Cuisine Guide

Monday July 14 2008

It was the Christmas in July celebration for a group I'm involved with, and we headed to Fasta Pasta in Morley.

I was expecting it to be very fast-foody, but it was decent inside. Simple decor, order-at-the-counter kind of thing. There were at least 30 of us so well done to the staff, they actually handled us quite well.

I ordered the Favioli Fantasia becuase of the desription, which included "meat-filled pillows". How could anyone turn that down? It was really nice and actually my very first ravioli.

The only thing that bothered me a bit was that there were no carpets (fair enough though), curtains or other soft bits in the restaurant to help soften the noise - instead everyone's voices bounced off the walls and right back at ya so it was a bit loud.

Saturday July 12 2008

It was the birthdays of both Dylan and our friend Kim, so we headed down to Mille Cafe on Beaufort St in Inglewood.

I'd just come off a couple of weeks of gluten-free eating - an allergy experiment - so I headed straight for the pasta. I had the torn pasta with chicken and it seemed big enough to feed a family. I only got halfway through it before giving up, but somehow found room for dessert - a mini lemon meringue pie and half of Dylan's slice of lemon tart.

Mille Cafe is a nice place to go for a meal during the day, it's spacious and relaxing and it was nice to chill out and talk there.

Saturday July 5 2008

The afternoon was drawing to a close but I needed to pick some things up from the city, and I hadn't yet eaten, so a couple of friends and I headed into the CBD via William Street in Northbridge. We were driving past the Good Fortune Roast Duck House, which has rows of roast ducks displayed in the window, when one of my friends made the comment that they'd always wanted to eat there, so we found a car bay and trooped in.

I've heard this place is very busy in the peak times, even with a line forming sometimes, but as it was only 3.30pm it was pretty quiet. Inside it's quite nice, obviously not fine dining but good for a pleasant meal.

The service was very friendly. I ordered the boneless roast duck with rice, and it came out after only a few minutes. The chef is right up the front of the restaurant, behind the counter where you pay, and always seemed to be chopping or dicing.

The food tasted great - usually I'm not a big fan of duck but this was rich and yummy. I had to hold off on eating the skins after a while as they were just too rich, but the juices mixed with the rice to make a great combo.

With filling meals great value at around $10, Good Fortune Roast Duck House is definitely a great place to stop off at on a Northbridge wander.

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Dylan and I wanted something inexpensive and local to Greenmount, in the Perth foothills, so we headed down the hill to Bayleaf Indian Restaurant in Midland . Bayleaf is in what looks like an old corner pub, and has a few bits of old Indian décor in smallish rooms.

The surroundings weren't particularly lavish but the food we ordered what just what I needed. We ordered an entrée to share, then poppadums, rice, naan bread and a beef dish to share, and it was delicious and not too spicy at all. We skipped dessert and rolled out of there quite content.

Saturday 14 June 2008

Dylan, our friend Rob and I decided to go see M Night Shymalan's new monie The Happening on Saturday night, but we didn't feel like the usual Asian cuisine so we headed to Silks, in the Belmont Tavern, instead. It was really classy! The décor was really upmarket and stylish, the diners all neatly dressed, and the food was great. They were booked out but managed to find a table for us. Unfortunately the movie was starting so we didn't have time for dessert, but the cake cabinet looked divine. I was pleasantly surprised about Silks!

Thursday 12 June 2008

I finished work quite late - close to ten - and met up with Dylan. We were starving and almost everything was shut, so we headed to that good ol' standby, Fast Eddie's in Morley. It was actually quite warm and nice in there. I ordered the steak sandwich and immediately wished I'd ordered the fish and chips (always a favourite of mine; the unhealthier the better). Fortunately the steak sandwich was great anyway, and I had half of Dylan's chicken and avocado sandwich as well.

It sounds like it's just two slices of TipTop with some chicken slices and a layer of avocado when I say it's just a sandwich, but in reality it was a big Turkish bap thingie with a big chunk of chicken and lashings of avo and other bits and pieces.

Tuesday June 3 2008

I headed down to the Lucky Shag on the Barrack St Jetty in Perth for some lunch with a workmate on Tuesday. The location was beautiful, looking out over the Swan River, and it was a really clear, warm day despite being the third day of winter.

