Small Graces

August 28, 2022

   

The weather was glorious on Sunday, so we lined up a westside lunch with our friends formally known as the Moody Noodles (... then added time to deliver a few of Michael's calendars by bike, and refill the pannier with groceries from Vincent Vegetarian Food). They suggested Small Graces, a café with plenty of outdoor seating in the heart of Footscray. It has the polished concrete, varnished wood and pastel accents common to so many Melbourne cafés, but the menu sets it apart. That menu starts with a long list of build-your-own elements: toast, eggs, bacon and avocado to be sure but also hummus with hazelnut dukkah, arepas, wilted greens in shiro miso, relish, and almond feta - all made in-house.

There are composed plates as well, with plenty of well-marked vegan and gluten-free options. In spite of all this variety, three of us made the same order! We just couldn't get past the arepas con frijoles ($20) and each added potato hash ($4.50) on the side. None of us were disappointed: the stout little arepas were so pillowy, and I piled mine with the accompanying avocado. The slow-cooked beans were thick savoury comfort topped with crumbled almond feta, and and all this creaminess was cut through by the jalapeno-spiced escabeche pickles. The potato hash swung back to rich comfort food, smeared with a vegan-friendly aioli and rosemary salt. Few things can persuade me away from sourdough waffles (with apple crumble and cashew icecream, no less!) but this meal did it and I felt no regret. 

   

I usually like to order an iced chai when I see it on offer, but the agua de panela (described as Colombian 'lemonade'; $5.50) was a better match for beans and arepas. Even Michael ordered one to follow his coffee.

Small Graces' staff were friendly and attentive, and there's so much more on the menu that I'd like to try. It's an instant addition to my mental list of Footscray favourites.

____________

Small Graces has already won fans on Mamma Knows West, TOT: HOT OR NOT, and Consider the Sauce.

____________

Small Graces

57 Byron St, Footscray

9912 6429

food, drinks

https://www.smallgraces.com.au/

Accessibility: There's a narrow, flat entry. Indoor and outdoor furniture is densely arranged and regular height with a mixture of backed chairs and backless stools. We ordered at our table and paid at a low counter. Toilets require swipe card access on request from the staff; the loos are located around the corner, through a heavy door and down a hallway. I noticed gendered narrow cubicles and one ungendered, labelled-accessible cubicle with a baby change station.

Confit chickpeas

August 20, 2022

   

I saw Kylie tweeting about an easy chickpea recipe that she'd fallen in love with and immediately downloaded the badly photographed recipe to add to our rotation. I should have known immediately it was an Ottolenghi - ludicrously precise instructions like "11 garlic cloves" alongside big flavours? It has his fingerprints all over it.

It's also, somewhat surprisingly, incredibly simple - the confit takes a long time to bake, but preparation work is super minimal and the pay-off predictably wonderful. It's an oily, spicy delight, with the herby yoghurt providing a bit of freshness to cut through. We served it with paratha from the freezer, but something a bit more absorbent would really hit the spot I think. This is up there with Yotam's orecchiette for me, in terms of maximising simplicity and deliciousness. We'll definitely make it again!

    

   

Confit chickpeas

(based on this recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi)

chickpeas

2 x 400g cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

11 cloves of garlic, peeled

thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and julienned

400g cherry tomatoes

3 red chillies, with a slit cut down the side

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, roughly crushed in a mortar and pestle

2 teaspoons coriander seeds, roughly crushed in a mortar and pestle

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

2 teaspoons hot paprika

1 teaspoon caster sugar

200ml olive oil

salt

dressing

small bunch mint, leaves only

small bunch coriander, leaves only

200g yoghurt

1 tablespoon lime juice, plus bonus lime wedges to serve

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

In a casserole dish or other ovenproof pan that has a lid, combine all the chickpea ingredients, stirring thoroughly to mix everything together. Cover and cook for 70-80 minutes, stirring everything at the halfway point - you want the tomatoes to almost completely break down by the end.

When the chickpeas are nearly done, whiz together the dressing ingredients in a food processor.

Serve, with bread or rice and with yoghurt dressing and lime wedges.

