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Breizh Original Crêperie Pop Up Event, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Desserts, Featured, French, Perth, Restaurants

Like many Australians, I have a mixed racial background. My father was born in France and is proudly patriotic, consequently I grew up listening to endless stories about the food, culture and history of my ancestors. One thing he taught me from an early age was that each region of France has their own signature dishes or types of cuisine that they proclaim to be famous for.

Brittany, or Bretagne is a historic province in the north-west of France that is rich in culture. In contrast to a lot of France where the locals will drink wine daily, the traditional drink of Bretons is cider with Brittany being the second largest cider producing region in France. They are also recognised for their crêpes and galettes which traditionally replaced bread as basic food. These are made with buckwheat flour and thus are gluten free.

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Breizh Original Crêperie is a new pop up restaurant located on Leonard Street in Victoria Park. The building is used for a number of different pop up events over the course of the week with Breizh securing the venue for Saturday and Sunday nights.

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Image courtesy of Breizh Original Creperie

Run by two French brothers this dynamic team aims to provide traditional French Bretagne food with a bit of a modern twist. They utilise simple, locally sourced ingredients and make everything in house themselves.

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Although their savoury crepes are made with gluten free buckwheat flour, they do prefer that any severely intolerant or coeliac customers notify them 48 hours in advance so they can ensure to take extra precautions with the kitchen environment to avoid any cross contamination.

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Breizh is BYO

For our invited feast to follow with the tradition of Bretagne, the Boy organised some ciders for us to bring along and enjoy with our meals. Not exactly the most fructose friendly beverage but they do say when in Rome…

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Apero ($8, GF)

We started our meal with a serve of the apero; an appetiser galette to share with parsley, roasted garlic and olive oil with gooey melted Emmental cheese.

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Apero ($8, GF)

The buckwheat added a subtle nutty flavour and the crepes had a surprisingly crisp texture.

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Weekly Special Galette: ($20, GF)

For our main we opted for the weekly special galette. Breizh post their changing weekly specials up on their website every week and include a new galette and crepe to keep the menu dynamic and interesting.

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Crepe with original homemade salted caramel sauce ($9 + $2 per scoop of ice cream, GFO)

For dessert we both chose a different type of crepe. These crepes can be made with either normal flour or buckwheat flour. For those wanting gluten free, ensure to inform your waiter on ordering that you want the buckwheat option.

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One of the permanent items on the crepe menu is the salted caramel crepe. This was our favourite, despite its simplicity. It is made with homemade salted caramel sauce, and I recommend to go for the option of an added ice-cream scoop.

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The weekly crepe special was also a winner and was topped with a cube of velvety strawberry parfait, drizzles of strawberry coulis and fresh whipped cream. This was a crepe for those with a strong sweet tooth. It was a warm night and we had to devour this treat quickly before the parfait turned into a puddle of pink syrup.

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Weekly special crepe: ($16, GFO)

I have been informed that Briezh Original Crêperie are attempting to secure a more permanent location in Vic Park but at this stage it is not set in stone. In the meantime they are happy to be working out of Leonard Street and are spending their time focusing on producing quality crepes and galletes.

The little pop-up restaurant fills up quickly each week and I highly recommend heading to their website and pre-booking a table. Don’t forget to advise them in advance if you are gluten free too.

Disclaimer: Chompchomp was an invited guest of Breizh. Given the fact that this restaurant is within five minutes’ walk from her front door, she will be sure to happily return as a full paying customer. Always happy to eat a piece of my heritage 😉
 
Breizh Original Crêperie Pop Up Event
Every Saturday and Sunday night from 6pm to 9pm | 1 Leonard Street Victoria Park WA 6100 | breizhoriginal.com.au

Breizh Original Crêperie on Urbanspoon

Going vegan for a week at Loving Hut, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Fast Food, Featured, Perth, Raw Food, Restaurants, Vegan, Vegetarian

Whenever I am feeling overindulged, a fail safe way of getting my gut and body to recover is for me to eat a plant based vegan diet for a few days. After the incredibleness of our weekend away in Margaret River for their annual food festival Gourmet Escape, my body was crying out for some gentle eating. We burned all the candles at every end for the full weekend attending multiple degustations, an international Cabernet tasting and rubbing shoulder with some celebrity chefs. I will not deny it was all worth it.

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Fresh berry smoothie ($7.90, GF)

For the following week I had time off work which gave me a chance to catch up on my long to-do list without any distractions. Wanting to pledge to adhere to a vegan, or at least vegetarian diet for most of the week I kick-started it all off with a visit to Loving Hut on Albany Highway in Victoria Park.

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Vegan patties with salad ($14, GF)

Loving Hut are an international vegan restaurant chain with over 200 locations around the world. They were created with the vision that all beings on this Earth can live in peace, love and harmony with each other.

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Gluten free quiche ($12 with salad)

Each Loving Hut restaurant is individually owned allowing them to have their own influence on the dishes on their menus with just one thing being in common; all their food is made only with wholesome plant based ingredients.

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Raw open salad sandwich ($12, GF)

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Raw open salad sandwich ($12, GF)

For the course of the next week, I returned almost every day to grab myself a healthy and easy vegan lunch and was impressed to see that they changed most of their dishes daily.

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Gourmet mock meat pie ($6.50, not GF)

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There are a bunch of different gluten free options including gluten free quiche and raw sandwiches along with some other non-gluten free options for those more “normal” people. Loving Hut are open 7 days so once we hit the weekend I dragged the Boy along to show him what I had been raving about all week. It didn’t take long to convert him and we ended up eating lunch there on both days of that weekend.

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Spinach cashew quiche with side salad (not the GF option, $11)

He loved the mock meat pies with their homemade Gourmet pie being his favourite. Filled with loads of roasted vegetables in additional to chunks of mock meat, he wants to return and grab a bunch of them to put in the freezer for him to eat later.

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Raw macarons ($3.50 each)

I am so delighted to have found a restaurant within walking distance of my home that can supply us with healthy, gluten free vegan options for lunch. More so their ingredients were fresh and predominately organic. The Loving Hut staff are super friendly and were happy to talk me through all the ingredients so I could pick the fructose friendly options too.  Being kind to my body and all our creatures on this Earth has never been so easy!

Disclosure: Chompchomp’s repeated visits to the Loving Hut were entirely at her own expense.
 
Loving Hut
Shop 19, 366 Albany Highway, Victoria Park, WA 6100 | (08) 9470 3969 | lovinghutperth.com

Loving Hut Victoria Park on Urbanspoon

My Top Five Winter Gluten Free Indulgences

Posted by  | Categories: Chocolate, Fast Food, Featured, Perth

When I find something I love, I complete submerge myself into a level of addiction that often needs to be controlled by an external party, usually the Boy. Or sometimes it is controlled by the increasing numbers on my bathroom scales. Nevertheless, over the years I have come to accept that this is part of my personality and provided I have someone to check me into line when I get too carried away, it is a quick way to brighten up my day. Some of my obsessions are long lasting and others come and go like fashion so I thought I would share with you my top five gluten free indulgences for Winter 2014.

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1. Manjimup Black truffles

I am not a fan of winter, I really feel the cold and spend a large portion of this time of year huddled in front of a heater reluctant to move. However there is one highlight of winter which is the truffle season. For the duration of the three month truffle season our household goes truffle mad; chasing degustations, festivals and buying any fresh truffled product we can get our hands on. My fridge will be continuously stocked with truffle butter, truffle mustard, and truffle aioli and sometimes even some real fresh black truffle. One of my favourite ready made products is the truffle aioli made by the Truffle and Wine Company. It is knee-staggeringly truffilicious and fortunately I can purchase it throughout winter from a local Vic Park store called Nosh Gourmet.

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2. Hot Pot Popcorn

Popcorn would have to come in at a close number two for this winter. It’s somewhat healthy, naturally gluten free and incredibly moreish. But when you add the fact that Hot Pot’s popcorn is popped locally in Perth and is not mass produced, it ticks even more boxes for me. Hot Pot Popcorn have a number of addictable flavours with their Peri peri popcorn being one of their most popular. I am a slightly sweet, slightly salty fan but I recently tried their cinnamon flavour and it was tha bomb! It’s available at the Manning Farmers Market and a few independent grocers, head to their website for more information.

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3. Pana Chocolate Sour Cherry + Vanilla

Chocolate has been a staple food for me since I could walk but more recently I have seriously got into eating raw chocolate and prefer it to the more mainstream stuff. The problem with this is that most raw chocolate is sweetened with agave syrup. Now whilst this is gluten free, agave is about 90% fructose and whenever I eat significant quantities my gut becomes very unhappy. Pana Chocolate is a Melbourne based company that makes handmade raw chocolate using all natural ingredients. One of their flavours; the Sour Cherry and Vanilla 60% cacao is made without added agave and uses coconut nectar as a sweetener instead. Totally fructose friendly, woot!

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4. Au Naturale juices

After initially trialling a three day juice cleanse complementary of Au Naturale Juice back in February this year, juice cleansing has become a monthly routine for me. I never thought I would be able to survive for three days without eating solids as I am the type of person who is already planning what to eat for dinner in the morning as I’m eating my breakfast. Food spends a large part of its time taking up my subconscious thoughts and I imagined I would be one of the LAST people to be up for a juice cleanse. Let alone repeating one every month! Yet now, each month I look forward to the energy it injects into me and the “rest” that I give my overworked digestive system seems to do wonders for my allergies, skin and gut health. I have continued to stick with using Au Naturale for my cleanses as the company’s owner Jac is always happy to adapt her juices individually to be more fructose friendly. Her cleanses are all-inclusive with everything you need and you can also include extra options such as herbal teas, miso paste, flavoured broths and nut milks.

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5. Warm Spiced Rice pudding from the Tapas Man at the Vic Park Farmers Market

I cannot describe how happy I am that we now have our very own Farmer’s Market in Vic Park. My progression to become someone who takes eating seasonally and locally as a way of life has become so much easier. The Boy and I look forward to a market stall breakfast each week, come rain or shine, and enjoy that we can plan our week’s meals based on whatever looks good at the fresh produce stalls. The Boy will alternate between a number of the different food vendors each week and has worked his way around many of the options trying vegetarian Banh Mi’s from Baguette Me Not, Mexican baked eggs from That Little Mexican Place and Perfect Poffertje’s Dutch pancakes. In contrast I have been very repetitive with my breakfast choice. Call it my final addiction for winter; my breakfast every week is the Tapas Man’s warm spiced pudding with poached fruits and toasted almonds. Once you have tried it you will struggle to order anything else. Unfortunately they are not at the markets every week so check their Facebook page before you get your hopes up!

Chompchomp did not receive any payment or gifts in lieu of this post and it is written purely because she wanted to share her obsessions with her readers. Chompchomp accepts no responsibility for any subsequent addiction that may develop in any of her readers in the aftermath from reading this post. She advises that the purchase of any of the above mentioned products is done at the individual’s risk.

Winter Menu Preview at Chocolateria San Churro

Posted by  | Categories: Chocolate, Desserts, Events, Featured, Perth, Restaurants

I need to give you a word of warning before you commence reading this post. If you are even just half the chocoholic that I am, some of the following images may cause a rapid heart rate, salivation and excitement. Across Australia tomorrow Chocolateria San Churro officially launch their new winter menu and last week I kindly agreed to take a hit for the team and attend their preview evening.

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Chocolate tapas (adapted GF)

San Churro is an Australian business first created in Melbourne in 2004 by founders Kelly Smith and Giro Maurici who were inspired whilst travelling by the traditional breakfast in Spain of thick hot chocolate and churros. The company has since grown to 37 stores across five states including eight cafes here in Perth; Northbridge, Vic Park, Subiaco, Fremantle, Mandurah, Hillarys, Rockingham and Leederville. Whilst churros are unfortunately not gluten free, I was enlightened to find there are still a number of chocolaty treats I can enjoy.

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Salted caramel and choc-cross bun truffles with a salted caramel macaron

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My new word: Drippalicious

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Of course this concept had to be applied to macarons. ($2.70 each)

While we waited for the remaining guests to arrive we were given a “tapas” plate to share. I discovered a new taste sensation that I cannot WAIT to return to San Churros for. Dunk a macaron in drippalicious molten chocolate; it is all the colours of sickly sweet wrong yet it left me feeling like I could conquer the world. The Boy looked on in bemusement while I dripped chocolate everywhere. And I mean everywhere. It was on my elbows, my forehead and even my camera.

