Gordon Street Garage: Breakfast through to dinner
Posted by | Categories: Coffee, Desserts, Featured, Modern Australian, Perth, Restaurants, Wine Bar
I am a very enthusiastic person and whilst most of you are well aware of my passion towards food, not all of you may know me for my devotion to my career. Nearly fifteen years have past since my graduation yet my love for being a vet grows even more as time goes on. I thrive on sharing this zeal with other like-minded colleagues. Fortunately our team of vets is filled with similar fanaticism and this creates a strong bond amongst many of us. One of our long-term employees Elaine started her career journey with us as a student many years ago and it has been a wonderful experience watching her skills and knowledge develop. It was only natural that through this mentoring process the two of us would become close friends and we have both joined each other’s wedding celebrations. It had been months since we had a chance to be able to catch up socially and agreed to meet at Gordon Street Garage, West Perth for breakfast on our day off. I have been curious to check out this hipster joint knowing it is owned by the same legends that run Duende; one of my favourite tapas bars in Perth.
Just the coffee alone is worth coming back for
Based in a building that did indeed once operate as an auto electric garage, the place is flooded with lots of natural light during the day and decorated with a lot of the furniture and fixtures made from recycled materials from the original garage. They take their coffee very seriously and roast their own single origin sourced beans on site. And it shows; their coffee is damn good; not too bitter with subtle fruity flavours. I dream of the day I can work closer to this joint so I can drink their brew more often! Maybe more on this later 😉
Hot smoked salmon, corn, cucumber, sour cream & focaccia
Elaine ordered the hot smoked salmon served with fresh corn, cucumber, sour cream on a toasted focaccia. All the ingredients were obviously fresh; some of the little corn kernels were still stuck together in rows to prove they had just been scrapped off the cob itself. The trout was delicately flavoured and balanced well with the sweet acidity of the cherry tomatoes and creamy dressing.
Vegetarian breakfast: eggs, fetta, corn, avocado, tomato and basil potato
Whilst the Boy has embraced a vegetarian lifestyle with gusto, I have to admit I’m yet to come on board 100%. My food intolerance issues mean that I struggle with iron deficiency anaemia and my symptoms wax and wane along with my haemoglobin counts. Consequently whilst not being a hard core carnivore, I am reluctant to give up meat altogether as I feel I should be obtaining my iron from more than just plant and tablet sources!
Vegetarian breakfast: eggs, fetta, corn, avocado, tomato and basil potato
Sorry. Had to hit you with this again.
The Gordon Street Garage’s vegetarian breakfast looked too good to miss. More of those cute little rows of corn kernels featured alongside ooey-gooey poached eggs, herbed fetta, fresh avocado, roasted tomato and basil potatoes. Once again each element of my dish oozed freshness and tasted like it was plucked straight out of someone’s veggie patch.
SO hard to choose!
We both had the day off and had nowhere to be in a hurry so our thoughts turned to the very conspicuous cake cabinet that we had ogled on our way in. We walked back over to the cabinet with our waitress where she gave us a lengthy lowdown on all the colourful Alice-In-Wonderland-esque delights that are all made on the premises.
Coconut and pineapple pannacotta
Gluten free dessert options were limited but I was fairly happy with my choice of a coconut and pineapple pannacotta. Creamy and uber coconutty this tropical breath of sweet deliciousness seemed like the perfect way to end my brunch. In a moment of thoughtfulness I asked our server to box up one of each flavour of their macarons to take home to share with the Boy.
The “Gateau”
Elaine couldn’t go past “The Gateau”; a peanut butter and chocolate slice that our waitress claimed was out of this world. It was very rich but Elaine impressively slowly but surely managed to eat the whole lot as I watched on enviously.
Macarons:Raspberry, orange, Pistachio and lemon
By comparison my pannacotta was devoured in a couple of mouthfuls and as Elaine savoured her decadence I gazed at my box of macarons; raspberry, orange, pistachio and lemon flavours. As we chatted away she eventually successfully demolished her gateau and I looked down into my macaron box…..it was empty, I had eaten all four!
A few weeks later it was my last night with my dear husband before I flew solo to Barcelona for a conference. I have never travelled overseas without him and the thought of being apart left us both feeling torn between grumpy and sad. After such a glowing experience for my brunch I dragged him out on a cold weeknight back to Gordon Street Garage. The evening vibe was totally different to the sunlight-flooded experience I had previously but it still maintained the charm. The acoustics allowed music and conversation to melt into one meaning and we had to lean in close to hear each other.
In contrast to their very gluten friendly lunch menu I was disappointed to discover the only two dishes that could be adapted were the beef cheeks and the steak. Bad luck if you are Coeliac and don’t want to eat cow. I enquired if any vegetarian dishes could be adapted to be gluten free and was informed that although this could be done for me it would result in leaving out key elements that would greatly affect flavour.
So beef cheeks it was. I could see the Boy’s newly turned vegetarian eyebrows lift. I retorted that although I could clearly see the many benefits of his recently found way of life, I had to eat something! The beef cheeks tore apart beautifully and whilst this was a simple dish it was beautifully complemented with fresh greens and powerfully tasty wood fired mushrooms.
There were a number of vegetarian options and the Boy chose a couscous salad with sumac pumpkin, coriander and mint dressed with a lemony yoghurt dressing. The couscous was actually Israeli couscous which are more like pasta balls and are much bigger than regular couscous. It was a fair size for an entrée but wasn’t enough to fill his long legs so we ordered some olives and frites to accompany our meals.
Throughout our evening we found it increasingly difficult to get any waiters’ attention and spotted them on a number of occasions standing around in groups chatting casually amongst themselves. Although our food orders came out of the kitchen quickly, this was not the case with our drinks and ordering each round was painfully slow. This was somewhat worsened as some waiters would clear our empty glasses away without pausing to ask if we wanted another.
Crème catalane
After a wait we eventually placed our dessert order for the only gluten free dessert available; crème catalane. This is Spanish variation of crème brûlée. It had a bit of tang to it and was just as creamy as the pannacotta I enjoyed at my breakfast.
