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