It was very casual, with order-at-the-counter and eat at tables that are actually perched on a jetty-like deck. The Luky Shag would be great to include in a casual wander around Perth.

I gobbled down a steak sandwich, despite the fact that it was huge, then took care of half my friend’s fish’n’chips as well. Hmmm. Guess I was just having a hungry day.

Monday June 2 2008

Dylan and I wandered down to Fremantle to meet some friends on Monday, which was the Foundation Day public holiday. We’d arranged to meet at Little Creatures but it was full when we got there and they weren’t letting anyone else in. It didn’t look too crowded inside, which may annoy other people but I had serious respect that they weren’t going to give up the comfort of the people inside just to make a few more bucks by packing people in and making the place chaotic.

Our friends hadn’t arrived yet so we went for a walk to look at the boats and headed back to Little Creatures a while later, being let in this time. I found a table (yay me) and our friends came in a few minutes later.

I had promised Dylan that Little Creatures does amazing meaty nachos (vague memories from a few years back) so I was crushed when the waitress said they had run out. We went for the vegetarian option instead and they were good though I can’t wait to get back and try the meat ones again!

Sunday June 1 2008

On Sunday we headed to Harbourtown in West Perth to have a browse, and dropped by Shimizu Japanese Restaurant on the upper storey for a snack. It was a hugely busy day and they had run out of sushi, so we ordered some teriyaki chicken with rice and some plain sashimi. I am an absolute sucker for sashimi, and this time I tried a type that I hadn’t seen before – little white slices of fish flesh. It was nice but raw salmon is still my favourite.

Saturday May 31 2008

I got all dressed up on Saturday night and Dylan took me to the Loose Box in Mundaring for my birthday. It was just beautiful! The Loose Box has won heaps of awards and I could see why. The service was just fantastic - we were greeted immediately, taken to our table, given drinks and bread, and every time we finished a dish the waiter would make sure we were happy, munching on something or drinking. I think great service is so underrated - the Loose Box really makes sure you are completely looked after from the moment you step inside.

The Loose Box serves French cuisine, and it is all presented beautifully and tastes just wonderful. We were served a five-course meal, and each dish was so carefully put together. I was so impressed!

Friday May 30 2008

It was my birthday on Friday and as we were planning to go out propertly on Saturday night, Dylan took me to the Sheraton Lobby Lounge in the Sharaton Hotel in Perth for some cocktails. The Lobby Lounge is actually my favourite bar in Perth – they serve great cocktails, it’s quiet and elegant, there are nice little lounges to sit on, and they have a piano player called Chris Martin who is also a great singer.

I had a couple of cocktails and was feeling a tad hungry so we ordered the Antipasto Platter. It had Turkish bread, dips, cold meats, Fremantle octopus and all kinds of other goodies on there. I think I could successfully live out the rest of my life eating antipasto. Mmmm.

Wednesday 28 May 2008

I headed down to the Grosvenor in East Perth with a friend from work during my lunchbreak on Wednesday. The Grosvenor has a big alfresco area, but as I'm extremely adverse to eating and getting a lungful of cigarette smoke at the same time, we headed inside to the big, airy dining area. It was brightly lit with a big window, with lots of tables and a bar that runs along the back wall of the room.

The menu was full of filling, hearty meals with all the favourites such as steak sandwiches, Caesar salad and fish'n'chips – basically what I think pub food should be. I rarely eat fish burgers (takeaway joints put me off that long ago) but the Barra Burger, a bagel with battered barramundi, tomato, lettuce and tartare sauce with chips on the side just looked so good I had to go for it. And when it came out it was huge! The tartare sauce was really fresh and nice and really topped off the taste of the burger. I will definitely be going to the Grosvenor again – I have a little plan that I'll try each dish one by one every time I go there from now on.

Monday 26 May 2008

I met up with a friend for coffee at Soto in Highgate on Monday night. For the first time in my life, I ordered a soy hot chocolate, and it actually wasn't bad at all - in fact I think I can now start going to coffee shops without having to either order a coke of a green tea. Being both lactose-intolerant and not fond of coffee puts me at a severe disadvantage when it comes to enjoying coffee shops to their full potential, but now I have something I can order and enjoy!

