Perth's Hottest 100 Food Blogs 2016
Posted by Perth, Perth's Hottest 100 | Categories:I pondered until the 13th hour whether I should continue with the tradition of Chompchomp’s Hottest 100 Perth food blogs for this year. I confess the blog has taken a temporary back seat over the past few weeks as I recover from multiple gluten poisonings and Christmas over indulgences. Updating the list is a huge endeavour that involves a lot of researching and double-checking each blog for suitability. However after much encouragement and a little help from the Boy, we have managed to put the list together for Perth’s Hottest 100 Food Blogs 2016.
As per last year, in order to qualify for the Perth’s Hottest 100 Food Blogs list, blogs need to be based in Western Australia and their content needs to be predominantly about food. I have excluded any blogs that haven’t published content in the last twelve months. Blogs that have with no Alexa ranking data are also been excluded. If I have missed or excluded your blog off my list and you do qualify for the criteria; I apologise profusely. Just send me an email or comment below and I will add you to next year’s list.
This year has shown some interesting changes in the Perth food blogging world, most notably a massive drop in both blog numbers and readership. Many wonderful Perth food blogs have become inactive, or lost readership to the point they have no Alexa ranking. Consequently there are now less than 100 blogs with a ranking that make the list. So really, this is a Hottest Nearly 100 list! I hope you all enjoy and find some new blogs to read along with reuniting with those you love.
Just a little word about Alexa ranking; Alexa Internet is a US-based subsidiary company of Amazon that provides commercial web traffic data. It estimates traffic by comparing how a website is doing compared to all other sites on the Internet over the past 3 months. Alexa’s website describes this rank as being “calculated using a combination of the estimated average daily unique visitors to the site and the estimated number of page views on the site over the past 3 months. The site with the highest combination of unique visitors and page views is ranked #1”. To give you an idea of how it goes, Google is number one closely followed by Facebook. Noodlies has given a more detailed explanation on Alexa’s merits and pit falls when used for ranking blogs.To read more about the Alexa ranking please refer to their site at www.alexa.com.
Here is Perth’s Hottest 100 Food Blogs 2016:
These stats were complied on 26th of January 2016
Alphabet Soup Truffle Dinner, Canton Lounge Perth City
Posted by Degustation/Fine dining, Events, Featured, Perth, Restaurants | Categories:I love being part of unique dining experiences. I find the excitement of the unknown combined with the knowledge that it is a once off event makes the evening feel so special. Alphabet Soup Dining is a Perth-based pop-up restaurant run by chef Melissa Palinkas who is also the Executive Chef and part owner of Young George in East Fremantle. Melissa started Alphabet Soup because she wanted to offer a quirky degustation style meal where she could let her creativity run free. She holds a dinner event once monthly in locations all around Perth and has popped up in places like Milk’d in Maylands, Cutlery Draw in Manning, Frisk! Small Bar and 399 Bar in Northbridge and most recently at Canton Lounge in the City.
I have wanted to attend an Alphabet Soup dinner for some time so when I saw that chef Melissa was holding a truffle themed dinner this was my immediate cue to book us in. I can never say no to truffle. Before booking I checked that the event could cater for gluten free and was happily assured that it wouldn’t be a problem.
The Alphabet Soup events are based around a six course meal and the menus are published online just a few days before the event. After being seated for the evening, we received a couple of rounds of “snacks” that were not on the menu as a surprise. Our first treat was a reverse crayfish truffle sushi roll using locally caught Mindarie cray. The cray meat was tender and sweet having been cooked sous vide with truffle in the bag to infuse a strong flavour.
Our second surprise snack was a basket of miso lamb ribs, also cooked sous vide in a bag with truffle. The meat slid off the bones easily and the Boy and I sat speechless, both far too busy for words as we sucked and slurped each rib until it was clean.
Our next dish was a little theatrical; sake cured ocean trout with truffle with a yuzu and coconut salad. The portions of ocean trout were suspended on a miniature hanging line with pint-size pegs. Super cute.
The trout was matched with a pomelo mojito, made with Havana 7, pink grapefruit, lime and crème de menthe. It was an interesting experience having a meal matched with not just wines, but also a collection of cocktails.
Who said eating gluten free meant you had to miss out? My truffle chicken karage was made using tapioca flour and tasted just like the real thing. Two crispy morsels were accompanied by some truffled Japanese mustard aioli topped with black sesames. This was finger licking good chicken that left no grease on my hands, my only gripe was that I was left wanting more.