After my first glowing visit to Gordon Street Garage I was left feeling a little stumped why they get such a mixed bag of reviews out there. Now having returned back for dinner it makes more sense. The food is simple and fresh however the menu is designed to get the food out quick and without alterations. The lack of options for gluten free dishes for dinner service was somewhat disappointing and I would love to see this change in the future along with their slow inattentive service.
Gordon Street Garage
16 Gordon Street, West Perth WA 6005 | 08 9322 8050 | http://www.gsgarage.com.au/ Price: $$$ (Breakfast $12-24, Lunch $15-20, Dinner $17-35) Food: 4/5 (love the use of fresh local produce, some more accommodation for us intolerants would be greatly appreciated) Service: 2/5 (maybe just an off night, but save chitter chatter until the end of your shift) Ambience: 4/5 (if you love noise and atmosphere this place has an awesome buzz) Drinks: 4/5 (great wine list, lots of interesting options by the glass) Total: 14/20 
Pineapple Beet Smoothie & Thai Style Raw Noodles
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Paleo, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
I admit sometimes I completely underestimate my dear husband. I thought that after the first week of our Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge his enthusiasm levels would start to wane. This is a man who used to eat a whole roast chicken in one sitting. I’m not saying that I don’t have faith in him changing his eating habits, but I didn’t think it would happen easily.
The following Monday arrived and to my astonishment he bounced out of bed all excited and ready for his next smoothie to try. He is not a morning person and seeing him with this much energy first thing in the morning was a little out of the ordinary. Knowing how much he loves his pink drinks it was logical that this would be the colour of his next smoothie to taste test.
Pineapple beet smoothie
- ½ pineapple
- ½ medium beet
- 1 carrot
- 1 cup strawberries
- cup of cooled green tea
- water, as needed
- Place all ingredients into the blender and blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Drink immediately.
Raw Thai Style Zucchini Noodles
- ½ cup young coconut meat
- 2 tbsp raw coconut butter
- 1 red chilli
- 2 tbsp raw peanut or almond butter
- Coconut water as needed
- ½ small ½ inch piece of ginger
- 1 clove garlic
- Sea salt to taste
- Juice of 1 lime with ½ of zest
- 4 small zucchini cut julienne or spiralised
- 1 bell pepper, cut julienne
- 1 medium carrot, cut julienne
- ¼ cup finely shredded dried coconut plus more for garnishing
- In a blender combine the sauce ingredients and process until smooth.
- In a large bowl combine the sauce with the zucchini and bell pepper and carrot and ¼ cup of coconut and toss to coat.
- Place on plates and sprinkle with additional coconut.
Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Red Capsicum Soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Omniblend Australia provided me with an free Omniblend V machine to use to develop these recipes. Read my review for more information.
Fuku Omakase and Teppanyaki, Mosman Park
Posted by | Categories: Degustation/Fine dining, Featured, Japanese, Perth, Restaurants, Seafood
There are many memories I have about food from my childhood and most of those involve my father. Like many Frenchman he appreciates quality over quantity and cringes at the idea of ordering food from children’s menus. He believes that kids have just as much right to taste the finer food in life as the adults do. Growing up I was the child that was always keen to eat anything whereas my sister was exceedingly fussy. My dad embraced having a least one child with the same attitude to food as him and from a young age had me eating snails, sashimi and oysters amongst other delicacies.
One of my favourite restaurants he would take me to was a Teppanyaki restaurant located near his house in Prahran, Melbourne. Japanese cuisine was yet to take off back in Adelaide making this theatrical dining experience so new and entertaining to my young and impressionable mind. Since then Japanese in all its styles; sushi bars, Izakaya and Teppanyaki BBQs have taken off like a rocket in popularity to become commonplace and finding one that can maintain enough balance of tradition with modern flair isn’t that easy. Fuku Omakase Teppanyaki is located next door to the popular Tsunami in Mosman Park and has been a restaurant on my wish list since its opening about eight months ago.
Only room for a cosy few at this bar
We have visited their sister restaurant Tsunami many times and although we haven’t returned for a few years I have never been disappointed with a meal there yet. So when I received an invitation to attend their bloggers dinner at Fuku it was an offer just too good to refuse. Fuku offer a degustation style menu, or omakase as the Japanese call it. There are three options: the “Good” which is $100 for 4 courses, the “Better” which costs $135 for 8 courses or the “Best” which is $220 for 10 courses. You can also choose to have matched sake from their impressive wall of bottles for $75 per person.
So sublime
On arrival you get the feeling you are about to be part of something special. An intercom button must be pressed at the front door to gain entry upon which glass sliding doors automatically open to let you into the restaurant. We were openly greeted by our hosts for the evening owner Brett Carboni and his manager Milan and shown to our seats. Warm lighting and a single row of chairs facing the two Teppanyaki BBQs made this feel like a very intimate experience and immediately my mind started ticking over what celebration of sorts I could plan here. The Boy’s 40th is only a few years away……food for thought. Literally!
Kawa Ebi and sundried crispy nori sheet
Oi! Don’t steal mine!
Gary our chef for the evening was so humble and gracious and I warmed to him immediately. He patiently answered all our annoying bloggers questions regarding each dishes details and took due care that my meals remained gluten free. Our first course was presented in a lacquered bento box reminiscent of Nobu and contained gorgeous little flash-fried Kawa Ebi and some crunchy sun-dried nori. Kawa Ebi are pint sized freshwater shrimp and tasted similar to the fried school prawns we recently tried at The Stables Bar. These crispy morsels are eaten whole as easily as a bowl of pretzels. Washed down with some sake my hopes were high for a night of feasting for the eyes and the palate.
Preparing our Small Morsels
Small morsels (clockwise from front): Wagyu beef, Red emperor, Soba noodle tempura, Oyster
Being someone who apparently borderlines on OCD at times, I love the perfection and neatness of Japanese food. Everything is presented so immaculately and without clutter or messiness. Our second course contained four carefully plated elements. The standard dish contained slivers of soft Wagyu beef with a sweet white sesame dressing, some marinated red emperor with octopus, a tempura oyster with a refreshing ginger salsa and the most curious addition that initially I mistook for a garnish; soba noodle tempura.
