King / Bourke Quest Part 25: Espressino

Espressino Coffee and Pizza Bar
68-70 King Street (Rialto), Melbourne (map)
9620 4774

Time to resurrect the King/Bourke Quest, my search for good lunch food walking distance from my office building on the corner of King and Bourke streets.


Remo Nicolini (one of the original Italian Stallions from Carlton Espresso, he who also owns Little Bourke Street pizzeria +39) finally opened the doors of his new coffee and pizza bar on Thursday. It's at the Rialto site on the level below the New York Tavern, and it's called Espressino. I'd been pestering Remo by popping down a few times to see if it was open yet, so I had lunch there on opening day.

This Espressino is not to be confused with the cafe at the other end of town formerly known as Espressino and operated by Remo, but now run by others and known as Babbo.


Indoor and outdoor seating at Espressino. The outdoor tables are made from trees that were damaged in the Black Saturday, and carry sombre inscriptions describing the bushfires.


Inside, the panini, piadine, pizzette and dolci are all displayed in big cabinets. Remo is brewing up is his +39 artisan coffee, as well as single origin (Cuban): there are two coffee machines, one solely dedicated to making espressi.


The high ceilings of the interior are adorned with spotlit bicycles.


Housemate DJ and our friend Miss B both ventured to my end of the city to join me for lunch. Miss B had the pizzetta with eggplant and cherry tomatoes. I had the one with tartufata and rocket. Simple, tasty, good. They were about $8 each, and were served on little wooden boards that had the Espressino logo stamped in the corner. Wish the knives had been a bit sharper though.


DJ announced it would be a multiple course meal. He chased up his roasted pumpkin piadina with a slice of berry-topped cake we assumed would be cheesecakey but turned out to be rather more spongy. He liked it though, and we liked the look of the strawberry pieces and extravagant swirls of whipped cream - they made the cake look like a red-legged cheerleader holding pom-poms.


Miss B and I ordered coffees and decided to share a bombolone filled with Italian custard. DJ had never tasted Italian custard before so we gave him a bite - he was suitably impressed and overwhelmed by the sugar rush. I had my own caffeine rush for the next hour - yes my tolerance is low but those coffees were strong.


Very happy to have Espressino only a stone's throw from the office!

King / Bourke Quest Part 24: Amnesty Fortnight edition

Amnesty Fortnight continues! I'm proud to say that this installment completely clears my backlog of places I wanted to write about for the King/Bourke Quest, my series on good lunch places walking distance from my office building on the corner of Bourke and King Streets. Now I've just got to work on the non-KBQ stuff... :)

Cafenatics
Church Lane, Melbourne (map)
9629 4440


A new Cafenatics cafe opened very close to our office late last year. I'm still mostly faithful to SMXL and Bambini Barrista, but sometimes our little work posse crosses over Little Collins and grabs a cup of joe at Cafenatics (I prefer this branch in all its concrete bunker glory, but when L is with us we go to the one at 121 William Street, because it has outside seating so L can have a cigarette).


Foodwise, they do a nifty little range of roti wraps, many of them with chicken and various flavours (including Thai and Mexican). This is the Thai one: my favourite. I've only tried their roti wraps, but they always have a couple of risotti on offer (love the specials written on a paper bag which is weighed down by a big handful of coffee beans!).



K.Shock Bento Box
Shop 8, 530 Little Collins Street, Melbourne (map)
8686 5664


K.Shock Bento Box is next door to Bambini Barrista, so is super-convenient for us if we only have time for a quick lunch break. It's staffed by a trio of Japanese ladies - the eldest one who runs the place always indulges me by allowing me to practice my almost-forgotten Japanese with her as she takes my order and we make small talk about the weather or the weekend (I don't remember much other vocab!).


As well as a great range of inexpensive salads, K.Shock does a mean Curry Don. CD and I order it with alarming frequency!



