Italy 528

Isn't it remarkable the way in which Italy and her cuisine has entwined itself with Australian food?  Pizza, pasta and that most Australian of dishes, the chicken parma.  I do love a greasy Friday night pizza but sometimes it is best to remember that authentic Italian pizza is a separate delight altogether.

Italy 528 is a specialist pizzeria, turning out pizze, salads and antipasti under a sepia-toned image of Rome's Spanish steps.

The day was Mothers' Day, and Italy 528 do a lovely Bellini, perfect for lunchtime tippling - if only so you can have four, rather than two.  They're a sort of champagne cocktail with peach nectar and Prosecco.

Pizzas clock in at around $20.  They're quite sizeable and are cooked in a wood-fired oven to produce bendy, bubbled bases.

Pizza della Nonna, $13

I never like mentioning freebies, but this was such a nice gesture I have to.  As it was Mothers' Day, every table (not just us) got a pizza della Nonna, or Grandma's pizza.  The tomato sauce was super thick and rich with real homemade flavour.

Pizza Reginella (San Daniele prosciutto, buffalo mozz and rocket), $23

Love the combo of salty, pleasantly wizened strips of prosciutto with almost acrid fresh rocket.  Unlucky for me, all the shards of fresh mozzarella were eaten by the proprietor of this pizza.  West 48 have recently occasionally had a great special of a huge fresh mozzarella ball with tomatoes and bread.  The cheese is so incredibly sweet - you could eat it with chocolate sauce as a dessert.

Pizza Boscaiola (fontina, fior de latte, porcini and portobello), $20

This was my pick, and while I am a huge fungi-phile I found this slow going.  It was just a bit monotonous, but would be great if you were sharing.

Pizza Soppressa (Soppressa, olives, provolone, fior de latte), $20

This worked perfectly, the premium salami crisping up at the edges and exuding lovely umami oils.

Pizza Diavola (hot salami), $19

This was my sister's.  We have an unofficial tradition of me ordering odd things while she sticks to the classics.  I have a memory of me always ordering pistachio gelato or something else unusual to try to be different while she got chocolate, and then me inevitably wheedling her out of half of her bowl because I didn't like my experimental flavour.  True to form, her one-ingredient, super-simple pizza was excellent and my mushroom version, despite being draped in truffle oil, paled in comparison.

Pizza Napoletana (anchovies, capers, olives), $19

A classic in every sense - the flavours of southern Italy done simply and perfectly.

Pizza Pugliese (smoked buffalo mozz, onions, anchovies), $20

Also an apparently southern taste - from Puglia, the heel of Italy's boot, the best pizza of the day was this smoky, sweet and intense combo of smoked cheese, melty onions and anchovies.  Best pizza, worst photo - what you gonna do.

It feels very authentic here, from the Italian mama overseeing service right down to Felce Azzurra soap in the (spotless) bathroom and good espresso with Italian sugar packets.

The best, best tip, I think, is their Pizza A Giro for lunch on the last Sunday of the month.  For a mere $30 you get all the top-notch pizza you can eat, I believe in the sense that they bring them out and you take a slice, until you can eat no more - plus wine, coffee and home-made biscotti.  What a great way to try a little bit of everything - and no need to steal your sister's pizza.

Italy 528 (Facebook)

528 Mt Alexander Road, Ascot Vale

Phone:  9372 7528

Hours:  Tues-Sat 6pm-11pm, Sun 12pm-3pm


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A Bongiovanni & Son

I went to school with a girl called Julie Buongiorno.  Could you get a better name?  Rhythmic, upbeat and happy.  Certainly almost as cheery is the name A. Bongiovanni, or maybe it's just the delighted mood this brand new supermarket has put Seddon residents in.

Firstly, "supermarket" isn't really the right term.  There's no toilet paper or Spray n' Wipe here - produce store is perhaps a better descriptor.

Organic fruit and vegies (bummer about the packaging!  At least the bases are recyclable).

Key-ooooot packs of unique-variety spuds...

...plus an impressive loose range including Dutch Creams, kipflers and more.  (Love this new trend of supermarkets having something other than just white and red potatoes.  I have even seen Dutch Creams in Coles.)

