Gong de Lin

This is a commissioned post by the Australian Mushroom Growers' Association for "Mushroom Mania".  The Mushroom Mania campaign is on for all of July 2013 and highlights the amazing mushroom dishes on offer at cafes, bistros, clubs, pubs and restaurants across Australia.  Check out their competition where you can win one of 40 $100 restaurant vouchers!  Full disclosure at end of post.

Don't judge a book by its cover.  Or in this case - a restaurant by its elevator.

To get to Gong de Lin, you enter Swanston Street's Noodle Kingdom, take an abrupt left-hand turn and hit the button for the lift.

The doors open to reveal this long, peculiar, almost windowless pearly-white room, which - combined with your slow, rattling ascension here - feels rather otherworldly.

The spot to nab is one of the booths in the window, where you can gaze down at the trams and people rushing about below, as if you're some sort of benevolent spirit.

Gong de Lin is a unique Chinese restaurant serving Shanghai-style, Buddhist vegetarian fare.  Western diners often report being somewhat perturbed at Asian vegetarian restaurants like White Lotus and Bo De Trai as the focus is primarily on mock meat, with non-mock meat vegetable dishes somewhat of an afterthought.

There is a good range of mock meat dishes on the menu at Gong de Lin but there is also a strong showing of vegetables in their natural form...in particular, mushrooms.  "Hedgehog" mushrooms, "mountain" mushrooms, gold, black and morel - it seems like every denizen of the forest floor has a foothold on this menu!

Deep-fried shredded black mushroom with sweet and sour sauce, $12.80

If your kids have never eaten a mushroom, get this in front of them post haste.  These are shiitake mushrooms, sliced, deep fried and tossed with a toffee-like coating.  It's not your local shopping centre's sweet and sour, but much more reduced, deeper in flavour and with delicious tang that I think comes from Chinese black vinegar.  "Black" or shiitake mushrooms have a particularly rich, deep flavour that held up perfectly against the crackly sweet shell.

Diced hedgehog mushrooms with macadamia nuts, $18.80

See the feathery chunk at the left of the dish?  That's a hedgehog mushroom.  The pieces had a soft, almost fluffy texture that was quite recollective of delicately cooked fish.  The name relates to its appearance, having an underside covered in soft "spines" rather than the longitudinal gills of many mushroom cultivars, like field (see a pic here).  The flavour was mild and combined with the light sauce, fresh vegies and crunchy macadamias, this was a very pleasing dish.  (Not a fan of the bright yellow gingko nuts which are really bitter, but they're a cinch to pick out!)

Cold wonton in Shanghai style, $5.00

Dumpling time!  Apparently one top pick at Gong de Lin is their beancurd dumpling which actually has a skin made from tofu instead of dough.  We went off piste with some cold Shanghai-style wontons, but it was a bit of a dud run.  They were filled with some sort of green pickled vegetable and served with vinegar and sesame dipping sauces, but the straight-from-the-fridge chill put me off.  I'm sure they're authentic but next time I'd rather try the "Jade Buddha temple vegetable baozi", which look like fluffy char siu pork buns.

Barbecue boletus edulis, $18.80

You know how tomatoes are technically fruits?  Well, mushrooms aren't technically vegetables.  They are, of course, fungi, which makes their nutritional profile completely different than vegies.  For instance, did you know that mushrooms are the only non-animal source of vitamin D?  The specimens above were "boletus edulis", also known as the mighty porcini.

Porcini mushrooms (centre in the above pic) have large, thick stems and are most often seen dried.  After the fluffy, delicious hedgehog mushroom (left), I wasn't such a fan of the coarser, slightly leathery boletus.  Despite very different menu descriptions, both dishes were prepared similarly, which was a bit disappointing.  Anyway, I had eaten way too much of the specimen on the right - the deep-fried shiitake slices.  Trust me - so good!

So much food excitement and I forgot to mention drinks.  Loved this sweet, hot soy milk...

