Bites: The Local Shack @ Perth

Burgers are easily one of most versatile feeds on earth.  With a bun, you can simply stuff anything from an honest patty to a luscious foie gras (see pic here) and even deliciously grilled vegetables.  Perth is no stranger in the gourmet burger scene with Jus Burgers, and Grill’d dominating the market.  On the other hand, we still see a bunch of special places like Alfred’s Kitchen Past and Missy Moos sticking close to their roots and serving their burgers exclusively from the same place.  Past experiences at these places have never let me down, but to a certain extent some of these brands have moved from being “THE burger” to being just another burger thanks to poor quality control and a for-profit mentality. 

 

So is there still a standout in the crowd?  I was recently invited to another popular spot in town called Local Shack which serves a great combination of alcoholic beverages with delicious burgers.  To start we had crunchy chips with a herbed aioli.Golden brown crunchy goodness kept our tummies satisfied while we waited for our drinks and burgers.  It was crunchy as it should be and the aioli was just perfect.  Definitely went well around the table especially when the watermelon cocktail arrived at the table!

 

The watermelon cocktail which was the perfect drink for non-alcoholics.  The subtle alcohol taste made it easy to consume.  A mixture of Vodka and Midori gave that kick but not to the extent where one would go on a high.  I really enjoyed this drink as it was simply refreshing and the fruitiness was great considering the type of food we were about to have!

 

The burgers came looking big.  No doubt on generosity unlike some places where the patty is only half the size of the bun!  My pick for the night was the Moroccan Lamb @ $16!  Built from prime Australian Lamb, brie, roasted capsicum, and a refreshing homemade Tzatziki, this really hits the Moroccan sweet spot.  The subtle tang from the capsicum went well with a cool tatziki.  There was some heat in the burger as well probably due to the spices.  It was a great feed.  I would particularly like to point out that the lamb tasted great too. 

 

Little darling and Yv had the Bring it On @ $14 which was the Shack’s take on a good cheese burger.  Perhaps a bit more luxury with the crispy bacon, and herbed aioli included.  As expected, the girls struggled to the finish line with the little darling forced to leave her burger roll behind.  I had a little bit of hers and found the patty to be a stand out once again .  At the Shack, its not a plain patty with salt and pepper as there were herbs and other ingredients infused together.  I cannot complain about the sauces but one improvement diners will expect is the “crispy bacon” promise which was only partially fulfilled as the bacon was in no way a qualified crispy bacon.

 

Fishman had no fish for his burger but decided to fulfill his steak cravings with the Shack Steak burger  @$16.  With little complains except for the readiness of the meat, he enjoyed the burger and complement the whole package to be “still a nice burger to eat”.  Perhaps a few resting minutes before coming would have been ideal as his plate was mildly soaked with the juices from the steak.

 

Looking back at our meal here last Friday, I really found the Local Shack to be a great place for friends looking for a casual hangout.  Its laid back environment with catchy music videos paired with great burgers and drinks quickly lived up to its name, the Local Shack.  It does not throw gimmicky marketing like “healthy burgers” because seriously, let’s get real.  If I were to eat a burger, do I even count the calories? Obviously not.   

 

So this brings me back to my main question. Is there still a standout in this overpopulated scene?  Definitely yes with the likes of the Local Shack, Missy Moos and Alfred’s.  The Local Shack for me might not the BEST burger but to be honest, I have not found any burger worthy of that title yet.  More importantly, this place packs substance in their burgers!  Also, it is so depressing to find the lack of exclusivity and honesty in places like Jus Burger and Grill’d makes them no more different than McDonalds. In fact, I will not lie that Jus Burgers used to be my favourite gourmet burger place in 2008-9.  Back then it was just Leederville.  Then things started growing and the rest is history.  Sucks.

 

WenY

Bites: Yu @ Crown Perth.

Chinese food is probably one of the best cuisines in the world with so many techniques and ingredients making the possibilities unlimited.  As Yu places itself in one of the most exclusive venues in town, Crown Perth, I expect not lesser than a grand statement on the plate.  Or maybe not?  I have eaten in almost every venue offered in Crown Perth and I have to say that while many restaurant had me question the cost – quality benefit, it normally still serves pretty kick ass food.

 

For a birthday dinner, I was invited to join my friend and her family for a meal at Yu where we had the most expensive banquet on the menu.  The Pearl banquet for $110 per head is no cheap dining affair.  But when the list of dish was read out, it felt like an impressive selection of food.  To start the meal, we first asked for tea.  And this was how the whole event unfolded.  Firstly, the stained napkins of mine which still had lipstick stains on it.  Is this even premium dining?  I wonder.  To make things worse, no one bothered refilling our tea pots and even our glasses of water were dirty.    Absolutely horrible.

