Mao's

263 Brunswick St, Fitzroy; 03 9419 1919

The visual impact of this Brunswick Streeter is immediate and effecting. At the same time, however, it seems muted and perfectly suited. That's why architectural firm Six Degrees has the reputation it does for creating memorable and inspired spaces. The restaurant feels undoubtedly Chinese: its namesake adorns the wall in a vivid portrait, tea-sets sit atop partitions between the tables, and the cushioned bench seat is embroidered with Chinese characters - but this is no Chinese takeaway.

The sweet and sour pork and honey lemon chicken familiar to suburban Chinese diners the western world over is Cantonese cuisine. At Mao's, the regional fare on offer is Hunanese. Seafood features strongly on the menu, as do pork and duck. Eggplant seems to be the vegetable of choice for the dishes sans meat.

Our vegetarian selection, however, was limited to spring rolls. The entree consists of two pieces, but they are of a size that makes them worth at least double the smaller variety (compare a recent serve at Thaila Thai). I liked that you could see the pointy end of the (presumably very recently) rolled wrapper. There was no wasted space inside: each roll was dense with Chinese mushrooms, cabbage, sweet potato (noted as 'yam' on the menu) and vegetables, which meant you hit the peppery filling as the flaky pastry dissolved on your tongue. The accompanying soy sauce was gratifyingly thick and clung to the rolls.

Four pieces of spicy calamari arrived atop sliced chillies, onions and mixed lettuce leaves. The calamari meat was wonderfully firm. The batter was quite a thick, crispy one; I prefer calamari in a lighter batter, but on this occasion it filled out the entree very well.

The seafood section of the menu looked very promising, and it supplied my choice of main: claypot king prawns with shallots, garlic, cinnamon and nutmeg. Shallots and garlic are common ingredients in Hunanese cooking, and they were prominent in this dish too: alongside jumbo prawns came quarter and half cloves of garlic. I love the stuff enough to always be happy to be able to see it in a dish! There were at least five king prawns, unshelled and (in at least one instance) unveined; so it was messy-finger time. The menu mentioned 'a touch' of cinnamon and nutmeg, and these sweeter spices certainly didn't imprint on the dish too strongly.

Why go past a dish described on the menu as Chairman Mao's favourite, in a restaurant bearing his name and in which he smiles benificently at diners from the wall? (Dictators were a theme of the night, as I later found myself under Stalin's rather sterner gaze at Bar Open.) Hunan-style pork features a pot of chopped rib pieces with a glistening, thick sauce of dark soy, flavoured with garlic and star anise. Not surprisingly, the pork pieces were quite fatty but the dish fell short of being sickly sweet. There are some vegetables hiding under all that pork, their crispiness a nice counter to the tender meat.

Overall, the flavours were pleasant and present; by which I mean, although my prawns came with spears of spring onion and visible garlic, and the calamari was sitting on big pieces of chopped chilli, none of those accompaniments overpowered anything. Just as the fitout was both familiar and unusual, this outcome was welcome and surprising: I wouldn't have wanted to come out with a numb mouth, carrying too strong a scent of any of the onion family members, but then again one would have expected more flavour bursts from such striking ingredients. That's not a criticism: I thoroughly enjoyed the balance of each dish, perhaps helped by the fact that Hunanese cooking often involves steaming, adding visual colour to dishes; and avoiding the overwhelming, oily glugginess that can make a lesser Chinese takeaway a regrettable choice. No such regrets here!

Julio's doughnuts

Julio is a wondrous neighbourhood cafe in North Fitzroy. It's set on a corner, only a couple of hundred metres from St Georges Rd, but infinitely quieter. It features a brief menu of very decent breakfast and lunch dishes, but much of its fame owes to its doughnuts.
(Handy that they make it easy to tell which is the jam and which is the custard!)

In the city the other day I saw a sizeable lorry outside a Krispy Kreme, bearing the name of that particular chain. When I considered the size of a doughnut, I wondered how they could ever require vehicular transporation of that size, unless, as is likely, they are manufactured on such a scale and with such disregard to quality that such a vast number of them could be shipped at the one time.

