The Aussie Bite - Perth and Australian restaurant reviews and food blogs

The Pearfect Pantry, Wembley

2012-01-30T21:46:00.001+08:00

The Pearfect Pantry Wembley, review, blog, photos
More and more, I find myself having breakfast or coffee at a cafe on one of Perth's thriving cafe strips. Their abundance offers up a fair amount of choice and many seem to always be packed, most likely a reflection of quality of the establishment's food, service and atmosphere. Whilst many of the well known breakfast/lunch cafes are in trendy or hip areas, on the odd occasion you find a little gem in some of the most unsuspecting places.

The Pearfect Pantry is located in one of the oddest locations I've seen. From the main street, you drive till you come across various portable signs along the side of the road that indicate where The Pearfect Pantry is - only the arrows point to what appears to be inwards and in between a block of units. As you follow that arrow, you walk past a small communal laundry shed till you get to The Pearfect Pantry that looks like another building adjacent to the complex of units.

The Pearfect Pantry is open for breakfast and lunch. The breakfast menu is printed on a simple A4 sheet and includes light to heavier meals, sweet to savoury, and porridge to eggs on toast. Within those selections there are gluten free options, gluten free bread, vegetarian and vegan options, and some different meals like Mexican scrambled tofu burrito. Then to finish off your meal (or just to enjoy with a tea or coffee), on display is a variety of home made cakes.

From what I could tell from what was on offer, The Pearfect Pantry puts an emphasis on local and fresh produce - something I'm fond of. An example was the fruit juices being derived from 100% Australian fruit, and not from concentrate. Also, the coffees are made with Yahava beans - organic and roasted down South. Teas are also blended in Australia by Tea Tonic with an emphasis on the herbal variety.

Corn and potato cakes - $19.50

With smoked salmon, poached egg, spinach, and tpp's tomato relish.

The corn and potato cakes looked like slices of bread. However, biting into them you soon realised it wasn't "just" bread. The cakes had a slight puffy crunchiness to it that you expect of popped corn. Taste-wise though, the corn and potato cakes were mild in taste, without being heavy or seasoned much.

The poached eggs were a little overcooked for my liking, with only a semi-runny centre (unless it cooked more whilst it was being served and during the photo taking process).

The sauce was like a hollandaise sauce - very creamy, slightly acidic (I could have done with a little more acidity) and an egg taste. The hollandaise sauce added a nice flavour to the otherwise relatively dry dish (mainly the cakes) but was quite rich and generous making the whole meal seem a little heavy.

Avocado, fresh tomato on toasted olive pane di casa - $15

With prosciutto, herb roasted mushroom and tomato, brie and fresh basil.

This was a lighter meal compared to the corn and potato cakes. The main flavours to the meal came from the fresh tomato, avocado and fetta on top of the toast. There was also a sauce drizzled over the dish which was a slightly sour and creamy herb sauce. The lack of any meat, fish and egg in this dish made this seem lighter than it actually was.

Cappuccino - $3.80

Keeping with the theme of local, the coffee beans used are Yahava (often known for their organic blends).

The coffee was smooth and relatively creamy and had a good strength to it unlike some other Yahava brewed coffee outlets I have tasted.

We liked: The fresh and local feel to the food and drinks; good variety

We didn't like: Perhaps it's just me, but the tucked away location that is adjacent to a block of flats and behind a laundry room seemed a little odd at best; I didn't notice any effective air conditioning for hot days.

Other things to note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options available; look for the signs, and head into what seems like a block of flats past a laundry shed to get to this tucked away establishment.

The Pearfect Pantry
49 Herdsman Parade
WEMBLEY WA
(08) 9284 1710

Trading Hours
Monday to Friday: 7am - 4pm
Saturday and Sunday: 8:30am to 2:30pm

Cantina 663, Mount Lawley

2012-01-08T21:16:00.000+08:00

Cantina 663 Beaufort Street Mount Lawley review, photos and blog
Cantina 663 is one of those canteens (or cafes) that I heard mentioned quite a bit. I heard mainly very positive comments, and I had been meaning to try it for a while. Finally, I managed to secure myself a lunch there and see for myself what all the fuss was about.

If you don't know already, Cantina 663 is one of the cafes on the Beaufort Street cafe strip. It's open pretty much for breakfast, lunch and dinner (except Sunday dinner) and has corresponding menus to each meal of the day. You can book for lunch and dinner, whilst breakfast is first come first served - and Cantina 663 with its reputation can get really busy.

Cantina 663 state that their menu is inspired by what's in season, and they use local and organic ingredients where possible. This gives Cantina 663 a modest menu, but one that still has a decent choice with lighter entree or tapas dishes along with more main sized ones. To top this off, Cantina 663 is licensed and has a wine list they say reflects the varietal diversity of Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Duck liver parfait - $15

The duck liver parfait was served with crusty toasted bread and a sweet caramelised onion jam The parfait itself was silky smooth with a relatively mild taste that made this parfait enjoyable and better than a lot of other parfaits I have tried.

Pan fried gnocchi - $22

The best gnocchi I've ever had was in Lake Como at the one-woman establishment "Mama Rosa". Eating Mama Rosa's freshly made-on-the-day gnocchi that melted in the mouth like no gnocchi before it, this set the standard for me. But alas Mama Rosa isn't in Perth and I've yet to find gnocchi that I think is as good.

Ordering Cantina's pan fried gnocchi, the waiter said "the gnocchi is really good." The gnocchi in fact was really good - pan fried with a medium crust, a lightly coarse texture, and melted in the mouth without any rubbery feel.

The gnocchi was served with zucchini, beans, salsa verde and a roast garlic marscarpone giving a good Mediterranean taste.

Unfortunately, still not as good as Mama Rosa for me though.

Peperonata - $15

The peperonata had a couple of poached eggs, capsicum and yoghurt.

Whilst I didn't try the peperonata, I was told it was a light meal and nice. The poached eggs looked really good, with runny centres that I'm sure would be the same in the breakfast menu.

Cappuccino - $3.80

Short mac (traditional) - $3.80

I thought the coffee at Cantina 663 was pretty good. The beans produced a blend of bitter and sour in the short mac that blended into the milky Cappuccino quite well.

We liked: Great light meals that show that they care about the food they serve; friendly service.

We didn't like: Sometimes it can be hard to get a table.

Other things to note: You can book ahead for lunch and dinner; they serve alcohol.

Cantina 663
Astor Arcade
663 Beaufort Street
Mount Lawley WA 6050
(08) 9370 4883
http://www.cantina663.com/

Trading Hours
Breakfast: 8am to 11:30am (7 days)
Lunch: 12 noon to 3pm (7 days)
Dinner: 6pm to late (Monday to Saturday)

Blackbird Restaurant, East Perth

2011-12-21T21:26:00.000+08:00

Blackbird Restaurant East Perth review, photos and blog
Strolling along the serene East Perth redevelopment I noticed the whole range of eateries beckoning me to come in and enjoy their treats. However, I got a recommendation (Thanks Mans!) to try Blackbird Restaurant - and boy did it not disappoint.

Blackbird Restaurant isn't a big venue, but it does have indoor as well as al fresco seating with a view of the East Perth waterfront. The restaurant fits in to the modern waterfront redevelopment and offers a fine dining experience in a casual atmosphere. The atmosphere is enhanced further by waitstaff that on the night we went were friendly and helpful, and not at all arrogant or of the "backpacker" variety.

The menu is a constantly changing menu, which as far as main courses are concerned, generally contains a few meat dishes, a fish dish, and a vegetarian dish. Prices of mains generally range in the mid 20s to mid 30s. Blackbird Restaurant is also licensed but offers Cellar Night Tuesdays where you can bring your own bottles of wine.

Amuse bouche - gnocchi

After ordering our dishes, we were advised that we would be receiving an amuse bouche for the night - a piece of gnocchi. Whilst I wouldn't normally think of gnocchi as an appetiser to excite the tastebuds before a meal, it was a good piece of salted gnocchi - pan fried and like a light pillow that kind of melted in the mouth.

Black angus sirloin - $36

On the menu, this dish was described as "Black Angus Sirloin" without the word "steak" - perhaps a negative confirmation that I shouldn't expect a 250g+ slab of steak. However, for a beef dish, it was attractively presented.

Ordered medium rare, the Black Angus Sirloin was cooked perfectly. Served sliced on the plate, the browned exterior encased a pink medium rare interior. Seasoned with noticeable salt, the slices of black angus sirloin really let the quality of the black angus shine through with melts-like-butter tenderness.

The steak was serviced with a bearnaise sauce, lightly battered and fried enoki, and crunchy triple cooked chips.

Gold band snapper - $37

The gold band snapper was served with beans, salsa and brussel sprouts.

Like the Angus sirloin, the fish was also cooked perfectly and seasoned with salt. Having been cooked to the point where it was just cooked, the fish was tender and almost juicy.

The fish came with vegetables (such as beans and brussel sprouts) which were all lightly cooked, retaining a light crunch and a still vibrant colour. Also on the plate was a light salsa, half a soft boiled egg and potatoes.

A well executed fish dish, though I still preferred the Black Angur Sirloin dish above.

Date creme brulee - $16

This creme brulee was very creamy, like it had been made with a thick or whipping cream, with the centre having a thick cream like texture as opposed to being closer to a more solid custard. It was nicely balanced in sweetness so that it wasn't like candy, though the sweetness was sent soaring with the soft dates planted at the bottom of the creme brulee.

The caramelised sugar topping was great with a hard and crunchy texture.

We liked: Very well made food with good flavours and combinations; friendly and helpful service.

We didn't like: Given it's located right up against a man made water body, insects can be an issue at night (but Blackbird Restaurant uses deterrents); not a big menu, but normal for a restaurant of this size and what they do make they seem to do it well.

Other things to note: Look at their website for special events such as Tuesday bring your own bottle of wine

Blackbird Restaurant
4/10 Eastbrook Tce (Lakeside)
East Perth WA
(08) 9225 7880
http://www.blackbirdrestaurant.com.au/

Trading Hours
Lunch: Wed to Fri, and Sun - from Noon
Dinner: Tues to Sun - from 6pm

Sake House, Applecross

2011-12-11T20:48:00.000+08:00

Sake House Applecross reviews, photos and blogs

When I'm not sure what I want to eat, but want variety, Japanese izakaya (tapas) style dining quite often does the trick. Those small almost tasting size dishes let you share and try different dishes with your fellow diners, though requires a bit of sharing out or fighting over the more popular ones on the table.

On this occasion, we made our way to Sake House in Applecross for some izakaya dining but ended up finding that many of their dishes were a little larger than small sharing dishes. However, price wise the dishes weren't exactly cheap either but many were reasonable for the size of servings. We ended up being very satisfied with some pretty decent servings of generally good tasting food.

The interior of Sake House is nicely decked out with large wood tables and chairs, and is quite spacious and modern. However, I have the feeling that the interior hadn't been properly thought out with a cold atmosphere with relatively bright white lighting (as well as the viewable portion of the staff only area appearing to be quite messy.

The menu of Sake House reflects the izakaya style of dining (i.e. Japanese tapas style where you order lots of little dishes to share). Many favourites such as beef tataki, chicken teriyaki, karaage (coated and deep fried meat), tempura, sushi and sashimi were on the menu along with some other more unusual selections such as butterfly prawns. However, overall the menu wasn't exactly inspiring and tended towards the usual Japanese dishes.

Beef tataki - $20

Beef tataki is typically thin slices of a good cut of beef cooked rare and served with a ponzu sauce (and often garlic, sping onion and ginger). In comparison, this beef tataki of medium thickness seemed overcooked (like a puzzling well-done), with no part appearing rare and the entire slice being cooked through.

The beef was seasoned with spices including a noticeable amount of salt and pepper. Whilst it was overcooked, the beef had a lot of marbelisation running through it helping to make it nearly melt in your mouth (which it probably would have been if it was cooked rare). The beef was served on a place surrounded by a lot of light ponzu sauce.

Compared to other beef tataki I have had, apart from the quality of the beef, this dish seemed a little disappointing.

Beef teppanyaki - $26

This beef teppanyaki (a type of grilled on a hot iron plate beef dish) was apparently made with grade 7 wagyu. It was seared teppanyaki style such that it was medium rare and tender (no doubt being grade 7 wagyu helped make this dish). Again, the beef was seasoned, and served with a light side sauce. Whilst the beef was served lightly seasoned it was quite simple in terms of flavours allowing the beef to shine through.

The beef teppanyaki was served with onion and garlic chips.

Karaage chicken - $12

The karaage chicken (a deep fried chicken dish) was tender - not dry, but not moist either. The coating wasn't a common lightly crunchy batter, but still nicely coated with starch before frying.

The chicken pieces marinated giving the dish a bit more flavour and overall this wasn't a bad deep fried lightly coated chicken dish.

The karaage chicken came served with the usual Japanese mayonnaise (though for some reason this mayonnaise was off white) which helped add more flavour.

Sushi moriawase - $22 (large)

This large sushi moriawase set had three types of sushi - a pretty typical california roll (this one had crab meat, egg, avocado and cucumber), a reverse california roll (pretty much the same but the seaweed is on the inside, and in this case avocado slices and flying fish roe/tobiko were placed on top), and a salmon and avocado roll.

On the surface, the sushi looked decently made. However, biting into the sushi the rice was a little stale - dry and hard, but still edible. A little disappointing as this made the sushi seem unfresh.

Mixed seafood tempura - $26

This mixed seafood tempura (a deep fried dish with a very light batter) had prawns, fish, and a nice surprise - soft shell crab.

The tempura batter was light and crunchy, giving quite a nice feel that balanced the seafood.

The prawns were long, but thin and overall not a huge size but perhaps a tad overcooked. The fish was tender and almost fell apart, whilst the soft shell crab crunchy and a nice addition that I hadn't seen in a mixed seafood tempura plate before.

We liked: Despite the different approach to Japanese food, which offered their own versions of some popular Japanese dishes, the resulting tastes of many dishes were pretty good

We didn't like: The sushi we had wasn't fresh; the restaurant atmosphere is a bit directionless and messy

Other things to note: Licensed; takeaway available

Sake House
Unit 3/4
3 Kearns Crescent
ARDROSS WA 6153
(08) 9364 8887

Trading Hours
Lunch - 11am to 2:30pm, Wednesday to Saturday
Dinner - 6pm to 9:30pm, Wednesday to Sunday

Stones Pizza, North Perth

2011-11-29T22:41:00.000+08:00

Stones Pizza North Perth review, photos and blog

I have to say that the number of times I hear "Perth's best pizza" or some other variation confuses me as to whether there really is a "best", different people with different tastes have just called it the "best", or perhaps it's just sales puff. That aside, I guess there's no harm in trying different pizza places to work out your own "best pizza" place.

Stones Pizza in North Perth was the bronze medallist for the America'sPlate in New York back in 2008. It hasalso been a finalist of the Dairy Farmers Best of the Best Pizza Challenge between 2006 to 2009. So with those sorts ofcredentials, you would be expecting some good pizza.

The menu includes a range of meat and vegetarian pizzasalong with a gluten free option at an additional cost, and pizza sides such asgarlic bread, a couple of salads, and Stones Wings which are chicken wings witha choice of hot sauce, barbeque, honey chilli garlic, or sesame maple soy. The pizzas tend to range from about $10-25. To finish, they offer a cheesecake or acinnamon fingers pizza which contains maple syrup.

Over the many pizzas I have had from stones, I have found the quality to be good but it can vary. One thing that sets Stones apart is that their pizzas are made with fresh ingredients (eg fresh cut pineapple as opposed to tinned pineapple, and real honey roast ham sliced up as opposed to ham that comes in a pre-cut caterers pack). This already puts Stones Pizza above many of the rest of the pizza places and you can taste the freshness just to support that.

However, as a minor negative to the numerous Stones pizzas I have had, I found on the odd occasion that the topping proportions can be wrong or sparse leading to bland pizzas or on one busy occasion the pizza wasn't cooked right as the pizza dough was bready. Though aside from that, the pizza quality is generally pretty good.

Similarly, service wise things can be varied. Generally the service is fine for a pizza joint but I do recall one occasion of being told there would be a 15 minute wait on a pizza, only to emerge with a pizza after 45 minutes and no apology or acknowledgement that they got their "15 minutes" very wrong.

Garlic and cheese bread - $6

Thick slices of bread were coated with garlic butter anda thin layer of cheese, and grilled to get the cheese lightly brown. It didn't have a huge garlic taste (though I'm sure my breath smelt otherwise), but the garlic and cheese bread had enough topping to leave you with a tasty entree.