Or there are also fancy teas like chrysanthemum, served in gorgeous teapots.  Just be sure to stir it while it brews to get the full flavour profile.  And speaking of flavour, Gong de Lin use no MSG.  The prices are a bit steeper than your average city Chinese joint, but I reckon the unusual dishes and unique ingredients make it worth it.

Gong de Lin

Level 3, 264 Swanston Street, city

Phone:  9663 7878

Disclosure:  This post is the second in a series of two for Australian Mushroom Growers' "Mushroom Mania" campaign.  I had free choice of any Victorian restaurant 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.  Reviews could be completed anonymously or with prior notice; I visited Gong de Lin anonymously and without prior warning.  Australian Mushroom Growers and Gong de Lin have not sought nor been given any editorial control of this post.

White Lotus

Mock meat.  If you're a meat-eater, what's the point?  It seems obvious, but consider - why walk when you can drive?  Why grow vegetables when you can buy them from the shop?  Because sometimes the less obvious option, that might initially seem like a mere conceit, is actually pleasurable in itself.

The White Lotus is a real Melbourne fixture.  It is a genuine family-run business and all the mock meats are made on the premises.  There is a strong tradition of vegetarianism in Buddhism, and Buddhist cuisine has evolved as a unique entity, focusing on creating mock meats out of "beans, taro, yam, gluten and flour by [the] chef Shirley Lee", to quote their menu.

So old school, I love it.  Napkins in little hats, red lanterns, plastic flowers - almost the vision of a suburban Chinese restaurant.  But instead of those restaurant's relative opulence, with dark carpet and fake gold trim, The White Lotus' white tiled walls give it a slight air of austerity.

Roast Vegetarian Duck, $19

The mock duck is anything but austere, however.  I lifted a piece suspiciously to my mouth and felt my eyebrows rise in unison with those of my dining companions.  It was really, really good!  The "skin" was crispy and underneath had a layer of tasty "fat", just like real duck skin.  The "meat" was juicy and rich - the main differentiating factor was that it lacked the grain that real meat has.  But the taste!  It actually tasted like duck but with no off-putting greasiness.  I have no idea how they did it.  The sauce was light, soy-based and the duck came on snow peas and bean sprouts.  Divine!  When we went to pay, we saw a family of four, three of whom all had their own individual plates of duck.  It was that good.

Vegetarian Fish in Tamarind Sauce, $19

This tamarind fish won Cheap Eats' vegetarian dish of the year back in 2007.  It is really incredible.  Apparently the gluten is layered somehow to produce a very delicate, almost flaky texture, just like real fish.  The crispy skin is made from a layer of beancurd over a layer of nori seaweed to give the scent of the sea.  The sauce was fabulous of itself - very much like Assam sauce apparently, based on sour tamarind but mellowed with a little sweetness and perhaps tomato.

White Lotus Special Vegetable Combination, $16

These vegies were okay - the White Lotus uses no garlic, onion or anything else from the allium family and I noticed the lack of garlic in this dish.  I also doubt they use MSG.  Nevertheless this worked as a palate cleanser for the other two much stronger-flavoured dishes.  It included interesting Chinese ingredients such as lotus buds, white fungus, black fungus and lotus root.  The black fungus is often found in spring rolls - look for the little black strips

I really respect vegetarians.  For me, meat is something of a carnal pleasure - I can't resist that charred, fatty, rounded mouth feel it has.  I get really annoyed when Anthony Bourdain or other chefs bag vegetarians because to me it is a beautiful philosophy and something, try as I might, I don't know if I have the strength to maintain.  In both Hindu and Buddhist cultures there are traditions of on-off vegetarianism which people may take up as a spiritual exercise.  I like that idea.

Meanwhile, if you do eat meat, why bother going to White Lotus?  Because the bottom line is, it tastes awesome.

P.S.  Vegetarians and vegans, did you know there is a vegetarian yum cha place in Box Hill??



