Bites: Rockpool Bar and Grill Perth @ Burswood

With her brother and sister visiting us from Adelaide, the little darling and I decided to organise a special meal.  Hearing how Adelaide has such good food had us feel the need to make sure that our dinner did not come up short in anyway.  For this occasion, the little darling decided on paying Rockpool a second visit. 

The famous Rockpool entrace!

After being seated and the menu explained, we were served complimentary bread with sea salt and butter.  While the butter was rich, the bread was slightly harder than what I would have preferred!  Having some salt though, seemed to enrich the taste of the butter and bread altogether!

Complimentary bread and butter!

As there were quite a few of us that night, we shared a few appetizers.  It was a pretty good suggestion by our waiter Simon as sharing allowed us to try and taste the different things Rockpool had to offer.

First up was a warm Salad of Wood Fired Grilled Quail with Smoky Tomatoes, Olives and Herbs.

What its reads is what you get.  The quail for me was cooked perfectly with its meat still slightly pink at the bone.  I also felt that the mixture of herbs really worked well together.  But the highlight for me were the tomatoes which had the acidity and sweetness which binds all the ingredients together.  Unfortunately though, the baby olives are never my favourite ingredients as they carry a distinct taste which I reckon is an acquired one.

Next was the Wagyu Bolognese with Hand Cut Fettuccine.

Just like the one I had before two months ago, this was faultless in every level.  Fettuccine was silky smooth and rolled out thin but not thin enough to break messily.  This was just superb.  Meat was juicy with a hint of crunchiness which till today is still a mystery for me.  Bolognese sauce was rich but not the usual thick and sticky one would expect.  This was super yums!

The next appetizer was the Charcoal Roast Chorizo, Potato and White Beans

Despite being sautéed in heaps of oil, it was all good. Caramelized onions were all the hype in that dish. Chorizos were OK while the potato and white beans provided a good medium to have the onions and chorizos with. What I did not enjoy was the bread that came with it.  Too dry that it did not even help absorb the charcoal flavour of the dish.  Still a recommended appetizer!

Charcoal Roast King Prawns, Split and Marinated.

 
These prawns were highly recommended by our waiter that night.  Nevertheless, it failed to ‘wow’ me because despite being tasty, it was nothing new.  Prawns came out small albeit being called king prawns.  Marinade was delicious but it was all too common.  This felt like something my aunty would do better than what I had at Rockpool.  While it was delicious, it was to me, too simple.

After having 5 appetizers to share, we then waited for our mains.  While doing so, we decided to have a little picture session among ourselves considering that we had the whole VIP room to ourselves :)!

Xin Woei, Yvonne, Nee Nee and Fishman!

Little darling’s brother and sister, Ern Ser and Audrey with her!

After a good chat, our mains were served.

For the little darling, she ordered a Seared King Prawns with Goats Cheese Tortellini, Burnt Butter, Pine Nuts and Raisins.  It was so rich.  Every bite was filled with creamy cheese which was for most people on the table, over the top.  While flavours had a hint of sweetness, saltiness and fruitiness, none was enough to tone down the stench of the goat’s cheese.  It was ok for me but the rest of the people, they still could not accept it.

4 cuts of steak ranging from scotch fillet to rib eye as well as the T-bone!   In a restaurant that prides itself for butchering and dry ageing their beef in house, the quality of the steak surely did not disappoint.  With the scotch fillet and rib-eye cooked to medium, the melt in your mouth feel was sensational!  No wonder Rockpool has been branded as a bovine heaven by some.  Unfortunately though, the T-Bones were cooked to medium-well done which resulted in a tougher than desired steak.  So what would I recommend?  For a budget, definitely the Cape Grim Dry Aged 36 Month Old  Grass Fed Kettle’s 240gm Scotch Fillet.  For indulgence, non-other than the $120 full blood Wagyu Fillet!

On top of the steak, we also ordered sides to share.

Onion rings came out XXX-Large but it was inconsistently crunchy!  Would not complain for 8 bucks though!

