Another "bitsa" post

Given how hectic the last fortnight has been, I'm doing another "bitsa" post (bitsa this, bitsa that) to clear some of the blog backlog and write up a few places I've visited recently.

Cafe Latte - Cucina Pugliese
521 Malvern Rd, Toorak (map)
9826 5846


Met up with Mum down at Malvern Road the other Sunday because we'd heard Cranfields was closing down and I wanted to see whether they'd heavily reduced the price of the hand-stitched leather hippo I'd fallen in love with in their shop several years ago. Alas, he was still obscenely, prohibitively expensive. We decided to brunch at Cafe Latte ("Milk" cafe, not "caffe latte"), which is a place my Aussie grandmother used to take us to years ago. The layout of the place is unusual (the island bar/coffee machine is slap bang in the centre of the room, with tables circling it) and the menu proclaims a Pugliese influence.


It was 11:30am and Mum ordered nice but rather uninteresting spinach and mushies on toast. I was going to have something breakfasty too... but then I cast my eye over the lunch menu and saw zucchini flowers stuffed with goats cheese on a bed of salad. I honestly think that if I ever had to plan the menu for my final meal on earth, zucchini flowers stuffed with goat's cheese would be the entree, so I'm not a weirdo for ordering this dish before noon, right? Right?

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Bouzy Rouge
470 Bridge Rd, Richmond (map)
9429 4348

That Sunday evening, I was meeting M for dinner in Richmond and was really excited about visiting Momotaro Ramen (after my tasty Ramen experience in Sydney, stickyfingers had suggested I try Momotaro). But hell's bells, it turned out to be closed on a Sunday and I hadn't ascertained this in advance - rookie mistake, I know. While casting about for a alternative (Djakarta, my favourite restaurant on Bridge Rd, was likewise closed), M suggested we try newish gastropub Bouzy Rouge, formerly the Dover Castle.

Bouzy Rouge opened late last year and is run by Sandra and Jose De Oliveira, who have steered at the helm of many popular pubs. Tony Leonard of 3AW gave the pub a slavishly favourable review and named it 3AW 2007 Pub of the Year. Unlike Tony (whose constant AFL name-dropping I find really annoying, btw), I really wasn't down with the decor of the place - I mean, zebra-skin chairs, stag heads and crossed swords on the walls?! I felt like I should have entered wearing a tweed jacket AND a kilt, followed by "natives" carrying the gazelle I shot that afternoon...



Okay, maybe I'm overreacting. Despite my interior design qualms, I liked the tapas dishes well enough. We had grilled sardines with capsicum, sherry vinegar and chilli relish ($11), fried soft shell crab with coriander and lime salad ($8.50), roast capsicum with goats cheese, basil and sticky balsamic ($8) and steak tartare (eye fillet, Dijon, capers and parsley) with fries ($16).

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Monk & Me
9 Evans Pl, Hawthorn East (map)
9813 3261

It may be called Monk & Me, but I always think of it as Monk & Mee, because I love their Indian Mee Goreng so damn much. Monk & Me is an extended relative of the Chinta Ria family of Malaysian restaurants, originally started some 20 years ago by Simon Goh, the "Chinta Godfather". There's Chinta Ria Jazz opposite the Prahran market, Chinta Ria Soul in Acland Street St Kilda, Chinta Blues up the other end of Acland St near Fitzroy St (and there used to be a Chinta Ria R 'n B, playing old rhythm and blues music up in North Melbourne or Carlton, I forget which), then Chinta Ria Temple of Love at Cockle Bay Wharf in Sydney. As a kid, Chinta Ria introduced me to the delights of two things I love, Malaysian food and jazz (I always coveted Simon Goh's recipe book Hot Food, Cool Jazz - with accompanying jazz cd!), so I'll always have a soft spot for these restaurants... :)


Monk & Me has the same basic menu as the Chinta Ria restaurants and a similar slick and simple aesthetic. It's a great pre-movie-at-the-Rivoli option (read a lovely feature on the Rivoli Cinema architectural refurbishment here). I went there last Saturday with CJ before we saw There Will Be Blood and we shared the excellent Mee Goreng Indian Style ($13.50) and the not-as-good-but-not-bad Daging Pedas: slices of beef fillets wok tossed in a blend of spices, fresh ginger root, carrot slices, snow peas and dried chilli ($20.50).

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D.O.C. Pizza and Mozzarella Bar
295 Drummond Street, Carlton (map)
9347 2998

And speaking of pre-cinema dining venues, the other Monday I went with best-friend-K and Schatzi to D.O.C. for pizze prior to going to the Nova to see Margot at the Wedding (which was GOD-AWFUL, by the way - nobody should have to watch botoxed alien Nicole Kidman masturbate unhappily and mope about her character's upper middle class ego-centricism for what seems an eternity). But moving on to more pleasant subject matter, it was great to revisit D.O.C. and to enjoy it as much as I did the first time.


