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Mauritian

WHAT: Bistro du Peuple

WHERE: 10 Bligh Street, Melbourne

PRICE: 3 x Gajaks at $12 each + fries at $10 = $48

ORDER: We chose three plates of Gajaks, which are small shareable plates of Mauritian cuisine. All Bistro du Peuple’s Gajaks are influenced by popular street food from Mauritius.

Dholl Puri: butterbean curry, rougaille, achar and Mauritian flatbread. 

Gateaux Arouille: taro & ginger fritters, coriander persillade.

Gato Brinjel: battered eggplant, north African dukkha, kale pesto. 

Beer battered steak fries with lime & herb salt, bistros chip dip. 

KAT

When we rolled the dice and landed on Mauritian, I wasn’t worried. When I was 14-years-old, I met a Mauritian boy named Darren while camping with my parents, so I already had evidence that there’s a thriving Mauritian population in Melbourne, and that at least one of them had frosted tips and was pretty cute for a teenage boy in 1999. 

My adult research revealed that the 2011 census recorded 11,600 Mauritian-born people living in Melbourne.

We found a place in the city called Bistro du Peuple, and decided to have our Valentine’s date there. Like all the best places in Melbourne’s CBD, Bistro du Peuple is tucked away down an inconspicuous laneway, the type you’d never notice unless you were trying to find the restaurant nestled right at the back, through a small doorway, up a tight stairwell, and into a snug, dimly lit corner invisible to Melbourne, that could be anywhere in the world for a night. That’s Melbourne magic for you.

What is also magic is Mauritian food. The Dholl Puri was a delicious, tomatoey, curry style dish served with the softest, warmest flat bread, which I kind of wanted to press against my face the way you would a warm sheet of paper that just came out of the copier. But I didn’t, and just ate it instead like a semi-normal person.

The highlight was probably the Gateaux Arouille, deep fried taro balls. Admittedly, neither of us knew what taro was. I took my cue to say, very authoritatively, “It’s a root vegetable”, and I think I said it with such conviction Henry believed me which means I won, not that anyone is keeping score.

One warning I would give is that the taro balls and the Gato Brinjel (battered and fried eggplant) were very rich and oily, so next time instead of ordering a side of fries (which were probably some of the best fries I’ve ever had), I’d order a salad, or something fresh to offset the oiliness. 

Who am I kidding? I’d totally order the fries.

HENRY

Tucked away up an alley that is currently dressed in scaffolding and timber boards, Bistro du Peuple seems more post-work drinking den for city types than a cafe. 

I’ve got the wrong place I tell myself as I walk past suits sipping away at happy hour deals before coming across two young women standing at an entrance to what seems like a cave. I have to sheepishly ask is this where I can try Mauritian food.

Yes of course, please come in I am told, and am led inside, where it all looks even more like a bar. I take a seat on the small mezzanine, still unsure, until I spot Mauritian beer on the drinks menu. I’ll have a Phoenix please, I ask. Delicious. Cold and crisp with a bite of malt and honey. I’d come back just for the Phoenix.

Kat joins me soon after and we launch into the Mauritian part of the menu, ordering three plates of different Gajaks (Mauritian tapas) and a bowl of house special chips. Each little dish has a delicate balance of flavour that tingles and sparkles on my tongue. The richness of the battered eggplant was countered perfectly with a kale pesto (Gato Brinjel) and was soon devoured. 

Kat kindly but reluctantly shared the flatbread, the only way to properly soak up all the delicately spiced butter bean curry with accompanying sweet cauliflower chutney (Dholl Puri). What made my mouth most happy though was the taro and ginger fritters (Gateaux Arouille). Biting into one of those was like a carnival had sprung to life on my tongue.

Leaving Bistro du Peuple and walking back towards Elizabeth Street, the grin on my face was that of slowly waking from a blissful dream.

(Clockwise from top left) Gato Brinjel, Gateaux Arouille, Beer battered steak fries, Dholl Puri.

Gato Brinjel.

Some hungry weirdo.

[80eats-blog]

Argentina

We swear we’re choosing countries at random. 

WHAT: El Alamo

WHERE: Prahran Market, 163 Commercial Rd, South Yarra VIC 3141

PRICE: 3 empanadas for $13 

ORDER: 2 x mushroom and spinach, and 1 x cheese and onion

KAT

“I want to try kombucha,” said Henry, who had never tried kombucha before. We were at the Prahran Market and you couldn’t spit without it hitting a health-food stall, so Henry was in luck.

After deliberating in his natural manner (around ten minutes), about which Kombucha to try, Henry chose a bottle (I got a can), and we rounded the corner to El Alamo.

Being newly anointed vegetarians, we knew that eating our way around the world was going to be a challenge. Starting with Argentinian cuisine didn’t make it any less challenging.

But at the El Alamo stall, we found spinach and mushroom, and cheese and onion empanadas awaiting us. The deal was 3 for $13, so we ordered two of the former and one of the latter, and drizzled them with Chimichurri sauce.

We managed to take one photo before we started inhaling. Both styles of empanada were delicious. My biggest complaint was that the one and a half empanadas I ate took precisely one and a half seconds to make it from plate to stomach. My second criticism is that there was only a moderate amount of filling inside the empanadas. In hindsight, both criticisms seem to say more about my greediness than anything negative about the empanadas, which were decidedly moreish.

As Henry went to open his bottle of Kombucha, he inhaled sharply, “Oh no!”

“What is it?” I asked.

“After all that, I didn’t buy kombucha,” he said, holding up a bottle of apple cider vinegar drink, “how did that even happen?”

HENRY

Directly opposite El Alamo is a flower stall. It’s the first time I’d seen many of the native plants and flowers and all the shapes and colours and patterns were a wonder to me.

“Is this really from Australia?” I asked Kat pointing at something conical, spikey and a bit yellowish-pink.

“Yes”

“And this, really from Australia?”

“Yes”

“And this...” and on it went.

The flower stall is great, a true celebration of the Australian landscape. El Alamo seems to celebrate the landscape of Argentina. The pastry a perfect thickness and crumbliness as if the secret ingredient of the pastry was the rich Argentinian soil itself. There was just enough cheese for the fillings to be gooey but not so much that it overwhelmed the mushroom or onion taste.

“This is really good,” Kat said.

Incredibly good.

Mushroom and spinach.

Cheese and onion.

The kombucha incident.

[80eats-blog]

Hi

Henry and I like two things. Each other, and eating (although not necessarily in that order).

We met while we were both working in Greece in the summer of 2016. The first two weeks of our relationship mainly involved eating our way around the small town of Chalkida, where we lived. Nothing much changed when we moved to Manchester. We stood outside trendy food trucks in freezing temperatures, relentlessly visited new “it” restaurants until we finally got a seat (worth it), and saved pennies over months for bucket list dinners, like at Sketch in London.

When we finally moved to Melbourne in July 2017 the progression was natural. What else is there to do in Melbourne but eat? (Okay, a lot, but eating is the best). We also wanted to work on a project together.

After going out for lunch in Footscray, the idea for this blog was born. We enjoyed an incredible Ethiopian lunch, followed by a dessert of latte and the best cannoli in all of Melbourne (but that’s a blog post for another day). Having gone from the African continent to Italy in one afternoon, we wondered: could we eat our way around the world without ever leaving Melbourne?

So we made a spreadsheet including every country in the world. We’re selecting them at random. Then we’re scouring Melbourne in an attempt to find the best cuisine from that country. We’re trying to keep it under $50 for two people to eat, so you probably won’t find any Michelin stars here. But you might find something better: a cheap, convenient, and mouth-watering way to travel.