Sherbet Bake Shop, Maylands
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Coffee, Desserts, Featured, Perth, Restaurants
If you are anything like me and have grown bored of ordering old school basics for breakfast like eggs benedict then head over to Maylands. A decent handful of venues all within close proximity to each other will fulfil your desire for something a bit more original than what you easily could cook up at home. Furthermore they all appear to be very gluten free friendly with a number of options for us allergic types.
Mrs S is one of my favourites amongst these establishments however due to a variety of circumstances we haven’t returned to enjoy her deliciousnesses for over six months! After deciding to finally head back there I got myself in quite a state of excited anticipation. I pre-emptively added to my Sunday run an extra 2 kms to my usual twelve in order to have two guilt free courses for breakfast!
To my complete dismay we were greeted by a locked door and an empty cafe with a sign saying they would be reopening the following week. Perhaps my post run jitters exaggerated my emotions a little but I swear nearly cried in disappointment. After scooping my heart off the pavement, we followed our noses back up Whatley Crescent past Chapels and stumbled upon Sherbet Bake House. This bright café was brimming full of life and aromas of freshly roasted coffee wafted out the door and down the street.
Roast pumpkin and fetta frittata
Sherbet serve Fiori coffee which is roasted locally by a small business that strive to only import coffee harvested from ethical and sustainable plantations. I recently enjoyed Fiori for the first time (along with some amazing scrambled eggs with truffle oil) at The Imp in Vic Park. I love its smooth yet rich flavour. The perfect style of coffee to be served as a traditional short mac. Sherbet do not sell cooked breakfasts as they are more a bake shop than a café, however they do have a counter full of colourful meal options which can be warmed up and served with a fresh green salad. I chose the roast pumpkin and feta frittata which was the only gluten free savoury option.
Pumpkin and sundried tomato tart
Flying close on the coat tails of my perfect frittata I had a few weeks ago at the Little Pantry, this one certainly gave them a run for their money. Its texture was well set and similarly lacked any unpleasant wateriness. There was an abundance of fresh herbs speckled throughout. The pumpkin was particularly sweet and dense making it almost feel like a dessert dish as opposed to something savoury. The Boy’s pumpkin and sundried tomato tart was just as good, with soft flaky pastry and filled with more of the sweet pumpkin.
Gluten free Chocolate berry minicake
For dessert options I was a little spoilt for choice; Sherbet has much more to offer than the usual gluten free choices of orange almond or flourless chocolate! I had been trying to abstain from chocolate all week as I am starting to wonder how I will ever lose any weight before the wedding. In true manner of wanting what you can’t have, all that my self-control achieved was effectively to make me crave and obsess about chocolate even more. Thus there were no surprises when I returned to our table with a berry chocolate minicake. The cake had a wonderful light sponge texture, something hard to replicate in gluten free baking and there were plenty of fresh berries buried deep inside. I cannot wait to return for another!
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Sherbet Café & Bake Shop 206 Whatley Crescent, Maylands 6051 | (08) 9371 8004 | www.sherbetbakeshop.com.au Price: $$ ($ under $15/meal) Food: 4.5/5 (minimal savoury GF options but LOADS of sweets) Service: 3.5/5 (no table service, but were quick and efficient) Ambience: 3.5/5 (bustling and energetic, some alfresco tables in the sun) Drinks: 4.5/5 (serve Fiori coffee – very smooth and rich style) Total: 16/20
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!
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!)
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 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)
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
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
Aubergine Gourmet Foods, South Fremantle
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Perth, Restaurants
It had been some time since Chris and I had managed to coordinate a morning off together for our regular breakfast outing. Normally this is something we do on a regular basis. After a couple of false starts and cancellations we finally tallied up a Monday morning where we were both available. It was the day after a very long-winded business meeting where we had all sat and chewed the fat for far too many hours. It was so good to be able to sit down together and for once actually have time to chat about stuff other than work.
It was her husband’s 40th birthday that week and she had planned a surprise trip over to Melbourne without their two young children. She had organised for him to catch up with some old friends he hadn’t seen in years in addition to anticipating a lot of child-free wining, dining and shopping – things they both love!
After a brief peer into the colourful sandwich cabinet we both agreed that the potato cake with poached egg, prosciutto, asparagus and hollandaise sauce sounded really good and ordered one each. I have to say this dish looked much better than it tasted. My egg was slightly over poached and had nearly lost its runny centre of yolk-lava although I do understand not everyone likes a gooey egg. The ratio of hollandaise and egg to potato was all out with an overwhelming amount of dry potato. If there was more yolk or hollandaise to mop around my plate this dish wound be much more enjoyable.
As we chatted about great places to eat out in Melbourne (of which there are so many) my eyes turned to the sweets counter. Surprisingly Chris’s initial reaction was to decline having a second course for breakfast which is very unlike her. After only a small amount of persuasion I managed to twist her arm to share a small cube of fresh chocolate brownie with me. After a lacklustre main dish, this decadent chocolatey treat made up for some lost ground. It was moist and richly flavoured with a nutty praline aftertaste.
This wasn’t my first visit to Aubergines and previously I have had some better experiences. They do have a reasonable range of gluten free options and there is outside seating where you are welcome to bring your canine companion. They even sell doggie treats at the counter. However given the plethora of fabulous breakfast locations in Fremantle I didn’t get enough wow factor to return in a hurry.
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Aubergine Gourmet Foods 231 South Terrace, South Fremantle 6162 | (08) 9335 2115 Price: $$ ($15-25 per meal) Food: 3/5 (for me a good breakfast is defined by a perfectly poached egg) Service: 2.5/5 (a little slow and inattentive) Ambience: 3.5/5 (funky, lots of natural sunshine flooding through, could relax here for hours) Drinks: 4/5 (great coffee) Total: 13/20
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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 Partisan, East Perth
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Perth, Restaurants
We decided to break our usual Sunday tradition again and stop in at The Partisan as opposed to our regular favourite pit stop at Toast. We had plans later that afternoon to meet up with the in-laws so we had to trim our standard epic hike down to a more time manageable ten kilometre power walk. In order to burn more calories and save some time I tried to encourage the Boy to run with me. After several failed attempts at this I eventually resorted to jogging alongside him like a crazed loon. How else am I going to get a bride’s body while maintaining fulfilling my constant craving for delicious food?
Despite us seeing that Toast was packed full of customers and yet The Partisan only had a few, we resisted the strong urge to gravitate over to our favourite in order to try somewhere new. We were told by their waitress that the kitchen closes for a short time between breakfast and lunch and that we weren’t allowed to look at the menus while we waited. I asked could we at least order some drinks while we waited to which she agreed. I found this all to be a bit strange given that this place is the perfect venue to eat at this time of day. I ordered my usual short mac (they serve 5 Senses coffee) and the Boy ordered himself a fruit juice.
For those who do not know the Boy; he is a tall, broad-shouldered man and is by no means effeminate. However to fly in the face of this hunky masculinity that is soon to be my husband is his ongoing passion for ordering himself pink coloured drinks. It never fails to amuse me even after all these wonderful years together, and what I love him even more for is that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks!
