If you are looking for something to do this Sunday, I highly reccommend checking out the Sydney Road Street Party in Brunswick.  The annual Sydney Road Street Party  is a day where the usual car and trams along this iconic street are replaced with a lively sea of people, music and food. In other words, Sydney Road goes from looking like this:

Sydney Road - Business as usual.

To this:

Sydney Road Street Party

There will be lots and lots of food (I reccommend the meatballs with spicy yoghurt sauce from the La Paella stall – I tried these last year and they were terrific!), bands and shopping. (Plus if you live locally like me, you can simply duck home to use the toilet – completely by-passing the inevitably long queses to use the Ladies at these events).

1. Having to be a ‘real lawyer’ and preparing not one but two matters for trial this week; and
2. A whirlwind weekend visit from Glamorous Sister No. 2.

Anyway, enough excuses – let’s just say I have lots of food stories to catch up on.

Glamorous Sister No. 2 brought her boyfriend, Strong Silent Type, along for the trip and since he had never been to Melbourne before, The Brooding Architect and I were keen to share some of our favourite Melbourne experiences. We ate breakfast at La Paloma, we had fancy cocktails at New Gold Mountain, we soaked in the hot springs down the Peninsula and we had dinner at our local, Tom Phat.

Tom Phat is a modern Pan Asian restaurant located on Sydney Road, Brunswick. The half-Singaporean part of me tends to avoid any restaurant which describes its food as ‘Pan Asian’ – but the food at Tom Phat  genuinely works. The flavours are predominately Thai and Vietnamese with lots of coconut-y curries, tangy tamarind and fresh chilli and lime. These flavours are all rolled together in the signature dish of crunchy pork belly and seared scallops served with a sweet caramalised sauce. I have eaten this (too) many times before and vouch for how good it is.

Tom Phat has  has recently been expanded to include a trendy bar section with cozy booths, Sapporo beer on tap and a great record selection. Most importantly though, you can sit in the bar section and still order from the full restaurant menu. The bar area is dark, brooding and a little rough around the edges (or as I like to say, the bar equivalent of The Brooding Architect).

Tom Phat Bar - Dark, brooding and a little rough around the edges

The main meals at Tom Phat are very generous, so you can easily skip an entree (to save room for dessert of course). Between our group of four we shared two entrees and four mains and still had to be rolled out the door.

We started with some smoky chicken satay sticks ($9.50), served with a crunchy peanut sauce and some spicy Thai fish cakes ($8.50), served with a traditional Thai sweet chilli / lime / cucumber dipping sauce. Again, let me stress that portion sizes are extremely generous – there were 5 chicken satay sticks and 6 fishcakes in each serve.

Smoky Chicken Satay

Spicy Thai Fishcakes

The entrees are not 100% authentic, but they were fresh and packed with plenty of the right – and when washed down with a round of Sapporo beer ($6 per pint) and some Westons Organic Cider ($12 for a 750mL bottle) authenticity does not seem to matter that much.

Westons Organic Cider

For the mains, we lived dangerously and ordered specials for that night. The specials ranged in price from $20 to $25. We ordered:

• Whole Prawns in a rich, creamy coconut sauce
• Twice cooked duck, served with a star anise and orange broth
• Red Thai curry with pork belly
• Whole fried crispy barramundi, served with a chilli, pineapple and tamarind sauce

And it was all as good as it sounds…

The prawns were so delicious that the whole plate had been eaten up before I even remembered to take any photos. The prawns had been cooked in the shell, which although makes the dish a bit more tricky to eat, but results in a juicy, succulent end product. The prawns were slathered with a rich coconut sauce and served with lots of fresh chilli, coriander and lime.  In true (half) Singaporean style, Glamorous Sister No. 2 and I sucked the juicy goodness out of the prawn heads, while The Brooding Architect and Strong Silent Type looked on with disgust.

I am one of those people that likes to order duck when I go out for dinner, for the simple reason that it is not something that I cook at home (if I did, I would probably end up with a common aliment amongst lawyers – gout). The duck was beautifully cooked. The meat melted in your mouth, allowing you to savour the infused flavours of star anise, Chinese five spice, ginger and soy sauce.  The dish was very rich though – certainly recommended for sharing, unless you are a true duck aficionado.

Twice Cooked Duck

Next out was the Thai Red Curry. Using pork belly in place of the standard chicken or beef, transformed a simple Red Curry into something unique. The curry had all of the usual suspects you would find in a Thai-style red curry – coconut cream, dried red chillies, galangal and fish sauce. The dish was lightened up through the addition of fresh red chillies, coriander, lime and cherry tomatoes. This really assisted in balancing the richness of the pork belly.