Stones chicken wings with BBQ sauce - $14

This consisted of a dozen pieces of chicken wings thatwere thickly coated with BBQ sauce. Thechicken wings were tender and moist, and the addition of the BBQ sauce (which a good mix of sweet and savoury) made this a tasty treat.

Though chicken wings aren't something I normally associate with a pizza place, the juicy and well-sauced chicken wings were good though nothing out of the ordinary.

Coat of arms - $24.50

The pizza that Stones Pizza singles out as having won awards, the "coat of arms" pizza is named the coat of arms by its use of a Margaret River smokey emu and kangaroo chorizo (both of which are featured on our coat of arms if you didn't already know). The nice chorizo was salty and meaty, dry but not too tough, and a great addition to pizza but personally I can't say that without being told I would be able to tell it was emu and kangaroo.

However, it isn't just that emu and kangaroo that makes this pizza. On top of the pizza base is a thin layer of rosemary roasted potato that adds a lot of herbed and roast potato flavour that I personally think gave the pizza a great core base packed with a very nice roast potato flavour. Adding to that were sundried tomatoes, fetta, spring onion, and garlic butter each adding even more complementary flavours to this pizza.

I really enjoyed this pizza, it's probably my favourite one from Stones Pizza (at least so far).

I should also note that the pizza bases are thin and not oily. Personally, I prefer the thinner pizza base - it has a slight crusty/crunchiness to it and lets you eat more pizza without feeling heavy or worse still - greasy. However, I personally think half a pizza is just about right for me for a decent but not overfilling meal - means leftovers for the next day!

Brie chicken - $22.50

This pizza is another favourite.

Pieces of free range roast chicken are added with brie and pesto to make a great combination that is the core of this pizza. Fresh tomato is also added to the pizza and the pizza is finally drizzled with quince balsamic.

I have to say I think the combinaton of ingredients is unsurprisingly great on this pizza. Delicious roast chicken with melted brie is almost always sure to be a winner and the pesto adds a great herb flavour to the pizza. The quince balsamic also adds a sweetness to the pizza making an all round great chicken pizza.

Devine lamb - $22.50

Having a Greek feel to this pizza, the Devine Lamb pizza contains pieces of marinated lamb, tomato, olives, red onion and haloumi. Of course, the pizza is finally drizzled with Tzatziki sauce.

A good combination of toppings (though the Greek style lamb pizza concept is not unique to Stones) the Devine Lamb definitely had a meaty Greek taste to it. My main issue with this pizza was the only time I ordered it, the toppings (largely the lamb) were too sparse for my liking resulting in lots of relatively bland mouthfuls.

The Carnivore - $22

For the chronic meat-eater, this pizza makes the top of the list.

Pepperoni, bacon, braised beef, free range chicken and honey ham are sure to satisfy most pizza loving meat lovers' tastebuds. Add a bit of roasted red onion and a good amount of stretchy pepperoni cheese and you get one of the best meat pizzas out there that doesn't leave you with the same level of greasiness as some cheaper ones out there.

You can really taste each of the elements of quality ingredients that make up this pizza and the freshness and relative leanness of the meat really makes this meat pizza a good choice.

Sir Guinness - $22

With a name like Sir Guinness, one would expect Guinness beer to be involved in this pizza - and it is. Guinness jus is one of the ingredients that make this pizza distinct, but Guinness alone can't be enough to make a pizza could it? Braised beef, caramelised shallots and mushroom also top this pizza and all match the Guinness like a Guinness pie.

The taste of the pizza is that of a relatively meaty beef pizza, with shredded beef lined quite liberally along the pizza. The Guinness jus adds a Guinness flavour that comes out bitter compared to the flavour of any other pizza.

I'm sure many people will love this pizza for the Guinness, but based on pure taste it didn't do a lot for me.

We liked: The thin base, the use and taste of fresh and quality ingredients (as opposed to pre-packed catering packs), some pizzas with great combinations that help set Stones Pizza apart - all of these reasons help to make it one of our favourite pizza places in Perth.

We didn't like: There are the odd occasions where the quality drops, toppings can be on the scarce side or slow service can leave you (or maybe just me) annoyed.

Other things to note: The North Perth branch has a couple of al fresco tables but most people take-away; gluten free bases available at an additional cost; credit cards incur a surcharge.

Stones Pizza

400 Fitzgerald Street
NORTH PERTH WA 6006
(08) 9228 1877
http://stonespizza.com

Trading Hours
Saturday to Thursday: 5pm to 10pm
Friday: 11:30am to 11pm

Chapels on Whatley, Maylands

2011-11-13T20:51:00.002+08:00

When I get asked to go out for breakfast, I typically think of the Aussie (or variations of English) breakfasts that are becoming an increasingly popular pastime in Perth. But what happens when you mix a bit of Asian influence into this Aussie tradition?

Chapels originally started out as an Asian furniture store, stocking many unique items from antique furniture through to very intricate and detailed furniture. As Chapels renovated and turned part of the venue into a cafe, they cut back on the furniture floor space and created a fusion brunch cafe experience to set itself apart from other cafes in the area.

Chapels' heritage as an Asian furniture store is seen throughout from the furnishings (such as short seated chairs with straight-vertical backs), its Chinese tea section available for retail sale as well as in its menu, and some Asian inspired menu selections.

The menu offers a variety of breakfast/brunch type options sure to cater for many tastes. You get your usuals such as a "big breakfast" right through to Asian influenced options such as kim chi pancakes - something which makes me curious to try.

Also available are a variety of European style cakes, devonshire tea, and even a tea appreciation experience.

Ozzie Breakfast - $22.50

The plate initially seemed small for what was on it, with no roomto manoeuvre - I found it difficult to move any of the ingredients aroundincluding the bread and I decided against trying to put the poached eggs on theslanting bread which were on the stack of mushrooms. Not a big issue, but noticeable for someonelike me who likes to move around what's on my plate and break my runny egg yolks onmy bread.

Other than the logistical issues, this was a decentbreakfast but on the higher end of pricing for what I would have expected for a breakfast (many big breakfaststend to scrape in just below $20, but perhaps the ingredients such as the distinct sausage - see below - were justification for this). Goingthrough the elements on the plate, there were:

Princi bacon – the bacon was getting towards beingcrispy, but otherwise nicely cooked;
A sausage – fat and meaty, the sausage was a bit dry toeat by itself and not seasoned as much as other sausages – perhaps this was ahealthier sausage as opposed to the usual high fat content ones;
New Norcia bread – nothing too special about thetaste and texture of bread but it was a nice normal sandwich bread that was toasted well enough to get that toasty crunch;
Eggs (I ordered poached) – the eggs were cookedperfectly, gooey inside – just unfortunate that without significant rearrangingthe egg yolks just ran onto the plate rather than say on my toast;
Mushrooms – sliced thinly and sautéed lightly;
Tomato – half a lightly grilled tomato; and
Condiments – butter and a sweet and sour salsathat tasted like barbecue sauce mixed with tomato chutney, which added a bit ofwelcome “sauce” especially to the sausage.

Bacon and egg flatini - $14.95

This 'flatini' which seemed like panini that had beenflat-press-toasted was filled with bacon, fried eggs, and tomato. I didn't try this but was told it was verynice. The flatini did look and sound goodin concept with the bacon, eggs and tomato combination conveniently constructedinto a neat 'toastie'.

Cappuccino - $3.90

For someone who likes to buy organic coffee, I find itincreasingly hard to find places that sell it these days with some placesgoing out of business or reverting back to non-organic beans. Chapels proudly states that theyuse Yahava organic coffee beans in their coffee which are roasted down South. The price is on the high side of 'normal'coffee prices (actually, I think it's comparable to many other coffee shops asit's increasingly difficult to find places that do $3.50 or below these days)but considering organic fair trade beans cost more, the price is veryreasonable.

The coffee itself seemed just ok - smooth, but a bit on thelight side compared to what I'm used to.

White monkey tea

With the Chinese teas being served in a nice see-throughteapot that appeared to magnify the tea leaves, Chapel's has a 'bottomless' teapolicy. Good for the tea drinkers, notso great for weak bladders.

We liked: The uniqueness of the decor, with oriental furniture; the healthier approach to the menu (but still far from being a health-food cafe); bottomless teapots.

We didn't like: Slightly pricier than other similar offerings around.

Other points to note: You can book ahead - weekend breakfasts can get very busy; Chapels is also an Asian furniture store.
Chapels on Whatley Cafe Maylands reviews and photos

Chapels on Whatley
196 Whatley Crescent
MAYLANDS WA 6051
(08) 9272 7738
http://www.chapelsonwhatley.com.au/

Trading Hours
Wednesday to Monday: 8am - 5pm

Dusit Thai, Northbridge

2011-11-13T20:51:00.000+08:00

Dusit Thai Northbridge reviews, blogs and photos

You may have already noticed that when I go to a Thai restaurant, I am almost certain to order a Thai curry - a curry where I tend to ensure most if not all of the sauce is not "wasted". On this occasion my Thai curry eating led me to Dusit Thai, a long standing Thai restaurant with a good reputation.

Dusit Thai has won quite a few awards since opening in 1988, including no less than 10 Gold Plate Awards since 1997. The number of people I have heard talk about Dusit Thai as their favourite Thai restaurant in Perth or for being one of the best Thai restaurants in Perth only gave me more encouragement to try out this restaurant.

Dusit Thai's menu, unsurprisingly filled with a good range of Thai dishes, covers meats and seafoods, a variety of curries and non-curries, vegetarian dishes, and entrees and desserts. As many of the dishes are spicy, Dusit Thai gives you the option of having it the standard way or else mild or extra hot.

To accompany Dusit Thai's fine dining experience is a wine list offering wines that range up into the Grange. Other drinks are also available including some Thai named beverages, a small selection of cocktails, and there is also an option to BYO wine at $10 per bottle (which is the welcome option I chose).

Ma hor (Galloping Horses) - $15

Forgive my food-cultural ignorance - I don't know about you but"galloping horses" gives me thoughts of something big and somethingthat packs a punch. When this colourfuldish arrived I realised this wasn't the case.

These galloping horses started with a slice of fruit (strawberry,orange and kiwi fruit) which was then topped with the savoury-nutty mixture ofground chicken, shallots, peanuts, palm sugar and coriander roots. The mixtures' ingredients were finely ground;the taste was a combination of sweet and savoury infused into a nutty mixture; andthe texture was a pronounced crunchiness of the peanuts.

Overall, this was quite a different and light entree. It didn't pack a big flavour punch as an entree for me, but the flavour andtexture combination was interesting.

Satay chicken sticks - $15

These chicken satay sticks were pretty standard fare in so muchthat marinated chicken was grilled on sticks and accompanied by a sataysauce. An addition to this was a cucumberrelish that was a sweet and vinegary sauce that had diced cucumber and redonion.

The satay sticks were good in so muchthat the chicken was decent and grilled quite well, but it wasn't grilled likethose Malaysian or Indonesian satay sticks I've had where you get that yummygrill-infused taste and texture to it. The sataysauce was also comparatively not as nutty and full on with flavour either. However, if you aren't comparing to those satay sticks, these were well made.

Larb Gai - $24.50

This meat salad, the Larb Gai, was minced chicken with red onionstrips cooked with spices giving each of a chilli, sour and savoury (fishsauce) flavour. We ordered"mild" and the level of chilli was noticeable but still relativelylight. However, it would bevery noticeable if you struggle with spicy food.

In comparison to curries and dishes with sauces, this meat salad wasrelatively light (including the level of seasoning) on the palate with the flavours of each of the components ofthe chicken and spices working together.

Gang peg (red curry) roast duck - $28.50

I ordered this dish mild and unfortunately for someone who doesn'teat a lot of chilli this was on my more adventurous side however still edible withoutreaching for water. Not necessarily an unwanted level of spice, but surprising given it was ordered mild - maybe I just have delicate taste buds! Beyond the level ofspice, I thought this was a nice rich and creamy curry with a great blend of curry-spice flavours that made the sauce worth soaking up at the end.

The curry was made with diced tomatoes, peas, lychees, pineapplepieces, and kaffir lime leaves helping to further enhance the complex depth of flavoursin the dish. The roast duck was nothingspecial (I found it didn't quite have the full flavour of roast ducks I haveeaten before and the skin was a little soft and bland), but still I enjoyed the rich and complex curry flavour ofthis otherwise well made curry dish.

Kae tord (lamb shanks) - $32.50

The lamb shanks dish was slow cooked with herbs and spices, then lightly friedand topped with Dusit's spicy tangy sauce.

The lamb shank was cooked so that the meat easily came off the bone. The meat was tender though not quite up to meltin the mouth. The spicy tangy sauce waslike a chilli infused sweet and sour plum sauce. Combined, this was a strongly flavoured meaty dish, largely with the strong flavours of the generous amount of sweet, sour and spicy plum like sauce.

Kao phat (Thai style fried rice) - $20.50 (chicken)

The fried rice was fried with eggs, spring onion, and chicken. In my opinion a pretty ordinary (but well made) fried rice, I personally thought this was overpriced for a fried rice.

A place of larb gai (front), with red duck curry and fried rice.

Mor gang - $6.50

This "mor gang" cake was made with mung beans, palm sugar and coconut cream. Rather than a moist baked flour cake, the mor gang was very moist - like a warm baked custard slice with a texture made grainy with mung beans, and a sweet taste completed with the flavours of the egg and coconut cream.

Filling the large plate that could look a little boring with just the mor gang, Dusit Thai also drew a flower on the plate with chocolate and strawberry topping. I'm not sure if the "topping" flavours really matched the mor gang but it did add some colour to the plate.

Park thong sang-ka-ya kao-neow - $9.50

This was also a "custard" dish made with pumpkin, palm sugar and coconut cream. The custard was served with sticky rice.

Though the menu described this as being a custard, it was far from being an English custard. The dessert started with a base of a sweet egg cake, similar to the mor gang above but with a smoother texture, topped with thin sticks of pumpkin on top.

The sticky rice was cooked soft, though not mushy. It was both sweet and salt in flavour and had a coconut cream taste.

Again, the plate was decorated with a flower drawn using chocolate and strawberry topping.

Fresh mango with sticky rice - $12.50

This dish was pretty simple - fresh mango slices, served alongside sticky rice.

We liked: Rich flavours without being too heavy; well made and nicely presented dishes with attention to detail; many ingredients seemed fresh; BYO (wine only - $10 a bottle).

We didn't like: Some dishes seemed quite pricey for what they were.

Other things to note: If you can't eat very spicy food, watch out for the level of spice in the dishes; vegetarians are catered for with a separate page of offerings including vegetable and tofu version of dishes.

Dusit Thai
249 James Street
NORTHBRIDGE WA 6003
(08) 9328 7647
http://dusitthai.com.au/
Menu: http://dusitthai.com.au/food-drink/

Trading Hours
Tuesday to Sunday - from 6pm

Dragon Palace, Northbridge

2011-10-28T23:56:00.000+08:00

Dragon Palace Chinese Restaurant reviews and photos; Dragon Palace dim sum reviews and photos
Dim sum has become an institution in Perth, with many restaurants to choose from and many of them being packed full of people on weekends further supported by queues at some of the more popular ones. People who enjoy dim sum generally have a few or a single favourite they like to go back to time and time again. Though personally I have found places in Hong Kong and even Sydney that have made me almost weak at the knees for dim sum, Dragon Palace has probably become one of the most well known for serving some of the best dim sum in Perth.

(I'm going to assume you know what dim sum is, otherwise think of it as a breakfast/lunch place that serves Chinese dumplings of all sorts where you get to pick and choose a variety of tapas like dishes to eat - generally sight-seen as you order them from waitperson manned trolleys that stroll up and down the restaurant)

Although Dragon Palace is a Chinese restaurant that offers typical Chinese cuisine (eg rice served with various Chinese sharing plates such as stir fries, deep fried dishes and steamed dish), it is most known for its dim sum. Though if you're after something a bit different, Dragon Palace also has a late night karaoke bar upstairs - one I haven't been to, but one I can say I've heard some drunken tunes emanate from late on weekend nights.

Like most dim sum places, each dish is categorised into a size - a size which then corresponds to a price. In Dragon Palace's case, this equates to: Small - $4.20; Medium - $4.90; Large - $5.60; XLarge - $5.90. Sounds simple enough, and in a way similar to a sushi train with those coloured plates - and interestingly the "Dragon" chain of Chinese restaurants (which currently consists of three restaurants run by the same hard working family who started Dragon Seafood Chinese Restaurant many, many years ago) has recently branched out into a dim sum train under the Woodside bulding, offering the same quality of dim sum in the CBD.