Eventually we were allowed to order our meals. At this point we had finished our drinks and the Boy was keen to order another pink drink. Unfortunately there was a bit of a mix up and they initially brought out the wrong one. After alerting them of this error we were later brought out the correct drink. The service was a little on the slow side considering how quiet the restaurant was and it felt a bit disjointed and disorganised.
Croque Madame – fried egg, roma tomato, Swiss cheese, Karri Valley ham, basil pesto
During our journey on foot to East Perth, I had prepared myself for missing out on gluten free bread as I couldn’t remember seeing any on the menu when I checked online. As a result I was so happy to hear that they actually have some available. I decided to order something a bit different from my usual brunchy choices and got back to my French roots ordering the Croque Madame. Unfortunately the gluten free bread was way too crumbly and dry. It didn’t hold together very well for such a choice although the contents inside were so yummy that they nearly made up for having such average bread. The Swiss cheese was melted beautifully, the ham was sweet and soft and the egg was still just a little gooey in the centre.
Roast beef sandwich – scotch fillet, Swiss cheese, seeded mustard, tomato, mixed greens, horseradish aioli, hand cut chips
The Boy ordered the roast beef sandwich which he really enjoyed. It contained a generous serve of big juicy chunks of meat, Swiss cheese and greens and was served with cornichons and mustard, chunky chips and some horseradish aioli. The aioli could have had a bit more horseradish added – it didn’t have much kick in it. The chips looked amazing but didn’t follow through with flavour. They tasted a little bland and I ate one that had a slight mouldy aftertaste.
Market salad – candied walnuts, feta cheese, (minus croutons)
We also ordered a side salad which had so much potential but didn’t quite hit the spot. The candied walnuts were very moreish but the salad itself wasn’t dressed meaning there was a lot of bland lettuce and radish left in the bowl that neither of us could be bothered eating.
Overall I cannot deny that it is unlikely that we will return to The Partisan for brunch when I know I can get quicker, friendlier service next door with fresher, tastier food. Perhaps their dinner service is better? I may considering returning to try this theory.
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The Partisan Shop 22, 60 Royal St East Perth 6004 | (08) 9221 7404 | thepartisan.com.au Price: $$ ($11-25 breakfast/lunch meals, $26-39 dinner meals) Food: 2.5/5 (has potential, needs better GF bread) Service: 2/5 (slow, inattentive and makes mistakes Ambience: 3.5/5 (lovely setting along the inlet) Drinks: 2.5/5 (fruit juices & smoothies were flavourless) Total: 10.5/20
Little Pantry, Subiaco
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Perth, Restaurants
Spontaneous and unplanned brunches are often the best as there is no level of expectation or excitement. If the meal successfully hits the spot, the pleasure is such a wonderful surprise that it makes the overall experience even better. Our visit to Little Pantry was one of these wonderful occasions.
That week it had been so wet and wild in our normally sunny city of Perth. The winter weather leaves us all in a state of shock as we are never prepared emotionally or physically for anything that amounts to a real winter. Despite being so unaccustomed and permanently in a state of shiver, my practice manager Liz and I both headed out in the pouring rain on some important business duties. Our trip took us into Subiaco and once our meeting had finished we deemed it essential to stop somewhere for a coffee and a bite to eat to discuss our opinions before presenting it back to our colleagues.
I vaguely recalled seeing a number of cute little cafés along Nicholson Road last time I was in the area and so we headed over there for a gander. The Little Pantry caught my eye as we drove past so after a bit of searching for a park we were fortunate enough for a break in the rain and headed in.
The tiny little café was packed with people, with a big communal table in the centre circled by smaller tables. I understand where the name comes from because it is indeed little. The barista was pumping out some scrumptious smelling coffee and there were a small but mouth-watering selection of lunch options in their cabinet. After some initial concerns that there wouldn’t be any gluten free options I was assured by the waiter that the frittata was suitable.
Our coffees came out quickly and my short macchiato was so good I nearly ordered a second when I noticed the time was already heading into the afternoon. If I have coffee too late into the afternoon I have great trouble falling asleep and with a bright and shiny 7am start the next day I was thankful I looked at the clock first. Little Pantry serves Ponchione coffee that they get airfreighted in fresh from Italy.
My frittata was nearly the best frittata I think I have ever had! It was set to a perfect texture without any wateriness and held its ingredients in place without slipping and slopping apart. It contained sweet potato, zucchini and a hard cheese which I think it tasted like Romano. It was served with a crisp fresh salad of greens dressed to perfection with some extra virgin olive oil.
Liz’s quiche was similarly mind-blowing. It’s incredible how if simple food is cooked and prepared properly using ultra fresh ingredients it can potentially be just as amazing as some fine dining, fancy schpanzy dishes. The pastry was buttery soft and flaky but so wonderfully paper-thin as to not overwhelm the spinach, ricotta and prosciutto filling. It was as divine as mine was.
I am so delighted with our little find and highly recommend stopping in at the Little Pantry if you’re in the area for lunch. Make sure you order a coffee.
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Little Pantry 206 Nicholson Road, Subiaco WA 6008 | (08) 9388 8780 Price: $ (under $15 for lunch each) Food: 5/5 (I simply couldn’t find any fault) Service: 4/5 (prompt friendly and knowledgeable about ingredients) Ambience: 4/5 (buzzing, energetic) Drinks: 4.5/5 (great coffee) Total: 17.5/20
Toast, East Perth
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Perth, Restaurants
I am not originally from Perth having moved here nearly twenty years ago to commence my university degree. During my time at Uni I always imagined I would move back to the East coast. After completing my degree and obtaining a year’s experience in the work force, the Boy and I moved to London for a few years where we played it hard and fast in the big smoke. Returning to Perth a few years later, I found myself really appreciating this beautiful city for what it is and realised that in fact she had become my home. It was at this point my loyalties turned and I became a faithful lover of this sunny city.
There are some things about Perth that never stop giving me the wow factor and one of those is our regular running/walking route around the Swan River. Having the river on our doorstep makes exercising easy and the distractions of the scenery make the actual process much less onerous. To make it even better, dotted along this circuit is a number of excellent breakfast venues serving piping hot coffee and delicious food.
Toast in East Perth is a long-standing favourite of mine – we have been coming here on a regular basis for well over 4-5 years. It is conveniently located on my route around the river at the picturesque Claisebrook Cove. The sheltered location makes the most of the rising sun and protects the outdoor seating area from any wind meaning that nearly year round (excluding rainy days) the weather feels perfect.
The Boy and I had planned to do a big 17 kilometre walk together around both loops of the river but unfortunately the boy woke up feeling unwell and thought it wise to rest. Seeing as I would be making the journey alone, I thought I would embrace this opportunity and race myself from home through South Perth, running around the river to meet him over in East Perth for a late brunch. Thankfully Toast serves an all-day breakfast menu.
Not wanting to leave my fiancé waiting at the café for me feeling poorly, I took off at a steady pace with the aim to pick up speed even more once I hit half way. As I crossed the imaginary half way mark my legs still felt like loaded springs so surging forward I raced my virtual partner to the finish.
As a result of my mock running race, I arrived in East Perth all red-faced and heaving with about fifteen minutes to spare. This gave me time to compose myself before wandering down to Toast to meet the Boy. There are a lot of gluten-free options here; one is really spoilt for choice.
