Ginataang

I first tried ginataang at Footscray Market, at Lutong Pinoy in the food court.  

It is a sweet Filipino dish,  a coconut soup.  I loved it.  It is sweet and liquidy with coconut milk, cubes of starchy vegetables, tapioca pearls, fruit and softy pillowy dumplings made of glutinous rice.  The purple yam really stood out in the dish and I was curious to find out more.  I'd been scouting around the internet and found a recipe at Busog Sarap.  This seems the closest to what I ate at Footscray.  The recipe called for yams.  I wasn't so sure what a yam was, so I started more searching on the net and find out about yams, sweet potatoes and taro.  


In the ginataang recipe at Busog Sarap, she uses purple yam (ube) taro (gabi) and sweet potato (kamote).    I found all my vegetables at Little Saigon Market.  I didn't use the orange sweet potato.  I also found a place that stocks frozen ube as it is not available fresh all year round.

Top Left, purple yam (ube), Top Right, purple or Okinawa sweet potato
Bottom Left: taro (gabi), Bottom Right...a yam? of some sort

Top Left, purple yam (ube), Top Right, purple or Okinawa sweet potato
Bottom Left: taro (gabi), Bottom Right...a yam? of some sort

close up of the purple yam (ube)

Ube is not available fresh all year round, I found some frozen yam (ube) at an Asian grocer at Footscray Market,
the shop faces Footscray Station carpark, 

Tapioca pearls

 

glutinous rice flour dumplings, getting these into a neat round shape
might take a bit of practice I think!!

Tastes a bit like a cross between papaya and  lychee, and is a firmish fruit.
Quite nice tasting, given it is canned fruit.

I found the recipe reasonably easy to follow.  Next time I make it, I would halve the amount of glutinous rice dumplings, at least double the tapioca pearls (and maybe use some large ones too, which Lutong Pinoy did), and probably increase the jackfruit too.  That of course if just to suit my taste and close to what I ate at Footscray.   The dish is similar in some ways to che chuoi chung, a Vietnamese dish I made last year.   Both of which contain my favourite dessert ingredients of coconut milk, tapioca pearls and banana.  This was a perfect brunch dish for a cold winter morning.  

Ginataang

I'm sending this over to Weekend Herb Blogging.  Yasmeen at Health Nut is hosting WHB #287, here is her recap of the event.

Wee Jeanie, Yarraville

Wee Jeanie is the newest kid on the Yarraville block.  The owners of The Cornershop (opposite The Sun theatre) have opened this smart little eatery.  It is right next to Yarraville station.  I decided a midweek visit was best, I find the weekend crowds at cafes just a bit too much.  


To beat the wintery chill I chose the rice pudding for my breakfast and an excellent choice it was! Warm creamy rice, topped with pistachios, a sprinkle of sumac and the most divine poached strawberries.  They  were topped with some rosewater.  A perfect balance of flavours and textures.  The crunch of the pistachios was a great contrast to the soft rice and sweet strawberries and rosewater.  I could happily eat this again.  

Rice pudding with pistachios, sumac and poached strawberries
$9.00

The bill is left at your table and items are added to it and at the end of you are ready to leave, you take the bill to the counter to pay.  

On my second visit, I got a seat at a bench overlooking their courtyard.  A lovely wintery view while I drank my very good coffee and waited for my lunch.

Courtyard

Lunch for me was the baked eggs with eggplant kasundi (relish) topped with chorizo and fetta.  It was an unusual mix of flavours, the Bengali relish with the Mediterranean chorizo.  But it was very tasty I have to say.  A beautiful warming dish.

Baked eggs with chorizo, fetta and kasundi
$12

Wee Jeanie does a great coffee and the food I've had so far has been excellent.  The staff are helpful and friendly.  A great addition to the Yarraville food landscape.

Wee Jeanie

50 Anderson Street

Yarraville

Ph 96987 7187

Open Monday to Saturday, currently

7.30am to 4.30pm

Dinh Son Quan, again

Dinh Son Quan at Little Saigon Market is my comfort zone.  I keep going back, the food is always tasty, the staff are obliging (I ask questions about the food, a lot!). 

I have been trying to work my way through the specials board.  This has worked okay to a point.  There are two duck dishes on the menu, but they don't have duck at the moment.  One day they will get duck again, I hope, or I will have to find these dishes somewhere else.  A small problem though.  I've had their banh xeo before, a rice flour and turmeric and rice flour pancake filled with salad, pork, prawns and bean shoot.  It is not too bad.  

I have started to venture into dishes that I have no knowledge of.  

I tried the mien xao cua.  This is a relatively simple dish comprising noodles, bean shoots and crab and/or shrimp paste.  It was quite strongly flavoured and quite fishy.  I don't think I would order it again, but I am glad I tried it.

Mien xao cua (glass noodles with crab and shrimp paste) $8.50

I found mi quang  to be a tasty but very busy dish.  It is a soup made with turmeric noodles (which I have seen sold dried in the Asian grocery stores).  The soup comes out with fried rice and black sesame crackers on top.  The mi quang is topped with a prawn, pieces of fish stick, pork belly, pork ribs, some pork loaf (cha lua) and two soft boiled quail eggs.  It was like a banquet in a bowl...all food groups were covered.  I would say I liked it rather than loved it, but I would like to order it again.