Cauliflower and Cheese Gratin was yummy and tasty! It would have been heaps better if the cauliflower was cook through!  I thought that it could have been in the oven for a tad longer!

Royal Blue Potatoes Sautéed in Wagyu Fat with Rosemary and Garlic was full flavoured!  Very tasty morsel to go with the steak!

“Mac and Cheese”! This was the ugliest photo of the night but it was the best side for the night.  The sauce was to die for, the mac and cheese was baked to perfection with a crisp top! Totally yummy!

After stuffing ourselves with all the food, we moved on to the final phase of the night; DESSERT!  While we were close to ditching the dessert, the little darling thought otherwise. 

Nee nee and her sister ordered a Peanut, Caramel Chocolate Tart with Milk Ice Cream.  This beautiful dessert looks like a piece of art but in reality, it felt like a giant ‘pod chocolate’ with a scoop ice cream.   Inside, the caramel was slightly overpowering.  For me, the ratio felt quite disproportionate.  Too much caramel, but so little crust to go with.  As the waiter described it, this was really a monster by all means when it comes to dessert!

The Raspberry Mille Feuille was the little darling’s choice! Her request was sour and she got what she wanted.  Sandwiched between thin pieces of pastry was raspberries and cream before being top with a scoop of sorbet and gold. What was seriously sour on its first bite became deliciously fruity over time.  It was quite an outstanding dessert if you’d ask me!  Slight caramelisation of the pastry is just magic when you realise all the little attention to detail that was put into producing this lovely dessert!

For me, I chose Fig and Hazelnut Tart with White Clover Honey Mousse! The mousse was fragrant with a hint of honey on the tart.  Fresh fig slices were lined with carefully piped mousse over a sponge bed.  Smashing!  Nothing overly sweet or sickening.  The whole dessert was very refreshing and truthfully, it kept me wanting more.  This for me, was the best dessert of the night.  With fresh figs, hazelnut and the honey mousse so there was so much harmony in the ingredients leading up to dessert.  All of it together really;  felt quite mellow.

Overall, I found the meal to be consistent with what I had before.  The multi-award winning restaurant has had some rave reviews recently which to me was seemingly fair considering how our Valentines Day visit went pretty well before and speaking of impeccable service by the wait staff, they were every bit helpful.  While this was all very fancy and superb, it had me thinking from the perspective of just the food quality.   There was no doubt that the food tonight was yummy but if I had not shared my dishes tonight, it would easily cost something like 90-150 per head which is really costly.  For that sort of price there are heaps of other restaurants including Amúse, Jacksons, Nine Fine Food, Friends and so much more.  In places like that, $150 gets you a 7-10 course degustation with impeccable service too.  Would it really be worth it to go for Rockpool? My take? Yes.

WenY

Bites: HwaRo @ Northbridge!

Nestled in Aberdeen street which is well-known for its bustling nightlife is a new Korean BBQ establishment.  With  budding reputation and worthy mentions from Koreans and Aussies alike, it was definitely a place I had to try.

Hwa Ro!

 

My first trip here was with a group of workmates after work.  Based on what we ordered the first time, it seemed that Hwa Ro has little to offer that differs itself from an already saturated concept.  However, it was in my second trip that we discovered more of what this Korean eatery had to offer.

 

To start, we had the Bulgogi Stew which was in my opinion yums!

With heaps of mushrooms, this was definitely a female pleaser.  The girls found this dish yummy albeit being on the sweet side.  What surprised me was the thick and rich sauce ones all the mushrooms had released all its water.  Initially, there was almost no water besides the stock.  But when the mushrooms were cooked, the pot was almost full! Quite a dish this one is.  The beef was decently tender but that was expected as we might have overcooked it!

 

Another stew that we ordered was the herbal beef stew!

Unlike its bulgogi counterpart, this one carried a more subtle taste which had a sweetness of a different kind.  It was more fragrant with the sweetness of the herbs.  Not mind blowing but decently tasty! Moreover, having different kinds of beef meat in there made is richer and nutritious.  In fact, mom says that all different parts is actually quite heaty and can result in fever or bleeding nose if one does not drink enough water.  For me, unfortunately, the whole barbecue experience was not that good as my stomach felt too ‘hot’ as the Chinese would say.  I had diarrhoea and tummy ache the following two days. Then again, its just me being me!

