Little Creatures Brewery, Fremantle

Keeping with the theme of laid back Sunday afternoons, I found myself out one Sunday drinking ciders out at Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle.  The location along the water and the modern laid back pub atmosphere makes it a great place to sit back for a few pints (cider or Little Creatures' very own beer) preferably coupled with some good simple food.

What sets Little Creatures even further apart from just any other "modern" pub is that it's set in its very own microbrewery.  On site you can see big vats and other beer making apparatus through glass displays that give it quite a special feeling.

Little Creatures is a reasonably large sized eating and drinking establishment - with indoor dining as well as al fresco dining out front and back.  However, despite the amount of seating, Little Creatures' popularity means you will have to wait for a table during any peak times.  Prepared for this occasion, Little Creatures hands out electronic buzzers to alert you when your table is ready whilst you have a drink or two at the bar.  However, once you do get a table, the food service appears to be quite prompt and organised.

The food on offer at Little Creatures matches its microbrewery atmosphere perfectly.  A lot of the dishes on the menu are share dishes - and not just typical pub meals like fish n chips and steakburgers, but modern pub tapas dishes and wood fire oven pizzas.  The dishes work great with beer or wine with family or mates.

Mixed olives, feta - $9

These olives (with seeds intact) were served with olive oil and feta.

Pan fried haloumi, cherry tomatoes - $14

If you've had pan fried haloumi before, it tasted as good as it should taste.  Each slice was lightly browned, giving a bit of warmth and ever so slight melted texture enhancing the flavour of this otherwise great tasting cheese.

The cherry tomatoes were also lightly cooked, lightly warm, and were garnished with basil leaves.

Harissa spiced lamb, melanzane, feta pizza - $23

This pizza was specially made in Little Creatures' own wood fired oven using their own dough where, if you want, you can watch the pizza maker roll it out from a round ball in plain view.

The pizza had a thin crust (which I prefer) and though this translated into a crunchy edges, the centre of the pizza base was soggy - probably from the ingredients piled on top and heavily skewed towards the centre.

The toppings included a healthy helping of well-spiced harissa lamb, small strips of melanzane (eggplant), and crumbled feta on a tomato paste base.  The generous helping of lamb helped make this otherwise seemingly simple pizza taste good, the harissa spice helping to create a Moroccan style pizza that was well flavoured without being salty.  However, on this paticular pizza, having the ingredients a little skewed towards the centre left some edges of the crust taste quite boring and lacking flavour.

Refried bean nachos - $23

As nachos should be, guacamole, sour cream, cheese red onion and jalapenos topped this corn chip share meal.  Added to the mix were refried beans that were very soft, had absorbed a nice light savoury flavour, and a pleasure to eat compared to harder textured ones.  Overall, this was a nicely made nachos with good flavours coming out of the toppings and refried beans, and the corn chips largely remaining crunchy and not soggy.

We liked: Modern and casual bar atmosphere; microbrewery beer; fast food service (once you are seated that is) for the size of the establishment.

We didn't like: Potentially long waits to get a table (though they do issue you with a buzzer fo whilst you wait drinking at the bar)

Other things to note: The menu is geared towards sharing dishes, though there are some meals for one.


Little Creatures Brewery
40 Mews Road
Fremantle WA 6160
(08) 9430 5555
www.littlecreatures.com.au

Trading Hours
Monday to Friday - 10am to 12am
Saturday - 9am to 12am
Sunday - 9am to 11pm

Peninsula Tea Gardens, Maylands

I like lazing around on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Some may gear up for a Sunday sesh, others may find their way to the beach (I'm missing Summer already!), and then there's always the popular cafe culture that's suitable all day long.  The cafe culture is responsible for our reportedly increasing coffee consumption but there still seems to be a small increasing trend towards tea in the form of high tea or else the age old cream tea.

One of the more popular Perth tea places that come to mind is Peninsula Tea Gardens over near Tranby House in Maylands.

Approaching Peninsula Tea Gardens, walking alongside the river and through the bush greenery provide a great prelude to some scones with jam and cream (or a high tea).  The venue itself opens up to glimpses (due to the angle) or the river and the green surrounds making a good setting for a nice afternoon of tea drinking.

Pensinsula Tea Gardens is probably most known for its high tea menu.  Whilst the menu has a few lunch options (eg steak sandwich, quiche, and smoked salmon salad) and tea options (eg cream tea / Devonshire tea) the Parisian Afternoon Tea looks to be amongst the more popular of the menu options.