We were feeling hungry so we meandered up to The Flying Scotsman in Mt Lawley. Once upon a time I worked at the Scotsman, and I know their pub grub is quality (I used to eat it five nights a week for over a year).

We went for the beetroot, walnut and pear salad and a tomato and goats cheese pizza. They both sounded a bit different and tasted different too - I really like beetroot out of a can, but 'real' beetroot is even better, and I'd never had it in a salad like this before. The Scotsman has just changed its menu for the winter, and there are some very tasty items on there.

Sunday 25 May 2008

Six of us were lumbering around my house on Sunday morning wondering where the food was, so we packed ourselves up and headed to Avenue Nine in Inglewood for some brunch. The air wasn't too chilly so we found a table outside and stared thoughtfully at the menus.

I picked out the Boneless Baby Chicken salad, which I've had before so I know how tasty it is. Even tough it's a salad there's a serious amount of chicken in there, so it's really filling, and the marinade on the chicken is great.

We all shared some wedges and I naughtily has some sour cream with them, but there are some things in life that are constant, and this includes the fact that no wedge is complete without a coating of sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.

Friday 23 May 2008

Dylan and I were wandering around looking for a place to dine in Mt Lawley on Friday night and ended up at Monte Fiore. There must have been a mix up with our order because our garlic bread, which we had requested as an entrée, arrived only seconds before the mains reached the table, but I was so hungry that I was taking bites of everything in sight anyway. Dylan and I both chose chicken dishes, which we don't usually do – we like to pick two very different things and share. Both dishes were nice and I'm trying to be healthy, so I guess chicken is the way to go anyway.

Sunday 18 May 2008

Dylan and I wandered down to Scarborough Beach for a walk on Sunday morning. We felt quite peckish so we picked a spot to eat at random, ending up in Zander's.

Zander's has a nice alfresco area but it was a tad bright with the Sunday morning sun, so we took a table inside. Since it was almost lunchtime by then we opted for lunch meals, and ordered the bruschetta as an entrée, and the Fish and Chips and Beef Burger for mains.

The table next to us all ordered sandwiches, and they were huge! I always hesitate to order sandwiches off a menu as sometimes they turn out like the ones I slap together at home, but Zander's make huge sandwiches packed full of yummy-looking filling with big serves of chips, and I think that will be my choice next time I go there.

I would also recommend the Bruschetta - slabs of toasted bread piled with marinated capsicum, mushroom (I think) fetta and herbs - sooo nice, and a good change from the usual tomato-on-toast style.

Thursday 15 May 2008

I headed to the Inglewood Hotel for a few drinks with friends after work, and ran into another friend whose mum was having a birthday dinner there. My other friends went off to play pool and I ended up joining the birthday dinner - it was very nice of everyone to let me crash the party!

I had the Kangaroo with sweet potato mash, and it was delicious. It was cooked really well, still reasonably rare but not too rare, like a lot of places serve it. It was good to find a place that serves good roo – coincidentally, my brother asked me later on where he could get some nice roo and practically still had the taste in my mouth. I ended up buying some roo from the meat section of the supermarket a few days later because I remembered how good it had tasted before.

Sunday May 11 2008

Sunday was a day for finding somewhere for lunch that wasn’t completely full of people taking their mums out for a meal. I was craving the Royal but they were booked up completely, so I quickly altered my craving and decided, after a few laps of St Georges Terrace, that I was, in fact, craving some grub from an Irish pub.

Dylan and I ended up at Fenian’s, in the Novotel Langley Hotel on Adelaide Terrace. It was almost empty at one o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, but I’m told it gets pretty packed at night. We headed for the menus and chose the lamb shank and the steak sandwich – nice filling winter meals. If I drank Guinness I would have ordered a pint, just to look authentic.

The steak sandwich was really a steak sandwich, made with lightly toasted pieces of bread. I was pleased. I don’t like going somewhere and ordering a steak sandwich, only to have it appear in a bun. If I wanted steak in a bun, I would have ordered a steak burger. Sometimes I like steak burgers, but when I order a steak sandwich I want it made with bread, so I can flatten the bread into a millimetre-thick layer of white dough. This leaves me with a piece of steak, some salad and sauce, between two millimetre-thick pieces of white dough. Brilliant!

