Epic sandwichcraft at Beatrix

Beatrix Cafe and Bake-a-way
688 Queensberry Street cnr Lothian Street, North Melbourne (map)
9090 7301
Monday: 8am-4pm
Closed Tuesday
Wednesday-Friday: 8am-4pm
Saturday-Sunday: 9am-4pm


I'd heard good things and had been meaning to check out Beatrix ever since it opened at the start of the year. But it was my friend Matt, a fervent Beatrix devotee, who inspired me to lunch there the other weekend. He'd visited Beatrix on consecutive days, SMSing me each time to rhapsodise about its sandwiches.

Our texts to each other are almost invariably food-related. It's great.


The cafe is tiny and tucked in a quiet corner of North Melbourne. Inside, the cuteness is dialled up to Frankie levels, with a collection of vintage eggbeaters adorning the back wall and sweet, friendly staff serving up the Allpress coffee, Art of Tea teas and food.

When you visit you may recognise one of the staff members as muso Evelyn 'Pikelet' Morris: when we had lunch there, a beardy young male customer was breathlessly fanboying her ("Oh yeah, I remember at that gig you were drumming with those guys. It was awesome!").

The savoury menu at Beatrix is very short, consisting of granola, a few toasties, a soup special and one or two ciabatta specials (check their Facebook page in advance for details of that week's specials). As Matt had promised, the ciabatta sandwiches were SERIOUSLY good. Right up there with EARL Canteen, Pope Joan, and the Auction Rooms knuckle sandwich.


I ordered the St Brigid, the roasted chicken ciabatta that had so enraptured Matt. It came in two sizes, $12 and $10, and included fennel mustard mayonnaise and cos-slaw. The free range chicken was succulent, the mustard mayo was perfectly balanced and the ciabatta roll (from Let’s-A-Loaf bakery, in Caroline Springs) was very fresh and neither too dense nor too chewy. A perfect sandwich.


Matt and his lady friend S shared the St Brigid and The Phoenix ($9/$11), a vegetarian option which included sweet roasted pumpkin (the provenance of which was listed on the menu, but alas I cannot recall), smoky baba ghannouj and chopped chickpea salad. I had a small taste, and loved that the baba ghannouj was smoky but not so smoky as to smother the other ingredients.


My one regret with my visit to Beatrix is that I didn't order a slice of cake to take away. Owner Nat Paull, a much praised pastry chef and baker, keeps the counter filled with amazing-looking cakes that are the main focus of the business. What can I say?? I was stuffed full of sandwich and wasn't thinking straight. But just look at those lemon squares, and that coconut buttercake. Sigh. NEXT TIME, MY PRETTIES!

You want a knuckle sandwich? Get one at Auction Rooms

Auction Rooms
103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne (map)
9326 7749

My usual Auction Rooms disclaimer - that proprietor Andrew Kelly is a friend of mine - applies.


Lovers of pork, hear ye: I hereby implore you to get to Auction Rooms posthaste and order the Knuckle Sandwich, because it is SUBLIME. Permit me to take you on a guided tour:


Ham hock braised for hours and hours until it is falling apart, rocket, piccalilli (made in-house English-style with cauliflower florets, courgettes, beans, cornichons, seeded mustard and turmeric) and Montgomery's aged cheddar toasted into a Dench ciabatta roll. It comes served with a pickled chilli, costs $14.50 (or $12 take-away) and is very juicy and filling.


I like this sandwich as much as I like the pork belly sandwich at EARL - and that's saying something. It should DEFINITELY become an Auction Rooms signature dish, and I will kick up a huge stink with Andy if he takes it off the menu. Head down there and order a knuckle sandwich, and tell 'em Claire sent you.


While I was there I also had a great pourover coffee, an Ethiopean Nekisse.


*sigh* Auction Rooms is such a pretty cafe. For previous Melbourne Gastronome write-ups of its brunches and lunches, click here and here.