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Cinnamon breakfast churros ($4.95, sadly not GF)

Our first course was the new cinnamon breakfast churros which are made fresh daily in the morning and fried to order. Whilst I obviously didn’t get to taste any of them, the Boy quite enjoyed his although he did say that it wouldn’t really be something he would eat for breakfast. He usually eats healthy salads and fruit.

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Raspberry macaron ($2.70, GF)

My replacement for the churros was another macaron which was served very apologetically. I laughed. As if I would ever be disappointed with being given more macarons.

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Iced Salted Caramel shake (this was a tester; full size $6.50, GF)

Our second course included smaller sample tastings of their two new milkshakes. I was glad that we didn’t get the full-sized serves as there was no way we could have got through it all. Our first milkshake was the iced salted caramel. Fresh milk and vanilla ice cream were mixed together with swirls of dulce de leche and topped with whipped cream and chocolate. These babies were gulped down in seconds.

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Salted Choc Coconut shake (this was a tester; full size $8.50, GF)

The popularity of salted caramel means it is a flavour that has been done to death by many kitchens but the next milkshake flavour was something a bit more interesting; salted chocolate coconut. Made with milk chocolate, shredded salted coconut, coconut syrup and dark choc chips this taste sensation put any salted caramel to bed. Let’s hope this is the new trend for 2014 because it is a whole new level of addictive sweet saltiness.

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Salted Carmel Sundae (adapted to be GF by addition of macaron, non-GF version $11.95)

Our third course was the new sundaes however neither of them were gluten free. Consequently they kindly made me an adapted version of the new salted caramel ice cream sundae. The normal version contains white chocolate ice cream with warm salted caramel fudge, melted milk chocolate and crusted chocolate malt balls. My sundae was adapted to be gluten free by changing the ice cream flavour to vanilla and replacing the malt balls with smashed chunks of salted caramel macarons. The warmed salted caramel and melted milk chocolate were still layered in there as they were gluten free. The alternate textures of smooth ice cream, macarons, gooey caramel and crunchy chocolate was out of this world. I was informed that this adaptation would cost extra due to the addition of the macarons.

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Chocolate Volcano ($11.95, not GF)

Moving onto the fourth course we were introduced to the new addition to their cake cabinet; the “Chocolate Volcano”.  This dessert was not gluten free meaning the Boy got a whole Volcano to himself however after being generously filled with San Churro’s churros, macarons, chocolate, sundaes and milk shakes he was getting close to being absolutely stuffed.

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I cut into the centre of the pudding for him and our eyes widened as luscious chocolate lava erupted out of the centre and dribbled out onto his plate. The pudding was served warm and despite our fullness the Boy managed to get through at least half of it before lowering his fork and admitting defeat.

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Flourless Chocolate cake ($8.95, GF)

My gluten free cake was one that is already on their menu however I was told it is very popular and not just those who eat gluten free. Rich and decadent, even I couldn’t get through one solo as the serving size is quite large. The centre of the cake was very moist with a subtle almond flavour.

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El Grande Crushed Malt ($6.95, not GF)

We were onto the final stretch at the fifth course and by this point I could hear a few groans coming from the other side of the table. We had well and truly out-chocolated ourselves leaving no room for our final course.

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The Boy was served a mug of San Churro’s traditional Spanish hot chocolate. They import this drink from Spain were it is made to an authentic Spanish recipe. This is not a hot drink for the light hearted as it is basically a mug of thick, molten chocolate. It is also not gluten free so I left the Boy to attempt to devour it on his own. The new versions of this drink take it to an even higher level of indulgence than before using a choice of three toppings; marshmallows and chocolate syrup, crusted malt balls or choc biscuit crumble. The Boy ate a few spoonfuls meekly before giving up for good.

I received a milk coverture hot chocolate instead which was light and foamy along similar lines to the standard hot chocolate many of you know well. I managed a few more mouthfuls than the Boy did with his drink before also putting my cup down with a sigh. I had been beaten by chocolate. And it was good.

Chocolateria’s new Winter Menu launches on Monday 31st March, 2014 across all stores.
 
Chompchomp attended San Churro’s Winter Menu preview night as a guest. However having been to San Churro as a customer several times already, I can guarantee I will continue to love their chocolate just as much when I return and have to pay for it.
 
Chocolateria San Churro Northbridge
132 James Street, Northbridge WA 6003 | (08) 9328 3363 | http://www.sanchurro.com/

Chocolateria San Churro Northbridge on Urbanspoon

Minipost: Loving our local's new menu at The Precinct, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Bars, Modern Australian, Perth, Pub, Restaurants, Vegetarian, Wine Bar

The Precinct is one of my favourite locals; it only takes us about fifteen minutes to walk there from our house, it has an ever changing and interesting wine list and most importantly they are very gluten free and vegetarian focused. Whilst I have already written two full posts on our Precinct dining experiences, our recent visit to try their new menu warrants at least a little photographic mention on the blog. Please note this was eaten over two nights….;-)

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Zucchini fritters, pickled beetroot, house made labne ($17, GF & vego)

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Tomato medley, Italian buffalo mozzarella, basil ($18, GF & vego)

Their new summer menu has moved away from the traditional structure of entrées and mains onto the more modern way of dining; share plates. More than half the menu is gluten free and there are over half a dozen vegetarian options that branch out well beyond the common offerings.

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Baked risotto, beetroot, mint, Meredith goats cheese ($16, GF & Vego)

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Tasmanian salmon, Spanish white anchovies, caper berries, herbs ($27, GF)

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Whey blanched broccoli, sugar snap peas, kale, green beans ($14, GF & vego)

Every dish was a winner in our opinion but the best dish of all came as a nice surprise; the roasted garlic and mustard mushrooms using a combination of King oyster, Shiitake, Oyster, Swiss Browns. We ordered this dish on each visit as it was too good to miss out a second time round.

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Roasted garlic and mustard mushrooms (King oyster, Shiitake, Oyster, Swiss Brown) ($25, GF & vego)

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Roasted garlic and mustard mushrooms (King oyster, Shiitake, Oyster, Swiss Brown) ($25, GF & vego)

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Marinated Fremantle sardines, haricot beans, chilli, capsicum, dill ($20, GF)

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Amelia Park lamb ribs, walnut spice yoghurt ($17, GF)

Their gluten free dessert options have had a total make over for which I am extremely grateful. Previously The Precinct’s gluten free desserts haven’t been anything I would rave about. Things have certainly changed for the better and upon reading the menu we struggled to choose one so we ordered both.

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Orange and vanilla pannacotta, strawberry, rhubarb ($14, GF)

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Orange and vanilla pannacotta, strawberry, rhubarb ($14, GF)

I would have been happy with either but we were both keen to share. My pavlova crumble was a pretty as a flower garden and I look forward to enjoying eating this on a regular basis!

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Pavlova crumble, raspberry sorbet, fresh berries ($14, GF)

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Three cheese platter: Blue de brabis, Delice de cremiries, Queso manchego ($33, GF on request)

Please note this was NOT a sponsored post. I just felt the urge to show off their new menu of my own accord!

The Precinct
834 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park 6101 | (08) 9355 2880 | www.theprecinctvicpark.com.au

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The new kid on the block: Grill'd burgers in Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Burgers & Snags, Fast Food, Featured, Perth, Restaurants
Disclosure: Chompchomp was invited to dine as a guest of Grill’d Vic Park.
 

I moved into the Vic Park area nearly twenty years ago when I was a young, whipper-snapper uni student. As is often the case when living in shared housing, I never really stayed in one location for long.  I dotted about the neighbourhood in a number of houses until the Boy and I finally settled down and bought our own home. Over the years, it has been exciting watching my suburb’s growth and development and it has become a place that its residents are now fiercely proud of. One of the best things that I love about Vic Park are our many options for dining out. We are totally spoilt for choice with literally the A to Z of international cuisine on our doorstep in addition to some modern wine bars and pubs. One of the recent newcomers to the café strip is Grill’d Victoria Park burger bar.

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Grill’d burgers have been around since 2004 and have grown from humble beginnings of a single Hawthorn store in Victoria to now being found across Australia in over 50 stores. To help promote their new Vic Park store, I was kindly invited to come and enjoy a round of burgers on the house. This was the first time I had visited a burger bar with the Boy since his conversion to a plant based diet and I was curious to see his opinion on their vegetarian burgers. He is a hard man to please when it comes to burgers and is surprisingly critical. If he liked their burgers, I figure they must be good.

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After nearly half an hour wait we still hadn’t received our meals and I enquired with one of the friendly wait staff. Within seconds she returned to our table blushing red with embarrassment and apologetically explained that for some reason our order got lost in the computer system. Her apology was promptly followed by the manager zooming to our table to do the same.

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Garden Goodness ($13.50)

Within minutes our burgers and chips arrived along with further apologies. The Boy ordered the “Garden Goodness” on a regular bun. This burger contained a thick, soft veggie patty with beetroot, tasty cheese, avocado, salad, relish and finished with herbed mayo.

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Garden Goodness ($13.50)

Impressing somebody who has been eating meat their whole life with a meatless vegetarian burger was always going to be a challenge. The Boy stopped eating meat for environmental, health and animal welfare reasons, not because he didn’t like the taste! I knew that this was going to be the testing moment and within seconds of taking his first bite I could see this was a winner. Packed full of flavour but without attaining an obscene height; the Garden Goodness is a veggie burger for even the most seasoned meat eater.

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Hot mama ($15)

I had been feeling a little low on my iron levels recently and craved a real beef burger. Also being in the mood for a bit of spice I tried the “Hot” mama which contained a grilled grass fed lean beef patty, roasted peppers, dill pickle, tasty cheese, tzatziki, salad and a kick of Harissa paste. Of course I chose mine with the gluten free bun option.

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Hot mama ($15)

Now those of you dear readers who are like me and cannot tolerate gluten in their diets, you will empathise the plethora of terrible gluten free bread out there. It has the tendency to have the texture of cake and often crumbles to pieces under the strain of weight and juices from a good burger.

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While many gluten free buns disintegrate to mush at the half way mark or even sooner, I found that Grilld’s gluten free buns held good shape despite my burger having an abundance of sauce and juiciness. It remained so “normal” that I became doubtful that it was genuinely gluten free bread. I called our waitress over to that table double check that they hadn’t made another mistake only to sheepishly find I was totally wrong, it was definitely gluten free. A little embarrassing!

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Hot chips($4.80)

Finally, Grill’d hot chips deserve a mention. These thick cut chips are sprinkled with a very addictive herb mix that makes you feel like you are eating at somewhere a bit more upmarket than just your local burger joint. The chips were piping hot, crunched loudly yet were fluffy and soft on the inside. This could be dangerous being so close to my front door.

To ensure to myself that our order stuff up was just a once off teething issue, the Boy and I returned on a couple of occasions incognito without my glaringly obvious SLR camera in hand and found there to be no further delays or issues with our orders. We have found both their burgers and salads consistently enjoyable and will continue to return.

Grill’d Victoria Park
895 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park WA 6101 | (08) 9355 1000 | www.grilld.com.au 
 
Chompchomp dined as a guest of Grill’d Vic Park. As it is too hard to be 100% subjective with a complementary meal I will refrain from giving a review or score and will purely just document my experience.

 Grill'd Victoria Park on Urbanspoon

Perfecting our Italian at L’Enoteca, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Featured, Italian, Perth, Restaurants, Wine Bar

Staff shortages are a quick way to destroy anyone’s social life. Recently at work we have been stretched thin on the ground turning my standard weekend roster of two-on-three-off into a full roster circuit of five weekends working. Joy. As the chance for my weekend time-out finally approached, I pre-emptively booked a dinner reservation for us at a local Italian restaurant L’Enoteca. The restaurant is a short skip and jump from our front door so all week in the lead up anticipation I envisaged strolling down hand in hand with the Boy to the Broken Hill Hotel for a few drinks then crossing over the road for a romantic meal.

When the weekend actually arrived, it was joined by a severe weather warning. Complete with dark ominous skies and whirling wind that vortexed around our house like a hurricane I could see the chances of us walking anywhere were doomed. Not willing to be beaten we rugged up and bundled into the car for our date night.

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House marinated olives ($6)

After a few rounds of drinks at the pub we were lucky enough to catch a break in the rain and power walked as best as one can with a broken toe down Albany Highway to L’Enoteca. The inside of the restaurant was cosy and warm and a welcome relief after the blustery walk. The menu was uncomplicated and clearly marked with both vegetarian and gluten free options. It made a nice change as it made ordering dishes so easy. As we perused the wine list we asked the waitress to bring out some marinated olives. Each olive was a soft little bomb of flavour with hints of citrus and the slight heat of some chilli. I prefer my olives soft; I don’t enjoy the harder ones as much.