 

The first course is a traditional Chinese soup, the shark’s fin soup.                                                                             Such soup normally uses a rich poultry broth with delicious crab meat and egg swirls with sharks fin in there.  Unfortunately, there was close to no shark’s fin, the broth was horribly watery (and taste wise) and even the egg swirls were curdled as if no one bothered to stir it in.  That for me was an ultimate failure.  It was so bad that the birthday host questioned whether was he drinking a proper soup.

 

The next dish was the Baked Crab Shell with Portuguese sauce.                                                                              Digging in with the gold spoon, it looked creamy and luscious.  But when you eat it, it just felt weird.  The meat did not hold its form.  It was a little cloying because of all that sauce that did not pack a punch of flavors.  At the end, most of us did not even finish this.  The highlight? Gold Spoon.

 

Just when all faith was lost, the Peking Duck came out.                                                                                             

I love my Peking Duck and my uric acid on the health report shows.  For me, this was a fine example of how things should have started.  A slightly crisp skin with just the right amount of sauce and those crunch from the flavors are just spot on.  It was from this point that I felt maybe there was a chance that things might turn around.  All because I really found this to be delicious and really this is one of the highlights of Chinese food in town.  Pretty good roast and Peking duck! Especially those in Northbridge like HK BBQ and Good Fortune.

 

XO Scallops and Asparagus                                                                                                                                   The XO Scallops and asparagus was in no way short of being generous.  It looks rich as it was piled onto a heap of asparagus with tasty looking XO sauce.  But it was in the first bite when things went a little awry.  Most noticeably due to the false sensation of sweetness of the sauce.  It felt a little fake and I am not sure whether it was sugar or perhaps MSG?  Either way, it was a waste to see this dish fail.

 

Crispy Fried Fresh Tasmanian Salmon

If I was on a mission to find crunchy cardboard to soak in soy sauce, I surely would not pay 100 dollars.  Why would you waste such a beautiful fish?  Only they would know.  Why not batter it well before doing a rapid fry for a crispy batter but a spot on inside?  GOD WHY?   This was another blunder that we did not anticipate.  It was simply cooked way longer that it needs to be.  The whole night really, was starting to crumble.

 

The next dish was the Steamed King Prawns.  I quite enjoyed this dish.  it was simple and touched on the basics but importantly, it was done right.  The prawns were worthy of being called king prawns and its garnish was just outstanding.  The simply spring onion and garlic really complemented the flavors of the prawns.  Plus the saltiness and sweetness from the soy, I was pretty keen to eat this dish again.

 

After waiting for a bit, we had our dessert.  But it was not a sweet ending like we hoped.  When we ordered the banquet, we asked their permission to each have a different dessert.  Initially, they said it was ok and it can be done.  But after making us pay $2000 for dinner, they decided otherwise.  How can this even be right?  Anyways, banana fritter, vanilla ice cream and syrup.

Not much criticism here but neither was this a spectacular finish.  It was just banana.  Deep fried.  At this stage I really have nothing left to say.  It was BORING.  Is this what Chinese food becomes when it is meant to be a level up?

 

This really was just PREMIUM GONE BAD.  At the end of the night, I had questions.  Heaps of question.  Perhaps simple ones are such as “Why is Yu even a premium restaurant and not in the food court?”  or “How is this even fine Chinese?”.  For me, Yu clearly it did not deserve the hype and respect at all.  In fact, when we made the booking for 2 tables, we were told to make a PRIVATE booking which would incur a cost of $100 buck or more for just a room.  When we said all we needed were two tables, they mentioned that they could not guarantee that we can be seated side by side.  All this threat and after a hefty bill which was close to $2000, this was the food they served.  No wonder I was told that they were going to change with another restaurant called Silk.    Sometimes even a helpful smile or good service can make a difference, but when someone treats you like crap, it makes the meal utterly disappointing.  In fact, this was the 2nd or 3rd worst Chinese meal I have ever eaten in Australia.  Most readers would know I often leave a decently neutral review even for some really mediocre restaurants.   So when it’s a scathing review, it’s a horrible place.  To all who found Yu disappointing, please do no think this is how a good Chinese meal should be. 

 

For example, this was something which I had in Hong Kong @ Ming Court last year.  See it here.  Funny how I thought Ming Court was only decent before.  Now that I have eaten at Yu, I might not be so harsh anymore!