Fried oyster with ginger salsa
Gluten free small morsels: My oyster was replaced with scampi
The noodle tempura was fashioned like a cherry blossom tree and looked almost too pretty to eat. Although as crunchy as uncooked pasta it had great flavour I found myself not only munching through mine but stealing the Boys “tree trunk” and munching that too. For my gluten free version the tempura oyster was replaced with a meaty scampi topped with some tobiko.
Fuku take their sake very seriously. This is a sake chiller.
Sashimi
Quail
No Japanese meal is complete without sashimi. Absolute freshness is key as its raw simplicity leaves little room for disguise with sauces and other gimmicks. Chef Gary recommended starting with the snapper with Japanese pickle to clear our palates first allowing maximum appreciation of the remaining pieces. Both the tuna and the salmon dissolved on contact with the tongue and both the Boy and I groaned simultaneously in delight.
Lamb
Having to have my meals adapted to be gluten free means one of two outcomes; I’m either jealous for what I miss out on, or others around me are jealous for my substitution. You never know which way it will go. The rest of the guests were served quail with Szechuan sauce wrapped in a soba bean pancake. The quails are farmed organically in the Hunter Valley and are supposed to be the biggest quails in the world. Not that that makes them gigantic by any dimensions I’m sure.
Another shot because it was so damn good
As I watched everyone eat their dishes with gusto, I hoped my gluten alternative gave me the same level of eye rolling pleasure. I watched the chef chop up a lamb cutlet in a flash of knives in eager anticipation. It was served with a potato galette and a ball of grated beetroot flavoured with cinnamon and sugar. Now it’s easy to imagine tuna sashimi dissolving in the mouth but have you had that experience with lamb? Each cube disintegrated like butter leaving the sweet taste of miso sauce lingering on my tongue. My manners went out the window and I picked up the bone with my fingers and I gnawed off every last bit of meat.
Scallop, prawn & crispy prawn head
While some guests were a little nervous at the concept of eating a prawn head, I reassured them that once you have tried them you will never go back. The subtle flavours of prawn meat are humbled by the intensity of the head and my family all consider it somewhat of a delicacy. This dish was served with uni butter which is made from sea urchins. Rich and decadent, uni butter is like the foie gras of the sea and imparted a luscious complex depth of flavour.
Next up….Fish of the Day
As the fish of the day was being prepared, owner Brett commented with a little snigger that this dish was one of the more amusing dishes of the evening. I caught a glimpse of the cheeky glint in his eye as our dish was presented to us.
Fish of the Day
As I turned to look at our plates the penny dropped. I’m not sure I will be able to look at eggplant in the same light again! It brought several giggles to the table and made the Boy pause for a few seconds before he could bring himself to eat it. The fish of the day was a wedge of swordfish served with a Japanese citrus (Yuzu) and miso sauce.
These guys are so nifty!
The final main course allowed our chefs to show us the real entertainment of Teppanyaki style dining. It was hard to catch all the action on film as fast flashes of flames, knives and food were expertly flicked and chopped across the hot plate. The Wagyu beef is the real McCoy sourced from the award winning Mayura Station; one of the top producers in the country.
Wagyu (full blood) sirloin steak Mayura Station Grade 9+
Having had the chance to eat “real” Wagyu recently at Waku Ghin in Singapore I feel like I can truly appreciate how eye-boggling amazing this meat can be. Whilst this was not in the ball park of the brilliance we ate in Singapore, the buttery cut was still mind blowing and this quality is not one you will find easily here in Perth. (PS My Waku Ghin review is on its way!!)
Crème brûlée, chocolate drink and mountain peach
My final course was a cute collection of a vanilla crème brûlée, a warmed molten chocolate drink, curious mountain peach and a plume of wasabi foam. I am a little biased with my opinion on things like wasabi foam. I have been known to mix wasabi with foods like Camembert and Lindt chocolate just to see what it’s like and ended up loving it so it comes as no surprise the wasabi foam rocked my world. The brûlée had a thin crackable top with a smooth underbelly and the peach was unusually refreshing.
Yuzi Cheesecake, chocolate drink and mountain peach
The other guests enjoyed their gluteny dessert of a Yuzu cheesecake. Yuzu is Japanese citrus fruit that is tart in flavour much like a grapefruit. This dish was also served with the chocolate drink, wasabi foam and mountain peach.
And so the journey came to an end. Fuku was everything I imagined it to be and I was left feeling a warm glow of happiness I get from a truly satisfying degustation. I look forward to splashing out on the “Best” menu sometime in the future! A big thank you to Brett, Milan and Gary for providing the Boy and I with such an enjoyable evening.
Fuku – Omakase and Teppanyaki 20 Glyde Street, Mosman Park WA 6012 | 0403 470 964 | http://thefuku.com/Chompchomp dined as a guest of Fuku. As a result I will not give a score on this dining experience as it is too hard to be 100% subjective when the meal is complementary. When I return incognito for the “Best” dego I may give a score.
Tropical Green Smoothie & Raw Curried Pumpkin Soup
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Perth, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
Over the past few years, the Boy and I have made a natural progression to eating a more vegetarian based diet. Whilst not completely giving up eating meat all together, our intake has been dramatically reduced such that our initial goal of a Meatless Monday has now extended into several days a week.
Our reasons for vegetarianism are twofold.
Our first reason comes back to being compassionate human beings. Can we truly justify the way we farm production animals? Housed in completely unnatural environments with cramped stocking densities and fed highly processed foods such as pellets and other animal proteins? Worst still, how can we know that every animal that is slaughtered for our consumption didn’t suffer in the process? Many of you may have seen Animals Australia’s shocking footage of our live export cattle in Indonesia abattoirs last year. We were all left outraged and distraught at the horrific treatment of these innocent beasts. But these events are by no means isolated and happen all around the world every day. While I understand that sometimes brutal death is a part of life in the natural world, I am certain a lion hunting a gazelle in Africa doesn’t stop to consider her prey’s welfare before she kills it. But unlike these majestic big cats, we humans choose to slaughter animals to eat on a much larger scale than is necessary for our own survival.