Yay for Fenian’s Irish Pub and their real steak sandwich!

Wednesday May 14 2008

I’d parked in a pay-as-you-leave carpark before realising I’d left my wallet at home, so Dylan had to come rescue me after work to lend me some cash to release my car from its new prison. To celebrate the car’s new freedom, we decided to go out for dinner. I hadn’t tried Mille Café in Beaufort St yet, so we headed there.

We were greeted by a staff member as soon as we walked into the café, which to me is an absolutely invaluable service.

I’m digressing here - but I cannot stand loitering around like an idiot in front of the counter / inside the doors / at the “please wait to be seated” sign, waiting to be greeted. If no one notices me in, say, sixty seconds, then I’m outta there - I figure they either don’t want my custom or are too understaffed to provide service. My nightmare service was provided to Dylan and I on Valentine’s Day last year, when we had a booking at a French restaurant south of the river. I was dressed up to the absolute nines and Dylan had a suit on. We took a taxi to the restaurant and waited for a few minutes at the Maitre D’s little podium, but after everyone had ignored us (not even a “be there in a second”) we said “excuse me” to a bartender, who replied “yeah mate, just give us a minute will you”, and when the maitre d’ finally showed up she explained that she had, in fact, given away the table I had booked a week ago to some walk-ins. Me: “But it’s seven o’clock now, I had a booking for seven o’clock, look there’s my name in your book – ‘Katy, two people, seven o’clock’…”. Maitre D’: “Oh. Yeah. Sorry. There may be another table available in an hour’s time.” I was unbelievably unimpressed. So we caught another taxi into the city, found a table at the C Restaurant, and were treated like royalty there.

So I’ll take a breath after that long monologue - okay - and say that Mille Café had excellent greeting practices in place.

Mille Café is surprisingly big inside, with two levels of tables that are nice and evenly spaced – no having to sit in the lap of the stranger at the next table. They have a big wine list and a full bar, though you can also BYO. It’s a Mediterranean-ish menu, but the pasta choices aren’t standard – there were some great combos in their pasta that I’ll definitely try next time I have a carb craving.

I chose the rib-eye because it had funky things served with it. The menu description was “eye fillet of harvey beef with wild mushroom & tarragon risotto, wilted spinach, cashew, olive, parmesan and semi dried tomato wafer. truffle oil & balsamic.” How cool does that sound? It was really nice and I’m a sucker for risotto.

Dylan had the slow braised hot & sour pork belly with grilled pineapple, seared scallops & bok choy. I had a bit though I skipped the pineapple because I’m not a fan of it cooked. I liked that the chef had veered away from the traditional apple sauce with pork – pork is my favourite meat so I’m always looking for different ways for it to be served.

We had some lemon meringue pie to finish. If you ever feel the need to give me a present, give me some lemon meringue pie. I could eat it all day.

I enjoyed dining at Mille Café, the staff members were really friendly and the food was great. I’ve found that despite the staff shortage in WA, the wait staff of WA restaurants aren’t buckling under the pressure and still have smiling faces. After being a waitress for a few years during uni, I know how important it is for the customer to be nice too – there’s nothing worse than slaving away running around taking orders, running meals, making coffee, then having a customer treat you like dirt. So please customers, make an effort to be nice from the start, and you’ll find that 99 per cent of the time you’ll receive great service. And that concludes my sermon of the day.

Sunday May 11 2008

Sunday was a day for finding somewhere for lunch that wasn’t completely full of people taking their mums out for a meal. I was craving the Royal but they were booked up completely, so I quickly altered my craving and decided, after a few laps of St Georges Terrace, that I was, in fact, craving some grub from an Irish pub.

Dylan and I ended up at Fenian’s, in the Novotel Langley Hotel on Adelaide Terrace. It was almost empty at one o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, but I’m told it gets pretty packed at night. We headed for the menus and chose the lamb shank and the steak sandwich – nice filling winter meals. If I drank Guinness I would have ordered a pint, just to look authentic.