Red Curry with Pork Belly

Despite a not so promising start, the Barramundi was my dish of the night. The first time the Barramundi came out it looked fantastically impressive, but unfortunately was not cooked all the way through. When we brought this to our waiter/barman’s attention he quickly organised a replacement Barramundi for us. No questions, no attitude and no snarkiness whatsoever. It was even generously and unexpectedly taken off the bill at the end of the night. Refreshingly good service. Fortunately, Barramundi No. 2 came it out cooked to perfection. The skin was crispy and crunchy, a wonderful contrast to the sweet fish flesh and tangy tamarind and chilli sauce.

Whole Cooked Barramundi

Sadly, given that we had been eating and drinking for two days straight, there was no room for dessert. If I had any room at all I would have ordered the delicious sounding Five-Spice Banana Spring Rolls with coconut icecream. I’ll save that for next time.

I used my free Saturday to try out Kitchen Kultcha, a new-ish cafe on Glenylon Road, Brunswick – just a few minutes walk from Sydney Road.

Kitchen Kultcha - 43 Glenylon Road, Brunswick

Before housing Kitchen Kultcha this brick building has had many different lives. Most recently is was a fish and chip shop and before that it was a ye olde butcher (you can even still see the old and faded ‘Broken & Boneless Meat’ butcher sign out the front).

As always I started with a strong flat white ($3.50). The Brooding Architect and I agreed that the coffee was exceptionally good – strong, creamy, no trace of foam. The Brooding Architect has worked from home for the past year – frequenting each and every coffee shop in Brunswick -  so for coffee to get his seal of approval speaks volumes to me.

Strong Flat White from Kitchen Kultcha

For some reason though, they did not give the Brooding Architect a heart on his flat white?

The Brooding Architect's Coffee - Sans the heart art

While I drank my coffee I took a good look at the eclectic fit out. There were Chandeliers, Mediterranean style table tops, op shop paintings on the walls and a Buddhist statue at the entrance. Despite sounding chaotic the space works. The whole place has a very relaxed vibe – the staff are friendly, there are kids from the local kindy down the road running around and there are hipsters with hangovers. Somehow all of these elements just seem to harmoniously blend together. There is also free wifi, so all of you with your iPads (you know who I am talking about) can sit there reading your e-Newspapers (or playing Fruit Ninja) to your hearts content.

I generally think ordering muesli when you are out at a cafe is a classic ‘rookie’s mistake’; as it is one of those things that it so easy to make at home, plus who feels like being healthy on the weekend?  However, the muesli options at Kitchen Kultcha are très fancy – plus my first choice of the Beef Cheek Pastie was already sold out. (As a Beef Cheek Lover I will have to come back for this pastie very soon though).

I ordered the Granola ($8). This is clearly homemade, chock full of premium dried fruits and nuts – sliced almonds, roasted hazelnuts, pepitas, currants, cranberries, dried apricots and a sprinkling of orange rind. Not a sultana or the other dreaded filler fruit, dried paw paw, in sight. Lots of crunch and lovely cinnamon undertones. The Granola must be topped with full fat milk – this is completely non-negotiable.

Granola topped with fresh fruit

The Granola is meant to be topped with poached seasonal fruit. Unfortunately due to our lazy start to the day, the kitchen had already run out of poached fruit, so the Granola was topped with fresh strawberries and grapes instead. The fresh fruit was lovely and sweet, however I think some poached fruit – such as rhubarb, apple or pear – with a little acidity would have been the perfect match.

Inspired by my healthy choice, the Brooding Architect jumped on the virtuous bandwagon and ordered the Bircher Muesli ($8). It was infused with rosewater and creamy natural youghurt (no low fat substitutes here). Just before serving fresh grated pear, rather than the usual grated green apple, is then added to the mix. It was healthy, delicious and deceptively filling.

Bircher Muesli at Kitchen Kultch

Now I just can’t wait for my next lazy Saturday, so I can try out that Beef Cheek Pastie…

One of your local haunts is the A1 Bakery. The decor, staff and prices at A1 Bakery have not changed since the 1980s. It is real deal, grungy, ‘Death in Brunswick’ Brunswick.  Make-shift Bunnings rattan fencing separates the café component of A1 Bakery from the food store, extended Lebanese families are tucking into the fresh baked bread (still hot from the oven) and old men sit and sip on their short blacks. No snarky hipster staff  in sight. It is fantastic.

The pizza at A1 Bakery is outrageously cheap (but good). A supreme pizza topped with hot salami, tangy feta cheese, olives and lots of vegetables will only set you back $6.00.  This is it in all of its glory.

A1 Bakery Pizza - An unbelievable $6

In place of the usual tomato sauce base, the Lebanese style pizzas at A1 have a  zaatar base. Zaatar is a Middle-Eastern herb and spice mixture, mixed together with sesame, sumac and salt for texture.  It is tangy and sharp and adds a real ‘zing’ to the pizzas.