My fried chicken yearning was quickly forgotten upon the arrival of the next dish; broken truffle sticky rice with a 62 degree egg. It is hard not to fall madly in love with the magical combination of slow cooked eggs and truffle, and thankfully there are a number of chefs in Perth that have caught onto this simple decadence.
It is guaranteed that this combination will never fail to make me swoon, those flavours are perfectly married in heaven. Poised with my camera in hand, my predictable squeal of delight emitted when the Boy cut into his yolk was met with his usual eye roll. I may be a little over the top with my love for yolk porn, especially after a few cocktails.
For our next dish, we enjoyed a pork and truffle dumpling served in a richly flavoured dashi broth with fresh shiitake mushrooms. To finish the dish, shavings of fresh Manjimup truffle cascaded on the surface adding a stronger hit of truffiliciousness.
I was to learn that the element of surprise is the norm for the Alphabet Soup dinners. Our next course was yet another secret item that was not found on the menu. I really love surprise dishes! A super tender, baby carrot was cooked in truffle dashi before being grilled and then served with an XO sauce ash.
Our final main course was the seared duck breast, cooked Chinese BBQ style with truffle mushrooms, edamame and of course, fresh truffle.
The duck breast was crispy thin on the outside yet remained tender pink and buttery moist on the inside.
To freshen up our palates ready for dessert, we were given a bite sized spoonful of mandarin and yuzu jelly. It was uplifting and refreshing, combining perfectly with my jazzed up G&T made with Bombay Sapphire, lemon and jasmine tea.
Our dessert brought me back to my childhood when Mum and I would go to the Adelaide Central Markets to do our weekly food shopping. My reward for being the good daughter who would come along and help her mother would always be some sort of treat we shared before going home. Most weeks we would end up walking over to Adelaide’s Chinatown precinct and finding something delicious. These were the days I was oblivious to the fact gluten was killing me, and in my ignorance I would eagerly look forward to the times we would get ourselves a steam pork bun.
For our final course with Alphabet Soup, the Chef made a special batch of gluten free truffle and pear steam buns just for me. The buns were made using potato, corn flour and rice flour giving an authentic doughy, but fluffy texture. We were given truffle honey and Anglaise sauce to drizzle lavishly over our buns. It was a perfect way to end our evening.
We both thoroughly enjoyed our evening out with Alphabet Soup and will be watching out for her next event. There was all the right elements of entertainment, quirkiness and originality that I had hoped for with some extra surprises to boot. Chef Mel effortlessly catered for my dietary needs without making me feel like I missed out on any of the degustation experience. Thanks Melissa!
Alphabet Soup | www.alphabetsoupdining.com
Canton Bar | 532 Hay Street, Perth WA 6000 | (08) 9325 8887 | www.cantonbar.com.au
Taste of Perth 2015: My Gluten Free Eats
Posted by Degustation/Fine dining, Events, Featured, Food and Wine Festivals, Perth | Categories:Taste of Perth 2015 proved that this is a city of passionate and dedicated gourmands. Over 15,000 people braved strong winds and horizontal rain to enjoy icon dishes from our city’s best restaurants served up by the Head Chefs themselves.
It was a very wet weekend with only a brief few hours of sunshine during the Friday lunch session which was fortunately the session that I attended! The festival is divided into lunch and dinner sessions which allows you four hours to eat, drink and mingle with friends. Food is purchased using “Crowns” which one Crown equally the value of $1.
I was joined by my fellow blogging friends who, like me, know the importance of having a “Taste of Perth Game Plan”. Prior to attending each of us had read the full menu, decided on our chosen dishes and could visualise the basic map layout in our heads. This is serious business!
The lack of indication for the gluten free dishes on the menu was a slight source of frustration for me. Some stalls can develop reasonable sized queues and no one wants to wait in line to find out they cannot order anything. Not wanting my frustration to turn into disappointment, I created a Plan B in the case that my desired dishes were glutenised. Yes that is a word.
After a few snacks in the corporate lounge, we kicked off our designer degustation at Nobu with their icon dish of 9+ Wagyu Carpaccio served with a slightly gooey quail egg and a kick of aji amarillo aioli. My dish was gluten free adapted with the omission of soy-salt. Whilst some may baulk at the price to portion ratio of this dish, I assure you that it would take just one mouthful of that buttery meat to liquefy on your tongue to make you understand what real Wagyu is.
Nobu’s spicy aji amarillo aioli lingered on our palates making the perfect introduction to head to El Público’s stall for some Mexican. I had already had the pleasure of tasting their dishes at the sneak preview a few weeks back so I looking forward to more.
I loved the sweet freshness of the street corn charred and braised served with crema, chili, lime & fresh cheese.