Creamy vegan pasta with smoky tempeh

August 18, 2022

   

This week I pulled a pasta recipe up from way back in my archives - Dr Ricki published it in 2010 back when her blog was called 'Diet, Dessert & Dogs'. Her recipes focused primarily on the anti-candida diet, and this was her adaptation of carbonara. You can see that I'm holding back on that name: carbonara is a dish that is wrapped up in tradition, nostalgia, and opinions around 'authenticity'. Dr Ricki composed something that was accessible and nostalgic for her, and with a couple of adjustments it's now become an enjoyable meal for me, too.

This recipe combines two styles of vegan cooking that I'm already familiar with. The creamy sauce sits easily alongside the ones I make for macaroni and fettuccine, flavoured with cashews, tahini, miso and mustard. This one is coloured with a little turmeric, and I probably won't do that again as I think its subtle flavour still managed to overwhelm the nutmeg.

Meanwhile, the tempeh is flavoured with tamari, sweetener (no stevia for me!) and liquid smoke as I know well from other vegan 'bacon' recipes. The interesting trick here is that instead of being marinated, the tempeh is braised in a more watery version of the liquid, with excellent (if not bacony) results.

Preparation calls for three pots on the go, and my timing meant that I had to call on Michael to drain the pasta and mix in the peas while I was carefully stirring the sauce. I'm sure I can refine the scheduling and manage it on my own in future. I served the tempeh plate by plate, expecting it to colour the sauce brown, and forgot my parsley the first time around (it went double on the leftovers!). This was a really nice variation on a couple of old favourite foods, and likely to stick around in our dinner rotation.

Creamy vegan pasta with smoky tempeh

(slightly adapted from a recipe by Dr Ricki)

braised tempeh

225g packet tempeh

3 tablespoons tamari

juice of 1 small lemon, topped up with water to make 1/3 cup liquid

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon golden syrup 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup water

creamy pasta

500g pasta

3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen

2 tablespoons smooth cashew butter

1 tablespoon white miso

1 tablespoon tahini

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon turmeric (for colour, optional)

pinch of nutmeg

salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup soy or almond milk

1 cup vege stock

1 tablespoons arrowroot or potato starch

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to the boil for the pasta. 

Slice the tempeh into bite-sized pieces. Place all of the braising ingredients in a medium-sized frypan, whisking with a fork to combine. Add the tempeh pieces and swish them around to coat them in the liquid. Set the frypan over medium heat and cook the tempeh, flipping them occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated; this will probably take 15-25 minutes.

When the saucepan of water is ready, add the pasta and cook it according to its directions. When it's finished cooking, drain the pasta, return it to its saucepan, and stir through the peas. Even if the peas are frozen, this should be enough heat to defrost them.

While the tempeh and the pasta are both cooking, get to work on the sauce. In a small-medium saucepan, stir together the cashew butter, miso, tahini, mustard, garlic, turmeric, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Gradually whisk in the milk and stock to make a smooth sauce. Whisk in the arrowroot. Set the sauce over medium heat and stir continuously until thickened, about 10 minutes. Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta and peas, and stir to combine. When the tempeh is ready, gently fold that through the mixture, too. Serve garnished with fresh parsley.

Rice Paper Scissors II

August 7, 2022

   

We visited Rice Paper Scissors three years ago during a bumper Melbourne International Film Festival experience. It's been a couple of quiet intervening years, and we're tentatively heading out for a few masked movies again in 2022 - this jogged my memory that Rice Paper Scissors might make for a nice lunch in a long break between sessions. I easily secured us a booking a couple days in advance, and noticed that the restaurant had moved roughly a kilometre west, from Liverpool St to Hardware Lane.

A couple of welcome constants are that the staff are very friendly, and the vegan and gluten-free options are clearly marked across the menu. We started out with fancy drinks: a lemongrass Tom Collins ($22; lemongrass gin, cucumber syrup, lemon soda) for Michael, and an alcohol-free No-long Tea Sour ($16) for me. I noticed just as the staff were taking my order away that there's also a selection of cheaper house-made sodas ($7) and felt a pang of regret... but only until I tasted my mocktail. Its refreshing tea base, sweet (most likely eggy) foam, garnishing dried herbs and dehydrated orange slice formed a rare and complex drink that I was happy to pay extra for.

   

The encouraged approach to the menu is to choose 5 dishes for two people, at a cost of $45 per person. This made for a slight saving compared to ordering one dish at a time, but it would also be possible to cobble together a smaller, still-filling vegan meal for a bit less. We started with nam prik hed, an intensely sweet and sour caramelised mushroom relish spooned onto light and crunchy soy bean crackers. We also received a complimentary bowl of roasted peanuts (... perhaps some extra consolation protein for the vegos?).