Roasted tomato, feta and basil on gluten free bread with added mushrooms and poached eggs
This time round I ordered the roasted tomato, feta and basil on gluten-free toast with added poached eggs and mushrooms. I have eaten this dish many times and am always chuffed with the knowledge my eggs will be cooked perfectly and each meal is consistent in quality with the previous. Their gluten-free bread has a beautiful rich pumpkin colour and is excellent in both texture and taste.
Avocado and Vegemite on wholegrain with added poached eggs
The Boy ordered the avocado and Vegemite on whole grain bread with added poached eggs. The Vegemite was warmed slightly allowing it to be easily spread over the crunchy grainy bread. The avocado was soft and creamy and his eggs were similarly poached to perfection. As we sat in comfortable silence in the sun soaking up its energy we were both so thankful we chose to settle down in Perth. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
Poached eggs that make you go: OMG!
Two weeks later the Boy was fully recovered so we made plans to do our big double loop walk together. The weather forecast had threatened morning showers yet as we set out the sky was clear blue and a fresh autumn breeze was blowing. We were rewarded once again with another stunning morning.
We both maintained a cracking pace as we had plans to meet with his family in King’s Park for a Mother’s Day picnic later that afternoon. Despite Toast being even busier than usual we were seated fairly quickly and had a short wait for our meals considering they really were flat out.
French toast (gluten free bread) with ricotta, blueberries, maple syrup
It is a very rare occasion that I can be convinced to forego Toast’s poached eggs. If they aren’t included with my menu choice, I have a tendency to add it on the side so I don’t miss out. This time round however I was craving something sweet and as I gazed over their menu my eyes kept returning to the French toast. Their gluten-free bread held together fabulously and the delicately creamy ricotta with the tart berries had me in seventh heaven. I would have preferred just a dash more maple syrup to end on a stronger sweet note.
Full breakfast with bacon, poached eggs, chipolatas, grilled tomato and mushrooms and toast
The Boy had one of his favourites, the big breakfast. This is definitely not one for the faint hearted, or those with heart disease more to the point. A massive pile of crispy bacon, three chipolatas, poached eggs, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms and toast made this a very decent sized meal. Once the Boy finished, he patted his stomach in a satisfied manner and groaned at the thought we still had to walk home. Unfortunately we had no time to linger in the morning sun and so we pressed onward with our journey back. Understandably our pace on this second leg was much slowed down due to our overindulgence but I guarantee we will do it again and again!
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Toast Shop 21/60 Royal Street, East Perth 6004 | (08) 9221 0771 | www.toasteastperth.com Price: $$ ($8-20 breakfast/brunch, gluten-free options available) Food: 4.5/5 (seriously good breakfasts) Service: 3.5/5 (relaxed, efficient & casual) Ambience: 4.5/5 (blissful view gazing out onto the water) Drinks: 4.5/5 (serves high quality Rubra coffee, freshly squeezed juices worth a try too) Total: 17/20 
Chapels on Whatley, Maylands
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Perth, Restaurants
In recent years Maylands has become a definite stand out location to visit if you want a decent breakfast. There are so many options to choose from including Piccos Kitchen, Mrs S, Milkd, Sherbet Bake Shop and as I recently discovered; Chapels on Whatley.
The café is actually contained inside a shop selling a variety of imported Asian antique furniture, art and bits and pieces for around your home that they source from a number of countries including Tibet, Mongolia, Japan, China and Vietnam. They have a wide range of over sixty different types of beautiful loose teas to purchase and you can book a tea tasting to try them all if you wish.
The café is located toward the back of the store and opens out onto a quaint and relaxing little courtyard. Sounds of the neighbours pet bird’s song echo gently giving a wonderful sense of serenity and peace. My dear friend and colleague Chris had the luxury of a few days break from her second job of being super mum to her two adorable children. Her daughter was having a couple of days sleepover at her Nanna’s and so she only had her youngest little baby boy to watch. This made the prospects of outing much easier and relaxing for the both of us. She loves the Maylands area and visits it more regularly than I do so convincing her to meet at Chapels was easy work.
Short Macchiato
I rose quite early that morning and felt buzzing with energy so I burst out the front door for a quick pre-breakfast run. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful city and no matter how many times I run along the foreshore I always revel in its beauty. Normally upon my return from a morning run I am literally starving and will immediately commence devouring breakfast of some form; ideally something that includes eggs and strong coffee. However in order to meet Chris on time I had to jump straight in the shower, dress and into my car to head off to Maylands with an empty stomach. As I was waiting for Chris to arrive, I was so hungry it felt like my stomach had started to digest itself in protest. Thankfully she arrived shortly after with her gorgeous little boy in tow and as we waited for our orders to arrive she opened up a little container of puffed corn for him to nibble on. Figuring his food was fair game, I helped the little guy work his way through his breakfast snack as he looked back at me with a slightly astonished and bemused expression.
Smoked salmon and poached eggs on gluten free bread with spinach
Our meals were super quick to come out of the kitchen and I had to conscientiously stop myself from greedily eating it in two seconds flat. My eggs were poached just a few seconds beyond perfection maintaining most of their gooey centres which burst out like lava over my salmon and toast. The gluten-free bread didn’t have that crumbly cake texture I loathe in some but was fairly standard in taste.
Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on rye with spinach
Chris also ordered the smoked salmon but had her’s with scrambled eggs and on rye toast. Her eggs were airy and fluffy and although her little boy had already had his breakfast, he was totally fine with the idea of helping her finish her large serve. Very cute.
Mixed berry minicake with cream
One of the many things I love about eating out with Chris is her healthy appetite, especially when it comes to breakfast. A lot of people cannot handle a large amount of food first thing in the morning. Neither Chris nor I are one of these people. She was the person who introduced to me the concept of a “second breakfast”, an idea that has great merit to someone like me who is often a very early riser. In addition to this we are also big fans of a two-course breakfast.
Green tea macarons
The dessert menu left me spoilt for choice with a multitude of gluten-free options. We ordered the mixed berry tea cake and a couple of green tea macarons. The cake was fluffy and light with a great tang of tart berries and a dollop of decadent thick cream. The macarons were a little disappointing. They lacked a crisp outer shell and were mostly a chewy consistency. Texture really is key to macaron success. The green tea flavour was too subtle for me and it was also a little too sugary.
Chapels on Whatley are another gluten-free friendly breakfast venue to add to your bucket list in Perth, especially if you love a good cup of tea. Their menu is small but varied and I am interested to return and try their lunch menu.
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Chapels on Whatley 196 Whatley Crescent, Maylands, 6051 | (08) 9272 7738 | www.chapelsonwhatley.com.au Price: $$ ($8-25 breakfast/brunch, gluten-free options available) Food: 2.5/5 (fluffy scrambled eggs but poor quality macaron) Service: 3.5/5 (very prompt service, friendly) Ambience: 4/5 (love the courtyard with accompanying birdies) Drinks: 4/5 (would return just for the tea) Total: 14/20
Villa Air Bali, Seminyak, Bali
Posted by | Categories: Accommodation, Bali, Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese, Japanese, Resorts, Travel
I have to be the worst person in the world at keeping secrets. I don’t know how the Boy does it but consistently for some years now he manages to crack the puzzle on what his Christmas gift is from me. It frustrates the hell out of me! So this year I thought I’d go way outside the box from the usual gift giving we normally do and instead I decided I would get him a holiday …. and I would come along of course!