Later that night on the evening session, the Boy was desperate to try El Público’s icon dish called the “Flavours of Mexico” as he hasn’t had the chance to chow down bugs since we last visited Thailand. The fried crickets were served with two shots of throat clearing mezcal.
Bib & Tucker had a few gluten free options on offer. The colourful rosella flower cured kingfish with beetroot, finger limes and beach herbs injected much needed vibrancy to the afternoon as the sun began to slink behind the rain clouds.
Their icon dish was Flinders Island wallaby shank served with textured puffed wild rice and pickled grape agrodolce. Head Chef Scott Bridger demonstrated how to prepare this dish in the Electrolux Taste Theatre where the aromas of his cooking only served to increase our appetites even more.
Moving on from Bib & Tucker, I couldn’t stop myself nabbing a bite sized serve of Modo Mio’s vitello tonnato as it is one of my favourite dishes from their restaurant. The tender, thinly sliced veal was drizzled generously with tuna and caper mayo, topped with a quail egg and finished with a splash of truffle oil. However it really was not much more than a mouthful.
As we all looked at our watches, we realised we were running out of time! I was feeling rather content and happily followed the consensus of the group to head to Asado.
I quickly deduced that Asado is the place to be if you are a meat lover. I stood in a trance for more than a few minutes watching the chefs meticulously cook thick chunks of sizzling marbled meat on the BBQ grill.
Eventually I broke away my gaze, presumably because my eyes were tearing from all the smoke and decided I had eaten enough to satisfy my savoury tastebuds. I was ready for a sugar hit.
I was in luck as Asado was one of the few stalls offering a dessert option. Their burnt banana dish was not gluten free as it came with a butter biscuit base. I was grateful that the chefs were happy to make me a special adapted versio.
The banana was caramelised with a satisfying crunchy layer but I have to say it was the dulce de leche that won me over. I know salted caramel is starting to be a bit old hat, but I still love it!
With the day nearly over and my stomach nearly overflowing into my oesophagus, I accepted that if I bought any more food it would need to come home in a doggy bag. Of course that wasn’t a problem, and with a surprisingly quick step for someone so full I managed to whisk over to Bistro Guillaume.
Last year Bistro Guillaume’s massive “macaron burger”, or macaroon as it was inaccurately called, was enough to out-macaron even me! This year it was replaced with a more digestable boxed “Duo” of salted caramel and strawberry macarons although they were still quite a decent size. Sugar high here we come!
As we were leaving Taste of Perth, we walked past the Honeycake stall and I noticed a little “gluten free available” sign on their table. I have attempted to try tasting the Honeycake for months and months after my dear friend Michelle from Foodie Cravings told me there is a gluten free option. Sadly every time I try to buy one they have sold out….but not this time! Oh my, I can now understand what Michelle was on about because it really is worth the hype!
Taste of Perth runs every year in May and brings out talent from our top restaurants all in one location. There are also many other wine and food producer stalls to visit, entertainment and VIP lounges for those wanting something a bit more special. Whilst it isn’t the cheapest food festival on the circuit it is one that I always thoroughly enjoy.
Disclaimer: Chompchomp was an invited guest at Taste of Perth and Electrolux. Some of her dishes were provided free of charge and some she purchased herself.
Nobu | Crown Perth, Great Eastern Highway, Burswood 6100 | (08) 9362 7551 | www.noburestaurants.com/perth
El Público | 511 Beaufort Street, Highgate WA 6003 | 0418 187 708 | www.elpublico.com.au
Bib & Tucker | 18 Leighton Beach Boulevard, North Fremantle WA 6159 | (08) 9433 2147 | www.bibandtucker.net.au
Modo Mio | Crown Perth, Great Eastern Highway, Burswood WA 6100 | (08) 9362 7551 | www.crownperth.com.au/restaurants/premium/modo-mio/about
Asado | 34 Saint Quentin Avenue, Claremont WA 6010 | (08) 6424 9877 | asado.com.au
Bistro Guillaume | Crown Perth, Great Eastern Highway, Burswood | (08) 9362 7551 | www.bistroguillaumeperth.com.au
The Honeycake | Shop 40, Fremantle Markets, Henderson Street, Fremantle WA 6959 | www.thehoneycake.com.au
Perth's Hottest 100 Food Blogs 2015
Posted by Events, Featured, Perth, Perth's Hottest 100 | Categories:I am a proud Australian. I love my country and all the opportunities and joy it has given me. But what I love even more is my home town Perth. I wasn’t born here, I didn’t even grown up here, yet amongst all the cities I have lived in it is the only place I can see myself growing old. I am fiercely loyal to this city for a reason. We really have it all here; sunshine, happy people, incredible food and fresh produce, stunning beaches, a plethora of wine regions on our doorstep and the list goes on. I mean seriously….we even grow our own truffles. I am a strong believer in supporting local businesses and will go out of my way to buy something West Australian where I can.
