Reverence Specialty Coffee & Tea

Ascot Vale is a very cool little suburb with a little bit of everything - and by everything, I mean everything from Yemeni or Somali food, a hardcore organic bakery (vegan sourdough donut, anyone?), a gangster past and a Hollywood "Walk of Fame" of famous racehorses, complete with horseshoes instead of handprints.  Now we can add specialty coffee house to that list.

Reverence has been open since the start of the year and does carefully made, just delicious food along with a raft of specialty coffee choices.

Latte, $3.80

This latte was unreal, silky, balanced and made even more gorgeous with unrefined sugar.  This blend was a Cup of Excellence contender from Guatemala.  The Cup of Excellence is an awards system that many serious cafes are sourcing coffee through.  Producers can enter their beans in a competition which is very thorough and audited by a third party.  They are then auctioned live on the internet direct to coffee roasters and can command very high prices according to their quality and the subsequent demand.  It's argued that this system is more fair than Fair Trade certification, as capital-F-and-T Fair Trade is a business and a sort of middleman who still set the price for producers, even if it's higher than standard trade, rather than letting the (high) quality dictate the price.

Tart, $12

This tart was sublime - melt-in-the-mouth goats cheese with buttery leeks and tender pumpkin in perfect short crust.  Every bite had a tantalising tiny buzz of my favourite spice, whole fennel seeds.  I tried to do a bit of a fanfic effort and make this it home, but it didn't come close.

Roast chicken sandwich, $11.00

Move over, smashed avocado, you overexposed starlet of the brunch scene.  Mushy peas are where it's at!  This inspired sandwich comprised roasted free range chook, just-cooked, mashed green peas and stuffing, which was more like a crispy crumble of golden breadcrumbs, like mini croutons.  So good.

Aeropress, $5

Reverence are so serious about coffee, they roast their own single origins in store.  They're also known for tea and have three separate urns with water kept at three precise temperatures.  This fabulous cup was made using the Aeropress, which is like a very fancy plunger.  Water and ground coffee are added to a tall tube, before another, slimmer tube is inserted and gently pressed to extract an extremely smooth brew.  I can't recall where this blend was from but it was remarkable for having no bitter aftertaste at all - like drinking coffee juice rather than assertive espresso.

If you haven't tried alternative brewing methods like filter or cold drip, do give them a shot.  Reverence is an excellent place to start that journey.



Reverence (Facebook)
155 Union Road, Ascot Vale
Mon-Fri 7.30am-4pm, Sat-Sun 8am-4pm


In response to a request, I used to put accessibility info on posts, but it's enough of a battle to remember to write down the opening hours let alone make sure I've considered steps, bathrooms and counter height.  Actually, sometimes it's enough of a battle to get out of the house at all!  Luckily Maribyrnong Council have done a very comprehensive job in putting together a Cafe Access Guide of cafes in the area that have all accessibility bases covered.  Check it out here.



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Vicolo Risotto Bar

This is a sponsored post for Australian Mushroom Growers' "Mushroom Mania" campaign.  The Mushroom Mania campaign is on for all of July 2012 and over 2,000 restaurants are participating by putting delicious mushrooms on the menu.  Please see end of post for full disclosure.

Pizzeria, taqueria - so why not risotteria?  Vicolo is tucked away in Moonee Ponds and specialises in risotto.

From a somewhat uninspiring location off the Woolies parking lot, on a Tuesday it filled up fast with couples and families escaping the winter chill.  Vicolo has been open since 2004 and is very gluten-free conscious.

When looking at a menu, I often order what I would never or have no idea how to make at home.  Do you do this too?  So, duck - check.  Sous vide poached eggs - check.  My favourite Cantonese whole steamed fish with ginger - check.  Risotto largely falls into this category for me too.

Risotto Funghi e Salvia, $20.50

This mixed mushroom risotto was yummy.  Under a snowdrift of Parmesan grated tableside, a lucky dip of mushie varieties were ensconced in tender arborio rice.  I scored sweet little enoki, with tall stalks like tottering palm trees; fat, velvety oysters; and quartered, nutty buttons.  Fried sage leaves added a muted herby flavour.

Risotto Salsicce, $15 lunch special

Here, Italian sausage with fennel seeds and a good dose of chilli married well with sliced Swiss browns, their dark brown tops contrasting against creamy white flesh.  Delicious, comforting and just like wearing a big warm winter coat on the inside.