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Stuffed field mushrooms with ricotta ($15)

The stuffed field mushrooms were the Boy’s choice and although this dish is something I often enjoy making for us at home it was by no means less satisfying eating it out in a restaurant. There is something oddly meaty about mushrooms when they prepared this way and I almost feel like I’m eating a bit of steak. Weird I know. L’Enoteca’s mushrooms were flavoured with fresh parsley and basil and were thick, juicy and surprisingly filling.

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Marinated octopus ($12)

Since my trip to Barcelona, I remain on a quest to find myself octopus in Perth which tastes as good as the dishes I ate in all those late night tapas bars. Although this octopus was very tasty it just didn’t have that plump soft texture that I’m aspiring for and it was a touch on the chewy side.

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Insalata Caprese with imported Italian mozzarella de bufala ($12)

Risotto is a dish I rarely have the time or patience to make at home. Maybe one day when I eventually get myself a Thermomix my world will change but until then I find it hard to justify standing in front of my stove stirring for what feels like an eternity.

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Duck risotto, porcini mushrooms, spinach ($35)

Our waitress came to our table and placed a huge bowl of creamy duck risotto in front of me and my lusting for Spanish octopus quickly faded back to the distant corners of my mind. The thickly sliced duck breast was cooked to a buttery soft texture and rich nutty tones from the porcini mushrooms added beautiful depth and substance.

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Handmade chestnut tagliatelle with a mushroom ragu, cream, shaved truffle pecorino, truffle oil ($28)

Our night was like a re-run of one of our Mushroom Mania meals. Not only was our shared entrée a mushroom dish but both of our mains were a mix of hearty mushroom goodness too. There was certainly no complaints from either of us! The Boy ordered the handmade chestnut tagliatelle with a creamy mushroom ragu and generous shavings of truffled pecorino (Moliterno tartufo). Each ribbon of soft pasta coated itself beautiful in the rich chestnut puree and buried amongst this was a variety of slippery soft mushrooms and whole roasted chestnuts . The Boy commented that the truffle aroma from the cheese was very subtle and being a truffle addict he would have preferred a touch more pungency.

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Pannacotta with balsamic strawberries marinated in a 4 year old Vincotto (cooked wine) ($15)

We had a teeny bit of room left to share one more dish. I would like to have tried some of their cheeses which I noted were all proudly Italian. There was one cheese in particular that sparked my attention; the Moliterno tartufo that the Boy had grated over his pasta. This is a type of truffle infused pecorino cheese. But recalling the Boy isn’t really into his cheese, I considerately selected a dessert for us to share instead. Such a good wife I am! Suffice to say we were pretty chuffed with our selection. The pannacotta had perfect form and cemented my deduction that L”Enoteca know their Italian cuisine. Delizioso!

L’Enoteca
249 Albany Highway, Victoria Park WA 6100 | (08) 9472 5881 | www.lenoteca.com.au
 
Price:                     $$$        
Food:                    4/5 (classic Italian favourites made with obvious passion and love)
Service:                4/5 (friendly & knowledgeable about their menu)
Ambience:          3.5/5 (a bit noisy, subdued lighting, quite romantic)
Drinks:                  3.5/5 (good selection of predominately Italian wines)
Total:                     15/20

L'Enoteca on Urbanspoon

The Precinct, Victoria Park Revisited

Posted by  | Categories: Bars, Modern Australian, Perth, Pub, Restaurants, Wine Bar

I have lived in the Vic Park area for nearly twenty years and have loved watching the neighbourhood develop and grow. It is a great place to live for numerous reasons but in my humble opinion one of the biggest selling factors is the variety of restaurants and cafes sitting right on our doorstep.  I’m certain we nearly have the “A to Z” of international cuisine and so we never seem to run out of options.  One of our regular haunts in the past has been The Precinct; a casual but funky eatery only a short fifteen minute stroll from our front door. The past few months my life has been exceedingly complicated and stressful and so when my Bestie proposed to me to catch up with another mutual close friend of ours Shannon I leaped at the opportunity to be able to switch off and relax. To make things even easier for me, Shannon was more than happy to travel over to our stompin’ ground and let us go local. Getting a booking at the last-minute on a Friday night can be tricky and after several phone calls to different restaurants I was starting to think we were out of luck. Finally we had success and managed to secure a table at the Precinct, seeing as we hadn’t been there for a several months we were happy to return.

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Tortilla crisps, carrot and cumin dip

As we sat down to order I cringed at the fact that our table had such a constellation of specific dietary requirements; one of us was gluten free, fructose friendly (me), one was a vegetarian (the Boy) and finally there was a gluten free vegetarian (my Bestie). As we seemingly pounded our friendly waitress with 101 questions she proved to be totally unflappable and remained generously accommodating despite having to do a couple of round trips to the kitchen to check on ingredient details for us.

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Popcorn

I have a tendency to get a bit obsessed with certain food and popcorn is one of those. I have been known to devour a whole packet in one sitting and have loved that it has featured on the bar snack menu at The Precinct for some time. Theirs is strongly flavoured with rosemary and lemon pepper making it extremely addictive.  To feed my addiction further, it is sold in take home bags enabling me to grab a roadie on my way out.

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Split pea fritters, roast garlic & almond dip

It is not often that fritters are gluten free but these were also vegan meaning we could all eat them. No animal was harmed in the making of these little crispy balls. Despite not containing any cheese or meat that would ordinarily make these delicious, the fritters were flavoursome with a crackly thin crumb and a piping hot soft centre.

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Tasmanian Salmon, fennel coleslaw, confit tomatoes, rocket pesto

It is unusual for me to have a small appetite and I guess this may be a reflection of the turmoil and stress in my life over recent weeks. Consequently I was happy to see the portion size for the Tasmanian salmon was fairly small. Accompanied by a fennel salad, confit tomatoes and a blob of rocket pesto it was just the light meal my wobbly stomach needed however in more jovial times I may have been left feeling a bit peckish. I prefer my salmon to be slightly rare and was dismayed to see this chunk was cooked all the way through. I consoled myself with the fact that at least the skin was brittle thin and crunchy.

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Pork belly, potato puree, pea, mint apple & cabbage salad

Shannon has recently undergone a very successful diet and life style change that has enabled her to improve both her health and well-being immensely. Being so well behaved with her eating habits for so long she decided to treat herself and ordered herself the pork belly. The crackling was snippety snap hard and browned to a delicious honey colour. The flesh was somewhat tender but I think the portion size was a bit overwhelmingly large for someone who has been eating an abundance of healthiness of late. It was served with a potato puree and a pea, mint, apple and cabbage salad.

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Vegetable spaghetti

Earlier on this year I subjected the Boy to a six week Raw Food experiment. Instead of our usual vegetarian Meatless Monday, I turned it into a raw food and vegan version. I called it “The Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge”! Some of my dishes included raw noodles and every time I made them his eyes would light up with glee. He was elated to see that vegetable spaghetti featured on The Precinct’s menu for the evening. Julienned zucchini and carrot sat atop thick wedges of pumpkin with raisins tossed through for more sweetness. I had to fight him for a mouthful to taste.

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Green Beans with herb oil and baked mushroom risotto, truffle oil

The Bestie is also vegetarian and ordered the baked mushroom risotto with truffle oil. To add some greenery to her choice she also ordered some green beans.

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Brownie

Not wanting to end the evening with a savoury taste in our mouths, us girls agreed to share a gluten free brownie complete with ice cream. Whilst the brownie was gluten free, the ice cream was unfortunately not meaning Shannon got to enjoy the scoop all to herself. Our waiter ensured it was served separate from the brownie to avoid any contamination. It was a big wedge of a brownie and was more than ample for the three of us to share. I did find it a bit dry and wished I could enjoy some ice cream to wash it down.

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Ice cream sandwich

The Boy ordered the ice cream sandwich. These are made in house and I love how they mark The Precinct logo on the top. It reminds me of years long gone by where they were one of my favourite after dinner treats. I used to walk down to our local deli with our flat mate and we would buy an ice cream each for ourselves and one for the Boy who always stayed at home. And if it wasn’t an ice cream sandwich, it was a hazelnut roll. Happy days!

The Precinct remains one of my favourite locals on the Vic Park strip. Their service is always bubbly and energetic, their wine list is interesting, and although their food won’t blow your mind it is still creative, fresh and ever changing. They are happy to accommodate for all the tricky dietary needs; be it vego, vegan, fructose friendly or gluten free.

The Precinct
834 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park 6101 | (08) 9355 2880 | www.theprecinctvicpark.com.au/
 
Price:                     $$ (Entrees/snacks $7-19, Mains $22-29)
Food:                    3/5 (simple, interesting and fresh)
Service:                3.5/5 (these guys are always so enthusiastic)
Ambience:          3.5/5 (good to find somewhere without fluoro lights on the Vic Park strip)
Drinks:                  4.5/5 (great list, lots of European choices of wines and beers)
Total:                     14.5/20 

The Precinct on Urbanspoon

The Cheese Barrel, Swan Valley then onto The Balmoral Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Featured, Perth, Pub, Restaurants, Winery

One of the most frustrating things about being a business owner is losing a good staff member. What makes it even harder is when not only are you sad to see them leave the business but you know you will also miss them as a friend.  As a final bid farewell to one of our valued team members we all made the trek to the Swan Valley on a sunny Sunday to The Cheese Barrel.  There was a great turn out and we all made ourselves comfortable in the downstairs area on the abundance of couches and cushions.

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Australian Plate

Located next door to Olive Farm Wines just off Great Northern Highway, The Cheese Barrel has a tremendous menu of cheese from all around the world. They have themed cheese boards such as “Blue Lovers Paradise” or “Soft Cheese Sensation” or alternatively you can order a regional board from Australia, France, Spain or Italy. For those more specific with their cheesy needs individual cheeses can be purchased in 50 gram portions or larger.

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Tarago Shadows of Blue Gippsland Victoria

My head nurse ordered the Tarago Shadows of Blue, a mild blue mould cheese made with cow’s milk from Gippsland, Victoria. This was one of my favourite cheeses of the day; rich and creamy with a slight tang.  Despite the large 100gm serving, this cheese was one of the first to disappear. I even caught a few who proclaimed they don’t like blue cheese sneaking back sheepishly for seconds.

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Murcia Al Vino (lower right) and Manchego (left)

I will be travelling to Barcelona in eight weeks on conference so I thought I’d break away from my French roots and get myself into the flamenco mood. When it comes to cheese I am highly patriotic to my French ancestry however there are a number of Spanish cheeses I shamelessly hold very close to my heart.  Or should I say mouth.

The first cheese on this platter was a semi-hard goat’s cheese Murcia Al Vino. This was quite unlike anything I have had before. It has a really creamy flavour yet its texture is elastic and almost buoyant. The rind is a rich plum colour due to being washed in wine giving an interesting fruity after-taste  The second cheese on the platter is one I am all too familiar with and love very dearly; Manchego. This versatile semi-hard sheep cheese is one of my all-time favourites and has the distinctive sweet flavour typical of sheep’s cheese. I received gluten free crackers on the side however there was still bread on my platter.  To avoid contamination I suggest they avoid mixing the two on the same platter.

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Queso San Simon (left) and Queso Valdeon (right)

Moving around to the second half of the cheese board were two cow’s milk cheeses. The Queso San Simon is a semi-hard smoked cheese from the north-west of Spain. The smoky flavours are quite subtle and delicate and it also has a surprisingly creamy texture for a semi-hard cheese. The blue cheese on the Spanish plate is the Queso Valdeon.  I recall trying this for the first time at Clarke’s of North Beach last year with the in-laws. This time the Valdeon tasted like it needed to be left to come to room temperature for another half hour as the flavours were somewhat dulled. It was definitely  overshadowed by the creamy deliciousness of the Tarago Shadows of Blue.

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Wine “flight”

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Tasting notes

Not being familiar with any Olive Farm wines, I ordered an Olive Farm “Wine Flight” to accompany my cheese.  Each wine was carefully matched to each cheese to enhance the experience. I’m not going to pretend I know how to describe wines and I’m sure the Olive Farm have done a better job on their tasting notes!

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“Soft cheese sensation”

Some of the girls ordered the Soft Cheese Sensation board which was sadly also served a little too cold. It almost seemed like sacrilege to see heroes like La Buche D’Affinois and Brillat-Savarin served firm and erect with minimal shine in their centres. The pernickety side of me also noticed spelling errors on the menu, another minor oversight perhaps.

