The Serve - This Week: Take-home Meals

The Sunday Age

Sunday June 8, 2008

Restaurant reviews by Dani Valent

Take-home meals are booming and it's not just because "take-home" sounds more wholesome than "takeaway". Some people relish the idea of friends for dinner, but can't see how it tallies with getting home at 7pm. And, sometimes, you want restaurant food, but you need to eat in your pyjamas: take-home dinner to the rescue. I've eaten seven of Melbourne's better options, not all of them, I swear, in my pyjamas.

Big Harvest, 151 Elgin Street, Carlton, 9348 0066. Monday to Friday, 7.30am-5pm; Saturday, 8.30am-2pm

You know the focus is on the food here because the enormous kitchen squeezes most of the cafe seats onto the pavement. Try lovely salads, which don't turn into mush after a few hours in plastic tubs: grated beetroot tossed with dill and pumpkin seeds; grated carrot tumbled with coriander, cumin, cashews and currants. The spicy lamb harira is a fragrant meal in itself with vegetables, chickpeas and lentils. Try the new outpost in Causeway (between Little Collins and Bourke Street; Mon-Fri, 8.30am-3pm; Sat, 8.30am-2pm).

Alphington Pantry, 52 Wingrove Street, Alphington, 9497 4411. Tuesday to Friday, 9am-6pm, Saturday, 9am-1.30pm

This shopfront looks a bit sparse, but there's plenty going on in the kitchen. The zucchini and bacon slice has just the right amount of smoky bacon and the consistency is good: not too eggy, not too dry. The beef-and-mushroom braise is the kind of dish that makes you love winter, with collapsed beef, meaty mushrooms and rich gravy. You can also find the Pantry's family-sized pies and a featured hot dish at Curds and Whey at Victoria Market.

That Shop, 909 Burke Road, Camberwell, 9882 4588. Monday to Friday, 8am-7pm

My favourite dish here is the outrageously rich, fluffy chocolate mousse. Chocoholics could do a lot worse than have a tub or two in the freezer. The huge range of dishes (including plenty of vegetarian, wheat and fructose-free options) roams from chicken schnitzel to lentil bolognaise. All single-serve dishes are microwaveable, but family-size meals such as the osso buco need to go in the oven. They will deliver for orders of $50 or more (easy to rack up; the food is quite dear) in most southern and eastern suburbs. (They also run Klein's Gourmet Foods, 19 Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea, 9528 1200.)

Bossy Boots, 106 Bay Street, Brighton, 9596 6825. Monday to Thursday, 7am-7pm; Friday, 7am-6pm; Saturday, 7.30am-5pm

There are so many good take-home meal options in Brighton, it's a wonder anyone cooks at home at all. As well as the tasty offerings from Lafayette Fine Foods (355 New Street, 9596 1867) and a branch of Toorak grand dame Tangelo (115 Church Street, 9592 1411), there's this sassy newcomer doing a roaring cafe trade and fine take-home meals. Sausage rolls are made from scratch; chicken-and-leek crepes are retro and comforting; vegetable-and-lentil soup is sustaining; and apple-and-berry fruit crumble is almost as good as grandma makes. Dollar for dollar, one of the best of the bunch.

Osozai, 34 Jackson Street, Toorak, 9826 2111. Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-7pm; Sunday, 2pm-7pm (pre-orders can be picked up till 8pm)

Food for this little shop and cafe springs from the kitchen of Orita's, Toorak Village's innovative Japanese restaurant. Good take-home dishes include the tender beef teriyaki that withstands reheating surprisingly well; the silky agedashi tofu; and a slightly oily, but kid-friendly, chicken fried rice. Made-to-order meal packs can be home-frozen for emergency use.

The Rainbow-Silence-Heart, 280 Bridge Road, Richmond, 9428 3225. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 11.30am-8.45pm; Wednesday, 11.30am-4.30pm; Saturday, 8.30am-4.30pm

Take-home meals don't have to involve meaty braises, as shown by this vegetarian cafe, inspired by the teachings of spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy. Wholesome dishes with daggy names include the neatloaf, made from tofu, cottage cheese, eggs and rice and topped with a zesty caramelised tomato glaze. It's a winner, as is the soupy dhal. The lemon-custard slice is a goodly gooey mess with plenty of fresh lemon juice and shaved coconut. There's plenty for vegans and coeliacs as well.

Servedio is serving ..., 0417 589 897, servedio.is.serving@hotmail.com

Husband-and-wife team Joanne Keown and Nino Servedio cook one seasonal meal a week in their Albert Park kitchen and deliver it to the City of Port Phillip, Prahran, Docklands, Southbank and the CBD for $15 a serve. They need as little as two hours' notice and take orders by phone, text and email (24 hours notice). I tried their lamb shank and cannellini bean stew, a delicious braise with olives, offered with a leaflet that tells the story of the recipe (Nino picked this one up from a butcher in Trevinano Romano). Other meals include eggplant melanzane and a Tuscan beef hotpot. Every order comes with fresh-baked rosemary focaccia.

Tips and pans to theserve@theage.com.au

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