Our second reason for changing our diet is purely selfish. It is a well-known fact that the more vegetables you include in your diet the healthier you will be. Eating a predominantly vegetarian diet has been proven to help prevent cancer, diabetes and heart disease, lower blood pressure and slow the aging process. In fact a study on a group of 70,000 participants recently published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine showed that vegetarians even live longer. And who doesn’t want to live a long and healthy life? These are all wins in my humble opinion.
A logical progression from vegetarianism has been to consider taking it one step further and going raw. Back in late 2011 the Boy and I shared a very enjoyable lunch at The Raw Kitchen in Fremantle. This was my first experience with raw food and I was fascinated to learn that you can make dairy-free cheese, cream and even cheese cake made purely from nuts.
Back in the week before our wedding I received a blender from OmniBlend to review and I thought this was a perfectly timed gift for me to start trying out some raw recipes. The Boy proposed that I try and create some more manly raw dishes for him so he could switch our regular Meatless Monday into a Raw Food Meatless Monday instead! We called it the Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge!
So here it is….Week One of the Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge!
Tropical Green Smoothie
- 1 cup of water
- ½ banana (frozen or fresh)
- ¼ cup pineapple pieces
- ¼ cup kale, chopped or minced
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Place all ingredients into the blender and blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Drink immediately.
Curried Butternut Pumpkin Soup
- ½ butternut pumpkin chopped into small cubes
- ½ to 1 tbsp curry powder (to you preference)
- ½ tsp real cinnamon
- ⅓ tsp pink Himalayan salt
- One young coconut (for both the water and the meat)
- Black pepper, parsley, shredded dried coconut to garnish
- Gradually add pumpkin and coconut water into the blender on low speed until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and then blend on medium to high until a smooth consistency. Season with cracked black pepper and parsley and/or some grated dried coconut
The Boy’s review of the Tropical Green Smoothie and Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup:
“While I have struggled with the idea of giving up meat I have come to realise over the last few years the catastrophic damage that the meat industry has had on the environment. Added to that is the fact I can no longer justify to myself the suffering of another animal purely for my selfish enjoyment of the taste of their flesh. Therefore over the last year in what has at times been a difficult process we have gradually removed animal flesh from our diet. With this in mind I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the OmniBlend Whole Food Blender review that Chomp had been asked to do and get her to make some Raw Vegan dishes for us to try. The first of what will be five weeks of what will be known as Raw Food Meatless Monday was a dish of raw Curried Butternut Pumpkin Soup along with a Tropical Green Smoothie. Now I must say the idea of cold pumpkin soup doesn’t sound entirely appealing however the dish turned out to be a very satisfying meal with the coconut nicely accenting the pumpkin and curry flavours. The fact it was cold wasn’t even noticed as the meal was quickly devoured… this soup would make a great meal on a hot summer’s day. The Tropical Green Smoothie was very refreshing and is definitely best served fresh and cold. A very filling drink that could easily be a meal on it’s own… I wonder what it would be like with a little vodka and crushed ice on a hot day?”
Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Red Capsicum Soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Omniblend Australia provided me with an free Omniblend V machine to use to develop these recipes. Read my review for more information.
OmniBlend V blender review
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Paleo, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
The Boy and I initially got into juicing back in late 2011 as a result of watching Joe Cross’s documentary Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. This period marked the beginning of a long overdue quest for finding better health by dramatically increasing our vegetable and fruit intake. We have slowly gravitated away from eating meat as the predominant ingredient in our meals to it being a small component if at all. The Boy bought us the latest whizz-bang juicer and was so enthusiastic with his juicing that he managed to burn the first one out in just a week. He stuck to his guns however and returned to the shops to get a replacement juicer. Over the following nine months he lost over 20 kg in body weight. He was well on his way to become a picture of health and this was all just in time for our wedding.
With every batch of green smoothies we made, we would end up with massive amounts of fibrous pulp left over. A juicer only extracts juice and discards the pulp from the fruit and veggies into its waste jug. In the early days, I determinedly saved the pulp and would make it into a variety of different vegetable soups that looked more like swamp water than food. Some even tasted good. After a while I tired of this messy business and tossed the pulp onto the garden for compost instead. What a waste. I hate throwing food away!
Not all smoothies are green! Pineapple Beet smoothie
Soon I realised that there is a much better way to make smoothies without having to eat swamp slime soup; with a blender not a juicer. Blending means you are eating the whole food, not just the juice and the fibre content is retained. Furthermore, high-powered blenders break down all the cell walls of the fruits and vegetables releasing all the phytonutrients locked inside the pulp, skin and seeds. This makes it easier to digest and allows the nutrients to absorb much more efficiently. After having this epiphany we discussed about getting a blender to replace our relatively new and fancy juicer. But talking was as far as we got because come mid-2012 we found ourselves knee deep in wedding planning and before we knew it time had flown away from us and we completely forgot about it.
So you can imagine my gratitude when earlier this year two weeks before our big day I received an email from the marketing director from a company called OmniBlend Australia who are manufacturers of heavy duty commercial blenders. He was keen to send me their popular blender; the OmniBlend V to review on the blog. In return for my review, the machine would be mine for keeps. No more pulp and swamp soup….woot!
OmniBlend blender
The OmniBlend V Low Down:
● Price:
$280-390 AUD. Excellent value for money compared to similar machines on the market such as the Vitamix.
● Motor:
A powerful 3HP motor which can deliver a blade speed of 38,000 rpm. It is very energy efficient at only 950W (not bad considering it produces 3HP!). I am told that this blender is sturdy enough to withstand heavy duty commercial use in restaurants and juice bars.
● Blades:
The 6-blade cutting assembly is made from highest quality, Japanese precision stainless steel. Replacement blades are available for purchase. The blades and jug are designed for both wet and dry ingredients and can make a hot soup in minutes heating with just friction. I gave this method a try for some of my soup recipes for the Raw Meatless Monday Man Challenge, more on this in the weeks to come.
● Blending:
Without much effort or preparation this blender made light work of blending my soups and smoothies into creamy, smooth consistencies. It even coped with me churning harder raw vegetables into it like pumpkin. Because the Omniblend is a more heavy-duty machine, it has enough oomph to do more than just make smoothies. It can puree, mix, chop, grind and whip all sorts of foods including mill grains into flour, grind coffee, puree baby food, churn ice cream, make nut butters and nut milks, knead bread dough and it can even crush ice.
