SUNSHINE SOCIAL

Sunshine got a whole lot sunnier when this paean to the good old Aussie barbecue opened last year. A former petrol station turned into the proud home of authentic charcoal chicken, burgers and slaw, it has fast become the epicentre of inner-west Melbourne’s gentrification. Pack the kids into the station wagon, stake a claim to a picnic table under a broad yellow umbrella and tuck into a quarter of chicken with skin burnished to the colour of a ’70s suntan, barbecue lamb chops lavished with lemon, rosemary and garlic or slow-cooked pork ribs with housemade barbecue sauce. Things take a turn for the new millennium Some people come here just for Mama Milica’s creamy potato salad and her homemade chargrilled bread. But with aged steaks that weigh up to one kilogram, piles of ribs and platters that include chicken skewers, pljeskavica (beef and pork patties) and ćevapčići (spicy sausages), Kaffana is all about the meats grilled by Milica’s son, Nenad Vujic. This is generous, hearty, Serbian-style soul food, best exemplified by Nenad’s chargrilled baby back pork ribs, which are rubbed with paprika, salt and pepper before being topped with a parsley and garlic glaze that’s been aged for at least a month. Pickled cabbage leaf rolls and slow-baked borlotti beans provide a token vegetarian touch, while ending with a glass or two of slivovitz is pretty much mandatory.