Dinner and a play.

Last night we went to see When The Rain Stops Falling - Melbourne Theatre Company. It was raining on the stage and a huge fish fell from the sky. It landed with a thud and splashed all of us down near the front. There were alot of people called Gabriel and alot of things happened over and over again in different places and generations. There were alot of people who were unhappy and alone. And I thought that the loss, unhappiness and grief that we saw represented only a fraction of the possible repetitions. At the end we see a father and son, the grandson and great grandson of the story, meet and repeat the conversations of their predecessors. They eat said fish. They swap presents. They talk. They get on. Things go right. The dead look on with interest and approval. And the rain stops falling.
This was our last show of the season and it was nice that it ended on a hopeful, redemptive note.

Enough about culture though - there is food to feast upon.

Here is the restaurant, Journal Canteen, in the city...



It is open weekdays for lunch and friday nights for dinner. That's all. Rosa the chef is Sicilian and her place serves the simple home cooked food that she would serve at home.

Here is the antipasto plate we shared to begin with, with a glass of prosecco and a basket of italian white and sourdough...



We had 1 slice of salami, 2 black salty olives, 2 green, crunchy asparagus stems, a little pile of juicy aubergine, slices of courgette with a tomato sauce, puy lentils with tiny pieces of chopped red onion and others, a piece of what was somewhere between an omelette and a curd cheese, a potato cake with spring onions and a courgette and new potato stack.

Here is my main course - slow cooked veal chops with tomatos, capers and potatoes...



The meat fell from the bones and I had to ask for more bread to soak up the juices.

And here are Craig's marinaded sardines...



which were fresh, raw and a little vinegary scattered with a fresh green herb salsa.

There was a dressed iceberg lettuce and radish salad, a glass of red wine each and in place of dessert a couple of slice of a ewes milk pecorino cheese served with some thinly sliced olive oil dressed bread and some slices of ripe green pear.

I loved it for the friendly folk, the old school school decor, the green paint and the counter stools. Mostly I loved the fresh, summery produce. Gorgeous.