‘It says Chile more than anything’: Empanadas are the order at this family-run cafe

A print of a Diego Rivera mural called Dream of a Sunday Afternoon at Alameda Central Park hangs on the wall of Cafe Valentina. Owner Maria Mardones explains that it’s a memento of her time spent in Mexico during travels from her native Chile. The huevos rancheros I’ve just ordered makes a lot more sense.

Inspired by the Mexican breakfast classic, the eggs are combined with coriander and onion in an omelette rather than being fried sunny side up. Chili con carne features beans (both red and black), a chorus of spices, and heat and smokiness from chipotle. An avocado mash completes the breakfast plate, also accompanied by bread – oh, the bread! Fresh, soft white tiger rolls from a Vietnamese establishment across the street. Perfect.

The menu at Cafe Valentina otherwise mainly focuses on Chilean dishes, encompassing empanadas, completos (Chilean hot dogs), various traditional and improvisational sandwiches, a stew called porotos and selected desserts. The food is filling – if you’re after a light salad, look elsewhere.

A good empanada is a wonderful thing. Most cultures have their version of moreish fillings encased in pastry, carried abroad centuries ago from Spain and Portugal. These semi-lunar snacks, savoury and sweet, can be found in South and East Asia, the Caribbean and, of course, across much of Central and South America. There are two types of empanadas to be had at Cafe Valentina – fried and baked.

The fried cheese option has a satisfying simplicity that can be deepened by spooning some pebre (a coriander, tomato, onion, and chili salsa) into the casing after your first bite. A fried minced beef empanada has more complex depth – simultaneously savoury and subtly sweet, again elevated by adding pebre.

However, the standout is easily the baked empanada de pino. While the fried empanadas and many other menu items can be eaten on the run, this baked rendition is a hearty, sit-down affair, ample enough for a meal. It carries the same spiced mince as the fried version, now joined by a wedge of hard-boiled egg and a black olive. Mardones prepares the empanada according to a recipe passed down by her mother.

“It takes you back,” she says, “because it’s one of those foods you grow up with. It’s our party food, it’s our Sunday food … it says Chile more than anything.”

The completo uses the same tiger roll as in the huevos rancheros, now cradling a simple frankfurt, diced tomato, avocado mash and mayonnaise. This loaded Chilean hot dog is oozy, rich, and yielding. I challenge you not to get any on your face.

A selection of coldcut sandwiches can be made to order, and includes the Chileno (rocket, tomato, ham, mayo, and pebre), the New Yorker (tipping its baseball cap to the Reuben by way of pastrami, cheese, pickles, mustard, and sauerkraut) and prosciutto or mortadella creations that lean heavily towards Italian panini. The chicken schnitzel roll is perhaps the only one in town to also include pebre, while a warm churrasco sandwich involves thinly sliced beef and veal, lettuce and the stalwart combination of tomato, avocado, and mayonnaise.

There are three tables on the footpath, and the interior is simple, homely and comfortable. Mardones’ son, daughter and friends are in the kitchen or waiting on seated customers. Soulful, minor key strains of Buena Vista Social Club provide a soundtrack to my long black (made with Mexican origin Melba Coffee beans) being set down on the table.

Having to ask for cutlery during one of my visits was met with a smile and prompt remediation. The only thing I properly regretted was getting there after the caramelised dulce de leche desserts had sold out. Mardones and her husband Erick Aranda also run the original Cafe Valentina in Dandenong Market four days a week, where my sweet tooth and I have more luck after a satisfying lunch.

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