BITES
The Age
Tuesday March 8, 2011
Kind cupcakesTO A vegan, a cake recipe might read: cream animal fat and sugar, stir in product of chicken ... No cake for you. Mister Nice Guy changes all that with its vegan, organic and Fairtrade cupcakes made with coconut oil, not copha. It's run by Deb Kantor and Lucas Cook, both vegans. Cook is American, which explains the thick, super-sweet swirls of distinctly US-style frosting that decorate each cupcake. There are 22 flavours, from the triple-decker neapolitan, with its dark chocolatey base, lighter middle and strawberry-pink frosting, to dense key lime, textured with toasted coconut, or the classic vanilla, with plenty of flavour. Each cupcake is weighty, moist and very pretty. Cook and Kantor plan to open a vegan cafe in the next few months in Brunswick's Noise Bar.NINA ROUSSEAUMister Nice Guy: mini/regular cupcakes, $2/$4. Available from the Radical Grocery Store, 6-8 Wilson Avenue, Brunswick; Las Vegan Nirvana Cafe, 22 Smith Street, Collingwood; the Empire Cafe Gallery, 295 Sydney Road, Brunswick; Dymocks Bookstore Cafe, Lower Ground Floor, 234 Collins Street, city; Veggie Kitchen, 159 St Georges Road, Northcote. See misterniceguy.com.au.Carn the bluesBARRY Charlton's Berrys Creek blue cheeses have scooped the pool at the 2011 Sydney Royal Cheese and Dairy Produce Show, with his creamy Mossvale Blue taking out champion cheese of the show, champion fancy cheese and champion bovine cheese, while his Tarwin Blue and Oak Blue picked up gold and silver, respectively. The Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese name has also been added to the Australian Cheeseboard Perpetual Trophy, along with Bangalow Cheese Company's Tintenbar Triple Cream, King Island Dairy's Black Label Cloth Matured Cheddar and double brie and Fonterra's parmesan.GAIL THOMASBerrys Creek Mossvale Blue: $46 per kg. Stockists include: Ruckers Hill Food Store, Northcote; Leo's, Kew; Continental Deli, Hawthorn; Seddon Wine Store; Applewood's Gourmet Deli, Ringwood; and Annie's Provedore, Barwon Heads.Courting anew clienteleSUE Hetherington has traded a career in social work and the "misery of the Magistrates Court" for her one-woman West Brunswick cafe Fine & Dandy Foodstuffs. It's on Melville Road not known for its cafe scene and the six-week-old enterprise stands out with its pastel candy-striping on the front window, pink-and-gold flocked wallpaper and green polka-dot stools, a fitout Hetherington describes as "Regency meets psychosis". The food is homemade and old-fashioned, such as the scrummy chocolate cake ($4) with hundreds and thousands it's like something you'd find at a fete. For lunch, she might cook Sicilian-style eggplant parmigiana ($7.50) baked with provolone, currants and pine nuts, or a pumpkin and spinach spanakopita ($7.50). Dench bread is for sale, as is Larsen and Thompson tea.NINA ROUSSEAUFine & Dandy Foodstuffs:135 Melville Road, WestBrunswick, 0403 704 449,fineanddandyfoodstuffs.com.au.Open Tues-Fri, 7am-3pm;Sat-Sun, 8am-4pm.
© 2011 The Age