Bites: Cream @ East Perth

Placed in the suburb of East Perth, Cream is a little establishment which have steadily attracted diners from all over.  All the positive reviews for this restaurant left little room for mistakes if any at all.  Upon entering the restaurant we were guided through the dark and intimate ambience to our cosy corner, and oh, how can I not mention the furry carpet used on the walls! Once we were seated, the waitresses promptly gave us each a menu and offered us a choice of bottled or tap water. Tap water of course! ahha.   Can’t be too spendthrift on drinks when the price of the food is rich, isn’t it?

 

The interior @ Cream, East Perth.  It was a lot darker than this so I adjusted the brightness of the this picture a little!

 

 

With temptations all over the menu, we took awhile but finally decided on our food!  Most of us had the crumbled stuffed scallop with wasabi served with Thai noodle salad and teriyaki lemon sauce @ $23!

 

The dish was beautifully presented on the plate with the crumbled scallops surrounded by swirls of teriyaki sauce.  Unfortunately, the first bite took all that excitement away! :(!  The crumbled scallops were just too hard.  Of course it wasn’t rock hard but the batter needed effort to be bitten through and it was all for naught (my palate was left sore, still is).  The scallop hidden in that batter was too little!  I personally taught that the dish would taste a whole lot better seared on half shell with the Thai noodles placed carefully on the top of the giant scallop flesh! Then the chef can swirl the sauce wherever he wants to eheh!  I do not think the dish is worth of praises surrounding it.

Another entree that we had was the salt and pepper squid with a Thai Salad.  Not sure it tasted but Kevin definitely preferred the one served in Chinese restaurants!

 

Once we were done, the attentive staff  swooped in for our empty plates and cleared them in a flash before setting the table up for our main.  I must insist at this point that the service here is kick-ass! Lovely crew of waitresses!  For our mains:

Kevin, Sis and Fishman ordered the Red wine infused slow cooked baby beef served on bed of mash @ $35 each!

This dish wasn’t much of a “looker” but fishman enjoyed the tender beef much; occasionally praising it to be well done for slow cooked meal.  I had a bite and it was delicious on the first bite, but I was not convinced for seconds.  But I didn’t have a choice, as birthday boy Kevin was totally saddened by the beef and gave him half of his meal while I traded some of mine.  He didn’t like it at all ahahaha.  My sis too wasn’t able to justify the price. 

 

The darling and Xin Nee shared a slow roasted chicken breast served with Risotto and mushrooms @ $35:

How would Malaysians describe this?  Well, it looks like something we call Lo Mai Kai or Chinese glutinous rice with braised chicken and mushroom sauce.  The girls felt that the Risotto was overly blend and there wasn’t any effort to make this meal appetizing. They also felt that it was a little too sickening for them.  I thought so too as the chemistry of this dish felt a little like hospital food.  Take a look at the Risotto I had at Blue Waters Cottesloe here and compare.  The one at BlueWaters cost $22 dollars while the one above cost $35!!

But the night wasn’t all doom and gloom because I was WINNING!  My meal for the nite was the Crispy Roasted Lean Pork Belly with Strudel of pan caramelised apple, leek and goats feta @ $35!

Perfectly roasted, REALLY LEAN. And OMG the skin was orgasmic!  Kevin hated his so I reluctantly gave him some of mine as I mentioned earlier.  Every bite was accompanied by the lovely cracking sound as I bit through the crispy skin.  The sauce was OKAY, not sure what it was really.  The Apple Strudel was a good change from the typical accompaniment, the apple sauce.  All in all, this dish was perfect.  I’ve seen the face of YH when he ordered the one at Byrneleigh (that sucked) and this was way better.  A class act for sure.

 

It was a happy night for me, but for them, not so. lol?  Overall this restaurant is pretty decent.  Not mind blowing, but alright.  The entrees could have been more well done and perhaps the mains needed a bit more appeal.  Nevertheless, the same couldn’t be said for my main of crispy roasted pork belly as it was definitely a winner. But considering the price we paid for our meal tonight, this restaurant is definitely an average.  You could easily find better food for such price unless ambience is top priority.  But credit must be given to the attentive crew of waitresses who served us throughout the night!