Mi quang (turmuric noodles) $8.50

The bun moc  is by far, my most favourite dish at Dinh Son Quan.  A lovely lightly flavoured broth with thin vermicelli noodles, slices of pork loaf (cha lua) and small meatballs of pork and shiitake mushrooms.  The dish is topped with fried shallots and spring onions.  This soup was such a surprise, the pork and shiitake meatballs were soft and flavoursome.  I could eat this soup every week. 

Bun moc ($8.50)

Bun moc pork dumplings

The bun bo la lot was a pleasant surprise too.  I have had some okay renditions of this dish around town, but I was very happy with this version.  Fat fingers of juicy beef with betel leaves wrapped around them.  Super tasty with plenty of salad leaves and dipping sauce.  This one is a keeper too.

Bun bo lat lot $8.50

Bun rieu was another soupy noodle dish that I haven't tried before.  It had thin vermicelli noodles, crab balls, pieces of tofu, cha lua and wedges of tomato cooked in the broth.  The tomatoes reminded me of the thai soup tom yum, interestingly, there is tom yum on the menu which I keep meaning to try.  It was quite a strong crab flavoured dish as well.  I'd like to order this one again too, a very interesting dish, not my favourite but worth a second look.

Bun rieu $8.50

This is the specials board.  I have given up attempts to pronounce the names, the poor staff having to try to understand my mangled Vietnamese!  I just point now.

Menu board...at the bottom is kinh moi=invite or welcome

Dinh Son Quan

Little Saigon Market
Nicholson Street
Footscray

Open every day for breakfast and lunch

Lunch at Quang Minh Buddhist Temple

I first heard about Sunday lunch at Quang Minh Buddhist Temple in Braybook, when my friend M invited me.  His partner T is Vietnamese.  They have returned in recent months from a nearly year long stay in Vietnam.  M worked as a volunteer teaching English.   

Bowls of vegetarian bun bo hue can be purchased.  The queue below is lunch that you don't pay for.  This lunch includes rice, sometimes noodles, and usually two vegetarian and tofu dishes.  You also receive a small bowl of soup.  The first time I went, it was a delicate melon and tofu soup.  The second time was a sweet and sour soup, as you would find in canh chua, with slivers of bac ha (lotus stem) in it.  Delicious!

Vegetables and rice

Melon and tofu soup

On our most recent visit, near the bun bo hue queue, there were containers of fried mushrooms with a little chili that you could buy for $5.  I'd like to get them next time.

At the front of the temple, there is an outdoor market under a large shed.  There are about a dozen stalls.  Some sell, clothes, there is a fruit and veg stall, one selling Buddhist decorations, another selling rolls of fabric and another selling containers of food to take home.  My two favourite stalls are the one that sells the che, three colour and four colour drinks, basil seed drinks and longan drinks.  The other sells desserts to take home or eat there.  This is my favourite.

Pandan waffles (banh kep)

Three colour drink (che ba mau) $2.50

Longan seaweed drink (che sam bo luong) $2.50

Cooking chuoi nep nuong 

Eating chuoi nep nuong with coconut milk and 

roasted peanuts $3.00

Chuoi nep nuong is sticky rice parcels wrapped around (in this instance) red bean paste (they can contain banana or mung bean paste I believe). They are fried, then cut up and served with coconut milk sauce with tapioca balls and toasted peanuts.  I have had this on each visit.  Serious comfort food!  M and I get our food and sit on benches outside and soak in the atmosphere.  For M it just makes him more eager to return to Vietnam and for me, it increases my desire to visit.


Update: Lunch seems to be from 12.00 to 1.00.  I went once, closer to 1pm and some of the market stalls had begun to run out of tasty stuff.  I think getting there at 12.00 is the optimal time.  You can have lunch, then wander about the little market at the front.  

Hopetoun Tea Rooms, Melbourne

 

Tucked away in the Block Arcade in Melbourne, is the Hopetoun Tearooms.  It is a quaint Victorian-looking place that is a step back in time.

Vanilla Slice

Chocolate passion fruit brownie

Cream-filled lamingtons

Lemon tart

Besides cakes, there are breakfast options, eggs and bacon, and raisin toast.  Lunch options include soup, toasted croissants, stuffed zucchini flowers and fish.

Pavlova and wild berry sponge cake

Strawberry sponge cake

It took a good while to decide on a cake.  I was going to select something modest, but I rarely get down to this part of town, so I thought, 'time to lash out!'.  

Raspberry and pistachio cheesecake $9.50

I decided on the raspberry and pistachio cheesecake.  A fine choice it turned out to be! A creamy cheesecake with a soft biscuit crumb base, crunchy pistachio edge and a soft layer of raspberry jelly.  A cute decoration on top was a candied wild hibiscus flower.  

Top left - raspberry pistachio cheesecake (slightly better photo)

Hopetoun Tearooms stock Serendipitea teas.  I had a cup of black Darjeeling tea which was a perfect foil for the creamy cheescake

Table decorations

Queue at Hopetoun Tearoom

I waited about 10 or 15 minutes to get in.  I generally don't queue for places, but I will make an exception for this place...I must find a reason to be down in this part of the city again very, very soon!!

Hopetoun Tearooms

Block Arcade

Shop 1 and 2, 282 Collins Street

Melbourne

Ph 9650 2777

Open Mon to Sat 8am to 5pm

Sunday 9am to 5pm