Bayte

June 15, 2013

We've been meaning to check out Bayte for ages, but every time we've felt like cafe food with a Middle Eastern vibe we've opted for the lazy (and consistently brilliant) option of Mankoushe. We finally got our act together on the weekend and trekked off to Collingwood.

It's a cosy place - particularly during miserable weather when the courtyard is out of action. We lucked into the last vacant table at about 12:30 and then watched a steady stream of people turned away or forced to wait. The breakfast menu has some excellent options: walnut-filled semolina pancakes with rosewater, pistachios and Persian floss ($15), zaatar spiced poached eggs with hommus and pumpkin and pinenut kibbeh ($14.50) or baked eggs with okra and tomato spiced stew served with shanklish ($15).

We pondered for a while, but eventually decided that the mezza options on the lunch menu would give us a broader sampling of what Bayte do. Cindy started out with rosewater soda ($3.80) while I put away a coffee or two.

But onto the food. First up a really excellent baba ganoush ($5) that had a deep smoky flavour and smeared perfectly onto the freshly baked khoubiz el saage (chargrilled flatbread, $3.50). The bread was so good that we went back for a second (despite the slightly annoying fact that they charge per piece).

Next up: a serve of the kibbeh rass bi la'teen (fried pumpkin kibbeh filled with caramelised onions and almonds, served on hummus, $7.50). This was possibly my favourite dish of the meal - the sweetness of the pumpkin nicely offset by the onion and hummus and the whole thing built on a solid base of frying.

We shifted from fried goods to salads for the next course: roasted quince salad with zaatar labne balls, pomegranate and an orange and white vinegarette ($15). This was almost dessert-like in its sweetness - at least until you stumbled across one of the whole roasted garlic cloves dotted throughout. The quince reminded me a bit of poached pear, which worked perfectly with the spiced labne balls. I could have used more labne, but I suppose cheese is best served in moderation.

Cindy's never seen a roast potato she didn't want to try, so we were always going to order the batata meshwi (potatoes barbecued and served with homemade tomato sauce, $7).

They were a complete success - look at that crispy skin! The sauce tasted more like a slightly fruity chutney than a simple tomato sauce and worked just as well smeared on leftover bread as it did on the spuds.

Our final course was the one I was most excited by: falafel with almond taratour, radish and baby coriander ($5 a pop).

First of all: $5 per felafel is a bit of a stretch, when places like Tiba's, Half Moon or Mankoushe crank them out so much cheaper. To be fair: these are biggish felafel balls and pretty good ones too - heavy with spices and with a smooth sauce on top. The radishes provide a bit of freshness to cut through, but I must admit I was hoping for something a bit more exciting.

On the whole though, Bayte was very, very impressive - an interesting menu executed well. There are loads of vegetarian options, and vegans could probably scrape by (I imagine if you called ahead they'd be reasonably accommodating - the menu has plenty of veganisable options). Service was efficient and reasonably friendly in spite of a fairly intense lunchtime rush. It's not the cheapest lunch in town (we would up at around $60 total for lunch + non-alcoholic drinks), but you don't walk away feeling like you've overpaid - there's a quality to the experience that lives up to the prices. I'm pretty keen to try out some of the breakfast dishes at Bayte, so I imagine we'll be revisiting before too long.

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Nothing but rave reviews for Bayte - check out Petit Miamx, I'm so hungree, thehangrybitch, MEL: HOT OR NOT, Fitzroyalty, Foodie About Town, Erinn-Louise, EAT AND BE MERRY FOR TOMORROW WE DIE(T), We Love Melbourne, Poppet's Window and The Mob Review.

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Bayte

56 Johnston Street, Collingwood
9415 8818

veg breakfasts $6.50-$15, mezza dishes $3.50-$15 (you're looking at about $20 a head for a big meal)
http://www.bayte.com.au

Accessibility: Bayte is split level - there's a small step up on entry and then another couple of steps up to the top level. Things are pretty jammed, particularly when there's a rush on. We ordered at the table and paid at a medium-level counter.

Small Victories II

June 13, 2013

I was fighting off jetlag, so Cindy kept me occupied with a quiet workday breakfast. We decided to make a return visit to Small Victories, recently named Melbourne's best breakfast spot by The Age. Our first visit had been pretty successful, and I was keen to sample a few more of their well-cooked side dishes.