A Sunday pause at Sosta Cucina

Sosta Cucina
12 Errol Street, North Melbourne (map)
9329 2882


Last weekend it was Nonno's 88th birthday. The Italian half of my family wanted to take him and Nonna out for lunch on the Sunday to celebrate the birthday (and to celebrate the return of my Mum and Dad from their month swanning around Italy), but it was tricky choosing a venue that my grandparents would approve of. It needed to be somewhere that was open for lunch on Sunday, that was special but wasn't too outrageously expensive and that served authentic Italian food... preferably Northern Italian. We learnt our lesson well when, years ago, we made the mistake of taking my Italian grandparents to a (very very nice) Chinese restaurant: Nonno kept scowling and grumbling that the Shanghai noodles hadn't been cooked al dente.

Sosta fit our birthday requirements nicely. Located at the city end of Errol Street, Sosta Cucina specialises in Northern Italian food (with Southern touches, as appropriate). I loved the aesthetics of the place: the prominent Venetian blinds and the old family photos on the white walls. The owner Maurizio looked after our table and gave us fantastic service, speaking politely in Italian to Nonna and Nonno.


I arrived late to find a few antipasti already on the table: Ligurian and Puglian olives under oil, parmigiano Reggiano and - *DROOL* - marinated and pickled Sicilian anchovies. My mouth waters just thinking about those acciughe. Oh, and I can usually take or leave grissini, but I loved these house-made, pepper-flecked beauties. $17 for the plate.


For primi piatti, Mamma had a couple of fiori di zucca ($7 each). The zucchini flowers were filled with ricotta and gorgonzola then lightly fried and served with an heirloom tomato salad. Zia P ordered the Pizzoccheri ($17): baked buckwheat pasta layered with taleggio, savoy cabbage and nicola potato drizzled with a burnt sage butter. It arrived in its own little ramekin and was, by all accounts, thoroughly delicious.


My sister Birdie had the risotto special (which featured sausage and fagioli that came directly from Maurizio's mother-in-law's garden) and Zia P's partner M had the fresh pappardelle with a ragu of lamb and pecorino ($19).


I'll admit to feeling a twinge of dish envy as I looked at the other primi piatti, but then mine came out: the spaghetti al granchio e bottarga di muggine ($20). That's blue swimmer crab meat with EVOO, garlic, parsley, golden breadcrumbs and freshly grated bottarga (grey mullet roe). I'd loved bottarga when I'd had it at Anada and I'm a sucker for blue swimmer crab, so this was the clear choice. Loved the rich flavours and the slightly soggy texture of the breadcrumbs.


Nonno, acting uncharacteristically goofy in a manner that belies his 88 years.


Nonno's main was the fish special: hapuka, on a bed of agrodolce caponata. Caponata is a Sicilian salad made of fried eggplant, celery, capers, pine nuts and soaked raisins, in a mouthwatering sweet/sour sauce. Nonno adored it and kept passing heaped forkfuls to Nonna, insisting that she taste it in order to replicate it at home in the future. :)


Birdie surprised me by ordering a dish with lentils in it: the roasted quail and Italian sausage with bayleaf served upon braised lentils and mustard fruits ($29). Loved the presentation of this dish. Mum and Dad both ordered the roast of the day, which was a veal pot roast served with peas and pancetta.


Nonna and I both went with soft polenta dishes, good Northern Italians that we are. I had the Capretto alla moda di abbacchio con taragna ($28): baby goat, slow cooked with rosemary and white wine (in the style more commonly used for slow cooked lamb), served on soft taragna polenta with shavings of pecorino. Made from ground corn flour and buckwheat, taragna polenta has a slightly nutty flavour that went perfectly with the tender meat. Must get my hands on some taragna polenta to cook at home.

We all shared a couple of bowls of excellent rocket salad, with shaved fennel, pear and a sherry vinaigrette ($8).


Nonna ordered another of the specials, the duck liver with wet polenta and caramelised radicchio. At the risk of being pelted with stale bread rolls by my fellow food bloggers for not being sufficiently "hardcore", I must confess to having a limited liking for offal: the metallic taste of cooked liver tends to be something I endure rather than enjoy. But in tasting Nonna's dish I was blown away by the caramelised radicchio - the combination of sweet and bitter flavours was intoxicating. I bought some radicchio at the market on the weekend just so that I could attempt to caramelise it at home - wish me luck!


Our food was accompanied by some lovely Italian wines: first a sparkling, then an Arneis, then a Nebbiolo. I am ALL about the Arneis at the moment.