Sataybar
Corner Flinders Lane and Custom House Lane, Melbourne (map)
9629 1466


Tucked behind the Rialto on Flinders Lane in a small but sleekly-designed space, Sataybar specialises in excellent made-to-order chargrilled satay skewers. The peanut sauce is made fresh daily, using Indonesian Grandmother's secret recipe. You can choose from chicken, lamb, spicy beef, prawn, tofu, spicy tofu or veggie skewers, served with rice/krupuk/salad: the small package is $7.70, the large is $9.90. And if you need any extra spice, they stock the fiery Capibu Jari Sambel Asli - best sambel ever!



Blok M Express
380 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne (map)
9600 2534


"In a little area in the south of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, lies the heart of hustle and bustle where professionals, entrepreneurs, street thugs, buskers, government officials and students alike all congregate in an array of colour, nightclubs, markets and shopping centres. This district is known as Blok-M." (reads a sign in Blok M Express)


Down on Little Bourke between Sette Bello and +39 is Blok M Express, the express city sister of the Indonesian restaurant of the same name in Prahran (read Urban Muslim's review to learn a little about the interesting backstory of the owner). It's clean, cheap and quick - I like the mie goreng a lot and the tempeh is tasty, but I must say I still prefer the soto ayam at my beloved Garage.



Demi-tasse
Shop 8, 550 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne (map)
9642 3571


How can you NOT love a cafe that has Tintin books alongside Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine?! :)


Demi-tasse is a more recent discovery. I've been there twice so far and have been impressed both times by their small but interesting and inexpensive (sub $10) lunch menu. When I took Miss F there during her recent visit from London, she ordered one of the specials: a fabulous zucchini timbale.


I've tried their veal meatballs, served in a rich tomato sugo, and their zucchini fritters served with salsa verde. Both were excellent. It's a tiny little place so it may be tricky to get a seat during the 1-2pm rush, but the staff are friendly and the coffee and wine list are both very promising. Recommended!

King / Bourke Quest Part 23: +39

+39
362 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne (map)
9642 0440

It's been ages since I've added an entry to the King/Bourke Quest, my ongoing search for good lunchtime fare walking distance from the building where I work on the corner of King and Bourke Streets, in the depths of the gastronomic wasteland known as the Melbourne Legal District.


Today's entry is +39, located on Little Bourke Street just down the hill from Sette Bello and (the now sadly defunct) Base Kamp. Thanks to mellie for alerting me to it last month!


Plus Thirty-Nine (or Più Trentanove, if we're going to get all mother-tongue about the Italian international dialing code) serves up wonderful, inexpensive pizzette, panini, piadine and pasta in a slick, modern vault of a place. It's run by Remo, one of the original Italian Stallions that used to charm me and chat in Italian at Carlton Espresso back when I was at law school.

One of the little touches I love at +39 is the pasta condiments: a tiny bowl of fresh cut chillies in olive oil, and a cheese grater doohickey dispensing Parmigiano Reggiano. Bravo.


On my first visit there was no need for grated cheese - I had the Spaghetti Porri ($15) with caramelised leek and gorgonzola. Just brilliant!


My colleague Miss B who was joining me for lunch enjoyed a hearty toasted panino with marinated capsicum, eggplant and potato.


I went back again last week with with O. We shared two pizze: one with fresh mozzarella, baby broccoli, anchovies and pine nuts, the other a Capricciosa with tomato, fresh mozzarella, leg ham, mushrooms, artichokes and Ligurian olives. Both were excellent - an authentic slice of Italy - and were only $10 each!

They'd run out when I was last there, but next time I'm keen to try the Gratin, which comes with fresh mozzarella, eggplant, breadcrumbs aromatised in garlic and olive oil with cherry tomato.


We'd filled up on pizza so we didn't have any of the delicious cakes or bomboloni. If we had, I would TOTALLY have gone for the custard pear and fig tart on the right - it looked sensational!

King / Bourke Quest Part 22: Creperie Le Triskel

Crêperie Le Triskel
32 Hardware Lane, Melbourne (map)
0466 406404
Open breakfast and lunch Tuesday to Saturday (AND now also open on Fridays for wine and cheese degustation evenings from 6pm!)


