Polish Bakery - Rye Crust

After reading about this place in the Herald Sun, I wanted to come and try everything! However, I only made off with a few items. Half the store was a little cafe where you could sit down with a coffee and cake, and the other side was the bread section. Will be back again for the Polish cheesecake! Stepping into the store, I could hear everyone speaking [presumably] Polish and none of the cakes/desserts were labelled in English. The breads were, so I chose an egg and raisin bread [which the rosy cheeked lady behind the counter described as being similar to the French brioche] and a sourdough bun. I asked if she could tell me what everything was, so she did, in a very friendly manner. Above is the mini "babka" which is a marble cake.

Below, a Polish danish which is a nice rich bread with a sweetened poppyseed filling. It smelled of almonds.
and below, the sourdough bun with some slices of Polish ham. [I think!] We stopped by Uncle's Smallgoods [just across the road on Thomas St] for some Polish processed meat but nothing was labelled in English either, so we just pointed to what the other customers were having and tried it out. This ham was yummy, and not as salty as the regular ham we're used to.
Below, the egg and raisin bread - which was delicious toasted and spread with jam. I didn't know how to eat it, so i had to do a google search on how to eat brioche. [Well, it isn't really brioche since it's Polish isn't it, but I didn't know the Polish name for it] It has a really thick and rich texture. It didn't need any butter because it already has heaps of butter in it apparently.

At both places, all the customers and staff spoke Polish and we felt a little bit out of place because there were no English translations on their menu or labels on the items, but when we spoke to the staff and asked them what to do, they were friendly and accommodating. So, it's just a matter of speaking to them to ask what to get. I would like to go again and try the other things.

Rye Crust bakery

101 Foster St, Dandenong VIC 3175

Pamir's at Dandenong

I went to Dandenong last Saturday for a little "adventure", with the intention of having Afghan food for lunch, and getting some Polish bakery and deli items. All this because of an article in the Herald Sun about how interesting Dandenong is for food lovers. We didn't have any particular place in mind, and just thought we should stroll around until we found something interesting, and this was the first place we came across. Pamir's Kebab House, had just opened at 12noon so we were the first customers there.

Just standing outside reading the newspaper articles about it at the window made me want to go in. We were soon informed by the owner that this was a famous restaurant, having been featured on tv on a few occasions and even Matt Preston had eaten there and loved it. Hmmmm not bad considering we were merely wandering around with no destination in mind.

We ordered the set menu which was $26 per person. Above, the famous kebabs which were excellent. Chicken, lamb backstrap and lamb kofta barbecued to perfection. Very juicy, very tasty. Below, the meatball in tomato sauce. It looked like the normal italian style sauce but it was much spicier.
Below, the "dumplings" which reminded me of chinese dumplings, strangely enough! Like a huge ravioli. but spicy! It was filled with spicy minced meat and covered in a tomato-ey, creamy sauce. Yummy.
The bread for dipping - it was somewhat like naan but thicker and denser.
the condiments: chilli sauce [slightly sweetish], yoghurt and salad.
The set also came with rice studded with pomegranate seeds but the photo was so blurry so it's not in here. It was interesting trying something new, and walking alone the streets you can find many afghan clothing and grocery stores as well, so this is probably the cheapest [and perhaps, safest?] way to go on a "tour" of Kabul without actually going there.

I thought that Dandenong was a dangerous place but being there on a Saturday morning was quite alright, no druggies in sight but rather lots of families with their kids going out for a saturday shop at the market or a meal together.

typical at home dinner

This may be boring but I thought perhaps some non Chinese might find it interesting. A typical meal at home for us on a week night is this - plain rice, with stir fried vegetables[usually bok choy or choy sum, but it can be any green leafy vegetable. And some sort of protein - here, a steamed whole fish with fried garlic, onion and salty preserved bean paste on top as a seasoning[tau cheo]. it usually comes in a jar. Very simple but the hubby likes it :)

visiting "Vietnam" in springvale

Instead of going for a holiday to vietnam, it's cheaper and more convenient to just go to springvale. You can experience all the same sights, sounds and tastes of vietnam. everyone walking by would be speaking vietnamese, all the shop signs are in vietnamese, and all manner of vietnamese food is available, and quite affordably too. Parking is a bit of a problem on weekends though. We started off with this sandwich, below.

the famous "banh mi" which is a french baguette filled with slices of processed meat, pate, soy sauce, butter, carrot, spring onion, chilli and coriander. tasty.
and below, the famous pho which is rice noodles in a meat broth with fresh bean sprouts put on top just before serving. it's really nice to have these steamy hot soup noodles on a cold day.

with lots of coriander on top

here's the interior of the restaurant. we knew it was gonna be good coz it was full of people.
the front of the shop.
the menu.

You have to decide what to order by reading this menu in front because once you're in, there's nothing in English. Anyway, there're heaps of Vietnamese noodle shops in Springvale, so as a rule of thumb, pick one that's relatively full of people, coz that means it's good, and secondly, the less "done up" the exterior, the better the food. We've found that when it comes to asian food, the appearance of the restaurant and the taste of the food have an inverse relationship.

kotaraya's hokkien me

I would highly recommend this dish at Kotaraya - it's only available at lunchtime, and for $8.90 you get a really big serving with chicken and some shrimp. Really tasty and satisfying. It doesn't look as dark as the hokkien mee you'd get in Malaysia but the flavour's all there. The only things missing for us were the hot chilli "sambal" on the side and the crispy bits of pork crackling.

Briyani at Anshumann Da Dhaba [Clayton Rd]

This time we were here to try the briyani! it's a meal of spicy flavoured rice, some sort of hearty spicy meat and pickles. Above, the lamb Saag which is sort of a stewed lamb in a creamy mashed spinach sauce. Really tender and tasty.
And above, the briyani rice with bits of meat peeking under. It doesn't look like a large serving but it was very very filling because basmati rice has more fibre and is hence more filling, and also there're quite a bit of meat in there.
the various pickles above. Clockwise from left: acahar, pickled onion, yoghurt, and some indistinct chilli sauce which wasn't as hot as it looks.
I ordered the makki di roti because i was curious about what it was. Well it was just a roti made with ground corn instead of wheat flour. It was a bit heavier than usual and quite a bright yellow. It went well with the lamb saag.

rasa chinta on Waiora Rd, Heidelberg Heights

We meant to go to jade kingdom for supposedly famous hokkien mee on Sunday but found that it was closed, but was pleasantly surprised that rasa chinta was open. gav had the roast duck rice, above. It was really really good! the skin was nice and crispy, and meat was tender. The only thing missing was the sauce that usually comes with it when we have it in malaysia...
I had this ham chim peng $1.50 each [chinese dooughnut?] which is a deep fried bun with a sweet mashed red bean paste filling and sesame seeds on top. forgive the bad photo, it was taken with my sony ericsson. It was really yummy, especially after crisping up in a toaster oven for a minute or two.
and I had the pineapple thai fried rice, above, which was excellent too. It had just the right amount of "almost burnt-ness" and great flavours with lots of bits of chicken, shrimp, egg and bean sprouts. Although fried rice is easy to make at home, it's not easy making a really good one like this! One would need a proper wok, with a really big flame. This definitely cannot be done on a hot plate!

I'd definitely come here again to try the other menu items.