   

The yum broccoli rom khwan was my surprise favourite of the meal - here the broccoli retained a bit of crunch, and was served on an exceptional coconut-pea puree, with a smoky almond dressing.

   

The salapao pak tod had more flavour tucked away than I initially noticed - the tempura-battered eggplant was equal parts crisp and tender, with a cooling cucumber garnish, then a burst of spicy mayonnaise sitting deeper within the steamed bun.

   

The kui chai were very similar to the chive cakes we're fond of ordering at Rin Sura. Here they come with wrap-around lettuce leaves and herbs, and they're a little more difficult to bite through.

   

Though we were already full, our final dish of dau hu sot tuong was irresistible - large, spongey tofu cubes thickly battered and coated in a sweet soy glaze, with plenty of flavour to spill over onto fragrant jasmine rice.

The dessert menu was attractive - it was tempting to split a 'terrarium' (Vietnamese coffee mousse with peanut and chocolate soil), and I was glad to see a vegan option (tofu and ginger brulee with lychee and mint). But we really were very full, and had an hour to pass before our next film, so we agreed to a river walk and an icecream later on.

I'll just have to tuck that dessert menu away for another time. Without a doubt, Rice Paper Scissors is now firmly imprinted on my mind as a reliable spot for a special meal in the city.

____________

You can read about our first visit to Rice Paper Scissors here. Since then it's been blogged on A Chronicle of Gastronomy.

____________

Rice Paper Scissors

15 Hardware Lane, Melbourne

9663 9890

main menu, desserts

https://ricepaperscissors.com.au/

Accessibility: RPS is located in a cobbled laneway, and the outdoor seating is on a slightly sloping floor.  Outdoor furniture included regular-height (but wobbly) tables and chairs with backs, arranged in medium to high density. We ordered and paid at our table. Toilets are ungendered cubicles located upstairs next door.

Quince & browned butter tart

July 26-30, 2022

   

Our friend Danni gave us a single large quince. I knew I could simply poach it and eat it for breakfast, or make a cake or salad we'd made before, but I had the energy to try something new. If I don't use my Stephanie Alexander book for this, I thought, it's probably time to acknowledge that I'll never use the Stephanie Alexander book and get rid of it.

Sure enough, Stephanie Alexander had plenty of ideas for quince and at least two of them were credited to Maggie Beer. The book has a nested approach such that I settled on the quince and browned butter tart, then had to refer back to recipes for shortcrust pastry, poached quinces, and sugar syrup to sort out my full ingredient list. As I incorporated each new recipe into the fold, I adapted a bit further, borrowing from my previous experience poaching quinces, substituting apple cider vinegar for the usual lemon juice, and making my pastry by food processor instead of by hand. The original recipe earns credit for having me brown the butter - without anything added, it already smelled deliciously of caramel.

I've made dozens of shortcrust pastries and this one wasn't my best - it was undercooked on the base and shrank away from the edge of the dish, even though I tried to crimp it on, such that it was extra-thick where the base sloped up to the side. The crust was still flaky and toasty at its edges, deep enough to accommodate the filling, and sturdy enough to hold its shape - Michael even said he preferred this texture before I'd mentioned a word about my errors.

As a whole, the pie still worked. The quince was tender and floral-scented, surrounded by a small quantity of just-set custard, and the crust provided buttery but unsweetened support. There remained just enough poached quince for one breakfast, and we shared the poaching syrup as a drink with soda water.

   

Quince & browned butter tart

(adapted from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion,

borrowing a little from Cook (almost) Anything)

poached quinces

~500mL water

65g caster sugar

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or juice of half a lemon)

1 large (450g) quince

1 cinnamon stick

shortcrust pastry

240g plain flour

pinch of salt

180g butter

1/4 cup water

filling

125g butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 heaped tablespoon plain flour

In a saucepan, stir together the water, sugar and vinegar. Work as quickly as you can to minimise browning: peel the quince, remove its core, chop its flesh into pieces, and drop the pieces into the saucepan. Top up the water if the quince pieces aren't fully submerged and add the cinnamon stick. Set the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring it all to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the quinces until they're tender. Allow them to cool to room temperature. 

