Tudo

In thinking about how to write up our lunch at Tudo this weekend we struggled. There just didn't seem to be an obvious angle - until - we decided that this absence of an angle would become the story. Thus, in sum, we have decided to pronounce Tudo, a little Vietnamese restaurant in the O'Connor shops, as average, ordinary, and unremarkable, in the true, non-pejorative senses of those words.

Tudo doesn't really do anything wrong (or at least didn't on this visit) while at the same time, its food (in both quality and price), service, atmosphere, and so on are just not really that distinctive. It is perhaps an archetypal Vietnamese-restaurant-in-Australia. Within Canberra, it compares neither favourably or unfavourably with Rice Paper (Civic), Au Lac, the Asian Noodle House, or the place in Erindale we reviewed a while ago.

On our last visit we had the Red Cooked Tofu and the Lemongrass and Chile Beef, both of which were aromatic and tasty. On a previous visit one of us greatly enjoyed the Special Beef Soup with Rice Noodles. Generally, the soups seems to be the strengths (and most popular items) of the menu. While this time the service was fine, on other occasions one of us dining alone felt that they were treated with rudeness and disdain for taking up table-space as sole diner on a busy weekday lunch. Overall, we're a bit ambivalent about Tudo.

Four Rivers

Something all too prevalent these days is firms - including those in hospitality - treating their customers disrespectfully. By this, we mean those in customer service, front-of-house, or whatever, whether by dictate or otherwise, frequently confusing friendliness with acting-as-if-I-am-your-friend.

Emotional labour is a tough business, which is why there were once (in certain times and places) widely-observed tacit social rules to protect both such workers and customers from the pitfalls of insincerity, rudeness, awkwardness from both parties. Underlying these rules and their concern for mutual respect was the avoidance of servility on one hand or over-familiarity on the other. Or put otherwise, we will treat each other in a friendly (rather than hostile or contemptuous manner), rather than affecting that we are in fact friends (and thus implying a degree of intimacy), or masters-and-servants.

Four Rivers in Dickson seem to have got this balance refreshingly perfectly. On a visit earlier this week we were made to feel, among all possible emotions, precisely welcome. A restaurant on Challis Street (further down from Bollywood Dimensions) in the Szechuan tradition, we enjoyed an excellent Mapo tofu and a less memorable (but still OK) five-spiced duck pancake dish. The menu is extensive (and contains a couple of pages of detailed explanation of the cuisine), and generally well priced for the Inner North middle-class and Chinese students types who make up the clientele. For entrees, we had some average spring rolls but delicious crispy shallot pancakes. The only thing perhaps detracting from the cosiness was the interior fitout - which at the end of the evening still felt like a partially disguised commercial unit shell. Overall though, definitely worth a look.

Things Mexican: Zambrero and the Fiery Aztec

Over the past few weeks the Always Hungry team have come across a couple of vaguely Mexican things of note.

The first is the Wig and Pen's new seasonal (i.e. winter) stout, which they have named Fiery Aztec. As a good stout should be it's thick and tasty, although with more of the consistency of Coopers Extra Stout than Guinness. One of us made the observation that it was not unlike chilled, alcoholic coffee. Definitely worth a taste...

The second is the wannabe Mexican-style chain Zambrero. Their first outpost (that we know of) was in Lonsdale Street (Braddon), and they have since opened for business on a corner of the Sydney Building in the Civic bus interchange, where you would think a hospitality business might thrive but for whatever reason, they historically seem not to. We are in two minds about our Zambrero experiences. One of us is enthusiastic about it, and thinks highly of the burritos they've had, while the other is less impressed, thinking the food average and a bit over-priced. You would think that Canberra (and Australia more widely) could support a successful Mexican chain (which it doesn't have at the moment) - however whether Zambrero has got the formula right is less clear. If they up the quality on the food a notch, and knock a dollar or two off the prices for their main menu items we think they might make it.

Flatheads Cafe

The inclusion of "cafe" in Flatheads' name is perhaps something of a misnomer - the place is a fish and chip shop, if with a few frills in the decor and the menu. Located next door to All Bar Nun in the O'Connor shops - it seemed to attract a reasonable cross sample of the suburb's population on our visit on a Saturday afternoon. Sitting next to us in its pleasantly sunny, warmly painted interior were a baby boomer threesome talking property speculation, over from them were a couple of fashionable 20-somethings, behind us was a parent with a couple of kids apres-Saturday morning sport, and outside was an art-student-looking type reading Camus.

Being a fish and chip shop, I imagine that the owners of the place could expect that there would be customer resistance to them charging real-cafe prices, but they seem to get away with it. Quality-wise it was a bit of a mixed bag. The vege burger we ordered was quite possibly the best vege burger either of us has eaten - with an excellent lightly fried patty, crisp salad and buns, and delicious tatare sauce. However, the fish was a bit of a disappointment and the chips were average (and only warm, rather than hot). Specifically, our complaints with the fish were waaaaaay to much batter and the use of fillets teeming with sharp and nasty bones that seriously detracted from the experience. It's a bit of a tough one in terms of making a judgement, but fish issues aside, that burger would probably tempting enough for a future visit sometime.

O Stratos

On Lonsdale Street, across the road from the Civic Pub, next to an art gallery, and a shop for surfing-and-snowboarding middle-class kids is O Stratos, one of Canberra's few Greek restaurants. We've been here a few times, making a point of sitting by the window to allow gazing at Mt Ainslie and passing junior civil servants on their way home to the 1- and 2- bedroom apartments of Braddon. And generally we've enjoyed ourselves.