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Raspberry macarons

I am told the macarons were the bomb.  They are imported from France, cost $2.20 each and are worth every cent.  I totally regret not trying them. At this point our party started to disband with a few of us keen to carry on the festivities. Reluctant to continue drinking this far from home with my car I attempted to convince them all to head into the city but to no avail. Eventually they opted to remain in the valley and I headed home. Not wanting my day to end once I got home I persuaded the Boy to walk down to one of our locals The Balmoral pub to carry on drinking.

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Scallops and chorizo

Walking down the Albany Highway rekindled my appetite and by the time we arrived at The Balmoral I was super hungry. There were only limited share dishes available gluten free so we shared two serves of the scallops served in the shell topped with chorizo and marinated red pepper. The scallops were fairly small but soft and tender however the chorizo was flavourless and fatty.

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Chargrilled quail salad

Trying to pace myself so I could fit in desert I ordered a light meal for dinner; the char-grilled quail salad. The plump bird was served juicy and pink. The bed of salad was scantly tossed with some occasional crisp prosciutto, warm potatoes and mixed greens. A little more of the flavoursome ingredients wouldn’t have gone astray in this dish.

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Warm lamb and quinoa salad

The Boy has been trying to move away from eating red meat but the lure of a steak at a pub is hard work.  This time round he came very close to ordering the Surf and Turf before once again stopping himself and choosing the warm lamb and quinoa salad. His salad arrived at the table piled high on his plate with a generous serving of shredded lamb, spinach, quinoa, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds feta, dried figs and a subtle hint of mint. The word salad never conjures up thought that the meal would be filing but thanks to the higher protein content of quinoa he was so full that he nearly talked me out of ordering dessert.

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White chocolate and Baileys Crème brûlée

I said nearly. After a couple of months of carefully watching what I ate, now there is no holding me back! The white chocolate and bailey crème brûlée sounded like it would be the perfect way to end a long day of eating and drinking. Unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment. It tasted very bland with no evidence of any white chocolate or baileys flavours at all. The vanilla ice cream was icy and super sweet.

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Ice cream Sundae

The Boy defaulted back to his one of his favourites for dessert; the ice cream sundae. Those of you who know him well understand that ice cream is to him what chocolate is to me.  His sundae looked like something out of the eighties, and was served with three dishes of sauces; dark chocolate, berry coulis and “butterscotch sauce”. The butterscotch sauce had an odd khaki green colour to it and tasted like molten treacle. It was meant to be topped with nuts and chocolate shavings but there was barely half stingy a teaspoon sprinkled on top. Not a recommended dish even for kids.

Overall the Balmoral is a great casual pub to pop in for a local drink with your mates. There are two courtyards outside and they always have a great vibe and it is the perfect place to enjoy a sun downer in summer. Their food is trying to lift its game above basic pub fare with a few hits and misses along the way.

The Cheese Barrel

920 Great Northern Highway, Millendon, WA 6056 | (08) 9296 4539 | http://www.thecheesebarrel.com.au/

 
Price:                     $
Food:                    2.5/5 (astounding list available, but needs to be served at the right temperature)
Service:                3/5 (quick, helpful)
Ambience:          3/5 (overlooks a small patch of forested reserve)
Drinks:                  3/5 (only tried a few wines)
Total:                     11.5/20 
The Cheese Barrel on Urbanspoon
 
The Balmoral Hotel
901 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park 6100 | (08) 9355 4533 | http://www.thebalmoral.com.au/
 
Price:                     $$$ (Entrees $7-23, Mains $22-35, accepts Entertainment Card)
Food:                    2.5/5 ()
Service:                2.5/5 (our waitress was lovely…but very forgetful)
Ambience:          3/5 (casual pub vibe)
Drinks:                  3/5 (the essentials)
Total:                     11/20

Balmoral Hotel on Urbanspoon

Food For Me, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Burgers & Snags, Coffee, Featured, Perth, Restaurants

We rocked up obliviously late for lunch just as Food For Me was near their closing time hoping to grab a bite to eat.  I still hadn’t twigged that they were about to shut and began to peruse the menu at which point the waiter politely informed me the kitchen was closed.  Not perturbed in any way he kindly smiled and offered to reheat some of the food from the cabinet for us. After apologising profusely for our ignorance we accepted his offer.

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Spinach, bacon, feta and pinenut frittata

I selected the spinach frittata with bacon, pine nuts and feta plus a beetroot and spinach salad.  The frittata was light and set firmly without being chewy or unpleasant.  The salad was obviously reaching the end of its life span but seeing as we had rudely barged our way in at the thirteenth hour I figured this to be expected at this time of day.

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Spinach, beetroot and feta salad

The Boy ordered one of his time old favourites; the beef lasagna. Thick with meaty sauce and gooey cheese the lasagna connoisseur gave it the big thumbs up.  We both vowed to return when both the kitchen and the coffee machine were switched on and see what these guys could do.

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Beef lasagne

A few weeks later I attended Rob Broadfield‘s sold out seminar on food writing at the Hyatt with Foodie Cravings and Perth Munchkin. Rob gave us some useful tips on how to write captivating restaurant reviews worthy enough to publish in the well-known West Australian Good Food Guide. The day also served to give him an opportunity to scope for new reviewers as each delegate had to submit an 80 word café or bar review. I found it amusing that basically we were all paying for the chance to have an interview!

It started off a stunning morning with clear blue skies and a crisp breeze so I chose to walk into the city.  Halfway through the four-hour seminar I began to regret this decision as my stomach let out some clearly audible grumblings and my head started to spin.  Talking about food wasn’t helping my situation much either. As soon as the seminar was over I met up with the Boy and headed straight to Food For Me, Victoria Park for lunch.

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A bit more milk than I usually prefer but still delightful

Serving locally roasted Essenza coffee, the beans are ground on demand and you can smell the aroma as soon as you walk into the café. The coffee is quite sweet and creamy without any strong bitterness or bite.

"Zucchini and corn fritters" "corn fritters" "zucchini fritters" "avocado" "mixed greens" "poached free range egg" "egg" "preserved lemon" "dill and chilli dressing" "egg porn" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "travel blog" "Breakfast" "brunch" "coffee" "Food For Me, Victoria Park" "Food For Me" "Victoria Park" "Vic Park" "Vic Park Cafe" "Albany Highway" "organic" "vegetarian"

Zucchini and corn fritters

Although they do serve gluten free toast I wasn’t in the mood for bread and chose the zucchini and corn fritters.  I didn’t expect such a huge meal and with half a brilliant green avocado, tossed salad and two poached eggs I was thankful I did walk earlier in the morning.  All that bridal weight loss was returning back to my hips in a very fast fashion. The fritters were filled brim full of corn, each ear popping with freshness in my mouth.

"Zucchini and corn fritters" "corn fritters" "zucchini fritters" "avocado" "mixed greens" "poached free range egg" "egg" "preserved lemon" "dill and chilli dressing" "egg porn" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "travel blog" "Breakfast" "brunch" "coffee" "Food For Me, Victoria Park" "Food For Me" "Victoria Park" "Vic Park" "Vic Park Cafe" "Albany Highway" "organic" "vegetarian"

The proof is in the heart of the egg

My poached eggs were satisfyingly gloopy and I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing a quick yolk-porn shot.  Heavenly. The preserved lemon, chilli and dill dressing had a sweet almost maple syrupy flavour to it and I had to resist licking the last of it off my empty plate before they were taken away.

"Chicken burger" "chicken tenderloin" "mayonnaise" "relish" "bacon" "cheese" "burger" "dude food" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "travel blog" "Breakfast" "brunch" "coffee" "Food For Me, Victoria Park" "Food For Me" "Victoria Park" "Vic Park" "Vic Park Cafe" "Albany Highway" "organic"

Chicken burger

The Boy nearly ordered himself a steak sandwich before he stopped himself and changed to a chicken burger instead. Juicy tenderloins were buried in the burger among some bacon, cheese and lettuce. Their breads are sourced from Barrett’s Bakery in Nedlands where they hand make all their bread without adding any additives. The burger bun was soft but resilient and despite the constant drip of mayonnaise and relish it retained its shape and body until the very end.

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Chocolate brownie (gluten free)

When we were up at the counter ordering our meals, our waiter talked up their gluten free brownies claiming them to be outrageously good.  After finishing off the last of my fritters my curiosity got the better of me and I sidled back up to the counter to order one to share.  Rich and moist, the brownie lived up to his hype and was laced with some tart raspberries to balance out the sweetness. There was no crumbliness common to gluten free slices and our spoons fought over the last mouthful.

Breakfast in Vic Park can often be a bit of hit and miss.  Having visited Food For Me on a number of occasions now I can safely say they are on my list of hits. Loads of gluten free options, fresh mostly organic produce and friendly staff they really have got their recipe right.  We will be returning for sure.

Food For Me
877 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park, 6101 | (08) 9472 0333 | http://www.foodforme.com.au/
 
Price:                     $$
Food:                    4/5 (loads of GF options, make sure you try their brownie!)
Service:                4/5 (super positive friendly vibe)
Ambience:          3/5 (try and nail a table outside in the sun) 
Drinks:                  3.5/5 (creamy luscious coffee) 
Total:                     15.5/20
 Food For Me on Urbanspoon

The Publican Bar, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Bars, Featured, Modern Australian, Perth, Pub, Restaurants

Some of you may recall my unusual Australia Day weekend this year. It started off at our local pub The Broken Hill Hotel where we munched on casual pub food with drinks a plenty and could even see the fireworks show from where we sat on their balcony.  A far cry from our usual annual party extravaganza we hold at our house but a great night out all the same. The reason for such a tame national holiday you see was that the weekend preceeding this relaxing weekend happened to be my Hen’s day.  In true Chompchomp style I burnt all my candles at both ends and managed to come out with a fair share of bruises coupled a strained joint in my spine. It was worth it; we had a total hoot of a time but entertaining and cooking for the masses was out of my capabilities that following weekend.

After such a fun night at The Broken Hill, we decided to continue in our “let’s go local” mode and walked down to the other end of Albany Highway to The Publican Bar. Our wedding was just over a month away at this point in time and both of us were filled with excitement and anxiety.  The biggest thing that recently was absorbing our thoughts was the choreographed dance for our first dance.  We were both feeling like we may have bitten off more than we could chew but knew how jaw dropping it would be if we could pull it off. To make matters worse, our dance practice had been stalled to a halt by my stupid drunk and disorderly neck injury from the Hen’s.  This left me feeling guilty as I was the one responsible for disrupting our progress.

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Lemon pepper squid, fresh lemon

We initially took a seat indoors but after such a relaxed evening outdoors the night before I could immediately see the Boy was uncomfortable and not happy with our choice.  We looked out into the tiny courtyard and although there were no customers sitting out there to give any atmosphere it was still better than sitting under the dim lights indoors.

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Garlic butter prawns, cooked in white wine with fresh rocket and Turkish bread

The Publican Bar has a number of gluten free options and these are clearly marked on their menu.  We started with some lemon pepper squid and garlic prawns. Their prawns had a lot more flavour than those we had the previous night at the Broken Hill Hotel lacking that metallic watery after taste that can only come from frozen produce. The calamari were an eclectic mix of chewy and soft so it was a secret surprise whether you got the perfectly cooked piece or the rubbery one.

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Surf and turf, grilled creamy garlic prawns, 300 gm sirloin with beer battered chips and garden salad

Predicting what the Boy will order to eat can sometime be a challenge. Often he will go for a long spell of choosing the same dishes over and over and then randomly pull out a left field and often successful punt at something more unusual. This Australia Day weekend however he has sticking to true blue Aussie man food and ordered another steak, this time the surf and turf.

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I have it rare thank you!

I could hear an audible crunch as he chowed down his beer battered chips and noticed that his steak was cooked rare just as requested. We have had previous experiences where this wasn’t the case so it was a relief to see the kitchen was on track to serve this simple hearty meal well. The prawns however were more tasteless than our entrée and his salad appeared like it was dressed much earlier in the day leaving it looking sad and wilted.

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Grilled vegetable salad

I never used to be one to obsess over calories but preparing for a wedding will surely do it to the best of us and after drinking more than a bottle of wine with my three course meal the night before I was feeling racked with guilt for my indulgences this close to our wedding.  To amplify my worries my injured neck meant my usual fall back to combat caloric excesses of running long distances was an absolute no go zone.

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Grilled vegetable salad

Taking this into mind I chose the grilled vegetable salad served with baby spinach, mushrooms, pumpkin, almonds, feta and roasted beetroot.  Now I cannot say I’m a vegetarian by any means but I do actually prefer to eat a lot of vegetarian meals. I would expect maybe 3 out of 5 of my meals are meatless and when I do eat meat it tends to be from the sea.  However, vegetarian doesn’t have to equate to boring and I cannot imagine what the chef was thinking when he prepared this salad.  What ever happened to tossing all ingredients together? Odd. Needless to say I do love roast veggies so I still managed to walk away very satisfied. Just a little confused.