Pear tart, $12

Dessert was a lovely tug of war between pistachio panna cotta, orange creme brulee, good ole chocky self-saucing pudding and many other tempting tastes.  We went for this pear tart that was delicious, with tender pear halves on good pastry.  Caramel sauce, ice cream and icing sugar put it into sweet overdrive.

Vicolo also do pastas and daily-changing mains that abut the $40 mark.  A great deal is the $15 lunch, which gets you a plate of this winter warmer and a glass of house wine.  The best tip is that it's valid until 7 pm - Vicolo recommend aiming to sit down by about 6.30 pm so you're sure to order on the right side of 7 o'clock.

I know we love to have a whinge about the weather here in Melbourne (and believe me, when I got hailed on yesterday when it was sunny only five minutes earlier, I was doing more than having a whinge) but I say, 'tis the season of risotto, stew and other lovely slow-cooked things.  If you can't change the world, change yourself - embrace the season!



Vicolo
28-30 Young Street, Moonee Ponds
Phone:  9372 9500
Hours: Mon-Fri noon-3pm, Tues-Sat 6pm-9pm

Disclosure:  This post is the final in a series of three for Australian Mushroom Growers' "Mushroom Mania" campaign.  I had free choice of any three participating Victorian restaurants and was required to choose at least one dish in which mushrooms were the "hero" ingredient.  I am being paid a flat sum for my writing which does not include meal expenses.  The restaurants were not aware of exactly who was visiting and when but may have been aware that they would be reviewed at some stage over the course of the campaign period.  Australian Mushroom Growers and Vicolo have not sought nor been given any editorial control of this post.


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Mishra's Kitchen

On quiet-as-the-proverbial Wembley Ave, the Bollywood tunes sing sweetly down the empty street, and you can't help but be drawn in to Mishra's Kitchen.

This sandwich bar by day morphs into an Indian restaurant at night.  Inside, the decor is slightly functional but still belies a loving touch.

Chef Sanjeev is the personality behind Mishra's Kitchen and he is full of smiles, whether busy at work in the open kitchen or checking that everyone's happy at your table.  A smartly-dressed young waiter gave us attentive, friendly service.

Onion bhaji, $5

Onion bhaji to start.  I found these a bit dull - I prefer the more freeform style of bhaji/pakora that, say, Indi Hots do.

Samosa, $5

These samosas were nice - love the authentic touch of ajwain seeds in the dough - but they were big and, for me, too substantial for an entree.  More like a light lunch really.

Alu baigan masala, $10

Top marks for this eggplant and potato curry, the potato perfectly tender and imbued with spices, the eggplant silky with glistening black skin, all in a rich red sauce.

Butter chicken, $12

Great butter chicken too, not too buttery and with rich tomato flavour.  I may or may not have hoovered up the leftovers for breakfast the next day.  One great thing about Mishra's is all the menu items have codes as to whether they are gluten- and/or lactose-free.

Shabnam curry, $10

This mushroom and pea curry was well made with fresh vegies but was very rich, not from excessive oil or butter but from coconut cream.  It was a little too much for me but if you were hankering for a creamy curry, this would wrap you up like a fluffy blanket.

Special of the day, $12?

This was the chef's special of the day, a chicken and vegie curry in a coconut sauce, which I think was the same sauce as the mushroom curry above - an unintentional double-up on our part.  Delicious but again, rich.  I am keen to try more of the tomato- and/or vinegar-based curries like the eggplant and potato above.

Rice, $3

Tender basmati rice, each grain separate...

Plain naan ($2) and garlic naan ($2.50)

...and winning, proper tandoori naan, big discs puffed right up like woodfired pizza, providing contrast between crackled top and chewy bottoms.  Spy the tandoori oven in the earlier kitchen pic, skewers dangling promisingly above it.  I think the naan prices are really fair - hate paying $3.50 or more for one soggy garlic naan at other places.  

We only really skimmed the surface of the menu and somehow managed to unintentionally miss the entire tandoori section.  I had four kids with me and felt like I was playing that carnival game where the gophers pop up out of holes and you have to bash them down with a squishy hammer - averting crises left, right and centre!  To this end, the butter chicken was a hit (pun fully intended).

I'm keen to try the Goan fish (with ground coconut, tamarind and whole spices), the vindaloo with garlic and green chilli and even the kormas, with an almond-based, white sauce.  The serves seem bigger than other Indian restaurants and the prices are great - $10 for veg curries, $12 for meat and $14 for seafood.  Next Indian takeaway night, I'm here - parking is a snap to boot.

