Bites: Nine Fine Food @ Highgate

It’s that time of the year again! Little darling now turns 20 and I was going to bring her to a different place to celebrate.  Scouting around, I found Nine Fine Food which is a combination of Japanese and European cuisine.  Looking at various food blogs, I must admit that personally, my taste buds were dying from its curiosity.  Nevertheless, my choice of venue was not just for me as the intimate lighting at the venue made this place perfect for dates and despite having a crowd, it was not unacceptably noisy.

Nine Fine Food.

Looking around the menu, Nine Fine Food has some good offerings which seems really tempting.  Spoiled for choices, we decided to go for the ‘OSOSUME’ which translates into a 4 course meal.  While it might seems rather posh, the 4 course meal is actually a lot of value for your money! For starters, we ordered:

the Goose Mousse is a  foie gras mousse topped with soy infused Tobico caviar, broccolini with Chocochujan spiced miso.  While I have never been keen on fancy food such as caviar or foie gras, this one was definitely a “WOW” to me.  While I was skeptical about the taste after having smelt it at first, my first taste of it had me wanting more.  The whole thing was actually superb.  Crispy lotus roots topped with the miso and foie gras – caviar was absolutely yummy!  Even darling, who would never EVER touch such ‘exotic’ food said it was really good.

Foie Gras take 2!!

While I was happily eating my starter, the little darling herself was busy enjoying her sashimi platter

The Sashimi 9 would normally consist of 9 types of sashimi but the little darling decided to omit the prawn and squid sashimi as she is allergic to those type of seafoods.  Nevertheless, she had extra serves of salmon, kingfish, snapper and tuna.  Funnily enough though, would half cooked tuna be considered as sashimi?  Not that is matters considering darling says this dish ticks all the boxes as a good sashimi appetizer!

After finishing our first appetizer, the waiters gladly cleared our table for the second course of appetizer.  This time we had:

Beef Tataki was my choice for the next appetizer which had lightly grilled tenderloin beef fillets top with a truffle mixed Yakumi condiments, and finished with a chilli lemon soy dressing!  Yummy! This was good, meat well cooked but somewhat a little too thick for my liking.  I would rather thinly sliced beef.  Also, Yakumi or healthy condiments were getting a little bland at this stage because I had the same ‘cucumber’ condiments for the Goose Mousse.  Instead, I would have liked to have finely shaved onions in addition to the cucumbers for that extra flavour which goes so very well with beef tataki! Nonetheless, it was still good but just not THAT GOOD.

This next appetizer that the little darling ordered was an absolute winner.  Called the lamb and scallops, this appetizer as its name and looks suggests has lamb and scallops.  To be exact, marinated grilled sliced lamb round steak, blended spiced miso braised lamb shoulder, seared scallop with balsamic, soy & truffle oil dressing.  Outcome? Mind blowing.  This was so good I woke up the next day wanting to have it for breakfast.  Despite its very small size, I would be far too keen to trade this dish for my Beef Tataki.  Lamb meat was very, very tender.  It literally crumbled under the weight of the fork without effort.  For awhile, I though that the meat was actually pulled before being shaped but could not really tell.  Putting that aside, the meat was superbly marinated and extremely tasty.  Add that sweetness of the scallops and õmg!  This dish to me was very well constructed in terms of texture and flavour.  Not like I can tell superb textures from good ones like pros can but this was simply just fantabulous.

After finishing two courses, it was time for our mains.  With the appetizers setting such standards, it was only normal that the little darling and I have high hopes for the next course.  And here we go starting with my very lousy photo, the Oceans East:

The Oceans East was a representation of the seafood in the East.  Did it represent it well enough? Well, with scallops, eel (unagi), fish and soft shell crabs, I’d have to say that Nine Fine Food was close.. pretty close.  Also, by having fruits as part of the main dish, it had a sense of freshness that lifted the heaviness of the fried soft-shelled crabs.  The fish which was part of the dish was super yummy!  Scallops were ok but again, cucumber was all over it, so errr not really that good?  The unagi, presumably cooked with teriyaki sauce was scary as it always is for me who never liked eel.  After just one piece, I decided to abort mission and left 3 other pieces for the bin! Oops!  Things were all quite decent for Oceans East.  Other than the eel, I reckon that the only thing that did not really appeal to me were the wasabi mayo and that other red chilli sauce.  I guess the sauces just did not quite appealed to me as something felt lacking!!

For the darling, she had the tenderloin steak.

Along with the well marinated steak was some sautéed mixed Asian mushrooms, dukkah spiced mash, fresh greens, garlic & olive oil infused creamy sake rice wine reduction.  As a steak should be well marinated and tasty on its own, this was just spot on.  Even without the mushroom sauce, the steak was a pleaser.  Mash was decent but sauce was really salty.  In essence, the sauce would go well with the mash.  But problem as it lies was that the sauce was just too much for the mash.  Even the sautéed mushrooms were  a little saltier than the little darling’s tolerance.  For me, I thought it was salty but I liked it anyway because I come from a family that prefers salt over sugar any day!  Over all, this would have easily been called delicious considering the number of places that cannot really cook a good steak.  Perhaps a little control of salt would have make this a superb dish?