This time, we wanted to try pizze rosse instead of bianche, so we ordered the Capricciosa with ham, artichokes, olives and mushrooms, and the Soppressa with tomato, mozzarella, salame, provolone, pesto di casa & olives. Again, the pizze were delicious: as b-f-K remarked, the crust itself is so good that even devoid of toppings, it's a pleasure to munch on! :)

D.O.C. : Melbourne now has a mozzarella bar!

D.O.C. Pizza and Mozzarella Bar
295 Drummond Street, Carlton (map)
9347 2998

On Friday night I was very excited about visiting D.O.C., the restaurant which recently opened at the old Vue de Monde site on the corner of Drummond and Faraday in Carlton. I was excited:

(a) because D.O.C. is the new venture by the charming Italian Stallions who run Carlton Espresso, one of the very (very) few places on Lygon Street that serves decent food and my favourite cafe in Melbourne for pizza al taglio and piadine; but also
(b) because D.O.C. is a pizza AND mozzarella bar!

What can I say, I'm a sucker for a niche gimmick (and for good mozzarella). The NY Times reckons the world's first mozzarella bar started up in Rome a few years ago. Well, now it's Melbourne's turn, and on Friday night I went to check it out with four friends. I was not disappointed!

First up, we went for a drink across the road at Il Duce Si Diventa. Having just been paid that day, I was looking forward to spending a tidy sum on a delicious red, quite probably a pinot noir - so was less than impressed to find that the red wine list at IDSD consisted of a Penfolds Cabernet... and a Penfolds Merlot. Bah! I had a beer instead.

Purely coincidentally, I discovered that Friday was the one year anniversary since IDSD opened. The bar caused a minor furore amongst the Italian community in Melbourne when it opened due to its name ("Il Duce" was Mussolini's de facto title, and the name of the bar (very) loosly translates as "(You're not born Il Duce), you become Il Duce"). SBS Italian radio interviewed the bar owner at the time and questioned him about the bar's name, asking him whether he would think it appropriate for a German to open a bar called Hitler Si Diventa. "Look... Hitler is Hitler, and Mussolini is Mussolini" was the reply from the bar owner, who was quick to point out that he wasn't a Fascist sympathiser.

The interior decorating scheme of IDSD (described with generous understatement as "decadente" by SBS Italian radio) consists of getting enough kitsch, gilded, gaudy, over the top miscellanea to fill six houses, then cramming it all into one small bar (with strangely uninspiring results - as my friend M said, never has so little been made of so much). I DO like kitsch in most instances, but after a visit there my eyes felt like they'd been raped. It's not really my kind of place.

After one drink, we crossed the road and entered D.O.C. (no bookings, sorry).

D.O.C. stands for Denominazione d'Origine Controllata, the Italian appellation given to wines (and foods) from controlled regions. There are many DOC wines on the wine list, and plenty of D.O.P. foods (Denominazione d'Origine Protetta) including mozzarella, San Daniele prosciutto and gorgonzola.

The paper placemats have the menu printed on one side and this cute map of Italy on the other, which points out which parts of Italy the different foods on the menu come from (eg piave cheese from the Veneto, vincotto from Puglia). You can't see it in the photo above, but the map has a huge arrow pointed to the right marked "GREECE THAT WAY" :-)

Of course we HAD to start with something from the mozzarella bar section of the menu. You get your choice of a big juicy ball of either Australian Fior di Latte or D.O.P. Air Freighted Italian Buffalo Mozzarella accompanied by a little something on the side such as spek, bresaola, D.O.P. San Daniele Prosciutto, tomato with pesto etc. We chose the Italian mozzarella (natch) accompanied by White Sardinian Anchovies, which were brilliantly matched with shaved fennel and whisper-thin slices of blood orange, and some grissini (excuse the shaky photo!).

We had a big salad (insalatone) of rocket, pear, warm honey and Sardinian pecorino. Also fantastic - having the honey slightly runny was the crowning touch.

We shared three pizze amongst us - the first one I'd had and loved before in by-the-slice format at Carlton Espresso: the Pizza Cicoria with chicory, piave cheese and lemon. There are very few pizze that use lemon successfully - this is one of them!

The Pizza San Daniele, with San Marzano tomato, D.O.P. Buffalo Mozzarella and D.O.P. San Daniele Prosciutto, was super-fresh and delicious. But I think my favourite was the third one...

...the Pizza Abruzzese with porchetta, mozzarella, torre di radicchio and mostarda di frutta (an Italian fruit relish often flavoured with mustard). The saltiness of the porchetta offset the spicy bitterness of the radicchio wonderfully.

Having washed out savoury food down with a Dolcetto d'Alba (from Piemonte), we turned to the dessert menu. My curiosity was piqued by the Sweet Goats Cheese Tiramisu with Pavesini - I couldn't remember ever having goats cheese in a dessert before! We approached the dish with some trepidation, but I'm really glad we ordered it. Although it was very rich, it wasn't heavy. If you took a bit with lots of coffee in it, the nuance of goat was lost, but if you scooped up a coffee-free spoonful, the custardy flavour would yield a slightly goaty aftertaste. Unusual but nice!

Can't wait to go back there again. Let me know what you think of it if you go!