● Cleaning :
The OmniBlend is really easy to clean which is a big win in my books. One thing that used to annoy me about juicing (in addition to the pulp waste of course) was that every time I made a smoothie I would be left with a hundred and one parts to clean. If the Boy that made himself juice it was even worse. There would be bits of pulp everywhere.
With this blender there is only a lid and a jug to wash and because there is no pulp, the jug rinses clean in minutes.
I did notice that the black rubber feet on the body of the unit left little marks on my white laminate bench top but they wiped off easily with a damp cloth.
● Noise:
It has very quiet operation when compared to many of its competitors (e.g. Vitamix).
Noise level = 83.8 dB
● Programs:
It has timed, cycled and repeatable blending programs.
● The Jug:
The 2 litre jug is made of unbreakable food-grade polycarbonate jug and is heat resistant to over 120 degrees Celsius which means you can blend hot soups straight off the stove top. It is suitable for both wet and dry ingredients unlike some blenders like the Vitamix that need separate wet and dry jugs/blade. The jug has quite a wide base compared to other blenders I have used in the past. This ensures that food particles don’t seem to get stuck under the blades when in use. They also offer a BPA-free 1.5 litre jug.
● Intelligent Overload Protection:
A built in sensor automatically turns off the motor when it detects excess usage. This prolongs the motors operating life and pre-empts breakdowns.
● Recipes:
OmniBlend are happy to send their customers a bunch of free recipes or better still stay tuned on the blog over the next six weeks for my Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge!
● Warranty:
The OmniBlend comes with a standard 5 year warranty on the motor and 3 years on parts, or alternatively you can pay extra for a 7 Year extended warranty on the full machine. They offer free shipping anywhere in Australia.
How does the OmniBlend size up to its competitors?
Froothie Optimum 9200:
Price: $430-500
● 3 HP motor delivering a blade speed of 44,000 rpm
● 6 stainless steel Japanese made blades
● Low noise level at around 80 dB
● High, Med, Low and Pulse functions
● Comes with a 2 L unbreakable polycarbonate wet/dry jug
● Intelligent overload protection
● 5 year warranty or optional 10 year warranty
Verdict: Very similar to OmniBlend in its specs yet it costs $120-150 more
Vitamix:
Price: $700-1300 depending on model and options.
● 2-3 HP motor depending on model
● 4 stainless steel blades
● Noisy at around 110 dB (Vitamix 5200)
● Variable speed functions
● Separate wet and dry blades/jugs. Comes with 2L unbreakable jugs
● Thermal protection to prevent overload and burnout
● 7 year warranty or optional 10 year warranty
Verdict: Very expensive by comparison to OmniBlend, it’s only a smidge more powerful but twice the price!
Amazon: Vitamix 5200s, Vitamix Professional Series 300 and Vitamix Professional Series 750
Breville BJB840 Juice & Blend
Price: $350-499
● Dual purpose machine with a juicer & a blender, 1000W motor on the juicer and a 1200W motor on the blender, not very energy efficient
● Surgical grade stainless steel blades
● Variable speed functions
● 1.5 L jug
● 5 year warranty on motor/2 year repair warranty
Verdict: Couldn’t find many online reviews for this one but I don’t believe this is a high powered, durable machine. I don’t really see the point in a dual use machine either.
Amazon: Breville BJB840XL Dual-Purpose Juice and Blend
Thermomix TM 31
Price: $1800
● 500W motor which revs its two blades at speeds of 10,200 rpm
Verdict: This kitchen dream machine does much more than a blender; it can also do chopping, beating, mixing, emulsifying, milling, kneading, cooking, stirring, steaming, weighing and melting. Although at nearly 10 times the price of the OmniBlend so it bloody well should!
Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Red Capsicum soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Chompchomp received an Omniblend V blender complimentary in return for writing this review. For more information head to www.omniblendaustralia.com.au. Six months after the publishing of this review Omniblend Australia contacted me with an offer to provide my readers with a discount when purchasing their new Omniblend blender. Using the coupon code below you can buy the Omniblend at a discounted price.
A spontaneous visit to Nobu, Crown Perth
Posted by | Categories: Degustation/Fine dining, Featured, Japanese, Restaurants, Seafood
This year the Boy’s birthday caught us both by surprise as it seemed to come around with lightning speed. Appreciably the first half of our year was a whirlwind hurricane of wedding planning followed by the most fantastic wedding celebrations. I haven’t even had time to stop and catch my breath yet half the year is already gone by. It is such madness how quickly time can fly when you are busy. As we really need to try to fit more exercise into our hectic routines instead of catching taxis to restaurants we have been choosing restaurants that are within walking distance from our house and getting ourselves there on foot. Some of these restaurants have been relatively local and close to home such as Pinto Thai, but others have been a vigorous hour and a half trek away like The Stables Bar in the City.
Funds are a little tight this year and so the birthday Boy was happy to settle for a night out with each other in lieu of a gift. I think experiences make the best presents anyway. We headed off in the direction of the Crown Casino with the intention for a casual night out at The Merrywell. It was a beautiful 45 minute walk along the Swan River that time of the evening but once we got to the Merrywell we were desperate for a drink. I found a table for us while the Boy went over to the bar to get us a round of drinks. More than ten minutes later he was still standing at the bar drinkless waiting to be served. I received an exasperated sounding text message from him proposing we go to Nobu instead. My rubber arm didn’t need much twisting; give me Nobu over Merrywell any day!
The chefs in action
We didn’t have a table booked but fortunately for us there were a couple of seats available at the sushi bar. Woot! A spontaneous visit to Nobu is a sure-fire way to amp me up. This was turning out to be a much better way to celebrate the Boy’s birthday. There must be something about this restaurant and our birthdays; I celebrated my birthday here last year.
Sashimi: Fresh water eel & Yellowtail
It was a week night and we both needed to switch off from our days’ work so to ease ourselves into it we ordered a couple of pieces of sashimi. We asked our waiter for his recommendations and on his advice we ordered the Yellowtail and some freshwater eel. Both were exceedingly soft and delicately flavoured. Such simple morsels are so easily perfected when they are fresh.
