Fitzroy Market

The Railway Hotel

I've been travelling past the Railway Hotel in North Fitzroy every weekday for around 4 years now, and I have never really been tempted to go inside. One rather peculiar visit to the bottle shop put me off going back. The mixture of stark white linoleum, old men and decor which hasn't been updated since 1975 made me feel like I was invading a sanctum of sorts. It didn't really have the welcoming vibe.

Now, I'm going to put this out there, I'm kind of looking for a new local. Its been a few months since I have been located across the street from the Lomond, and the promises I made about always going back have been  broken. A recent visit to the bottle shop saw Jeff confessing to James how much he misses him...and I realised that I also have a gaping hole in my heart!

This review by the Age and a few reassuring words from my old neighbour were enough for me to coerce a few friends to have a pub meal on a Thursday night. Maybe the Railway could be the one...the Empress had failed me, maybe her homely neighbour could be the place for me....I was gunning for the Railway from the start. I WANTED it to be good.

I wanted it so bad that I wasn't put off by the kitchen closing at 8:30pm. And I wasn't put off by the Fluor lighting, or the lack of music...or the weird old guys ogling my girlfriends legs...I only saw $15 parma and $15 jug of beer and the hipsters lurking on the tables at the back of the restaurant. In retrospect, maybe this wasn't such a good sign.

Without going into to much negative detail, the parma was ok- nothing special. The wiener schnitzel is defiantly not top quality veal (and possibly not veal at all) and the chicken cacciatore was reportedly like eating a greasy pigeon. Not the good kind...the diseased kind that live at Flinders St Station. 

HOWEVER, I am not giving up on the Railway. It's certainly not going to take the place of the Lomond in my heart, but the pool table and beer garden look pretty appealing for a causal weekend afternoon. The beer garden is pretty impressive, and the beer is served cold.

Shanghai Dumpling House

Over the Easter long weekend I made a very long trip up the Calder Highway. I could write about who has the best dim sims and potatoe cakes (FYI - Sealake) but I will spare you the details of my most disgusting food habits and move on to tell you about my road food come down. Shanghai Dumpling House.

It's not fancy, it's not classy, but it's a straight down the line, no fuss dumpling house. And I love the shit out of it. And sinfully cheap. If you have been in Melbourne for more than 5 minutes there is a good chance you have already eaten here.

This lunch was shared with my bf Jeff. I always reminisce when we come here, as it was one of the first places he took me when I moved here, and we both feel as enthusiastic now as we did back then about the place. I remember how overwhelmed I was the first time I ate here, the noise, the shared tables, and the picture of Chairman Mao on the wall next to the lucky cat. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t grow up in a town of no multiculturalism or restaurants, but you won’t find a place like this in Mildura.

We had a plate of steamed pork and a plate of mushroom and veg dumplings and a serve of Chinese broccoli and oyster sauce, covered liberally with chilli sauce. Washed down with Soy bean drink. Mmmm.

What I love about Shanghai Dumpling is that it never changes; the food is always exactly as I remember. It’s filling, it’s comforting and no other dumpling place seems to be able to knock it off my number one perch. For those of you who are not aware, its at 25 Tattersals lane, Chinatown. And this feast cost us a grand total of $20.

Bottega

This years Melbourne Food and Wine Festival  very sadly passed me by. I  have no one to blame but myself, there were plenty of wonderful free events...but I did manage to get myself along to Bottega for an express lunch. Express lunch is a tried and true format, two courses, a glass of wine and coffee for $35.

I have had a few express lunches in my time, some good and some not so good. Bottega was most defiantly in the GOOD category. Unfortunately there are no photos, as I was completely caught up in the meal! 

I had a entre of heirloom tomato caprese salad with goats cheese and pumpkin rollo with burnt butter, sage and hazelnut for main. Both dishes were sensational. The heirloom tomatoes had a wonderful diversity of flavour and colour, from what I could tell there were tigerella, yellow pear, green zebra and black pear (love heirloom tomatoes!) the tartness of the goats cheese balanced the sweetness of the tomatoes,  while the addition of black olives and basil made a dish that was in perfect harmoney.   

Main course of pumpkin rollo was fantastic. It was kind of like a rolled up pumpkin lasagne, and looked a little like canelloni. Butter and sage is my new favourite thing, and I have noticed it cropping up on a few menu's around town. Its a wonderful seasonal combination of flavour. Topped of with a glass of sangiovese it was a throughly enjoyable meal. Very friendly and professional service, I highly recommend Bottega lunch!