Now obviously the first place that came to my mind was Thailand as our love affair with this country continues and I really wanted to organise a trip to Bangkok with a detour via Hua Hin for some beachside relaxation. But after some investigation with our travel agent, I soon realised that with a wedding to save for; going to Thailand during its peak season was realistically out of my budget! She suggested we go somewhere a little closer to home such as Bali. Being only three and half hours flight from Perth it seemed like the perfect place to get in a quick amount of much needed R&R.
For nearly half the price of a trip to Thailand she arranged a five night holiday to Bali including flights staying at Villa Air Bali in Seminyak. I laminated some brochures of the villas and pictures of Bali and wrapped it all up in a big gift box with the Flight Centre travel documents. To my exquisite delight the Boy had absolutely NO IDEA what it was until he opened it! Finally success at keeping a secret!
The flight was over before we knew it and we were collected by our pre-organised transfer. We travelled for nearly two hours from the airport bouncing along on potholed streets in the bucketing rain while our transfer tried to sell us guided tours. It was much to our relief when we pulled into the lobby area and were warmly greeted by our hotel receptionist. The lobby was open plan with a large moat pond surrounding it with some beautiful Koi and a symphony of frogs. The locations of the villas are slightly out of the main area of Seminyak so it was generally a taxi ride to get to the restaurants and beach clubs.
We were taken to our villa where our porter showed us every infinite detail of the villa right down to opening the kitchen drawers and showing us the forks and knives. The kitchen had only basic utensils and enough glasses and plates for two people. Although there was a stove top, there weren’t really enough kitchen bits and bobs to make much more than a stir fry. Not that I planned on doing ANY cooking mind you.
The villa was clean and free of any mouldy odours so common to some middle range accommodation during the wet season in the tropics. The only downside of the villa design was that during rainy downpours, water would flood across into the living area and onto much of the tiles. Both of us nearly stacked it a number of times as the floor became very slippery. The pool was so refreshing and inviting; it was invigorating to stumble out of bed each morning and plunge into the pool.
The bedroom was icily air-conditioned much to the Boy’s delight and the bathroom was enormous. In fact it was bigger than the bedroom. There was a large selection of amenities and in addition to the usual suspects there was some insect repellent and some fragrant bath salts.
Despite the brochure for the villa mentioning it has free WIFI, it took us a couple of days before they could actually get it to work properly. The connection was very poor as reception informed us that the internet in Bali is not very fast. The villa comes with a free stocked minibar but this was a little deceiving as it only contained only a couple of beers and some soft drink. I guess I can’t really complain if it’s free!
Breakfast can be served in villa or the restaurant with six options available: American, Healthy, Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Japanese. We decided on arrival we would try and have a different kind each morning for a bit of fun.
The American breakfast
The first (and worst) breakfast we had was The American. It was bland and very simple but I suppose it was acceptable enough. The scrambled eggs were light and fluffy albeit a little tepid. The black rice bread was gluten free and had a distinct nutty flavour which I really enjoyed. The yogurt was watery and fairly inedible.
The Chinese breakfast: Rice Porridge (congee) with 8 kinds of accompaniments, fried egg, mantou & Chinese tea
The Chinese breakfast consisted of some congee (rice porridge) with a myriad of accompaniments not all of which I recognised and could identify. It was served with some mantou (steamed buns). I carefully selected a number of the accompaniments and placed a sprinkling of them into my congee.
The Boy’s congee with “the lot”
The Boy on the other hand piled all of his on top of his congee and mixed it all through. The end result looked at little scary and was not very pleasant apparently! I quite enjoyed mine but I was a lot more conservative with what I put in it.
The Indonesian breakfast
The Indo breakfast option gave an option of either Nasi goreng (fried rice with shrimp, chicken and vegetables) or Mie goreng (fried noodles with egg, chicken and vegetables). I ordered the rice and the Boy ordered the noodles. My nasi goreng was fairly run of the mill and was nothing I couldn’t have recreated better at home. Unfortunately I spotted some onion contained in this one and ended up spending a fair amount of time having to sift carefully to pick the pieces out which was annoying. As with our American breakfast, our meals were served a little on the cold side.
The Japanese breakfast
The Japanese breakfast was by far and by large my favourite – I actually ordered this one twice I loved it so much! It came with some bean paste soup (miso), steamed rice, a couple of pieces of marinated grilled fish and some steamed white and orange sweet potato. There were also some green beans in peanut sauce. On the side was some dessert containing sweet jelly, red beans and fruit which made a refreshing end to the filling meal. I did make the mistake of tasting the side dish of natto. What the hell!! I always thought I was good with eating weird tasting things but this stuff is definitely an acquired taste – we both thought it was pretty gross. Is there a better way to eat this stuff?
Overall if we return to Seminyak we will probably stay somewhere more centrally located, but if you don’t mind being a little off the beaten track Air Bali was good value, peaceful and clean.
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Villa Air Bali, Seminyak | (+62) 361 737378 | www.villa-airbali.com Price: $$ Package deal with Flight Centre: $1014 per person for return flights with Virgin Blue from Perth, airport transfers, 5 nights accommodation in a pool villa with breakfast included, two massages in villa, free minibar Food: 2/5 (in villa breakfasts should be served promptly after making to avoid being cold) Service: 3.5/5 (reception went out of their way to notify restaurants in advance of my allergies) Ambience: 4/5 (relaxing, clean and modern style villas) Drinks: 2/5 (minibar was scant and was refilled only intermittently) Total: 11.5/20Cultural Tastes, Mount Hawthorn and some Wedding Dress shopping!
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Perth, Restaurants, Wedding
I was woken up abruptly at around 3am feeling very nauseous and sweaty with my stomach churning and cramping. I had a big day ahead of me with a number of appointments booked at bridal boutiques and I refused to accept that anything could ruin this special day. I gobbled down some antacid tablets and managed to scull a few mouthfuls of Gaviscon. I lay still in bed hoping that my increasing desire to vomit would pass and that I would at least get a couple more hours of sleep before I had to rise in the morning for what would be a very busy day!
The sun rose a few sleepless hours later and I continued to try to force myself into believing I felt ok but to no avail. Our first appointment time crept up way too quickly such that I was relieved to get a message from Kate saying she had slept in and was running late as I was struggling to get going myself. She cancelled the first booking for me and embarking in the pouring rain we managed to make it to our second booking. Woozy and achy I worked my way through so many dresses as best I could and prayed I wouldn’t vomit when the assistant cinched the dress as tight as she could to “show off my figure”. The problem with our first two boutiques was that their display dresses were all size 12s and they were all far too large, so the girls in the store would clamp the dress with a bundle of clips and pins. From this I was supposed to be able to visualise what the right size dress would look like! A very difficult task indeed, especially with a gastro developing in the mist.
As an interlude to all this rushing around Kate suggested we look along Scarborough Beach Road for a gluten-free café she recalled seeing previously. We initially stopped in at the New Norcia Bakehouse where the only gluten-free options they had to offer were a selection of cakes. Given the state of my stomach I wasn’t one to brave the stickies and we continued further down the road. We stumbled upon Cultural Tastes which is both a shop and café rolled into one.