The Publican Bar is one of our locals but with the increasing number of new bars and restaurants opening up in the area I think they should really consider lifting their game in order to keep up with the competition. There were items still on their menu that I recall from visits several years back. I’m sure we will head back there again but it won’t be in a hurry.

The Publican Bar
774 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park 6101 WA | (08) 9470 5818 | http://thepublicanbar.com.au
 
Price:                     $$$ (Tapas $7-16, Mains $23-36)
Food:                    3/5 (a little hit and miss but does the staples well)
Service:                2.5/5 (slow and reluctant)
Ambience:          2.5/5 (it has a sports bar feel)
Drinks:                  3/5 (big range of beers, wine list fairly standard)
Total:                     11/20

 The Publican Bar & Cafe on Urbanspoon

Red Basil, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Perth, Restaurants, Thai

Everyone has their favourite types of cuisine but just to be a bit complicated I have three.  Staying close to my roots my first favourite is French cuisine. Secondly, thanks to my incurable addiction to raw fish, the logical next player is Japanese. But in more recent years, my love of Thailand and their food has grown exponentially fuelled by some incredible trips to Thailand with the Boy where we have celebrated a close friend’s wedding, got engaged and found the wedding venue of our dreams and ultimately returned there to marry. It holds a very special place in both our hearts.

Many Thai restaurants here in Perth are a little Westernised and cook up what my novice experience tells me is Bangkok style cuisine.  Although the immense variety of dishes you can eat in Thailand is exciting, over here in Perth I find a lot of restaurant stick to the more common dishes such as green curries, ginger chicken, basil beef and the like.  Worst still, a lot add way too much sugar into each dish meaning the flavours of the dishes become very simplified and sweet. True Thai should have more complexity in its flavour achieving a delicate balance of sweet, sour, salty and sometimes bitter.

Our favourite local Thai is Little Ying Thai on Albany Highway.  Although I wouldn’t say it’s the best Thai in Perth, it is cheap; it’s local and hits the spot every time. Better still the owner recognises me over the phone once I ask for “no gluten, no onion” in our order. They have yet to get our orders wrong and I always feel very confident ordering from them.

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Soft crab salad

A new Thai restaurant Red Basil opened up last year on the Albany Highway café strip and being even closer to our house than Little Ying we thought we would give them a try. Immediately upon glancing at the menu I started to get a bad feeling as there were a couple of more Chinese looking dishes on there.  Thai and Chinese are two very different cultures and more importantly cuisines! We started with the soft-shelled crab which was deep-fried and served with a “Thai” dressing, carrot, tomato and chilli.  I asked for the onion to be omitted but it still was placed on our plate. The crab had barely any meat and was mostly just crispy shell.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Victoria Park" "Albany Highway" "vic park" "red Basil, Victoria Park" "red Basil, vic park" "Red basil thai" "thai" "Thai food" "Larb gai" "minced meat salad" "chicken larb"

Larb gai

Larb is one of my favourite Thai appetisers. It is a mincemeat salad made typically with chicken, pork, duck or mushrooms and flavoured with fish sauce, lime juice, toasted ground rice and then mixed with fresh chilli, mint and other herbs.  I love the mixture of sweet mint, the heat of the chilli and the crunchy texture of the toasted ground rice. This version was a small for an entrée, was very mild in heat and a little too sweet.  My request for no onion was observed for this dish.

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Vegetarian spring roll

The Boy also ordered some vegetarian spring rolls for his entrée.  I was unable to taste them as they contained gluten but he described them to me as being somewhat soggy and tasted like stale oil.  They contained carrot, cabbage, corn and glass noodles and were served with sweet chilli sauce.

"Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Victoria Park" "Albany Highway" "vic park" "red Basil, Victoria Park" "red Basil, vic park" "Red basil thai" "thai" "Thai food" "Ginger chicken"

Ginger chicken

Unfortunately by this point my disappointment had led to me drinking the majority of my bottle of wine and my ability to capture our last dish on camera failed me.  We ordered the ginger chicken with mixed vegetables. The dish came with plenty of veggies but had very little ginger flavour to it and tasted like a basic stir fry.

Overall, neither of us were that impressed with Red Basil. With a couple of other good Thai options nearby our home it would seem unlikely that we would get to return to get them a second chance either. Perhaps some other readers can tell me otherwise? On the bright side, our meal came to under $50 bucks which fitted very nicely into our weekend budgeting!

Red Basil Thai Cuisine
2/335 Albany Highway, Victoria Park, WA 6100 | (08) 9361 2661
 
Price:                     $ (under $15 per meal) BYO, Cash only
Food:                    4/10 (too sweet without any other flavour)
Service:                2/5 (forgot my allergies, uncertain they avoided gluten as I reacted the following day with my usual skin and gut upsets)
Ambience:          2/5 (none really, but then it is cheap so you get what you pay for)
Total:                     8/20

 Red Basil Thai Cuisine on Urbanspoon

Celebrating Australia Day at The Broken Hill Hotel, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Desserts, Featured, Hotels, Modern Australian, Perth, Pub, Restaurants

We traditionally celebrate Australia Day in our household by throwing a Triple J Hottest 100 countdown pool party. Joined by our close friends we devour lots of good food, drinks a plenty and generally end our night with a short stroll to the end of the street to view the fireworks show. In the ten years we have lived in this house we have only had one year off when I had the misfortune to be rostered on to work.

On the weekend prior to Australia Day this year it was my Hen’s day.  It was a fabulous day out in the Swan Valley which turned into a Hen’s night with many of us boogying on the dance floor of Geisha nightclub until the wee hours of the morning. I had an absolutely ball of a time and am so grateful for all that came to the various parts of the day and night to celebrate with me.

However what goes up must come down and the following day I seriously began to regret my stubborn choice of monstrously high shoes that I had spent the night dancing in. Within 24 hours the whole side of my neck swelled up and I could barely move my head without sharp pinching pain.  After a few days in a cloud of pain killers I popped my head up out of the self-induced haze and ta-da; it was Australia Day! No party for us this year!

Having such a quiet and empty house felt like a bit of a fizzer for us so in order to liven things up the Boy suggested we walk down to our local; The Broken Hill Hotel. I donned some boringly flat shoes in a moment of complete sensibility and off we set down to the pub.

We were greeted by the sounds of the DJ spinning many dance music hits that all seemed to be released in the same year; 1989. We both found this very entertaining until we both realised that although it felt like yesterday we were dancing in the clubs to these very songs, it was indeed over 20 years ago! We really are getting old!!

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Seared scallops, apple purée, chive vinaigrette (chorizo excluded as not gluten free)

Our waitress was very helpful in negotiating with the chef what could be done gluten and onion free. We started with the seared scallops served on a bed of apple purée. The chorizo was excluded as it couldn’t be guaranteed gluten free. With the second main ingredient of this dish omitted it did seem slightly unfinished however the scallops were adequately browned to a rich honey colour whilst maintaining their delicate softness within.

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Chermoula prawns

The chermoula prawns were the least enjoyable dish of the evening.  The prawns didn’t taste very fresh and lacked that exquisite crunch that I love.  After failing to taste much in the body of the prawn the Boy proceeded to suck out all the heads in a quest for something with more flavour.  This was something my family introduced him to over Christmas and he is now converted to dedicated prawn head sucker for life.

"Crisp skinned salmon" "pumpkin puree" "broccolini" "tomato vinaigrette" "fish" "seafood" &quo</a></p>



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A last minute bestie binge at Harvest Espresso Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Coffee, Featured, Perth, Restaurants

I am quite an unconventional bride.  At the time we got engaged; the Boy and I had already been together for over ten years and bought both a house and a business. It’s not that either of us is against marriage, it just wasn’t a priority for us at the time.  After getting engaged I have found the whole process of planning for a wedding very gradual as I am not one of those girls that have all the details of their big day planned out in their heads before their respective other has even popped the question.

It was the day my Bestie was to fly out to Vietnam for three weeks to finish her yoga teacher training course and we were both feeling the guilt of neglecting our friendship.  Not because either of us meant to avoid each other by any means, we just had so much going on individually in our own lives that time got the better of us and before we knew it; her departure day had arrived.

"Coffee" "5 senses coffee" "short macchiato" "cafe latte" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Harvest Espresso Victoria Park" "Victoria Park" "cafe" "brunch" "breakfast" "organic" "Vic Park" "albany Highway" "food sponge"

Creamy deliciousness. I didn’t like the wooden spoons though.

Luck was on our side as I had the morning off work and she didn’t fly out until the afternoon. I arrived at her house bright and early with the aim to take her out for breakfast as a farewell present, a Christmas present and a belated birthday present all rolled into one.  To minimize our travel time and thus maximize our time together I headed to the new café Harvest Espresso opened up on Albany Highway only a short walk from our house.

"Bakery" "cakes" "desserts" "muffins" "tarts" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Harvest Espresso Victoria Park" "Victoria Park" "cafe" "brunch" "breakfast" "organic" "Vic Park" "albany Highway" "food sponge"

The morning’s freshly baked treats

The small café has a very welcoming feel to it and you almost feel like you are entering someone’s rustic country kitchen with lots of natural light flooding in.  We could feel the energy and excitement from the staff that often accompanies a new business venture.

"Coffee" "5 senses coffee" "short macchiato" "cafe latte" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Harvest Espresso Victoria Park" "Victoria Park" "cafe" "brunch" "breakfast" "organic" "Vic Park" "albany Highway" "food sponge"

My mac was gone a in few seconds flat!

The coffee served is Five Senses and the barista knows how to brew.  Both our short macchiato and soy latte were served at the perfect temperature and if I hadn’t already had a double shot of my Nespresso at home I could have easily had another.  My Bestie on the other hand didn’t hold back on seconds.

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Poached eggs, mushrooms and wilted spinach

I ordered the poached eggs on gluten free toast paired with some wilted spinach and mushrooms.  A little unimaginative I guess but I was really in the mood for some poached egg molten goo action. I truly tend to find myself defining a good breakfast by the chef’s ability to poach an egg having failed at this miserably a number of times at home myself.

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The proof is in the goo. Tell me when you get sick of these shots!

My eggs did not disappoint.  As I gently sliced into the soft egg white, out ruptured the yolk like a burst of golden sunshine. In a flurry I grabbed for Gordon, my SLR camera to capture that lovely moment that never fails to excite me.   I cannot help but fall in love with the obligatory goo shot (sorry for those that tire of my poached egg obsession).

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Harvest Spanish Baked egg

After seeing some mouth-watering photos of the Harvest Spanish baked egg on their Facebook page; I persuaded the Bestie to give them a try. Served in a ceramic baking dish with chorizo, cabbage, tomatoes, cannellini beans and a sprinkling of paprika we were told this was their most popular dish.  We order an extra egg to be cracked in there for good measure.  After initially casting envious eye on the state of my eggs to her delight she was met with a similar experience of her own.  She happily mopped up all the flavoursome sauce mixed with runny egg with a big grin of satisfaction on her face.

We were determined to “push the boat out” and make this breakfast last for a long as we possibly could so ordering a second course was a must.  Although we have spent months apart before, the idea of spending three weeks separated from each other this close to my wedding wasn’t exactly best case scenario but unfortunately unavoidable.

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Pistachio friand

There was a lovely collection of home baked single serve tarts and muffins beautifully displayed near the counter.  My only option for a gluten free choice was the cutest and nearly pointlessly small sized pistachio friand.  If I wasn’t so stuffed with everything I had eaten so far I may have been a little disappointed. Or maybe I would have just had two.  But for this occasion the single mouthful was just right. Perhaps in the future they plan to have some more adult sized gluten free desserts?

"Lemon curd tart" "desserts" "tart" "lemon curd" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Harvest Espresso Victoria Park" "Victoria Park" "cafe" "brunch" "breakfast" "organic" "Vic Park" "albany Highway" "food sponge"

Lemon curd tart

Not entirely bound by the restrictions of gluten free diet the Bestie was easily coerced into ordering a lemon curd tart. She initially planned on just scooping out the curd and leaving the pastry base but after a couple of zesty mouthfuls she realised that the pasty was an essential part.  She agonised over the right words to describe her dish and ended on the conclusion that it was a hit regardless of how you described it.

Adequately fuelled for her long trip, we drove to the International Airport singing and laughing the whole way.  She has some exciting times ahead and I am so happy for her.