Julio's doughnuts could not be more contrasting to that concept. These sugary delights are so fresh they need to be eaten the morning of purchase - don't pick some up thinking 'ooh, I'll have that later'! As with any fresh-made doughnut, they are at the prime when consumed as soon as possible after the union between dough and oil. At this time, the outer layer retains a crispness that is ever so slightly teeth-resistant, before you plunge through to soft, soft dough.

Their custard doughnuts are the stars. The filling is just astonishing: you know that someone stood over a stove, stirring the egg and milk and sugar until it was exactly right. The flavours of the thick, creamy yellow filling split apart in your mouth, allowing you to savour vanilla and a distinctive lemony taste, reminiscent of an especially creamy lemon meringue filling.

The jam-filled doughnuts are not to be disregarded: filled with a deep, dark red raspberry jam, they combine the fruit's tartness with all that tongue-tingling dipped sugar.

Now I understand what all the fuss is about.

Sala Thai

266 Brunswick St, Fitzroy; 03 9417 4929

It was time to take the penguin out for a night. He doesn't get to socialise enough, his resentment at which was demonstrated this Saturday last by refusing to squeak no matter how kindly I squeezed his beak.


Now you really couldn't lay blame for anything on a creature as cute as my penguin bag, but it was a direct result of taking him out for the evening that there is no pictorial record of our dinner at Sala Thai. He's too wee to hold camera, purse and water bottle; and the ambient candle- and fairylight atmosphere at the restaurant prevented my mobile from stepping into the breach.

So instead, merely a brief commentary on the food. The vegetarian spring rolls had a satisfying crunch, but the pastry seemed to mainly enclose cabbage: not a lot of diversity of flavour. The sizeable portion of pad med mamuang (cashew stir fry) came ladled with a commendable soy and ginger sauce and a colourful array of crisp vegetables (beans, capsicum), as well as a bowl's worth of cashew nuts on top. The pad see ew was disappointing. The soy sauce was quite watery and the beef, which I'd chosen as I rarely stir fry with it at home, was particularly tough: should have stuck with chicken.

Earlier trips to Sala Thai had been more promising. I've enjoyed good tom yum soup and pad thai there. If you're looking for a cheap mid-week dinner in Fitzroy, however, they offer a good value special dish each night, Monday - Thursday. Vegetarian green curry, with rice, for $9 would be a bargain, and you can wash it down with a $4 glass of wine, or just $5.50 for a bottle of Asahi.

Cherry Lounge

359 Brunswick Street Fitzroy; 03 9416 0024

Quiet on this particular Friday night, Cherry Lounge is welcoming, with its conventional layout: a bench seat down one wall facing maroon leather chairs, a bar (with a considerable array of spirits) down the other, and a raised area with some larger tables at the back.

On being seated, we were presented immediately with the specials board. Tonight’s selection included Vitello Milano, Atlantic Salmon and Osso Bucco. I went for the Beetroot Gnocchi special – ricotta and chilli gnocchi served in a cheesy sauce ($18). SG was taken with the duck in a plum and aperol sauce with green beans ($25). Taking the menu description literally, SG also went for a side of wedges, which the quartered potatoes served with the duck made somewhat redundant, but more on them later.

The wine list offers reasonably priced wines by the glass, but mainly from small, interstate vineyards. I had a Warburn Estate Pinot Grigio from the Riverina.

So, to the food. SG enjoyed the duck, but I thought it was a little tough, and its dark purple colour indicated a little overcooked. It must be said though that the serving included both a breast and leg piece (though I would certainly have preferred one better-cooked piece). The aperol broth lent a lovely mix of citrus and stock flavours. For my dish, I was surprised that a ricotta gnocchi was served with a cheese sauce – I thought a light tomato sauce could have been kinder to the fairly delicate beetroot flavour. Having said that, the dish was not too heavy to be enjoyable. However, when something’s advertised with chilli, I want at the least to be able to feel some heat, even if I can’t taste it.

On the plus side food-wise were the wedges – they were outstanding. Quality potatoes, not just some leftover mangy bits, crispy coating, visible sea salt flakes and sour cream.