Organic beef!  And best of all, not nothing but organic porterhouse and eye fillet with correspondingly eye-watering price tags - there's organic blade and chuck, cheap(er) and perfect for the slow cooker.

Cheeses galore, many from smaller-scale producers.  Around the corner are cheddars in fetching wax blankets plus fresh bocconcini and mozzarella.  A bummer is that there's no actual deli counter - everything, including hams and olives, are prepacked.

Like, if they didn't stock khorasan twists, I was totally, like, going to boycott them.  (It's some sort of ancient grain.)

When Jalna just isn't enough - an incredible variety of small producer yoghurts, including a hard-to-find favourite of mine, Coyo, which is 100% coconut milk yoghurt.  It is...... utterly...... DIVINE.

Next time I have bad news, I am totally going to rent a rom com from Network Video and buy a bag of flax chips to cry into.  How can bad news be bad when you have flax chips?

But wait, there's more.  Jock's ice cream!

Gluten-free pink lamingtons!  (Pink lamingtons - yet another Ms Baklover shameful food secret.)

Yes!  (Although why not local Alligator Pasta?)

Yes!

Yes!

Persian fairy floss in many flavours!!!  BREATHE......BREATHE!!!

Now, some things are not cheap (refried beans for $8 can?)...

...but there are bargains - David Thompson-approved fish sauce (Megachef) plus accompanying premium oyster sauce for a meagre $2.39 a bottle.

My haul, including Careme all-butter pastry, as approved by Stephanie Alexander; mango Coyo (you MUST try this - so good); and all-natural prawn bisque from Tassie.  You don't want to know how much this cost, though.  I would take a picture of the steam emanating from my wallet, but my camera lens is too fogged up.

Despite my silly jokes, this is a very exciting, VERY welcome addition to the inner west.  If I'm not careful, it will become:

(care of the wonderful Seddon Wine Store, conveniently located opposite).

A. Bongiovanni & Son (Facebook)
176-178 Victoria Street, Seddon
Phone:  9689 8669
Hours:  Mon-Fri 9am-7pm, Sat 8am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm


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Nibbly things at Seddon Wine Store

Seddon Wine Store is a study in how service can completely override price.  Despite their close proximity to two other bottle shops, one of which prides itself on its bargain bin wine, Mr Baklover drops into Seddon Wine Store regularly for their fabulous range, personal service and the occasional natter.

There is awesome wine here and great advice to go along with it.  Lots of bottles are from very small-scale producers, all with a story behind them.  And before you say "nice for you, then", they've got a great range of bargain bottles just inside the doorway which, truth be told, is where we do the majority of our wine shopping.

The best bit is you can sit in and have either a glass of wine from an interesting selection, or get a bottle off the shelf with a corkage charge.  Along with that there's a small menu of good quality drinking snacks, turning Seddon Wine Store into a great little local watering hole.

I had a lovely, quite unusual white grape variety that was so little known, I have gone and forgotten it.  Curses - I do try to write notes, but sometimes I get distracted by, well, life!

Grazing plate, $18

This was a lovely little sandbox to play in - mild manchego cheese with quince paste, lovely, vinegary little mushrooms, gorgeous terrine with plump pistachios throughout, bitey salami and loads of good bread to smoosh it all on.  If you want something heartier, they also do cassoulet.  Seddon Wine Store also sell various cheeses, posh anchovies and other goodies to take home.

I know we all want a bar where we can get properly sozzled until 1 am, but from Thursday to Saturday Seddon Wine Store is open till 10 pm - plenty of time to put a rosy glow in your cheeks.

Seddon Wine Store
2/101 Victoria Street, Seddon
Phone:  9687 4817
Hours:  Sun-Wed 11am-8pm, Thurs-Sat 11am-10pm


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Western Urban Harvest swap meets

I do love growing vegies, but I'm a very lazy gardener.  Nothing other than garlic, silverbeet or the hardiest herbs can survive in desert of neglect that is the Baklover garden.  It's nice to grow stuff but I can only eat so much silverbeet pie before I begin to hanker for something else.

