Tannic Teeth

Highgate Northbridge may seem like one of the most unlikely places to house this charming deil-cum-cafe.

But away from the carnal desires of the erotic fun-houses and the neatly swept vomited sidewalks of inner Northbridge, there lay small and homely establishment serving an array of baked goods like the Candy Man in Willy Wonka.

The decor is an eclectic mix of all things old, beautiful and ridiculously discarded. Cakes of every wicked manifestation are displayed like a banquet before the Sun King and you the patron sit within arms reach of them.

Lincolns, aptly named, situated on the corner of Lincoln and Stirling Streets in outer Northbridge Highgate was once a quaint corner store. Still holding on to the quaintness, it’s now a three year old cafe that churns out coffee, cakes, breakfasts and lunches. It’s a small neat shop with more character the modern cafes strive to achieve. In some regards it is a modern cafe, but the balance of nostalgia and charm are done just right.

We had breakfast late one Sunday morning. The rosti, bacon, poached eggs and spinach were superb if a bit on the small size for the price. (In lieu of a side for breakky — opt for a piece of cake). So hungry we were, and perhaps tempted by the gingerbread cake winking at us from the counter, we shared a piece.

Of all the things that day, it was the cake which had no parallel. Moist, fluffy and in perfect poise of piquant ginger with the molasses base. Served slightly warmed with an ear of double cream it took the er, cake, for the value-for-money that day.

Lincolns 102

Mon–Sat

7:30–4pm

Sun

8:30–4pm

Imagine having the power to sniff out lumps of fungus underground that smell freakishly similar to a sow on heat. To be possessed with that super power you could ravage through the forests of Europe, digging up Black Truffle or Périgord Truffle, then selling it on the [black] market for thousands of dollars per kilo. Alas, only pigs and dogs have the sensory acuity to triangulate these wondrous subterranean growths. And it’s the more reliable–less greedy version of the two, the canine, which is used in Manjimup.

Homesick for the annual truffle festival in France, Alain Fabregues set out to recreate something of the memory of his small town; the merrymaking of food, wine and truffle when the season started.

Sculpture Park — Mundaring is where this franco-joviality has been happening for the past few years.

$10 Entry will get you in among the stalls of providers with a consistent timetable of events throughout the day. Most of the events are free, bar the entry into the Perth Hills Wine Show (2009 link) and the sit-down lunches and dinners.

Mundaring Truffle Festival 2010

Weekend Saturday 31st July & 1st August.

Fluffy was its name,

And when the hungry journos called,

Fluffy met the flame.

Well something like that anyways.

It was at the West Australian that Fluffy was interred, if it could be said, in the bellies of journalists and writers.

Courtesy of food critic and columnist Rob Broadfield, Fluffy was indeed fleecy nubile from York — fed fat on mother’s milk — and slaughtered perhaps facing east.

A message was tweeted out. A call for four individuals to join the editorial team for a quick luncheon, made by the man that makes most restaurants quiver like noodle box of shredded nerves.

Rachel Breidahl, Jason Jordan and I got dibs in first to sink our canines into Fluffy, then Michael Collins came running after a cool call-out for a fourth guest. It was in the lunch-room of the West’s offices, that became the final curtain-call for Fluffy who was now reduced to a stainless steel bain-marie  tin half its former size. There is much to say about the sense of peculiar gratification when a mob of hungry humans descend on the roasted carcass of an animal. Fluffy did not last long.

Rob said the sectioned lamb was slow roasted at 140 degrees Celsius for four hours. Lemons, garlic and rosemary spun the backdrop of a baste slash marinade.

I heard from Rob this breed of sheep is not your humdrum Merino, but rather a Dorper hybrid. Also the fact that its milk-reared from Momma makes for tastier fat.

This is true.

On first impression this lamb appeared subtle when compared to the archetypal piquant lamb character we’re all used to.

However there is a tender balance at play here. I would hazard a descriptor to say the meat appeared brighter, cleaner and more pronounced. Not of the lanolin spectrum. But clean. It carried the flavour the marinade well.

Served on 7 grain bread, it was simple but precise in its execution of flavour.

Thumbs up Rob, Fluffy was well appreciated.

For returning readers, you may well be aware the post regarding certain turkish sweet-maker man who has a store inside a Farmer Jacks.

This post is about that said Farmer Jacks.

Its actual name, Farmer Jacks Nguyen Phat, may very well be a giggle-worthy name but in all seriousness this place is a verdant pasture for Sinophiles and Asians like.

You can pick up very cheap fruit and veggies here. A good yard-stick to measure is bean-sprout freshness. If they’re firm, creamy-white with bright yellow growths — they’re no fresher from the womb of the earth.

Bok Choi, Gai Lan, Lotus Root. All there.

Funnily enough some other foods are hit-and-miss. Some apples look worse for wear and the turnips are a bit tired.

Asian–Ding! European–Babow.

The weird and magnificently grotesque carnival of pickled and packed asian foods are to be found during a blitz though the aisles. Preserved mudfish? Squid jerky?  Vacuum sealed bamboo shoots? The fresh meat section is just as astonishing. Never have I seen meat trimmed so fine of its fat, it’s like a Parisian catwalk for topside. And for ten bucks a kilo, cheap meat is far from a murderous exertion.

I’ve been coming to this place for years and have seen the turkish man grow his shop and watched the little old asian ladies battle it out over the last of the mushrooms. The whole place will smell-infuse your shirt, jeans and hair, and all the shopping trolleys have wonky wheels. The car park is potholed like a munitions had gone off undetected.

But if you’re a sucker of cheap-cheap or the asian-hard-to-find try this place out. It’s same same but different. Well not MUCH different, but a whole lot cheaper.

(I was there Wednesday 21st July and I saw another gaspingly cheap asian fresh providore. A posting for another time though)