The steak sandwich was really a steak sandwich, made with lightly toasted pieces of bread. I was pleased. I don’t like going somewhere and ordering a steak sandwich, only to have it appear in a bun. If I wanted steak in a bun, I would have ordered a steak burger. Sometimes I like steak burgers, but when I order a steak sandwich I want it made with bread, so I can flatten the bread into a millimetre-thick layer of white dough. This leaves me with a piece of steak, some salad and sauce, between two millimetre-thick pieces of white dough. Brilliant!

Yay for Fenian’s Irish Pub and their real steak sandwich!

Monday May 5 2008

My girlfriend Zana and I met up on Monday night for a girl's dinner at Monte Fiore in Mount Lawley. I used to go to Monte's quite a lot when I worked across the road, but I hadn't been there for a while.

Monte's serves great filling food in the Mediterranean vein, with pizza and pasta dishes and a bunch of salads and mains. They'd changed the design of their menu since I'd been there last so I had to find my way around it again, and finally located my favourite dish, the Monte's Secret. This is a big pile of Turkish bread, pesto, chicken avocado, tomatoes and marinated peppers. Ordinarily I'd choose something quite different to what I'd had before, but I was just in the mood for something I knew I loved.

Zana had the Thai Chicken Salad and I nicked most of her cashews. We decided not to resist dessert, and while Zana dug into a big icecream Sunday complete with marshmallows, I went for the profiteroles with caramel sauce. The caramel sauce was real, not out of a bottle, which was a real bonus.

I wouldn't have thought of Monte's for a quiet dinner for two, more of a place for a bunch of friends to dine, but it really worked for us.

Sunday May 4 2008

I love Sunday brunch and Mia Café is just down the road from me in Inglewood , so Dylan and I cruised down there on Sunday morning. Mia actually does some pretty funky breakfasts that aren't too expensive. We had the scrambled eggs with fetta (winner!) and the Eggs Benedict. Mia Café puts spinach in their Eggs Benedict, which I really like.

We sat outside in the courtyard but it was a chilly morning so I actually drove home to get a jacket, and got back in time for the meals to arrive. The waitress had warned us that there was a half hour wait on the meals, but as Mia Cafe is very popular on Sunday mornings we'd been lucky to get a table at all.

We met up with some friends for lunch at the Rivervale on Great Eastern Highway only about an hour after eating at Mia, but I still ordered the main size of the Rivervale's fetta, pumpkin, asparagus and spinach salad. Needless to say I couldn't finish it, though I had a right old go. I love spinach and fetta together, and the chefs at the Rivervale use a really nice dressing that brings the whole salad together.

The Rivervale was pretty quiet, with only a few people in the bar area and a few tables filled in the restaurant, but I think it was going to get busier later on for their Sunday Session. I remember their Sunday Session used to be a real institution in Perth, but maybe it quietens down in the winter. I really like the restaurant area, I went there a few weeks ago and there seemed to be quite a young crowd, so maybe Rivervale is a bit of a place to be seen at the moment.

Friday May 2 2008

Most of my immediate family were in town on Friday night so we all went to dinner at
The Royal Bar and Brasserie in East Perth . I needed somewhere with good food, a nice atmosphere, and within easy distance of my house in Inglewood so that no one would take the wrong turn and end up in Geraldton (this does happen).

The Royal is right on the waterfront in East Perth, and is just lovely to go to in the afternoon when the sun is shining and the water is glimmering. They do some fantastic lunch dishes that aren't overpriced at all.

Since it was a bit of a chilly night, the eight of us sat inside on a long table in the restaurant. We skipped entrees and had a tasting plate and some Turkish bread to share instead, which was a good idea as the mains were huge - even my mum's entrée-sized nachos looked more main-sized to me. I went for the grilled barramundi with fries and salad, and was rather pleased as I had two fillets on my plate, ensuring I could trade forkfuls with people while still crowing over having at least one whole fillet to myself.

Desserts were looking to be a logistical nightmare as it would involve getting the whole family up to parade past the dessert cabinet, but the manager Verne came to my rescue by arriving at our table and reeling off the whole list.

Considering how stressed I was about showing my family a good night and not ending up at MacDonalds, it actually went really well. The Royal has become my local as I know I can always go there and have a really good time.