Thanks to Kenny for the company and the great tip - check out Kenny's visits here and here!  Also thanks to Melissa who wrote to me, saying: "Thanks for creating your blog and celebrating the west!  My partner and I went to Mishra's Kitchen at Wembley Ave, yarraville last night.  Best indian in years (since the Carlton Curry House uni days).  Great food, prices and a chef that is passionate about his food, sharing and the community feel."



Mishra's Kitchen
18 Wembley Avenue, Yarraville
Phone:  9314 3336
Open Mon-Sat 11am-3pm (lunch menu) and 5pm-10pm (Indian dinner menu)


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Pepper

This is a sponsored post for Australian Mushroom Growers' "Mushroom Mania" campaign.  The Mushroom Mania campaign is on for all of July 2012 and over 2,000 restaurants are participating by putting delicious mushrooms on the menu.  Please see end of post for full disclosure.

All of Melbourne is indelibly imbued with history but the Flemington/Newmarket area has a particularly interesting past.  After thousands of years of custodianship by the Doutta Galla tribe of the Wurundjeri people (who now give their name to the local health service and pub), white settlement began in earnest in the 1850s.  A number of beautiful heritage buildings still stand in the local area.  Stroll up Wellington Street and check out the corner post office and this courthouse and lockup complex, complete with Byzantine-style cupolas.

Photo from Flemington Heritage, a project of the Flemington Association.  Permission for use sought and granted

Newmarket Saleyards (see the city in the background!)

Image held by Melbourne Library Service (original here).  Permission for use sought and granted

Flemington's train station is called Newmarket.  My parents still remember when the housing estates that now sit on either side of Epsom Road were literally the "new market" - an enormous livestock market that was relocated from its original site at the Vic Market in the 1850s.  At one stage it was apparently the world's biggest livestock market.  Look down next time you drive along Epsom Road and you'll see part of the cobbled walk where hundreds of thousands of animals made their way to slaughter.  The market was only closed in 1987 with declining profits and complaints about the smell.  Read more with this great interview from ABC Landline, as well as Museum Victoria.

Pin Oak Crescent, hugging the curve of the railway line, is lovely to wander up.  Soon you'll come across another slice of Flemington history - Girdwood's Hygienic Library, where citizens could borrow books with the comfort of knowing they had been wiped with formaldehyde between borrowers.  This was part of a phenomenon of the 30's and 40's of private libraries in Melbourne where you could pay to join and then borrow books as normal - here with the added benefit of knowing all traces of others' grubby mitts has been obliterated.  Read more here at the State Library's La Trobe Journal.

The Girdwood's Hygienic Library sign still remains on this gorgeous Art Deco building, but now it's home to Pepper.  Despite it being a rainy Tuesday, it was filled with a happy hubbub of locals, stopping in for a leisurely brunch or swinging past for takeaway coffees.

Pepper has an older-style Melbourne cafe feel, with big brekky plates, focaccias stuffed fit to bursting  and great wheels of cake in the glass cabinet.

There are a number of cosy corners to hole up in, including a sunlit back room, still with its original Art Deco details.  Pepper is great for kids, with cheerful orange plastic cups for water and freshly sharpened pencils.

Mushroom salad, $12

The brunch receptors in my brain were crying out for bacon, maple syrup and oodles of cheese (preferably all on the same plate).  Instead I was virtuous and picked a salad, which turned out to be delicious.  The perfectly-cooked, slippery little sliced button mushies, still warm from the pan, married perfectly with really fresh walnuts (old nuts have a bad rancid taste - not here), curled baby spinach and rich shaved Parmesan, all in a sweet balsamic dressing.  Loved this combo - you could put it through risotto or pasta for a great dinner.  It got hoovered up in record time.

Poached eggs with mushrooms, $11

My kids are seriously bipolar when it comes to vegetables.  One minute they cannot get enough of, say, red capsicum, and then the next week they will scream as if I have put severed fingers on their plate.  Thankfully 'tis the season of the mushroom at the moment and they were happy to share some poached eggs and simply sautéed buttons.

Pepper is a genuine, local cafe in a gorgeous pocket of Melbourne.  I've stopped by before in the warmer months, where you can loll on the outside tables of an afternoon, order a glass of wine and bask in summer evening sunlight.  They're open on Thursday and Friday evenings for pizzas and baked spuds.

