Okra

The café. Not the vegetable. 

The new venue for the annual gathering of those few remaining volunteers who, at the turn of the century, formed the Newsline reading group for Vision Australia.

Last year I handed over the organisational reins for the annual get-together to Jane Strode of Strode Villa. She is more than well equipped to take on the task.  Jane is a can-do person.  

As a result, our small group arrived at the restaurant yesterday at midday, sat around the table where we talked, ate, drank and generally had a fine old time.  In order to accommodate my current unwillingness to use stairs, a downstairs table had been booked. Upstairs is sometimes quieter but if there was a problem with quiet in the restaurant this year, it might have originated at our table.

We were welcomed with big smiles; the Okra staff know how to look after their customers and the food is excellent.  It was a hawker’s lunch and we chose to share dishes with two or three people making their choice; the rest of us agreed and the food appeared on the table. I made a poor choice, steamed chicken - bland - it wasn’t as good as I anticipated.  We ate it. 

When you don’t see people for a year there is always plenty to talk about and the talk ranged over the usual topics: sport, travel and health – we are mostly Older People these days. Occasionally controversial matters arise and heated discussions follow; nothing too controversial this year and when the discussion centred around roast vegetables we were all in furious agreement.   We were as one voice; you can never bake too many vegetables with the roast. Everyone had their own idea about how the left-overs could be used. Much laughter greeted one observation, that in their house there were never any left-overs.

A good time was had by all and we were all pleased to have made the move to a new venue.

Home territory

I find new eating places in the neighbourhood sometimes by accident.

I happened to be walking along a section of a nearby shopping centre in an area that is sometimes on my beaten path and found a French bakery and pastry company has moved into a small shop previously occupied by who knows what. There is a constant turnover of businesses in the area and within the time frame of a few of months it is not impossible to find a business has closed its doors for whatever reason and vanished into the blue.

Sometimes the doors remained closed for quite some time and the post person does what they are paid to do and that is not think and make personal decisions. They are paid to deliver the mail and even if it builds up into a decent sized pile they must keep stuffing it under the door.

In the case of the French bakery there was very little if any time gap, meaning the alignment of commercial stars; rent, facilities and market share placement must have met an approved business criterion.

The business is a little upmarket for the area which is largely populated by students, both secondary and tertiary. Usually this is a demographic who doesn’t have much cash to splash, especially the tertiary band, who appear to be not as well supported by parents as the secondary students.  It will be interesting to see just how long it holds its place on the street.

I was curious and stepped inside the door to see what was offering.

It is a much smaller version of a very up-to-the-minute café/bakery the same company owns over in the Wood of Colling.   Same pastries and cakes and same bread; I imagine this is delivered on a daily basis from this main bakery.  Their bread, albeit expensive, is excellent.

The seated area at the back holds only a few small tables and is closeted away from the action of the main shop area. However it does have the distinct advantage of being  whole lot easier to access than the main shop in the Wood of Colling, which for me, entails a few changes of transport and a few hours to enjoy the experience.

I may just patronise this new shop in the neighbourhood on an irregular basis.

Eating out in January

It’s not always a simple exercise, choosing a place to eat out in January.

Yesterday's outing was an example. OCCm2 arranged for three of us to go to a nearby suburb and have lunch at a garden centre. I wasn’t too enthusiastic; I had been there before and the menu wasn’t anything to write home about and the prices were in the upper range of café pricing.

The garden centre cafe was closed and our plans were altered; we ate instead at a tearoom-style café a few streets away.  I was pleased about this change as I have often considered eating at Ruby’s T’s. My fellow diners are very conservative about their eating; one is a vegetarian which often means there is not a lot of choice on the menu and the other has her main meal in the evening.

I’m happy to have my main meal in the middle of the day, so I promptly settled for a tuna pattie and salad.  A single, very large tuna pattie, sitting in the middle of the plate, surrounded by salad, arrived at the table. It was very good and I enjoyed every mouthful. Ribbon sandwiches for one and a plate of chips for the other diners filled the remaining orders for the table.

One of the good things about this tearoom is the quiet.  You can actually have a conversation without having to shout above loud music. It might be something to do with the patrons being mostly senior age people.

Now I know about Ruby T’s; anytime I’m in the area I know where to go and I know if I am with others I will be able to hear them and they will be able to hear me.

A win-win situation.

More Roses - Coombe Cottage, Coldstream Vic      Photo File: Nov 2005

Best lunch this month

I know. 

It is very early in the month to make the title statement but I am prepared to put down money which says there is only a very remote chance of bettering today’s midday meal  before end August.

This bold statement might have been influenced by yesterday’s meal which was ordered in anticipation of eating a delicious marinara risotto, only to find disappointment was one of the ingredients on the plate.  Along with rice, a vivid orange sauce, some reasonable prawns, a scattering of small, empty and unknown white shells together with some large and recognisable mussel shells; the last item was the big disappointment.  The mussel flesh appeared to have evaporated and a thin film of membrane and a tiny sliver of flesh were the only offerings.

I eat from time to time at this cafe and have never been disappointed in the past; the usual man in charge of front of house seemed distracted and perplexed.  The chef was new and hadn’t quite hit his straps and the waitress was handling her first day on the job relatively well, under the circumstances. Orders arrived at the tables of those people dining in the outdoor area, questions were asked and plates returned; not a happy day all round for either the diners or the staff.

By contrast, lunch today at Our Kitchen Table was so good.  No photos because my android phone and close up photos are incompatible.  A Mexican Rice Bowl, where every ingredient was beautifully presented, instantly recognisable and very tasty. I can assure you I could not have wished for a better meal

I was only half way through the bowl and already I was planning how I could return for another lunch.  Unhappily, it is a very circuitous route by public transport from my door to the café door.  However I like the occasional travel challenge and you can be sure if there is the faintest chance of a repeat visit you will hear about it at some time in the future.

And last but not least, the coffee was excellent.

Not another bloody cafe

This above sign  has appeared in a vacant corner space on the ground floor of the recently completed Mapleleaf Apartments.  These apartments are yet another addition to the long line of apartment blocks being levered skywards along the main arterial  roads around Marvellous Melbourne.

It’s not as if there is an actual shortage of cafes in this area; a quick count shows there will be ten places to buy coffee when this one opens, all within a five minute walk.

I’m amazed at how these cafes manage to stay in business; not all of them operate at weekends,only two open for business on Sundays.

 This café will be popular with residents of the Mapleleaf Apartments; how convenient to simply take the lift to the ground floor, walk a few steps along the street, buy your coffee and reverse the process.

No need to buy an expensive coffee machine when all the coffee convenience is an easy few minutes away from home.