Each element of our dining experience at Cherry Lounge held surprise and/or disconcertion. First of all, the Polpette Insalata special was described as salmon fishcakes…does that strike everyone else as odd? The book-folded, laminated menu included a full page of their breakfast options, and the mains started out with a $15 chicken burger followed immediately by the duck. What are they trying to be – weekend café, foodie-bar or restaurant? During our meal we noticed that there was also a tapas menu on the wall, and near the bar there was also a completely separate by-the-bottle wine list. The restaurant is decorated with vintage Euro posters, giving it the chic bistro feel, but also has a permanent mannequin at the bar and crazy murals on the way to the toilets, making it feel more like a grunge café. Again, which crowd are they going for? The service was a little distant, given there were a handful of diners and four waitstaff, except for when my wine glass was (almost) empty, and three of the staff came over separately to offer a top-up.

Our overall impression was that the restaurant was well-priced for the quality it offers (I’ve never seen that much duck for $25), but that it’s trying to be too many things. It made us think of Gordon Ramsey and his kitchen makeovers –pick your niche and focus on it. Simultaneously it’s a bar, bistro, brunch café, retro and grunge. Maybe Friday dinner is in fact its sideline and if we’d gone at 11am on a Sunday we’d be raving about its vibe and scrambled eggs. But with that much competition in Brunswick Street, they’re unlikely to get repeat custom just to check if we missed something first time around.

Madame Sousou

231 Brunswick St, Fitzroy; 03 9417 0400

When I first walked into Madame Sousou, I was surprised at how small it was. It came with such recommendation, and hence expectation, that I’d built it up to a dimly lit, cavernous, gourmet restaurant filled with whispered conversation. Instead, the restaurant space is very French bistro – all the wall space is covered, either with decoupaged old-style advertising prints, or matted sketches. The striking iron chandeliers throw out a yellow light, giving a smoky, mysterious, expectant atmosphere. This was helped by the steady, but manageable flow of custom – from a group of six, to couples taking their time, to lone diners sufficing with an entrée and glass of wine – which encouraged everyone to just stick to their own pace. The black awnings outside, with a white relief of Madame herself, the soft yellow light inside and the comfortable bench seats make this an approachable restaurant, despite its higher-end menu.

There was a lot of tempting food to choose from on said menu. Undeniably French, with lighter starters showing a bias towards seafood, and heavily flavoured meat-based mains. Starters included an exceptional plate of calamari – very tender, smallish pieces deep fried in a light crispy batter, served with garlic aioli - quail with raisin sauce, or bouillabaisse. Most ranged from $16-20. For main I went with the Cassoulet de Canard – twice roasted duck served with haricot beans and pork sausage ($30). The duck meat was tender and covered by a wonderfully crispy filament of skin. The beans had taken on a lot of flavour from the pork, which itself was fairly mild. However the dish was let down a little by oversaltiness – whether from the beans or over-marinating the duck I wasn’t sure. The gnocchi with roasted pumpkin, pinenuts, sage and buffalo mozza ($25) sounded promising, but was a little disappointing with fairly bland, square-cut gnocchi, and a mere smattering of sage, where a bit more herbage could have really lifted the flavour. Overall the mains sounded quite heavy on paper, and while well cooked, the flavours hadn’t been handled as delicately as they could have been to make wonderful dishes.

There is an extensive bottled wine list, the majority coming from France, and with only around half a dozen in total by the glass. We enquired after one of the wine specials – a Craigs Hut 2004 Sangiovese ($36) and while our first waitress couldn’t assist, the ‘second barperson’ was able to give us some more information on origin, and importantly, a taste. The wine had a very clean nose, was slightly drier than some Sangioveses, but a wonderfully full mouth taste that allowed it to match different dishes.

The flow of diners show Madame Sousou is a popular place, and it perhaps provides a useful option in Brunswick St of an accessible European class restaurant. Its menu reads well, in terms of the flavour complements it describes for each dish (though it does help if you like meat and seafood). Some that we sampled, such as the calamari, really were standouts, whereas others could do with just slightly more attention to make this an exceptional dining experience.