The Nobu balls
New Style Sashimi Salmon
New Style Sashimi is one of Nobu’s classic signature dishes. The idea came to Nobu Matsuhisa whilst he was trying to find a way to convince people who don’t like raw fish to eat sashimi. Thin slivers of sashimi salmon are plated beautifully and sprinkled with garlic, ginger, spring onions, sesame seeds, soy sauce and yuzu sauce. Boiling hot sesame and olive oils are then lightly dropped onto the fish around the plate which lightly sears it. Although this was quite an oily dish, the flavours balanced nicely and the occasional crunch between the teeth of sesame seeds added a bit of fun.
The Sushi master at work
Spicy Miso Chips Tuna
The spicy miso chips tuna dish reflected the fusion aspect of Nobu’s Peruvian Japanese cuisine. The spiciness was a bit disappointingly subtle for my palate but was at the perfect level for the sensitive tastes of the Birthday Boy. The tuna was as soft as avocado and sat coiled neatly on top of a crispy miso chip. This play on textures was really interesting and I will definitely order this dish again.
Toban-Yaki Mushroom
Toban-Yaki refers to the method of cooking which involves serving the dish sizzling on a super-hot ceramic dish. Being a self-confessed mushroom addict, this dish was the highlight of the evening for me. Layers and layers of slippery mushrooms bubbled away in the piping hot plate including shiitake, eryngii, shimeji, king oyster and the cutest little babies of the mushroom world enoki.
Sushi rolls: House special
We had been trying to make a conscientious effort to avoid ordering any dishes off the menu that we have already tried on previous visits to Nobu. Despite the lure of mind-blowing dishes like the Miso Black Cod we have so far had success. However our night was drawing to an end and we forgot our efforts and ordered the Nobu House Special sushi rolls. These tasty rolls are filled with smoked salmon, fresh tuna, flying fish roe, white fish, snow crab and avocado, and then wrapped in nori and daikon. Despite containing what sounds like a considerable amount of seafood to fit in one roll, each perfect bite size roll held together until the end giving a wonderful hit of flavours.
Sea bass with jalapeno dressing
Our last main dish for the night was the sea bass with jalapeño dressing. I wasn’t really expecting the appearance of this dish because I think I muddled up the name of this dish with their signature Yellowtail Sashimi with jalapeños. Thick wedges of sea bass sat semi-submerged in a brilliant emerald green jalapeño dressing that at a first glance looked like pea soup. The dressing was reasonably spicy with a very smooth and creamy after-taste.
Sushi rolls: Soft shelled crab
My mound of ginger
Sushi rolls: Salmon skin
Sitting right in front of the sushi chefs as they perform at their craft made it very hard to resist ordering more. The Boy ordered us two more serves of rolls; one was his favourite and the other choice was something we hadn’t tried before. The soft-shelled crab sushi rolls were a crowd pleaser as always. The other choice was the salmon skin rolls. These had a very strong salty taste with a similar crispy inside like the crab. I was nearly home and hosed in meeting my goal of being totally full and only had a tiny bit of room left for dessert. There is always room for dessert.
Bento Box: Chocolate fondant with green tea ice cream
There are only a couple of gluten free dessert options at Nobu but who really cares about options when you can have their Bento Box. It’s hard to believe that something this delicious can be gluten free. The ooze speaks for itself.
Nobu Baked Cheesecake with passionfruit sorbet
Earlier in the evening when we were ordering our dishes, it came into the conversation with our waiter that it was the Boy’s birthday. It was only a brief comment, yet he secretly took it on board and back to the kitchen in order to surprise us at dessert. What a lovely gesture!
Read my previous review on Nobu from my birthday last year: Nobu, Burswood and a Birthday Surprise
Nobu Crown Casino Perth, Great Eastern Highway, Burswood 6100 | (08) 9362 7551 | www.noburestaurants.com/perth Price: $$$$ (Cold dishes $14-65, Hot dishes $19-85, Sushi $8-28, Sashimi $3-10 per piece) Food: 4.5/5 (this is my kinda food. If only I could eat here every week) Service: 4/5 (Much improved since our last visit) Ambience: 4/5 (Watching all the action in the kitchen was great fun) Drinks: 4/5 (Extensive wine and sake list, I just stuck to my Verve this time) Total: 16.5/20 Half a point up from our last visit due to a perceivable improvement on service.
A blogger's banquet at Shun Fung on the River, Perth
Posted by | Categories: Chinese, Degustation/Fine dining, Featured, Perth, Restaurants, Seafood
There are a lot of things I love about being a food blogger. Despite what some of you may think there is much more to blogging than just eating, drinking, photographing and writing about food. There exists a strong sense of community amongst us, not just locally but across the nation and in some cases around the world. Friendships are easily formed and due to our heavy involvement in social media these are friendships that are relatively easy to maintain! I wish I had enough time in my day to be able to read more food blogs however in a time poor world I find myself having to narrow it down to reading those blogs that I have the strongest connection with.
In the months before I started blogging back in late 2011 I started following a handful of blogs that I found interesting. One of these blogs was Weny’s blog Weny Wonders Why and his blog remains one of those I still manage to keep up with today. We share very similar taste in restaurants and have been known to unintentionally visit the same restaurant in the space of one week and only find out as we simultaneously post our own reviews. Despite communicating regularly to each other via our blogs, we only very recently met face to face for the first time at the Accento Italian Cooking Class Media Launch in May this year.
A few weeks later, Weny kindly invited me along with a couple of other Perth food bloggers to join him for a Chinese Banquet at Shun Fung down on Barrack Street jetty. I have very fond memories of Shun Fung. Nearly 15 years ago when the Boy and I first started dating the bulk of our weekends were spent partying and clubbing. Back then none of our friends at the time were foodies and would have never considered spending their money on expensive restaurants. The Boy and I felt differently and his love for fine dining was an immediate point of connection for the two of us; a match made in gastronomic heaven! In those days Shun Fung was well known for serving top-notch Chinese cuisine and we went there for our very first fancy dining experience. Together we tried sea cucumber, jelly fish and all sorts of other interesting Chinese delicacies. Unfortunately since those heady heydays, while Perth’s food scene grows from strength to strength Shun Fung has suffered a steady decline in both its reputation and patronage.