 

For me, the main thing that differentiates Hwa Ro from its competitors is its unique skewered BBQ meat which gives diners a different experience.  The chicken skewer as you shall see below is fitted into a little socket which automatically rotates the meat around! It was pretty unique I would have to insist!

But be wary though! Being mesmerised by the ever so slowly rotating skewers is nothing more than trickery as foolishness shall leave on with stringy overcooked chicken.  And that happen to all our 8 skewers! Talk about not learning from mistakes huh!? Funny but true! Nevertheless, more love could have resulted in better results!

 

From memory, diners are spoilt for choice.  From short ribs to pork belly or even the simple scotch fillet, there are heaps which we can choose from.  For the skewers, there is a good list of about 5-8 skewered meat.  I wanted to try the duck skewers which were recommended by a friend.  Unfortunately it was sold out when I tried to order it.  It would be a priority the next time around. At the end of the meal, I cannot tell whether I was fully satisfied with what I have eaten.  Over the course of 2 months, I have eaten more barbecue meals than I would have normally eaten in a year.  However, that is not a fair reason to drag what could have been a good meal and make it bad!  My experience at Hwa Ro was a good one.  With a dashing red interior, this fiery establishment would have me back for more.  Whether its the skewers or the stew, it was certain that it was just a matter of time.  But I must say though, the Kimchee pancake here did not impress. For a moment there I felt as if I could have done better hahaha!  Oh and the price here is pretty decent.  The first time, it costed me 15 bucks while my second trip here was 21 bucks per person.  Pretty OK in my opinion!

 

Regards,

WenY

WenY is sorry!

Despite being quite invisible in the food scene recently, I have actually tried heaps of new restaurants.  Unfortunately its quite a shame that I sometimes commute directly from my workplace to dinner causing me to miss out on taking pictures of the food I eat.  At the same time, I want to apologise to my readers who must have been wondering where I have went.  To make it short, I have actually graduated awhile ago and have started working. Yes you heard it right, its the 7-5 routine for me now.  Nonetheless, I will try my best to keep this space updated as frequently as I can :)!

At the same time, this is the the little darling’s and my daughter Daisy! She’s now 4 months old and counting!  it’s another responsibility I have now :)!

 

WenY

Bites: Hometown Kitchen @ Parkwood

While I have been eating in many places, travelling beyond the city is typically outside the boundary of my comfort zone.  Nevertheless, a little travelling can sometimes payoff quite well.  A couple of km’s out of city lies a quality restaurant which serves homestyle Malaysian food.  It list of impressive menu has common Malaysian food like herbal chicken, curry fish head, and other things which revolves about the delicious sambal.  For this dinner of mine, my ambitious crew of three decided to bite more than we can chew.

 

Some of the food we ordered includes:

Claypot Eggplant with minced pork and chilli!  This dish was probably the least favourite of the night.  While its sauce was thick and tasty, it seemed to lack the typical Malaysian touch which for me is a more well fried brinjal cooked in a sauce which uses a little bit more “tau cheong” or preserved bean sauce.  Nevertheless, its good dish to have with rice!

 

Next was the fried king prawn in two sauce.

This dish despite its simplicity sticks to a faultless formula which some might critic it for being to simple or unenthusiastic.  But seriously, a teenage eater can’t complain when its mayonnaise with fried prawns!  Hometown Kitchen adds its own touch with some cut fruits to mix with their prawn salad.  On the other end of the plate is the prawns with Thai chilli sauce which was pretty good as well!

 

Fish head curry.

Despite serving strong dishes like the king prawn and other dishes which I have tried before like the homemade bean curd, nothing quite satisfies my taste buds like Hometown Kitchen’s Curry Fish served in Claypot.  With a delectable sauce with heaps of spices, this was one dish that had me eating many bowls of rice.  Not to mention, some of the deep fried fish pieces were actually still crispy making it extremely pleasurable to bite into!  More importantly, the fish used does not have the fishy stench which usually keeps me away from such dishes! For this dish, I would definitely score it a 8/10!  This is strongly recommended by my friends as well!