Prawn dumplings - $5.60

These prawn filled dumplings, the first item listed on the written menu and one of the most popular dishes of dim sum, were pretty good. The prawns, wrapped in a thin and light layer of rice flour pastry that didn't distract from the filling, were crunchy and overall seasoned mildly.

Inside the siu mai (left - and see below) and prawn dumplings (right)

The dumplings were a moderate size and all up, each dumpling was like a bite sized burst of prawn goodness with hints of sesame oil.

Steamed crystal dumplings with scallop and sweet corn - $5.90

Similar to the prawn dumplings, these dumplings were steamed with a rice flour pastry enclosing the filling (it said with scallop but I mostly found prawns - unless we got the wrong one). The dumplings were also topped with fish roe before steaming.

The filling, consisting largely of prawns, was also mildly seasoned, bringing out the inner seafood taste though the sweet corn kernels added further sweetness to the dish. The taste was quite similar to the prawn dumplings above, but with a lighter taste and a tad less crunch.

Siu mai of prawn and fish roe - $4.90

The siu mai (or shumai), which is another very popular dim sum dish, was filled with mostly pork wrapped in a wonton pastry (perhaps the closest dish to the "dim sims" we get at other places including fish n chip stores). Added to the pork filling was prawn, and the dumpling was topped with flying fish roe before being steamed.

With the pork and the heavier egg (as opposed to white rice flour) pastry these dumplings were meatier and less delicate than the dumplings above but felt more substantial in the belly. The pork fat in the classic pork-lovers dumplings did help to keep the whole dumpling moist and gave it a slight crunch.

Chicken feet with spicy sauce - $4.90

I didn't actually try these - I am not a fan of chicken feet as the combination of chewy skin and fat flavoured with that pungent chicken feet taste doesn't really do much for me. But don't let me stop you!

Steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce - $4.90

These fatty spare ribs (though not more fatty than the next dim sum/yum cha restaurant) were steamed with black bean and had a savoury taste mixed with a slight acidic taste. Given they were basically chunks of meat on bone, you would expect this to be quite filling - but it isn't really. This dish seems to be more about the flavours coming from the fatty pork, infused with sauces and flavours from the black bean, sour preserved vegetables and chilli.

Shanghai steamed dumplings in chicken broth - $5.60

These small steamed dumplings were dumplings surprises filled with a small amount of meat and soup-like chicken broth. A little small compared to other Shanghai dumplings I have had before but nonetheless they were still enjoyable with each dumpling giving not only a pork filling but also a burst of well seasoned chicken broth that oozed into the mouth (as long as you manage to get the dumplings into your mouth without breakage and thus leakage of the chicken broth). Quite unique really.

Bean curd rolls with oyster sauce - $5.60

These steamed rolls had a bean curd exterior enclosing a filling of pork mixed with some vegetables such as carrot and mushrooms. This was then steamed with an oyster based sauce.

The bean curd exterior had a tofu like taste to it, only cooked and coupled with the sauce which for me made this tastier than any ordinary tofu. The rolls, being largely a meat filling with a bean curd/tofu like wrapping, were in themselves meaty and dry so the sauce really made this dish all the much better. By allowing the whole roll to be soaked in the sauce before eating, I have to say these rolls make an almost staple non-dumpling dim sum.

Chilli pepper squid - $5.90

Another extremely popular dish at many dim sum places is this chilli pepper squid dish. Squid tentacles were battered and deep fried in this dish, and then tossed with the chilli pepper and salt seasoning.

Unfortunately the oil used to cook the squid in this dish seemed a bit unfresh - this caused the battered squid to have an unfresh oil taste with various flavours infused (which detracted from the core flavours of the dish and reduced the lightness of the batter), and the batter was not as crisp as it should have been.

Barbecue pork buns

Served on a plate of three, these barbecue pork filled buns were brown on top with a shiny sweet sticky glaze on top, sticky enough to be annoying on your hands. Apart from the browned upper part, the dough was white and uniform, sweet, and a softer texture than your typical wheat bun.

Inside the bun, after consuming a large amount of bun and no meat as yet

The bun I had unfortunately was mostly bun and only a tiny portion of barbecue pork. This spoilt my impression of this dish as most mouthfuls were just slightly sweet dough with sweet glaze.

We liked: The generally (and usually) high quality of the dim sum which has made this one of the most popular and talked about dim sum places in Perth.

We didn't like: The use of unfresh oil for the deep fried food on this occasion; given the prices, if you order a lot you can expect to pay a lot quite quickly; given how hectic it gets (especially on weekends) the service can get somewhat lacking.

Other things to note: The weekends are very busy - go early or expect to have a long wait before you are seated; licensed.

Dragon Palace
66 Francis Street
NORTHBRIDGE WA 6003
(08) 9228 2888
http://www.dragonpalace.com.au/

Trading Hours

Dim sum: Monday to Friday - 10:30am to 3pm; Weekends - 10am to 3pm

Dinner menu: 7 days - 6pm to late.

Kailis Brothers Fish Cafe, Leederville

2011-10-16T22:05:00.001+08:00

Kailis Brothers Fish Cafe reviews and pictures; Kailis Bros Fish Cafe Leederville reviews

Once upon a time, oysters were abundant and cheap makingthem a common meal amongst the working class. Many years later, after increasing demand resulting in reduced stocks,oysters are now less common, not cheap, and somewhat a delicacy.

For many, many years Kailis Brothers has been providingWest Australians with fresh seafood at its fish market. Whilst Kailis Brothers Fish Market has becomerenowned for a huge selection of fresh seafood, Kailis Brothers' Fish Cafe(which sits in the same building as the fish market) has become renown in its ownright (voted Australia's best seafood restaurant in the 2010 National SeafoodAwards) as a high quality seafood restaurant bolstered by direct supply offresh seafood from the fish market.

The menu at Kailis is unsurprisingly dominated withseafood. No steaks, chicken or othermeats in sight. However, there’s still agood selection available from seafood platters, to seafood pastas, deep friedgoodies such as calamari, fish burgers, choose-your-own-fish from the fishmarket and they cook it for you, and of course – oysters.

Complementing Kailis' seafood menu, is an extensive drinksmenu offering everything from wine by the bottle (including some nicely priced Grange)and glass, beer, spirits; to juices and milkshakes; and of course tea andcoffee.

Grilled seafood platter for one with seasonal vegetables- $58

The grilled seafood platter came with "grilledsnapper fillet, jumbo king prawns split and grilled with garlic butter, herbcrusted scallops, grilled squid with 'latho lemano' dressing and char grilledoctopus 'ala Grec'". It came servedwith aioli mayonnaise and a choice of salad, chips or seasonal vegetables.

Being a fish cafe attached to a fishmonger, you wouldexpect Kailis to know how to cook seafood perfectly. The fish was tender and juicy (perhaps a tad overcooked for my liking), the seasonedoctopus and squid/calamari were tender and in no way chewy, and the prawns werecooked just right. Finally, we asked ifwe could change the scallops for oysters and they had no problem withthat. The oysters were as fresh as theoysters you get from next door in the fish market.

The seasonings in each of the dishes were all donelightly, with the octopus' savoury marinade with generous olive oil having thestrongest 'added' flavour.

Seasonal vegetables accompanying the seafood platter

Overall, I was impressed with the way the whole seafoodplatter was done with the seafood all seeming as fresh as from the shop joinedto the cafe. Enhancing the qualityseafood, good moderated seasoning was used to complement the aioli, and theseafood was cooked excellently - no overcooking, no dryness, and no chewiness.

Herb & garlic crusted scallops with fresh chilli -$34.50 (8 pieces)

These scallops were served in shell and grilled with aherb and garlic crust, along with some chilli. The crust had a light but distinct crunchiness along with the herb garlic and a lightcheese taste to it. The scallop itself was cooked a little rare. All up, the scalloppacked a lot of flavour from the crust that made this dish delicious.

Lobster mornay with Blue Cow 3 cheese gratin & servedwith sauteed asparagus - $59.50 (whole lobster)

The lobster, with the meat cut into chunks and mixed withmornay sauce before being reinserted into the lobster, was cooked moist andnearly drenched with creamy and cheesy mornay. The grilled top added a nice brown layer on top, and overall I thoughtthis was a very good lobster mornay.

Bowl of chips - $7.90

The chips were thick cut chips, though seemed prettyordinary - the chips were not really crunchy at all and seemed like stockstandard chips.

Tiramisu

The tiramisu had layers of coffee and alcohol soakedbiscuits surrounded by large amounts of mascarpone. The biscuits and mascarpone had good flavoursincluding the nice coffee and light alcohol kick that goes into a tiramisu butthe biscuit levels were of various textures. The bottom layers were soft and deliciously melted in the mouth, whistthe middle and upper levels were a bit more hard (almost crunchy). Though a bit inconsistent and the harderlevels being a bit disappointing, I am told they usually make great tiramisu soperhaps this is a once off batch.

Chocolate bread and butter pudding - $12.50

The richness of bread and butter pudding, add chocolate,and dress it with sweet custard and icing.

This bread and butter pudding sounded decadent but wasactually a good 'moderate' example that was still a sweet and fillingdessert. The chocolate wasn't overdone,and the combined sweetness of the pudding with added sultanas and the sweetcustard seemed to blend into one rich, moist and almost heavy dessert.

Affogato with Frangelico

Though I didn't try this, I am told that this was a greataffogato. A generous serve of creamyvanilla ice cream was served with a shot of espresso and a shot of frangelicoto make this dessert with a kick.

We liked: that the seafood seemed fresh from theadjoining fresh fish market; the variety of seafood available as meals; one of the better places in terms of well cooked seafood;service experience is mostly very friendly and very good.

We didn’t like: There isn’t much but seafood on the menu– but if you don’t eat seafood, why are you here?

Others points to note: You can buy fish from the adjoining fish market and get them to cook it(at a cost); licensed; best to book on busy nights.

Kailis Brothers Fish Cafe

101 Oxford Street

Leederville WA 6007

(08) 9443 6300

http://www.kailisbrosleederville.com.au

Trading Hours

Breakfast, lunch and dinner - 7 days a week

Clarence's Bar, Mount Lawley

2011-10-02T22:09:00.000+08:00

Clarence's Bar Mount Lawley reviews; Clarence's Perth reviews

Perth's increasing trend of small bars, each with their own individual charm, reminds me of the bar scene in Melbourne. Not to say that the big pubs are a thing of the past, but these bars give us a choice (and choice is always great!) for when you're seeking something different, something more intimate, or even something a little more classy.

As one of those modern local bars,Clarence's Bar has for some time made its mark on the vibrant cafe, restaurantand pub strip on Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley. Clarence's has the basics of a bar with beers on tap, a healthyselection of wine, and groovy music; the workings of a restaurant, restaurantgrade food offerings with table service across tables and booths both inside and out the back outdoor area; and a suave atmosphere that merges different elements suchas classy black wallpaper, wood grain finishes, the building's original redbrick, and dim warm mood lighting at night.

Cider (foreground) and beer (background) served in Clarence's mugs

The menu of Clarence’s is written on one page. The handful of main courses (of which onlyone out of five was vegetarian) is complemented by a handful of entrees andside dishes mixed in with about a dozen tapas dishes. Where the menu shines though is through theselection of drinks including wine – with about a page for each of white andred by the glass and many, many more pages of wine by the bottle sourced fromAustralia and around the world. That’snot to say that Clarence’s emphasises wine over all else, with many otherdrinks available including a bottled and on-tap beer range as well as aback-in-fashion cider range.

Barbecued chermoula spiced squid tentacles, coriander,lime - $13

The squid was cooked till it was still lightly crunchyyet tender and not chewy in the mouth. Though the squid was seasoned, I felt this dish had too strong abarbecued/charcoal flavour that covered much of the taste. Squeezing the lime onto the squid helped takesome of the charcoal taste away, but overall the flavour was still toooverpowering for me.

Pan fried fish of the day, fennel, celeriac, chorizo,orange - $35

I couldn’t have asked for the white fish to be cookedbetter. The fish had a crispy skin andwas cooked tender and juicy.

The fish was served on a bed of thinlysliced fennel, celeriac, and small bits of chorizo and orange. The flavours were subtle so as to complementthe fish, the sweet and refreshing orange gave a nice sweet tang, and the lighttexture of the salad with hints of crunch made the fish more enjoyable.

Confit chicken leg, puy lentils, chorizo - $28

The chicken was cooked till the meat nearly effortlesstore away from the bone. This meant thatthe chicken was tender and not dry. Being a confit, the chicken was prepared with a fair amount of salt thatwas infused into the whole piece of chicken.

The skin of the chicken had the texture of roast chickenskin, and in fact the chicken tasted somewhat like a nicely roasted chickenthat had been generously seasoned with salt.

Accompanying the chicken, the puy lentils were cookedwell, till they were soft and getting close to being mushy.

Sous vide & char grilled lamb leg, herbed yoghurt,harrisa - $65

At $65, this sous vide lamb initially stands out as beingexpensive. However it is intended toserve two and came with two sides chosen from their normal sides normal (seebelow) - so not as expensive as it originally seemed when you take that intoaccount.

The lamb pieces were cooked to varying degrees with mostbeing medium to medium rare, the sous vide helping it retain its juiciness thathelped it be very tender. The lamb was alsoseasoned with a nice base Moroccan spice flavour that really brought out thelamb. The only question mark for me wasthat the lamb has a fair amount of fat in it, which no doubt helped it retainmoisture and flavour but leaves one to decide whether to eat it or carve it out.

The harissa added another layer of spice sauce (withoutbeing overpowering) to the lamb as well as some colour, and the side sauce ofherbed yoghurt completed the taste of the dish.

Apple, walnut, fennel, basil salad - $8

This salad was very enjoyable.

The combination of sweet yet refreshing granny smithapple, candied walnuts, vinegar dressing and basil in this salad created a verynice and balanced "sweet and sour" combination. The freshness of the salad ingredients withan almost crispness furthered this salad into something light, refreshing anddelicious to eat.

Mushroom confit - $6

This mushroom confit was a bowlful of mushrooms cooked inseasoning such that the mushrooms were cooked just right - tender and notoverdone, and a light yet distinct butter and herb flavour throughout.

We liked: Though a limited menu and a bar setting, wefound the food to generally be excellently cooked; great range of wine withbeer and ciders; trendy and classy bar atmosphere.

We didn’t like: Though up to personal preference, it canget a little too dark at night time for a meal.

Other points to note: Make a reservation during normalpeak times; if you are vegetarian, your options may be restricted to one maincourse dish unless you are happy to mix it up with tapas style dishes; cider specials on Sunday, as well as parma Mondays and shank Tuesdays.

Clarence's

566 Beaufort Street

Mount Lawley WA 6050

(08) 9228 9474

http://clarences.com.au/

Trading Hours

Monday to Thursday - 4pm to late
Friday to Saturday - 12pm to late
Sunday - 12pm to 10pm

Mrs S, Maylands

2011-09-22T22:07:00.001+08:00

Mrs S Maylands review

Come, my children, come away,

For the sun shines bright today.

Little children, come with me,

Birds and brooks and posies see.

Get your hats, and come away,

For it is a pleasant day.

- Excerpt taken from Mother Goose children’s book, usedas a menu holder at Mrs S - though I could imagine it coming from Mrs S herselfas she lures you out of your house, into the sunshine and into her shop ofgoodies and home-cooked-style meals. Today is a pleasant day.

So out on Whatley Crescent, around the café part ofMaylands and very close to the train station, Mrs S has appeared with itspleasant approach to breakfasts and brunches – and it shows, just by how busyit gets. The café itself isn’t very big,typical of many similar cafes, but makes good use of the space inside withsmall (and some joinable) tables surrounding a central communal table that canseat a large group or multiple groups. Even still, getting a seat can be a tall task during peak times.

Whilst Mrs S is a breakfast/lunch café, what sets Mrs Sapart is the décor and food (see below). Mrs S has an almost quirky yet homely feel, with details such as menuspegged to children’s books and old (nearly country style) bits n bobs [BlueApocalypse lovingly describes the details in her blog here]. They also sell a small but unique collectionof goods such as cool British printed wrapping paper.

On to the food, Mrs S’s menu is quite modest butunderstandably so given the size of the place. Quality not quantity? Thebreakfast menu goes from light meals through to a “big breakfast”; whilst thelunch menu includes salads, a tart, and sandwiches. Then during both seatings there is aselection of sweets, as well as juices, tea and coffee.