Whether you have a glut of lemons or broccoli, or love to bake but hate having to eat through all your own wares, our local swap meet is the answer.  Bring down your excess home-grown produce or something else to trade, be it home-made jam, eggs, sourdough starter or even a tub of coffee grounds (they are very rich in nitrogen).

Over tea and community, trade it for an armful of diverse bits and bobs, from local feijoas...

...to potted strawberries, gleaned from the Braybrook community garden by its custodian, the fabulous Braybrook Sprouts permaculture playgroup...

...to veritable armfuls of Warrigal greens.  This is an indigenous plant that is slightly succulent in nature, by which I mean it stores some water in its fleshy stems and leaves.  You can see it growing wild in Pipemakers Park down by the Maribrynong.  It grows like a weed because, well, it is one, but weeds generally have like 1000% more vitamins and minerals than the vegies we like to grow in their place.  You need to cook it as it has a higher oxalate content (the compound that makes rhubarb leaves toxic) but I have grown and eaten a lot of it and am still here.

There are even seeds (many home harvested and heritage)...

...and seedlings.  If you sow seeds direct and feel bad about thinning them out, pot up the excess and bring 'em to the swap!

The Western Urban Harvest swap meets are run by The Good Seeds community garden group who advocate for more community gardens in the municipality.  They're currently working on trying to get the vacant land opposite Yarraville Square shopping centre turned into a community garden.  They also run workshops, particularly focusing on reusing discarded materials.  Check them out here.

If you are interested in all things green in the western suburbs, the group to plug into is POW or Permaculture Out West.

Here you can connect to "Fermentation Fridays" where groups of locals muddle happily through experiments in fermentation, including ginger beer and feta cheese!

POW also coordinate permablitzes, where you can arrange for dozens of spade-happy locals to descend on your property and literally transform your backyard in a day into a permaculture haven, for only the price of a big pot of dal.  The way it works is you attend a number of permablitzes yourself which earns you the right to hold your own.

I've lived here for nearly six years and feel so connected.  We never fail to see people we knew wherever we go, and many of those people are connected through multiple avenues, be they POW, the very active and lovely local Australian Breastfeeding Association group, kinder and school.  This is a great community to be a part of.  If you crave more connection (or just want to get rid of some of those bloody lemons), come down to the Western Urban Harvest swap meet tomorrow, June 2, from 10 am to 11.30 am at Bristow Reserve in Pilgrim Street Seddon.  I may even see you there.


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Sunshine Charcoal Chicken

Sometimes love takes you to the strangest places.  Where else but Sunshine Marketplace than to indulge my tawdry and shameful love affair with charcoal chicken and chicken salt?

This is Sunshine Charcoal Chicken, originally (I believe) and also still of St Albans, famous for its "Spanish chicken".  It's marinated, butterflied, sandwiched between two metal grills and rotisserie'd slowly over smouldering charcoal.

When they say Spanish, it's Madrid via Manila.  This is Filipino-style charcoal chicken and it's some of the best BBQ chook I've tasted.  It's marinated in what tastes like sweet soy, and it's incredibly juicy and luscious.  I know it looks burnt but it's not, that's just the caramelised colour of the fabulous marinade.

1/4 chicken and chips, $6.50 (BARGAIN)

When the Israelites wandered in the desert and woke to discover a crumbly substance on the leaves of desert plants, which they then ate and called manna, I'm convinced that was chicken salt.  Sunshine Charcoal Chicken shake it on top of their fabulous crunchy chips to order, and won't mind if you ask for extra (guilty as charged).  Oh, and the plastic knife and fork supplied are useless.  Just get into it and use your fingers.

Someone once told me of love, "It doesn't matter what the teacup looks like - it matters how the tea tastes".  Don't be put off by the lush surrounds of Sunshine Marketplace - it's what's on the plate that counts, and it rocks.

Thank you Adrian of Food Rehab for the tip - Adrian surveyed 13 western suburbs charcoal chicken joints (tough gig but someone had to do it!) and Sunshine Charcoal Chicken came up tops.



Sunshine Charcoal Chicken
Food court (shop 4), Sunshine Marketplace, 80 Harvester Road, Sunshine (also at 3 Alfrieda Street, St Albans)
Phone:  9312 5588
Hours:  Not open for dinner


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