 

WenY

Bites: Toast @ East Perth

Toast has been popular among breakfast groups and food bloggers in Perth.  I have been dying to go Toast for awhile now, but I did not get a chance to do so until last week when Xin Ling’s dad was here!  So on his last day here I brought him, Jh’s dad and Xin Ling there.  While we didn’t know whether the place was going to be superb or not, the energetic and friendly staff helped me to a good start!  Breakfast menu was aplenty with some special dishes and of course, the usual brekkie food.

 

To help kick start the morning (although it was already 11), darling and I ordered a hot choc each, while the two uncles had their cappuccino.

Slurps!  The hot choc was super chocolaty with a nice touch of art on the froth!  It was yummy although I would have liked it to be more milky!!

 

While I would not usually fork out 20 dollars on a meal of vegetables, James St. Cafe changed my mind. I decided to go for the Vegan full breakfast. 2 Poached eggs, toast, stuffed mushrooms and a corn cake was all this plain Jane had to offer. But being plain isn’t all that bad. Generously spread the butter over the toast before smearing egg yolk all over the toast turned out pretty good! Don’t forget the saltiness of the stuffed mushrooms and the sweetness of the corn cake, woots! The tomatoes could have been more well done though!!Perhaps roasted with garlic and cheese like my aunt does it? eheh!

I like this picture a whole lot.  Not so much for the food but rather the three main colours, red, yellow and blue!  Feels like a Piet Mondrian art piece ;-)!

 

Darling decided to have toast with poached eggs and bacon!  Look at the picture and feel disappointed, but don’t judge a book by its cover!  Underneath those two thick toast are generous servings of rasher bacon and two poached eggs!  Two eggs seems to be the limit at these brekkie places.  No idea why!

How wrong can bacons and eggs be?

 

Once we were done, we felt like we had rocks in our tummy!  Despite having all vegetables, the breakfast felt really solid and heavy!  And as you would have guessed it, the breakfast last me through lunch until dinner!  Darling on the other hand couldn’t finish her meal and so I jumped in for some bacon action hehe!  Hey, the tomatoes needed salvation ok?!  Xin Ling’s dad finished the cappuccino and had the walnut and pecan bread.  He was overloaded too!  It was good to come here.  However, comparing John street to Toast, the vegan meal at John St. cafe was a lot easier to chow down.  Possibly it was because the dishes in the meal were a lot juicier like the mushrooms and the beans made the meal more digestible!   All in all, I wouldn’t mind coming here again but probably I will have something else next time :P!

 

WenY

Bites: Ha-Lu @ Mount Hawthorn.

Last year during darling’s birthday, I spent quite a great deal of time trying to seek a place that both of us would enjoy.  After searching and searching, I finally found two restaurants, Ha-Lu and Tsunami.  Unfortunately, the food at Tsunami didn’t really reflect her liking while Ha-Lu was CLOSED =.=!  Bummer to the max!  In the end, we settled for Ha-Lu’s sister restaurant, Satsuki @ Subiaco.  Ever since I had that, I have been dying to try Ha-Lu.  Today, I got my chance with my little darling, my sis and mates Jimmy, XinNee and Fishman!

Spring Flower! O yea~!

 

Before dinner, I decided to snap some pictures of the peeps before they got their mouths dirty! :P!!

Little darling and my sister!

Fishman, XinNee, and Jimmy!

Ha-Lu serves Japanese food in a similar manner to the way Satsuki does.  The Japanese styled tapas called Izakaya, recommends diners to order small plates of dishes to be shared among others while enjoying a casual evening.  Funnily enough, we spent a portion of our time talking rubbish about Pokemon!

 

Service was good as the waiter was attentive and took our order upon us letting out the slightest gesture.  After awhile, our food arrived.  I tried to take photos of all the food but, hehe there was just too many!  I left out 2 dishes or so I think!

The sashimi of the day consisting of salmon, king fish and tuna slices started our evening.  Unbeatable freshness out of each cut, I’d reckon!  Sis says its good! Jim likes it and XinNee says good but salmon slices was not as soft as it should be ahha.  She’s the pro in this! And Fishman, fell head over heels for sashimi! 

