Sunshine Pho Fever part 3 - Nhi Nuong - 2 Sisters

255 Hampshire Road
Sunshine
Vic
3020

The third and final stop on the Sunshine Pho Fever tour was actually just a short hop next door to the Nhi Nuong - 2 Sisters restaurant, which relatively recently replaced a previous pho eatery on the same site. The décor was definitely Asian themed,

After a brief and passionate introduction to the restaurant we were treated to a couple of songs from our hosts, which was a welcome surprise.

I went for the beef pho on this occasion which also featured onion. The broth was darker and tasty and the thin slices of beef were tender.

We were also offered stuffed vine leaves, which lived up to expectations.

At the end of the evening we were each given commemorative Melbourne Food and Wine festival bowls and shows bags with more information about Sunshine. Overall the event was successful in getting us to try eating in the local dining establishments, as well as having an enjoyable and filling evening!

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Sunshine Pho Fever part 2 - Thuan An

253 Hampshire Road
Sunshine,
Vic
3020

Thuan An was the second stop on our Sunshine Pho Fever tour and it had the most modern fit out of the evening.

Again we were sat at a long table. We were all served some Jasmine tea in tiny espresso style cups. The speach about our food was made at the other end of the table to us, and it was hard to pick much of it up, I believe they said the pho contained both Northern and Southern Vietnamese elements.

Our entrées were brought out first, the chicken wings had a sweet coating.

The bean shoots and mint leaves were the most well presented that I'd ever seen, although isn't that pile of accompaniments on the side plate part of the pho experience?

The pho had sweet broth and this time the chicken was free of bones.

At the end of the meal the chef appeared.

While Thuan An was certainly the most well presented restaurant and the best looking food, the flavours weren't necessarily any better.

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Sunshine Pho Fever part 1 - Queen's Rose The Sun

229 Hampshire Road
Sunshine,
Vic
3020

After taking part in last years Food Festival in Footscray by helping out towing a Rickshaw, this year we headed to Sunshine to to take part in Sunshine Pho Fever! The event began at the Granary cafe where we had a soft drink in the courtyard.

Here some of hosts and organisers introduced us to the event from Brimbank Council and , which was new this year, we were divided up into two groups for the evening, we didn't see the other group again, so I'm not sire if they went tot eh same restaurants in a different order, or to a different group.

Our first stop was at the interestingly named Queen's Rose The Sun, which had the highest kitsch factor of the night, with several flashing LED signs. We were seated fairly tightly together at a long table.

At each stop there was a place mat specific to the restaurant with some information about it and pictures of the owners or chef.

The owner spoke to us in Vietnamese and her son translated, although in this case it was a fairly brief talk.

We had a choice of beef or chicken at each stop, I went for chicken on this occasion and this and our end seats meant we got a our slightly smaller custom event bowls more quickly. The broth was nicely flavour and came with chicken that had been sliced on the bone, which meant a slightly inelegant eating process ensued. Unusually the rice noodles were broken into short lengths.

With our mains we were also offered an entrée in this case we got some great fresh and crispy pork spring rolls!

Some of the other dinners waited quite a while for their beef pho, but other than that the service was good, given a sudden if planned influx of guests. I'd happily return for pho on another occasion.

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Maccaroni Trattoria Italiana

10 Manchester Lane
Melbourne
VIC 3000

After doing some urbanspoon research we decided on Maccaroni Trattoria Italiana for lunch. Tucked in on the Collins Street end of Manchster Lane it is small with a couple of tables outside and a row of six two seater tables along a banquette on the wall, behind this was the open elevated kitchen and there may have been some more tables further back. The fit out is pretty moderm, for some reason I was expecting something older, the walls being filled with jars and packets of different types of pasta, bottles of wine and other consumables.

We began to peruse the menu, I focused on the pasta and gnocchi options, but there were also antipasti, main dishes and desserts as well some daily specials.

I ended up chosing the handmade potato gnocchi sorrentina, featuring a Napoli sauce with lots of mozzarella melted through it topped with some pesto. The balls of potato pasta were slightly smaller than usual, and there was more cheese than I expected, but it all tasted good and was well cooked and put together.

Phil went for the baked macaroni pasta with mince meatballs eggplant and mozzarella au gratin which looked great and went down well, he even grabbed a card on the way out.

The service was from the only waitress we saw was friendly and pretty speedy given I could also only see one chef. The bill came to $26:50 for the two of us, and it was nice to try something to our usual noodle of curry based lunches!






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The Footscray Rickshaw Run

Leeds Street,
Footscray
3011

Previous Melbourne Food and Wine festivals seem to have passed me by, I'm not good at planning and booking meals more than a couple of days in advance. This was in danger of happening again until I saw an article proclaiming 'Rickshaw Pullers needed!' for the Footscray Traders Rickshaw Run and I got in touch and two days later on a Sunday lunchtime a turned up for a shift...

After a briefing on how to safely manoeuvre one of the sturdy but surprisingly nimble carts and meeting a few of the volunteers I was drafted in to help pull an Age photographer along to get the shot for an article in the paper, we got the shot on the fourth try!

Things started with impressive live Japanese and Korean music performances in Leeds St.

Whilst enjoying the dramatic drumming, the customers were tucking into fresh oysters.

The first stop was a visit to Little Saigon Market, which showcased the diversity of produce available, then it was off to Sen for a  Rice Paper roll making master class.

From there the convoy headed to Hao Phong for Pho.

Grant the organiser chats to Long outside his restaurant Sapa Hills where Bun Cha was being served.

Whilst I sat waiting in my chariot Grant popped in to Aroma and returned with a box of custard tarts to energise us for the rest of the trip, these were tasty and welcome!

In Dong Que Spring rolls were on offer which were popular before the return leg to Pho Tam for a final Vietnamese sweat drink. This was also the location for the volunteers lunch which was welcome after a hard days pulling carts. The customers certainly seemed to enjoy their introduction to Footscray eating and it is a great introduction to the area. I enjoyed the afternoon and would think about another shift if I get a chance...

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