A bientôt ma chérie! Good luck! xxxxx

Harvest Espresso
629 Albany Highway, Victoria Park 6100 | 0416 397 088 | Facebook
 
Price:                     $$ ($9-20/meal, Cash only)
Food:                    4.5/5 (eggs are amazing, need more GF sweet treats!)
Service:                4.5/5 (super friendly positive vibe, proud of their café and the food)
Ambience:           4/5 (light, airy and homely)
Drinks:                  5/5 (5 Senses coffee. What can I say!?)
Total:                     18/20
 

Harvest Espresso on Urbanspoon

Stuffing my face at V Burger Bar

Posted by  | Categories: Burgers & Snags, Desserts, Fast Food, Perth, Pub, Restaurants

We are not big eaters of classic fast food; I’m talking burgers, pizza, kebabs and the like.  Ultimately I prefer much more refined dining but let’s be honest, one simply cannot afford to do that every weekend.  At least not on my income.  So when we both got a craving for junk, we decided to head to our local V Burger Bar excited about our naughty treat. Last year our initial attempts at visiting this popular place resulted in us being diverted over to Pancho’s Mexican Villa due to a lack of gluten free buns.  Now that was some night…..sloppy microwaved food, blistering burns and a scathing retaliation from a fan (or owner) in the wake of my review; the Pancho’s post has certainly become infamous!

"Balmoral Hotel" "pub" "retriofit" "live music" "wine" "beer" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Vic Park" "Albany Highway cafe strip" "Victoria Park"

The Balmoral Hotel

We stopped in at The Balmoral for a couple of pre-dinner drinks and bumped into some old friends that we hadn’t seen for a long time.  As we chatted away a local band called Retriofit set up in full view of our tables and started playing some funky acoustic covers. After some time our friends departed to make their own dinner reservations leaving us sitting alone together. We were both in such a fabulous mood so we took the opportunity of using some interesting mood lighting to take portraits of each other with Gordon my SLR (yes, I named my camera!)

"Balmoral Hotel" "pub" "retriofit" "live music" "wine" "beer" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Vic Park" "Albany Highway cafe strip" "Victoria Park"

Live music by Retriofit

After several rounds of drinks and photos my post-run hunger started to climax and was accompanied by some rather unladylike noises erupting from deep in my stomach.   We skipped across the road to V Burger Bar nearly drooling in anticipation. I had already called ahead to make sure they had gluten free buns in stock.

"V burger bar" "burgers" "gourmet burgers" "gluten free bun" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Vic Park" "Albany Highway cafe strip" "Victoria Park"

After briefly scanning their menu my not-so-sober eyes saw the words “fried egg, beetroot, cheese and bacon” and without giving it one more second of thought my decision was made. I vaguely remember the Boy making some comment about how enormous my burger choice was but in my hunger and excitement I didn’t really register or pay much attention. I was quite disappointed to hear that all the sides on their menu are not gluten free but we ordered a serve of their beer battered chips for the Boy anyway.

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F.B.A. (Full Blooded Aussie): Our classic V burger topped with melted cheddar, bacon, fried egg, sliced beetroot and BBQ sauce (gluten free bun)

Our burgers came out in super quick time and we tucked into them immediately.  I observed that my F.B.A. (Full Blooded Aussie) burger had a significant amount of extra height in comparison to the Boy’s Blue Mushie burger choice.  I actually struggled to get both by hands around it let alone my mouth! As the Boy finished his burger he started to make wise cracks about my eyes being much bigger than my stomach as I was only half way through mine.  Thankfully earlier in the day I had run 12 kilometres around the river at a cracking good pace so like a horse being whipped into action I successfully polished off all of my delicious juicy burger! It was faultless!

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Blue mushy: Prime beef, blue cheese, grilled mushrooms, mixed gourmet lettuce, tomato, aioli & relish

The Boy really enjoyed his Blue Mushie too.  He was surprised how well the burger held together and didn’t crumble or fall apart in his hands.  He loved the hint of blue cheese with earthy undertones of the mushrooms and the succulent perfectly cooked meat patty.  The chips were less impressive, they lacked the expected crunch of beer battered chips and needed extra seasoning.

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Taro Taro Taiwanese Desserts

Despite feeling like I was literally going to explode I needed something sweet on my palate to end the night.  I had recently read about Taro Taro on WenY Wonders Why and was desperate to check it out.  I have always LOVED Asian desserts however there isn’t a great amount of options available here in Perth.  Given that Taro Taro is a mere ten minutes’ walk from our front door I had high hopes it would be awesome.

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Preparing our desserts

It was getting quite late and much of the bustle of the café strip had started to die off however at Taro Taro it was absolutely packed full of customers.  We shuffled into the brightly lit store and felt like we had been transported into another world! Despite being such a fan of Asian desserts I have to be honest, I haven’t got to try nearly as many as I would like.  This was my first experience trying herbal jelly and taro.

"Taro Taro" "Taiwanese desserts" "taro balls" "herbal jelly" "Herbal ice" "Tapioca balls" "Asian desserts" "Taro Taro Signature Herbal Jelly Ice" "taro" "pearls" "desserts" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "food photos" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Vic Park" "Albany Highway cafe strip" "Victoria Park"

Taro Taro Signature Herbal Jelly Ice (Herbal jelly, herbal ice, taro balls, taro, pearls)

If you are not familiar with Taiwanese desserts the menu can be a little confusing, so to simplify things for ourselves we ordered the Taro Taro Signature Herbal Jelly ice which contained herbal ice, dark black folds of herbal jelly, balls of sweet potato, sago and taro and lots and lots of sugar.  Underneath all the intense sweetness, the flavours were quite soft and delicate and the texture of each type of ball was slightly different ranging from jelly like to nearly chewy.  I honestly really enjoyed it but I realise it probably isn’t for every Westerner’s palate.

As we sat outside on a park beach we watched more and more cars turned up full of hungry customers all looking for their taro hit.  Such a hive of activity in sleepy Vic Park!  We will definitely return again but this time I might be brave enough to create my own dessert of the custom menu.

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The Balmoral Hotel
901 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park 6100 | (08) 9355 4533 | www.thebalmoral.com.au/
Price:                     $$$ (Entrees $7-23, Mains $22-35, accepts Entertainment Card)
Balmoral Hotel on Urbanspoon
 
V Burger Bar
12/910 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park 6101 | (08) 9355 3702 | www.vburgerbar.com.au/
Price:                     $$ ($10-15 burgers, accepts Entertainment Card)
Food:                    7/10 (excellent burgers need to be accompanied by excellent chips)
Service:                3/5 (functional and no fuss)
Ambience:          3/5 (it’s a burger bar……I don’t expect it to be cosy!)
Total:                    13/20
 
V Burger Bar on Urbanspoon
 
Taro Taro
Shop 2/ 393 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park 6100 | (08) 9361 0098 | https://www.facebook.com/TaroTaroTaiwan
Price:                     $ ($10-15 desserts)
Food:                    4/5 (if you love your Asian dessert worth a try!)
Service:                4/5 (very efficient considering how busy they are)
Ambience:           2/5 (bright white and gleaming)
Drinks:                  4/5 (good range of teas and other Taiwanese drinks)
Total:                    15.5/20
 
Taro Taro on Urbanspoon

The Precinct, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Coffee, Perth, Pub, Restaurants, Tapas Bar, Wine Bar

I had been stuffing my face with scrumptious gluten free cakes at the Clandestine Cake Club all afternoon.  Despite my gluttony I wasn’t feeling overly full and seeing as the Boy had actually gone to the effort to book us a dinner reservation at The Precinct in Victoria Park so I couldn’t exactly refuse.  Being the obsessed foodie of the house, I am generally the one who arranges our regular eating expeditions and so I get very excited when the Boy does it all for me. I was hoping I could extend my afternoon with the bestie and drag her along too especially as she hadn’t hung out with the both of us in some time.  However my powers of persuasion were seemingly dulled by all my cake indulgence because she declined my pleading to return home to study for her yoga teacher training class the following day.

The preceding week had been a fairly traumatic one for us both due to some distressing major family issues all finally coming to a head.  To add insult to injury, we were both under the weather with the winter sniffles and as if things couldn’t get any worse I had accidentally reversed into the Boy’s car in the pitch black of the early morning. Eeeek! So I’m sure you can understand why we just wanted to put all our cares aside and do what we both enjoy most….dining out together.

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The Precinct in Vic Park was opened earlier this year by Daniel Morris who is well-known for also running the highly successful Little Creatures, Balthazar and Il Lido.  It was to be our first proper wine bar here in Vic Park; something many of us locals feel has been a long time coming.  But despite public support they were knocked back twice for their Small Bar license and operated as a BYO wine bar for several months. Finally they have managed to secure a restaurant license and have ensured that all their staff know their wines exceedingly well.  We have revisited a number of times since they have opened and I have confidence that they can always recommend a suitable choice for us both.

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Initially I found that their gluten free, onion free options were quite limited for me but since then I have noticed that this has improved somewhat upon subsequent visits. The food style is quite casual and simple but seemingly executed fairly well.  In usual style we started off with a couple of share dishes before our mains. The marinated olives contained a mix of black and green olives with a variety of types and intensity of flavours.

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Whitebait, beer aioli

As the Boy wasn’t nearly as full of cake as I, he also ordered the whitebait (not gluten free).  They were very crispy, perhaps a little too much so and came served with a beer aioli.

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Charcuterie plate

The Precinct’s charcuterie plate changes regularly and although we order it nearly every time we visit we have never had the same plate twice.  This night we had some fresh sliced Angus beef salami, some orange chicken pâté and a pair of pork rillettes.  Some cornichons and mustard were served on the side. The salami was delicate and soft with a slight salty aftertaste.  Hints of citrus undertones came through beautifully in the pâté although I wish they had some gluten free bread for me to smear it onto.  The pork rillettes held great shape and texture and were mildly flavoured.

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Although the Boy and I love eating and discovering new foods, prior to my blogging days if we were out at one of our regular haunts, we would often both fall back on ordering our tried and tested favourites.  These days I feel so guilty when doing this. I believe in order for me to accurately make an assessment for a review of a restaurant I need to sample as many of their dishes as possible. This gives me a much wider and more realistic perception of their food.  This ideal has fallen out the window during our past three visits to The Precinct ever since I tried their roast chicken.  It’s really really good!

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1/2 free range chicken, lemon thyme jus

To be quite honest, I’m not even one to order chicken in the first place. I figure why order something I can cook just as easily (and as well) at home?  Thank goodness I forgot about this theory and tried this dish.  The chicken is slow cooked (sous-vide) and so be aware it is normal for such chicken to appear slightly pink on the inside. The consistency of this chicken is like no roast chicken you have had before.  The breast nearly melts under my knife and is as juicy as you would expect a thigh to be.  The leg meat slips of the bone effortlessly. You can taste lemon thyme though every mouthful. It is served simply with some seasonal vegetables on the side.

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Lamb duo, walnut spaetzle

The boy ordered the lamb duo which consisted of some slow cooked pulled lamb topped with a lamb cutlet.  The cutlet was very meaty and although quite chargrilled on the surface was cooked beautifully inside.  Walnut spaetzle is a type of Northern European style noodle made with flour and eggs, and in this case also walnuts.  They almost looked like little dumplings and tasted fairly bland on their own without any of the lamb or sauce (so the Boy informed me).

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The Boy kept proclaiming (again) that he didn’t want dessert! I think this past month of incessant eating has dulled his sweet tooth somewhat.  Refusing to be completely defeated I ordered us the citrus chocolate salad.  I don’t recommend this dish if you genuinely want a dessert as it is very light and refreshing.  However seeing as I had indulged all afternoon on all the cakes, it filled my last spot in my stomach perfectly. For something more substantial I recommend their banana pie.  This gluten free decadence is nothing like you expect and is more like a mousse than any pie I’ve ever had.

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Citrus chocolate salad

During the course of this evening, the Boy and I pondered over Chompchomp’s growth and development since I commenced blogging some 11 months ago.  It has been such an exciting and rewarding journey so far as I continue to try and further improve both my writing style and my photography.  Better still it is satisfying to watch my readership grow week by week knowing that others are (hopefully) enjoying reading it as much as I am writing it. The Boy started to consider whether he too may gain such rewards from writing his own blog and decided if he ever did, it would be about beer; a long standing passion of his.