Shun Fung’s owner Eva has decided that it’s time to bite the bullet and is investing her time and money to get Shun Fung back to its former glory. She has hired new chefs who have been busy redesigning the menu and will be serving dishes from all the provinces of China rather than just one region. It was intriguing to learn that Shun Fung is actually part of a chain of around 30 restaurants located in China. Some of these are massive establishments having up to 200 chefs working at one time. Perth’s Shun Fung is their only venue here in Australia. Our dining experience that follows is an example of what you can order as part of a $100 per person banquet meal.
I am used to the fact that Chinese food is rarely gluten free as the wide spread prevalence of soy and wheat flour makes choosing suitable dishes hard so I find I tend to avoid dining out at Chinese Restaurants. After taking my seat at the banquet table I unrolled the menu and was very impressed to see that the kitchen was going to significant effort to design a separate gluten free banquet especially for me. I wasn’t expecting such care and attention and was very grateful.
Green Chilli in special sauce & Ruccola Salad
Spicy Kimchi in Chinese Style
Marinated Duck Wings
For the rest of the table who could eat gluten there were four appetisers; green chilli in special sauce, ruccola salad, spicy kimchi in Chinese Style and marinated duck wings. Whilst I was not able to try these dishes I was told the ruccola salad was light and refreshing on the palate and the marinated duck wings were very tender and slightly sweet.
Squid and tomato salad (GF)
My gluten free appetiser was some freshly grilled soft squid with a bean shoot salad and some slices of tomato. Our host recommended that I place a piece of tomato and squid in my mouth as the same time to maximise the flavours. Although it sounded like a curious thing to do it turned out to be good advice. Sometime the simplest combinations of flavours can be surprisingly exciting.
Three season platter: Backed Oysters with Foie Gras Sauce, Chilli and salt Mini Dried Fish, Golden Radish Balls
The three season entrée platter was quite a magnificent sight. In Chinese cuisine there are considered to be three important characteristics; aroma, taste and colour. This platter was vibrantly decorated with brightly coloured vegetables and flowers achieving a successful round of “oohs” and “ahhs” across the banquet room. Carefully placed on the platter were golden radish balls, chilli and salt mini dried fish and backed oysters with foie gras sauce.
Backed Oysters with Foie Gras Sauce
Golden radish balls are a bit of a misnomer as I believe these tend to contain mainly seafood which is finely chopped and then deep fried. I believe these balls were actually the highlight of the platter for many. The chilli and salt mini dried fish looked like whitebait fries and listening to the audible crunch coming from either side of me they were obviously perfectly crispy! Although the Boy isn’t that big on oysters he did comment to me that they were delicious and creamy.
Seafood Sang Choy Bow (GF)
As everyone started to tuck into their entrees my gluten free alternatives arrived. I was delighted to receive some super fresh oysters with some fresh lime and a gorgeous little lettuce cup of sang choy bow. My sang choy bow had a great nutty texture and was packed full of seafood.
Sliced Abalone in Superior Soup
Our next course was the abalone soup. I am fascinated by how much flavour can be found in clear Chinese broths. Superior soup always looks so deceptively watery but manages to impart such complexity of flavours. This is brought about by careful selection of ingredients including chicken, Jinhua ham (Chinese dry cured ham that is similar to Spanish Iberico), pork, pork bones, dried anchovy and/or dried scallops. This superior soup was smooth and delicate with rich unami flavours.
Coral Trout Fish: Steam with Ginger & Shallots (GF)
Coral Trout Fish pan fried style
With all this food it was hard to believe we hadn’t even started our mains yet. Thank goodness I planned ahead and wore my stretchy dress! Our first main dish was the Coral Trout which was prepared in two styles. The first preparation was gluten free. Soft flakes of steamed trout with medallions of slippery shiitake mushrooms and a scattering of dried Goji berries. The Goji berries introduced a tart flavour to the otherwise delicate and sweet tropical fish. A gorgeous dish. For the second preparation the trout was lightly battered and pan fried. Not being gluten free I didn’t try this style.
Diced Wagyu Beef on the Sizzling Stone
Pan fried Wagyu Beef with Lime and Rock Salt (GF)
As we finished off our fish our host entered the banquet room carrying sizzling stones topped with juicy cubes of Wagyu beef. I had to presume the meat was marinated in soy because I was advised not to eat it and given my own individual serve. My portion of Wagyu was equivalent to several portions for the others and I could feel a number of pairs of eyes staring at my plate longingly. Only the Boy was game enough to try and steal a piece.
Honey and Mustard King Prawns
Szechuan Spicy Chicken
Braised King Oyster Mushrooms with Shallots
The next dishes of honey and mustard king prawns, Szechuan spicy chicken and braised king oyster mushrooms with shallots all contained gluten and so it became my turn to gaze longing at everyone else’s plates until my next alternative dish arrived.
Backed King Prawns in Special Sauce (GF)
I didn’t have to wait long and was soon presented with a large King prawn served “backed” like how they do it in Thailand. It was flavoured with “special sauce” which has is a slightly sweet, slightly salty sauce is made from garlic, ginger, Chinese rice wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil, honey and white pepper. The prawn flesh pulled effortless out of its shelled and before finding its way very quickly to my mouth!
Mixed Mushrooms in Superior Soup (GF)
Sizzling Runner Beans (GF)
My next special gluten free dishes included mixed mushrooms in superior sauce and some sizzling runner beans. The beans were very moreish and briny which contrasted nicely with the more delicate flavours of the soup. While the rest of the table tucked into the Dim Sum platter, to finish off my meal the hostess brought me a bowl of seafood fried rice with egg yolk sauce. It was a lovely gesture but in all honesty I didn’t really need any more food!
Dim Sum Platter: Pumpkin balls, durian pastries, coconut
For desserts, there were three options to choose from; mixed sweet beans with ice cream, deep fried ice cream or the red bean pancake with ice cream. I got a pang of nostalgia when I saw red bean pancake on the menu. Many years ago when we used to frequent Shun Fung, the red bean pancake was one of my absolute favourites. Those days of carefree gluten eating are well and truly over for me! Sigh!