Granny June’s cornbread - $16 (breakfast)

Two slices of cornbread was the basis for this sweet andsavoury breakfast. The cornbread had a texturea bit like dry banana bread (with bits of corn kernels throughout), acorn-yellow colour, and looked like it was sliced from a loaf. Being the first time I’ve had cornbread, itseemed well balanced in terms of its sweetness and the level of corn taste.

For its mild sweet taste, the cornbread felt heartythough by itself it did seem a little dry (cue the maple syrup which made thismuch better). My only issue with the cornbreadwas I found eating both slices of sweet corn bread to be a bit much forbreakfast but this is most likely because I don’t eat a lot of corn by personalchoice. Bring on the eggs on toast oreven the heavy sweet pancakes.

I may have taken too long with photos that the egg yolk cooked a little more than I like it

Completing the cornbread, add some bacon and poached eggsand you get this good mix of sweet and savoury in this dish that strangelyworks as well as some much desirable protein that made the whole dish seem morefilling to me. However the bacon wasn’tcrunchy if you’re into that.

Croque monsieur - $8.50 (breakfast & lunch)

This croque monsieur was a simple sandwich, but a reallygood one at that.

It was a grilled sandwich of ham, cheese andmustard. I’ve had various croquemonsieurs before, including ones that are very rich and those with multiplelayers. The Mrs S one seems quite simplebut well balanced in the way it is compiled and the mustard is great in it.

Manwich - $15 (lunch)

This “manwich” wasn’t filled with huge lashings of meatlike a half kilo steak sandwich *grunt*. But hey, we’re at a cute little café filled with home-made goodness.

The manwich was described as “pulled pork, beetrootpickle, cucumber, rocket in ciabatta bread.”

The crusty ciabatta bread was buttered and lightlytoasted till it was even crustier. Thiswas then filled with seasoned pulled pork that was meltingly tender as well as thevery noticeable sweet-and-sour beetroot pickle.

If there is one concern about this manwich, it would be thatyou have to take care with the grated beetroot. Even when trying to be careful, the beetroot left marks on the platethat looked like I may have hunted down the pig that went into mysandwich. Poor pig, happy me.

Poached chicken, pineapple, herb salad with nam jim -$16.50 (lunch)

I wouldn’t typically order just a salad as a meal. However, this salad was good.

The salad had an Asian theme to it with bean sprouts,Asian herbs like coriander, and a nicely balanced nam jim with noteablesweetness, sourness, saltiness and spiciness all wrapped up neatly into a wellmatched salad dressing. The combinedflavours of the herbs and the dressing gave it a lot of oomph. Add the tender and moist poached chicken andthis salad was delicious.

Caramelised onion tart - $15

The tart itself was made with caramelised onion, slow roasted tomatoand goats curd.

When I read the word “tart”, I thought this would looklike a quiche. What came out was a tartthat had a base of layers of light and flaky puff pastry, filled with the caramelised onion, slowroasted tomato and goats curd (a bit like cheese and tomato but more gourmetand with better flavours). The way thetart was constructed gave it a relatively light feel and the elements of eachthe pastry, onion tomato, and goats curd each complimented the whole tart whilst eachof their flavours and textures were brought out.

The tart was accompanied with a rocket and herb saladthat was dressed with olive oil.

Lumberjack cake - $6

I don’t know why this cake was originally calledlumberjack cake however the key elements of date, apple and coconut all wenttogether well.

This cake was rich and moist, with a great level of sugarcombined with the sweet dates, apple and the coconut infused icing on top. All up, a delicious cake and the serving sizewas also generous compared to many other cafes out there.

Cappuccino - $3.50

Not many places around Perth make such a pleasantcoffee. It’s not exactly strong orfancy. However, it’s very smooth and creamy(using Bannister Downs milk I believe) and a coffee to remember.

Café Latte - $3.50

Another well-made, creamy coffee.

We liked: A simple yet well executed menu for a casualcafé; the food isn’t boring and some dishes have a hearty feel; food that we(everyone I have been with so far) agree is amongst the best for its type; analmost quirky homely feel to the experience; great and creamy coffees; greatservice.

We didn’t like: Mrs S possibly didn’t realise they wouldbe so popular – they probably could have easily done with a place twice thesize.

Other things to note: Mrs S can get very busy, especiallyon weekends - if you don’t get there early you may need to wait for a seat,even if it’s at the communal table in the middle.

Mrs S

178 Whatley Crescent

Maylands WA 6051

(08) 9271 6690

Trading Hours

Tuesday to Sunday - Breakfast and Lunch

West End Deli, West Perth

2011-09-13T22:29:00.000+08:00

West End Deli reviews; West End Deli West Perth reviews and blogs

Crispy bacon and runny-yolk eggs, fluffy pancakes with berries and thickly sweet maple syrup, juicy sausages and crunchy golden hash browns... Breakfast can bring so much joy to start the day. But what about something a little different, perhaps a little gourmet for breakfast? Pork belly with calvados apples? Brioche with creamed spinach and slow cooked egg dressed with tobiko dressing? What about smoked quail with foie gras terrine?

Taking an approach that blends gourmet dishes with staple breakfast offerings in a brunch menu is one thing that sets West End Deli from many other brunch cafes. And head chef Justin Peters has a good CV having worked in Melbourne restaurants as well as previously being head chef of some Perth restaurants (Duende, Il Lido, and Verve) that gives further credibility to the dishes created.

West End Deli is situated in West Perth (the part that isclose to Leederville) at a renovated retail site with a long history. The historical feel is enhanced by small warmand fuzzy touches (such as old mechanical tills and scales, and post-federationelectrical details) set amongst the modern warehouse-industrial feel complete withan open kitchen. The result gives WestEnd Deli character in what looks like a modern café/deli that oddly yet successfully integrates new and old.

The brunch menu is quite diverse for a café/deli and includes your staple eggs on toast (or try baguette for a change) and awholemeal version of pancakes that is meant to come with “streaky bacon”,through to main course size meals including a steak sandwich, pork belly,spaghettini, salads and pies. Given thenot-so-large size of the cafe, it seems like quite a decent varied selection to cater for amixed crowd, with even some (light) options for vegetarians.

Pork belly, pearl barley, calvados apples and crackle -$26

The pork belly was melt-in-your-mouth tender, like it hadbeen slow cooked such that when I cut into the pork the meat tore at the graineffortlessly. Crackle-wise, there was onlya very light crackle (which was ok considering the pork was so tender) and anice subtle sweet flavour that made it taste good on its own.

Add the pearl barley with a nice mildly sweet jus thisdish had just the right amount of sweetness to complement the pork without overor under doing it. Then there were thediced bits of calvados (brandy) apples – these were like sweet apple jelliesthat I enjoyed so much that I could have eaten them by themselves.

Though all up the pork serving wasn't huge, and the meatportion was quite small when you consider the amount of fat in pork belly, theoverall flavours of the tender pork mixed in with the various sweet elementsmade this a pretty good pork belly dish.

Smoked ocean trout, brioche, creamed spinach, slow cookedegg and tobiko dressing - $24

This dish was like an ordinary breakfast dish gone gourmet and it tasted as good as it sounded on the menu. However, again the dish alone didn’t seemlike a large breakfast or lunch especially for someone who is used to"big breakfasts".

The brioche had a crust that had a light crunch, a lightbuttery and crumbly centre and overall a nice base to start the dish as opposedto commonly used bread. The brioche was topped with athin layer of creamed spinach, and a slow cooked egg that was delicate and almost“gooey” compared to a poached egg. Thelighter texture and flavour associated with the slow cooked egg made it greatwith all the other elements on the plate (rather than say bacon with toast).

On the other side of the plate was the smoked ocean trout(or house smoked salmon in some guises) with what seemed like creamcheese. The tobiko (or flying fish roe) andblack sesame dressing around the plate completed the dish and overall I feltthis was a delicious gourmet style breakfast.

Steak and mushroom pie with side salad - $6 (pie) plus $3(salad)

This pies were located in the fridge border the kitchenand the main dining area. The choices onoffer at the time were a steak and mushroom pie and a pork pie. The steak and mushroom pie was made with anice flaky pastry that was golden and buttery. The pastry flakes on top had a nice flaky crunch to them.

Inside the pie were chunks of steak and mushrooms (realchunks as opposed to minced who-knows-what), in a well-proportionedstock-gravy. The pie tasted wholesomeand thankfully seasoned well (i.e. in moderation and not salty). A sweet chilli sauce was provided as acondiment.

The optional salad was a fresh assortment of salad leavesdressed with a sweet dressing.

You can also buy the pies as take-away (or maybe even abaguette for $4.50 or some cake?). I’mnot a huge fan of pies, but I might have to get one of those baguettes nexttime.

Black bean cassoulet, pork, chorizo, and sour cream - $8

This cassoulet of what seemed like a generous amount ofblack beans (i.e. it was a sharing sized amount for someone who isn’t too keenon beans like me) was made with the addition of small pieces of pork and chorizo,and topped with sour cream.

The beans were cooked till they soft enough so they werenearly effortless to chew whilst still being firm, and the combined dish waswell seasoned and seemed a tad on the creamy side when mixed through.

Lemon tart - $6

The “co-op inspired” lemon tart started off with a thinshortcrust pastry. It was filled with arich, smooth and tangy lemon filling that was a blend between sweetness andlemon tang, but definitely more on the strong lemon tang side. If you like lemon tarts, this one says simpleyet flavour-bursting lemon tart.

Lemon, thyme, pine nut torte - $6.50

This torte was a heavy, buttery, and crumbly torte. The flavour from each of the elements in thename were subtle – the lemon being very mild, the thyme sparingly sprinkled ontop, and the pine nut also taking a light flavour addition to this torte.

Whilst the cake didn’t seem to give big flavour or sweet kicksin my mouth, it would be suited to those after a milder tea-type cake orsubtler than a lemon tart or chocolate velvet or beetroot and chocolate cake. I guess I have a sweet tooth.

Cappuccino - $3.80

The cappuccino was pretty good. The milky and mild-strength coffee was madewith a bitter blend of beans (Vittoria I believe) that in the cappuccino made adecent cappuccino.

We liked: A good diverse range of food on the menu consideringthe size of the establishment; a gourmet approach tothe food, offering restaurant style dishes with enjoyable flavours and textures; the previous point most likely due to an experienced chef being in charge (for a welcome change).

We didn’t like: The concrete and hard surface surrounds,whilst looking good, reflects noise so when busy it can get noisy, and seated acouple of tables from a large speaker made it more difficult to chat at thetable without many "sorry, say that again"'s; not so much a gripe, at least not yet, but I sure hope that this place is cool in summer –the “air conditioners” on the wall that I could see looked a little worse forwear.

Other things to note: The prices vary a bit - some dishes are on the high-side for breakfast prices but the dishes are restaurant grade which would explain it; there is a brunch menu, and aseparate dinner menu; during the lunch service they ran out of a couple ofdishes though pointed this out quickly; gets busy at peaktimes – you can only make bookings from 11:30am onwards; if you’re vegetarian,brunch options include pancakes, baguette, porridge, and at least one other“main course” style vegetarian dish.

West End Deli

95 Carr Street

West Perth WA 6005

(08) 9328 3605

http://www.westenddeli.net.au/

Trading Hours

Monday to Wednesday - 7am to 3pm

Thursday to Saturday - 7am till late

Sundays - 7am to 3pm

Nobu Perth, Burswood

2011-09-06T08:39:00.003+08:00

Nobu Perth reviews; Nobu Japanese restaurant Perth reviews; Nobu Burswood casino

If you haven’t already noticed, I find great satisfaction in seeking out great new restaurants in Perth. In particular, I can never say no to a great new Japanese restaurant, and especially one that has a lot of steam behind it.

After many years expanding around the world, the Nobu chain of restaurants (which has joint owners including executive chef Nobu Matsuhisa and actor Robert De Niro) has just opened its 25^th restaurant here at Burswood Entertainment Complex/Casino in good ol’ Perth. Good news indeed, I was even happier that I managed to get a table for its booked out opening night. So new is Nobu, many Nobu chefs from around the world have been in Perth to help bring Nobu up to the global standard expected of it. Pity I didn’t see Matsuhisa-san himself, but I hear he and De Niro may be making it here in person over the next few weeks - exciting!

Stepping into Nobu, you are greeted by the first Nobu waiter who sees you with a welcoming and "irrashaimase" (meaning "welcome" in Japanese) followed by a chorus of waiters repeating a very audible "irrashaimase". You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Nobu Perth is smaller than its Australian sibling Nobu Melbourne, however equally as impressively decked out with a warm ambience and nice contemporary touches including a lighting decoration that looks a bit like christmas ornaments, and modern bamboo-like partitions. This was furthered by modern music being played more reminiscent of a groovy bar than a traditional Japanese restaurant, but at a mild audible level that seemed to help it blend in.

If you haven’t dined at Nobu before, the waiter explains that Nobu isn’t just a Japanese restaurant - it’s a fusion Japanese restaurant with South American influences with a menu designed for you to order multiple dishes to share with everyone on the table (a concept like izakaya or tapas). It’s also designed such that you start at the beginning of the menu and order dishes to be served in line with the menu order. The menu starts with cold dishes such as raw fish and salads, goes onto hot dishes including cooked meats and seafood as well as tempura, then sushi, and finally soup. That’s until you finish your mains and head to the dessert menu.

Service-wise, the main waiter we had was very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu and as the various staff were quite varied and only one waitperson who served us appeared to be Japanese (which further helped give the restaurant a more modern and hip fusion feel) I thought they had varying levels of confidence. However, apart from a couple of mistakes (the next table's order accidentally coming to our table on two occasions) I thought the service was as a whole pretty good for an opening night and food and service was served reasonably timely, keeping in with the theme of being served most share dishes one at a time.

Edamame - $7

This generous serve of edamame was lightly salted and, for those who like it, a good appetiser. Edamame is a bit like a pea where you only eat the beans inside. The beans are green pea like beans that are relatively light in flavour.

Yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno - $26

This specialty cold dish consisted of nicely laid out slices of yellowtail fish, each garnished with a thin slice of jalapeno, and served with yuzu.

The fresh yellowtail fish was firm and fresh; combined with the spicy jalapeno (that was hot but being sliced thinly wasn’t too fiery), the acidic yuzu, and the light parsley-like garnish, the dish was a nice combination to start that brought out the flavour and texture of the yellowtail and previewed the South American influences in the food.

White fish (scallop) tiradito - $20

A well-presented dish of thinly sliced scallop surrounded by even thinner sliced cucumber was served in Nobu’s own version of a South American tiradito.

The tastes were a combination of a light spicy pepper sauce, as well as an acidic base mixed into the subtle scallop and extra thinly sliced cucumber to provide yet another light cold seafood dish that enhanced the freshness of the scallops.

Shiitake salad - $14

This salad of mainly gourmet lettuce and mizuna leaves was dressed with a lemon dressing and garnished with dried garlic chips and sesame seeds, as well as shiitake mushrooms.

The shiitake mushrooms, being the highlight and headliner of the salad, were small tender mushrooms that had a soft texture that were almost as soft as tofu to chew. Tastewise, the shiitake mushrooms seemed fresh backed up with a mild shiitake taste. The bonus is shiitake mushrooms are good for you!

The remaining leafy salad seemed relatively simple in terms of flavour but nonetheless it was well made and a good salad.

Black cod miso - $46

Perhaps my highlight for the night was this black cod with miso signature dish.

The black cod was cooked perfectly – only just cooked so the fish was super-tender, and cut through effortlessly whilst still being firm. Underneath the black cod was the black cod’s skin which was black in colour and carried some of the dish’s flavour through along with a light charcoal taste.

The miso based sauce that the black cod was cooked in was sweet and thick, almost like a perfect blend of miso with soy and sweetness and similar to that used to poach salmon by some of the better Japanese restaurants. I really enjoyed the miso component that perfectly complemented the black cod.

The black cod was also served with a thinly sliced lotus root chip, a cylinder of pickled ginger that brought a good contrasting flavour to the otherwise sweetness of the dish, and a further sweet sauce that tasted like a light sweet plum sauce.

Scallops with wasabi pepper - $24

The scallops were grilled so that they were rare on the inside - making them tender and moist on the inside, yet on the outside they were cooked enough so that they were firm. Mixed in with the scallops were a decent serve of very thin young asparagus and sliced shiitaki mushrooms.

The sauce was exactly as its name suggested – wasabi pepper – a savoury sauce with a good wasabi taste but yet mild on spiciness.

This dish was also served with a bowl of rice.

Beef toban-yaki - $32

This beef dish was served sizzling hot in a clay dish (that looked a bit like a tagine), and as the waiter served it, he slowly removed the lid revealing the still boiling sauce that continued to bubble away for about a minute.

