Bites: Balthazar @ Perth

As one of the earliest fine dining establishments, Balthazar's is one of the famous landmarks along the Esplanade Road other than Grand Palace Restaurant.  For me, this was my birthday dinner venue with my sis :)!  Walking in, the atmosphere here clearly portrays the dining style of the restaurant which is casual fine dining.   It felt relaxed, no fake suits or overdressed individuals which is pretty good considering we were in the CBD.  At the bar counter, the mixologist churns out drinks at a never-ending pace.  I pity him but he seems to enjoy his job a lot!Hard at work.

 

The bread counter was not in the kitchen but rather one a little kiosk just by the table which my sister and I sat at.  Wonder how they keep the bread nice.Bread stand!

 

Looking through the appetizers, there are two ways one can start their evening.  First, by sharing small plates. and the other, by ordering individual appetizers.  Deciding on which to pick was not difficult as the individual appetizers felt too similar to the mains.

 

My sister decided to start with the freshly shucked oysters topped with smoked tomato caviar.While I declined her invitation to share, I felt like there was a lot of technique in preparing the smoked tomato caviar.  Felt somewhat like the fabled El Buli restaurant in Spain where they had the Apple Caviar.  More importantly, my sister felt that the oysters were really fresh and the overall chemistry suited her palette well.  Win!

 

While she enjoyed her oysters, I decided to try the Swordfish belly coated with sesame served with garlic, miso and black pudding!It is my first time having black pudding and it was superb! Very fragrant and the intensity of the spices were spectacular!  Miso complemented the fish well but I felt that the sesame coating of the swordfish belly was a little oily.  Nonetheless, it was yummy!  If had any complains besides the oil, it had the be that the use of the fish belly did not really shine through the dish.  Just a fancy disposition for me.

 

Next were the wanton skins, feta and celery mousse.Served upside down, this little cornets had my hopes high as I had something very similar at Jackson’s a few years back.  But this was unlike that.  Its filling of feta and celery mousse was nice, but the wanton skins were lacking a very essential crisp!

 

Our last sharing plate was possibly the best thing that night.  The spiced lamb ribs served with a hint of mint and lime.These were every bit delectable.  The meat was absolutely tender with a falling of the bone characteristic.  It was slightly gamey but even my sister who was a fussy eater did not have problems with it.  This was just so good!  Would definitely return just for this one.

 

Before our mains came out, we were served complementary palate cleansers that was nice too! It was a lychee sorbet as far as I can remember :)! 

 

Mains:Sister’s beef fillet, four mushrooms, smoked potato, herb butter and black garlic.  Depending on your focus point of the dish, you would easily have different verdicts on how this dish fared.  For me, every bit felt perfectly executed except where it counts the most.  Meaning, all the sides were good.  The mushrooms, the black garlic, the smoked potato.  All except the beef.  It still had those muscle bists around the fillet making it difficult to eat.  More importantly, it did not have in itself the tenderness I was expecting! *emo*!

 

For me, I had the pork fillet, jamon, mash, scallops, crackle and black pudding! For me I was happy with this dish for most parts.  The pork fillet was moist while the berries had just the right amount of sweetness that fared well with the saltiness of the jamon.  Mash was delicious and the scallops were cooked spot on.  All of these though, felt a little salty when the black pudding was added to the equation.  Lastly, the crackling was OK but hmmm.. not the roast pork crackling that I was hoping to see.  In the end, it was more of a textural component but with little flavor!  As mentioned before, this was nice but could have been better!

 

At this point, we were pretty filled.  In fact, the sharing plates already made us very full.  But with one last effort, my sister and I shared  a dessert!This was one complicated dish.  Coconut panna cotta, basil sorbet, sesame tuile and peanut mousse.  For me, this dessert clearly screams Thai.  But perhaps a little more effort is required to make all the components complement each other.  At this point, my sister and I agreed that while each element is flawless, the dish as a whole was no more than a lost puppy. 

 

The night for me went pretty well.  I enjoyed the food quite a fair bit.  But considering this was one of the best places to fine dine in the state, perhaps I expected a little more.  Not that this was not good, but out of all the dishes we had that night, the ones that will live in my memory are just too few.  In fact, the lamb was the only memorable dish.  At the end, the bill for two settled somewhere in the mid 100s including drinks. 

 

WenY

Bites: Fibber McGee’s @ Leedervile

In a country, that prides itself with one of the best beef in the world, Australia certainly does not disappoint.  In my latest foodie visit, I decided to give Fibber McGee’s in Leederville a try.  This Irish pub has operated for more than a decade with its very own farm (according to its website).  All cows are butchered and dry-aged in house, meaning diners should only expect the best.

