Pizza D'Asporto

2-6 Ballarat Street
Yarraville
Victoria 3013

After watching a film at the Sun Theatre, we headed next door to Pizza D'Asporto. The venue is actually quite small, with a heated outdoor area featuring shared tables...

...and equally cosy interior. There is also another space upstairs, but that was occupied by a function on the Saturday evening we were there. We'd enjoyed coffees from the Kiosk at Williamstown beach, but hadn't tried the original branch in the Rifle Range shopping centre.

Given how busy the restaurant was, it turned out that the reservation was a good move, our spot was on the heated and semi closed in terrace on a large table shared with another 4 diners. Once we got settled we had enough room, and set about perusing the menu. Despite the indications that we needed to order at the counter, our waitress was happy to take our orders for food and drink.

Phil selected the pork and fennel ragu which arrived first, several minutes before our other dishes, It featured casareccie pasta with a braised pork and fennel ragu, and was enjoyed, although the rich pork flavours pretty much drowned out those of the fennel.

My Ortolana Pizza was topped with San Marzano tomato, mozzarella, grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, mushroom and olives. The base was great, authentic with big soft crust and a thin centre. The veggies were flavoursome and perfectly cooked.

The daily 'special' came with the better half's favourite, anchovies, along with olives, onions and fresh basil. The salty fish were noted as being particularly good.

Including 4 drinks, the bill came to $89. The service was great given the crowded venue, the only small gripe being the dishes arriving with a slight gap. There are so many great Pizza spots in the inner west these days, but this must be up there in terms Yarraville options!

 

Railway Hotel, Yarraville

35 Anderson Street
Yarraville
VIC 3013

We hadn't got around to checking out the re-christened and renovated Railway Hotel in Yarraville, so arranged to meet Rick and Nadia there on a sunny Thursday evening.

We got a table in the dining area towards the back, with plush banquette seating and white table cloths. It all felt quite different to previous visits to the buildings former existence as the Blarney Stone 'Irish' Pub.

The menu mixes a few classic pub dishes with other offerings inspired from more far flung cuisines.

Rick went for the fish and chips which was served with a salad. I'm not a fan of serving the fish on top of the chips, but it looked good otherwise and and he was happy with his choice.

The better half went for the singapore noodles. They had a really intense flavour, we reckoned from too much shrimp paste or possibly fish sauce. It overpowered the other ingredients and we ended up swapping dishes as it was just a bit too much for her.

Nadia enjoyed her duck.

I went for the vegetable korma with rice, naan and raita which was served elegantly. The meal was fine if a little on the bland side.

The service through the evening was fine and tolerant of our slow ordering. The bill came $170 for 4 including drinks, which seemed a lot for slightly hit and miss meals we received, I've noticed elsewhere that the parma here is highly rated so maybe it would have been better to stick to the more traditional options...

Hammer & Tong - Food Truck

Food Truck, visited at:
Yarraville Gardens
Somerville Road
Yarraville
Vic 3013

On a sunny summer afternoon we wanted to grab a local lunch, but fancied a change from our regular Footscray haunts, so we headed down the the Food Truck jam at Yarraville Gardens. Despite the talk of a crack down by the council there still seemed to be around 10 trucks offering a reasonable variety of options. I ended up ordering from the Greek street food truck, the better half went for a wheeled outlet we hadn't spied before, the Hammer and Tong truck. It's a new offshoot of Brunswick Street Fitzroy’s Hammer and Tong 412, which we haven't visited either.

She made the choice based the soft shell crab burger which sits at the top of their fairly short menu. It comes with a sriracha mayo, black sesame slaw and coriander and was delicious, so good I wasn't offered a bite. To be fair the burger was ready way before my meal, one of the downsides of ordering from different trucks.

The burger was $14 and although tasty wasn't particularly large, so didn't seem like great value. It is certainly worth a try if you find the truck, but we probably won't be hunting the truck down...

Hyde Street Hotel, Yarraville

188 Hyde Street
Yarraville
VIC 3013

The Hyde Street Hotel re-opened in May 2014 after a 6 month refurbishment. The Vic on Hyde as it was formerly known dates back as 1873 although the current building looks a lot more modern. We'd been meaning to visit for a while and finally booked in on Christmas eve.

We arrived around 7:30 and found ourselves a spot in the 'Hyde and Seek Lounge' front bar at the only free high table with stools. The pub did fell pretty quiet in general although it is large and we didn't make it into the Public House / TAB section. It is nice to see a pub getting rid of pokies too, they seem to suck the atmosphere out of pubs they invade.

The beer list featured 10 guest brews, I went for the Mirboo Madness 'Red Ale' from the Grand Ridge brewery in Gippsland which lived up to its colourful billing and was good and hoppy.

In addition to the regular menu which pretty much matched up to the one on the website, there were some specials.

The front bar and the Hyde Kitchen share the same eating options, with a reduced menu available in the Public Bar. The sit down dining area looked nicely fitted out, but very quiet on our visit.

We decided to share the Bruchetta pizza as an entree, this featured ricotta, mozzarella, garlic, tomato, capsicum and red onion. The combination of flavours ended up on the sweet side, with some balsamic seemingly involved. 

The Paella from the specials list promised chicken, prawns, mussels, chorizo, baby peas, roasted capsicum, olives, saffron rice, garlic, fresh herbs and chilli. Unfortunately the key protein components were either under or over cooked and the herbs and spices didn't seem to keep with the Spanish style expected.