"Delirium Nocturnum" "beer" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Vic Park" "Albany Highway cafe strip" "Victoria Park" "wine bar" "The Precinct" "Little Creatures" "beer" "wine" "small bar" "The Precinct, Victoria Park" "food photos"

Delirium Nocturnum

Thus after a number of drinks, together we created the game “Chompchomp roulette”. This is where the Boy hands the beer menu over to me and I choose a random beer for him to enjoy.  Relinquishing this control over his beverage choice is huge…..he is a fussy connoisseur with his beers.  To make matters more interesting my knowledge of beers is very poor due to my inability to drink it. For our first play on the “wheel” I chose Delirium Nocturnum; a triple fermented Belgian ale known for its high alcohol content.

"Baskin and Robbins" "ice cream" "dessert" "cookies and cream" "peppermint choc chip" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Vic Park" "Albany Highway cafe strip" "Victoria Park" "wine bar" "The Precinct" "Little Creatures" "beer" "wine" "small bar" "The Precinct, Victoria Park" "food photos"

Suffice to say after finishing our drinks, his attitude on dessert came around full circle and he insisted on stopping in at Baskin and Robbins for a tub of dairy deliciousness.  He defaulted to his usual favourites of cookies and cream with peppermint choc chip.

"Baskin and Robbins" "ice cream" "dessert" "cookies and cream" "peppermint choc chip" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" "Chompchomp" "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Vic Park" "Albany Highway cafe strip" "Victoria Park" "wine bar" "The Precinct" "Little Creatures" "beer" "wine" "small bar" "The Precinct, Victoria Park" "food photos"

Every night that we have visited The Precinct we have always found all the staff to be energetic, friendly and very well acquainted with both their wine list and their food.  On earlier visits we did find the staff lacking a bit of team work with drinks being forgotten and multiple staff coming to us to asked the same questions however, like the number of gluten free options, this is definitely improving. I figure it is better to have overattentive wait staff than ones that ignore their customers.  I am keen to return for breakfast as they have slow cooked eggs on the menu but it currently looks like I’ll need to BYO gluten free bread.  That I do not mind! I am so happy this is my new local!

The Precinct
834 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park 6101 | (08) 9355 2880 | www.theprecinctvicpark.com.au/
 
Price:                     $$ (Entrees/snacks $7-19, Mains $19-26)
Food:                    3/5 (simple food, seasonally fresh, regularly changing menu)
Service:                3.5/5 (enthusiastic and passionate!)
Ambience:          4/5 (like nothing else in the Park! Hallelujah we are getting there!)
Drinks:                  4.5/5 (great list, lots of European choices of wines and beers)
Total:                     15/20

The Precinct on Urbanspoon

The Imp, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Coffee, Featured, Perth, Restaurants, Tapas Bar

I have been literally dying to take the Boy with me to The Imp in Victoria Park for so long but every time we plan to go there it is so packed full of customers that there is no free table available for us. Having been there several times myself I knew he would love it.  It’s always buzzing and alive with atmosphere and the staff are all funky, vibrant and friendly.  We had completed our usual Sunday walk around the river together accompanied by my new toy; my first DLSR camera which I have nicknamed “Gordon”.  I had been busy happy snapping away at the gorgeous scenery and felt that all too familiar reminder what an awesome city we live in.

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The Imp is not a place to go if your prone to claustrophobia, it is a tiny cosy little place and the tables are squeezed together closely meaning you have to shimmy in-between them to get to your seat.  We sat next to an attractive looking African family who were enjoying their lunch. Sitting with them was their gorgeous little toddler with hair all up in little pony tails.  She couldn’t drag her eyes away from staring at us, seemingly mesmerised by my Fendi handbag brimming with contents.  As I pulled out my new camera her interest heightened and she watched with great amusement while I played around with the settings.

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Upon ordering I enquired which dishes could be made gluten free.  I was informed by the waitress that they no longer can guarantee any dishes gluten free.  She explained to me that the previous chef made a big mistake in sourcing non-gluten free soba noodles and served them to a Coeliac who proceeded to become very unwell halfway through her meal. This chef was sacked as a consequence of her oversight and since then they don’t want to take any further risks in making people unwell. Fair enough.  I appreciated her honesty.  I am lucky enough to not be quite as sensitive as other gluten intolerants; provided gluten isn’t an actual ingredient in the dish any slight cross contamination in the kitchen very rarely poses me too much trouble.

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I ordered the scrambled eggs, herb salad & truffle oil which normally also comes with toast.  As they didn’t have any gluten free bread as a replacement the waitress kindly offered to serve some fresh avocado on the side instead at no extra cost. To my satisfaction the truffle oil tasted very strong and fresh. I get so disappointed when the oil is aged so much that the truffle flavour is nothing but a mere hint, that’s just teasing.

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The Boy ordered the burger which came with pickled cucumber, hand cut potatoes and aioli with the added option of bacon.  The beef burger was small but very juicy and seasoned well.  The bun was soft and held its shape adequately without going too soggy or brittle.  The bacon was grilled a touch short of crispy which was fortunate as the boy prefers his bacon meaty not crunchy. The fries needed a little extra salt but were otherwise quite tasty.

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We had both worked up a reasonable sweat during our walk (despite my constant stopping to photograph things of interest) so we agreed to share a dessert.  I ordered a flourless orange cake which came with some vanilla ice cream and was topped with the cutest little meringue.  I was probably a bit too full to enjoy this thoroughly as I found the cake to be a little bland.  The Boy enjoyed most of the ice cream which was creamy and sweet. Perhaps my taste buds  were still too busy rocking out on all that amazing truffle oil!

Serving fabulous breakfast, lunch and dinner; The Imp is somewhat of a foodie’s icon here in Vic Park.  They continue to be extremely popular due to consistently great food, quirky friendly service and an ever-changing seasonal menu.  A definite local fav of ours.

Keep up with the latest on Facebook or Twitter!

The Imp
863 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park 6101 | (08) 9361 2600 | www.theimp.com.au/
 
Price:                     $ (Breakfast $6-20, Lunch $13-16, Tapas $8-26)
Food:                    4.5/5 (who doesn’t love lashings of truffle oil for breakfast?)
Service:                4/5 (no table service, but friendly and fast)
Ambience:          4/5 (busy, loud and vibrant)
Drinks:                  4/5 (serves Fiori coffee, big selection of teas, BYO for dinner)
Total:                     16.5/20

The Imp on Urbanspoon

Mexican Madness II A tale of two restaurants: That Little Mexican Place

Posted by  | Categories: Desserts, Mexican, Perth, Restaurants

Part One | Part Two

My sister’s impromptu and random visit to Perth for New Year’s seemed to keep getting extended longer and longer.  Surely she has a job back in Melbourne to return to?  My sister and I had partied fairly hard and fast for five days straight leaving us both a bit scattered and sleep deprived.  At the end point of all this, both the boy and I had to return to work whilst my sis remained on her indefinite holiday.

The problem is when you are of one of the only poor souls who have to return to work whilst being surrounded by those still in holiday mood; you completely lose your chance to chip away at your own personal sleep debt.  Eventually you may find you get a second wind of energy (or be it a third wind, or in this case – I actually think I lost track of the number).  The boy had matters made even worse for him by missing out on most of it after contracting a gastro bug that floored him for over five days.

After my literally scorching experience at Pancho’s, I really wanted to redeem Mexican cuisine for myself. Remaining local, we strolled down to the Broken Hill Hotel for a few pre-dinner drinks before heading to That Little Mexican Place.  Immediately, the differences to the mainstream Pancho’s became glaringly apparent to me.  Although TLMP was similarly filled to capacity, there was no fluoro paint on blackboards, there were no glowing happy hour cocktails, and there was most definitely no cheesy 80’s music playing.  Instead we were greeted by a cosy and sublime vibe that left you feeling like you had stumbled upon one of Perth’s best kept little secrets.  TLMP’s humble beginnings started with their tiny restaurant opening over on Fitzgerald Street in North Perth and in more recent years they have expanded over to the south into Vic Park.  The owners have spent some time travelling around Mexico where they ate their way around the country to eventually return back to Perth bringing all the flavours and ideas back with them.

Being BYO, we stopped by the Broken Hill bottle shop and bought a bottle of West Cape Howe 2010 “Styx Gully” Chardonnay.  I thought this subtly oaked wine produced by one my favourite wineries from the Great Southern region was sure to satisfy my sister’s palate but I was informed it was too fruity for her liking.  I thought the citrus was as subtle as the oak but I’m no wine expert and everyone palate is different.

Service was bubbly and helpful with the waitress returning from the kitchen with a whole list of dishes suitable for our no gluten and no onion requirements.  I was actually quite impressed with the amount of choice we had with ordering as the waitress explained that they make most of their dishes fresh.

Their guacamole is made fresh “a la mesa” (at your tableside) and is served with house made tortilla chips.  Serving tableside always reminds me of Hell’s Kitchen – Chef Ramsey is a keen fan of this however our waitress looked much more relaxed in front of us compared to Ramsey’s contestants in his show!  This guacamole was exceedingly better than that at Pancho’s, the serving was about three times the size and it was seasoned perfectly.  Even better still, I received no oil burns or other injuries whilst eating it! (TLMP $16 compared to Pancho’s $15)

Pork Taquitos "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "That Little Mexican Place" "Victoria Park" Mexican

Taquitos de Puerco

For entrée we ordered three dishes to share amongst the four of us in addition to the guacamole.  The taquitos de Puerco was described as two crispy rolled tacos filled with shredded pork and topped with melted cheese and guacamole.  Rather than drenching the crunchy little rolls in cheese and making them soggy, there was just an elegant drizzle and the taco was as crispy as a corn chip but wafer thin.

Tamal Duck "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "That Little Mexican Place" "Victoria Park" Mexican

Tamal de pato

Tamales are a traditional Latin American dish made of “masa” which is a starchy type of dough that is steamed or boiled wrapped up in a leaf wrapper which is then discarded before eating.  Tamales are often filled with a variety of things such as meat, cheese, fruit or vegetables.  TLMP’s tamale was made with a duck confit dressed with an orange and chipotle salsa.  This dish had a lot of warm in it due to the chipotle salsa which was strengthened by the acidity of the citrus.  Very tasty.

Taco "nopal" "cactus tacos""Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "That Little Mexican Place" "Victoria Park" Mexican

Taco de nopal

We all got quite excited about the cactus tacos which escalated when we saw it was on the list of foods we could order!  Despite all of us having a fair amount of travel under our belts – none of us had tried cactus before.  These tacos were made using “nopales” which are from the fleshy pad like part of the prickly pear.  They are a common feature in Mexican cuisine where they are farmed commercially.  It was prepared with portabella mushrooms, a popular way to serve them, however I did find that the mushroom taste overpowered the flavour of the cactus.  Not that I’m complaining – I absolutely love mushrooms – but I would have liked to be able to identify the flavours of the cactus.  They are supposed to taste like a tarty version of green beans however our dish ended up with quite a mild and nutty flavour (possibly from the mushrooms).  I will have to go back and try them again!

Prawns "sizzling prawns" "Camarones al la diabla" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "That Little Mexican Place" "Victoria Park" Mexican

Camarones al la diabla (prawns cooked with achiote and cayenne, served sizzling)

Continuing in my desire to establish a fair comparison of TLMP to Pancho’s, we ordered the sizzling prawns.  Remember my experience back at Pancho’s?  Think soggy vegetables, stale oil and defrosted seafood dripping in slop?  Thankfully, as with rest of our dining experience at TLMP, this dish was a winner.  The vibrant colouring of the achiote paste also gave this dish a very distinct flavour.  The combination of spices produced a fair bit of heat which the boy doesn’t tolerate well and I looked over to see the familiar sight of him poking his tongue out in attempts to cool his mouth down!  (Sizzling prawns: TLMP $22, Pancho’s $27)

"That Little Mexican Place" Mexican "Lamb shank" "Victoria Park" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "gluten free" "fructose malabsorption"

Barbacoa de cordero vástago (Lamb shank smoked then braised with chipotle and tomato)

Lamb shank dishes are nearly invariably off the menu for a fructose malabsorber due to the presence of onion contained in most stocks.  So when we saw that the shanks also featured on our list of acceptable dishes – there was minimal discussion, it was a done deal. It was a very good choice.  The meat fell off the bone easily and was exceedingly tender.

"That Little Mexican Place" Mexican "Victoria Park" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "gluten free" "fructose malabsorption" "Enchilada de Queso" "Chevre cheese" "jack cheese" "feta cheese" "corn tortillas"

Enchilada de Queso (Chevre, jack and mild feta cheese, rolled into corn tortillas and baked with salsa asada)

The triple cheese enchiladas were a bit of a naughty treat ordered due to our interest in jack cheese as this was another thing we hadn’t tried.  Despite all the cheese, this dish was surprisingly not too oily or fatty.  Because all the cheese melted into one, once again I found it difficult to place the taste of the jack cheese alone.  Another excuse for a return visit I guess!