 

As I am not so much of a sashimi fan, I decided to appreciate the freshness of the Japanese food culture in another manner, so I ordered:

Tartar style sashimi of the day.  It was really really good.  The chopped up mixture of tuna, salmon and kingfish lightly seasoned with god knows what and what.  WOW!  Top the crisps with wasabi mayo and the sashimi tartar, and slurpss!! Kickass!

Then came the Wagyu Beef Tataki:

Hehe, I really liked this as well.  Double the price at Kanta, but double the serve too! Seared local Wagyu beef, thinly sliced and served with seasoned root vegtables! I like the vegetables that accompanied the beef tataki.  It differed from the usual beef tataki severed with grated onions.  The spiced vegetables were really delicious and provided a tastier kick compared to the pungent onion taste.

 

Oww yeah! Pork Belly “Kaku-Ni” was deliciously tender with that melt in your mouth feel when there is just that perfect ratio of meat and fat! I likey!  However, I think Jun @ Perth City does it better though!  More fats! ahaha

 

The typical Teriyaki Chicken did not turnout so typical and was an absolute favourite on the table.  Chicken was tender, sauce wasn’t overpowering with sweetness, and the mayonnaise was just sooo desirable!

1 word? Awesome.

 

Next up was another beefy delight!

This is the Wagyu Beef “Ishi-Yaki”  with fried onions which was Wagyu beef grilled in a hot stone pot served with “Oroshi Ponzu” sauce!  This one was really pricey and we probably paid for the restaurant’s gas bill because notice the stone pot above, it was radiating with heat when it was served. Recommended that you do not touch it because it absolutely burns. How would I know? Because I tried it =.=!

This dish is actually quite unique because you can choose how cooked you would like your beef to be!  Too raw? Just press it on the rock pot.  It cooks in an instant!

 

Next up was the Scallop Nanban.  This was another favourite for the night!

Deep fried scallops marinated in sweet soy vinaigrette.  Served with crispy lotus roots chips, chilli mayonnaise and pumpkin julienne! YUMS!

And darling’s favourite, the Agedashi tofu!

I cannot say much about this really, it is most of the time, very delicious.  Whether it is served at Kanta, Satsuki or Fuji. 

 

Chicken Karaage with Iwanori sauce!! Hoho! Crispy chikennnnn!  But what made this different from other Chicken Karaage out there? If not already obvious in its name, is the sauce itself :)!

 

Crispy Pork.  Crispy sliced pork belly served with “Oroshi” ponzu vinaigrette!  If Yobi had this, he would definitely be back for this again.  So damn crispy even though it is a piece of cake to make!

 

The last picture here is the Squid and Octopus Mayo Gratin! Squid, octopus, and mushrooms baked in a creamy cheese gratin sauce.  Normally, you would expect this sort of dish to be a bit stinky (if you are particular about your seafood) and a bit heavy (if you hate cream + cheese), but believe me, the Japanese are passionate about their food and they like nothing more than people eating their food happily!  This one was good and I don't think anyone felt sick from this.  Oh, but XinNee though that Ha-Lu was a little stingy on the cheese as there wasn’t any cheesy fragrant from a baked cheese dish!

 

Darling’s desert:

The little darling’s dessert was rwarrrrrrrrrrr! Three elements to this one.  YUMMY, SMALL and PRICEY!  But the idea of giving the berry pannacotta  a layer of white chocolate was brilliant.  Then there was the Ume Plum Jelly which had a distinctive flavour bursting with fruitiness!  It was lovely even though the serve was miniscule.

 

Ok, I’m nearly dying of exhausting trying to put everything on @,@!!!! But everything tonight was yummyyyyyyy.  OMG everything was so god damn yummy! *ackk*  Only if I could somehow use a magic wand and double up the size of the dishes, I would not mind coming here every week!  At the end of the meal, we were all poorer.  I think poor Fishman was not entirely full! The serving size here is really small.  In a way, you could say that Ha-Lu does casual fine dining.  Nonetheless, it was an experience I would not regret.  Maybe next time, just the little darling and I?

 

WenY

Bites: Little Ying Thai @ Victoria Park.