White Lotus

185 Victoria Street, West Melbourne (map)

Phone:  9326 6040
Hours:  Thurs to Sat only, 6pm-10pm

Eat Pizza

Pizza or pizze?  Matchstick ham or prosciutto?  Tap washer olives or unpitted kalamatas?  Pizza in Melbourne has two fairly distinct incarnations, the Australianised version with "classic" toppings like Aussie (bacon & egg) or Meatlovers, versus the more authentic Italian style with little cheese and interesting toppings like zucchini flowers.  Both styles of pizza have their place for me, though.  The challenge is trying to find a decent Aussie-style, Friday night-takeaway, cold-in-the-fridge-for-breakfast-the-next-day pizza.

Eat Pizza is at the far edge of the City of Maribyrnong before you hit Ascot Vale.  It looks like the average pizza place but its menu reveals a real treasure trove.  As well as classic and "gourmet" pizzas, they do wholemeal bases, homemade gluten-free bases and vegan toppings such as vegan salami and vegan cheese!  They offer an option of Virginia ham instead of the typical shredded style as well as sujuk which is a halal salami-style sausage.

Vegetarian, $11

Pretty much the perfect Aussie-style vegetarian pizza.  Well-cooked green capsicum, onion, thinly-sliced mushroom and whole (pitted) olives on a base that was neither thick nor thin.  Most vegetarian pizzas suffer from a lack of salt but this was well-seasoned.

Mexican, $11

Super generous on the jalapenos!  The salami was spicy and had gone deliciously crisp on the edges.  Another winner.

If the well-made pizzas are my number one reason to go to Eat Pizza, it's very closely followed by their excellent pick-up deal, two large traditional pizzas, a salad and a bottle of soft drink for $21.90.  The salad is just a simple mix of baby salad leaves, a wedge or two of tomato and a slice of cucumber but it does the job.

The Baklover family is divided, though - Mr Baklover thinks Eat Pizza are all right, nothing special.  Coming from the pizza capital of the United States, he is hard to impress.  I think it's the best local option for this style of pizza and best of all, it's perfect cold the next day for breakfast - if it lasts that long!

UPDATE!  Now coming to the old Godfather's Pizza at cnr Gordon Street and Ballarat Roads, Footscray!

Eat Pizza
44 Raleigh Road, Maribyrnong (map)
Phone: 9317 7977
NB parking behind the restaurant

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Tan Truc Giang's vegetarian selection

There are many great things about being married to an American.  Apart from the fact my husband is just generally awesome, the benefits that spring to mind are home-made, lovingly crafted barbecue sauce and elotes, BBQ'd corn cobs slathered in mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese and chilli powder.  But there are some eye-rollingly infuriating, very American parts of my partner's personality that I would love to change, namely his tendency to customise the menu within an inch of its life.  "Can I have the tomato and avocado on toast, but with the Promite on the side, and can you squeeze a lemon over it?  And can you add just one scrambled egg - yes, just one - and a piece of black pudding?  And a macchiato with cold milk, not steamed.  Thank you."  Cue much shrinking-behind-menu-until-level-with-floor on my part.

Thankfully Tan Truc Giang in Leeds Street are set up so you can have what you want how you want it.  Want only carrots, broccoli and cauliflower out of the stirfry?  No problem.  Want a piece of chicken, a hardboiled egg, plus just one spring roll?  Absolutely.  This is a great place to bring kids to as everything is right there, enticing and colourful.  As Dani Valent writes about yum cha, "You don't have to read out a menu and have every dish description batted back with, 'Yuk, I don't like that,' until you get to ice-cream".

Tan Truc Giang have loads of interesting dishes which I for one have never seen before.  There's a special prawn-and-egg "cake" plus mackerel dishes, both crispily fried and braised.  They do a fabulous roast pork roll that you have to know to ask for.  They always have southern-style Vietnamese chicken curry which is mild, yellow and coconutty.  A friend just mentioned the other day how much she loved this and had only ever had it at people's houses, when it had usually been made by the grandmother.  She feels it is very much home cooking, and to me that is the style of cooking here at Tan Truc Giang.

