Bites: Tan Po Po @ Mount Lawley

It was 11 and without a proper brekkie, we were starving for some lunch.  In front of us was the place where Tan Po Po used to be but no one was in it.  Calling the shop various times, we were told that they were open.  So Yobí suggested, maybe there was another entrance.  But obviously finding another entrance does not work when the shop has relocated to the other side of Beaufort street!  Oh and Yobi is back in town for the week.  With the little darling’s birthday soon, some good foodie action is sure to happen :)! 

 

Going back to Tan Po Po, I remember that the old shop used to be inside IGA:

 

But it has moved and a lady told us that it was just across the street now.

 

Starving and with little on his mind, I suggested that Yobi tried the much hyped double chicken Teriyaki which I thought was decent for its price of $7 dollars or so.

The Teriyaki Chicken looked superb with two rows of chicken covered with Teriyaki sauce over steaming rice.  But I must suggest that the word double is  a bit tricky considering the chicken is not really all that much.  Chicken was not juicy because it was thin, but taste as far as I can recall is pretty good as its sauce is well-balanced.  For Yobi, he would have liked something not chicken ahah.  He did not quite like chicken but had no complains for the price he paid.

For me, whose stomach is still not at it’s best yet, I opted for something pretty light.  I went for the Agedashi Donburi.

The bean curd was OK.  It lacked that special batter consistency often seen in most places.  Its sauce was thicker than most but was welcoming with the bowl of soy rice!  The soy rice was a mixture of rice, mushrooms and carrot which was to me, all very healthy!   I would not complain too because like Yobi I too knew that $5 bucks cannot get me far in Perth.  Perhaps Meccas at best(although I would have liked that a lot).  Overall, it was OK.

 

But my vegetarian meal did not end here.  I also ordered potato croquettes as a side! You get two well sized croquettes for 3 bucks.

For me, this was my highlight of my trip to Tan Po Po!  The croquettes were empty with no fillings but its light panko crust and tasty mash was all rage.  I reckon I could do with 10 of these for lunch next time!

 

Overall, Tan Po Po’s price must come with suitable expectations.  If you seek a large serve of thick juicy Teriyaki chicken, prepare to travel 10kms more and pay 50% more.  Tan Po Po has its merits, which I believe is well accepted among its customers.  It feels authentic as it can be making this a favourite among the Mt Lawley residents.  This is good because I find that most Japanese restaurants here have that authenticity which has helped this particular Asian food beat its peers over in the Eastern States.  Verdict? I would come here again! Maybe next time I would get the Tempura bento or something else :)!

 

WenY

Bites: Old Cathay @ Victoria Park

Last Sunday, my sister decided have the Moon Cake festival dinner earlier since the little darling, and I were going to be super busy with our mid-semester tests during the mid-autumn festival itself.  Without much ado, we book a table for all of us at Old Cathay in Victoria Park which sits comfortable underneath the Monadelphous Office.  As we went in, I enjoyed the assurance of a large crowd at the restaurant.  But I suspect that part of the crowd was actually using coupons which were sold a couple of weeks ago!    Nevertheless, it did not matter much! I was going to eat here anyways :P!

 

The Menu

 

There was 7 of us that night, so we decided to order 6 dishes.  Some were blogger recommendations, others were simply what we felt like having :)

Our first dish was the Curry Fish Claypot with Lady’s Fingers @$24.50.  The sauce looked slightly pale at first which in contrast to its taste, was miles apart! The curry sauce was aromatic, rich and downright delicious!  It was well liked among us all.  However, things did not turn out so well for the fish due to the deplorable quality of the meat which had a horrible consistency.   After the first slice of fish, I never took another.  This left me with mixed feelings because it now seems that the hero material turned out to be the much coveted sauce and the lady’s finger instead of the fish.. now.. you would not pay $25 bucks for sauce and vegetables would you..

 

But before I could whine another word, the Sweet & Sour Pork @ $15.80 came!

Before I talk about this dish, let me talk about the TYPE of Sweet & Sour Pork I like.  It’s simple, the pork must still hold some crunch.  I hate a Sweet & Sour Pork dish where the batter uses baking powder which develops a soft batter which makes the meat look non-existent.  The sauce must not be overly sweet, and must be tangy!  By tangy I mean that sharp aroma when it first reaches the table!  And the one at Old Cathay had it all.  A typical Malaysian Sweet & Sour Pork which was YUMS!

 

The next dish was the Eggplant with Minced Pork and Salted Fish in Claypot @ $15.80!  While this dish sounded promising, the taste was slightly too salty for my liking.  Initially, I did not like it but after a few more pieces, I was like “Hey! This is actually quite good!”. This dish is one of those claypot styled eggplant dishes which admittedly, goes well with steamed rice!  But this deviated from my usual eggplant dish which is normally cooked with minced meat and preserved bean sauce.  Still yummy though!

 

After this came the star of the night, the Steamed Whole Herbal Chicken @ $34.80!