I walked in presuming that my on-the-spot demands for no wheat, no gluten, no onion and all the rest would be too big an ask for such a small quaint little café. To my delight I was met with a series of “of course, no problems” to all of my requests – no onion in the omelette, gluten-free toast, and finally a freshly juiced fruitless, fructose friendly drink made especially for us with carrot, celery and ground coriander.
Vegetarian gluten-free onion free freshly cooked omelette
Our omelette came out quickly and was fresh and piping hot, full of delicious roasted vegetables and packed with flavour. The side salad was crisp and dressed thoroughly but not excessively so. The gluten-free bread was the only downside of the meal and could be improved.
Carrot, celery and ground coriander juice
Our juices were divine. Iced and not watery; the dash of ground coriander gave it an ideal flavour boost. They were a refreshing improvement on my own concoctions at home for sure. Thankfully our rest stop saved the day and gave me enough energy to solder on and continue our journey.
Our last stop was at Fara Couture, where our appointment had fortunately been changed to later in the day. This allowed my darling bestie/personal chauffeur for the day to take me home for an exhausted slump on the couch for a few hours before braving the bridal world once more. We received a warm and animated welcome from Fara herself who had opened the store on her day off for us and another bride to be. I noted her dresses were all a little bit different from the bog-standard ones we had looked at over the course of the day. I also liked the idea she makes them all herself rather than outsourcing overseas. We have definitely found a couple of potentials but I’m not ready to stop looking by any means yet…..
Cultural Tastes 167 Scarborough Beach Road, Mount Hawthorn 6016 | (08) 9242 1688 Price: $$ (I was too sick to remember to take a pic of the menu but it came to $40 for 2 omelettes, 2 juices and a coffee) Food: 3/5 (great omelette, they need to source better GF bread though) Service: 3.2/5 (not overtly friendly but very accommodating) Ambience: 3/5 (quaint little courtyard out the back in the sunshine) Drinks: 3.5/5 (I didn’t get to try their coffee due to my illness but the juice was excellent) Total: 12.7/20
Pata Negra, Nedlands
Posted by | Categories: Featured, Perth, Restaurants, Tapas Bar, Wine Bar
I am always feeling like I’m so time-starved; something I’m sure many of you readers can empathise with. I never have enough time in my days and weeks to catch up with the friends I hold dear to my heart. There is only so much of that void in my life that I can successfully offset via networks like Facebook and as soon as I have some time off from work, I get busy lining up catch up dates with neglected friends and family. A fellow foodie Tara and I have both been going on and on about wanting to go to Pata Negra together for ages. I’m sure the first time we discussed it must have been last year some time!
Pata negra is a Spanish tapas bar owned by chef David Coomer of Star Anise fame which was a fine dining icon in Perth for more than a decade. Regrettably Star Anise closed their doors last year but thankfully her edgier sister Pata Negra has remained opened.
After a number of false starts, Tara and I finally managed to coordinate our busy schedules and it was all locked in for a girlie night out. Her husband offered to stay at home with their two adorable little girls, and the Boy even offered to drop us in so we could both drink! We really are lucky women!
Contrary to my usual organisation, I had failed to notify the kitchen of my dietary requirements in advance. I’m not sure how I missed doing this and thus was a bit apprehensive as I sheepishly apologised to our waitress saying that I am a “difficult” customer with a couple of allergies. She didn’t seem too concerned with this and went off to the kitchen to have a chat with the chef.
We decided it was absolutely essential to start with a glass of Billecart-Salmon champagne while we deliberated over the menu. As we became more and more overwhelmed by all the mouth-watering options our waitress came over to say that pretty much anything off the menu could be adapted for me (except obviously the bread and crumbed items). Given my recent run of limited options dining out I was literally blown away. “Like you mean anything? Wow!”
Olives: arbequina, manzanillo, gordal
While we agonised what to order we asked for some marinated olives to be brought to the table, hoping some food would facilitate some decision making. I was so thankful this time round that our waiter was more than happy for me to use my flash to take photos as the interior lighting is quite dim. After all my fuzzy images from Marque, I really wanted to be able to relish in some focused pictorial memories. The olives contained a satisfying range of types, sizes and colours allowing a variety of tastes. It was served in adorable little antiquey dishes.
“cecina” air dried beef, beetroot, walnuts, fetta
The beef was such a simple dish yet each ingredient was carefully selected to create wonderful tiers of strong yet complementary flavours. The meat was a stunning dark cherry colour and had micro-thin veins of marbled fat running through it evenly. The walnuts introduced a slight bitter taste which was softened by the silky fetta and sweetened by the beets. Exquisite.
Roasted mushrooms, manchego, garlic
Ok, I realise this dish probably doesn’t look like much, but for those mushroom fans out there – this is the bomb. After falling in love with Andaluz’s mushrooms (and going back for subsequent visits for more) I am tempted to say these are even tastier! Some of this decision is possibly facilitated by my passion for the Spanish cheese Manchego. The distinctive and slightly salty flavour of this sheep’s cheese is wonderfully unique and is something not to be missed. Add in some meaty, juicy mushrooms and you have something quite amazing to devour! I again marvelled at how such simple dishes consisting of such few ingredients could be so fabulous.
Marinated Octopus, chorizo and slow cooked egg
I first discovered the deliciousness of slow cooked eggs some time ago at Greenhouse. These eggs are cooked for about 40 to 45 minutes but at much lower temperatures producing a very soft but evenly cooked egg. If you love soft poached eggs you will think these are nothing short of perfection. The octopus was slightly tougher than I prefer but was still very tasty and the chorizo provided a good contrast in textures.
Spiced quail, wild rice, lentils, buffalo mozzarella, egg and smoked almonds
These quails were huge in size! I am so used to being served such tiny little birds but these richly flavoured quails must have been weight lifting in their time! The meat was so moist, easily falling of the bone and it went well with the accompanying nutty wild rice and lentils. Two generous blobs of buffalo mozzarella completed the dish ideally.
Roasted pork belly, figs, watercress
The pork was my least favourite dish of the evening however there wasn’t really anything majorly wrong with it except maybe the meaty part of the pork was a bit dry. I think I was so excited about the layering of tastes in our previously ordered dishes that I wanted it to happen again and again.
Blood plum, meringue and pistachio cream
Our dessert was absolutely blissful. The meringue had all the right components – the crisp outer shell, the hollow crunchy under-surface and the spongy moist centre. After spooning some of the tangy blood plum sauce liberally over the top, it was supremely heavenly. I didn’t try the pistachio cream as it contained gluten but if Tara’s oohs and aaahs were any indication it must have been pretty good. This year I seem to really be having some great success at shortening my restaurant wish list however many of these places just haven’t lived up to my own hype. Pata Negra on the other hand exceeded my expectations by a long shot. Brilliant service, awesome company and fantastic food; I cannot wait to bring the Boy back here!