Mum and Dad held up remarkably well, considering they'd only flown back from Italy that morning. We looked at a couple of digicam photos from their fabulous holiday which included visiting my brother Buster in Firenze (I was lucky enough to be brought back a gorgeous pair of bottle green gloves made from soft soft Florentine leather). When visiting our Italian relatives in Monfalcone, Mum had gone through all of their old photos and brought back a selection that they had given her.


That's Mamma when she was a little girl (looking very much like me as a little girl). And hey, how totally hot was my zio Mario in the late 1940s, eh? Phwoar. The man is rocking the cardigan-and-Vespa look.


We skipped dessert in favour of strong, strong espressi.


And to finish off, Maurizio brought a couple of bottles so we could have an impromptu grappa tasting. They all tasted great!

Auction Rooms revisited (and revisited)

Auction Rooms
103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne (map)
9326 7749
Open 7 days for breakfast and lunch, PLUS NOW Thursday to Saturday for dinner

Disclaimer: the lawyer in me feels compelled once again in the interests of full disclosure to state that Andrew Kelly, one of the proprietors of Auction Rooms, is a friend of mine. But like I said last time, this fact does not unduly influence my opinion as to the awesomeness of Auction Rooms!


I've revisited Auction Rooms several times in the last few months, and continue to love it as much as I did the first time.

I'm writing about it again for two reasons: the breakfast/lunch menu has been substantially revamped for the warmer months, and Auction Rooms is now open for dinner on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays!

The (many) photos below are compiled from several visits with different people (I think that with one or two exceptions, I've got every dish from the breakfast menu covered!).


In November, Auction Rooms hosted a great exhibition of black and white photographs, Burmese Dreaming by Tim Syrota. That's S and B admiring them below. They looked great against the distressed brick wall.


Some of the breakfasts: house-made banana and walnut bread served with honey on the side ($7.50), and toasted house-made muesli with yoghurt and poached pears, served with milk or soy on the side ($9.50). Upon tasting best-friend-K's banana bread, housemate DJ promptly ordered some as his SECOND course (!) when we all went for brunch. It was delicious - toasted but still moist.


I loved the original Counter Bid available during the winter months, but this one rocks too: avocado and soft ricotta on toasted sourdough with mint and chilli ($11.50). It's Mum's absolute favourite - she orders it every time, even though she usually doesn't like mint. The ricotta is ever so slightly grilled, so it keeps its shape beautifully.


The Real Deal and the Shady Deal. The Real Deal ($13.50) consists of grilled chorizo with cheesy onion polenta bread and slow cooked spicy beans. Love the beans, but the dish overall is a shade too hefty for my tastes. Less filling but still packing a real punch is the Shady Deal: fried egg with onion, garlic, chilli, spices, lemon and fresh mint on house-made flat bread ($14).


One of the best-looking dishes on the menu has to be the Sweet Deal, which is coconut pikelets served with sweet vanilla pineapple, crème fraîche and orange syrup ($14.50). I tasted cousine H's when she ordered them last Saturday - the touch of coconut was what really made the dish for me.


Another dish I like is the Eggs Catalan ($14) - poached eggs with Catalan tomato, anchovy, olives and fresh basil on toasted sourdough - the slightly acidic tomatoes were a great foil for the salt of the anchovy and olives.

And how cute are these Gingerbread people?! :)


Ex-office buddy J came along with me one lunchtime when we were doing our Masters subject. I tried the Shaw River buffalo mozzarella, with a citrus and roasted baby roma tomato salad and fig vincotto ($19.50). Gorgeous light lunch.


When Buster was in town, I took him to Auction Rooms for lunch. He tried the frittata of Goulburn Valley smoked trout and chive, served with fennel, red onion and grapefruit salad ($13). Andrew's partner G joined us - she had the calamari lightly fried and served on crispy Asian salad with a green chilli relish ($17.50/$22.50).


I had what is now my absolute favourite dish at Auction Rooms: the carpaccio of beef marinated in soy and black pepper, with confit egg, beetroot and miso aioli ($19.50/$22.50).

Just LOOK at that egg yolk!! It is poached in 65-70 degree water for two hours so that the yolk cooks but the white doesn't. It tastes fantastic and has a texture like gelatinous butter (I see from Ed's post yesterday that I'm not the only Melbourne food blogger currently obsessed with sloooooow-cooked eggs).