The beef in this dish was cooked rare with the outer layers seared through but with the larger inner parts still red (without oozing blood) making it tender for beef that isn’t a very marbelised cut of beef. This made the beef dish tender and just nice.

The beef was served on caramelised onions with a shiitake mushroom, enoki mushrooms, asparagus, and a light savoury sauce that made the beef well flavoured and enjoyable to eat.

Slow braised pork belly (wood oven) - $27

The pork belly was cooked so that it pretty much melted as you cut and bit into it – a great way to have pork belly. However, the skin was largely removed giving away any hopes of a crackling (I really need to stop that obsession) though there was a very slight crunch on the top.

The pork belly was served with a sweet sauce as well as a not-so-spicy jalapeno salsa.

House special maki sushi roll - $20

This sushi roll was filled with a combination of salmon, tuna, a white fish, flying fish roe (tobiko), and avocado. On the outside, the sushi roll was wrapped with a layer of what seemed like daikon (a white radish).

The sushi itself was well made, held together quite well, and the proportions of ingredients meant you could taste each ingredient without having a massive wrist sized sushi roll. The outer layer added a crunch but was very mild in flavour (i.e. had no strong radish or daikon tastes which could have overpowered the sushi).

The sushi was served with fresh wasabi (I say fresh as it was grainy as I expect horseradish to be), and pickled ginger.

Bento box with green tea ice cream and goma tuille - $15

This mini dessert bento box (which comes highly recommended) has a warm chocolate cake with a gooey chocolate centre (a lot like a chocolate fondant). The rich chocolate cake, when you cut into it, reveals a generous gooey chocolate which combined gives a good chocolate fix without overdoing it. Not so Japanese, but still very good.

The green tea ice cream, which was served on top of a crisp goma tuille, was very smooth for a green tea ice cream. It also didn’t have any green tea bitterness and contained a good level of sweetness that complemented the chocolate cake.

Overall, this dessert was a very nice, smooth and creamy green tea ice cream excellently matched to a gooey chocolate cake dessert.

Miso Cappuccino - $15

This dessert came served in a deceptive coffee cup - deceptive as it almost looked like a cappuccino with over-anxious froth that had the look and glaze of a creamy set mousse.

Inside this dessert were layers of coffee cream and crumble with a coffee flavour, vanilla ice cream, and the topping of the cappuccino “froth”.

The textures in this dessert helped it from being a boring dessert, from crunchy to smooth and creamy. It also provided a mild sweet coffee hit – though not enough to rival a real coffee beverage.

We liked: The food is excellently prepared and there are some very well-conceived dishes with an unsurprising emphasis on seafood; the service is generally friendly, helpful, and well trained (even for the official opening night); fusion Japanese/South American at its best.

We didn’t like: Although the restaurant has been nicely furnished, it provides for a bit of noise to carry in the restaurant; an opening night photographer who felt compelled to try and make everyone epileptic (though I’m sure this isn’t Nobu’s fault).

Other things to note: The menu has a lot of seafood options, however contains a very healthy selection of meat options as well as a few vegetarian options (including tofu); unless you chose the degustation menu, expect to order multiple dishes to share with your dining companions; book ahead.

Nobu Perth

Burswood Entertainment Complex

Great Eastern Highway

BURSWOOD WA 6100

(08) 9362 7551

http://www.noburestaurants.com/perth

Trading Hours

Lunch and Dinner - Daily

Boulevard Restaurant, Hillarys

2011-08-30T23:31:00.000+08:00

Boulevard Restaurant reviews; Boulevard Restaurant Hillarys reviews

As spring approaches, it's time to get out and about and enjoy some of that sun. Or alternatively, time to go out and eat lots of food whilst soaking up sun or at least go and eat somewhere with a view.

I went up Hillarys Boat Habour way one weekend, where many restaurants and pubs including The Boulevard Restaurant are located. Hillarys Boat Harbour has many open areas, nice brick and planked flooring, and views of the ocean (at some locations) and boats - making Hillarys a popular location for tourists and locals alike. Boulevard restaurant fits into this with its own modern casual atmosphere and large windowed walls overlooking part of Hillarys.

At lunch/dinner Boulevard Restaurant offers an upmarket cafe menu, complete with a modest alcohol list. There are many cafe style meat and veg type dishes but with a slightly more upmarket feel. However, vegetarians may struggle to find much worth eating.

Seafood platter - $54

The seafood platter was a plate of tempura prawns, crayfish, salt and pepper squid, wedges, barramundi, and a bit of salad and creamy tartare sauce.

Perhaps the centrepiece of the dish, the half cray was a tad on the dry side but nonetheless it was still a tasty cray that was helped out by the light but welcome garlic butter.

The tempura prawns were crunchy prawns coated by a crunchy and tastily seasoned batter, but perhaps a bit heavy for a "real" tempura batter. The salt and pepper squid were lightly dusted and again well seasoned with prominent salt and pepper tastes, making a good addition to the plate.

The barramundi was lightly coated and grilled, and also a bit on the dry and flakey side.

The wedges were pretty standard - that is good and nicely done, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Thinking about the different elements of the plate, this didn't seem like a bad seafood platter - just a bit on the pricy side.

Moroccan spiced chicken breast - $40

The chicken breast was seasoned with Moroccan spices giving it a nice Moroccan spiced flavour, and overall the chicken breast was cooked well and not that dry - and thus I thought it was well prepared.

The chicken breast was served on top of a preserved lemon cous cous, pomegranate and extra virgin olive oil. The pomegranate sweet and lemon sour flavours were both prominent and at times seemed quite intense in competing with the Moroccan chicken flavour but otherwise I did enjoy the refreshing nature of the cous cous and the fact that it wasn't just plain cous cous.

On top of the chicken was a pistachio nut butter, adding yet another layer of slightly nutty buttery flavour to the chicken.

All up, a different but good dish, but yet again $40 did seem a bit steep.

Drunken strawberries drowned in Contreau - $13.50

This dessert was a cocktail glass of some pretty standard creamy vanilla ice cream, topped with strawberry halves that had been soaked in Contreau.

The strawberries themselves were good, being nice looking and nice tasting. The contreau added its citrusy flavour to the strawberries with a nice mild kick.

Green tea - $4

I didn't actually taste this tea, but the usual green tea drinker on the table said it was pretty bitter and not that pleasant. Maybe this was a combination of too many "standard" grade green tea leaves soaked in boiling water a little too long?

We liked: Some of the flavours were surprisingly ok if not necessarily complimentary (eg the cous cous) and generally well cooked; the location at Hillary's can be a good outing especially on a nice sunny day; the service is friendly and helpful.

We didn't like: The prices seemed a little on the high side for the food.

Other things to note: Vegetarians may struggle to find much worth eating.

Boulevard Restaurant

Shop 64, 58 Sorrento Quay

Southside Drive

HILLARYS WA

(08) 9203 7722

http://www.boulevardrestaurant.com.au

Memories from Marque, Surry Hills

2011-08-28T19:58:00.000+08:00

I always find it exciting to read up on those annual top restaurant lists. Not only do they offer some inspiration into what restaurants to aspire to some day dine at, but I like to see what the "experts" have to say and it's always exciting to see Australian restaurants do well in the lists.

As I'm sure many of you know, Marque in Surry Hills has been making some good impressions on the national and international levels having entered into the San Pellegrino's top 100 list, and topped a few Australian and Sydney restaurant award lists.

Last year, I managed to get myself a booking for a Friday night at Marque to try out their ever evolving degustation dinner. Although Marque is situated in the suburbs, is not a large restaurant, and it doesn't have the spectacular view of say Quay; the food, service experience generally (including a very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable wine sommelier) were impeccable and we left there raving about our experience.

Of course, I managed to get some photos to share of our meal that night and here they are.

Chaud-Froid Free Range Egg

Almond Jelly with Blue Swimmer Crab, Almond Gazpacho, Sweet Corn & Avruga

2004, Markus Molitor, Riesling Spätlese, Zeltinger Himmelreich, Mosel, Germany

Ike Jime Squid with Smoked Goat's Curt, Young Coconut & Black Radish

2008, G&J-H Goiso, Aligoté, Bourgogne Aligoté, Burgundy, France

Roast St Helen's Oyster with Mustard & Ham Vinaigrette

2008, Gulfi 'Valcanzjria' Carricante/Chardonnay/Albanello, Siciliy, Italy

Veal Sweetbread with White Asparagus, Rosemary, Celriac & Onion

2005, D. Ostertag, 'Barriques' Pinot Gris, Alsace, France

Roast Muscovy Duck with Steamed Eggplant, Yoghurt and Dried Scallop

2007 Quinta de la Rosa, Touriga Nacional & Franca, Tinta Barroca & Roriz, Douro, Portugal

Wagyu Sirloin with Beetroot, Radicchio, Cocoa, Peanuts and Vanilla

2009, Jamsheed, 'The Garden Gully' Syrah, Great Western, Victoria

Sauternes Custard

Chocolate Mousse 'écrasé', Eucalyptus & Coconut

'Provencal Musketeer'

Salted Caramel Chocolates & Bitter Bon Bons

A great experience, maybe next time I'll do a narrative too!

Izakaya Sakura Japanese Restaurant, Northbridge

2011-08-15T23:35:00.005+08:00

Izakaya Sakura Japanese Restaurant Northbridge reviews; Izakaya Sakura reviews

For me, when it comes to Japanese food it's hard for me to go past traditional food with traditional service. I find that the flavour combinations (which are also present at good modern Japanese restaurants) are often subtle and enhance the flavours of the core ingredients.

Izakaya Sakura has taken over the former Ayami restaurant situated across from Russell Square in Northbridge - much to my disappointment as I thought Ayami offered the best sushi and sashimi in Perth. However, I'm pleased that Izayaka Sakura has been a good successor with good traditional food and a great Izakaya experience. The restaurant has been decorated with Japanese decor (see their website for more photos) and is complete with friendly and helpful Japanese service.

Izakaya Sakura's name says it all - izakaya meaning tapas style dishes. Most of the dishes are tapas servings - smallish and designed so you can order multiple dishes and share, however there are a few set meals for one such as bento boxes.

The menu of these tapas dishes offers quite a large choice of options with many traditional Japanese offerings as well as a few other exciting ones. What's more, the menu doesn't heavily rely on deep fried food or unhealthy rich creamy sauces making it a more pleasant experience for those who like variety and moderation. Instead, there is a decent choice including cold dishes, sashimi, hot dishes, teppanyaki, deep fried food, noodles, and salad.

Beef tataki - $12

Thinly sliced beef that had been lightly seared was served with spring onion, dried garlic slices, a spicy garnish (possibly chilli ground daikon), and ponzu sauce (the ponzu sauce was quite vinegary and sour, but also had light hints of sweetness and a stock taste).

The beef was noticeably marbelised and nearly melted in the mouth, and the garlic when eaten alone was very strong. Quite a typical Japanese dish, this dish met my expectations for a good virtually raw been dish.

Wafuu beef steak - $10

The beef steak in this dish was sliced at about a centimetre thickness, cooked pretty much well done so that it didn't melt in the mouth, and served with a "special sauce".

The chunks of meat were welcome in my mouth, and despite being cooked more than I would have liked the sauce made this a moderately tasty dish that wasn't dry nor tough.

Maguro ponzu - $14

This dish was on the specials menu for the night and was lightly seared tuna with ponzu sauce on a bed of daikon.

In searing the tuna the outer crust was light brown with darker specks and had an almost smokey flavour and harder texture. The inside of the tuna was cooked (or rather uncooked) perfectly. The ponzu flavour was light around the tuna but definitely added its flavour to each slice of the tuna.

The dish was quite simple and perhaps a bit like a variation of tuna sashimi.

Sashimi moriawase (medium) - $22

This mixed sashimi dish was a combination of raw salmon, tuna, scallop, squid, and a white fish. Served with wasabi, this dish was quite standard fare though noticeably the tuna looked pale compared to other tuna sashimi I have seen. The scallop was sliced very thinly (seemed to be like 1 scallop sliced into 4 slices) and it melted in the mouth.

The variety was decent and the fish was fresh, but the serving wasn't huge for the price and the cut was quite simple.

Tuna sashimi - $12.50

This dish was similar to the sashimi moriawase above. Again not the biggest serve, but there aren't many authentic Japanese restaurants that give you good servings these days.

Kisu fry - $8

Four whiting fillet strips were coated in panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), deep fried, and served with Japanese Worcestershire sauce and alongside some deep fried rice noodles.

The whiting fillet was firm and seemed fresh, and the panko was noteably crunchy.

All up, a good Japanese "fish fingers" style of dish - only better.

Takoyaki - $7

These takoyaki, being six octopus dumplings, were balls of pan fried stock flavoured dough balls mixed with octopus and spring onion. They were served garnished with bonito (fish flakes which to me don't really taste that fishy), pickled ginger, and Japanese mayonnaise and Japanese Worcestershire sauce.

For me, this was a pretty average tasting takoyaki with perhaps a tad too much sauce. I always enjoy watching the bonito "move" when placed on top of hot food though.

Tori ball - $8

Four crumbed chicken balls filled with cheese and garlic were served with Japanese Worcestershire sauce and deep fried rice noodles.

The chicken balls were slightly crunchy on the outside, and inside the cheese was melted and gooey and the garlic flavour was noticeable but not overpowering.

Agedashi tofu - $7

This deep fried tofu had a starchy outside coating (a bit like a golden stretchable jelly that had absorbed some of the stock based soup) and was silky smooth inside. The fish stock soup surrounding the tofu had a good depth of flavour, well seasoned and having a mild nice fish flavour running through it.

With the coating on the tofu and the fish stock, I found this to be a tasty-for-tofu dish.

Renkon chips - $5

Forget potato chips, try lotus root chips. Surely lotus root is healthy for you?

These renkon chips were very crisp and crunchy, and seasoned well to make a great alternative to potato crisps.

Salmon teriyaki bento - $19.50 (lunch: $13)

The bento boxes come standard with steamed rice, salad, edamame (beans where you only eat the inside peas), miso soup and pickled ginger. All of these were quite standard, but well prepared.

The salmon teriyaki was pieces of skinless salmon cooked in a moderately thick, golden sweet and soy sauce flavoured teriyaki sauce. The salmon seemed like it had been infused with the teriyaki sauce as it was quite flavoured with the taste throughout which also helped to reduce the otherwise strong salmon flavour.

Karaage bento - $17 (lunch: $12)

The karaage bento had chunks of chicken lightly coated in flour and deep fried. The skin was only very slightly crunchy, the chicken seemed moderately tasty from seasoning/marinade, but the seemed a tad on the dry side. Also lacking was any Japanese mayonnaise and/or Japanese Worcestershire sauce which would have helped it.

However, all up the karaage bento was an ok meal.

Chicken teriyaki bento - $19.50 (lunch: $12.50)

The chicken teriyaki was a fillet of chicken with skin on that had been cooked with the same teriyaki sauce as the salmon above. The skin seemed like it had been rendered out of a lot of the fat, and again the chicken seemed like it had been well infused with the teriyaki flavour. Though it seemed like it was cooked for longer than I would have liked, the chicken fell apart easily and wasn't dry when with the sauce.

In summary, Izakaya Sakura brings to Perth another traditional Japanese food experience. The food is of a good standard and the style of eating allows everyone to taste a lot of different dishes whilst enjoying each other's company (not to mention some Japanese alcohol).

We liked: The authenticity of the dishes; the variety of dishes; Japanese patrons actually eat here; a reasonable selection of shochu and some sake and plum wine too.

We didn't like: Whilst it's cheaper than some other izakaya out there, the more simple nature of the dishes can make this not a cheap eat out if you are very hungry.

Other things to note: Whilst the full menu is available at dinner, at lunch they only serve a limited menu consisting of bento boxes as well as some noodle and rice bowl meals. Vegetarians may also be quite limited in what they can eat so check out the menu on their website beforehand.

Izakaya Sakura

Shop 2, 182 James Street

Northbridge WA 6003

(08) 9328 2525

www.izakayasakura.com.au

Trading Hours

Lunch - Wednesday to Sunday - 12noon to 2pm

Dinner - Wednesday to Sunday - 6pm to 10pm

Sinabro, Northbridge

2011-08-08T21:30:00.005+08:00

Sinabro Korean Restaurant Northbridge reviews

Winter nights are the perfect time to have spicy and hot food. In Perth, alongside a good warming Korean barbecue, the Koreans are known for their warm-you-from-the-inside spicy and hot food. Just be prepared for the chilli!