Pata Negra 26 Stirling Highway, Nedlands 6009 | (08) 9389 5517 | www.patanegra.com.au/ Price: $$$$ (tapas style dishes $7-17, mains $35-65) Food: 4.5/5 (not a single dish disappointed) Service: 4.5/5 (helpful, enthusiastic and knowledgeable) Ambience: 4/5 (ambient lighting and a Spanish feel, some couches would be nice though) Drinks: 4.5/5 (very large wine list with a lot of Spanish and Portuguese options) Total: 17.5/20
Clipper Cafe, Glebe, Sydney
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Featured, Restaurants, Sydney
I had made big plans for myself to get up super-duper early each day when I was in Sydney so that I could stroll over to my new favourite restaurant Bills for breakfast before heading to the Uni for my conference. Those big plans were all fine and dandy until I had a succession of late nights. I think the Boy’s keen passion for a good night’s sleep and his persistent cry of complaint to turn the lights out each night actually has a great influence on me. Just don’t tell him I admitted that. If you take his sleeping demands away and leave me to my own devices I seemingly want to have the best of both worlds. I want to be a night owl AND a morning person. This is a hard act to follow and before long something had to give.
I fell asleep to dreams of Bills’ eggs only to feel like I woke up five minutes later. That night I had finally decided to pull the curtains closed for the first time in three nights and the hotel room was cloaked in pitch black. I guessed it to be around 3 to 4 o’clock in the morning and gazed lazily over at the clock. To my horror it wasn’t 3am or even 5am. It was 7.15am and I was supposed to leave at 7.00. I needed a good 45 minutes to shower and get dressed so a deviation via Surry Hills was not an option.
Begrudgingly I dragged myself out of bed, into the shower and out the door as quickly as I could and Urbanspooned while I walked. I found a suggestion called Clipper Café that had great ratings and was very conveniently located directly on my route from the hotel to the Uni. I was greeted by an effervescent American waitress who proudly told me I could have nearly anything off the menu gluten-free. I ordered my usual short Mac while I perused the small menu which contained traditional staples with a few slight twists. The coffee is Clipper’s own blend roasted at Coffee Alchemy in Marrickville. I really enjoyed this cup; it was much sweeter than my coffee at Bills with a lovely creamy aftertaste.
I ordered poached eggs on gluten-free bread with prosciutto, tomato and Pecorino. My order came out in great time as I was definitely on a tight schedule due to my little lie-in. The salty crisp grilled Pecorino totally overpowered the prosciutto flavour and I was left wishing that I had read the menu more carefully before ordering. To make matter more disappointing my poached eggs were slightly overdone leaving only a small amount of gooey egg yolk to goomp everything together. The gluten-free bread tasted like standard shop bought bread and was nothing special.
Overall I enjoyed my breakfast but it simply did not compare to my repeat experiences at Bills. The coffee however was very good. Oh, and by the way just a little heads up if you go there – they are cash only so bring your wallet.
Check out my other Sydney posts here
Clipper Café 16 Glebe Point Road, Glebe 2037 | 0411 800 063 Price: $ ($7-12 Breakfast) Food: 2.5/5 (slightly overcooked eggs, crumbly GF bread) Service: 4/5 (quirky, fun and quick) Ambience: 3.5/5 (country café feel) Drinks: 4.5.5 (scrumptious coffee) Total: 14.5/20 
bills, Surry Hills
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Restaurants, Sydney
I love the constant pulse of Sydney’s heartbeat. You can feel it as soon as you arrive. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any way complaining about the laid back lifestyle and beautiful sunny days we get to enjoy in Perth but Sydney is most definitely a city that feels like she is alive. I could happily see myself living here if it wasn’t for all our strong ties back in the Wild West. We both have our careers which we love and also as a direct result of living in London, the Boy has a complete dislike for residing in big cities. He needs space around him to grow all his delicious fresh produce, loves open spaces and craves peace and quiet. I’m easy either way as long as we are both happy, like I said, Perth is a beautiful and relaxing place to live and despite my yearning for bright lights and the big smoke I still love Perth with a passion.
Not keen on subjecting myself to an overpriced and tasteless hotel breakfast, I consulted my fellow Foodspotters’ from Sydney for advice on local gluten free breakfast options. I was advised to avoid the CBD area directly surrounding my hotel and take a short stroll over to Surry Hills where I was given a range of venues. One of those venues was Bills which I have since learnt seems to be an essential item on most foodies bucket lists when coming to Sydney. I am quite familiar with Bill Granger’s story, he is a self-taught chef who has now gone on to become something of a global phenomenon owning restaurants around the world, he has published best-selling cookbooks and has had his own TV shows on BBC.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of being able to walk everywhere here. Not an easily accomplished task back in my home town. As I strolled past the colourful costume shops on Oxford St which were stocked all ready for the Mardi Gras, I stopped to peer into a couple of windows to see an abundance of multi-coloured fairy wings, feather boas and a variety of tightly clad male mannequins.
Upon arriving to Bills I was greeted in a very warm and friendly manner and was supplied with my short Mac before I could even think about how much I needed it! I noticed around me a number of regulars were on a first name basis with the wait staff. Return customers are a sure sign you are doing something right.
Bills uses their own organic coffee from Single Origin Roaster. My short Mac was served at the perfect temperature and had my preferred balance of slight bitterness with a creamy aftertaste. I must confess though I still prefer my Nespresso Arpeggio. I had their famous scrambled eggs on gluten free toast with a serve of button mushrooms and cumin roasted tomatoes. I apologise for the poor photos due to an unintentional misty effect on my lens, it was a little rainy on the walk there and the lens fogged up! For those more talented photographers out there any recommendations for remedying this?
Scrambled eggs on gluten free toast with button mushrooms and cumin roasted tomatoes
The gluten free bread was of a very high standard. Some of you may be familiar with the problems that result from the omission of gluten in bread. It can often be crumbly and dry and can taste more like a savory cake than bread. Alternatively on the other side of the extreme, it can be hideously stodgy and heavy like a rock. This bread was crisply toasted on the outside with a soft and fluffy bread texture in the centre. There was no bitter or gluggy aftertaste. Positively one of the best gluten free breads I’ve eaten in a long time. The only downside was the butter served with the bread was very hard and impossible to spread.
I was happy to overlook the hard butter because piled upon my plate was fold upon fold of light fluffy scrambled eggs. They almost tasted aerated! The button mushrooms were meaty and firm, with generous lashing of EVOO and fresh thyme. The cumin roast tomatoes had caramelised into intense sweet deliciousness.
Cured ocean trout with fresh curd, gluten free toast, avocado and tomato
I enjoyed my breakfast so much I decided to get up half an hour earlier for the next two mornings so I could work my way through their menu prior to my return to Perth. The next morning I decided to step out of my predictable choice of anything eggie and ordered the cured ocean trout with fresh curd on gluten free with fresh avocado and tomato. Fortunately my camera was back in action this time to capture the brilliant colours that were arranged on my plate. Once again the toast wowed me and I savoured the enjoyment of trying to get a small amount of each ingredient with every mouthful. The trout was delicately soft and the tangy curd lightened the whole dish. As opposed to yesterday I didn’t feel overly full this time round which was an added bonus as Sydney Uni (where the Conference was held) was another good 40 minutes’ walk from Bills!