But it's not just the confit egg - the carpaccio is fresh and mouth-watering, and mixes beautifully with the miso aioli and the cubes and matchsticks of beetroot. Mmmmmmmmmm.


Andrew sent me an invitation to Auction Rooms' evening opening night, which I gladly accepted. As well as asking best-friend-K and CD, I invited along Lucy, Melbourne-based author of the fantastic design blog The Design Files. I'd been wanting to meet Lucy since I first started reading her blog, and I knew already that she liked Auction Rooms, so it all worked out very nicely. She turned out to be just as lovely as her writing suggests! :)


Likewise, Auction Rooms looks just as splendid at night as it does during the day. It was a lovely balmy night, so the huge front windows were wide open, letting in the faint breeze.


A special on opening night was a complimentary amuse-bouche of delicious Moreton Bay bug consommé, served in an espresso cup with a coriander leaf floating on top.


Faced with menus, we decided to share a selection of dishes between us. Of course I couldn't resist getting us the carpaccio with confit egg! We also had b-f-K's favourite, char-grilled asparagus. It came served with panne egg and a salad of persian feta, citrus, apple and herb ($18.50). Will have to check with Andy, but I believe it was a crumbed poached egg? However it was done, it was very tasty.


The consommé having whetted our MBB appetites, we all tucked into the Morton Bay bugs, which came with a green papaya and hot mint salad, and a chilli palm sugar dressing ($19.50). This was Lucy's favourite dish - the hot mint and chilli met their counterbalance in the cool papaya, allowing the bugs to speak for themselves. Bloody marvellous.


Special mentions also to the fillet of kingfish steeped in coconut juice with pickled cucumber, snake bean salad and steamed jasmine rice ($27.50), and the crispy pork belly with sautéed shitake, cabbage and baby corn served with an aromatic sweet orange sauce ($27.50). The crispy pork belly was v sinful but v good, and the sautéed shitake were equally memorable.


I love the photo below, the girl in white looks a bit like a ghost. The guy standing at the bar in a navy shirt is Mark, who was working the turntables that evening. I was pretty rapt when he played a song from Waltz for Koop, and then obliged me by playing the title track, my favourite song on the album. :)


Between the four of us girls we found the room to share two very nice desserts: roasted apricot and nectarines in botrytis jelly with crème anglaise ($9.50) and tiramisù served with Auction Rooms' own espresso and biscotti ($9.50).


That red beauty of a coffee roaster is still going strong: Andy has been roasting up different blends, including blends for milk-based coffees and blends for black coffees. The roasted beans are available for separate purchase, so be sure to sniff some out when you visit.


Finally, one of the coolest things on the dinner menu is the "coffee as cuisine": a siphon-brewed single origin coffee served black (cream on the side) in a brandy balloon, prepared personally at your table ($6 siphon for one, $9 siphon for two). I saw young Aaron here brewing one for my friend G and her dining companion on the night I was there, but I didn't try it myself.


Looking over my photos this week, I asked Andy to explain what "that coffee contraption" was to me. The full history of these vacuum coffee pots can be found here, but the basic process is this:

Water starts in the bottom chamber. A spirit lamp or other heating device such as a powerful halogen heats the water, forcing it up the glass tube into the 'funnel' (top glass bowl) where it mixes with the coffee. Coffee and water is agitated and allowed to brew for the determined best time, whereupon the heat source is removed, and the vacuum created in the bottom vessel causes the brewed coffee to be sucked down from the top vessel, leaving the coffee grounds up in the top vessel, contained by the filter that separates top and bottom vessels.

It's regarded as producing a subtle, nuanced, 'clean-tasting' brew of coffee, and became huge in Japan/Cantonese China and, in the last five years, amongst Anglo coffee afficionados, especially through Blue Bottle in San Francisco (which was set up, I was amused to read, but a "slightly disaffected freelance musician and coffee lunatic"). :)


Sufficiently intrigued by the description, I asked Andy when I was over at his place yesterday whether I could give it a try (regular readers may recall that as a rule I never drink black coffee, cos it tends to make me feel sick). He demonstrated how to brew up a batch in the gorgeous siphon pot he has at home, using new Kenyan beans he'd roasted the day before.


Wow. I think I may have been converted! :)