April 25, 26 & 27 2008 - ANZAC day long weekend

Friday April 25 2008

For the long weekend Dylan and I headed down to Margaret River . I love the wine region, it's just so beautiful and relaxing and the actual town is full of interesting little shops and things to do.

We stayed at the Bridgefield Guest House, which is just on the left as you head into Margaret River from Perth . It was in a restored heritage building and was all oak, big beds and claw-foot baths.

Dylan and I were starving after the drive so we headed up to the Margaret River Hotel's restaurant, D'Vine, for dinner. They were really busy so there was a half hour wait to order, but the staff were really nice to us so we didn't mind, and drank our way through a couple of glasses of sparkling while we waited.

The next table were digging into some prawns that looked tasty-as, so we ordered that and some steak as I was lusting after red meat. We didn't want to be too full, so it was a good combo. Dylan and I always share our meals half and half, which I love because it basically means we can have two choices off the menu instead of one. Luckily our tastes are pretty similar so ordering is never a problem.

After the meal we grabbed a bottle of Capel Vale Sparkling from the bottle-o to take back to our room. I love Capel Vale, and I would feel like a traitor if I was in Margaret River and ordered anything but a South-West wine!

Saturday April 26 2008

Dylan and I decided to head to a winery for lunch on Saturday, and set off with the naïve idea that we could just rock up somewhere and get a table. Not so. We went to three different wineries and they were either full or had functions on, and we'd left our mobiles at home so we couldn't even call around.

Finally Vasse Felix took pity on us and let us in. Vasse Felix is a big, famous winery on Caves Road , with an open dining room on the second floor that has a big balcony overlooking the vineyards. I felt a little self-conscious in my jeans and sneakers in such lavish surrounds, but thankfully the waiters made me feel at home.

We weren't too hungry so we ordered the Charcuterie Plate . This is a tasting plate of selected meats, and the chefs change it daily. It involves a rectangular plate with four delicate piles of a variation of meat. Ours included shredded pork, pate and marinated salmon, and it was so nice! It took us a while to eat it because we took so long over each mouthful. I had a glass of the Silver Knight Non-Vintage Extra Brut , which was lovely - Dylan and I consider ourselves somewhat of sparkling wine connoisseurs as we've tried so many, and I really liked this one.

Afterwards we wandered through Vasse Felix's art gallery and cellar door, which was a nice way to spend an hour, then we headed back to Margaret River .

Dylan and I decided to have a romantic dinner and we'd booked at a place we'd walked past the night before called Vat 107. It looked quite funky, and we weren't disappointed. It was one of those times when we were mulling over which entrée to share, then ended up ordering both because they both looked so good. Same deal with desserts. We spent quite a bit of money there but it was great to let go. The meals were quite different, with ingredients you wouldn't think to put together but end up tasting great.

Afterwards we headed next door to Vat 107's cocktail bar, which is an incredibly narrow bar squeezed between two buildings. It's still a work in progress but the cocktails were great - I had about six, and we just chilled out on the little lounges and talked for hours.

After a few hours we wandered over to Settlers Tavern and had time for one drink before it closed, so to end the night of wining and dining in the traditional manner we located the only place in Margaret River that serves food after midnight, Kappadokia Kebabs & Turkish Bakery. Since we'd left the Tavern as soon as the lights came up instead of hanging back stubbornly like everyone else, we were first to arrive at the kebab shop. We left soon after with Dylan munching on a chicken kebab and me clutching a massive box of chips slathered in tomato sauce, and tottered back to the guest house making friends with every person we passed.

Sunday April 27 2008

Dylan and I meandered back to Perth on Sunday, stopping in at Mandurah for lunch. I was in the mood for a big juicy steak so what better place was there to go but the Hog's Breath Cafe? I had my usual medium rare steak with calamari, vegies, mushroom sauce and curly fries (I can rattle off my order now without any prompting from the waiter). Dylan ordered the steak and prawns with a garlic and white wine sauce. The sauce was great! I'm going to have to amend my Hog's Breath order from now on.

The whole weekend was just lovely and I can't wait to get back down to Margaret River again.