Sinabro on Francis Street in Northbridge (closer to Russell Square) is a Korean restaurant I got recommended by a Korean expat to try a year ago and did. When I went the first time (last year), the first thing I noticed was there were definitely Korean customers - a good sign.

Sinabro consists of two separate dining experiences - there is the indoor restaurant at the front which I understand serves buffet, and an outdoor area out the back (go through the driveway) which serves a la carte. I haven't yet tried the buffet but have had the a la carte a couple of times.

The menu at Sinabro has a good selection of Korean food - the chilli dishes through to non-spicy dishes in precooked, cook at your table and barbecue at your table form. Most dishes have meat or seafood in them but there's the odd vegetarian dish.

Kimchi jungol - $35

A soup based dish that suits winter nights is this Kimchi jungol. The soup, which is meant to serve 2-3 people (I would suggest three unless you are very hungry or don’t order anything else), was hot in two ways – being served on a portable gas stove, and having kimchi and gochuchang (a chilli based paste) that you mix into it. For those of you wondering how spicy the dish was, it was quite spicy though if you didn’t add all the gochuchang it wasn’t impossible to eat if you are used to some chilli. However, chilli novices might do best to avoid this (or ensure they have lots of water on hand).

Mixed into the soup was a range of ingredients including clear vermicelli noodles, dumplings, pork belly slices, tofu, onion, Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, and of course kimchi. Of the ingredients, I enjoyed the dumplings with their outer pastry filled with a well marinated pork based stuffing. Despite the layers of fat, the pork belly slices added even more (very welcome) meat to the dish but I felt the dish could have had more meat in it.

The rest of the ingredients blended together to form a relatively chilli hot dish with lots of clear vermicelli noodles and Chinese cabbage. Just be careful of red staining splatter and be prepared to smell a little like kimchi when you get caught in the wafts of cooking smoke.

Overall, this dish was quite spicy but otherwise a decent feed - though I could have done with more meat and dumplings as opposed to noodles and veggies.

Hot Seafood Soup - $25

The hot seafood soup came in a pot meant for sharing. In the soup were king prawns, calamari, mussels, onion and egg.

The soup was of a watery consistency and filled with seafood flavours and spices such as chilli. The soup was quite spicy, just bearable for my tastebuds - though I find that with that level of chilli I struggle with noticing a lot of the other flavours. Definitely not for the non-adventurous.

The prawns were de-shelled and through the cooking process seemed well overcooked, but it also helped it absorb some of the soup flavour. The calamari was very soft and not at all chewy, whilst the egg was mixed in and cooked to form small clumps soup flavour. All components, being cooked in the strong spicy soup, had the distinct soup flavour.

Not a bad dish, but not quite as exciting as the kimchi jungol.

Seafood pancake jeon - $13

Pancakes for many of us are sweet and often consumed at breakfast. Turning that upside down, you get this seafood pancake dish that consisted of a single savoury pancake – not something I would ordinary think of eating for breakfast.

The pancake's dough had a light flavour through it (perhaps it was made with a stock similar to okonomiyaki – a savoury Japanese pancake dish), but still had a doughy taste and a heavier but slightly aerated doughy texture. As “filling”, the pancake was cooked with octopus and vegetables such as zucchini and spring onion. All up, this pancake was a meal in itself.

A sauce would have been nice.

Kimchi Bosam - $25/$35 (small/large)

To me, this dish looked pretty interesting and I couldn’t wait to try it. This dish came as separate ingredients that you were to assemble yourself. The ingredients were a cooked pork belly, kimchi, garlic, chilli, and a couple of sauces.

The pork belly was the best part of this dish - it had its skin removed though, but was cooked with a mild seasoning, and was soft and moist. The kimchi was long pieces of kimchi cabbage that you were meant to take and eat with the pork in a single mouthful. Garlic, chilli, and sauces were provided as condiments to the dish, however the sauce really just added much of the sale flavours already present (i.e. the chilli flavours of the kimchi).

I enjoyed this dish despite the obvious question mark over how healthy it isn't.

Sides

Common with many Korean restaurants that I have been to, Sinabro provides some side dishes that come "free" with every meal. Sinabro serves kimchi, along with a salad and a rice vermicelli dish.

The kimchi was quite normal in that it had kimchi cabbage marinated in the chilli based sauce.

The vermicelli dish was lightly oiled, and had small bits of spring onion, garlic, and carrot throughout. The vermicelli was comparatively mild, cooked till it was soft but not fragile, and had a distinct garlic aftertaste.

The salad consisted of apple, onion, chilli, red capsicum, cucumber and cabbage seasoned with a light and slightly sweet vinegar. The salad was quite refreshing (especially with the apple and vinegar) but the chilli and raw onion stood out quite a bit.

Steamed Rice

Steamed rice is served in a stainless steel made bowl - again something that I've seen in other Korean restaurants. The rice was cooked so that it was quite soft but still reasonably firm.

In summary, Sinabro is a Korean restaurant that given its Korean patrons makes me think it's quite authentic. The flavours are strong, and chilli is very apparent in its menu.

We liked: Some of the dishes were full of flavour; the authenticity; menu had a decent range of dishes available.

We didn't like: The set-up is quite basic with one of the toilets being in a near state of disrepair when I went; the smells from the barbecuing but the outdoor area has good ventilation (and sometimes cigarette smoke).

Other things to note: Many dishes are spicy - so be warned and be prepared to ask if you are not sure whether you can stomach a dish. The restaurant is licensed and has shoju, and has an indoor area up front (a buffet - book ahead) as well as an outdoor area out back which is a la carte.

Sinabro

100 Francis Street

NORTHBRIDGE WA

(08) 9227 1222

Trading Hours

Tuesday to Sunday – 6pm to 10pm

Just Bar, Como

2011-08-02T00:13:00.004+08:00

Just Bar Restaurant Como reviews, Just Wine and Tapas Bar Como reviews

I'm sure I've heard it's healthier to eat smaller portions of food over longer periods of times. Grazing over multiple meals over a day is something I've become accustomed to, and I think I've even heard someone allude to the hypothesis that the French are relatively thin despite their affinity for butter and cream due to the dragging out of eating meals over a longer period of time.

Tapas, like those served at Just Bar in Como, could be one way of achieving a slower meal (over some good company, and perhaps a bit of wine) and is also a great way of trying lots of different dishes without filling yourself up too quickly. Not to mention that I'm a big fan of trying different dishes. I just have to make sure I don't eat too much in one sitting!

Just Bar is a modern looking, yet simple and smallish restaurant that specialises in coffee, wine, and tapas. Given I was driving and it was a Friday night when I went for my tapas grazing, I concentrated more on the tapas than the wine and coffee (well I kept it to only a couple of glasses of red). The tapas on offer easily fit onto a page and had about ten smaller tapas (generally one piece designed for one) and half a dozen slightly larger tapas (generally designed to share). The tapas were supported by a few dessert selections.

After the initial friendly greeting, table seating and drinks order, we found the service to be a little slow compared to what we were expecting - with a bit of a wait at times for service or wait staff being hard to get a hold of. However, despite the somewhat inattentive service the staff were friendly and helpful when available.

Scallop - $4.50

The scallop was cooked relying on its natural taste and served with a crispy and sweetened bacon slice, or candied bacon. The crispy and sweetened thin bacon slice did taste how I would expect bacon candy to taste: bacon and candy = yum. I could have done with more of this.

Exmouth tiger prawns with paprika - $9

This single prawn was grilled with head and tail intact, and served with a chilli salsa. The prawn seemed a little on the overcooked side (possibly due to the grilling process) and the chilli salsa seemed a little powerful for the subtle sweet taste of prawns.

Rabbit Terrine - $10

The terrine of rabbit showed chunks of meat when broken apart, was a mild taste with seasoning, and served cold. Accompanying the terrine was a red capsicum jam, light mustard and pickled caper berries.

Lamb cutlet - $12.50

The lamb was done close to medium and not as tender as a lamb cutlet can be.

The lamb was served with a type of herbed dressing, a bit like pesto.

Tortilla with black garlic aioli - $9

This potato tortilla tasted a bit like a potato and egg quiche. Thin layers of potato were topped with an egg and red capsicum based mixture and cooked, chilled, and served cold. Unfortunately, the different layers of potato slices were cooked to varying degrees, some cooked soft and some still crunchy, whilst the overall taste of the tortilla seemed bland and lacking much flavour.

Spiced chicken wings with red onion jam - $7.50

The spiced chicken wings were nicely cooked and juicy. Marinated with very mild spices and some salt they had a good balance of chicken wing flavour and added spice.

The red onion jam was a sweet caramelised red onion and red capsicum chutney like jam that was very strong in flavour. Personally, I thought the chicken wings didn't need this red onion jam and could have done with something lighter as opposed to a sauce that could pretty much cover the taste of the chicken wings.

Grilled Baramundi - $12

The barramundi was cooked perfectly. The fish was cooked with the inside remaining so lightly cooked it was very tender, and the skin was very crispy. There wasn't a lot of added flavour to the barramundi apart from crispy slices of shaved garlic but as the fish was cooked so well I forgot the need for sauce.

Duck rillette - $4.50

The duck rillette was quite salty but I guess rillette more often than not is. However, the crisp bread base when eaten with the duck rillette was a nice appetiser like snack.

Patatas Bravas

Slices of potato were lightly covered in a paprika mix, roasted, and covered with a quite spicy chilli tomato based sauce. Though the potatoes were cooked till they were soft, they weren’t crunchy – perhaps I’m used to my potato chips, roast potatoes or even a potato dauphinoise.

Frozen nougat - $15

This frozen nougat had the taste of nougat but the texture of cassata, much like a hard ice cream but still smooth in texture. It was set on top of what tasted like a strawberry and orange juice jelly and topped with a frozen strawberry tasting top layer. Quite a different dessert, the flavours combined to provide a sugar hit that was also somewhat refreshing.

The nougat was served with a strawberry sorbet that was mild in both strawberry flavour and sweetness generally, as well as rocky road, and chocolate crumbs.

In summary, Just Bar is a different tapas experience which for me was a bit of hit and miss. However, the combination of some tapas alongside some wine and coffee isn't a bad proposition for a casual meal where you want to graze whilst relaxing to a casually served meal.

Points to note: As a tapas bar, there are tapas that vary greatly in sizes - from small single serving tapas to larger share-tapas. There are a few vegetarian options available but not a large choice.

Go for: Tapas, coffee and wine of course.

Just Bar

20 Preston Street
Como WA 6152
(08) 9474 1977
http://www.justbar.com.au

Trading Hours

Mon,and Wed to Sun 7:30am-11:30pm

Little snippets from the Good Food and Wine Show 2011

2011-07-19T21:47:00.001+08:00

Just thinking back to this show about food and wine makes me hungry (and thirsty, even after that slipper of port I just drank). This year the Good Food and Wine Show was again held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre and was attended by thousands of people, and even families.

Part of the large crowd at the Good Food and Wine Show

One of the main attractions (the celebrity theatre) included shows by Anna Gare, Gary Mehigan with George Calombaris, Matt Moran, and Manu Fieldel. I went along to Manu's show.

Manu's opening short film setting things a little bit risque

Manu's show started out with a short film highlighting Manu's French heritage, his recent win on Dancing with the Stars and was completed with dancing girls. At the end of the film, Manu arrived on a bike wearing his French outfit before changing into his chef uniform, not to mention being accompanied with lots of screaming women.

As always, Manu tries to entertain his audience. Amongst Manu's chef talk and general chat about his life, Dancing with the stars, and his new cookbook, Manu's show was filled with lots of suggestive comments. Bearded vs Brazilians for mussels, "it's all in the wrist" and moans during a session where Manu got a teenage boy to whip cream - the show was a bit risque and perhaps not completely appropriate with the diverse audience (and was met with mixed audience reactions from disapproval to laughs) but you could tell that Manu was trying to be playful and fun.

Amongst the entertainment and antics (including eating three apples that he was juggling), Manu prepared four portions of each of three courses: a mussel pie; a caramelised witlof wrapped in bacon and roasted with cheese and cream sauce; and a baked pear served with ice cream and cream. Not to let good food go to waste, twelve (happy) women were invited to try one of the prepared courses and were also received cheek kisses from Manu.

Photo of Manu winning Dancing with the Stars

Manu's witlof main course dish

Gary comes and rides off with Manu's bike

Manu preparing his mussel dish (sans the need to spit out the mussel beards)

Manu with a teenage audience member helping to whip some cream for dessert

Other attractions included the Riedel bar and wine theatre, Barilla pasta demonstrations, a Malaysian cooking demonstration booth (with guest cook Alvin Quah), a Thermomix stand, and the countless food and wine tasting and demonstration booths set up to show us what's on offer and what we may have been missing out on.

Yum - you gotta love a duck!

Alvin Quah with a Malaysian cooking demonstration

So after another year of Good Food and Wine, let's wait to see if they can beat it next year. Perhaps if the weather permits, they can hold it out in a nice park and make it more like a market stall and family fun day?

Harvest, North Fremantle

2011-07-10T22:23:00.002+08:00

Harvest Fremantle reviews; Harvest North Fremantle; Harvest Restaurant review
My first dinner at Harvest was met with intense screaming. Unfortunately they weren't screams of culinary ecstasy and definitely not the suggestive "YES! YES!" from the Clairol Herbal Essences girl.

Our party of five for the night turned up to Harvest for dinner and were seated next to a small wedding reception group. Possibly due to Harvest's modest yet sufficient drinks menu (including a Pimms Pitcher - YES! YES!) a couple of their guests burst into a fight with one woman screaming and then a guy threatening to punch her. Suffice to say at that point the wedding reception was clearly over. Poor bride and groom.

Back to Harvest, from the outside the entrance looks quite unassuming and dimly lit. Inside, the atmosphere at Harvest is cosy with a rustic atmosphere and dim warm lighting that felt quite intimate but also relatively casual.

Whilst Harvest does a la carte dining, when we made our booking we were informed that Harvest would only be serving a tasting menu / degustation on that (Saturday) night. The six course tasting menu was priced at $80 per person or $120 with matching wine.

For a fine dining restaurant, our experience for the night was a mix of some great friendly service to parts where we had to repeatedly wave someone for service. Overall though, we thought the service was fine for our table even with the at times slow service.

Amuse Bouche

This amuse bouche was an appetiser of a cheese and cream blended soup combined with truffle. The soup was rich and creamy and had combined cheese and truffle flavours that glided all over the tastebuds. The delicious hit on the palate was just enough to start the evening on a good note.

Green Gazpacho, liquid fetta, pickled zucchini, rockmelon

Maybe we just looked ravenous or something but when this course came out, the waiter rushed placing our plates down whilst saying there was “more” coming out. Though our initial reaction to “more” was a bit of confusion, looking at the plate and noticing the lack of gazpacho I had an idea of what was to come. So after all our plates were on the table, there was a bit of added excitement when the waiter came back with a pitcher of gazpacho finishing off each plate in front of us.

The gazpacho itself was chilled, had a watery consistency, and was light in flavour apart from having a large amount of salt that caught me off guard and reaching for my glass of water. Balancing that out, all the other components on the dish seemed salt-restrained in comparison.

The pieces of liquid fetta were cleverly encased in little packets of a very light transparent coating making the liquid fetta look like little shiny droplets of gnocchi. Taste-wise, the mild fetta gave the gazpacho a nice cheese flavour (perhaps like putting cheese with tomato in a fancy way).

Rounding out this dish the pickled zucchini added some zest, whilst the rockmelon sorbet was smooth and subtle in flavour with its mild sweetness balancing out the dish.

Venison, cauliflower, baby sun rose, pain d’epices salad

I was looking forward to this dish; however it didn’t quite wow me as much as I was hoping.

The centrepiece of the dish, a small piece of venison was cooked medium rare – though not quite melt in your mouth. This tender piece of venison was a good “appetiser” for some more red meat to come.

Complementing the otherwise simple venison, the cauliflower puree was rich with cream and butter, and ultra-smooth. Finishing off this dish was some raw baby sun rose that tasted like eating a raw leaf (which didn’t do much for me other than add a bit of colour to the plate), and crisp pain d’epices.

Margaret River Wagyu Rump, bread sauce, garden greens, veal tongue

There were two options for mains – fish or beef. The fish option was described as a crispy skin fish with mussel broth, wilted cos, and rouille. However I couldn’t get past the beef which was a Margaret River Wagyu Rump with bread sauce, garden greens and veal tongue.