Spend your change on Lebanese soft drinks, not for recommend retail sale in Australia. Tastes like fizzy liquefied barley sugar, surprisingly good.

Surprisingly good despite not being recommend for retail sale in Australia

The only thing better value than the pizzas at A1 Bakery are the $3 Cheese and Spinach Triangles, but that it is a story for another day.

Deciding who to vote for had never really been issue for me before. I am not ashamed to admit that I have always been an ALP voter – heck, in 2007 I was the proud owner of a Kevin 07 T-Shirt. Fast forward to 2010 and the problem I faced was that every point of difference between the ALP and the Coalition had all but vanished. It seems I had a lot of thinking to do.

To kick start my Saturday morning brain, I ordered two strong flat whites ($3.50 each) and the Brahart baked beans with chilli labna and toasted pide ($9.50).

The coffee at Rays is consistently good. Strong, thick and creamy.

The baked beans also did not disappoint. There was a mixture of red kidney beans, navy beans and cannelloni beans swimming in a tomato sauce with a little chilli kick. The toasted pide was perfect to mop up the remnants of the tomato sauce and the  tangy chilli labna took simple baked beans to the next level.

I also picked at The Brooding Architect’s poached eggs with prosciutto, tomato chutney and pecorino, served with sourdough ($14) . These poached eggs were cooked perfectly – with an oozing, almost orange yolk. I am a sucker for a good tomato chutney too – done well I think it can make anything taste a bit fancy. The tomato chutney at Rays is just the way I like it – smoky, sweet and tangy all rolled into one, with lots of chunky bits like mustard seeds and diced onion for texture. The saltiness of the shaved pecorino then brings all the flavors of this dish together.

To cut a long, rambling story short, after my brain had been sufficiently fuelled , Election Day 2010 was the first time I voted Green (albeit in the Senate only, not the House of Reps). The reasoning for this was that no matter which of the major parties got into power that there would be a party in the Senate moderating their decision making.

Two weeks later and it seems that we still don’t have a majority government. If you had told me on Election Day that Bob Katter Junior would be running our country, I might have needed more than a strong coffee  before casting my vote.

The biggest problem with Balha’s is you often swing by for just a coffee, but the staff are just so friendly – insisting that you ‘sample’ the fresh baked pastries – that it is impossible not to buy a little sweet treat to go with your coffee (or a box of turkish delight to take home).

Here is mix of some our favorites. The Fingers (filo pastry, syrup and cashew) and the Diamond Baklawa (filo pastry, syrup with cashew) are my top picks, especially with an espresso, or (if you are feeling healthy) a cup of mint tea.

However, the crème de le crème of what is on offer at Balha’s has to be the Znoud El Sit (filo pastry with syrup and clotted cream). My arteries hurt just thinking about this, but it just too delicious to refuse.

Try it only if you can trust yourself (or you don’t live walking distance to Balha’s).

Needless to say, I was over the moon on moving day when I saw the variety of food available at my new door step. Everything from baklava to caramelised pork belly to churros.

My Saturday ritual now consists of an early(ish) morning coffee at one of my local cafes, followed by hauling my grandma trolley up to the Mediterranean Wholesalers to stock up on ridiculously cheap olive oil, canned tomatoes, fresh pasta and Italian wines.

Last Saturday, I eased into the weekend at my Argentinean favorite, La Paloma. La Paloma is located on Albert Street just off Sydney Road, Brunswick , it is not the sort of place you would give a second glance to unless you were a local.

La Paloma viewed from Sydney Road, Brunswick

My favourite thing about La Paloma (apart from the bright red back room and record player) is the lack of options. This might sound strange, but give me a cafe that does all three things on its breakfast menu exceptionally well over a 2 page laminated menu any day. The breakfast choices at LaPaloma are what I call the ‘Ranchers Breakfast’ (baked eggs) for $10, sweet rice porridge with pear for $6 or a tortilla with salad and bread for $6. With these ridiculously low prices, a strong flat white and churro lathered with crème de luche are non-negotiable extras.

On this particular Saturday, nothing but the Ranchers Breakfast was going to cut through my red wine induced hangover.

The Brooding Architect chows down on the Ranchers Breakfast

The Ranchers Breakfast consists of two or three eggs baked eggs in a rich tomato sauce, grilled mini beef sausages, with a fresh salsa salad, labna (yoghurt cheese) and fresh bread on the side. The egg yolks are consistently soft and goo-ey and the sharpness of the labna cuts beautifully through the rich tomato sauce. End Result = Ranchers Breakfast 1 / Red Wine Hangover  0.

Swing by on a Saturday soon. I will be the one in the red room with the grandma trolley, sitting with the Brooding Architect in black.