Often people challenge (always good naturedly, I must say!) the fact that I consider North Melbourne, Flemington and Kensington part of the west.  My reasoning is if I traverse somewhere on the way home from the city to the west, it's west (can someone please design me a really circuitous route that takes in Abbout Felafel House?!).  As further evidence, I give you this gorgeous heritage sign.  Spot the W.1 which stands for "West 1", as in London's postcode system which divides the city up into four main quadrants.  Apparently Melbourne had the same system before the standardisation of postcodes in the 1960s.  So if it's good enough for Flemington's town planners, it's good enough for me.  :-P



Pepper
44 Pin Oak Crescent, Flemington
Phone:  9372 2726
Hours:  Mon-Wed 7am-4pm, Thurs-Fri 7am-9pm, Sat & Sun 8am-4pm

Disclosure:  This post is the second in a series of three for Australian Mushroom Growers' "Mushroom Mania" campaign.  I had free choice of any three participating Victorian restaurants and was required to choose at least one dish in which mushrooms were the "hero" ingredient.  I am being paid a flat sum for my writing which does not include meal expenses.  The restaurants were not aware of exactly who was visiting and when but may have been aware that they would be reviewed at some stage over the course of the campaign period.  Australian Mushroom Growers and Pepper have not sought nor been given any editorial control of this post.


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The Courthouse

This is a sponsored post for Australian Mushroom Growers' "Mushroom Mania" campaign.  The Mushroom Mania campaign is on for all of July 2012 and over 2,000 restaurants are participating by putting delicious mushrooms on the menu.  Please see end of post for full disclosure.  

Once upon a time both the church and the corner pub were local meeting places where people could bump into each other.  This sounds throwaway, but that casual running into people and just knowing people's faces is an incredibly important part of feeling like you belong to a community.  Now, just as many churches are being decommissioned, we see many corner pubs closing and being turned into apartments (think The Albert and The Buckingham in Footscray).

It is possible to reverse this trend and the Courthouse in North Melbourne shows it how it's done, creating a modern yet still genuine pub, a new community hub that feels quite timeless.

Running in its present form since about 2002, the Courthouse is a great multitasker, marrying a classy Euro-feel bistro with a front bar that takes craft beer seriously.  I love the intimate dining room with its Art Deco (I think?) light fittings, fireplace and dark wood panelling that feels straight out of Paris...

...hence French bubbles are a necessity!  The wine list by the glass is small but confident - two sparkling (one dear, one not) plus about ten reds and whites that eschew stock shiraz and semillon for more interesting European varietals.

Chestnut soup, wild mushroom crepe, hazelnut and nutmeg, $16

The Courthouse are big on making everything, I believe right down to their bread, and this dish, although small, had so many delicately formed components.  Frothy chestnut soup surrounded a delicate parcel of earthy braised wild mushrooms.  The silky, dark mushies had the intriguing tingle of fennel seed, which provided a counterpoint to the rest of the dish's richness.

Pan fried gnocchi, local wild mushrooms, porcini cream, truffled pecorino, $25

This dish had a family tree of mushroom varieties, if you like, from good-natured, populous wild and cultivated varieties, to the regal, more often dried porcini, to the big chief of the mushroom world - the truffle, here gently infusing hard pecorino cheese.  The pan-fried mushies tumbling over the gnocchi were gorgeous, from juicy little buttons to slices of wild varieties that had such an interesting texture with an almost meaty grain.  I found the gnocchi surprising at first, as they were more like large potato dumplings - I know, that's what gnocchi are! - but once I got over the expectation of cloud-like little balls and enjoyed the contrast between creamy interior and crispy edges, it was delicious.

Black Angus porterhouse steak, hand-cut chips, parsley and horseradish butter, $27

Come to Mama!  Gorgeous juicy steak, its juices muddling with the fabulous seasoned butter and facilitating much happy swiping of chips.  Ideally I think this dish needs to be augmented with a side, but we were still content at meal's end.

Good coffee topped it off.  The service at the Courthouse is really good too, attentive and genuine.

This is a great local secret, for me best saved for special occasion dining, but I'd happily have a Temptress every week in the front bar.

The Courthouse

86-90 Errol Street, North Melbourne

Phone:  9329 5394

Restaurant hours:  Mon-Sat noon-3pm, 6-10pm

Disclosure:  This post is the first in a series of three for Australian Mushroom Growers' "Mushroom Mania" campaign.  I had free choice of any three participating Victorian restaurants and was required to choose at least one dish in which mushrooms were the "hero" ingredient.  I am being paid a flat sum for my writing which does not include meal expenses.  The restaurants were not aware of exactly who was visiting and when but may have been aware that they would be reviewed at some stage over the course of the campaign period.  Australian Mushroom Growers and The Courthouse have not sought nor been given any editorial control of this post.


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