Having not booked and not having the appetite for high tea (I needed a meaty meal before I went out for scones), we ordered a Riverside Cream Tea ($12.50) for each of us which came with two scones served with jam and cream, and a choice of tea in a pot.

Tea cups used as part of Riverside Cream Tea - $12.50

Scones with raisins and scone with raspberries (part of Riverside Cream Tea - $12.50)

The scones were warm and soft in texture.  They were not dry, but quite crumbly.  The scones came with a choice between plain, raisins, blueberries and raspberries, however given they were out of blueberries I opted for one with raisins and one with raspberries.

The dried fruit in the scones, which for being dried through the baking process were still quite juicy, added quite a bit of sweetness.  Overall I thought the scones were quite good and enjoyable on a lazy afternoon.

The scones were also served, as to be expected, with jam and cream.

We liked: The scenic venue along the river; decent scones for a light (or heavier and lengthier) afternoon tea.

We didn't like: Having to wait for a table if you haven't booked; the décor/furnishings seems like it could be spruced up a bit; though I didn't try it, the cakes in the fridge selection looked quite ordinary; service can be a bit chaotic but is still friendly.

Other things to note: You can only book a table for certain menu items (generally high tea set menus) on Sunday afternoons - otherwise just turn up and try your luck.

Peninsula Tea Gardens
Tranby (Peninsula Farm)
Johnson Road
Maylands WA 6051
(08) 9272 8894
http://www.peninsulateagardens.com 

Trading Hours
Tuesday to Sunday - 10am to 5pm

Patisserie Fiorentina, North Perth

Patisserie Fiorentina North Perth blog, review, and photos
One of the great things about Perth's growing cafe culture is the selection of great home-made style food they offer.  Not only do you get your "bacon and eggs" but the home cooked cakes and biscuits are always a plus... and taking this to another level when you have a patisserie full to select from!

Patisserie Fiorentina North Perth is another breakfast/lunch cafes on the Angove Street cafe strip.  It has indoor and al fresco dining that, during the breakfast and lunch peak hours, often is busy close to capacity.  Despite this, you should generally be able to find a table (or else take an extremely short stroll to any of the neighbouring cafes).

As suggested by its Italian sounding name, Patisserie Fiorentina has distinct Italian (pastry) influences in its offerings.  Apart from a relatively "normal" breakfast and lunch menu (which seem to offer lighter to moderate selections in comparison to say a "big breakfast"), there are a wide selection of Italian pastries available in the large display fridge along with a selection of larger party and wedding cakes available to pre-order.  Rounding the food selections off are those compulsory coffees and teas to complete the Italian cafe experience.

Ham, Benedict eggs - $14.50

The Eggs Benedict was served on New Norcia bread with honey leg ham.

The eggs were well overdone for me (i.e. cooked through solid and not at all runny), and one of the two slices of bread on the plate had one side that was burnt quite black (looking around, I wasn't the only one with burnt bread) giving a charcoal taste.  Not a great start.

Apart from the obvious disappointments above, which might have just been due to an off day, the combination of the creamy sauce with a notable and welcome amount of acidity, the lightly sweet and thinly sliced honey leg ham and otherwise well toasted crunchy bread hit the spot for a decent breakfast that didn't leave me feeling like I'd overeaten.

Ricotta bruschetta - $8

A lighter meal than the Eggs Benedict, the ricotta bruschetta were slices of sour dough bread topped with sweetened rose valley ricotta and honey and fresh strawberries.

I initially thought this was an unusual breakfast meal but after a taste I thought it wasn't a bad sweet breakfast.  The red strawberries and the dusted icing helped to make this quite attractive too. Still, I prefer my breakfasts savoury.

Below I've included a few more photos of bits and pieces from previous occasions.

Baci cake - a rich multilayered chocolate cake

Apple strudel

Apple pie

Cappuccino - a mild coffee

We liked: Large range of cakes and pastries baked on premises; large range to select from.

We didn't like: On the occasion I went half the bread was burnt and the poached eggs cooked solid (quality control?)

Other things to note: Whilst there is a large range of cakes and pastries on display, you need to order the tortes in advance; dine in and takeaway available.

Patisserie Fiorentina
44 Angove Street
North Perth WA 6006
(08) 9328 7442
http://www.fiorentina.com.au/

Trading Hours
Open for breakfast and lunch

The Pearfect Pantry, Wembley

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

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

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