The food itself is a bit patchy, with us experiencing repeated evidence of the microwaving of key elements of meals prepared earlier, but while not being cheap, it is also not that expensive (i.e. $16-26 mains). The spanokopita (fetta and spinach pie) and prawn meals we had last time round were OK, but certainly not outstanding. The bread and dips as entrees were somewhat more memorable, and the service has been consistently friendly and efficient time after time. Perhaps, in sum, O Stratos lives up to its self-categorisation as a taverna - complete with representations of white-washed villages above the Mediterranean on the walls - rather than a fine dining establishment, and should be appreciated in these terms.

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is a true hidden gem of Northbourne Av eating. Located upstairs and next door to an 'Adults Only' establishment, its discovery requires a certain willingness to get off the beaten track (i.e. to keep walking by Lemongrass, Mezzalira, Zen Yai, etc.). We were first introduced to this rather charming Indian restaurant by a friend with a fondness for joints stashed away from the 'bustling' al fresco hubs of Civic (e.g. he also introduced us to Happy's Chinese Restaurant and The Cube).

Everything about this place is so nicely and competently done that we wouldn't be surprised if it was still here in 20-30 years time. The service is impeccable, the food delicious and promptly delivered, and the prices just right. We have now sampled a few dishes and really like the vegetarian malai kofta, lamb madras, and chicken korma. Dahl is available as a cheap and yummy side dish, and the chapati (roti) bread is excellent. The true Taj Mahal secret, however, may be in its soothing and intimate atmosphere - the background music and the decor are tasteful and the lighting soft without being seedy.

Taj Mahal, you should be proud of yourself.

Erindale Vietnamese Restaurant

If Middle Australia were a place it might be the Erindale Centre in Tuggeranong. Unpretentious members of "working families", kids in hoodies loitering outside fast food shops, a few burger wrappers, pizza boxes, and discarded bottles in the gutter - against a backdrop of gaudy yet essentially generic signage and sprawling carparking - it's got most of the basic elements.

Also, tucked away around a corner of one row of shops is the Erindale Vietnamese Restaurant - where time seems to have not moved on from the late-80s or early-90s. Orange vinyl upholstered seats are set around wood-patterned formica-covered tables. Payment by credit card still takes place via an old sliding zip-zap contraption with paper dockets. There are real orchids, low prices, and menus with quirky spelling and grammar.

That all said, the food is OK - tasty and relatively light. Funnily enough the retro-aesthetic also extended to one of our dishes. Made with the restaurant's "special sauce", one bite immediately stirred memories of Chinese takeaways in another unremarkable suburb of a decade or so ago. This perhaps sums up the place, along with Erindale, in that they both seem like they could be anywhere, yet for us at least, also feel profoundly homely and familiar.

Redback Cristal

One way of categorising Australasian cities is distinguishing between those whose inhabitants (or former residents) are somewhat more parochial about their home-town, and those who while they may like a given city, are less prone to praise-singing. Generalising, we would say Sydney, Brisbane, or Auckland would clearly fall into the latter category, whereas parochialism is more pronounced among those with ties to Melbourne, Wellington, and Perth.

While neither of us have been there, so we've been told, the weather is better, the grass is greener, and so on in the WA state capital. Growing up, one of us recalls a school friend, who along with being generally enthusiastic about their time growing up in Perth, was in similar terms fond of Redback Cristal, a wheat beer from "over there". Accordingly, he on occasion made these beers available for didactic purposes, and it was agreed at the time that they were indeed estimable.

Now, as we still enjoy a good wheat beer - which when done well have a certain energy - we recently purchased a sixer of Redback, to see if memory and taste were still in concordance. Unfortunately it seems that during a 10 or so year interval between tastings, something happened. While, to be clear, there isn't much offensive with Redback circa 2008, it also doesn't seem to do much else for us, other than being rather bland. Importantly, it doesn't actually really taste like a wheat beer at all. Given their premium pricing (i.e. about $19 a six-pack), this can be seen as a not insignificant failing. We like taste, and if we buy a high-priced wheat beer, we would hope it would taste recognisably as a wheat beer. Given that WA is home to Australia's wheatbelt, it might be hoped that wheat beers from that part of world would be a bit better.

Lynwood Cafe

Yesterday afternoon we paid a visit to the well-regarded Lynwood Cafe, just off the Federal Highway in the small hamlet of Collector, at the northern end of Lake George. On a sunny winter's day, with the blue sky, yellow tussock lands, neighbouring creek, aged leaf-less trees, and restored white colonial cottage, it's all bit of a contemporary Australian-Arcadia.

As an Arcadia, from this and previous visits, it is one populated primarily by upper-middle class baby boomers on their way between Canberra and Sydney. By way of example, a waitress asked the three couples in the small room we were sitting in, if we had seen the National Gallery of Australia's recent Monet-Turner exhibition. One of the couple said they had just come down to see it yesterday...

For the most part, the Lynwood Cafe does a good job reflecting this certain demographic - comfortable, visibly successful in worldly affairs, but not too flashy. Cream it most certainly is not. One absolute strength of the place is the service - which was friendly without a hint of ingratiation or world-weariness. Funnily enough, our only quibble was with the food. While the basil, tomato, and onion semolina gnocchi we ordered was delicious (with a tangy smokey flavour), the gorgonzola and mushroom risotto was a bit average (Chats at the ANU, does a much better and cheaper job). Like its upper-middle- class clientele though, such a flaw did not seem to much damage its general projections of overall authenticity and deserved esteem.