This separate unit is 100% vegetarian (and I assume vegan).  I have been on the hunt for a Vietnamese wheat gluten dish for a reader, veggiegobbler, and here it is, or something like it, I hope!  The dish at the bottom right is wheat gluten with chilli and lemongrass, so I settled down for a plate of that with a few of the other mixed stirfries.

Mixed vegetarian plate, $8

Yum yum!  The wheat gluten, which I know as seitan, was really good.  It is eerily similar to meat, tasting (and looking) like well-cooked shredded chicken.  Seitan is made by making a dough out of water and flour and then washing it until only the strands of gluten remain.  I remember doing this in Home Ec at school but I cannot recall why or what we did with it - certainly not make seitan, given that most of our Home Ec offerings were anachronisms like roulades or things stuffed in crepe baskets.

Anyway, the rest of the stirfries were tasty mixtures of soft, juicy tofu and mushrooms and crunchy vegetables.  They use interesting gourd-like Asian vegetables here of which I don't know the name, but they are similar to zucchini or cucumber.  It came with a tangle of sweet, lightly vinegared carrots and bean sprouts.  A great, healthy lunch.  Veggiegobler, I know it's not with cashews or satay as you remembered, but I reckon it is pretty yummy!

Another reader, Matt, highly recommended the goi cuon chay or vegetarian rice paper rolls.  These are made daily and stacked in containers on the counter.  Wow - great call, Matt - they really are the best rice paper rolls I have ever had!  The skins are so tender and soft and the fillings super fresh.  Inside are rice vermicelli noodles, marinated tofu, mushroom, pickled carrot, lettuce and other good things.  I like that they are not wrapped within an inch of their life - the wrapper is still delicate, soft and pliable.

Goi cuon chay (vegetarian rice paper rolls), $5.50 for 4

The dipping sauce is made up fresh with each purchase and is delicious, hoi sin-based, sprinkled with chopped peanuts, chilli and carrot.  Eat them soon after purchase and if you can, purchase them early in the day soon after having been made as the skins become hard and unappealing fast.

The man in particular who runs Tan Truc Giang is really lovely.  They keep their bain marie spick and span, constantly refilling the trays and plates and ensuring no drips smear the sparkling silver between the various dishes.  The counter is often a few people deep and with Footscray shoppers of all ethnicities.  Everyone is welcome - even finicky Americans.

Tan Truc Giang

36A Leeds St, Footscray (map)

Phone: 9689 9509

Hours:  Mon - Sat 8am - 8pm, closed Sun

PS:  From a reader:  "This is the best Vietnamese place in west. Pork roll is absolutely delicious plus try their diced beef with fried rice (yummmm). I live in North Carlton but visit Truc Giang at least once a month."

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Guest Post - Bo De Trai

I have just come back from a weekend in Rhode Island, Baltimore, and NYC, in which I think I have eaten nothing but meat, cheese, and white flour.  Vietnamese Buddhist vegetarian cuisine could not be a better counterpoint to my "street meat" weekend!  Thank you so much to Deb from Bear Head Soup for coming to my rescue again while I am overseas and sending in another Footscray review for your enjoyment.

I’ve walked past Bo De Trai several times and have often wondered about what a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant might be like. There isn’t always a lot of people in there so that made me a little hesitant too. How wrong I was.

Imitation Claypot Lamb (Tu Buu Tay Cam) $14

I chose the imitation claypot lam (sic) or tu buu tay cam as suggested in a review, on the wall at Bo De Trai, by John Weldon in The Age from 2003.

My meal was a luxurious dish of carrots, cubes of white radish, cloud ear mushrooms, lily buds, dried tofu sticks, bok choy and faux meat (TVP type product) in a rich broth, made more flavourful with the addition of julienned ginger.

