Small Axe Kitchen IV

January 5, 2024

   

It's been a while between visits to Small Axe Kitchen, though we always think of it fondly. We made time for breakfast there during our summer break, and easily secured a spot at one of their outdoor communal tables. The menu has changed a lot though it retains the same Sicilian inspiration that sets it apart from other brunch-centred cafes. There are plenty of egg-based dishes, but also lots of meats and vegetables that we don't typically see before noon. Small Axe is still most well-known for its breakfast pasta, which now comes with a vegetarian option. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are well-marked throughout.

I vacillated between the chilled rice pudding and the tiramisu pannacotta, ultimately settling on the former ($25, pictured above). Inevitably the rice had that firm, starchy texture it gets when chilled yet there were so many other textures to enjoy with it: a spoonably-soft baked apple, finely diced fresh apple, pureed apple and dehydrated apple frills, creamy custard and crunchy almond crumble. No two mouthfuls were quite the same, and all of them were lovely.

   

Michael continued on his chilli-scramble habit: this Sicilian egg-based one ($24.50) was served on toast with pecorino and chives. He rated this as one of the better ones going around, with excellent toast and a pleasing slow burn.

It's great to see Small Axe Kitchen succeeding, both sticking to its unique Sicilian style and switching up its specific offerings over time. We should circle back more often.

   

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You can also read about one, two, three of our previous visits to Small Axe Kitchen. Since then it's received positive coverage from ElectroBoi Eats.

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Small Axe Kitchen

281 Brunswick St, Brunswick

9939 6061

brunch; classics, sides & specials 

https://www.smallaxekitchen.com/

Accessibility: There's a small step on entry. Tables are densely packed with a clear corridor through the middle. Tables outside have small backless stools, high benches in the front room have tall backless stools, and tables in the back room have ordinary backed chairs. We ordered at our table and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

where's the best in 2023?

   

Vola Foods

With another calendar year's posts wrapped up, I've reviewed and updated our where's the best? page and noticed a few themes along the way. Firstly, we've bid farewell to too many beloved veg*n businesses! Kale Mary, The Origin Tales, Fina's, Power Plant and Sable all shut up shop in 2023, while Transformer is pending transformation. We're also sad to lose the veg-friendly neighbourhood nook, Theodore's.

The sandwich trend I noted in 2022 has continued into 2023 and I couldn't be happier, blogging Take Two Bagels, Egglab, Good Days Hot Bread, Banh Mi Nights, and current fave Pickles Milk Bar. For the weeknights that we couldn't be bothered cooking dinner, we leaned on two Master Lanzhou Noodle Bar venues, Shimbashi Soba, Vola Foods, and Eat Pierogi Make Love. We're lacking a go-to vegan brunch, but had noteworthy morning meals at Tyler's Milk Bar, Two:Bob and Fenton. It's also the year that Michael acquired a car, and that has enabled adventures to Midori by Tao's, Vegie Bowl, Easy Vegan and Mietta. For 2024 I've put Gloria back on my to-blog list: we're regular customers, their menu has evolved, and I reckon they're selling the best vegan desserts in Melbourne right now.

   

Darwin

We did our share of air travel as well as car travel in 2023, visiting Hobart, Darwin, Brisbane and Sydney. If all goes well in 2024 we'll be venturing even further.

In our home kitchen, there's been lot of Hetty Lui McKinnon recipes and a few family favouites. Crispy caper & slow-roasted tomato pappardelle and vegan bolognese take a while to come together but the rewards are high; Michael has made double-batches of the bolognese countless times to share with sick friends. A gnocchi broccoli tray bake with lemon & cheese or artichoke roll is much faster to pull together and just as satisfying to eat. My champion sweets were oaty ginger crunch and lebkuchen.

I did a big cookbook clear-out in 2023, giving away what I could and donating the remainder, and I've still got a dozen books on notice for me to focus on in 2024. And then, of course, there's the hundreds of online links I've bookmarked! Hopefully it'll make for a fun mix of retro recipes and new approaches on the blog this year.

   

An artichoke roll

Lebkuchen

December 28, 2023

   

Michael had a driver's license for the first time in 2023, and we had access to a car for much of the year too. This ramped up our adventures outside of Melbourne and we did a lot of regional second-hand shopping. Two excellent acquisitions were a copy of The Australian Women's Weekly The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits and some heart-shaped biscuit cutters.