 

WenY

Follow me :)!

Bites: West End Deli @ West Perth

Knowing where to eat can really come from simple chit chats and recommendations from the people around you.  Having heard heaps of praises from an ex-colleague and my junior, I finally decided to give West End Deli a try.  Positive reviews of this place are plenty and there seems no slowing down for this little eatery located on the of West Perth (though it felt more like Northbridge).                                                                                                                                       Inception?  No, just a light feature in the house that was intentionally left derelict.

Just another barista rocking up his favourite stuff on a Sunday morning!                                                        Coming in at 9.20 in the morning, I found the service a little below acceptable.  Various gestures to call for the waitress were regarded without a nod or eye contact making impossible to confirm whether anything has been established.  Head waitress which wore specs had probably the best discipline that day.  Fortunately, more capable hands came on board and it did not take long for the service to escalate back up.  Empty cups on the tables were filled with water and everything seemed to be moving again.  THANK GOD.

After about 20 minutes of wait time, our breakfast arrived on our tables.  I would have to say that the presentation was meticulous and rustic in a great way.                                                                                                  Salmon rillettes with cress salad, and slow cooked egg.  For me, if you look for simplicity but feel too lazy to construct anything, this is spot on.  The perfectly cooked onsen egg perched on top of a delicious salmon rillettes mound was simply tantalizing.  In terms of taste, the rillettes was light, with a subtle seasoning from the herbs and heaps of acidity from the lemon.  It was a refreshing breakfast but if you put it in a more layman term, some might liken it to salmon and mayo spread.  For me, this was one of the healthiest breakfast I have seen in awhile. 

Fishman decided to go for the poached eggs duo with a serve of cherry tomato and goat ricotta on the side.  As simple as it looks, several cafes have disappointed me in their ability to serve runny yolks.  This was perfect.  Huge eggs with large yolks were runny as hell.  Acidity in the marinade paired with the sweet tomatoes create a sensation worth dying for.  And for me, strong flavored cheese like this ricotta just bring everything together.  While I really loved the whole thing together, Fishman found the cheese a little too strong for his liking but praised the tomatoes.

For my breakfast I decided to have the mushroom and pork croquettes, smoked creamed corn and fried egg.Cutting through the first croquette, a delightful crunch was heard before steam poured out of the cavity.  It was superb.  I believe whenever the chefs say that the right amount of salt makes a big difference, it really does.  This was just spot on.  More interestingly, the smoked creamed corn carried a beautiful hickory flavor which mellowed beautifully with the earthiness of the corn.  In fact, the medley of herbs which I believe consisted of coriander, basil and mint was a surprise considering how well it went with the deep fried croquettes as it was really refreshing in each bite.  The only element which did not stood out so well for me were the fried eggs.  I would have liked a more runny yolk to coat the bits and pieces from the croquettes, herb salad and corn.  It would then, be a truly fulfilling moment.  Nevertheless, this was no less a perfect bite.

Having run a good 10km before breakfast, I decided to end my brunch with a delicious treat of chocolate tart, crème fraiche and mandarin puree.                                                                                                                                            For starters the chocolate ganache was pretty damn good. I am not a sweet tooth but the ganache which was rich in cocoa yet carried such a subtle sweetness was really what had me going in spoon after spoon.  It felt decadent and rich yet not too cloying.  However, it was the crust that was a let down.  As I shared it around the table, we found the crust to be a little more doughy than short.  For us, this was were improvements could be made.    Additionally, having the mandarin puree on the side really complemented the chocolate with it zesty flavors cutting through the decadent ganache.  Having said all of these, the $15 charged was hard to fork out.  Something similar at Harvest was only around $6 and while it lacked the mandarin puree, it was no less a good ganache.  Paired with a very short pastry, it was decadent.

Over all, I am superbly impressed by West End Deli.  The morning started a little bumpy with the patchy service showing flaws here and there.  But as soon as that picked up, I have to insist that the food we ordered spoke for themselves.  For me, its rustic appearance paired with impeccable taste composition makes this place hard to fault.  Conversely, the serving sizes were pretty small but for such quality, it was still on the money.  Its derelict building also looked hip and cool, a trend that is highly sought after nowadays.  But unlike most, West End Deli still puts substance before form when it comes to food on a plate.  I really hope Gorgon Street Garage could learn a thing or two.  This is what food is all about.  And if you notice the barista, he was no less good looking compared to the hipsters at Gordon!!

WenY

Follow me :)!