Local Hero - Cafe Sarabella

Cafe Sarabella is a wonderful little cafe providing home-style Indian meals, a small range of sweet treats, tea, coffee and chai in the Victoria Street Mall. It's been there for nearly five years now, having opened not long after we moved to our current place in Coburg.

There are many good-value Indian restaurants in Brunswick and Coburg however, I think this is one of the best. As well as being very accommodating to special dietary requirements (almost all of her dishes are gluten-free), Sara offers an range of Indian curries and other well-known Indian classics such as Biryani, and sometimes you will find her take on Asian dishes such as laksa. Standard curry dishes such as chicken and lamb curry are generally always available and on the revolving menu you will find salmon, goat and rabbit curry. These are all available in take home packs too.


I think between us we've tried most of Sara's dishes now and they've all been delicious. On our last visit there S tried the lamb curry. This was served with dahl, rice flecked with poppy seeds, and vegetables tossed in cumin and mustard seeds (the vegetables change on a daily basis too). The lamb curry with potatoes was rich and tasty, cooked so that the lamb was succulent and tender. A very satisfying meal.



I'm a big fan of single pan rice dishes such as risotto, paella and biryani. So I almost always find myself ordering her lamb biryani, although I will have the goat curry when it's available. What I particularly like about the biryani is the cloves that are flecked throughout it, providing a lovely warmth to each mouthful of food. Mmmm cloves...they're simply not used enough in cooking these days. It's also spiced with cinnamon sticks - double delicious.

As are most of the meals at Cafe Sarabella, the biryani is served with some yoghurt and home-made chutney on the side. Often Sara's regular customers will provide her with fruit and vegetables that then form part of a meal you may be eating. A box of cumquats received just before Christmas became a delicious chutney to be served with meals and sold to customers. I bought a small jar and yes, it is delicious.

Cafe Sarabella offers a small range of gluten free cakes such as cranberry, sticky date and orange almond. All are made using almond meal and so they are wonderfully moist and dense. At Christmas time gluten free fruit Christmas cakes can be ordered. We've ordered these for the past two years now and they are absolutely delicious, full of plump, brandy soaked fruit in an almond meal cake.

The other thing of special note is that Sara blends, roasts and double grinds her own chai tea. This process takes her six to eight weeks and it results in a superior chai. I'm not a regular drinker of chai but will often order one at Cafe Sarabella because the taste is so good.

Cafe Sarabella is a cheery place enjoy a drink and meal. There's a slightly boho look to it with hand-written daily menus taped up on the counter and the mix and match cushions and table clothes. Sara is a friendly and welcoming host who always has a smile and hello for her customers and a sympathetic ear. The intimacy of the cafe often results in customers engaging in a lively chatter around the two indoor tables, and a smile as you pass them a week or two later as you are walking down the street. With only a very small kitchen behind the retail counter, comprising a four burner hob and a small bench top oven and a strong commitment to using quality meat, fish and produce, Sara is turning out some of the most flavoursome and satisfying dishes around Coburg.

Some other reviews to consider: Words and Flavours

Cafe Sarabella
1 Victoria Street
Coburg
9354 5239

Local Hero - the Abruzzo Club

When friends visit us in Melbourne and want to eat Italian, we steer them away from Lygon Street, as they generally suggest, and take them to the Abruzzo Club in East Brunswick. It's a gem. We like it so much that we held our wedding reception there! It may not have the glitz and newness of its larger sister in Epping but it has the heart and soul of an old-style Italian restaurant and serves exceptionally good Italian food with an Abruzzese influence.

The 'Gran Sasso Restaurant' at the Abruzzo Club is one of our favourite local restaurants and we enjoyed a very fine meal there last Tuesday. One dish we always order when we go there is the home-made gnocchi. It's the best in Melbourne. Yes, that's a big call but I stand by it. Light and fluffy, it's like eating clouds. I first tasted their gnocchi when I pinched a piece off my then three year old niece's plate. An ignoble action to be sure but it was the start of a love affair that hasn't ended yet.

A close up picture to show the deliciousness of the gnocchi!