 

Overall, Hometown Kitchen serves quality food at decent prices.  What its eggplant dish lacked off was made up the prawns and the curry fish dish.  Service here was fair.  It was not attentive like fine dining but neither was it bitchy.  Judging from the satisfaction I had, a next visit is not too far away!

 

WenY

Follow me :)!

Taiwan: Din Tai Fung!

After almost a week in Taipei, we were finally settling in for the world’s most popular dumpling chain, Din Tai Fung.  With its stores ever so popular around the globe, we headed back to its humble roots which now spans 4 storeys towards the sky.  Queues are long even in the night.  Grab a number and you can go shopping because you know your turn isn’t until an hour’s wait is over.  But when its your turn, I guess there is a lot to drool about.  Its menu is impressive which definitely changes the initial thoughts that they only serve dumplings!

To start our meal, we ordered the drunken chicken!With a subtle taste of rice wine, it had a very pleasant fragrant.  Its chicken was cooked to near perfection and was really easy to eat.  I would not normally eat dishes which have lots of alcohol but this was really quite nice!

 

Pork Xiao Long Bao!Juicy pork dumplings were all the hype in Din Tai Fung.  Was it deserving or did the hype kill it?  Unfortunately, the later has prevailed as perfect skin and pork mince were marred by mediocre soup.  Could have done with a little more salt definitely!  For me what is the point of biting into a soup dumpling if the soup tastes bland @@!? 

 

Next was the prawn dumpling!While presentation counts, its not edible. With me having near perfect prawn dumplings from HK, Din Tai Fung definitely needed to up its game if it were to make me sway.  Unfortunately, back to my previous complains, prefect ingredients but too little seasoning.  What a waste of juicy prawns to be honest.  With that being said, Din Tai Fung is NOT HORRIBLE or BAD.  It just did not deserve the hype/craze that has been surrounding it.  Seriously, talk about hype :(!

 

 

In addition to the dumplings we also called a fried rice to share.  This was probably one of the best dishes that night! Perfect fried rice with no ingredients being spared. Generous bits of egg and prawns nestling among perfect grains of rice were definitely something worth mentioning!Additionally, we called the chicken version of the Xiao Long Bao which was almost impossible to differentiate between it and the pork one.  The only thing that gave it away was probably how one mince was darker than the other! Also, we ordered a bowl of beef stew and herbal chicken soup which to me was another blend failure. 

 

There was a stark contrast between the Taipei food culture which I have been experiencing up until now compared to Din Tai Fung.  In the night markets, we get stinky tofu, massive chunks of seasoned fried chicken, juicy pork buns and so many other strong flavoured foods.  Where as, in this crowned jewel of Taiwan, I felt cheated or fazed by the lack of taste.  Like I mentioned before, it was not horrible to the extent of disgust but rather a feeling of disappointment. 

 

WenY

Follow me :)!

Taipei: Just a little bread dessert!

Being the talk of the town for over a year now, Dazzling Cafe is a one of a kind cafe where simple things are made magical.  Bread desserts are its main specialties with ingredients freshly flown from France every day.  For that day, we ordered 5 loaf of honey toast!

Dazzling Cafe’s Mont Blanc Honey Toast!  With an outer crust filled with carefully sliced toast with a butter and honey glazing this was yummy! Mont Blanc or chestnut flavoured cream tasted sweet and refreshing.  With some ice cream and fruits.  It was lovely! A really good dessert if you do not mind the calories!

 

Classic Honey Toast!Similar to the Mont Blanc toast, it was similar  with the exception of the chestnut cream.  Nevertheless, it has all the essentials that makes it special.  I guess this is all that counts? :)!