My mum has had this book for decades and many of its recipes are very familiar to me. Lebkuchen are probably my all-time favourite, and I found time to bake and share them between on my summer holiday, just a smidge after the Christmas time that they're traditionally made for. They perfectly capture my own heritage - Germanic origins filtered through 1980s Australia. 

The biscuits use golden syrup instead of honey, a modest dose of warm ground spices and mixed peel in the dough, then they're embedded with a dot of raspberry jam and slathered with dark chocolate on the other side. The spice level is just as I remembered but I'm of the inclination to double them all now. My mum always skipped the mixed peel (I can think of a couple of family member who wouldn't've liked it) but I'm up for adding that to a future batch too. I consider the heart shape, raspberry jam and dark chocolate backing to be canon.

I notice now that Lebkuchen would be easy to veganise, and I can't imagine they'd taste any different. I'll report back! And hopefully I'll be reporting on many other recipes from the book, both nostalgic faves and ones that weren't a fit for my family of origin.

Lebkuchen

(a recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits)

60g butter

2/3 cup (160ml) golden syrup

1 3/4 cups (250g) plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon cocoa

1 tablespoon milk

1/4 cup (40g) mixed peel, finely chopped (I haven't included this yet but I will!)

2 tablespoons raspberry jam

185g dark chocolate

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Place the butter and golden syrup in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted. Bring them to the boil, then remove them from the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Sift in the flour, bicarb soda, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and cocoa, then the milk and peel. Cover the saucepan with a lid and allow it to rest for 1 1/2 hours. My mixture went from oozy to sticky dough in that time.

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line two trays with baking paper.

Prepare a clean surface and lightly flour it. Drop the dough onto the surface and knead it until it's firmer and less sticky. Roll the dough out to 5-8mm thick. Use a biscuit cutter to cut shapes from the dough and place them onto the baking trays - a heart shape is the classic!

When your trays are full of biscuits, make a little indentation in the centre of each one (I used the handle end of a small sharp knife for this, and a wooden spoon is recommended in the original recipe.) Use two teaspoons to gently place a teensy portion of jam in each biscuit indentation. Bake the biscuits for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned.

When the biscuits have cooled, melt the chocolate using your preferred method and mix it together with the oil. Gently spread the non-jammy side of each biscuit with chocolate and allow them to set before serving.

Easy Vegan II

December 26, 2023

   

We had a quiet Christmas holiday in 2023 and did some online scouting for fun places to eat - Easy Vegan came out on top for being open on Christmas and Boxing days and having a menu that we were keen to try more from. We ended up grazing on home-baked cheesymite scrolls on the 25th, but took a break from the televised cricket on the 26th for an Easy Vegan lunch. They were doing a bustling trade, but had us all set up with a cleared table and complimentary tea in good time.

It's been an unusually humid summer in Melbourne so we were keen for more drinks beyond the tea: an apple, watermelon and ginger juice ($8, above right) for Michael, and a custard-apple smoothie ($10, above left, and an old Fina's favourite) for me.

   

Michael lunched on the Spicy Satay V-Chic ($17) with rice. This isn't as thickly peanutty as the Thai and Indonesian satays that we're most familiar with but is consistent with the other Vietnamese one we know from Fina's: it's very savoury and well-spiced, a little oily, and not fiery-hot. Zucchini and capsicum add a fresh contrast to the mock chicken, and it's just perfect with a side of steamed rice ($3).

   

I also trialled a dish I've known and loved elsewhere, the Hainan V-chic Rice ($16). They use a layered mock-chicken with a crisp 'skin', and you can see the accompanying vegetables are on the fence between 'garnish' and 'side'. The real stars here are the rice and the pouring sauce - so fragrant, so complex! Sweet, salty, somewhat spicy, and herbal with a little funk.

   

There are a couple of vegan groceries at the counter, and we picked up a portion of vegan pâté on our way out. This made our next batch of home-made banh mi extra-special.

Easy Vegan excels again! Perhaps on our next visit it's time splurge on the pricier DIY V-ish rolls.

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You can read about our first visit to Easy Vegan here.