For the pastry, place the flour and salt in a food processor. Dice the butter and drop it into the processor too. Blend the mixture until it resembles coarse sand. With the motor running, add the water a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture starts binding together. Turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and bring it together into a ball. Wrap up the pastry and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 200°C. Roll out the pastry and ease it into a pie dish, trimming the edges. Line the pastry with paper, add pie weights, and blind bake the pastry for 20 minutes. (I would perhaps try 15 minutes with paper and weights, plus 10 minutes without paper and weights next time.) Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the oven heat to 180°C; allow the pastry base to cool.

Melt the butter for the filling and cook it until it turns a deep gold; turn off the heat and set aside. Drain the quinces from their syrup and reserve the syrup for another use (we drank ours with soda water). Arrange the quince pieces across the pastry base. Beat together the eggs and sugar, then stir in the flour and the butter. Gently pour the mixture over the quinces. Bake the tart until set, 30-40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

David's

28 July, 2022

   

David's has been in operation for over two decades in Prahran, and in the past couple years it has attracted attention from the veg*n community for its vegan yum cha options. We met some friends there for dinner, and were all happy to rely on the banquet menu for a tour of David's best. David's Veg Classics runs to $55 per person; though it's not explicitly stated, it all looks to be vegan-adaptable. Gluten-free veg*ns would need a more extensive conversation with staff to figure out a suitable selection.

   

David's got that first tick from me when I saw a clear menu of fun non-alcoholic drinks. The Aloe-Spritz ($9) was my perfect foil the couple of spicy dishes ahead.

   

Our meal commenced with san choi bao, made with shredded seasonal vegetables and hoisin. I feared for the potential blandness of the thick, pan fried radish and chive xian bing pockets (no dipping sauce?!), and I was proven very, very wrong. My pancake was golden-crisp on the outside, lightly doughy beneath and had a very flavourful, shredded-vege filling. A highlight for me! 

   

Michael was predictably more taken by the mapo tofu dumplings - what a fabulous fusion of two beloved comfort foods!

   

Our main course also arrived as a group of three. The braised tofu and mushrooms reminded me again of mapo tofu, with its bean paste and Szechuan pepper, and it was topped with crispy-battered enoki mushrooms. The shiitake bok choy soy fried rice looked tamer but held a surprisingly deep, savoury flavour of its own. 

   

We underestimated the eggplant based on its monochromatic look, too - with sweet vinegar and soft garlic cloves, it was yet another umami king. Mindful of the dessert still to come, we resisted eating the lot and David's staff were happy to pack up our leftover rice, tofu and eggplant to take home. 

   

Dessert was less inspiring - Michael's never keen on a banana fritter and in any case, these were soft and starchy and seemed to have been sitting around a bit too long. The accompanying vanilla icecream and drizzled chocolate were pleasant but unremarkable. Our companions were served ramekins of mandarin crème brulée with pretty edible flowers, and the fancier banquets include white chocolate dumplings, so this may be an odd one out.  

   

A lacklustre dessert couldn't dim this sweet-tooth's enthusiasm for David's! The savoury dishes were memorable, packed with flavour, and each a little different to what we're accustomed to ordering elsewhere. Lunching on our leftovers prolonged the magic. After so many years overlooking it, David's is now an instant southside fave.

____________

David's has been extensively blogged over the years! The vegan yum cha gets coverage on Messy Veggies, and there's omni praise on Olive Sundays, fo0die (freebie), gastrology (freebie), State of Steph (freebie), The Penguin Eats (freebie), The New Fave, The Melbourne Glutton, Eat Play Love Travel, Table To Paper, foodie about town, Sarah Cooks (freebie), Not Quite Nigella, The Chommery, Food of the Soul, Almost Always Ravenous (freebie), I'm So Hungree (freebie), Melbourne Din(n)ing Blog (freebie), The Bakeanista (freebie), Ichigo Shortcake (freebie), Sew Delicious (freebie), Gastonomical Ramblings, and MSG: The Melbourne Social Guide. (My, that's a lot of free meals!) Only Snow Crab Nebula, MoMo & Coco, and please sir, can i have some more were underwhelmed.

____________

David's

4 Cecil Place, Prahran

9529 5199

drinks, a la carte, banquets

http://davidsrestaurant.com.au/

Accessibility: Not good! There is a step and a very small foyer on entry, and a couple more steps between dining sections inside. Furniture is densely packed and the chairs aren't comfortable - in particular the wooden ones with arms aren't suitable for wide thighs. We didn't visit the toilets.