The lady who used to make the gnocchi retired nearly two years ago. Apparently she had arms of steel. She would come in weekly and make a huge batch for the restaurant. We only found out because we had a run of visits to the restaurant in which every time we tried to order it we were told 'they had run out'. Then one day a waiter let it slip that the gnocchi maker had retired. We were nervous. When would it return? Would it be as good? Finally it returned and while I have to say while there is a slight difference in the quality, it's still good, damned good. It's still the best.

On Tuesday we shared an entree serve of the gnocchi with napoli sauce. The gnocchi were as light as ever, covered in rich and smooth sauce that was without any acidity. A great start to the meal.

Just so you understand how delicious the gnocchi is - it's all gone

For my main meal I ordered the Coniglio, rabbit braised in a white wine sauce served with steamed broccolini, potatoes and polenta. This was a generous serve of rabbit covered in a vegetable reduction. It was delicious and flavoursome, a reduction of finely chopped vegetables that was a perfect complement to the rabbit, which itself was tender although surprisingly the meat got a bit chewier closer to the bone. I enjoyed this dish very much.

Coniglio

There's always selection of specials available at the Abruzzo Club. How many will depend on the day you dine there. As we were there early on in the week there was just a couple and S. chose one of these, the rib-eye steak cooked medium rare. It came out with the standard range of vegetables, including the delicious baked potatoes. The steak was cooked to perfection with the monster piece of rib eye tender and succulent, helped no doubt by having the bone left in.

Rib-eye steak

We really enjoyed our meal, as always, and will be back again in the near future. The outside of the Abruzzo Club itself is unattractive, a squat non-descript two storey building constructed some in 1970s (I think). However do step inside, you won't be disappointed. There is a moderate wine list, mostly from the Taylor Ferguson range and some Italian wines. The menu has recently been simplified and I am a little bit disappointed by this as some of my favourite dishes, such as the spatchcock, have gone but the quality of the food has not suffered in anyway. The restaurant offers authentic and very good quality Italian dishes that you should be finding on Lygon Street, Carlton, but won't.

The Gran Sasso Restaurant is often host to large family gatherings although you are just as likely to find a solitaire diner there being attended to by one of the friendly waiting staff. If Aldo is working he is sure to amuse the kids with his range of tricks and funny noises. I haven't seen him for while though, I hope he hasn't retired.

Entree size gnocchi with napoli sauce $18.90

Coniglio $30

Rib-eye steak $28.50

Abruzzo Club
377 Lygon Street, East Brunswick
9387 5955

Coburg Cool - The Post Office Hotel

Battered potato moons

The hot and humid weather really isn't any inducement for either of us to cook, so it was to the Post Office Hotel that we went for dinner on our way home from work last Thursday. We've enjoyed a few bar meals here since they opened in around the middle of last year but are yet to try the restaurant. I really enjoy the atmosphere of the Post Office Hotel. It attracts a diverse crowd from people with young children, extended families taking their Nanas out for lunch, local shopkeepers and residents as well as the hip blow-ins. Well, what do you expect when Tex Perkins is one of the co-owners. Let's hope it stays diverse and welcoming.

The bar menu is not extensive offering six mains, sides, a couple of desserts and one or two daily specials that are chalked onto the blackboard over the comfortable, curved chesterfield. However what it offers is an interesting and delicious middle eastern twist on your classic bar meals. We've now tried most of the mains now and last week it was the scotch steak with green beans, nuts and sour cream, and the POH parma with rocket and onion salad that we went for.

The scotch steak was lovely and tender, generously topped with a green bean salad full of dill, parsley, hazelnuts and pinenuts. The tang of the sour cream provided a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the steak. 'Full of flavour?' I hear you ask. Yes it was. Deliciously so.

The parma was a cut above the usual pub chicken parmagiana, with a nicely-sized chicken breast covered in a variation on the classic Napoli sauce, melted cheese and served with a tasty side salad of rocket and a tangy pickled onion. The parma rested on some sliced cucumber and those delicious potato moons (more of which below). In terms of taste, the chicken was moist, with not too much sauce and just enough cheese to cover the chicken without smothering its flavour.

To complement our mains we ordered a side of battered potato moons. These are very moorish, having had spices added to the batter, either the middle eastern seven spices or ras el hanout, definitely some cinnamon in there, which gives them a lovely, fragrant aroma. They always go very quickly.


