A Shared Meal

Take in the detail and draw every element from the largest scale (chairs) to the smallest(crumbs) and everything in between. Represent the joints of the chairs and tables, the condiments boxes, the napkins and how the menus look. Look for nuances of the mundane: chips in the table or bowls, the direction of the wood, the texture of the floor etc.

Observe our group's interactions with: each other, the objects on the table, the food, the waitstaff... Be aware of the space. Using Sarah Wigglesworth's - Rituals of Eating re-create her 'Table Manners' diagram to describe the interactions at Mario's in Fitzroy and Lam Lam in Northcote.

mario's

Team

Audrey Avianto - Kam Fung Man - Y Nhi Dao - Zejia Huang - Juel Bong - Jacob Cavallaro

PENNE PUTTANESCA – ANCHOVIES, TOMATO, OLIVES, GARLIC AND CAPERS

Puttanesca had apparently originated from the improvisation of an Italian chef Sandro Petti, who had run out of ingredients towards the close of his day in Rancio Fellone in the 1950s. So it makes sense that ordering penne puttanesca at an Italian restaurant is the kind of thing you do at a whim, when frazzled by the adrenaline of space: dense acoustics of rapid lunchtime movement & chatter in an intimate room; a chaotic curation of Melbourne-Italian paraphernalia splattered all over the walls; a rustic & grimy exposed, steel-blanketed kitchen and of course, the trademark neon sign to assure you that Mario’s is a local institution. “You’ve never been to Mario’s before?” “I’m from Sydney.” “Ah, that makes sense.” The puttanesca therefore becomes metaphoric of architectural process, where improvisations often defines workflow between the rigour of architectural labour. And just as Mario’s is evidential of the ways space & objects defines cultural experience, your personal affiliations with the neon sign is also a signifier of the cities you identify with most. By the second time the waiter comes around to take your order, your eyes frantically land on ‘ANCHOVIES’ and takes you back to the perfectly buttery & salty Broccolini Orecchiette you had in Hobart. ‘PUTTANESCA’ recalled of a similar meal you had at Good Times for half the price, and somehow this makes the same meal at Mario’s a convincing economic choice. Not unlike the way we prefer food by personal affiliations, space triggers the same nostalgia and longing to re-experience something fond. There is a strange and beautiful formal transition from the dried, raw penne to its al dente form, like when concrete is juxtaposed with its ability to produce organic forms. The outline of a penne is jagged, yet its textural quality is tender. The meal arrived in a generous portion of densely packed pasta, abstracted by the thick splatter of puttanesca. There is satisfaction in putting a fork through a mountain of hollowed flimsiness, only to be met by the solid, round softness of an olive. The crevices between the fork is filled with a thick aggregate of solids & sauce. Repeat. Converse. Clink. As the bread was added mid-meal, the penne was gently cast aside, accidentally structuring a subtle pyramid form lined with random undulating debris of anchovies, tomato, olives, garlic and capers. Buried underneath an acidic lump of sauce are uneven treasures of starch & saltiness— you can almost taste the improv.

LAM LAM

Team

Eliza Innes - Brooks Ballard - Benjamin Reed - Muhammad Shaukat Ali - Ximena Pinzon

RICE PAPER PRAWN ROLLS

First to arrive on the table was ovular plate of rice paper rolls. The translucent membranes of the rolls containing the contents to the interior. The membranes were balmy in texture and stuck to each other much like the High Street stores seem stuck to each others laterals. Through the skin the ridges of the prawns protruded, undulating the upper side of the roll like the roof line of Sothern Cross. The rolls three humped spine giving a massage to the upper palate upon the first bite. Below the prawns, in the heart of the roll, a bed of mint leaves and cucumber strips lay horizontally along with the central datum of the roll. The stratum of vegetation giving a colour contrast to the hue of the vibrant prawns, as well as acting as a thoroughfare platform through the length of the interior of rice paper. The bed of glass noodles is like the hidden cables, tunnels and tubes which run through the interior of a building. They are bursting at the seams, yet are over looked for their roll is functional. The overlapping, the voids created between each fine string of elasticised starch are unique.

SATAY SKEWERS

The satay sauce clung to the fringes of the chicken skewers like hand worked plaster on a wall, the sauce running round the edges of the chicken, yet holding place in suspension. The skewer ran laterally through the oblong breast, much like steel reinforcements in concrete. The gradation of the fibres showed, after the first bite was taken. The linear, yet askew line gave a rippling movement to the motionless tender.

VIETNAMESE COLESLAW CHICKEN SALAD

The assembly of misshapen and vibrant shreds of vegetable mounted in a heap appeared like a bundle of stick. Shapes and voids appeared in between the white cabbage and orange carrot. A gloss similar to the reflective nature of clouded glass gave a veneer of opacity to the vegetable. Amongst the ‘Roland and Snook’ like aggregation of coleslaw lay strips of chicken which broke up the voids and gave a portion of static motion per mouthful. The chilli, resting on the top of the heap, stood as a steeple might, sending flavour bursting to high lofts of the pallet, only to be soothed by the creamy texture of the peanuts. The peanuts scattered throughout the dish like hidden, corner spaces might be in an art gallery; moments of reprieve.

FRIED RICE

Without structure or semblance of balance, the fried rice stood as a heap of rubble. Pebbles of different sizes and colours lay mixed together in an agglomeration. The rice, being the bed rock, clung to itself just enough to be a concreting element of the dish. The perfectly spherical pea pods contradicted the body of disarrayed grains facing in all manner of directions. Bringing an order to the humble dish. Fragments of pork and scrambled egg strewn about the mixture gave a flanking lineage to the dish, giving a sense of movement from one pole of the oval dish to the other. This dish spoke to a construction of purely raw materials, not yet transformed to take load or structure on its own bearing.