Soft boiled eggs, fresh tomato and aged cheddar
My final breakfast at Bills came a day late due to a minor accidental sleep on the following day. It’s surprising how just a three hour time difference can throw your sleeping rhythm quite out of whack! I’ve been remaining bright eyed and bushy tailed until far too late each evening. In order to have enough time to walk to Bills, have breakfast and then walk to Sydney Uni I need to get up by 6am – very difficult when you’re wide awake until all hours!
For my final breakfast I chose the soft boiled eggs with “toy solder” bread, fresh tomato and aged cheddar. This was my favourite and made me so chuffed I made the effort to return one more time. The thinly sliced strips of scrumptious gluten free toast were cut to the perfect size to dip into the gooey eggs and I was definitely in seventh heaven. I’m really looking forward to my next excuse to visit Sydney for a number of reasons and breakfast at Bills is one of them!
Check out my other Sydney posts here
Bills 359 Crown Street, Surry Hills 2010 | (02) 9360 4762 | bills.com.au Price: $$ ($12-18.50 breakfast, $10.50-23 lunch)Food: 4.5/5 (awesome GF toast, fresh produce)
Service: 4.5/5 (very efficient with a bit of funky)
Ambience: 4/5 (buzzing brilliant breakfast vibe)
Drinks: 4/5 (good eco-friendly coffee) Total: 17/20
Piccos Kitchen, Rollie and some Bathers
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Perth, Restaurants
Last week’s blogging silence was a result of our world being turned upside-down due to one of our darling little boys falling ill. Like some other couples our age, we don’t have any human children. In fact there is a very good chance that we never will. Instead, our children are two adorable Burmese cats named Rollie and Eddie (or Roland and Edward when they are naughty!). For those who are unaware of the delight of a Burmese – imagine an animal that is somewhere at the half way point between being a dog and a cat! They sit on command for their treats, they always come when called even if they are not hungry, they both sleep under the bed covers with us every night (sometimes with their head on the pillow) and they will be waiting patiently at the door for our return from work. They will alternate between each other being my constant shadow around the house, and are both happiest when their life includes copious amounts of cuddles and company.
We call Rollie the “complicated child”. I figure there is always one in every family. From a young age he developed a form of obsessive compulsive disorder called fabric chewing. Oriental breeds of cats such as Siamese and Burmese are thought to be genetically predisposed to this condition. We generally keep this condition under control with plenty of “environmental enrichment”. There are a number of ways in which this can be done – the more the better. In order to mimic their natural predatory behaviour, they both have to “hunt” for their food each morning as it is hidden around the house. We ensure our house has a lot of “vertical space” with numerous ledges, tunnels and vantage points to view the world from above in addition to keeping the house filled with kitty happy pheromones using a couple of plug-in diffusers containing Feliway. They have a basket of toys to choose from which ends up scattered around the house by the end of most days, and finally we try our best to avoid letting him have any access to his favourite materials however this is easier said than done.
Despite these strategies, in situations that involve changes within the household his OCD behaviour can start to return, most notably when we have guests stay in the house. Unfortunately during my sister’s recent stay, Rollie managed to get hold of a bathing suit and devoured part of it which then obstructed in his stomach requiring emergency surgery to be removed. Being in an extremely emotional and worried state, I knew it was unwise for me to perform the surgery myself, so I asked my dear friend and trusted colleague Chris if she could come into work and operate for me. Despite it being her day off, she rushed in to the hospital with no questions asked. After initially stabilising our little son with intravenous fluids and pain relief, he went into surgery and thanks to Chris’s gentle yet lightening quick skills he was in the recovery ward before I knew it. The boy and I are both so eternally grateful to her for doing such an amazing job of saving Rollie’s life.
As a gesture of our thanks, I invited Chris out for breakfast at Piccos Kitchen. The two of us often go out for breaky together and we are always on the hunt for new and interesting locations and menus. I have been here once quite some time ago with the boy and recall for once his comments on his food went beyond the normal “nice” or “ok” into the realms of “really delicious”. Not a common occurrence. We were greeted by the friendly staff and our coffees arrived very quickly. My espresso was at the perfect temperature and I noted they use Rubra coffee, a fair trade company that is based locally in Perth. I hadn’t called in advance to notify the kitchen of my no gluten, no onion requirements so I asked the waitress if she could assist me in narrowing down my selection off their creative and mouth-watering menu. She immediately then went to the kitchen and got the chef Sharna, who was more than keen to help me create something delicious. When I asked her if the haloumi and zucchini fritters with house smoked salmon were going to be suitable for me, she informed me that they contained wheat flour. This was of no concern to this passionate and extremely accommodating young chef. She kindly offered to especially create for me a gluten free variety of the original menu item and off she disappeared into the kitchen. She returned with a number of different non-wheat flours to check if they were going to be ok for me – we opted for a combination of millet and rice flours, both are gluten free.
House smoked salmon, zucchini and haloumi fritters, greens and hollandaise
Although Sharna had warned us to expect a bit of a wait, our meals came out pretty quickly especially when you consider she was creating something new. Both of our plates were heaped high with food, if you want a decent sized breakfast you will most definitely get your value for money here. Without gluten to bind everything together, a lot of gluten-free carby things like fritters and breads can have a tendency to crumble and fall apart. These zucchini and haloumi fritters held their shape and texture really well. Piled high on top of the fritters was the house smoked salmon with dill and capers, and big handfuls of fresh rocket and herbs.
Flourless orange cake
Chris ordered the Spanish scrambled eggs with roast capsicum and tomato relish, Spanish chorizo and sourdough. Her meal was also a generous size although in keeping with our usual breakfast outing tradition, we did manage to save a tiny bit of room to share a little bit of sweets. We ordered the flourless orange cake. It was incredibly moist and zesty and despite the fact we both felt like we would explode from fullness, we kept on eating it until it was all gone!
Thankfully back at home our lives are starting to return to normal. After a sleepless week of caring for our convalescing child, his little quirky behaviours started to return one by one. Finally last night when he attempted to steal our pizza (his LOVES pizza), we knew he was thankfully well on the road to a successful recovery.
THANK YOU SO MUCH CHRIS – YOU ARE THE BEST! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Piccos Kitchen 38 Peninsula Road, Maylands 6051 | (08) 9272 4491 | www.facebook.com/PiccosKitchen Price: $$$ ($12-22 Breakfast, $18-29 Mains) Food: 4.5/5 (fresh locally source produce, lots of flavour, creative options) Service: 5/5 (went above and beyond) Ambience: 3.5/5 (hard to assess on a quite Monday morning) Drinks: 4/5 (great coffee – they also do take-away coffees) Total: 17/20
Greenhouse, Perth City
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Featured, Modern Australian, Perth, Restaurants
It is so exciting to have all my family over in Perth for our engagement party tonight. My Mum and Dad have been divorced since I was a young teenager and so my sister and I have grown accustomed to dividing our time during any major holiday events between each of our parents and their loved ones. Incredibly this party will not only be a first for us all to be together in Perth, but it also will be the first family event that both my parents have attended simultaneously since I was a little child. Understandably I am thrilled to have them all here!