It was absolutely delicious and I could easily have returned the next day and had the same thing. In his review of Bo De Trai, John Weldon says of the imitation claypot lamb, “gentle on the spice and heavy on the comfort side,” and I completely agree.

Bun Hue, $8

A couple of days later I returned to have a different meal, just to make sure that the fabness of the first dish wasn’t a fluke.

This was a lovely spicy soup with the thicker rice noodles, as you would find in the traditional bun bo hue. It was topped by TVP type sausage slice and some sliced fried tofu. I think the beef was replicated by fried gluten. There also some shitake mushrooms in the soup and some other vegetable or mushroom, I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. The dish came with a plate of mung bean sprouts and mint and a dish with fresh chilli and a wedge of lemon. It was a delicious soup, perfect with its spice for a cold Melbourne day.

Bo De Trai is owned by the Quang Minh Buddhist Temple in Braybrook and is staffed by volunteers. Some of the volunteers have little English, but I was lucky and was able to speak to someone on my first visit. It was a Friday night and she had worked all day and then came to Bo De Trai to work there as a volunteer and was able to tell me a little about the place.

The décor is basic but the food more than makes up for it and I am really looking forward to a return visit to try some more dishes.

Thank you Deb!  This has been on my "to-try" list for some time.  I really want to try Bun Bo Hue but as I am a gutless offal avoider, this might be my chance to sample the chilli and the spices, at least.

This is the last stop in the west... next stop, the Midwest!  I have lots of artery-clogging American goodness coming up next, but if you want any more Melbourne-based reviews for the next 6 weeks, you are going to have to help me out!  You could write a review of a restaurant or a food store, or even a recipe with an interesting, locally-obtainable ingredient.  Email footscrayfoodblog@gmail.com. 



Bo De Trai
94 Hopkins Street, Footscray (map)
Phone: 9689 9909
Hours: 10am to 7pm (to 8pm Fri and Sat nights)

Lentil as Anything

Driving down Barkly St a few months ago, my eyes gazed lazily over the forlorn shops up the western end of Barkly St.  I sailed by the ping-pong specialist, Wing La with its dusty wedding cakes, Jim Wong's and Poon's (this sums them up: cornflour in an arrowroot sauce).  Then I spied it - the tired Barkly Hotel had been transformed into the newest branch of Lentil as Anything.  I whooped with joy!  I have always loved the anarchic, free-love ethos of this pay-as-you-feel vegetarian eatery, and now Footscray could share in the love.

Fast forward a few months later, and after viewing The Naked Lentil on SBS, I had suffered a bit of a Lentil loss-of-innocence.  It seemed like a crazed Ponzi scheme perpetrated by a complete egomaniac (watch the doco if you don't believe me).  Still, my thoughts about its founder aside, it employs many people who may otherwise struggle to find work, gives work experience to many others, and provides an opportunity for many in our society to enjoy low-cost, healthy, vegetarian food.

Fellow parents and would-be gourmands of the west, if you are tired of toddlers escaping from chairs while waiting for their meal, which they then proceed to complain is "too spicy", take them down to Lentil.  All the food is there waiting for you in their new buffet-style service, and you could take a teaspoon of each dish, see which they like, before you fill their bowl.

In about 2 minutes we were sitting down to spaghetti and scalloped potatoes for the kids, orange segments for the baby, and a Sri Lankan feast for the grown-ups, all with free refills.  You can't beat that!

Here we have "biryani rice", crispy and naughty "potato donuts", Sri Lankan pumpkin curry (sweet and nutty) and a fantastic S. Lankan cashew & pea curry.  This was a revelation - the cashews had become totally soft, but had lost none of their creamy nuttiness.  Jeera pappadums topped off a great meal.  I'm looking forward to stopping in for breakfast - apparently they do a full Sri Lankan spread!

Lentil as Anything
233 Barkly St, Footscray (map)
Hours: 9am - 9pm, 7 days