The wagyu rump was cooked medium rare – we weren’t offered a choice, however I wouldn’t have argued with medium rare. Despite being (an undisclosed grade of) wagyu, the rump was not as tender as say my preferred cuts of rib eye or tenderloin. Still, the rump was cooked excellently, tender for a rump though not quite melt in your mouth, and the rump was full flavoured. Accompanying the steak, creamy herb butter melted around the steak adding nice flavour and moisture.

The bread sauce had a strong beer flavour running through it that complemented the big meaty taste and texture of the rump steak – though personally I preferred the flavours of the herb butter and the beer taste running through what seemed a bit like soggy beer flavoured bread didn’t do much for me.

One other thing I have to say about this dish is I am not really a fan of tongue so unfortunately most of the veal tongue was left behind on my plate with other people on our table following suit.

Watermelon sorbet

After the main course, this watermelon sorbet helped cleanse the palate. Rather than big flavours of bold sweetness or acidity, this sorbet had a subtle watermelon taste with only a mild sweetness. It was still refreshing, but without a big aftertaste.

Fourme D’ambert , pear, quince

This French blue cheese was blended with cream to make its flavours subtler. The result was unsurprisingly like cream cheese, light and creamy, melting in the mouth like creamy brie. The blue cheese taste was definitely dulled down (in a good way), but was still prominent enough to make a few people on our table stop at one small mouthful.

Accompanying the cheese were the always complementing pear and quince flavours, as well as garlic crumbs which whilst I thought was interesting went very well with the cheese and especially its blue creamy cheese taste.

Chocolate pudding, dehydrated chocolate mousse, oloroso jubes

A welcome rich and creamy dessert, the chocolate pudding was a silky smooth pudding that melted in the mouth effortlessly. Together with the texturally contrasting but still richly flavoured dehydrated and hard chocolate mousse this dessert ended the meal on a big chocolate punch line.

The oloroso jubes were like strong sherry flavoured jellies coated in nut like crumbs that met the rich chocolate flavour, whilst ginger beer powder added a tangy zest.

In summary, Harvest has a rustic feel and the chef innovates and presents his fine-dining-style creations that in ways seem to match the rustic feel. Personally, I enjoyed sampling the different tasting dishes even though for a tasting menu none of the courses quite got me on the verge of my own "YES! YES!".

Points to note: Book in advance for Friday and Saturday nights, and note that like us you may be limited to the degustation menu only on some nights.

If you’re vegetarian, Harvest does cater for you with their degustation, however expect that the courses may just be the menu course sans meat. For example, the venison course above was served by removing the venison and adding more of the other ingredients to the dish.

Go for: A rustic type of fine dining with food to match.

Harvest

1 Harvest Road

NORTH FREMANTLE WA 6159

(08) 9336 1831

http://www.harvestrestaurant.net.au

Trading Hours

Tuesday to Saturday – 6pm till late

Friday to Sunday – 8am till late

Winners of the Good Food and Wine Show Tickets

2011-06-20T20:49:00.002+08:00

Congratulations to the winners of the Good Food and Wine Show (Perth) Tickets - Skye Melvin and Yee Gan.

Please email your postal address by Sunday the 3rd of July to theaussiebite[at]gmail[dot]com and your prizes will be posted to you [after confirmation of ID].

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition!

Good Food and Wine Show 2011 (and your chance to WIN a Double Pass!)

2011-05-29T22:48:00.000+08:00

It's that time of the year again. The Good Food and Wine Show is just around the corner and I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Last year, we saw the likes of Manu Fieldel, Matt Moran, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris take to the Celebrity Stage for live performances, including the preparation of a few dishes that selected audience members got to sample. There are also wine, coffee, and cheese appreciation sessions that I’m sure will appeal almost as much. On the less formal side, food and food related stalls are abundant, as well as food samples, a dining area, and you can even buy books and get them autographed. For a bit more on last year’s show, you can look at my blog post here or go to their website at http://www.goodfoodshow.com.au/.

For a couple of lucky readers, I have two free double passes to giveaway. For your chance to win one of these, "like" The Aussie Bite’s facebook page and then “like” the Good Food and Wine Show post, and/or email us with "Good Food and Wine Show" in the header and 2 lucky winners will be randomly chosen based on entries from each category. Entries close June 17th and winners will be announced by June the 20th, so be sure to check back to see if you have won (and claim your prize). Tickets will be posted to the winners.

The Good Food and Wine Show is being held in Perth over the 15^th to 17^th of July, with the following sessions:

Friday 15th: 10am - 5pm

Friday 15^th (after dark): 6pm - 9.30pm

Saturday 16th: 10am - 6pm

Sunday 17th: 10am - 5pm

Five Bar, Mount Lawley

2011-05-10T20:20:00.000+08:00

Five Bar Mount Lawley; Five Bar reviews
One fine and sunny Perth afternoon I found myself walking along the Beaufort Street cafe strip - as many of you know this is home to many cafes, restaurants and bars. In one of those aimless strolls, I found myself in front of Five Bar and immediately thought "five what?" - Five pints of beer, five glasses of wine, or even five courses of food. Enticing choices I know, so I went in anyway.

You may have already heard people recommending Five Bar, either for its eclectic interior, casual and cool atmosphere, or even the tapas style selection of dishes on offer. Regardless of what people remember it for, Five Bar is one of those new boutique style bars that offers a gourmet selection of bar type foods to complement those lazy afternoon or cozy night drinks.

Lamps set across a backdrop of wallpaper

The interior of Five is a collection of styles. The classic wallpaper, and art deco lamps and sofas help create a nice unique environment to have a casual drink or meal. These furnishings were set amongst other parts of a warehouse pub-like interior which seemed to detract a bit from the stylish parts but as it seemed to separate the bar into distinct areas, overall I still enjoyed the atmosphere.

Comfy, classy sofa

Although Five is classified as a bar, with a full bar selection and beers on tap, Five has a good selection of tapas style dishes and a few "pub" mains (including a gourmet steak sandwich) and desserts. Whilst the menu is written on a big blackboard on the wall, the quality of the offerings complement the stylish surrounds.

Duck and chicken rillettes - $14.50

The duck and chicken rillettes were served cold, well flavoured and tender from the cooking process. Despite rillettes typically being slowly cooked with salt and fat, the duck and chicken rillettes were mild on the salt and didn't seem excessively fatty/oily. However, even though the rillettes weren't bursting of salt and fat, the rillettes tasted like they had been infused with a nice subtle flavour that still allowed the natural flavours to come out.

The rillettes were served with light toasted garlic bread style baguette slices, and a blackberry and orange preserve or jam. The texture of the broken up duck and chicken meat, which was soft and tender in the mouth, made an excellent and easy to apply topping to the bread. The combination of the balanced duck and chicken rillettes with garlic bread was enhanced with the sweetness of the preserve.

Rare roasted beef open sandwich - $14.50

Roast beef sandwiches can be simple meals. Five Bar takes this classic sandwich and turns it into something more without overdoing it.

The thinly sliced rare roasted beef was tender as far as sandwich style roast beef goes. On the sandwich's salad side of things, a nice red cabbage homemade coleslaw was creamy and wasn't strong as to overpower the beef. However, perhaps the part which I thought brought the sandwich together for me was the mustard grain and horseradish cream that was light but still noticeable on the palate and matched the roasted beef sandwich as you would expect. Rounding out the sandwich was a dash of chives, and sliced gherkin that was subtle in pickle (and a slightly bitter) flavour. A gourmet tapas style "roast beef sandwich".

Dark chocolate pot - $13

This “pot”, which looked like a jar that formerly contained something off the supermarket shelf, was filled with a sweet chocolate mousse based dessert. The mousse was a very smooth typical mousse, balanced in a good level of sweetness and chocolate flavour so that it was a decadent chocolate dessert that melted smoothly and consistently in the mouth . Topped with sugared pistachios, lightly sweetened and soft macerated strawberries and mint that were refreshing, the overall mousse was rich, and indulgent.

In summary, Five Bar offers a bar experience with gourmet bar food. The mostly larger than tapas meal selections seem to be well thought and executed.

Points to note: Five Bar is a bar and not a restaurant. In addition to the staple alcoholic liquid meals, it serves mostly tapas style dishes as well as a few "pub" style dishes. Though there some tables inside, when it's busy you may find yourself standing.

Go for: A drink or two. However, you get some good food selections to go with them.

Five Bar

560 Beaufort Street

Mount Lawley WA 6050

Trading Hours

Monday to Saturday - 11am to 12am

Sunday - 11am to 10pm

Iku Sushi, Perth

2011-04-18T21:28:00.004+08:00

Iku Sushi Perth; Iku Sushi Perth review

With so many sushi places in the city to choose from ranging from super fresh and traditional sushi through to quick pre-made lunch sushi, it's sometimes hard to differentiate sushi except in quality or variety of product. This is where Iku Sushi has gone out and done something different with the Cheeseburger and Chicken cheeseburger sushi (see below).

Iku Sushi recently opened its doors in the new 140 William Street complex at the underground train station in Perth. The decor at Iku Sushi is quite hip for a lunch bar type of venue. Filled with lots of colour, and modern looking Japanese inspired decorations Iku Sushi looks like a place to go and see what the fuss is all about. They've definitely created a hip looking lunch bar.

Menu-wise, Iku Sushi has offerings ranging from machine wrapped sushi through to rice meals and noodles. All these are served in quite fitting (to match the interior) colourful and catchy packaging.

Chicken Cheeseburger Sushi - $7.50

In my opinion the best tasting meal of our visit, the waiter claimed this as their specialty (well, the "cheeseburger" types of sushi which is the beef version of this sushi).

Take a standard sushi roll with chicken and cheese filling (to make it a chicken cheeseburger), then coat it in batter and deep fry it. Then serve it with some creamy (chilli) spicy mayonnaise. A sushi that differentiates Iku Sushi from many other sushi places, it's just unfortunate that it was a relatively healthy sushi differentiated by deep frying it. It was relatively tasty though for lunch bar sushi.

The batter was relatively light and quite crispy, and overall in some of the sushi pieces where the cheese melted the sushi tasted how I would expect chicken and cheese to be in sushi. Interestingly, they battered the sushi in portions of two such that they could be cut in half, giving it one flat side covered in batter whilst the other side looked like sushi. This maximised the taste and texture of lightly crunchy batter.

Overall, for me this was worthy of a try but whether you like to have your sushi battered and deep fried will be a personal choice.

Spicy Chicken Ramen - $9.95

Coming served in what looked like a colourful supermarket-cup-noodle container, I'm not really sure what to say about this ramen. V.K. ordered this and described it as having a milky soup and didn't enjoy it. I tried a bit of the lightly spicy soup and it was very simple in flavour and lacking the depth and flavour that you get at specialist ramen restaurants.

The serving size was small by many ramen standards (although also a few dollars or so cheaper) and the noodles and chicken were also quite ordinary. The vertical nature of the container also made it a little difficult to eat the ramen like a normal ramen meal.

I guess they don't specialise in ramen.

Chicken Katsu Curry (medium) - $8.95

E.G. ordered this meal sized curry chicken katsu which was served with rice, spring rolls and salad.

Though this was called a chicken katsu, Iku Sushi covered the chicken in a type of thin coating of what seemed more like fine batter than breadcrumbs and lacked crunch and flavour. For those of you that don't know, Japanese Panko is what is normally used to crumb katsu and when used right gives a good crumb coating and a nice crunch. The result was that the chicken katsu was quite ordinary and plain. Also, the texture of the chicken itself was very smooth that made E.G. and I think that it looked and tasted like processed chicken. Odd.

E.G. described the spring rolls (and indeed the meal) as pretty average. The spring rolls were like a mini entree to the dish, loosely packed vegetables in mini rolls and deep fried.

In summary, Iku Sushi breaks with tradition and offers their own take on simple Japanese dishes served in colourful and catchy disposable packaging. Though innovation is definitely welcome, I can't say that I enjoyed the experience as many dishes didn't appeal to me - even comparing against the traditional versions. A shame since the concept seems quite unique.

Points to note: Iku Sushi is a bit like a funky lunch bar with sushi and hot meals. The food is not traditional Japanese so might appeal to people looking for something a bit different.

Go for: A different fusion-Japanese food experience.

Iku Sushi
140 William Street
PERTH WA 6000
(08) 9322 6008

Trading Hours
Monday to Thursday - 7:30am to 7pm
Friday - 7:30am to 9pm
Saturday and Sunday - 11am to 5:30pm

Koko Black, Claremont

2011-04-11T23:46:00.001+08:00

Koko Black Claremont reviews; Koko Black Perth reviews

Chocaholics rejoice there is a new chocolatier in town!

Since 2003, a Melbourne start-up Chocolatier by the name of Koko Black has grown to become a well known chocolate institution carrying on the art of European chocolate making in Australia. After a few expansions by way of new stores over the years Koko Black has finally made its way to Perth, suitably locating its first store in the upmarket Claremont Quarter managed by Hawaiian - a notably classier location than some other chocolatiers that have been appearing around town.

With shelves and glass display cabinets filled with chocolate selections, Koko Black is a true chocolatier. You can choose from a wide selection of individual chocolates, an in season Easter selection, and even dine in for chocolate desserts, hot or cold chocolate drinks, and even high tea.

Belgian Spoil - $13.50

This board of chocolate delights was one of those chocolate tasting boards for the serious lover of chocolate.

Starting with a square of simple chocolate flour cake that seemed a tad dry, I made my way through the piece of shortbread (that seemed a little plain and lacking of the rich buttery texture of shortbread on the overall chocolate plate), a couple of Koko Black chocolates, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ice cream.

The Koko Black chocolates were pretty good. One was a raspberry chocolate flavour and the other had a soft chocolate centre and a bit of crunchy praline like nuts. The chocolates were very smooth and consistent, rich and finished with a touch of Koko Black branding. Leaving the chocolate to melt in your mouth further showed how silky smooth it was. A good chocolate worthy of creating an upmarket chocolatier around. Though to me not quite in the same league as those oh-so-good fresh Leonidas pralines or Godiva chocolates, but also coming under their prices unless you're passing through Europe any time soon.

Rounding off this dish the smooth chocolate mousse and ice cream were both very, very sweet and very chocolatey. In particular the mousse was very rich and provided the strongest chocolate hit on the plate.

Otherwise, a bit of a contrast to the chocolate cake and shortbread, the mousse and ice cream are probably the best items on the plate for the serious chocolate dessert lovers (and are available in other dessert type selections). The crunchy crumbs sprinkled on the mousse were also a nice touch.

Belgian Hot Chocolate - $5.95

This hot chocolate was made with Belgian dark chocolate and according to T.E. was moderately sweet but still retained a bitter taste. The overall consistency and mix was like a classy but "normal" hot chocolate made with Belgian chocolate. The hot chocolate however was not quite the same as a thickly rich hot chocolate that is almost like a cup of chocolate that many people (including T.E.) prefer to go out to a dedicated chocolatier for (e.g. San Churros' thicker and sweeter hot chocolates).

Light Hot Chocolate - $5.95

According to "H.T." the light hot chocolate was sweeter than the Belgian Hot Chocolate, but true to its name was also lighter with a milk chocolate taste and a moderate sweetness. Again, a milky hot chocolate as opposed to a thick chocolatey hot chocolate.

In summary, Koko Black makes a good addition to Perth's growing chocolate scene. It is a good chocolatier with a good range of take-home and dine in options, however their selection of menu items vary with some items not as chocolate crazy as some other chocolatiers (right now I'm thinking of Guylian in Sydney where ordering a single chocolate dessert plus iced chocolate drink would send me into an ill state of complete chocolate meltdown). Though none of us were in awe and itching to go back, if I make it here again soon I will have to try the iced chocolate drinks. In the meantime, I'm sure Koko Black will have a huge following in our ever growing hunger for sweets and chocolate.

Points to note: Koko Black has everything from chocolate for sale, to dine in hot and cold chocolate drinks, and chocolate desserts. There is also a high tea for those who like to go that bit extra.

Go for: Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate.

Koko Black

23 St Quentin Ave

CLAREMONT WA 6010

(08) 9284 2049

http://www.kokoblack.com/

Trading Hours

Monday to Friday - 9am to 10pm

Friday and Saturday - 9am to 11pm

Sunday - 10:30am to 10pm

Hippo Creek African Grill, Hillarys

2011-04-03T18:08:00.002+08:00

Hippo Creek restaurant reviews; Hippo Creek African Grill reviews

Are you a hungry, hungry hippo? Or just outright want to eat copious amounts of meat? With probably the biggest concentration of South Africans outside of South Africa, it's no surprise that they brought their grill restaurants to Perth for our carnivorous enjoyment.

