Spice Bazaar

79 Victoria Street
Seddon
Vic 3011

I'd walked past Spice Bazaar many times and sometimes seen classes in action, but hadn't got around to finding out more about it. A work related event provided the opportunity to find out more! Inside the kitchen area was modern and clean with two islands for prep and hobs and ovens against the back wall.At the front the tables were set...

We worked in groups of four filling up the two benches in the kitchen area. The first thing we worked on were the Spanish tortillas with an anchovy, capers and lemon zest filling.

Jill flipped the omelettes using a plate.

They were finished in the oven and formed part of the second course.

The entrée included Rhodes zucchini fritters with mint and wine marinated feta...

...Za'atar Spiced Lebanese Bread with a herbaceous, topping  imparting tangy and nutty flavours.

The final component of the first course were the home style nachos with classic toppings and served with a guacamole.

The main course featured a variety of salads including Piquillo with sweet smokey roasted capsicum fillets topped with  anchovy, red oinion, Spanish Sherry vinegar and extra virgin olive oil....

... a Spanish black olive, fennel and orange salad....

...and a Broccoli salad.

The centre piece of the mains were the veggie and chicken and chorizo paellas.

There were also Koftas.

To finish we prepared and ate pears poached in Moroccan spices, with citrus labne whip.

 I've let the photo's do the talking, as I'm not sure 'reviewing' food I'd help cook (when I didn't have the camera out) was really fair. The dishes were all flavoursome and the ingredients authentic and good quality. The business was originally focussed on spice production, but has now successfully been teaching for a couple of years. The hosts were enthusiastic and knowledgeable. It was different and enjoyable activity to participate in with colleagues and certainly and fun and educational way to spend an evening!

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+39 Pizzeria

362 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne
VIC 3000

+39 Pizzeria takes its name from the telephone area code for Italy. It is located on Little Bourke steet between Elizabeth and Queen and has s stylish facade featuring plenty of glass, which allowed us to see how busy it was as we arrived on a Friday evening.

Despite the crowds we were quickly shown to a table, just in front of the bar area. Behind the counter were shelves loaded with plenty of products of Italian origin. 

Next to this was a refrigerated cabinet displaying a range of charcuterie, salads and desert. 

We shared the Caponata de pane for entrée, a bread salad with borlotti beans, rocket, tomatoes, white onion and shaved parmesan. We both enjoyed the wining mix of good quality ingredients.

The phone didn't seem to be on best photo taking form, but you can just about make out the rocket again topping the Tatufata pizza, which also featured a tasty combination of cream of mushrooms, fior de latte, mushrooms, truffle oil and parmesan on a great base.

The Napoletana pizza sported a more traditional and equally good combination of tomato salsa, fior de latte, anchovies, olives, capers, oregano and basil atop another perfect base.

The bill with a few drinks came to around $80. Despite how busy it was the staff were friendly and our meals were delivered at a good pace. I wouldn't hesitate on returning for another visit if looking for an authentic Italian pizza in the city.





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Tidlom Thai Antique Restaurant

550 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
VIC 3000

Tildom had some good reviews on urbanspoon particularly for offering authentic Thai food. From the outside the restaurant is fairly nondescript, with an all glass street frontage and only some small signage.

Inside the rectangular space featured one wall covered in a mix of Thai and western film posters, another displaying dozens of Thai number plates, otherwise the décor was clean and modern with wooden tanles and chairs.

We perused the menu, and decided to share some fish cakes as an entrée, unfortunately they ended up arriving just after our mains. They seemed however to have just come out of the pan, almost too hot to eat. Combined with the dipping sauce the spice factor was up there too, and a good start to the meal.

 Phil had the Pad Thai beef, which looked a little different to the 'typical' dish I've seen in Bangkok, Melbourne or London, it was also missing the usual peanuts. It was fine without being outstanding.

I had the Tom Yum noodle soup with chicken, which was reasonable without the usual intensity of flavour and spiciness. The gangal/ginger and lemon grass were present as were the straw mushroomsbut the punch was lacking.

Apart from all the dishes arriving together the service was fine. We were there for the last day of an opening lunch special featuring $9 mains and the overall bill came to a reasonable $23. I'm glad we opted for the the fish cakes as they turned out to be a highlight.




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Ebi Fine Food

18A Essex Street
Footscray,
VIC 3011

We'd been meaning to try Ebi Fine Food for a while, and finally made it there on a cold and wet Friday winter evening. The concept of a Japanese and fish and chips fusion restaurant on Essex street in West Footscray had always intrigued me. The mix in styles seemed slightly dissonant in my mind, but on arriving it was possible to see the two themes mixing and complimenting each other from outside.

Inside there are some Japanese touches, but the overall layout is definitely chip shop style, with two 2 seater tables and a counter/bar with another 6 spots. Although it was pretty busy while we there, and a bit of squeeze getting sat down, the dining area doesn't feel overrun by people waiting for or picking up takeaway. The menu, which is available on the 'about' page of the Facebook site is complimented by daily specials which also appear on the main fb page daily as well as the blackboard.

The veggie balls are billed as a vegetarian version of an Osaka street snack. The crunchy exterior covered a tasty interior, and the mayo style sauce was a little reminiscent of McDonald's burgers, in a good way, although I may be a little off the mark on that one as I haven't eaten at Macca's for over 10 years...

The prawn gyoza were brilliant, the golden crispy shells containing real chunks of prawns, and must be the best I've had!

The special bento on this occasion starred two korokke, a Japanese take on croquettes, the first packed with Beef and Shitake which worked well together, the other containing a mix of Salmon and potato.

I went for the prawn bento, which came with a great little salad, interesting eggplant with a satayish topping, tofu, bamboo and rice as well as the well cooked prawns with their tangy sauce.

Ebi is apparently trying to get a license, but at the moment is booze free, which helped keep our bill down to only $42. The service was friendly and swift given how busy they were with both diners and takeaway customers. Rather than feeling like a takeaway it almost feels as if you are in the kitchen, in a good way. I'm sure we will head back, and I'm interested to try their Japanese take on fish and chips...

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Pho Dzung

234 Russell Street 

Melbourne,
VIC 3000

Another lunch with a friend in the city and they suggested Pho Dzung, not far from the office... I must have walked past it before, but hadn't noticed it. It's on the corner of Russell and Lonsdale street, and while not huge has plenty of signage on the window!

Inside it was very busy on a Friday lunchtime, packed in fact. The fit out featured photo's of the dishes from the menu on the wall and a TV thankfully turned off, but was otherwise fairly plain and modern.

We ended up sharing a table with another group and one other diner right by the counter and under the sign. We got copies of the double sided single sheet menu with photo's of some of the dishes. It also had the addresses of sister restaurants in Richmond and Footscray. I haven't been to either before, the Footscray branch is apparently on Nicholson street near little Saigon market.

We both ordered pho and the herbs, chillies and bean shoots arrived soon, looking pretty fresh... I was warned that the chilli slices were hot, and it turned out to be true, just two slices in the broth was noticeable!

Linda had the beef and tendon pho, apparently the tendon is good for you! The thinly sliced beef was pink and the dish looked great.

I stuck with the tried and tested sliced chicken pho, which contained plenty of tender slices of poultry in the tasty stock. The medium sized bowl which I polished off satisfied my lunch time hunger on its own.

It was easy to understand why Pho Dzung was so popular, good food and reasonable prices - $9.50 for a medium bowl! The only downsides being the level of crowding and having to share tables. The service was pretty efficient, but there wasn't any time for chit chat.... It may have knocked Meekong off top spot for
pho in the city!

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