Having finished our three course, it was time for our desserts.  With the clock ticking minutes away from 9 and a stomach that is filled to the brim, it was time to sit back.  While waiting for the dessert to be served, the little darling and I had time to share an intimate talk as there was just one other couple besides us.  This means a really private space which of course, is a privilege in any popular restaurant!!

After a while, the desserts were served. We both ordered the same thing:

The Mattcha Brulee! The light torched green tea custard brulee was smooth with a hint of refreshing green tea taste.  I also liked the way the green tea controls the sweetness in way that is delightful.  Also, unlike some places which tend to have a bitter layer of green tea syrup, this was one just fine.  Not too concentrated.  As a whole, this was perfection.  In fact, I reckon green tea suits Crème Brulee a lot better than berries do although I believe that the little darling will  have a lot to say on that statement of mine!

At the end of the night, we were really satisfied with the restaurant.  The food was in my opinion, a different experience as it was in fact quite special.  It was like going in and coming out a different person.  Probably just an illusion to the mind although I’m pretty sure I came out fatter hehe!  Every thing went well that night, food was good and the waiter/-tress were keen to serve.  Just last night the little darling and I were talking about our meal here and she told me that she really liked it.  Therefore, in my honest opinion, Nine Fine Food is a good restaurant.  So good that I would not mind coming here over and over again!

WenY

Bites: Sayers @ Leederville

Sunday morning started off gloomy with a dark overcast and slight drizzle at 8.  Stomach felt sucky and it has almost been 4 days then.  But no way was I going to let this persistent annoyance destroy the first Sunday of my holidays! So I slipped in a pair of nudies and off we were for brekkie!  Sayer’s has been on my radar since my sister mentioned it but we never had the time or opportunity :( . So Yobi’s presence was the perfect chance for us to try out this highly recommended cafe!

Sayer’s cafe was super busy and finding a place during the weekends can be challenging.  Fortunately, the friendly staff were helpful and found us a place after a reasonable 20 minutes wait.  Before sitting down, I looked around the cafe and liked the layout of the cafe which is pretty special.   To me, there were 3 main concepts that really worked well.  You could be sitting in your typical neighbourhood cafe sipping away on a cuppa or in a lane-style cafe or an open backyard alfresco.

The little alley which sits a decent group of two or three.

 

The backyard sitting area with a more open environment.

 

As we had a large group, the backyard sitting area was well to our cause and we gladly sat there.  Pets are allowed too I reckon.  Spotted this adorable cocker spaniel running around its owner while panicking because it was about to rain.

Worried and tangled!

 

Skipping on, we ordered a good selection of hot brekkie and it took them slightly longer than most places to have the food served.  My sister had already finished her drink before the food came!

Cappuccino?

 

For myself, I ordered the Sayers pork sausage with fried eggs, sweet potato crisp, mash and toasted Ciabatta @ $19.50. 

While I have lots of complains for ALL sausages that accompanies the big brekkie meals in Perth, it would be rather weird if I had complains for a sausage where the dish itself was centred around it.  Also, nothing can be more revolting than a cut-into-half sausage protruding out of a small pan screaming for attention while the gem of the dish (the green mash) sit hideously under a shrivelled tomato.  For me, I was not blown away by the pork sausage.  It did not taste superb in any way and was even difficult to cut.  Nevertheless, the bread did its job with the fried eggs.  Having every thing together brought a little chemistry which worked superb.  Tomato sweetness + the saltiness of the meat worked well with the eggs although most element did not standout individually.  But it must be pointed out though that the mash were the one of the yummiest mash I have EVER had.  Its not the consistency but rather that unique flavour from the combination of spices of whatever the had in it.  Real winner for me!

 

Yobi played conservative with a full serve scrambled eggs with toast ($11) and a side of smoked salmon ($5).  He did not have plenty of words for it and I reckon I would be the same like him if I ordered the same thing.  Not that this dish is simplistic or anything but yeah, its well cooked scrambled eggs which were sufficiently light and fluffy but more importantly, well seasoned and not overcooked! Or so says my sister which I think its true after having some of hers.

 

Ricotta & white chocolate hotcakes, sticky toffee apple, double cream & maple @ $16.50

Sticky toffee apple was good but perhaps a little seasoning would have added a little more ‘WoW’ factor.  Hotcakes were above average and the lovely sauce was definitely a worthy talk.  Overall, the dish was good together.  A little bit of apple followed with a small piece of hot cake doused with the sauce before being finished with a dollop of the cream was delicious!!

 

Big Brekkie @ $22.00!