Firstly: I'd been missing Melbourne coffees on my travels, so I dived straight into a couple of excellent flat-whites. Small Victories use the Wide Open Road blend and they do an excellent job with it. I had poached eggs ($10) again this visit, but swapped my sides around going for the baked beans ($5) and leek and cheddar croquettes ($5)

The eggs were excellent, the beans plentiful and the croquettes crispy and delicious. The staff at Small Victories clearly know there way around the kitchen - they take standard breakfast sides like beans and add just enough of a twist to make them interesting. I'm still not sure that I should be paying $20 for breakfast (and I wish they wouldn't stack the two slices of toast on top of each other), but at least you're getting something well prepared and original for your money.

Cindy headed for the sweet end of the menu, somehow passing up the buttermilk waffle ($15) in favour of the poached pears with rhubarb, elderflower yoghurt, puffed grains, sesame crisp and rhubarb glass ($13).

That's a pretty damn impressive dish for a local cafe breakfast, I mean rhubarb glass!? Above and beyond. There are lots of varied flavours and textures here: smooth and crunchy, sweet and tangy, some vanishing from the tongue in a moment, and others inviting more meditated chewing. It might leave you looking for a mid-morning snack, but it makes up in taste what it's lacking in bulk.

Small Victories is a pretty slick outfit - the staff are friendly and professional, the food consistently excellent and the fit-out stylish but low key. It's not a cheap experience, but you get what you pay for I guess.

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Since our first visit, The City Lane, bonjourchickie, grazing panda, Temasek (for one of their no longer offered dinners) and MEL: HOT OR NOT have all had positive experiences.

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Small Victories
617 Rathdowne St, Carlton North
9347 4064
veg breakfasts $7-20+
http://smallvictoriesrestaurant.com.au/

Accessibility: Small Victories has seats on the footpath, a step up into the cafe and a couple steps more up to extra seating. Tables have average-to-crowded spacing. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets but expect that they'd require at least a couple, if not a full flight, of steps to access.

Pâté en Croûte

June 10, 2013

It's very much time to crank the oven and warm up the kitchen, so I pulled out Wrapped in Pastry over the long weekend and invited rad relly Carol over for dinner, wine and a movie. This pâté en croûte was Michael's favourite of the recipes we tested for the book (and I made sure there was enough to share with him when he returned home).

Instead of fatty minced meat, this French-style vegan pastry loaf is full of mushrooms, lentils and herbs. Contrary to the whole winter-warming intention, it's actually supposed to be eaten at room temperature. I cheated and sloppily sliced steaming sections for Carol's and my dinner, then popped the remainder in the fridge. It certainly makes for more presentable, self-supporting slices in its traditional morning-after form (see photo above).

I couldn't track down tarragon on the fly and so my loaf came across a little strong on the sage, but not so's anyone else complained. You could doubtless tinker with the fresh herbs to suit your own tastes, just so long as you use lots of 'em! Along with some lemon zest they supply important top notes to a dish that could otherwise descend into brown stodginess.

Pâté en croûte
(adapted very slightly from a recipe in
Leigh Drew's Wrapped In Pastry)

lemon mushroom mousse
3 cups button mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely chopped
1/3 cup chives, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt

lentil pâté
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced into half moons
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 cans brown lentils, drained
1/3 cup fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
2 cups fresh parsley, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes

4 sheets puff pastry, frozen

Use a food processor to grind the mushrooms to a fine mince. Heat the oil in a frypan and add the mushrooms, sauteing until the mushrooms release their juices and they have mostly evaporated, about 10 minutes. Take the mushrooms off the heat and stir in the lemon zest, chives and salt. Transfer the mushroom mousse to another container to cool.

Return the frypan to low heat and add the oil for the lentil pâté. Add the onions and saute them until thoroughly softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the pepper and garlic and saute the onion mixture for a further 5 minutes. Allow the onions to cool down.

When the onions are near room temperature, place them in the food processor with the 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and puree them thoroughly. Add the lentils and blend again until smooth. Fit as much of the sage and parsley in as you can and keep blending until all the herbs are blended into the lentil pâté. Sprinkle over the yeast flakes and remaining red wine vinegar for a final thorough blend. 