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Easy Vegan

140 Victoria St, Richmond

0432 955 735

menu: one, two

facebook page

Accessibility: There is a small lip on the entry and a clear corridor through the centre of the restaurant. Furniture is solid, with low height tables and backed chairs. We ordered and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Umami crisp

December 24, 2023

One of Cindy's birthday presents this year was a copy of Hetty McKinnon's newish cookbook Tenderheart. We've had some great successes with To Asia With Love, so it seemed like an obvious book to add to our collection. We're off to a strong start - the crispy salt and vinegar kale chips with chickpeas and avo was a lovely weeknight dinner, and the closest I've come to actually getting chickpeas to crisp up properly.

The broccoli wontons were a bit more involved, but equally excellent - they provided meal after meal for us during the structure-less post-Christmas period. 

   

Both of these dishes were really off the charts thanks to the addition of Hetty's umami crisp, a variation on the various chilli oils that were in her last book and I think the one we'll wind up making the most. The inclusion of dried porcini mushrooms and flaked almonds really brings out a richer, deeper flavour and some great crunchy textures. I love a blow-your-head-off chilli oil as much as the next person, but this one feels a bit more sophisticated. It's super easy to make too, and our first batch just ran out, so it's time to get back at it. 

Umami crisp

(from Hetty McKinnon's Tenderheart, 

and also published in the Sydney Morning Herald)

20g dried porcini mushrooms, chopped

1 shallot, chopped finely

4 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1/2 cup flaked almonds

1/2 cup toasted white sesame seeds

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon red chilli flakes

1 tablespoon gochugaru

1.25 cups of vegetable oil

1 tablespoon tamari

2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil

2 teaspoons salt

Combine the vegetable oil, gochugaru, chilli flakes, cinnamon stick, sesame seeds, flaked almonds, garlic, shallot and porcini in a saucepan over high heat. Cook for a couple of minutes until the oil starts to bubble and then lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes or so. You want everything to go nice and golden without burning - stir occasionally, but keep a pretty close eye on things. 

When you're happy, strain the oil through a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and let the mixture cool. When it's completely cool, stir it back into the oil and add the tamari, sesame oil and salt. Store in a jar in the fridge and serve it on absolutely everything.

Pickles Milk Bar

December 14 & 21, 2023

   

Late in 2023 while on a Lygon St tram, I noticed that the shopfront that was North Carlton Canteen for a decade now had little red lettering that said Pickles Milk Bar. I rapidly located it on instagram and hit follow; it hadn't quite opened yet. When I stopped in to try a takeaway lunch a month later, I was thrilled to learn that this milk bar is all vegan!

The milk bar menu runs through coffees and milkshakes, a couple of hot breakfast sandwiches with optional hash browns, four day-time sandwiches, pies and chips, dims sims and potato cakes, a counter of cakes and a row of vegan-friendly lollies.

   

On that first visit I picked out two sandwiches ($16 each) that I could pop in my tote bag and cycle home with. They were both made with a terrific garlic butter focaccia! (I am so happy that focaccia is making a comeback.) Up top is the Damn Caesar featuring fried enoki mushrooms, soy bacon with pickled red onion, capers, parmesan, dill chimichurri and lettuce. Beneath is the Gyros with the za'atar zucchini option (mock meat also available), fries, sumac onions, tomato, pickled turnip and cucumber, garlic and mint sauce and red cabbage. In both cases the fillings mixed together in an enjoyable savoury way with specific ingredients only being detectable in occasional bites. The focaccia was just barely sturdy enough to hold everything together through to my last bites.

   

A week later we were back and word had clearly got around; we ran into three veg*n friends while there! We figured that we needed to sample the salad sandwich ($16) which is served on sourdough bread. The hot mustard and the avocado were the highlights here for me, amongst cucumber, tomato, red onion, carrot, beetroot, dill chimichurri, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and mayo.

   

The breakfast scramble pie ($9) was where I could really taste the layers! This open-top pastry is lined with mock bacon, filled with a hearty tofu scramble and topped with potato gems, with a tub of relish on the side. It is precisely as good as it sounds.

It is such a great surprise to have Pickles Milk Bar opening up so close to home - we have every intention of becoming regulars and systematically working our way through the menu. (Next on my agenda: milkshakes!) 

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Pickles Milk Bar

1008 Lygon St, Carlton North

menu

instagram account

Accessibility: There is a small lip on the door and a relatively spacious interior with a low counter. There is a line of bench seating along the wall, with small low tables and low backless stools. We ordered and paid at the counter. We didn't visit the toilets. 

