COME BACK!

Has anyone else noticed that a certain smiley face has been missing from the SKY cafe scene? I am sure that most of the women in the area will be aware that Matt from The Corner Shop has been missing for quite some time now. Matt was a bright spot in the lives of many a bored SKY housewife and he is sorely missed. Formally of Le Chien, Matt moved to The C.S. when the Munroe's opened earlier this year, and spread his joy to the village.


Some of you may not know that Matt is actually very rock and roll - he is the guitarist for BEDFORD, and it turns out this is one of the reasons he has left us - to concentrate more on his music.
So although we miss him we wish him the best of luck and hopefully we'll still see him around the hood when he's not off being famous!

BEDFORD -
WINNER of L.A. Music Awards "Single of the Year" for "I Am Alive"
Awarded Album of the Year on Australian Internet Radio.
Two songs 'Pray' and 'Free Spirit' hit number one on the top 33.3.

Rachael

Le Chien Snippett

The last time I blogged about Le Chien it was quite lengthy. Everything that I wrote still stands, all in all a very positive experience. A couple of things have changed since we were last there and one of them is that Le Chien has opened for dinner. Very exciting I say, expect to see a snippet about that in the near future. The other change is that the prices have risen. Since we started blogging, two cafes have risen in price. Not surprising really when you consider the cost of food these days.
As I had Bircher Muesli a couple of weeks ago at Haus Frau I thought I may as well stick with that choice as long as I could and Le Chien certainly do offer it. However, and there is a big however, it just wasn’t as good as I was hoping it to be. In fact it was just too sultanary (I think I just created a new word). A few sultanas is nice but when there are too many sultanas it just makes the dish too sickly sweet. Also the kind of oats used (pinhead oatmeal- Scottish) was not what I was expecting and not my first preference.
I must say though that after almost completing my first round of cafes in SKY that Le Chien still stands out as one of the fav’s. It was noted by a friend the other night that when he walked into Le Chien and Andy was there he always acknowledged him and said hello. That made him feel good! Andy certainly gets the vote for best café owner in SKY!

Monica

Snippet

A couple of weeks ago I ate at Café Terroni for dinner. Another Gem that opened in Yarraville village around xmas last year. It is one of those places where you think and feel that it has been around forever. It just slipped in and made itself at home and the people of SKY generally love it.
I don’t know anybody who hasn’t been there and the feedback has all been good. It was about my third time of eating there and I hate to say it but I have to burst the bubble. I had a disappointing experience! Now let me tell you, this will not stop me from going back but I think it needs to be put out there. I ordered the gnocchi with the pork ragu and meatballs. The gnocchi was fine and the few meatballs that I tasted were nice and the sauce was really nice but, and it is a big BUT The pork had not been cooked in a ragu. The pork was either left over pork chop or pork roast thrown into the sauce at the end. So disappointing! Were they using up leftovers this is my question?
In a ragu the raw meat of choice, beef, pork or veal (traditionally ground but cubes acceptable) is cooked in the sauce(usually tomato based) until it is tender and melts in your mouth. It is simmered for hours so the meat absorbs the flavour as well as being tender.
This is a reminder that cafes and restaurants are only as good as their last meal. when you have a bad experience you probably will do a lot more talking about it than you would a good experience. Don’t let high standards slip because word of mouth is a powerful tool!
Monica

Java

12 Ballarat St

Yarraville VIC 3013

(03) 9687 3300

Open Daily 7am-11pm

Java Java Java.

I call Java the “lucky café”! It has the best position in Yarraville Village and it has had a captive audience. Until the corner shop opened up it’s doors earlier this year, that is. It has the obvious advantage of being next door to the Sun Bookshop and then the Sun Theatre. Coffee, books and movies. What more could you ask for?

To be perfectly honest Java is not my favourite place. It just doesn’t have the ingredients that go into making a great café in my eyes. First of all the cakes are brought in (understandably, have you seen the size of the kitchen) and they are nothing out of the ordinary. Secondly, even though it is always busy it just doesn’t have the atmosphere. After thinking about it and wondering why, I may have come up with an answer. There does not seem to be a person who is consistently there and that I can identify with. In all other café’s in Sky I can identify with an owner or a waiting person, someone who I recognise who will know my name or even just my face. It is nice to walk into a café and be recognised and said a warm hello to. Having said that, I know that Rachael visits Java on a more regular basis and she assures me that one or two of the girls are always friendly and go out of their way to chat to her kids which I was very pleased to hear. I am not saying that the staff at Java are unfriendly but I do believe that the staff in there are generally still in high school or fresh out and don’t have a lot of experience and that shows.