Preheat an oven to 200°C. Defrost the puff pastry sheets. Line two loaf pans with baking paper.

When the pastry sheets are ready and completely flexible, use them to line the loaf pans. Leave lots of pastry overhanging the edges to fold over the top later. Spoon one quarter of the lemon mushroom mousse into the bottom of a pastry-lined loaf tin, smoothing it across the base, and repeat with another quarter of the mixture in the other tin. Divide the lentil pâté evenly between the tins and spread it evenly. Spread the remaining mushroom mousse equally over the two pâté loaves. Fold the overhanging pastry across the filling and seal up the pâté en croûtes.

Bake the loaves until the pastry is cooked through, up to 45 minutes. Keep an eye on them and cover the tins with foil if the pastry looks at risk of burning. Allow the loaves to cool to room temperature, or even refrigerate them overnight, before turning them out of the tins and serving them in thick slices.

Carnival cookies

June 10, 2013

This was one of the first recipes to jump out at me from Super Natural Every Day, and it doesn't even include a photo! Mixing choc chips, peanuts and popcorn into cookie dough will do that. AOF's success with the recipe only made me keener. Sadly for some, these cookies also contains bananas, so I've been saving them up for while Michael was away.

As I popped my own corn, I found that 20g actually means 3 cups of the stuff! But even gently folding them into dough at the last minute, they broke down quite rapidly and I'd defy anyone to recognise them in the baked cookies. Instead the cookies are soft with much mashed banana and chewy with rolled oats. Even the peanuts just barely retain their crunch. Stealthily vegan and free of added sugar, these cookies are still plenty sweet thanks to the choc chips and banana.

While Heidi's carnival cookies are soft, sweet and comforting in their own right, they've also got me wondering how I might concoct something with a bit more crunch, a real showcase for the popcorn.

Carnival cookies
(a recipe from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day)

340g ripe bananas (about 2 1/2 large)
1 teaspoon vanilla
60g coconut oil, just barely melted
120g rolled oats
60g almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
170g dark chocolate chips
100g peanuts
20g (about 3 cups loosely packed) popcorn

Preheat an oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with paper.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas thoroughly. Stir in the vanilla and coconut oil.

In a separate medium-sized bowl, stir together the rolled oats, almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Tip them into the banana mixture and thoroughly combine them to form the cookie dough. Fold in the chocolate chips and peanuts, then lastly and most gently the popcorn.

Scoop generous tablespoons of the cookie dough onto the baking tray, using a second spoon to help shape them. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, until they're golden. Allow them to cool a while on a wire rack before eating.

Mister Nice Guy's Bakeshop II

June 9, 2013

Sunday sent me to Moonee Ponds in the morning, so I strolled south to Mister Nice Guy's Bakeshop for lunch. While their modus operandi is sweet-sweet-sweet, they now also offer a range of bagel sandwiches (including a gluten-free option!) and a couple other savoury selections...

... like a dawg in a blanket ($6.50). Chomping down on sweet bread dough baked around a mock sausage, all at room temperature, I felt like a kid at a carnival.

I followed up with a clownishly large and lairy slice of peanut butter chocolate cake ($5). While there was chocolate and peanut butter (and some lovely crushed macadamias) to be found, they were outperformed by sugar, sugar, sugar. Next time I'll grow up and stick to a, ahem, cupcake.

Mister Nice Guy's Bakeshop nourished my inner child more than my adult body. It's lovely that they extend this indulgence to Melbourne's vegans and coeliacs - every staff member and customer in the shop was grinning from ear to ear.

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You can read about our previous visit to the Bakeshop here. Since then it's received much vegan love on melbourne with the rocket, Appetite Affliction, In The Mood For Noodles and veganopoulous, plus some omni interest on Consider the Sauce.

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Mister Nice Guy's Bakeshop
151 Union Road, Ascot Vale
0424 422 878
desserts $2-9
http://www.misterniceguy.com.au/

Accessibility: From memory, Mr Nice Guy has a flat entry. There's a wide corridor inside and the display cases are clearly visible and well labelled. Ordering and payment happens at the counter. The toilets are down a slightly narrow and uneven corridor, are gendered, and pretty narrow themselves.