Fish "ceviche" mango "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "That Little Mexican Place" "Victoria Park" Mexican

Ceviche de pescado (fish cured in citrus with mango, tomato, red onion and coriander)

The ceviche was my least favourite dish of the evening.  After experiencing such amazing spices and flavours contained in the other dishes we had ordered, delicate fish with sweet mango was simply overpowered by all the other excitement on my palate.

"Berry pannacotta" dessert "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "That Little Mexican Place" "Victoria Park" Mexican

Berry pannacotta

All the authentic Mexican desserts on the menu were not gluten free so reluctantly I had to order the only option which was the berry pannacotta.  It was delicious but it wasn’t the right shape or texture for a pannacotta.  I wish churros were gluten free!

By contrasting my two dining experiences at Pancho’s and That Little Mexican Place, I appreciate that I may appear to some to be comparing apples with oranges, or chalk and cheese; but here is a little piece of advice for those who believe they are happily sacrificing quality in the manner of a cheap night out at Pancho’s, you may be very mistaken.   When comparing simple dishes like the guacamole and the sizzling prawns, TLMP won the fight hands down on both taste AND price.  I guarantee I won’t return to Pancho’s again, but I certain my curiosity will drag me back to That Little Mexican Place.  And probably more than once!

Price:           $$$     ($12-18 Entrée, $17-26 Mains)
Food:           4/5     (a distinct lack of slops and sour cream)
Service:       4/5      (very accommodating )
Ambience:  3.5/5  (a packed restaurant gives good vibe)
Drinks:        4/5    (you can BYO your tequila and they make margaritas for you!)
Total:          15.5/20
 
 
That Little Mexican Place | http://www.tlmp.com.au
279 Albany Highway, Victoria Park | (08) 9472 0767
382 Fitzgerald Street, North Perth | (08) 9227 5755

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Little Ying Thai, Victoria Park

Posted by  | Categories: Perth, Restaurants, Thai

It was Friday night and the boy phoned me say he had just finished work and was about to head home.   We had made dinner plans for in the city and it looked like he was right on schedule to get home in time for us to head straight in.  Excitedly I starting thinking that we may even have time to quickly stop in at the Greenhouse for a pre-dinner drink!  But as he made his way back to his car, he received a call informing him that the air conditioners in the server room were failing.  This meant he would need to wait back for someone to arrive to fix them.  What was even more annoying for him was that the repair men would be at least two hours away!  So by the time he eventually did get home, our plans to head into the city sounded like far too much like a mission for him, so we decided to go local and head to Little Ying Thai instead.

“Little Ying Thai, Victoria Park” "Little Ying Thai" "Victoria Park" "Thai restaurants Vic Park" Thai "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption"

We have visited this restaurant before and enjoyed its simple charm.  The quality of the dishes do not begin compare to some of my favourites venues such as Dusit Thai, but then neither do their prices and when you add in their BYO license it has all the makings of a cheap but tasty night out.  The service is very friendly and they are more than happy to accommodate for both gluten-free and fructose friendly requests.

"Pla Muk Yang" "Charcoal squid" "Little Ying Thai" "Victoria Park" "Thai restaurants Vic Park" Thai "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption"

Pla Muk Yang (Charcoal squid marinated served with sweet chilli and ground peanuts)

We started off with the Charcoal squid which we have ordered before on previous nights here.  It consisted of marinated strips of squid served with sweet chilli sauce and ground peanuts.  As she did previously, the waitress warned us this dish takes a little bit longer to prepare than other entrees, but to be honest we were not waiting for long at all.  The squid was surprisingly tender and although it appears minimally char-grilled it was still flavoursome presumably due to the marinade.  We also ordered chicken larb, a sure-fire favourite of mine.  Unfortunately with memories of the scrumptious duck larb we had at Dusit Thai still fresh in my mind, it was going to be a big ask to be able to impress my little taste buds.  Little Ying’s larb had a pretty decent kick in it and the addition of fresh mint and coriander made it feel a bit more traditional however the flavours were too subtle leaving it tasting a bit bland.

"Moo Yang" "charcoal pork" "Little Ying Thai" "Victoria Park" "Thai restaurants Vic Park" Thai "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption"

Moo-yang: Charcoal grilled marinated pork with homemade chilli sauce

For mains we shared charcoal grilled pork.  I’m not quite sure why I went all out and ordered so much charcoal dishes!  In fact, I never really used to eat much pork until recently.  In Thailand pork is a very popular meat, and many Thai chefs will use nearly every part of the pig to make a variety of different dishes – including the intestines!  This pork dish was quite a standard fare, marinated nicely and the pork pieces were meaty and not fatty.  It was a reasonably large-sized serve considering the price (around $16).

"Pandan chicken" "Gai Haw Bai Toey" "Little Ying Thai" "Victoria Park" "Thai restaurants Vic Park" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption"

Gai Haw Bai Toey: Pandan chicken

When prepared and cooked correctly, Pandan chicken is a melt in your mouth treat.  Wrapping the chicken in the pandan leaf keeps all the juices of the chicken inside resulting in a very tender and succulent mouthful of deliciousness.  The leaf itself improves things further by adding a distinct sweet and floral like taste to the meat.  Unfortunately a number of my previous experiences of this dish have not been that pleasant due to poor preparation and overcooking resulting in dry and chewy chicken.  But after enjoying it cooked to perfection recently in Thailand, I thought we would give this another try.  Regrettably this time round the chicken was indeed quite stringy and had a strange aftertaste that made me wonder if we would regret our choice tomorrow.  (By the way in defence of Little Ying; there weren’t any further unpleasant outcomes the next day.)

“Little Ying Thai, Victoria Park” "Chicken larb" "Little Ying Thai" "Victoria Park" "Thai restaurants Vic Park" Thai "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption"

Chicken Larb

This simple but delicious classic Thai dish never fails to satisfy me.  I love all things eggie and I was happy to take the opportunity to sneak some into a dinner meal.  Coupled with minced chicken, fresh herbs and some hot chilli sauce, we devoured this one very quickly.

"Little Ying Thai" "Victoria Park" "Thai restaurants Vic Park" Thai "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption"

Overall, for a cheap, local night out Little Ying Thai hits the spot.  The food is by no means amazing and will not blow you away, but nevertheless it’s still enjoyable and the staff are all super friendly and attentive.

Price:                     $$ (Entrée $7-10, Mains $10-21)
Food:                    3.5/5
Service:                3.5/5
Venue:                  3/5
Drinks:                 3.5/5      (BYO – my choice was a bottle of Jarrah Ridge Chardonnay that we picked up last time we were in the Swan Valley)
Total =                 13.5/20
 
Little Ying Thai
Shop 3, 895 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park 6101 | (08) 9362 3899
 

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Mexican Madness I A tale of two restaurants: Pancho's Mexican Villa

Posted by  | Categories: Mexican, Perth, Restaurants

Part One | Part Two

I have been keen to try the popular V Burger Bar for absolutely ages, so after creating much hype with the boy all day (including performing a little dance that he calls my Homer dance), we journeyed down to the Albany Highway café strip to give their burgers a shot.  To my extreme disappointment I was to find they had run out of gluten-free buns!  I was so devastated! I had been conjuring up images of sinking my teeth deep into a juicy burger for much of the day and nearly stamped my feet like a child in the middle of the restaurant due to my exasperation.

Walking out of the restaurant I could see the dismay on the boy’s face too.  I know how much he loves nachos, so I made what ended up being a very bad decision and suggested we stroll over to Pancho’s Mexican Villa instead.  We walked by all the tried and tested Thai and other Asian joints and walked down the dirty mall corridor into a packed and noisy restaurant.

Service started off a little slow leaving us sitting thirsty and peckish for long enough to notice.  As I perused the menu I was pleased to see there were plenty of gluten-free options and figured that all I needed to do was stay well away from any salsas to avoid the onion.  We started off with some strawberry daiquiris – this is the boy’s favourite drink when we were in Thailand.  Unfortunately none of our memories came flooding back to us when presented with this toxic looking beverage.  It came out a strange bright fluorescent red colour and was sickeningly sweet presumably with the A to Z of all things artificial.  Not exactly my kind of drink but with a half of a bottle of Cloudy Bay Chardonnay already in me I was willing to compromise and just go with the flow.

"Chilli con queso" "guacamole" "chilli con carne" "Pancho's Mexican Villa restaurant" Panchos Mexican "Victoria Park" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Corn chips" Dips

Trio dips: Chilli con queso, guacamole, chilli con carne

For entrées we ordered some dips with corn chips and some potato skins to share.  Our dips came out after a short delay without the accompanying potato skins entrée.  As we chatted and tapped our feet to the horrific mix of 80’s tunes playing, we ate our first half of our entrée and I began to wish we had stopped at Little Ying Thai instead.  The corn chips tasted commercially made and the dips were very oily and bland.  The guacamole was basically just mashed avocado with minimal lemon juice, tomato, spices or salt added.  The Queso dip tasted like the plastic cheese that you get in little cheese sticks for children’s lunch boxes but melted down into goop a bowl.  I avoided most of the chilli con carne dip as I figured it would most likely have some onion in it.  I had a very small taste of it which proved to be watery and as tasteless as the rest of the dips.

As we nibbled away and wondered where our skins were, a waiter zoomed past our table with a sizzling plate of hot food.  As he walked past us big spats of hot oil came showering over the top of me and left a couple of blisters on my neck.  I wasn’t sure if I was being a bit of a sook but it was stinging a fair bit!  The boy gave a quick glance at my neck in the dim light and could see little blisters starting to form on my skin!  I gestured to the waiter and explained to him what had happened.  He said he would talk to his manager however unfortunately that was all we heard from him all night.  No apology was forthcoming, nor was any discount or compensation offered.

Prawns "Cajun camerons" "Pancho's Mexican Villa restaurant" Panchos Mexican "Victoria Park" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption"

Cajun camarons

Slowly but surely we managed to work our way through our fairly dismal entrées.  We are normally fairly speedy eaters but these dips were by no means delicious.  Finally our mains were brought to our table however we were still without our second entrée.  We let the waiter know that we were expecting another entrée and we were informed that it was on the way.

I ordered the Cajun camarons – this was described on the menu as northwest sizzling prawns, dusted in spices, served with rice and vegetables.  I figured a meat dish with spices and no sauces would be an easy way to avoid onion as it was already marked on the menu as gluten-free.  The prawns came out sizzling in about half a cup of stale oil which drenched through the whole remainder of the dish.  The vegetables that accompanied the meal consisted of a soggy slop of cooked grated carrot, zucchini and capsicum with micro-heads of mushy broccoli.  It was so overcooked the vegetables had progressed in texture to become more of a stringy mash.  The oil from the prawns soaked right through the vegetables to give everything on the plate an unpleasant and nearly rancid aftertaste.  The rice was about the only thing edible on the plate and although that was a little overcooked; in my hunger I still ate it.

The boy ordered his beef nachos.  They were unmemorable and a bit soggy and he had very little to comment about them at all.

"Pancho's Mexican Villa restaurant" Panchos Mexican "Victoria Park" "Perth Restaurant Reviews" "Perth food blog" "food blog" Chompchomp "Gluten free" "Fructose malabsorption" "Beef nachos"

Beef nachos

Once we had both finished our main meals our second entrée finally appeared.  At this point in time we had to laugh.  I was expecting some crisp skins, ones that you could eat with your fingers – a little like wedges but less meaty, with maybe some kind of sauce (we chose beef).  Nothing prepared me for the mountain of mush that was put in front of us.  We started to eat it but found all the oil, cheese and sour cream piled high on top of a barely existent poor potato skin proved as inedible as the rest of our meals.  I gestured to the waiter to take it away before I started to feel ill.

It has been nearly ten years since I have eaten Mexican – we ate it often when we lived in London as there were a couple of favourite places we used to visit.  I am reluctant to even eat it again after this experience but we are going to give it another shot and hit up another Mexican place in my next blog …. Stay tuned……

Price:           $$  ($10-16 Entrée, $17-27 Mains)
Food:           0.5/5  (near on revolting)
Service:       2/5  (service with a smile and a scar to make sure you never forget)
Ambience:  3/5  (a packed restaurant gives good vibe)
Drinks:        2/5  (too toxic and artificial for me but cheap)
 
Pancho’s Mexican Villa Restaurant
885 Albany Hwy, East Victoria Park 6101 | (08) 9361 2135 | www.panchos.com.au
 

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