T'was Mellie from Tummy Rumbles who put me on to Le Triskel. Allow me to list ten reasons why I love this place:

1) The sign on the front window says "Crêperie Le Triskel: Arrogantly French".

2) Despite promises of arrogance on the front window, the proprietor Michael is completely delightful and charmant and not at all arrogant. He also speaks to me in French and did me the honour of pretending to mistake me for a Frenchwoman the first time we spoke ("Vous n'êtes pas française? Mais vous parlez très bien le français!" "Ah, vous dites ça a toutes les filles!!" etc).

3) They have a huge map of France hanging on the wall, next to chalked up bilingual phrases so that non-francophone customers can also order in French if they wish to.


4) The magazines on offer are France Magazine (in English), and Vogue, National Geographic and Paris-Match (all in French).


5) They play old French pop songs by Jacques Dutronc and Françoise Hardy, but the Frenchness of the place never gets cheesy.


6) The savoury galettes are delicious - very authentic and thin, made with buckwheat flour and served with a side salad and a few slices of baguette. The galette above is La Biquette ($13) with fresh goats cheese and spinach, topped with a slice of grilled Caprifeuille goats cheese, olives, SSD tomato, honey and pine nuts. Below is L'Estivale ($13) with ricotta, chives and smoked salmon, topped with Bocconcini and SSD tomatoes.


7) The sweet crêpes are equally delicious. The one on the left is with nutella, the one on the right was with lemon and sugar ($4 each).


8) They have a great breakfast menu, including galettes and crêpes, tartines with jam, marmalade, honey or nutella, croissants, pains au chocolat and grands bols of café au lait.

9) On a sunny morning you can sit outside at one of the tables under the large awning and - if you tilt your head to one side, squint and really really use your imagination - you can almost pretend that Hardware Lane is a cobbled street in Paris.

10) They're close enough to my office to classify as part of my King/Bourke Quest! Find them Tuesdays to Saturdays in Hardware Lane, between Bourke and Little Bourke, and tell Michael that Claire sent you! :)

King / Bourke Quest Part 21: Buddhist Temple

Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery & Vegetarian Restaurant
141 Queen Street, Melbourne (map)
9642 2388
Open Mon-Fri, lunch only

Time for another entrant in the King/Bourke Quest, the never-ending search for decent lunchtime fare within a quick walking distance from the corner of King Street and Bourke Street (the gastronomic wasteland where my office is located).


Fondly referred to by many simply as "Buddhist Temple", Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery is many things: an art gallery, a tea house, a vegetarian restaurant, classrooms, a meditation hall, a shrine and a gift shop! In a particularly busy stretch of Queen Street (between the Turf Bar and CQ) it is a high-ceilinged, refined oasis of tranquility.


My most recent visit was a few weeks ago, with Gumby and her husband D-man. Upon arrival I immediately ordered a pot of the Temple's most excellent cumquat tea. Oh, this cumquat tea is so so nice my friends... hot and sweet yet piquant. Heh, piquant cumquat is fun to say. :)


All of the dishes at FGY Buddhist Temple are vegetarian, many of them with faux meat. The rotating daily specials are served in bento boxes. I had the Thai curry, and marveled at the texture of the "meat".


Gumby-chan had the fried "fish" with a Penang sauce. Again, it had a remarkably authentic texture. Some of my fellow omnivores out there may raise their eyebrows at some of the "meat" on offer at the Temple, but let me assure you that it tastes good.


D-man had the fried noodles, which as well as being deliciously slimy had a great smoky flavour. All of the dishes are around the $8-$8.50 mark, and I'm yet to have a dud dish at the Temple.


Highly recommended - though if you're going on a Friday or in a group you may want to phone ahead and book... but be sure to request a table in the lovely high-ceilinged main hall and not in one of the poky, fluorescent-lit back rooms!