I know this picture totally sucks! But OMG, the herbal chicken was super nice!  While having corn starch mixed into the sauce was not the best way to go about it, everything else was undeniably good!  The chicken was soft, the skin sinfully tasty.  The herbs were just right!  And this kept us refilling our rice bowls! The little darling herself had 2 bowls while my sister definitely ruined her diet plan.  It was good, what more when we were starving!! Definitely a winner that night.

 

Next was the Sizzling Beancurd with  Shredded Chicken and Mushrooms @ $16.80!! This dish was quite atypical.  Nothing outstanding unfortunately! Next time I will try out their Giu Fei Beancurd which is popular among diners there! Could that be my replacement for the Fuzhou Beancurd @ Hawkers?  The last dish for the night was the Sambal Longbean @ $14.80 which turned out mediocre only.  At least for me, the beans just were not up to expectations! Next time, I will request for Sambal Spinach or Kangkung instead! 

 

To end the night, we ordered a few desserts to share. Being in a Malaysian restaurant, it was only normally that were ordered something which reminds us of home! And we surely did!

A trio of ice creams which are a close remake of the Ice Cream Potong in Malaysia! The jackfruit (yellow), pandan (green) and taro (purple)!  The waitress told us that the ice creams were homemade.  After tasting them all, I liked the jackfruit the best.  It had that necessary taste and fragrant.  The pandan taste was a little too mild while the taro was missing that little saltiness that most taro ice cream has! 

 

After enjoying a good meal, we were satisfied.  While most of the food were delicious, (only naturaly considering the chef is Malaysian) a few things needs to be done to improve the vegetable dishes and the curry fish.  To sum it all, Old Cathay is a good eat with decors that are equally impressive and worth boasting.  The waitress were eager to serve unlike a few restaurants which I will not point out.  Overall, I was satisfied and its definitely a restaurant which I will be visiting again shortly!  Before finishing and paying, sister and I naughtily dropped a request for Durian Ice Cream to be put on the menu.  For most Malaysians, Durian Ice Cream will definitely be a treat.  And I also need to thank the little darling’s dad who treated us that night.  Hohohoo! Free meal xD!

 

WenY

Bites: Tasty House @ Northbridge.

After attending a graduation last week,  I was hungry beyond hungry when it finished.  So was my sis and Kevin!  Undecided on where to go at first, we finally decided to settle for some Chinese along Roe St.  Our choice for the night was Tasty House as we were craving some crabs and my sister said they were having a promotion.  I have eaten here plenty of times.  To date, perhaps 30 times?  I come here often for supper and occasionally dinner.  Honestly, it serves SOME genuinely good food although some dishes had turned out very horribly before (see my order list below).  Luckily enough, it did not fail when my stomach was at its most needy state.

 

To start the stomach a little, sis ordered the beef and coriander soup!:

The soup was delicious although for a few moments I contemplated on whether I was drinking soup or sauce.  Crunchy coriander bits and beef mince made this a welcoming appetizer for a hungry tummy!

 

Mud Crabs cooked with XO Sauce and Vermicelli was yummy!  The noodles were every bit tasty!  I love this style of cooking the crabs!  Back home in Malaysia, this is easily comparable to the Kam Heong crabs cooked with Vermicelli.  Two very similar dishes originating for two different countries! YUMS!  Funnily enough, we ordered some rice to go with the dish!  And that was because:

The crabs had a good amount of eggs in it!  Lucky or not hehe I’m all smiles to a loaded crab! And at the same time the crab was pretty big! I think it was like 1.2kg each?  I’d have to admit though, that the seafood in Australia has never been all that great although the scallops and mussels here are quite a treat!  Besides this dish, we also ordered a spinach dish which was cooked with fermented bean sauce (fu-yi) and it which turned out beautifully!  All in all, what we had for dinner was every bit satisfying!  The dinner ended with a sweet note thanks to the complementary red bean pancake which was yummylicious despite being sold in frozen packets!

 

So, what are some of the best things to be ordered here?  Well if you are coming for late nights supper, I would recommend to you the baked cheese rice with ham and chicken in cream sauce. On the other hand, darling is a big fan of their salted egg and pork porridge which is supper good too!  But if you are here on a dinner occasion, there are plenty of dishes which you could try.  My recent favourite is the OX Tail in Red Wine sauce which is a hearty Asian styled stew which goes well with rice; especially during cold days.  Other beef dishes which turned out well was the black pepper steak and the scotch fillet with XO Sauce and snow peas.  Do note that the Scotch fillet with XO sauce and snow peas is a wildcard which can be superb at times and awful!  As for seafood, I need not go further down the menu when I see the salted egg prawns! A definite prawn dish if I were to call prawns! Do note that the prawns here are not overly fresh as with other restaurant around town.  Be it prawns in a Chinese restaurant or Western, they tend to have that artificial crunch in them which is non-existent when I pick my prawns from the markets.

 

Sorry if this post was too long for its own good! I realised that Tasty House has been treated quite unfairly and thought that it deserved better !

 

On a side note, this month is going to be a busy one! With mid semester tests and the little darling’s birthday coming up, there is surely to be  a few days extra that I will be eating out!  So keep a look out ;)!

 

WenY