The poached eggs, tomato, spinach and mushrooms are extremely generous. The eggs are served on thick white toast and are of a smaller size (60) but nicely cooked. Again it is nothing out of the ordinary. It could have had more seasoning, especially in the spinach. You know a little squeeze of lemon on mushrooms and spinach can make all the difference! The tea came in those teapots that I am sick of mentioning. The tea was T2 and the cup was a bit on the thick side with a thick handle making it awkward for any chubby fingers (mainly mine). The cost $20.50! Their prices have been raised! Some sides are $3 and some are $3.50. If you read last weeks blog you would haved noticed for this price I also got a hot chocolate at Pistachio in Seddon. But at Pistachio you are not next to the bookshop and the cinema and I guess that’s the price you pay for location.

Monica

Rachael's note - One of the advantages of Java is it's hours of business. Being a bit of a night owl I am often in the Village in the evening, be it at the movies or just working late and Java is the only cafe that is consistantly open until a late hour. Thank god for Java because there is nothing worse than coming out of the movies at 10pm and finding no where to go to chat about the movie.

Pistachio

86a Charles Street

Seddon - (03) 9687 1374

What a lovely breakfast! Beautifully poached eggs, a whole baked tomato (looked gorgeous), lots of mushies and the spinach (soooo good for you!). Lightly toasted sour dough, perfect thickness for toast, but HARD butter. Frustration! However this seems to be the only problem and I guess it can be forgiven because everything else tasted so yummy. Up there with the best of the breakfast’s in SKY! I had the egg brekkie, my cup of tea and today I treated myself to a hot chocolate, $20. The Big Breakfast with a cup of coffee advertised on the door $12! Great Value for money!

The English Breakfast (Brodies) was great and served in a plunger. However I didn’t like the cup at all. Too thick around the rim and I would hate to have a chubby finger because it would be difficult to put your finger through the handle.

Pistachio needs more people in there to help create an atmosphere. It is a little bit bare and spacious. I’m not quite sure why there isn’t more people in there because it has a lot of good ingredients to make a groovy café. Great food, great prices for breakfasts, plenty of room to sit( a lot of our other local café’s you have to wait for a seat) music in the background, art on the wall and a communal table . What are you waiting for? Get yourselves down there!

As I am not a coffee expert I do like to get other people’s feedback on coffee, and generally you hear people talk about where to get the best coffee, however I have never heard any talk about the coffee from pistachio, so I asked a friend to check it out for me, and unfortunately the feedback wasn’t great. Apparently the barista put too much sugar in the take away coffee and it was undrinkable. I would really like to hear from other people about their experiences with coffee here, if you have had a great experience here please make a comment. Believe it or not we really want all cafes in SKY to have great press! Its good for all of us!

Monica

Hausfrau Bakery and Cakes

32A Ballarat St

Yarraville VIC 3013

Hours

Tue-Sat 8am-5pm,

Sun 10am-5pm

courtesy - The Age

When I think of Haus Frau I think of my childhood. I think of one particular auntie who was very clever at making delicious cakes, and cakes is what they do best here. The display cabinet is filled with beautiful temptations - Sacher Torte, Hummingbird Cake, Madeleines, miniature orange and poppy seed cake, I could go on and on. But as you know we are not here to sample the cakes, (today anyway, that could come at a later date) we are here for breakfast. They don’t do eggs! Those of you who know the area would know that Sally and Christian (owners of Haus Frau) were the original owners of the Gravy Train and in my opinion would do the best breakfast in Melbourne. When they moved to Haus Frau they left the breakfast trade behind. They do have a few items on offer, so I won’t write them off as a breakfast venue and will endeavour to eventually try and review everything on their breakfast board.

What tempted me first? Bircher Muesli! If done correctly it is one of my favourite breakfast indulgences. If you don’t know what bircher muesli is, it is a traditional Swiss breakfast dish. It is a mixture of rolled oats, apple or orange juice, yoghurt, chopped fresh, dried, or stewed fruit, grated apple, sultanas and chopped almonds. It is left overnight and served chilled. (for extra indulgence some people fold whipped cream through it). Yummo!

Was Hausfrau’s up to scratch? It sure was. It was excellent! It had beautiful poached fruit on top and was sweet as well as refreshing, exactly how it should be.
All the above ingredients were there and of a fine quality. I highly recommend it.

courtesy - food intuition

The tea came in nice little white teapots and was of a fine quality. (It has to be noted that Christian (part owner) has won barista of the year in the past and is renowned for making a great coffee.

I also just wanted to add a part on the service. I have read other reviews on the web. I’m not sure about what has been said, I guess everyone has their own personal experience, but when I go to a café I like the waiting staff to be pleasant but not over the top. I don’t my mind if they are friendly, I don’t really mind if they are not. I certainly wouldn’t let it bother me. One of the words used in one of the other reviews, was surly. Surly means to be arrogant or bad tempered or angry. I don’t think Christian or any of the other staff are any of these things. They are just very busy and sometimes it is hard to smile when you are waiting on so many customers. Some people are smilers and some aren’t, we shouldn't take it personally. I have never had to wait too long to be served. I have always been served excellent food and my experiences in their café have always left me with a warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy. No better way to be!

Monica.