Eat and Love

On a Wednesday night, Devonshire Street quiet as a tomb, we did have some trepidation pushing open the door to lonely heart Eat and Love - little did we know they would live up to their name.  This little Indian, Bengali and Nepalese restaurant has only opened fairly recently and is full of promise.

The decor is sort of Queen of Hearts - quite sweet, very heartfelt.  It's sparkling with lots of white tiles and mirrors which reflect the Bollywood movies playing on the flatscreen on the wall.  Choose your angle so you don't have to watch yourself dribbling curry down your chin!

Non-veg momo (large serve), $8

At first glance the menu seems like a standard Indian restaurant menu, but there are hidden exotic gems.  These non-veg momo are Nepalese dumplings in a kind of thick, almost pasta-like skin.  They were tender, drizzled with a thin curry sauce and quite nice.  Also try Fusion Cafe and Momo Bar in Footscray for good value momo.

Chicken vindaloo, $10.50

The chicken vindaloo was fabulous!  Tender, fresh, carefully-cooked chicken in a gorgeous, well-balanced, spicy tomato-based sauce.  It was not overly oily as much Indian restaurant food can be and indeed, Eat and Love's website assures that they use family recipes.

Palak paneer, $9

The worst examples of palak paneer (also known as saag paneer) are horrible, just rubbery cheese in a khaki-coloured pureed spinach sauce, with little more than acrid, dried-out ginger strips or a few token bits of tomato.  This was not at all like that - the spinach was textured with home-style pureed tomato and just enough cream.  Love the touch of authentic fenugreek leaves.  Very pleasing indeed.

Raita, $2.50

Really loved this raita, thick and sweet with grated carrot.  It was much more substantial than the watery versions that abound, and good value at $2.50 - hate how sometimes a tiny serve is more than $4.

South Indian rice, $4.50

Interesting South Indian rice with coconut powder, curry leaves, dried fruit and mustard seeds.  Honestly, I covered this with so much lovely saucy curry flavours, I can't really comment!

Butter naan, $2

Pretty good naan, perfect for soaking up the last bits of vindaloo sauce.

We were so pleasantly surprised how much we loved our meal.  The prices are right and when I called back later to check something on the bill, Jack whom we spoke to was a perfect gentleman.  Definitely heading back to check out the Bengali/Bangladeshi meal for two, which includes traditional Eastern Indian tuna kebab, "chicken roast" (marinated, shallow-fried chicken apparently) and two varieties of biryani.  Check out the website for menu, coupons and deals.

We came, we ate and we did indeed love!

Thank you Lisa via Facebook for the tip!  I am trying a new map format - below the restaurant demographics below there's a link to my Google map.  This way you can also discover nearby restaurants by navigating between the pins.  Red pins are restaurants, blue are food stores.  If any links are broken, let me know.

Eat and Love
20 Devonshire Road, Sunshine
Phone:  9311 9277
Hours:  Tues-Sun, 5 pm - 10.30 pm
Corkage $2/glass



View Footscrayfoodblog reviews in a larger map

Madhumoti 2

Where to start when beginning to explore the food out Footscray way?  A great place to start would be the three great soups of the west - cleansing, warming pho from Hung Vuong in Footscray; balanced yet fiery laksa from Laksa King in Flemington; and unctuous, luscious haleem from Madhumoti, also in Footscray.  B and I stumbled upon it, and I had to take Mr Baklover to try it out.

This Bangladeshi restaurant has possibly the sweetest, most heartfelt service in Melbourne.  I love the nanna-style decor with plastic flowers, clear plastic tablecloths and endearingly daggy crockery.

We came for one thing - the haleem.  This is a soupy Bangladeshi dish made from a blend of rice, lentils and wheat, which have collapsed into one another over hours of cooking into a thick, nutty stew.  Its creamy surface conceals pieces of meat, their fibres rendered fork-tender through hours of slow, low heat.  This bowl was fresh with zingy ginger, balanced with earthy spices, with the slow burn of green chillies.  Divine!

 

Traditional haleem, $6.50

The house specials are marked in red on the menu, so we chose the Chicken Tikka Butter Masala from among them.  The chicken was very tender, served in a creamy tomato sauce with capsicum and onion, and spiced with fresh curry leaves and - my favourite - dried fenugreek leaves.  Fenugreek as a whole spice is wonderful, with a really "classic" curry aroma, but it can become overpowering if not used judiciously.  The leaves impart the same aromatic quality but in a much gentler form.

