burger, a pimiento cheese burger.

It's such a simple thing, but most people don't know about it. It's got this sort of mystique to it, like it's a very famous French cheese. But it's just some chopped up cheese with some peppers and mayonnaise in it!

FFF: What is your ideal picnic and what is the one must-have that you are going to take on that picnic?

RB: Wow. Well, I'm not as much of an experienced picnic-er as I should be. Not to just recycle the last answer, but I would probably bring some pimiento cheese sandwiches. And some carbonated beverages – soda for myself, I'm a big soda freak. I actually do work with a soda company (DRY) as the creative director, which uses only four ingredients like natural sugar – so we're packing some cucumber soda for our picnic. And crudité! And, hey listen, leftover fried chicken is not a bad picnic thing. Some chili vinegar. I usually do a buttermilk-vinegar soaked chicken, a couple dredges of flour. Vinegar is my favorite ingredient in the world. That's the one. Vinegar makes food great. A lot of people think it's fat or salt, and those are important, but it's really acidity and vinegar.

And, so, as we have deemed June Picnic Month here at F for Food, we decided to make Richard Blais' 'ideal picnic':

Pimiento Jack Cheese Tea Sandwiches

Crudité: Radishes with Salted Butter and Heirloom Tomato, Cucumber, Red Onion Salad

Cucumber Soda

Double-Dipped Buttermilk-Chile Vinegar Marinated Fried Chicken

Chocolate Chunks

Everything was sensational. I even like his version of pimiento cheese (I can feel my mom's eyes rolling out of her head right now). I think Blais would be pleased - we used vinegar in almost everything. I even made my own chile infused vinegar for the salad dressing and the chicken marinade. But the recipe I want to share is that of the fried chicken. That was the star. The chile vinegar added a really nice back end heat with every bite, and the double dredging ensures a super, extra awesome crackly, crispety, crunchety skin. And that's the whole point, right?

Happy picnicking!

Double-Dipped Buttermilk & Chile Vinegar Fried Chicken

Serves 4

2 cups buttermilk

3 tablespoons chile vinegar

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

2 teaspoons tarragon, divided

½ teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon plus ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1tablepoon plus 1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon plus 1teaspoon ground pepper

1 chicken cut up into 8 pieces

3 cups all-purpose flour

Vegetable shortening & vegetable oil, for frying

Combine the buttermilk, chile vinegar, dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon tarragon, paprika, ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon of the salt, and 1 of the pepper in a nonreactive bowl large enough to contain all of the chicken pieces with at least 1 inch to spare. Add the chicken and turn to coat fully in the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator about 45 minutes before frying.

Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a large, shallow bowl, combine the flour, remaining salt, pepper, tarragon & cayenne pepper. Remove the chicken from the buttermilk marinade and roll it around in the seasoned flour until completely covered. Set it on the prepared baking sheet; repeat with the remaining chicken. Dip the coated chicken pieces once more in the marinade, then again in flour. Return the pieces to the baking sheet (a few minutes’ rest makes for a sturdier, crisper coating).

Have a wire cooling rack set over paper towels ready. In a large, heavy cast-iron skillet, heat 1 1/2 inches of shortening & oil over medium heat until it reaches 350°F on a deep-fat thermometer. Using kitchen tongs, add a few chicken pieces at a time to the hot oil (crowding will lower the temperature, making for greasy chicken). Fry the chicken until the internal temperature reaches 180°F, about 10 minutes per side (watch carefully, it can easily burn). Transfer the cooked chicken to the wire rack. Serve immediately or at room temperature (don’t let the chicken sit more than 2 hours).

Do it Early
The chicken can be fried up to 2 days in advance, covered, and refrigerated. Serve it cold—a classic picnic food—or reheat on wire racks set on baking sheets in a 375°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Tip 
If the chicken looks pretty dark before it is cooked through, transfer to wire racks set on baking sheets and bake in a 375°F oven until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 180°F on an instant-read thermometer. Keep fried chicken warm in a 200°F oven. Using a digital thermometer eliminates the need to stand over the chicken. When the alarm sounds, the meat is done.

Printable recipe.

One year ago: Fresh Mint & Chip Ice Cream

Two years ago: An Evening in Gruissan.

Three years ago: Shiso Leaf Butter

New cafe love - Form and Grandpa Joe

A couple of new cafes for your westside brunching pleasure.  Introducing Form - a gorgeous space that opened in west Essendon last December, barely a stone's throw from the Brunswick border.

Coffee is by Campos and it is excellent.  The guys behind Form have a connection to Ray's in Brunswick, which by my memory at least was one of Melbourne's first "very Melbourne" cafes (no obvious name, kinda hidden, great coffee, all that good stuff).

The food is also standout.  The menu has a gentle Scottish lilt, what with "tatties" and a cheese n' onion square.  Somewhat controversially, it's served on paper plates.  Apparently an environmental costing was done and it was more energy efficient/sustainable etc to buy and recycle these than wash plates.

 

All plates and food scraps go to the local school or community centre for their garden.  I'm not sure what I think of this - I'm sure it does save water in the long run as they claim but it still feels counter-intuitive to this hippy chick.  Anyway, there wouldn't have been much of this gorgeous, not-too-sweet brioche with ricotta, honey and pistachios to wash up after I was done with it.

Not far away in Ascot Vale, Grandpa Joe has just opened and it seems this senior cit is a pretty cool customer.

There's a good range of coffee choices, with a choice of Five Senses or a single origin coming through a shiny silver Synesso, plus aeropress or cold drip filter brews.

I enjoyed this vegetable piadina, stuffed with goats cheese, rocket and roast veg.

My friend pronounced his pumpkin and honey soup quite fine - not mindblowing but nice all the same.

Go have a roam around Union Road when you're done - there's a great greengrocer a few doors down (The Happy Apple) and a proper butcher (Ascot Vale Meat Supply - great rump steaks).  The Brotherhood op shop up on Maribyrnong Road is always good for a rummage.  Last time I was there (a while ago now), they had loads of pseudo-baroque furniture.  Turns out it had come from Tuppence Moran's house!

Form Cafe (Facebook)
32 Albion St, Essendon
Phone: 9375 3232

Grandpa Joe (Facebook)
197 Union Road, Ascot Vale
Phone: 9078 0595