Meal #42: Ashkenazi Cuisine

Although the first Jews arrived in Australia with the First Fleet, the mass migration of Jews (mainly from Eastern Europe, known as Ashkenazi Jews) did not occur until after the Holocaust. As such, Australia (and Melbourne in particular) has the largest number of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel. Scheherazade, which celebrates its 50th anniversary next year, was established by Ashkenazi migrants for Ashkenazi migrants, and has subsequently become a Melbourne institution.

Scheherazade Restaurant
99 Acland St. St Kilda

Scheherazade is one of the only remaining initial shops (along with the cake shop next door, and the cake shop across the road) to be found on the funky and hip Acland Street. It is a small eatery that doesn’t appear to have undergone major renovations since it opened in 1958; but the fact that the windows and walls are plastered with newspaper reviews is an indication that this restaurant has withstood the test of time.

This week’s asininely acidic assortment of Ashkenazi assessors were Rami, Caroline, Nick, Dom, Marty and Gene.

Entrées:
Chopped Chicken Liver
Herrings
Russian Eggs and Caviar
Rye Bread

Mains:
Chicken Soup with Kreplach (meat dumplings) and Kenedle (matzah ball dumplings)
Chicken Schnitzel
Paprika Chicken
Chulent
Sauerkraut

Dessert:

Dumplings – stuffed with cherries and served with ice-cream

Entrée:

When alerted to our desire to try a variety of Ashkenazi fare, the host duly returned with a platter containing the classic dishes of chopped chicken liver and herrings, and the fancier Russian dish of eggs with caviar. We were disappointed that they were out of gefilte fish (its isn’t a true Ashkenazi meal without cold, slimly, sweet fish patties!). The chopped liver and herrings were both top notch, and demonstrated that even the simplest of dishes can be highlights of a meal. The surprise dish however, was the eggs with caviar, in which the conflicting flavours of the salty fish roe, the sweet mayonnaise, and the savoury eggs, seemed to magically meld together into a memorable appetiser.

Mains:

Chicken soup with kenedle and kreplach is classic Ashkenazi cuisine, and Scheherazade’s offering of this dish was so authentic you could expect to find it on any Shabbat dinner table (although Rami contends that his mother’s chicken soup is better). Chulent is (regrettably) another traditional Ashkenazi dish; a stew that is left to cook overnight until the meat, potatoes and beans not only all taste the same, but they also have the same texture and consistency. The side order of sauerkraut was required to give the chulent some flavour…

The Paprika Chicken, an offering with obvious Hungarian influences, consisted of boiled chicken drumsticks flavoured with, as the name suggests, paprika. The chicken schnitzel was succulent and tasty, and a sufficiently large serving. Both dishes were served with cooked vegetables, and a there was complimentary side of coleslaw.

Dessert:

The cherry dumplings were a great way to end the meal. These were basically kreplach that were stuffed with cherries rather than meat, served with a cherry sauce and vanilla ice-cream. Yummy doesn’t even begin to describe them!

Overall:

If you want a traditional Ashkenazi meal (and you can’t swing an invite to Rami’s parents’ place for a Shabbat dinner) Scheherazade is the place to go. The owner/host is friendly and accommodating, often found chatting with the diners. The food is authentic (which is all that we can ask for in this culinary journey around the world) and reasonably priced considering the area. Oh, and if you’re wondering as to what the name of the restaurant means, Scheherazade was the name of the Persian Queen, from the Arabian Nights Tales, who told a different story for 1001 nights to avoid execution…we don’t know how this relates to Eastern European Jewish cuisine either…