We both ordered the only sweet dish on the menu - sticky fig pudding with hot coffee syrup. This was an excellent dessert, far above what you'd expect to find on a bar menu. The density of the pudding was light but satisfying and perfectly complimented by the coffee syrup, which added a touch of sweetness without over-powering it. A small dish of sour cream on the side provided a bit of cream and tang. It was very good.

The serving sizes at of the bar meals may be considered a bit small by some. I have read some complaints about this on reviews elsewhere. Serving sizes do seem to have increased since we started coming here, that is, there is more salad and vegetables put on the plate, meaning that you don't have to order sides to bulk the meal out. However, the quality of the ingredients used and the resulting dishes more than make up for any complaints about serving size.

One other thing I would add about a bar meal at the Post Office is that it is not necessarily a cheap night out. The cost of all the dishes, plus a couple of drinks, can all add up very quickly. It is worth it though if you are looking for something above the ordinary in your pub meal.

Some other reviews to consider - Where's the beef?

Scotch steak with beans, nuts and sour cream - $20
POH Parma with rocket and onion - $20
Battered potato moons - $10
Sticky fig pudding - $15

The Post Office Hotel
229-231 Sydney Road
Coburg
9386 5300

Local Heroes - Trivelli Patisserie. First in an occasional series

'Local Heroes' is the first in an occasional series aimed at showcasing local food and produce suppliers in the suburb where I live - Coburg.

It's intended to be an antidote to continual focus on eastern suburbs in food articles such as this. Honestly, with writing and research such like this you'd think only people living in the inner north (Fitzroy) and the eastern suburbs of Melbourne have access to good food suppliers. Oh, except when it's Epicure's Middle Eastern special, then Brunswick and Coburg get a tokenistic guernsey.

Ok, enough seriousness. The first local hero I am going to feature is Trivelli Patisserie.

Trivelli Patisserie celebrated their 35th birthday last month with a cannolo festival. The special price of 70 cents each generated such demand that all seating was removed from the shop to accommodate the customers crowded into it. The queue for cannoli stretched down Sydney Road (I wish I had've had my camera with me to capture the madness but I don't carry it with me when I'm doing my weekly food and grocery shop!).

I regularly stop into Trivelli for a coffee and sweet treat. They carry a wonderful range of Italian-style sweet biscuits, pastries and cakes. Their Italian style biscuits made from pistachio and almond meal are a wheat free treat I can enjoy.

I'd love to show you a photo of their gleaming counter bulging with goodies but unfortunately they don't like photos of the shop interior to be taken. So it's a shot of their rather fast fading exterior. But don't let that put you off from stepping inside. You won't be disappointed.

It's not a glamorous exterior but don't let that put you off

What I would like to feature here is their cakes. Trivelli has become our patisserie of choice when it comes to celebration cakes for a number of reasons. First, their cakes are absolutely delicious and excellent value for money. Secondly, the service is fantastic. The staff will take their time to talk through the many options available with you until you are completely satisfied. Finally, they provide an excellent product I can purchase locally without having to traipse all over town.

Picking up your finished cake from Trivelli is an experience in and of itself. First, the shop ladies get on the walkie-talkies to contact the bakers across the road. A couple of minutes later, a baker can be seen weaving his way through the chaotic traffic on Munro Street bound for the shop with cakes balanced in each arm. A final check inside the box and it's ready to take home.

Our wedding cake. This was a traditional fruit cake with a royal icing finish. The flowers were hand-painted. Trivelli bakers reproduced from an image in a magazine. It was big hit! Absolutely delicious.

Yes, it was very nice and very pretty. I was so overwhelmed when the bakers brought it out to me I almost cried.

A recent birthday cake ordered from Trivelli. Vanilla sponge cake layered with hazelnut and vanilla custard and finished with profiteroles. The waiter at Hellenic Republic was so impressed he asked us where it was from so he could order one. This cake is a small size and serves approximately 15 people. It's a little bit over-the-top but fun. For $70, I thought it was very good value.

So there you have it. Trivelli Patisserie. My first local hero.

Trivelli Patisserie

369 Sydney Road

Coburg

9354-5165