So when I think South African Grill, I think MEAT! That's where Hippo Creek comes in with more than its fair share of meat including a good selection of steak, including moderate grades of Angus and Wagyu, and the Hunter's Assaghai (see below). But for those not so red meat inclined, Hippo Creek has chicken (including a chicken version of the Hunter's Assaghai) and seafood options.

However, if you're vegetarian you then I hope you like garden or greek salad, or are happy with garlic bread and dessert as this restaurant isn't designed for you. However, if you really are a carnivorous hippo you might want to consider the 2kg rump steak challenge. I'll leave you alone with that one.

To complete the food side of things, contained in its own cowhide leather bound menu, the drink menu has many of your usual beers, wine (which unsurprisingly includes some South African options), and spirits.

Hunter's Assaghai - $43.50 (500 grams)

Coming in the 350g standard serve, or the "man-sized" 500g meal this is the "piece de resistance" or rather the centrepiece of Hippo Creek's South African Grill menu. Think 500 grams of rump chunks, skewered and roasted, and topped with melting garlic butter (or chilli/peri peri butter) oozing down those lashings of beef. If all that meat doesn't tempt you, how about the bowl of crunchy fries that soaks up the melted garlic butter that drips to the bottom of the skewer. 'Nuff said.

Did I forget to mention that it also comes with a small garden salad? Healthy stuff.

Chicken Breast - $39

At a different pace to the Hunter's Assaghai, the flame grilled lemon and marinated Mount Barket chicken breast was surprisingly moist and tender. The chicken breast was topped with a few crunchy garlic king prawns (peeled but with tails left on) and surrounded by a decent amount of creamy garlic sauce. Finishing off this place was a smooth and creamy mash and asparagus sticks. It all tasted pretty good, no doubt due to the chicken breast being moist and the very creamy garlic sauce.

Koeksisters - $14

The least mainstream sounding dessert on the menu, to me the main component of the dish tasted like a sweetly (orange syrup) soaked soggy and doughy doughnut that clumped on its way down the throat. Unfortunately that took the task of finishing this dessert off my things to eat list.

On the plus side, the cinnamon ice cream tasted ok (however it wasn't silky smooth or anything special) and the chocolate dipped orange slices went down a lot easier.

Amarula Mousse - $13

The two scoops of each of white and dark chocolate mousse were sweet and chocolatey. Though they were definitely identifiable as chocolate mousse, they were quite average in texture and consistency like a soft ice cream. I could finish this but after all that meat earlier in the meal the four scoop serving was a bit rich.

A couple of fingers of (dense and dry) lady finger biscuits dipped in a bit of chocolate were also present but didn't add a lot to the chocolate mousse.

Cappuccino - $3.50

Even though this was organic Toby's Estate coffee, it was a pretty average coffee that that seemed a bit watery - but hey this is a South African Grill and not an awarded Barista coffee shop.

In summary, Hippo Creek is a place to go for meat. Despite being most well known for steaks and the Hunter’s Assaghai, Hippo Creek does offer white meats and seafood alternatives. However you might be struggling for a mains past salad if you're vegetarian, but then again if you're vegetarian an African grill is probably not where you would eat. Unfortunately, I thought the desserts were a little ordinary. The service too can be a bit interesting – it’s not bad, but we watched out beer sit on the counter for more than five minutes whilst nearly half a dozen young wait staff were standing around it chatting.

Points to note: This is a South African Grill so expect tons of meat (and usually beef) to come out of the kitchen. Most of the dishes are relatively simple and this isn’t fine dining – but they do make an effort with a good selection of meat.

Go for: Meat of course. And preferably steak. Though if you aren't into beef you can still survive on chicken or seafood. Vegetarians - might I suggest you go elsewhere?

Hippo Creek African Grill
Shop 203 Sorrento Quay Boardwalk
Hillarys Boat Harbour
58 Southside Drive
HILLARYS WA 6025
(08) 9447 2238

Trading Hours
Lunch and Dinner - 7 days
Breakfast - Saturday and Sunday

1907 Restaurant, Perth

2011-03-28T00:26:00.001+08:00

1907 reviews; 1907 Restaurant reviews

Discretely tucked away on Queen Street is 1907 Restaurant - a charming restaurant that offers fine dining away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

1907 is decorated with a mix of old world (think Victorian era, post Victorian and post federation) and contemporary plush furnishings, and completed with black and white photos by American photographer Murray Garrett. For a restaurant that has a simple street facade and no windows, it does look quite impressive inside.

In March 2011, or more specifically the Eat Drink Perth month, 1907 is offering a special three course menu on Tuesdays to Thursdays for an affordable (in terms of fine dining) $59. Each course had three options and the choice to be matched with wine for an extra $40.

The menu starts with 1907's special degustation menu and is followed by a mix of modern meat and seafood dishes as well as the odd vegetarian dish. Prices of mains are mainly in the forties. To complement the food, 1907 offers an extensive drink list: with a handful of whites and reds, a decent selection of wines (including some half bottles) from around Australia backed up by a few international selections, beers, spirits, and an excellent cocktail menu brought up from 1907's cocktail bar situated below the restaurant.

Seared yellowfin tuna - $26

Our first entree was the seared yellowfin tuna - lightly seared slices that were dressed in nam jim, and served with a slice of grilled watermelon as well as cucumber and fresh coconut salad. To be honest, the combined flavours of the dish didn't excite me as much as the menu description, and in particular the spicy chilli nam jim seemed quite powerful for the tuna. However, the tuna was cooked perfectly - rare.

The salad with its fresh slices of vegetables dressed with a pickled flavour was refreshing. Lastly, the bright red watermelon slice was delicately prepared, retaining a good watermelon sweetness enhanced by the grilling.

Ginger glazed Berkshire pork belly - $27

Our second entree was a visually impressive pork belly dish surrounded by spicy Asian flavours (prawn & peanut sambal, black garlic, chilli vinegar, soy beans, baby coriander shoots). Apart from also having a fair amount of just about overpowering chilli surrounding the pork, the combined flavours from the well matched prawn to the garlic and coriander gave a burst of welcome flavour to the tastebuds. The tender and fat proportioned pork itself was also well marinated making this a tasty pork entree.

Cape Grim, grass fed Black Angus tenderloin 200g - $42

Although there was a fish and risotto option for this special Eat Drink Perth menu, the steak main course looked so good on the menu we couldn't get past it.

A black Angus tenderloin ordered medium rare, the steak was very tender and literally melted in the mouth. A moat of red wine jus added more moisture and rich flavour to the already tender steak, whilst strong thyme and rosemary flavoured crumbs gave this dish more of a roast beef touch. Although well made additions, these elements almost detracted from the quality of this steak for me. However, I am a big fan of an amazing steak with something simple like horseradish cream and some sides, but the horseradish mousse was barely noticeable in this dish.

Overall though, this was an excellent cut of steak cooked perfectly.

Strawberries poached & raw, puree & sorbet, vanilla bavarois, crystallized violets - $17

Strangely (well at least for me) this was an unexpected highlight of the night. I’m not usually one who orders strawberry desserts but this one hit the spot for me. The sorbet was very smooth, rich in strawberry flavour and low in the otherwise bluntness of ice texture and taste. Mixed with the creamy and rich, yet light vanilla bavarois, crunchy violets, and sweet strawberry puree, this combination is probably one of the best sweet and refreshing strawberry desserts I’ve tasted.

65% Dark Chocolate marquise - 17

1907’s take on chocolate, this dessert brought French style chocolate elements into this rich dessert. The dark chocolate marquise was sweet, rich and chocolately for a mousse, and cutting through it was like cutting through light cream, and melted in the mouth quickly like fairy floss. Delicious. The chocolate tuile was light and paper thin, broke apart like a snowflake and also melted in the mouth.

The lemon cheesecake on the other hand was a quenelle of relatively hard and heavy cheesecake to contrast the delicate textures of the chocolate that I thought was a little strange (I could have done with more of that marquise).

Finished off with welcome fresh blueberries, this was a nice, different chocolate dessert.

Petit fours of chocolate and marshmallow

In summary, 1907 Restaurant provides an experience of plush old world charm meshed with amazing black and white photos and contemporary touches. The food, however, is contemporary fine dining and the service is friendly and attentive.

Points to note: 1907 Restaurant is offering a $59 three course special for Tuesday to Thursdays in March 2011. In addition to the charming fine dining restaurant, 1907 has a cocktail bar situated below the restaurant that makes for a sophisticated bar experience.

Go for: Fine dining with a bit of old world charm in a plush luxurious atmosphere

1907 Restaurant
Alleyway, 26 Queen Street
Perth WA 6000
(08) 9436 0233
http://www.1907.com.au

Trading Hours
Lunch - Tuesday to Friday from 12.00 pm
Dinner - Tuesday to Saturday from 6.00 pm

The Quarter, Perth

2011-03-09T23:08:00.004+08:00

The Quarter restaurant Perth review; Wesley Quarter restaurant
Already a recipient of a star in the inaugural Perth Good Food Guide, The Quarter comes with high expectations. Its modern British cuisine headed up by chef Shannon Wilson has already won positive comments from a few of my friends let alone Perth food critics.

Despite being in the centre of the business and shopping district of the city, the dim candlelit dining room tucked away behind the old Wesley Church created a very intimate atmosphere. The Quarter’s fitout looks relatively simple, but completely clean, modern and stylish. It’s a bit of a classy yet comfortable gem in the heart of the city.

The service from the wait staff varies on the actual staff member. On previous occasions I've been impressed with the quality of the wait staff, with their great attitude that was friendly and helpful. I felt that the regular wait staff that have served me previously gave a great level of service, however perhaps some of the newer staff are just a little less friendly and helpful but that’s not to say the service was anything less than adequate.

Tasting plate for two - $30

The chilled gaspacho was light and tangy, offering a little something to start that both refreshed the palate and left it wanting for more.

The pork with crisp piece of crostini style bread had the texture of soft canned tuna, but with a mild pork taste and was quite light on the palate.

Lastly, packing the strongest hit to the palate, was the goats cheese salad. The goats cheese had a texture like soft cheese portions made for crackers and had a strong salty cheese flavour. The walnuts and grapes accompanying the salad added welcome taste and texture to the otherwise strong cheese.

Lamb assiette - $39

Probably the signature dish of The Quarter is the lamb assiette (otherwise known as lamb three ways).

Starting with the slow cooked shoulder, the lamb was uniformly cooked with the tender meat easily tearing away from the attractive cylindrical shape. The lamb was flavoursome and easily enhanced with the slightly creamy spinach puree.

The lamb rack was one of the ribs off the rack. Mind you, having the whole rack on this plate would have made it a big meal in itself. However, true to its description, the lamb was cooked as a rack and coming medium rare was tender and just about melted in my mouth.

The Quarter’s take on the traditional shepherd’s pie saw a reasonably lean mince lamb “filling” placed at the base of a bowl that was of a great consistency gourmet flavour, but had a bit too much salt for my tastebuds. However saying that, I haven't heard anyone else have an issue about the salt in this otherwise excellent dish so perhaps mine had a bit of an accident? The filling was topped with a decent amount of silky smooth mash that brought together the shepherd’s pie.

Slow cooked pork belly - $35

As expected, the pork belly skin was audibly crunchy. Tick. The pork meat itself was quite moist but I felt it needed the accompanying cider jus and apple & sage crumble. The apple and sage crumble gave the pork a sweet accompaniment that works well with pork, though I could have done with a sweeter punch from the apple.

The potato fondant was delicious. It was buttery, well seasoned, and had the texture of golden roast potato slices.

Broccolini, herb butter - $8.50

Fresh broccolini was blanched and flavoured with a light herb butter making this dish taste healthier than “butter” normally suggests.

Rocket & parmesan salad, balsamic dressing - $8.50

Shaved parmesan and sweet and thick creamed balsamic gave this fresh rocket salad a nice sweet and salt combination.

Valrhona chocolate tart, passion fruit cream - $14

Quality Valrhona rich chocolate tart. Could any chocoholic complain? The rich and thick Valhrona chocolate mix was utterly smooth, had the texture of a thick and rich cheesecake, and a chocolate punch to rival a decadent rich dark chocolate mud cake.

To tone all that rich chocolately goodness back a bit, the mildly flavoured passionfruit (juice and seed) infused cream was light and refreshing.

Orange crème brulee, hazelnut shortbread - $13

I’m not really a fan of adding citrus to my crème brulee (I’d rather add liquer) but this crème brulee was good. The crème brulee was smooth and creamy and had a good amount of sweetness that was lifted by the tang of orange.

Overall, The Quarter lives up to the reputation already built. The food is prepared to very high standards and makes for some great flavour combinations. The atmosphere is stylish and the candlelight ambience just sets the mood.

Points to note: Remember to book ahead as The Quarter is very busy and I understand there Friday and Saturdays are booked ahead for a couple of months.

Go for: Intimate fine dining in the city.

The Quarter
Shop 10
93-95 William Street
PERTH WA 6000
(08) 9322 2424
http://thequarter.net.au/

Trading Hours
Monday - 7am to 3pm
Tuesday to Friday - 7am to late
Saturday - 6pm to late

Zafferano, Crawley

2011-02-20T22:42:00.000+08:00

Zafferano Perth review
I have my first memories of Zafferano from years ago, relating to long lunches overlooking the Swan River whilst eating seafood and drinking wine. Not to forget finishing off my meal with massive brandy goblets of Hennessy XO – it was here that I first used brandy balloon goblets, and I was so impressed that nowadays I have my own.

Though I believe the restaurant has changed hands since, the same view remains. Whilst you don’t get the same view of the city skyline as you would in say South Perth, the tranquil nature of the water and the relaxed nature does give Zafferano a few ticks, especially during daytime. Come dusk, Zafferano’s loses a lot of its view but the classy Italian inspired atmosphere takes over.

Zafferano specialises in – you guess it - Italian/Mediterranean food. Well, maybe not your very traditional Italian food but food with an Italian influence. The average main course price is in the forties (putting it squarely into the fine dining category) with a range of red and white meats and seafood, along with a couple of vegetarian options (eg a mushroom dish and vegetarian crepes). The drinks menu contains beer, cocktails, and a selection of wines mainly from Australia, as well as the odd international wine.

As always, the owners try and ensure that the service is great, offering some happy Italian service right down to the flambe crepes that are made right in front of you at your table. This tradition has carried on, with the preparation being a bit of a spectacle.

Turkish bread dips - $9.50

A little different to your standard Turkish bread with dips, this Turkish bread was grilled with a Balsamic glaze and extra virgin olive oil. Whilst the glossy extra virgin olive oil was prominent in look and taste, the balsamic was hardly noticeable. As promised, the Turkish bread was also served with two dips - a pumpkin based dip that had distinctive pumpkin sweetness, and a moderately flavoured beetroot based dip topped with shaved almonds. Both tips were topped up with a layer of extra virgin olive oil. Yes, Italians do love their olive oil. Rather tasty.

Double roasted Muscovy duckling - $46.50

This main course dish had two duck Marylands served with a rich duck jus, fresh orange, fregolone, and rosemary.

The duck meat may have been double roasted, with the meat breaking apart quite easily, but the skin was very moist and soft – perhaps it had been soaked in the rich duck jus. That wasn’t an issue - I just prefer my duck skin a little more “fried” or “roasted” to give it a bit of crispness. The rich duck jus surrounded the duck like a moat and was kept quite simple and wasn’t salty or strong in other flavouring. Subtle notes of the fresh orange combined with the jus and the duck meat flavours to create a pleasant dish. However, the taste of rosemary was very strong in this dish – a little too much for my liking.

Amelia Park lamb - $44.50

The lamb French cutlets were herb crusted, oven roasted, and served pink with garlic and rosemary, roasted potato, pinot jus and vincotto.

In my opinion the best way to have lamb cutlets - the cutlets were cooked medium rare apart from 1 piece which was unfortunately cooked a bit more than medium. Again the taste of rosemary was prominent in this dish, but otherwise the lamb was how you expect French cutlets – tender, with the added jus and marinade flavours.

In summary, Zafferano offers some good Mediterranean/Italian food in a nice prime location. I found that the food wasn't groundbreaking but was decent for what it was.

Points to note: Zafferano has a fine dining menu that includes a lot of different base ingredients to tickle your fancy. That includes a couple of vegetarian dishes but not enough to write home about.

Go for: Upmarket Italian inspired fine dining food in an upmarket environment with views.

Zafferano
The Old Swan Brewery
173 Mounts Bay Road
CRAWLEY WA
(08) 9321 2588
http://www.zafferano.com.au/

Trading Hours
Lunch/dinner - 7 days a week from 11am
Breakfast - Saturday and Sunday from 8am