 

Overall, the hype is not for nothing.  It was good, different and over the 5 bread desserts we ordered, they were consistent.  Unfortunately, being consistent also means tasting the same.  And I guess 5 loaves of honey toast  for 7 people are just way too much!  Anyways, this is definitely worth a try if you are in Taipei!  A little warning before hand, make your reservations early as the little darling made the booking a month before we flew off to our holidays!

 

WenY

Taiwan Trip: The story of 2 cows!

A meal of beef noodles has always been a great dining option.  Despite being such a common food in many Asian countries, many things can possibly go wrong.  Sucky noodles, tasteless broth, and chewy beef just to name a few.  Nevertheless, coming to Taiwan could possibly be a beef noodles lover paradise!  With so many different stalls to choose from, one would be held back only by price and stomach space.  From the little darling who watched a lot of Taiwanese host shows, the price of beef noodles can range from the low hundreds up until 1000 TWD.  Of the two which I had, the noodles which tasted best came from a shop in Ximending!

While I cannot read/speak Mandarin, the pair of red horns have easily made a strong impression!  This restaurant was rated as the top 10 best beef noodles in Taiwan and it was a lucky day for us that we stumbled upon it on that day when we were clueless about our food!

 

As good as it gets, popular eateries means having to queue up for a meal.

Hungry folks! But fortunately for us, the wait took little more than just 10 minutes as we were there past lunch time at about 2 in the afternoon!

Condiments for the day was cold stewed bean curd, bamboo shoots, beans and braised taufu pok! Most were pretty good with the exception of the bamboo shoots! I could have easily had another one of the braised taufu pok with rice. It was really delicious! Tasted something like the ones accompanying traditional Chinese Herbal Pork but even tastier! Slurps!

 

The main meal that day was the braised beef noodles.  With a choice of thin/thick handmade lai mien (pulled noodles), we all went for thin considering the thick one had already finished selling.  Unfortunately, I am never a fan of lai mien as I often found that it was rather thick (despite having the thinner one) and failed to absorb any of the delicious broth.  As for the soup, I had the spicy one which was a big FAIL compared to my peers who had the classic broth.  I’d have to say, the classic broth was rich and flavourful! Everything a soup base should be!  And now, for the beef, it was decadent.  Despite looking dry and cut too thick, it is everything I did not expect! It was moist with melt in your mouth bits. Really surprising!  If I had to guess, it was the translucent swirly parts of the meat that made it taste so good!

 

Overall, this had to be the best beef noodles I have had in Taiwan only to be spoilt by a poor choice of soup and noodles.  If I had the original soup base, this meal would have been close to perfection!  Nevertheless, a good eat!

 

Regards,

WenY

Follow me :)!

Taiwan Trip: Having Breakfast the Taiwanese Way!

Finishing a good trip to HK, the little darling and I flew to Taipei using EVA Airlines.  That is a seriously good airline company to travel by.  Our seats were business class size and treatment on-board were first class! Our holiday to Taipei was a new experience to me.  With no knowledge of speaking mandarin whatsoever, this means I am pretty much handicapped in a country renown for its night markets and glorious food.  But hey?  We have fingers for a reason is it not? xD!  In the next few post I will put up pictures of some of the many places that I have eaten which I believe deserve recognition :)! It’s purely subjective but yeah! Just feast your eyes :)!Taipei unlike HK felt rather old.  Everything thing here runs in alleys which gives it quite a nice feel.  And even though I am from Malaysia, the number of scooters in Taiwan is by far the most I have ever seen. 

 

Our breakfast just minutes from our service apartment located in Q Square!Juicy Pork Dumplings! Xiao Long Bao!

 

Super Crispy Youtiao! 

 

One shall not forget the delicious soya milk which is almost customary in the Taiwanese society! Its a really good drink which I enjoy almost everyday!

 

While this might not be your average Malaysian or Aussie breakfast, this sort of meal despite feeling bland at times is really quite satisfying  The taste of juicy pork dumplings is simply delicious; add it to the awesome feeling of tasty hot soup gushing out in the first bite? Smashing!  Crispy Yuetiao despite being and oily start to the morning is always easily washed away with the warm soy milk!  It was really good!

