Motorists Corner

This building is on the corner of Marrickville and Petersham Roads. As you can see, it was originally an impressive and charming petrol station. Now it's an unimpressive and quite revolting Chinese restaurant, but more about that later. Marrickville was quite the petrol-head's dream in the 1920s. General Motors Holden actually had a car factory in Carrington Rd (I'll blog that soon) although it only operated from 1926 to 1931, closing because of the Depression. I like these bowsers, which look so personable with their fancy headgear and curvy, elegant hose-arms. So it's a sad thing that this is now the site of one of the few bad eating experiences I've ever had in Marrickville. It was back in 2001, so things may have improved (however, I will never know as I will never go there again). Let's just say bits of glass in dumplings, that my friend had to spend ages spitting out... not to mention there were open boxes of lettuce sitting on the floor in the toilets!

Ta-da! Here's the first installment of the much-awaited latest nerdy Marrickvillia project. Richard and I have got a whole lot of old photos of places in Marrickville and we're taking new pics of the same spots.

These "workmen's homes" were built in The Warren, probably in the early 1920s. The Warren is the bit of South Marrickville from Warren Road down to the Cooks River. In the 1800s it was the location of Thomas Holt's massive Neo Gothic mansion ("The Warren"), complete with a park stocked with deer. Many of the modest homes in the area have bits of the original mansion's sandstone in their foundations.

Mothers of Marrickville

On Friday as I was walking to the bus stop, up along Illawarra Rd, I passed my neighbour's mother. This neighbour and her husband are from Turkey and they brought her aged mother out to live with them and their three kids (in a three bedroom house) a few years ago. I've never really spoken to the grandmother properly as she has very sparse English. We pass on the street and smile and say hello. Sometimes she says "hot!" or "nice day!" and I agree with her. Once I had a garage sale and she shuffled into the front yard with a couple of her grandkids. They were interested in the box of pre-loved stuffed toys. "Eh, eh?" she said to me, holding up a raggedy elephant and a pink unicorn. "Fifty cents each" I said. "Dollar?" she replied, and I said "yes". "Dollar the lot?" she said, "yes" I said. Then her and the kids gathered up all of the toys. There must have been thirty of them. And it turned out she only had eighty-five cents.

Anyway, as I was saying, I passed her on Friday. It was raining a little and she was muttering to herself under her umbrella. I said a quick hello and continued up the hill then heard "me mama, me mama." I thought she was introducing herself. Goodness. I doubled back, smiling. "Me mama dead, me mama dead" she told me, softly pounding her fist on her black-clad chest. "I'm so sorry" I said, thinking that her mother must have been dead for decades. She nodded and stopped walking. "Sorrow," she said, "sorrow". And I suddenly felt the weight and force of her grief. We were silent for a while, standing under her umbrella. Eventually I just said "It's very sad."

Greens & Cheese

I found the modesty of the decorations very heartening.

These Greens practice what they preach.

Last night Richard and I ended up at a Greens function in the Marrickville Royal Exchange. We'd met some friends at the Hollywood Hotel in Surry Hills after work, then eaten at Spice I Am and later adjourned to the KB Hotel, so the function was almost over by the time we got there. I still got to talk to some great people though.

Derek Maitland & Margie McCabe.

Derek was the campaign coordinator for Marrickville in the recent state election. He told me "The T-shirt is a joke about being passive. Greens are very passive! I've done it in Latin so people ask me what it means. It's not a hostile thing."

Fiona Byrne, the candidate for the recent state election & member of Marrickville Council, with Colin Charlton from South Marrickville. We chatted for a while & they were both delightful.

John Kaye, Greens member of the Upper House

Richard, who was on his 99th beer,
with Hazel Blunden, the Greens Policy Officer

At the end of the night there was some leftover cheese - after a bit of discussion a few people divided it up equally, wrapped it up & took it home. This further endeared me to them.

Shop of the Week - Ha Noi on Anzac Day

Richard and I thought we'd head up Illawarra Rd to the Marrickville RSL, as it's ANZAC day today (the links are for you non-Australian readers). But it was lunchtime, and we got no further than our favourite Vietnamese restaurant, the Ha Noi. Given that ANZAC day is also used to remember Australia's involvement in the Vietnam war, I think that's kind of poetic & appropriate, don't you?

There was a bit of a queue outside - always the sign of a good restaurant in Marrickville. The Ha Noi is in a strip that has a few Vietnamese places - it's close to the station, directly opposite the Hellenic Bakery, and is the only one with a sugar cane juicer out the front.

Their turquoise walls and other decorations always make me feel happy.

This is something most Vietnamese restaurants have - a selection of condiments on the table, along with cutlery, chopsticks and tissues. Mostly they're different types of chilli, but there's also fish sauce and hoi sin sauce (made from soy beans, chilli, sugar & salt) here.

And perhaps my favourite, whole raw garlic and chilli pickled in white vinegar.

Once we've ordered, I like to make a little palette of chilli - starting with the pickled garlic at the top and going clockwise we have fresh ground chilli, a pickled whole chilli, a dollop of satay chilli (sticky concoction of ground peanuts, chilli, dried shrimp, sugar and oil) and finally Chinese-style salty blended chilli. So many flavours, so many textures!

Richard got some deep fried spring rolls - these are about double the size of most spring rolls, and they come with this beautiful dipping sauce, nuoc cham, made from rice vinegar, fish sauce and palm sugar - it usually has carrot pieces in it.

This was definitely the highlight - chilli salt tofu - it's to die for. I actually dream about this dish sometimes. The tofu is floured & deep fried, then tossed with a kind of Vietnamese salsa made from coriander, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, fresh chilli, spring onion, Spanish onion and lots of white & black pepper. Food for the soul, yep.

Hanoi Quan. 346b Illawarra Rd, Marrickville, ph:02 95591637