Tacos Panchos, Point Cook

On a recent rainy in Melbourne, and there have been a few in recent times, The Bloke and I were getting a bit stir crazy at home.  We headed out west towards Point Cook.

Tacos Panchos is an eye-catching tenant in a food court at Point Cook Town Centre, a newish shopping centre in the west, past Altona and just before Hoppers Crossing.  It is an unexpected surprise amongst a few franchised eateries.

The graphics and fitout appealed as much as the prospect of some half decent Mexican food.  The wrestler is the "Blue Demon", a famous figure in Mexico and the greatest wrestler of his time.  

Jose, who owns Tacos Panchos, is from El Salvador.  He tells us that he has a relative from Mexico and also mentions that he lived a bus ride away from Mexico, he didn't mention if it was long ride or a short ride!.  Jose explained the shop  fitting details to us, the benchtop representing the concrete footpaths of the street food sellers in Mexico, the tiles are from Mexico and found in the the kitchen's of many Mexican homes.

He explained the light-fittings..."I just like beer."

I ordered the chorizo and bean quesadilla.

Chorizo and Bean Quesadillas $8.90 for 2

The chorizo was grilled and tasty, it was pretty heavy on the cheese, but I kept eating it!

The Bloke ordered nachos (he swirled through before I got a shot!).  I don't know how authentic nachos are, but we ate all that too!

Nachos $5.50

Also on the menu are tacos and burritos.  It is not the fastest fast food, but it is some of the most delicious food-court fare.  Jose is friendly and hospitable and keen to share about his food.  He suggested we try the burritos next time we're out that way.

This is the only Tacos Panchos so far, Jose has been approached to open more but he needs to sell more quesadillas first.   I for one will be happy to head back to help him in his quest!

Tacos Panchos

Point Cook Town Centre Food Court

Ph:9395 5746

Open 7 days a week

Mon - Wed 9am to 6pm

Thur & Fri 9am to 9pm

Sat 9am to 5pm

Sun 10am to 5pm

Delicious Vietnam #8 - The Recap

A great range of posts for Delicious Vietnam, thank you for your contributions!

Mai from Flavour Boulvard, Berkley, California, has a great story about the origin of bun (vermicelli noodles).

"The creation of rice vermicelli (“bun”) would not have happened in Northern Vietnam then, had the kitchen boy not been drowsy, the chef not sympathetic and creative, the servant not curious, and the king not open-minded. And so it goes the story of bun xeu."

Jeremy from The Unskinny Cook, in Singapore reinvents bun cha after a long term stay in Vietnam.

"After coming back home, I kept having cravings for bún chả and when my godmother asked me to cook a dinner for her, I decided it was time to get the charcoal fire going. I tried capturing every detail I could remember to make an authentic bún chả, even using wire mesh meat holders I brought back from Hanoi. I even considered setting up the grill next to my car's exhaust pipe to capture the real street food flavour."

Swathi from Zesty South Indian Kitchen, in the United States, experiments with green papaya salad.

"For a long time I was planning to make Thai green papaya salad Som tum or Som Tam, which is popular in Laos and Issan region of northeastern Thailand. Whenever I buy green papaya I end up making thoran/stir fry and curries with them. As a result I never happened to make a papaya salad. Green papaya salad is consumed in Thailand as Som Tam, where as in Cambodia it becomes bok l’hong  and in Vietnam it is Gỏi đu đủ."

Julia from Beginner Mom On The Run, in USA made a layered tapioca cake ban da lon.

"In these care packages he (future husband) would send things like Roman Noodles of different kinds, rice cakes, and Tapioca Layered Mung Bean Cakes. I’d share these goodies with my housemates and as I always do, try to unravel the mystery of how this Tapioca Mung Bean cake- so Non-Western was made."

Hong and Kim (Delicious Vietnam co-founders) from Ravenous Couple make a dessert called Coco-Bliss using a Vietnamese staple, agar agar.