 

WenY

Follow me :)!

CNY 2012: A Chinese New Year at home!

The moment of festivity is almost at its end for the Chinese!  Despite leaving home for almost a week now, the thoughts of how Chinese New Year used to be is not all that distant. From late night firecrackers to early morning prayers followed by a scrumptious all day vegetarian meal, its one childhood memory that will never be lost.  This year the celebration was a little smaller than it used to be, but mom did not hold back on her cooking for the reunion dinner! We had so much to eat that night, to start:

Yee Sang! The prosperity toss!

 

Next came mom’s superb sharks fin soup!

Unlike most places which would put less ingredients, there was no holding back from mom! Fresh crabs steamed and peeled, superior broth, dried scallops and pure sharks fin! Now, that is what I call a New Year delicacy!

 

After having all those appetizers we had the mains with rice:

Mom’s fried pomfret with fried garlic and herb garnishing!  Something which is not available fresh in Perth! I wonder why? Pomfrets are so good!

 

Mom’s baked crabs because steam crabs are too mainstream :P!

This was really yummy! It has been a long time since I have had this! Probably almost non-existent in Perth!

 

My contribution for the night:

Salt Pepper Prawns hehe! Luckily it turned out ok even though the batter has already lost its crunchiness when the relatives arrived!

 

This was for the Sang Choi Bow!  Mom made a special meat mixture with carrots, chestnuts and spring onions to be wrapped in lettuce! YUMS!

 

Arrow head with sliced pork and cilantro in fermented bean curd sauce!

This is one of mom’s specialty which took me ages to like! Now its like omagawd every time she makes this! Probably one of the dishes I look forward to the most each festival!

 

After having all the yummy food we did not just stop there.  We continued with tea and all the lovely CNY cookies which mom got! Also present was the Mochi which I brought back from my trip to Taiwan!  So next up on my blog? Taiwan ;)!

 

Also, Happy CNY to all my readers :)!

 

WenY

HK Trip: L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

After many days of nice if not superb local food, the little darling and I opted for something a little bit classier and sophisticated.  Taking on the recommendation of a popular Singaporean blogger and fellow UWA mate Glenn, we visited the L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon located in Landmark, Central.   L’Atelier is one of the more casual restaurants by Robuchon who already owns a string of 3 star restaurants around the globe.  At the restaurant, we were given seats at the bar counter facing the group of chefs preparing our food and to  be honest, it was a splendid show we had seeing the busy kitchen coming together.  Especially when the chefs kept shouting words of acknowledgement to the captain!

Staircase to great food! 

 

The Amuse Bouche that day was a chestnut soup served warm with drizzle of truffle oil and chestnut crisps.

The Amuse Bouche was simplicity at its best and the way it was presented before us by a Frenchman with an equally French moustache! I’d have to say, it was quite a sight!  The Amuse Bouche was really good.  I started of with that top bit that felt somewhat ‘foam like’ followed by a warm liquid and crispy bits of chestnut.  The taste was no more than saltiness with the sweetness of chestnuts but it was good!

 

Bread Basket

The bread basket at L’Atelier is one of insane choices.  Someone have probably mentioned it before that you would probably want to hold back on eating the bread but you know you cannot resist!  Between darling and I, we shared each of every pastry.  Out of the 8 or so choices, the mini croissant, sundried tomato twist and the fruit bun was the best.  Each were exceptionally tasty and  with the butter, it was even nicer!

 

For our appetizer, darling had the classic Landes Foie Gras:

Unlike the warm Foie Gras she has had so far, this one was served cold as a sort of spread on toast rather than warm with caviar.  Rather unfortunate, the delicious Foie Gras did not quite turn out as delectable as it felt lacking in creaminess/richness.  Its taste without a doubt was class act, but still it felt somewhat unfulfilling.

 

For my appetizer, I had the fresh crab meat and citrus jelly with fennel cream, crispy crab meat waffle .