Dad and his wife arrived late the night before so we planned to catch up on the morning of the party for a light brunch and chatter at the Greenhouse. The Greenhouse seems to be a restaurant you either love or you hate. I have eaten here a number of times and have never been disappointed with the food or the service. The bizarre interiors are all made from recycled materials which gives it a real bohemian greenie vibe. Even the light fittings – which look quite spectacular – are actually just made from wound up barbed wire fencing. The meals are served in quirky pieces such as old milk bottles and terracotta plant pots. It definitely is not for everyone, but I love it more and more with each visit.
Last time I came here for breakfast I had wild mushrooms with slow cooked eggs served on my own gluten free bread – it’s such a shame they do not have any gluten free bread available. The mushroom dish was very memorable and I was eager to see if something similar remained on their ever changing seasonal menu. To my exquisite excitement a new version of this dish was on the menu accompanied by their amazingly gooey slow cooked eggs and some grilled polenta. I wasn’t going to need my BYO gluten free bread after all. Everyone at the table except for Dad ordered the mushrooms and none of us were disappointed with our choices. The eggs were perfectly soft and I’m sure there must have been at least four different types of mushrooms in there. As we sat in the fabulous Perth sunshine basking in its therapeutic glow I felt proud to call this city my hometown.
My Dad is a fashion designer for his own shoe label and spends a lot of his time for work in and out of China. So when he saw there was crab congee on the menu it was no surprise to us all when he ordered it for himself. I am yet to decide how I feel about congee; I think it’s my love of eggs for breakfast that always sways me away from choosing to eat it and I always end up opting for ordering a dish with googs instead. I had a little taste of his congee and found the saltiness and texture of the crab gave it that perfect lift, turning it from a potential bland baby food into a filling and delicious meal. Despite this deliciousness, my mushroom addiction overrode any regrets as I quickly devoured my own amazing breakfast and was left wishing the serve was a touch bigger!
After breakfast, I walked back to the car hand in hand with the boy as we both enjoyed the glorious warmth of the sun I could feel it energise me and give me increasing bounce in my stride. We chatted animatedly about our wedding plans for Phuket. By the time we got back to the car I was feeling a little on the ditsy side and I ended up leaving our parking ticket on the boot of the car as we drove off towards the exit. Unable to find the ticket when at the exit, I started to wonder if this beautiful morning was too good to be true and that the party day was destined to be filled with mishaps. We drove back to our original location and the boy started scanning the ground while I rummage through my handbag hastily. But to my surprise and relief there was the paper ticket still sitting there innocently on top of the car boot! We exited the car park without any further drama and made our way back to my Dad’s hotel room where I was spoilt rotten with a whole suitcase of Robert Robert and Diavolina shoes!
Score: Service 7.9/10 Food 9/10 Venue 8.5/10
Greenhouse 100 St Georges Terrace, Perth 6000 | (08) 9481 8333 | greenhouseperth.com
The Lounge Room, Guildford
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Perth, Restaurants
As I dragged myself out of my warm cosy bed at 6am on my day off I thought about the long drive ahead of me in the pouring rain for a partners meeting and wondered if I was a little too dedicated to my business. We normally go to the Dome café in Midland of which I am not the biggest fan after numerous past disappointments. After such as lovely experience at Jezebelle in Guildford I suggested we try a change in scenery and go to The Lounge Room which is just a short way down James Street.
Despite a table booked for 7 am and the fact they open at 7am we were left waiting outside the front of the cafe in the cold morning weather. You would think that they could have made the effort to be ready with open doors to greet customers when they had tables pre-booked? We were to soon find out this was just the first in many incidents caused by a lack of preparation and attention to customer service.
Upon gazing at the chalkboard menu one could not help but be distracted by the multiple pieces of paper stuck onto several of menu items that were not available. This looked quite untidy and I would recommend getting a proper chalkboard and handwriting items if things regularly go out of stock. Perhaps maybe doing this in addition to ensuring you have adequate stock to start a new week are just like opening on time…. too much effort for a Monday morning to bother with?
I ordered the breakfast Panini without onion. I was then informed this would not be possible as the Panini were already made up – I wondered if it was really too difficult to make a fresh one? They certainly weren’t that busy. Instead I ordered scrambled eggs on toast with mushroom and tomato… unfortunately I was then informed there were no mushrooms left. Really? First thing on a Monday morning and you have no mushroom to go with your breakfast menu? I thought I would take a gamble and ask for avocado instead – nope, none of that available either! I reluctantly opted for bacon as my second addition.
I also ordered a short macchiato. I should have thought to describe what a short mac is before ordering as the ratio of milk to coffee was way too high for me. The meal itself reminded me of food you would get from a “diner” style restaurant, not a cafe marketing itself as upmarket. I got one piece of toast, a pile of unseasoned flavourless scrambled eggs, some pale tepid tomatoes and some bacon. Not a lot of value for the price which was a pricey $20!
It was certainly edible but not much more than that. We continued our meeting while our empty plates remained on our tables as the wait staff pretended that neither us nor our empty plates were even there. Not once did we get asked if we would like more coffees, desserts or anything of the like. Surprising as we stayed for another two hours while they ignored us and lost the business opportunity our seats should have been providing. Oh well, they won’t have to worry about that happening again!
Service 2/10, food 4/10, venue 5/10
The Lounge Room
187 James Street, Guildford, 6055 | (08) 9379 3791
Blackbird Restaurant East Perth
Posted by | Categories: European, Featured, French, Perth, Restaurants
With only one hours’ notice to the kitchen for my no wheat/no onion requirements I was delighted to be greeted by our waitress as we were sat down at our table with an amended menu with suitable options and accompanying alterations. This attention to detail was seen throughout the night with attentive and friendly customer service.
Confit duck and pistachio terrine, crisp bread
Blackbird is a cosy little restaurant oozing charm and character and the atmosphere was perfect for us to both unwind after a long week over some delicious food. I started with the Special of the Day, a portion of smoked salmon served on a bed of fennel with cumquats and lime. This dish was very light and refreshing to the palate – quite uplifting. The boy had the confit of duck and pistachio terrine. The confit was flavoursome and not dry and balanced well by the more gentle flavours of the terrine.
Special of the day: salmon with fennel and cumquats/lime
For main we both had the seared line caught ocean trout with quail eggs – mine accompanied by mash and his accompanied by a risotto cake. The trout was cooked perfectly; it flaked apart under my fork and melted in my mouth like butter. Definitely the highlight of the evening. We progressed onto the cheeses – quite a generous serve which we both struggled to finish. A good selection of Roquefort, hard Dutch goat’s cheese and my favourite of the three La buche d’affinois. There were no GF accompaniments for the platter but this did not matter as I came prepared with some GF crackers in my bag (I had already perused the cheese menu prior to arrival!)
Cheeses: La buche d’affinois, Papillon Roquefort, Midnight moon
We ended the night with a pannecotta to share. This was the least enjoyable dish as it collapsed into a puddle of puree minutes after serving. It tasted like very sweet fruit puree – not entirely inedible, but certainly not what we felt like. Without either of us saying anything to the waitress, upon seeing our dish she apologised and told us she would take it off the bill for us as it was not acceptable. Like I said – their service was very attentive.
Service 9/10 Food 8.5/10 Venue 8/10
Blackbird Restaurant Suite 4, 10 Eastbrook Terrace, East Perth, 6004 | (08) 9225 7880 | www.blackbirdrestaurant.com.au