"Vietnamese desserts often have 3 key ingredients or layers, for example che ba mau (three color dessert) or thach rau cau (3 flavor agar of coffee, pandan, and coconut).  Here we take this concept and use fresh coconut water from the young coconut to make a coconut water gelatin.From the milk, we make both a gelatin and a coconut cream."

And I discovered a new soup called Mein Ga that uses cassava noodles.

"The noodles used in the recipe are called cassava or tapioca noodles.  I haven't heard of them before and finding them in Footscray proved quite tricky."

Delicious Vietnam was created by Anh at A Food Lovers Journey and Hong and Kim at Ravenous Couple to celebrate Vietnamese Food.

The host for Delicious Vietnam #9 in January will be Pepy from Indonesia Eats and entries are due the second Sunday in January.

Mein Ga - Delicious Vietnam #8

I found a great Vietnamese cookbook on Amazon earlier this year, The Little Saigon Cookbook by Ann Le.  

It has recipes that seem reasonably easy for a non-Asian, such as myself.  The other great thing about the book is that it has a really helpful glossary at the end of the book.  
I was flicking through to find something to make for my Delicious Vietnam entry.  I found a soup called mein ga, a chicken noodle soup.  The noodles used in the recipe are called cassava or tapioca noodles.  I haven't heard of them before and finding them in Footscray proved quite tricky.  I eventually found them in a shop in Little Saigon, next to packs of rice papers, not near the noodles.   I went back to the first shop I tried and showed a lady the noodles I had been looking for and she said they are used in dessert not soup.  Hmm, now I was getting a little concerned.

I hunted about for the publishers details for the cookbook and sent an email to the author, Anne Le.  She very kindly emailed back with a little more information about the noodles and that the recipe does indeed use cassava noodles but you could use any noodles.  She said she had not heard of the noodles being used in dessert but thought the lady may have meant tapioca pearls, which I had suspected also.


I stuck to Ann's recipe and made the mein ga   I didn't take a photo of the soup because it was a chicken soup with noodles and some coriander on top and my photography skills prevent me from creating a new and exciting photo.  I did however take a photo of the cooked noodles.

Lauren at Footscray Food Blog reviewed Dong Ba, a Vietnamese restaurant in Footscray.  In her review, she mentioned mien ga being on the menu.  I was curious to see what it was served with and to try some more cassava noodles.


The salad platter came out first, lettuce, a little finely sliced red cabbage, mung bean shoots and some herbs, mint and basil.

This was followed by a dressing to add to the soup.  The dressing had fresh ginger in it.  I found out when I went to pay that it also contained fish sauce. 

So, here is my mein ga with vermicelli noodles instead of cassava noodles.  I was a bit sad about that.  But, the soup was really delicious, light and fresh tasting, which I would happily order again.

mein ga $8.50

If anyone knows where I can find mein ga in Melbourne that uses cassava noodles, I would be very thankful for the information.

Where to buy turducken

The last episode of Poh’s kitchen this year featured two butcher’s demonstrating how to make a turducken; a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey.  It’s pretty mad really, but it looks like heaven for your hardcore carnivore. 


I saw something similar a few years back on an English food program.  Englishman Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall showed how to make a ten bird roast.  The Observer also has an article about the ten bird roast.


Making his ten bird roast, according to this account, will set you back 160 pounds (UK) (about $250 Australian) and take about 5 or 6 hours to cook!


My friend A asked me about turducken and where to buy one.  Never one shy away from a challenge, this is what I found:


The butchers featured on Poh's show are from Southern Cross Meats.  I tried to call them, unsuccessfully so far.
Southern Cross Meats

111 Diagonal Road

Warradale SA  5046

Ph: 08 8295 2008

If you want to order a turducken in Melbourne, you will need to contact Peter Bouchier Butchers by 15th December if you want one in time for Christmas.

Peter Bouchier Butchers

551 Malvern Road

Toorak  Vic  3142

Ph: 03 9827 3629

Also located at David Jones City Store and Chadstone Store

If you want to order a turducken in Sydney, you will need to contact Victor Churchill Butchers by 13th December.

Victor Churchill Butchers

132 Queen Street

Woollahra  NSW  2025

Ph: 9328 0408