Patsy's

December 11, 2023

   

On my Monday birthday, I chose to have a quiet dinner with Michael at Patsy's. Patsy's is a vegetarian restaurant tucked away near the Queen Victoria Market. It's located in a charming old building and has a high-quality yet homely atmosphere, with sturdy and varied wooden furniture and double doors opening onto a leafy courtyard. The Patsy's team grow much of the produce they serve in their own country garden.

   

I was still feeling a bit delicate following a recent COVID infection and was glad to see non-alcoholic beer, wine and cocktails available in the drinks list. We both tried rhubarb-centred concoctions - on the right is Barb's Sober Now ($16) featuring rhubarb syrup, NON-75 and almond bitters ($16).

   

We shared as much as we could across the menu. The pâté of mushroom, butter and thyme was rich and plentiful for the serve of charred focaccia that we received ($23), and a some cornichons added a pickley contrast. Meanwhile, the chickpea panisse ($16) and black garlic aioli were golden-rich all the way through and not worse for it.

   

Amongst the mains I was most excited for the charred corn ravioli ($35) and, indeed, it became my favourite dish of the night. The corn was blended with scarmorza cheese and stuffed into the ravioli, but also charred as whole kernels and folded into the brown butter sauce; a few crispy sage leaves finished the dish.

   

The beige of the fregola sarda ($32) belied a full-flavoured broth; garlic shoots, capers, pine nuts and a green olive salsa added more variety in flavour and texture. For some extra veg, we added a side of green beans ($18) topped with a sweet Sicilian pine nut and currant agrodolce.

   

Unusually, we skipped out on the chocolate-based desserts to try two fruitier alternatives. The parfait ($23, pictured left) was made from ground macadamias and matched with tangy peach-based sauce, filling and a dehydrated wafer. Meanwhile, a crustless burnt cheesecake ($22) was baked in paper and topped with brandy-spiked cherry halves and crushed pistachios.

Patsy's had just the atmosphere I was seeking: special but quiet and comfortable, prioritising great produce over tricks and trends.

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Patsy's

213 Franklin St, Melbourne

9328 7667

entrees & mains, dessert

https://www.patsys.com.au/

Accessibility: The front door has a small lip and there is a little landing inside that requires a pivot and a step or two. Furniture is medium spaced, mostly sturdy, regular-height and wooden with backs on chairs; there are also cushioned benches, high bar seats and outdoor furniture in places. We didn't visit the toilets. We ordered and paid at our table.

Mietta

December 10, 2023

   

I've been following Rosemary Andrews on instagram for a year or two - she's a pastry chef with fine dining experience who made up mixed dessert boxes for online order and pickup in Collingwood. Michael was secretly planning to order a box for my birthday but Andrews abruptly discontinued the offer a couple of weeks earlier! All was not lost - she was working in the background to open a shopfront in Malvern. We made the uncharacteristic move of driving across town to queue up for the second day of opening and secured some special, celebratory cakes from Mietta.

   

Mietta is a small but luxurious-looking space, all white trimmed with gold, and seems designed exclusively for takeaway. When our turn came we rapidly picked four slices, then shared them at our leisure over two days at home.

One of the most eye-catching cakes is probably the raspberry cotton sponge ($16, pictured top) - it's light and creamy and absolutely stacked with tangy fresh raspberry halves. The less showy cheesecake ($11, pictured above) packs just as much flavour - roasted corn, white chocolate and muscovado come together to form a complex, deep caramel.

   

The lemon tart ($11) was perfectly proportioned to me, with a bold filling, nutty crust and restrained and well-torched meringue flourish.

   

A negroni chocolate tart ($10) came with a finicky little tub of sauce that was ultimately its best feature - the espresso-spiked chocolate added brightness and flair to a somewhat dense dessert.

In our opening-weekend rush, I didn't notice any evidence that Mietta can accommodate dietary restrictions. But as someone without them, I couldn't find a flaw in these desserts - every slice was special and balanced and meticulously presented, an ideal birthday treat. 

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Mietta by Rosemary

23 Glenferrie Rd, Malvern

https://www.miettabyrosemary.com.au/

Accessibility: There is a small lip on the door. The interior is small with a flat floor, no seating, and a low display counter for ordering and paying.