Using the entertainment book, my sister and I both ordered the humungous dry-aged rib eye with a side vegetables and fried goodies which include tempura onion rings and chips!  Believe it or not, the discount is a buy 1 free one which made our steaks only $25 dollars each.  It was such a steal! Generous Dry Aged  Rib Eye which came weighing in at 500grams.  While I thoroughly enjoyed the delicious sides which includes the vegetables, tempura onion rings and chips (can’t fault with store bought ones), I had a question about the steak.  What constitutes a good dry aged steak?  For me, two important requirement, first is the robustness of the flavour thanks to the higher concentration of blood and reduced moisture.  Dry aging lets the beef naturally reduce its moisture (water content) through evaporation.  The next important thing is the increase in tenderness due to the deterioration of chewy muscles intertwining the meat layers as the meats due to natural enzymes digesting them.  So how does Fibber McGee’s stack up against my two requirement.

My sister and I had our steaks cooked to two style, one was medium rare and the other medium.  My medium steak felt slightly overdone as all it had in the middle was a very pale pink colour.  I was hoping to see a little darker shade of pink but it still works fine for me.  In terms of tenderness, the steak was spot on.  Cooking large slices of steak is usually impossible to get even cooking but this was perfectly executed.  However, my major complain is that the flavour of the beef felt lacking in richness.  I am not sure what Rockpool does to their steaks but theirs carry a certain flavour and taste to their beef which makes it even more tempting to eat!  Sister’s beef on the other hand, was deliciously red on the inside and for me, this is the maximum cooking that dry aged steaks should be prepared to.  Medium Rare.   But then again, like my steak, I believe the richness the steak flavour still felt lacking.

 

At the end of the night, we barely finished half of our meal as sis decided to add a side of mash which was velvety smooth and yummy.  With so much leftovers, it would be a waste to throw it away such good meat although sceptics even questioned among themselves why would we even bring steaks back when they were pretty “positive” that it was going to get thrown away.  So to those disbelievers, a steak can be used for more than one purpose.  In this case, the steak was still absolutely tender when I did a quick pan fry to make my steak sandwich!  :P!

 

Last but not the least, I found the service here pretty slow although there were so few of us.  On the positive side, at leas the waiters were keen to serve!

 

Fibber McGee’s to me is a pretty damn good steakhouse that charges decent money for quality steak.  With such places around, is there even a need for places like Hog Breath?  I doubt it.  If you have a budget and want a bite of luxury, Fibber McGee’s definitely is definitely the place to be.  In fact, 3 people can easily share two serves.    However, if you are an extremely picky eater who wants nothing but the best, the steaks at Rockpool still holds a place dear to my heart.  Its steaks are tip top with no expenses spared in making it absolutely the best.  The catch?  $60-120 dollars for a piece with no sides.

 

WenY

Follow me :)!

Bites: BlueWaters @ Cottesloe

Bluewaters hold a happy memory for me as I first came here with the little darling awhile ago.  Last week, I decided to pay a visit with my friends to see how the cook, a former Michelin starred restaurant chef has cope with time.  The food that night felt a little lackluster but where it was strong before, it still is now.

 

For starters, risotto dishes at Bluewaters are just simply delicious! They are light, buttery and pack the beautiful flavors of the season.  That night, I had the Nero Risotto which was squid ink risotto with scallops.  This for me was the highlight.  Superbly executed and easily comparable to the mint and sweet pea risotto I had 2 years ago.  Many kudos for the consistency!

The next appetizer was the Arancini which to me felt a little dense.  The creamy dressing if I recall correctly to be Aioli or a mayo concoction of some sort did not quite make the cut too.  The Arancini itself is a pretty dense ball filled with cheese and rice which to me is pretty bland.  Perhaps a chutney for some sweetness or tomato chili salsa for that extra freshness and acidity.  That would definitely prevent this dish from starting your meal too heavy especially if you had the whole thing yourself, it would be cloying!

 

For my main, I chose the Wagyu steak.I really felt that this was nowhere near the fillet steak I had before.  What to me was a turnoff was the fatty bits which were not tasty.  So, for me, I plucked out all the fatty bits to have the meat.  Nowadays, I find the name Wagyu overused.  There is no point using the Wagyu is it does not benefit the steak enough.  This clearly is one of those instances.  A cube of prime Angus fillet would have more than suffice like it did 2 years ago.

 

The other main we had was the Salmon which my friend said was pretty good! Kudos to the chef for that one.

 

Over all, I thought my dinner there was pretty enjoyable.  Food was still quality although the misses were pretty apparent this time!  Also, my friend found the waiter quite rude as she mumbles to herself when speaking.  As if mocking as times according to fishman.  Perhaps better luck next time? 

 

WenY