This little Thai cafe along Albany highway near Dome has a name that reminds me of one of the best Thai restaurants in Melbourne, Ying Thai 2 (check it out here).  Then comes the food unfortunately, which my sister tried once and said it was mediocre only.  I was not satisfied with her comment and could not resist trying it which I ended up doing yesterday!  Vil tagged along as it has been quite a while since I last met him!  When we went into the restaurant, we were greeted by some fine smelling Thai fragrant which covered the entire eating place.  Funnily enough, we were the only ones there at 1.30p.m.  Hmmm, who were they cooking for?

 

We promptly attended to by  the waiter who kindly asked us to call him when we were ready to order.  We soon ordered and I asked for something that was not on their lunch menu.  Well, they keen to kindly prepare my roast duck red curry which I love so much.  Darling ordered chicken tom yam, Fishman ordered spicy chicken fried rice and Vil ordered the Pad Thai!

When my dish came out it looked pretty good. Pineapples, aubergine, capsicums, and tomatoes all of that in a rich and fragrant sauce with pieces of boneless roasted duck in it.  When I first taste it, I though to myself, “Wow, this is actually pretty good,”.  But when I had my first bite into the duck, I was disappointed.  The meat was actually tough, as if the duck has been undercooked.  I would normally expected it to be tender and soft, but it turn out otherwise :(!  The taste was good but a bit sweet.  Perhaps this was because this dish was only meant to be available at night but they prepared it for me during lunch!!  What surprised me more was the difference between the red curry chicken and beef @ $8.80 while the duck curry cost $16.90.  Shocker really.  But the worst was yet to come.

 

Darling’s beaming face went to an all time low when she was served little Ying Thai’s tom yam soup because it tasted as if tom yam paste was used instead of fresh ingredients!  Real bummer without a doubt!  Vil found his pad Thai “ok” BUT he liked the one at S & T a lot more.  And then comes YH fried rice which he says its way too oily.  Overall, you can see that my sister is right here.  Goddamit I should have trusted her.  This restaurant definitely get a PASS but not even a CREDIT if it was an examinable unit! 

WenY

Bites: Phong Vinh @ Northbridge!

Pho Pho Pho Pho Pho-ker face!  Noodles are not without substance considering the comfort it provides!  Cool weather paired with a piping hot bowl of noodles is my slice of heaven.  After getting stuck in the Kwinana Freeway jam for close to an hour, we reached Phong Vinh.  My sister has been trying to bring me to this place every since she tried it a couple months back.  She describes it as “Tra Vinh’s” sister restaurant.  Feeling super hungry yesterday night, I didn’t hesitate much and quickly ordered the Raw Beef and Beef Ball Noodle soup @$10.50! 

On the first sight, this hearty bowl of noodle soup looked like an exact replication of the one from Tra Vinh.  But after slowly eating spoonful after spoonful, I soon realise the flaws which  were not so obvious on the first sight.  The soup tended to be a little oily  which is rather unfortunate because the soups felt somewhat contaminated !=X!!  But I did not feel deterred to finish the entire bowl of noodles and was close to finishing the entire bowl at the end of the meal haha! I love Vietnames Pho man!  Especially with its fresh condiments scattered around it!

 

The girls ordered the “Drop Noodle” with chicken which to me was a very catchy name.  Drop noodle huh?  Sounds like something I would not put on my bowl ahah.  But no worries, it turned out to be an udon-like noodle.  The name drop noodle did have a rationale to it though. Little Darling mentioned that she found eating the noodles difficult because it kept dropping off the spoon! xD!

The girls meal for the night, the Chicken Drop Noodles @ $10!

 

At the end of the night, the oil in the noodles mattered little, if anymore at all.  We arrived the restaurant close to 8 and finished half past nine.  Hungry much, these delightful serves of noodles soup were heavenly.  With Tra Vinh, To To, and Viet Nosh, in my good books, I would not hesitate to put Phong Vinh up there too! It was an absolute delight despite some minor setbacks!   Recommended to noodle lovers!  The rich albeit slightly oily beef broth was a pleaser!

After having our noodles, we decided to ditch our normal Dome coffee session and instead, headed over to Cream @ East Perth.  I was left shocked really!!  The place was overloaded with well dressed people, well for me whom was dressed in Polo and shorts + thongs at least. I shyly made my entry with the the gang. Quite a nice place! The Panacotta with ice cream, mango and passion fruit was stunning, the Brazilian dark hot chocolate, well, not so.  Cream has definitely made entry to one of my must try restaurants now! But first, Ha Lu next week!