Deep Fried Ice cream
Sweet Yam Cake (GF)
For my gluten free dessert I received some freshly baked sweet yam cakes. Eva informed the kitchen only just baked them that day. These yummy little dumpling-like cakes are made from rice flour and taro. I love the gluggy texture of Asian style cakes and I soon got over missing out on the red bean pancake as I chowed down a couple of these beauties.
I am so hopeful that Shun Fung’s return it’s slumber will be successful. Our banquet evening reminded me how much we adored this place and knowing they are able to cater for gluten free diners is a huge plus in my books. The banquet provided a huge amount of food for $100 a head and we all rolled out of there bursting at the seams. Thank you once again Weny, Eva and all the staff for providing us with such an enjoyable evening.
Shun Fung on the River Old Perth Port, Barrack Square, Perth WA 6000 | 08 9221 1868 | http://www.shunfung.com.au/Chompchomp dined as a guest of Shun Fung. As a result I will not give a score on this dining experience as it is too hard to be 100% subjective when the meal is complementary.
Pinto Thai Restaurant, Kensington
Posted by | Categories: Featured, Perth, Restaurants, Thai
You would think after several trips to Thailand in a relatively short space of time we would be sick of Thai cuisine. That has definitely not been the case in fact it has done the complete opposite. Thai food has become our go-to comfort food, the meal we crave after a bad day at work or when we are feeling run down. There are a number of Thai restaurants in the Vic Park area; Little Ying Thai is one of our favourites and they know us on a first name basis. I’m the “no wheat, no onion, no soy sauce, no gluten” customer that many restaurant owners would prefer to run a mile from yet Little Ying always embraces my allergy request with smiles. So when a fancy looking Thai restaurant named Pinto Thai Restaurant opened up just a short walk from our house I was left feeling torn between my curiosity to try their food and my guilt for betraying Little Ying.
The interior of Pinto Thai is unlike most of the more casual Vic Park Asian restaurants. It is stylish, modern and they even had some jazz playing in the background. We arrived hot and thirsty from our thirty minute stroll paired with healthy appetites. After enquiring about which dishes were gluten free, I was advised that a lot of their dishes were prepared using their own homemade oyster sauce which wasn’t gluten free. This unfortunately left me a little limited with my choices.
Tod mun pla (fish cakes)
We started off with a serve of Thai fish cakes made from snapper with chilli and herbs. This was a bit of a gamble as I have found over here in Perth many Thai restaurants serve rubbery and flavourless fish cakes. The memories of eating them fresh at the Phuket Night markets were still fresh in my mind and I optimistically hoped for good things from Pinto. To my total satisfaction I was rewarded with them having both perfect texture and flavour. Lucky our serving had an even number of fish cakes otherwise there may have been a fight for the last one.
Duck rice paper rolls
After the wow factor of the fish cakes the duck spring rolls seems comparatively flavourless and needed much dunking in the chilli and lime sauce for added oomph.
Gang phed ped yang (Rich red curry of roasted duck with lychee, pineapple, cherry tomato and vegetables)
During our stay at Andara Resort for our wedding in Phuket we had our own private chef named Su and she is quite possibly one of the best Thai chefs I have ever dined with. Her duck curry was a particular favourite of mine and over our eight days at luxurious Andara we asked her to make it for us on multiple occasions. She is a beautiful person and made our stay even more incredible, both my Dad and I wanted to bring her home with us! To our surprise and extreme happiness, Pinto’s red duck curry actually came pretty close to Su’s wonder-duck curry in deliciousness and is certainly the best red duck curry I’ve had in Perth. It had all the elements of proper Thai food: sweet, spicy, sour and salty.
Papaya salad with prawns
Unfortunately the papaya salad didn’t met Su’s standard like the duck did. I have to presume this is in part because those tropical fruits just don’t taste the same here as they do in Asian countries. I had just enough room for some dessert and started dreaming of coconut rice until our waitress came over. To my disappointment she informed me they do not do desserts! In all honesty if I waited another five minutes I would have realised that in fact I was too full anyway so perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. I asked the owner if it would be ok if I brought my own gluten free oyster sauce for our next visit so I could try more items on their menu. She was absolutely fine with this and on the walk home I started planning our next visit.
Tom Yum Seafood
A few weeks later we returned to Pinto Thai with dreams of more roast duck swooning around in our heads. I came along super prepared with my gluten free oyster sauce in hand only to be told they now have their own gluten free sauces to use in the kitchen! Talk about listening to the customer’s needs! In addition to another serve of fish cakes which were just as amazing as the first time, we ordered some Tom Yum soup. This sweet and sour Thai soup is the perfect way to start a meal and it is so refreshing and light unlike many heavy Western style soups. It contained a heap of seafood including Green lipped mussels, prawns, scallops, squid and fish. It was a little too spicy for the Boy meaning I found it to be just right.
Panang Curry with tofu and vegetables
Despite a very strong yearning for the red duck curry again, I wanted to try a few more of their dishes to see how many “hits” we could get. I chose the vegetarian Panang curry with tofu. Panang curry, or Phanaeng curry as some Thai people call it is a very light and mild curry and I thought this would be a good choice considering the Boy doesn’t handle too much spice. The Panang curry is also much sweeter due to the pumpkin and it lacks the sour taste found in other red curries. Once again we were nearly spotted licking our bowls to get the last millilitres of sauce. How my Mother would cringe!
Five Spice Duck in Plum Sauce
Although we showed will power of steel not ordering the red duck curry, we still couldn’t have a meal with no duck could we? During the previous meal we were told the Five Spice duck couldn’t be made gluten free however this time round it was no problem! The meat was just as succulent as it was in the curry and sweetened with a thick plum sauce, five spice marinades and some freshly steamed bok choy. A marginally healthier option but scrumptious nevertheless. I am now torn where is my favourite local Thai…Little Ying or Pintos? They even both do home delivery.
Pinto Thai Restaurant 2 Moresby Street, Kensington WA 6151 | 0451 209 892 Price: $$ Food: 7/10 (mostly hits with the occasional miss) Service: 4/5 (Thailand isn’t called Land of the Smiles for nothing) Ambience: 3.5/5 (funky decor) Drinks: BYO Total: 14.5/20 