 

Chicken Tikka Butter Masala, $13.50

The vegetarian options are split between classic North Indian fare such as aloo mutter and vegetable korma, and authentic Bangladeshi preparations.  From the latter list, we chose Begun Bhaji, described as "finely cut eggplant cooked with onion, spices & mild chilli".  Discs of fried eggplant topped with a tomato, onion & garlic mixture, seasoned with panch phoron, the classic Bengali spice mix of whole mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds and nigella, also known as kalonji or black cumin.

 

Begun Bhaji, $8.50

We eschewed rice in favour of some simple roti and some indulgent "special paratha".  

Roti, $2 each

The roti had a fantastic chewy texture, while the special paratha - crispy and flaky, due to its being rolled, spread with ghee or oil then re-rolled (somewhat like puff pastry or croissants) - was suitably indulgent.

Special paratha, $3 each

However - the food, despite its careful, individual spicing and gentle cooking, was spoiled by tonnes and tonnes of oil.  The eggplant sat in a puddle of the stuff like its own little island, its fresh panch phoron flavours dissipating into the slick.  As we took spoonfuls of chicken, the hollows would be replaced by little oases of oil as shiny rivulets ran in from the sides of the bowl.  Our chins grew unpleasantly greasy and my appetite was dampened.  What a pity.

I will be back, however, if only for the haleem.

Madhumoti (map)

95 Irving St, Footscray

Phone: 9362 7583

Hours: Tues - Thurs, 5.00pm - 10.30pm, Fri 3.00pm - 10.30pm, Sat & Sun 11.30am - 10.30pm

BYO 

Madhumoti

It was a perfect night for a walk, so B and I strolled leisurely through the back streets to dinner at Madhumoti. The decor is basic but sweet - little bunches of plastic flowers on the tables, and Nanna-style plates with water lilies on them. We started with the haleem, which was almost Indian chilli con carne - a slow-cooked, soupy stew of rice, wheat and lentils with chunks of meat. The grains had melded into absolute lusciousness, which was followed up by a massive kick of heat from lots of green chilli. One of my favourite things is slow-cooked cheap cuts, which maintain all the flavour that expensive cuts like fillet lack, but through a long-cooking process become tender you can shred them with a fork. The meat in the haleem was just that. This is definitely on the slow cooker to-do list for me this winter.


The menu is really exciting, and I am glad Madhumoti relishes in its Bangladeshi heritage, and hasn't given in to the typical, predictable Indian suburban menu of samosas, butter chicken and rogan josh. We had Beef Do-Piaja, which was a lightly-cooked dish of tender beef pieces, thinly sliced capsicum and spring onion, almost like a stir-fry. We also enjoyed Tok-Mishti Begun (sweet & sour eggplant) which was eggplant in a tomato-based sauce, seasoned with kalonji, sugar and tamarind. This was accompanied by what shall henceforth be known as the bread of pure evil - Moghlai Porota, which was bread stuffed with cheese and egg, dipped in batter and deep-fried. Eek!

The thing with Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi food is, there is actually no such thing in these cuisines as "curry", in terms of a catch-all phrase for a thick, sauce-based dish. The British popularised the term when they brought Indian food back to Britain, and they in turn had learned it from the Portuguese, who had colonised parts of India in the 16th century. The Portuguese at the time described 'caril' or 'carree' as 'Indian broths' made from butter, spices, nuts and other ingredients. This in term was derived from the south Indian words 'karil' or 'kari', which described spices for seasoning, as well as dishes of sautéed vegetables or meat. Basically, Indians do not lump their dishes together as 'curries', but rather speak of them in terms of the cooking methods used, or the main ingredients. For instance, a true Korma means a braised dish (not necessarily rich & creamy), Bhuna dishes are dry-fried, and Baghar or Tadka dishes feature a flavoured oil, in which garlic and whole spices have been quickly cooked, that is then stirred into the finished dish. (If you are interested in the history of curry, I recommend Lizzie Collingham's Curry: A Biography).

Bringing this back to Madhumoti, each dish had its own unique texture and flavour. This is unlike many Indian restaurants where, although the meats and sauces are different, there is a certain sameness in the textures and flavours, almost as if the same ginger/garlic/spice mix is used as the base for every dish, which then has cream, tomato or spinach added to create the required sauce. We were the last to leave and the chef and waitress were genuinely delighted that we enjoyed the food. I can't say I am hanging for the deep-fried cheesy bread again - not because it wasn't gooood, but because I can't trust myself with the doggy bag. I had eaten the rest of it before breakfast the next day! As I said, pure evil!

Madhumoti, corner Irving and Albert Sts, Footscray

See most recent post here