The appetizer was quite a handful when it arrived.  Was I supposed to go from left to right or the other way around.  But being curious I had the toast first.  As classy as it looks, it taste and feels like I am eating one of those classic Chinese favourites, the prawn toast but with a slightly better flavouring of course.  Crab cake on the left was OK but was too little to enjoy.

 

The fresh crab meat and citrus jelly with fennel cream was probably one of the tastiest things that afternoon.  Consisting crab meat and bits of citrus jelly, it really did not taste as weird as I expected it to.  The crab meat was sweet and all that acidity from the jelly helped the crab mix with the fennel cream giving it that really distinct yet delightful taste.

 

Next came the soup. The soup was way better than the one we had previously at a Japanese restaurant. It did not feel overly rich from the cheese despite having lots of it. The pepper was just spot on to give you that spicy taste that makes it all taste so yummy! Even for onion haters, the onion here is cook so well to the extent that it is no longer pungent but instead is sweet.

Traditional French onion soup with Beaufort cheese gratin.  On its side is a tuile which is a thin piece of wafer topped with red onion paste and crispy white onions. This again was was another good initiative putting significant attention to details.

 

Cheese?!

 

Once we were done with our soup, the waiter promptly asked us whether we were finished before removing the plates. Out came darling’s main the  pan fried Wagyu beef flap with shallots and crunchy green beans, black pepper sauce.

Done in medium, it came out a little redder than expected. Fortunately, the meat was well rested and was still moist and juicy.  However, it is still a less fatty and slightly thin steak which means no bits of layers of tantalising fat as expected if you had a scotch fillet instead! Nevertheless it was still good although the little darling was a little put off by the redness of the meat!  It’s condiments once again used onions which was ok but at this stage was starting to get a little boring.  However, underneath those pieces of steak though is a caramelised balsamic onion which I though tasted quite special when eaten together with the beef.

 

My main was the deer stew.  With sprinkles of parsley and truffle bits along with some cone shaped puree on a thin piece of pastry, I found my main quite ambitious and artsy.  So many things for a simple dish really had me wondering what to expect.

Artsy!!

 

My main was an absolute delight from the start till the end. Everything seems faultless.  If there is a fault with the main that day, it was that the little darling refused to try any perhaps because eating a deer seemed too cruel ahaha.

Stew was tasty and moist without any stringy bits of meat that happens from time to time.  Also, the seasoning was lovely and there was not gamey smell at all. Mash was spot on and all the taste from the herbs and truffles along with the crisp bits made this whole dish an exceptional standout that day.  No wonder the waiter said “Excellent choice!” when I ordered.

 

Feeling a bit stuffed at this point, we were confronted with the appetizer course.  One which no level of fatness/fullness will resist!

Le Paris Brest which was a praline crème mousse stuffed into pastries which resembled mini profiteroles served with poached pear and pear sorbet.  Every aspect of this dish screams joy!  From the well flavoured praline to the lightness of the airy profiteroles. WOW!  Having every individual profiteroles with a slice of poached pear and a spoonful of pear sorbet tasted exquisite! Even little darling who had second thoughts about ordering the dessert was praising the dessert for its taste and freshness.  Magic and .. gold!

 

Lastly we were served hot tea and ‘things’ to put our meal to rest.

Consisting of lemon macaron, fruit jubes and crusted cocoa.  It was a sweet ending to both our meal and trip.  Jubes were jam packed in fruitiness that words cannot describe.  Darling was keen to buy a box but I am pretty sure they were not for sale.  Cocoa had subtle bitterness which calmed our heightened senses for sugar.  Macarons were sweet but lemon did its damage control!  At the end, we were so full we literally just let the escalator carry us down.  For $60 a head, it is not exactly what one would call great bargain.  But in comparison with general food prices in Perth, this was a steal!

 

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon really lives up to its hype and world recognition.  With heaps of other quality Robuchon restaurants around the world, one would not be too far from a food coma.  This meal easily comes in closely behind my trip to Jackson’s on my birthday!  Nevertheless, this restaurant had me leaving Hong Kong elated.  A good meal to start a good (hopefully) year! Hehe ;)

 

WenY