 

WenY

Bites: Iku Sushi @ Perth City

It been awhile since I actually walked in the city; two weeks to be exact.  Lately, if you realise, the city has been oozing in desperation to get rid of its “dullsville” title and in doing so, many buildings have been developed and, WOW!  I have to say, the main shopping street is starting to feel a bit hmm.. how do I say this? A bit “Melbourne-ish”?  One of the newest buildings called one40william houses a new sushi cafe in a cool place.  I definitely liked the makeover given to this building.  Really stylish and all, but putting decors aside, I recently visited this sushi cafe in an attempt to comprehend the hype that has stirred up.  This it the blog review for Iku Sushi :)!

Iku Sushi!

 

The interior was good, but the outside dining area was nice!

Lady Boss at the counter?

 

Even nicer, the Popcorn Chicken Kaarage and Onion Rings at about $5 each!

The chicken Kaarage was good but a tad under fried leaving it a bit oily.  But its taste was good though. I had the chicken bites with the salad drizzled with citrus ponzu and Jap mayo, BANG! However, Toraya at Subiaco still does the kill.  Unfortunately the onion rings, had the same exact problem, leaving it greasy @.@! But Iku Sushi,  isn’t  alone, V burger does the same thing too! Too greasy too oily!  Yobi, who loves grease felt disgusted after SHARING with me a serve from V-burger last year.

 

This can’t be all I ordered knowing that this place has a secret weapon under its sheets.  Iku Sushi’s chicken cheese burger roll ditches all the clichés to try to standout as a star player. 

The chicken cheeseburger roll came with spicy mayonnaise!  Served piping hot, melted cheese leaked from everywhere like a real good cheese burger should.  Everything looked perfect from its image.  However, that all becomes an illusion when your teeth sinks into rice rolls which leave you feeling stuffed! SAD!  Oily!! =X

 

By the end of the meal, 2 girls and 2 guys were feeling really full from the little dishes we ordered.  The girls though it was the grease, the guys, well, thought it was OK.  I find the roll a tad over fried while the onion rings a little too stingy on the batter and the pop corn chicken, under fried.

One thing for sure though, we were kinda douche for ordering all fried foods in a sushi cafe.  Like seriously?  Sushi is meant to be healthy but we came in looking for KFC. @@! Next time, fresh ones!!

 

WenY

Bites: John Street Cafe @ Cottesloe

Happy mornings, lazy mornings, what other “mornings”do we have? A yummy morning maybe? Last Sunday, was Nee’s mom’s last day here. So we decided to start her last morning in Perth with a different type of meal :)! My cousin suggested to me, a few times before, that a certain cafe along John Street makes superb brekkies. The hash brown in particular really. Having problems waking up before, we slept early, determined to wake up to enjoy this morning with our new housemate’s mother. We were there around 8.30 in the morning and it was already packed to the brim. We booked a place for 6 and was 4th in the queue. Fortunately, it did not take long for their energetic crew to find us a seat. 15 minutes ;-)!

Morning people! Kids, moms, and dads!

Colourful table! Hehe!

When the menu came to us, I wasn’t exactly amused. Simple things that could be cooked for 20 bucks. While my mind wasn’t convinced to order the big breakfast, I actually ended up with one of the meals people would consider less value for money. But that didn’t matter, when I was done with the meal, it was a happy ending! Breakfast really feels better when it is all done up for you!!

My Vegetarian Big Breakfast @ $20. Homemade baked beans, mushrooms, poached eggs, hash browns, tomatoes and olive oil toast. The eggs were awesome possum no question. But I guess it is a norm that it comes out perfect as I have been to a few brekkie cafes in Melbourne before and it always comes out perfect. The mushrooms were really good, and oh the hash brown. It is was homemade. Felt like battered mash potatoes seasoned with herbs and mustard before being deep fried. The beans were also a house special. I recognised three beans in there. The baked beans, kidney beans and chick peas all cooked in a thick tomato sauce which felt rich enough to be tossed in pasta. Really delicious. I feel like I must have it once more. Maybe once I feel motivated to wake up early again? :D!