While the price is definitely steeper than most places, the big brekkie definitely has its own uniqueness which makes is distinctive from others.  The mushroom for instance was different from your typical buttery-sweet mushrooms.  It was filled with a pine nut pesto which was really tasty but slightly too heavy.  The beans too, were delicious with a good amount of spices.  Hash brown was special but not really quite my type.  It had a good amount of onion, vege and I think bacon which really did not work for me.   

 

Poached eggs were perfectly cooked with a runny yolk!  Scrambled eggs were better than most places and was really cooked to perfection.  It was rich, fluffy and was slightly runny!  While these were the merits of the big brekkie, the bacon and chipolatas were unfortunately unenthusiastic.  Tasteless sausages were a let down while the bacon felt undercooked.  I would love to have seen two types of bacon.  One, a crispy fatty-skin bacon, while the other one like the bacon above.  But only one was present and did not really appeal.  Nevertheless, a request would perhaps allowed me to get what I wanted.

 

Overall, Sayers would be among my top breakfast cafes near the CBD area.  While I like Crumpets and John St. Cafe, this would be a qualified competitor.  However, close rivals the Imp and Toast should not be overlooked.  While price is concerned, Sayers would not be a place you can ideally call ‘CHEAP’  but is still decent for a Sunday brunch which fills your tummy till dinner.  Also, well-designed layout was another  ‘wow’ factor for me which had me smiling!  Definitely a good experience which would make me return over and over.  Perhaps little darling in the alley way, the housemates in the shop and all my homies in the backyard alfresco?

 

WenY

Bites: Bua Siam @ Langford

The word ‘Thailand’ has always had an important meaning to me.  Whether it is  was about having Thailand as my neighbouring country, or having good Jimmy as a trustworthy buddy in Perth. So to add, I have always loved visiting Thailand and even have Thailand running through my veins! More importantly, I have a strong liking for Thai food and never would I turn down the opportunity to try any recommendations.  My friend recently celebrated his birthday at Bua Siam in Langford and he told me that he though it was pretty good.  1 month has lapsed and here I was.  Bua Siam for dinner with the peeps and Yobi!

 

To start our meal, we called for a serve of Thai fishcakes @ $8.90

To our dismay this dish did not turn out well leaving much to be desired; and to a certain extent, we were debating whether the fishcakes were bought frozen off the shelves.  Perhaps that explains 8 pieces for 9 dollars which is a very hard find nowadays.  Or at least when you are in Australia.

 

Next was the  Roast Duck red curry @ $21.  The sauce was thick, creamy and a little too sweet.  It had generous portions of fruits and vegetables, but was caught a little short on the duck meat.  Nevertheless, it still has a good taste but did not satisfy!

 

Then came the Beef Green Curry @ $19.  The green curry was good but I felt a little hint of bitterness in the sauce.  Not quite sure what went wrong but overall it was OK.  Beef slices were tender and not overly done.

 

And what is a Thai meal without the trademark Tom Yam Soup! We ordered a large bowl @ $15 and manage to dish out 8 small bowls for each of us.  While the soup did not taste exactly like Tom Yam, it was not all doom and gloom but failed to meet the standard set by S & T!  Sister commented that it tasted a little more like a HK style Borsch soup!

 

Another dish we ordered is a popular stir-fry dish,  the Pad Bai Ga Pow which to me is stir-fry meat with basil!  Unfortunately, this dish was not enchanted by that lovely smell when you finish of this sort of dish by stirring in the basil leaves with the fire off giving the blend meat a refreshing basil fragrance!  Rather unfortunate that it appealed to me more of a Chinese stir-fry than a Thai one :(!  Believe it or not, few people were still asking where was our Pad Bai Ga Pow even after this dish was served =.=!

 

We also ordered a steam fish with coriander, lime and chilli @ $26.  While the sauce was quite good, the fish meat was absolutely terrible.  It felt as if the fish was really old or perhaps they used  a fish which texture is unknown to me!  Perhaps I would go for the deep fried fish with three taste.  I reckon that would be something that suits me better!

 

Last but not the least, we ordered a minced meat salad (Larb) which I thought was one of the best dishes that day.  It had a good mixture of spices and sauces which went perfectly well with the rice.  But this was not what I expected because I would normally have the Larb with cabbage or lettuce.  Nevertheless, it was a good attempt even though it seems like the capsicums have gone astray into this dish.  However, some commented that it was a little too salty which was true, but with rice it was alright.

 

At the end of the meal, I felt full but hmm that sense of satisfaction just was not there.  It was as if I could still do another round.  Yobi on the other hand thought it was ok but it could have been better! I asked him for a score out of 10 and he reckon about a 6 although to me that was the maximum score I would have given. The little darling and her girls were now a little worried, perhaps more reluctant to go for Thai food if it is not S & T or perhaps Dusit Thai.  What can I say? Can’t blame them can I? haha even my sister’s facial expression was = @@!  But I reckon the main problem at the end of the day was that the intensity of the flavours have been tuned down to suit the Australian crowd rather than a Thai one.

 

WenY