It was a Wednesday and therefore burger night, so I decided to give the veggie burger with a try. The brioche bun was stacked with a veggie patty, baby spinach, avocado, tomato salsa and relish which it made it a challenge to eat while maintaining any dignity, at least I wasn't on a first date! The flavours were fine, but the soft patty along with the sauces meant plenty of overflow!

The service was friendly if a little mixed in quality, probably down to the time of year, it did feel by the end that the staff were starting to kick back and party. The bill came to $90 with 3 drinks. We'd been looking forward to our visit after hearing good things about the post re-fit pub, but in the end left a bit disappointed by our meals, especially given they weren't cheap. We have to walk past other pubs to get there and based on this experience we'll probably give one of our favourites another go before heading back to the Hyde.

Greek Street Food - Food Truck

Food Truck, visited at:
Yarraville Gardens
Somerville Road
Yarraville
Vic 3013

While I grabbed a burger from the Little Mushroom Co on our trip to the food trucks in Yarraville Gardens, the better half headed to the Greek Street Food truck by Kara's Kalamaki.

Her wait was slightly longer than mine, but the crowds were out in force! The oregano chips were winners, perfectly cooked good sized fries with a bit of extra Mediterranean flavour.

The bahh souva had the expected pita bread wrapped around some fantastic lamb fillet, tomato and onion with tzatziki. The only less popular filling were the chips, some salad leaves would have been preferred. 

The meal came in around $14 which was fair and I'd certainly think about trying their other items if I spot the truck again...

The Little Mushroom Co Food Truck

Food Truck, visited at:
Yarraville Gardens
Somerville Road
Yarraville
Vic 3013

The sun was shining for the first evening of daylight savings and we decided to head down to Yarraville Gardens to see what the food trucks had to offer... there was plenty of choice on offer with around 15 lined up!

I decided on trying out the The Little Mushroom Co which lives up (down?) to its name, being housed in a pretty tiny converted caravan.

The menu is on the small side too, with just four bun based options and a couple of extras.

I went for the vegan burger option which in this case featured one and a half portobello mushrooms in a Cajun spice rub and a good handful of rocket in a ciabatta roll. On first opening the box I was disappointed by the size of the burger, however it was certainly well executed, flavoursome and healthy.

At $10 for a fairly light bight, I think I'd try one of the many other trucks we're lucky to have regularly in walking distance on my next visit, but it must be one of the most healthy options available on the Somerville Road strip.

The Westies - Happy Camper Pizza & Mr Burger

Yarraville Gardens,
Yarraville
VIC 3013

After missing last years westside food bloggers picnic, we made sure we got to the inaugural "The Westies: Dishes of Distinction", the western suburbs’ first dedicated food awards in Yarraville gardens.

We arrived around midday and quickly located the crowd of attendees and the nearby food trucks. The Wild Horse Cafe caravan looked to be doing a good trade in coffees.

We headed straight across to get ourselves an early lunch, and were waiting for our respective dishes when the awarding actually took place.

The Happy Camper pizza truck drew my attention with their beautiful Airstream trailer, a new addition to the food truck scene. I went with the simple $12 "Setting up Camp" option, topped with tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil. My order seemed to be well timed and only 5 or 6 minutes later the basil leaves were being torn up in front of me.

The uncomplicated offering hit the spot, the only tiny quibble is that I'd have preferred it cooked medium instead of rare!  I'll certainly be looking out for them about town, you can follow their movements on twitter and facebook.

Mr Burger tempted the better half...

She went for the Mr Burger option, with the beef pattie, cheese lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mustard, mayo and tomato sauce.

Things were pretty hectic in the 'kitchen', and there was a bit of a wait, and the pizza took a bit of a hit while we sat on the wall.

Eventually the burger arrived, and it was apparently very much worth the wait. (It actually wasn't that long, probably just over 10 minutes... but you it seems longer when your fellow diner already has their food!) Everything certainly looked good, and I'm not sure I'd have been able to get a bite if I'd asked!

I did get to try a few chips, which were pretty much perfect.

After eating I got to speak to Lauren of Footscray Food Blog fame, Kenny of Consider the Sauce was busy chatting to other guests. Thanks for the great work by both of them in setting the Westies up, you can read the full write up by Lauren in The Age for the details of the winners. We haven't visited any of them, so that adds a few more options when we want to try some new places out in the vicinity.

l'uccellino

20 Ballarat Street
Yarraville
Vic
3013

Tucked into the strip of shops on Ballarat Street, l'uccellino is fairly inconspicuous with only a small sign above the door. The large windows allow a good view into the smarty set up interior. The tables were set with white table cloths, and the old wooden chairs added to the formal feel, the kitchen is open, the only down side being the tall stacks of take away boxes that were visible. 

We shared a couple of pizza's, the Puttanesca was topped with tomato, fior di latte, black olives, cherry tomatoes and some great anchovies. The base was thin and crisp and all the ingredients good quality, the only quibble would be that it would have been nice to have just a few more anchovies and olives.

The funghi porcini pizza came topped with three tranlucent slices of prosciutto as well as the tomato, fior di latte, and porcini mushrooms. Again the base was great and ingredients flavorsome, although a couple more mushies would have been nice. 

The service was swift as we wanted and friendly and the bill came in at $37. We were both satisfied by the meal, and would go back, but probably wouldn't make the walk down to Yarraville just to visit, especially as we'd have to walk past Tin Pan Alley on the way!

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