This was Xin Ling’s Egg Benedict @$15 which was err Egg Hollandaise on top of English brekkie muffins with ham? I think so ahah. Oh and she added the hash brown to her meal which was $4 bucks!

She liked it a lot and was super enthusiastic at first making a statement she didn’t know she would regret later on ahah. She insisted on having one breakfast meal by herself and by the time she knew it, she was filled to brim while the plate was only half finished! Ahhaha.

Xin Nee and My sister ordered pretty much the same thing. They had a Big Breakfast @$20. They were your typical ones with meat overload. The sausages, and the bacon with a massive serve of scrambled eggs on top of crisp olive toast. It’s my sister’s second time having it and I’d have to say, she looked like a merry pig by the time she was done with it.

Over all, I think this place makes the cut as a good eatery to have a relaxing breakfast on a Sunday morning. In fact, any mornings will do. A good change from the dim sum mornings we would normally have in Perth. No mistake on the things we ordered. Vegetarian or meat, you will not leave the John St. cafe hungry. In fact, you will be full till lunch time! On a down side, a juice here will set you back $7.20 and a coffee/tea something like $4 which is quite a norm in Perth. So, I would recommend that you seal the deal and get the John St. breakfast which allows you to have a choice of either vegetarian or meat with both a Coffee/Tea and an Orange juice! You don’t need to have both because you could easily share it!

WenY

Bites: Missy Moos Burgers @ Fremantle

Coming back to Perth after holidays, I knew that my care free life would have been put to rest.  Eating like a glutton, bunking in bed from 12 till 12.  You should know what I mean.  Fortunately my parents were here for two weeks.  Being parents, they did what they could to make life better.  Nonetheless, it did not stop me from getting less than 10 hours of sleep from the first three days.  I had to clean my car, clean all my linen, sweep and mop the floor and others. Moving from one house to my new place wasn’t easy either.  3 petrol tanks in 2 weeks shuttling from one house to another to move things.  Have to thank the little darling and fishman too! They helped much as they were only three of us moving everything.  Waking up 5am and sleeping at 12am was almost routine for the past week.  But I definitely could not miss spending the the last day of my parent’s holidays.  After we settled in, my sister brought them over and I drove them for lunch at Freo. As mom was dead bored of having Chinese everyday, I decided to bring them to try a burger place called Miss Moos which fares well among lovers of this sinful meaty affair. 

 

My sister and dad! My sister looked half-assed the entire day because she was suffering from symptoms of a coffee drawback lol!?

 

Missy Moos don’t do UFO buzzer when it comes to picking your order, instead they have colourful figurines.

Missy Moos!

 

Before the food came, I snapped shots of the wall which was cheerfully decorated with colour works of children who patronise the burger bar.  How so? Well, when a child comes to Missy Moos, they are given a drawing and a set of colour pencils.  They are allowed to colour it in anyway they like and bam! The drawings are stuck onto the wall when they have been coloured :)!

 

 

To quench our thirst on that 40 degree day, we had the world most well-known brand to accompany us at the table  too ;) After waiting for awhile, the efficient Missy Moos crew had our burgers rolling out :P

I had the burger (shown in pic) which had aioli, baby spinach, crispy bacons and a really tasty patty!  I have to say, the best part of the burger was the blue cheese and fresh spinach.  It really worked for me.  My sister had the Jack & Jill which was pretty much the same as mine except that it came with Cheddar Cheese instead of blue cheese, and an extra avocado mash!  I think hers was good too? ahha! But she does not like bread so I guess burger won’t make the cut for her.  She had half left at the end of the meal.  Yh gladly finished it for lunch a few days later!

 

Parents had the chicken burger hohoho! It was OK, but the hand cut chips was really good. Crispy and tasty :)! Yums for sure!  Aioli made the combination perfect from start to end.

 

I think I will cut the post here.  At the end of the meal, I was satisfied and was craving for a second time.  Its true, the burgers here are easily one of the best.    It is definitely better than FAB at Subiaco, but easily on par with Jus Burger and Alfred’s @ Guildford ahah.   Can’t wait for my second time haha!  Oh and really, much credit for the fresh baby spinach which was juicy and sweet.  The meatiness was not overly, a good ratio of bun-meat-vegetable.

 

WenY