After my publication of Perth’s Hottest 100 Food Blogs last year, I helped Sydney blogger Noodlies to compile a current comprehensive Australian Food Blogs list. He updates this list quarterly and it provides an incredible resource for foodies, journalists and fellow bloggers alike. With the creation of this full list, I felt that publishing a regularly updated Perth list was overkill as those who wanted to see the rise and fall of their stats could just refer to Noodlies list. The intentions of my list was not so much about stats but more about showcasing what an incredible number of beautiful and talented food bloggers we have here in WA. Just another reason we are awesome 😉 Consequently, after much encouragement from fellow bloggers and foodies, I have decided to update my Hottest 100 list annually to coincide with my favourite Public Holiday; Australia Day. There are a number of new additions to my list this year along with some that have sadly been removed due to inactivity or moving interstate/abroad.
In order to qualify for the Perth’s Hottest 100 Food Blogs 2015 list, blogs need to be based in Western Australia and their content needs to be predominantly about food. I have excluded any blogs that haven’t published content in the last twelve months. Blogs that have with no Alexa ranking data have also been excluded this year. Updating this list is a huge endeavour that involves a lot of researching and double-checking each blog for suitability. If I have missed or excluded your blog off my list and you do qualify the criteria; I apologise profusely. Just send me an email or comment below and I will add you to the following year.
Just a little word about Alexa ranking; Alexa Internet is a US-based subsidiary company of Amazon that provides commercial web traffic data. It estimates traffic by comparing how a website is doing compared to all other sites on the Internet over the past 3 months. Alexa’s website describes this rank as being “calculated using a combination of the estimated average daily unique visitors to the site and the estimated number of page views on the site over the past 3 months. The site with the highest combination of unique visitors and page views is ranked #1”. To give you an idea of how it goes, Google is number one closely followed by Facebook. Noodlies has given a more detailed explanation on Alexa’s merits and pit falls when used for ranking blogs.To read more about the Alexa ranking please refer to their site at www.alexa.com.
Here is Perth’s Hottest 100 Food Blogs 2015:
These stats were complied on 16th of January 2015
Perth's Hottest 100 Food Blogs 2014
Posted by Events, Featured, Perth, Perth's Hottest 100 | Categories:Australia Day is our official national holiday and on this day there are countless parties, fireworks displays and festivals held across the nation all in the name of celebrating our great country. For many music buffs, including myself, there is one particular focus of this public holiday; that is the radio countdown broadcast of Triple J’s Hottest 100. The Hottest 100 is considered to be the world’s biggest music democracy and for about one month prior to Australia Day people can vote for their favourite songs of the year.
This year I was inspired with the anticipation of the big music event to compile a list of Perth’s Hottest 100 food blogs. Currently the only guide we have for measuring our state’s blog popularity is via the relatively useless Urbanspoon ranking. This system doesn’t actually use blog traffic for calculations but is merely a sum of the page views for the places the blog has reviewed. Additionally this list excludes other forms of food blogs that don’t write restaurant reviews such as recipe blogs.
Thang Ngo, the author of the Sydney based blog Noodlies identified this problem last year and took it upon himself to compile a list of Sydney food blogs that was ranked in a more accurate manner. He used a well-known website ranking tool called Alexa and manually obtained each blog’s ranking and listed all 300-odd of them. What a mammoth task! I was keen to do a similar list for Perth and with Thang’s guidance and support I commenced the very time consuming undertaking to list Perth and WA’s food blogs. I have done my best to include as many blogs as I could find including both wine and coffee blogs but my deepest apologies if I have missed your blog, please send me a comment and I can add you on.
Just a little word about Alexa ranking; Alexa Internet is a US-based subsidiary company of Amazon that provides commercial web traffic data. It estimates traffic by comparing how a website is doing compared to all other sites on the Internet over the past 3 months. Alexa’s website describes this rank as being “calculated using a combination of the estimated average daily unique visitors to the site and the estimated number of page views on the site over the past 3 months. The site with the highest combination of unique visitors and page views is ranked #1”. To give you an idea of how it goes, Google is number one closely followed by Facebook. Noodlies has given a more detailed explanation on Alexa’s merits and pit falls when used for ranking blogs. These rankings were taken on the 25th January 2014. For a complete list of all Perth’s Food Blogs click here.
So here it is: Perth’s Hottest 100 Food Blogs 2014