22
Jan
12

The Iron Pot, South Fremantle

By S.M. Leave a Comment
Categories: Australian and Pubs/Grills
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Website: http://www.edz.com.au/Edz_Sportz_Bar

Probably unknown to non-residents of South Fremantle, The Iron Pot was something that I came across on the kind souls of Urbanspoon, and after seeing such rave reviews on the food there, told SK about it, and decided we should pay them a visit on Friday evening.

We made our way there, and at one stage thought we might have missed the place because we found ourselves venturing into unknown territories. But being the trusty navigator SK is, she directed us to our spot accurately. Yay!

We did not expect that it would be an extension of an already existing bar, but the moment we walked in, we were transported to another place. It felt somewhat casual, cosy, but not too pub-like. Very interesting.

We deliberated on their menu, and it wasn’t too long before we decided on the following:

  • Iron Pot Wings (“Col” hot hot hot style!)
  • Crispy Pork Belly – with Rocket Walnut Salad, Apple puree and Maple glaze
  • “Tender Ridge” Beef Eye Fillet – Served with French Fries, salad and topped with Café de Paris butter and jus
  • Jude’s Hot Hazelnut & Chocolate Pudding – Served with Vanilla Ice Cream (allow 15 minutes for preparation)

 

The Iron Pot Wings is a definitely MUST TRY at the iron pot! I actually think they named the place after these wings because we thoroughly enjoyed the savoury, yet spicy, yet tangy taste as we bit through the succulent chicken wings. Absolutely delightful. The spice was just enough for me to resist scratching my head (a little quirk of mine whenever I eat food that might be too spicy! I call it my spice-o-meter). Mmmm. Would love some now!

 

The crispy pork belly being devoured by none other than the queen of pork bellies SK was served elegantly, and looked absolutely appetising to the eye. True to its description in the menu (don’t you just hate it when the food that are served are sometimes nothing like what they are described to be in the menu!), I asked SK how it was, and actually had a taste. I must say this is one dish that actually looked better than it tasted, unfortunately. The crispy skin wasn’t too crispy, the taste alright. One of those decent dishes, but nothing “wow”.

 

I enjoyed my cow that evening. Generous serving of butter and jus, and with a nice little bowl French Fries to end the main, why not? I ordered the usual medium rare and it came out quite nicely medium rare, though almost arriving to a state of medium. Nevertheless, a lovely dish and for a price of $32, totally worthwhile! Yum. I would order that again.

 

We ended the evening with the in-house specialty (or so I assume) hot hazelnut and chocolate pudding. Came out smelling absolutely wonderful, but it wasn’t too much to our palate’s awesomeness rating. It was nice to end off the evening with that dish, but I have tasted better puddings.

Service here was friendly and casual – just the way I like it on a Friday evening out to chillax. I was impressed with how the wait staff were so close-knitted – the makings of a great team to my mind!

This was a great experience, and I definitely see myself coming back here again. Already told Momsey that I would bring her here for their awesome wings. So watch out Iron Pot, Miss Egg will be back for more of those wings!

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a. Miss Egg

The Iron Pot on Urbanspoon

17
Jan
12

Prego, Floreat

By S.M. Leave a Comment
Categories: Italian
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Website: http://www.pregorestaurant.com.au/

Entertainment Card 2011/12: Complimentary MAIN for any MAIN purchased (up to $50 value)

SK and I had wanted to head to a new Italian place where we haven’t been to, so in a bid to find the place to visit before my trip to Singapore, we finally decided on Prego, which has received pretty good reviews on news.com.au as well as urbanspoon.

So off we went after a couple of drinks to Prego, and we found ourselves turning into this little car park at the back of the restaurant, and found a neat little spot. We were able to enter the restaurant from the back too, which made it very convenient. Lovely set up I say.

As we entered, there was this amazing classy-ness to this place. I felt underdressed to say the least (as I usually do anyway). But we were politely shown to the table and we had a nice little cosy spot.

The waiter, clearly Italian gave us our menus and then gave us some time to deliberate. During this time, I visited the restroom, and told SK to just order a wine for me, and she did a great job in ordering a Pinot Gris (or Pinot Grigio, eek. Memory fail again!), which turned out to be lovely.

Anyway, onwards with our orders:

  • Carpaccio tradizionale e moderno (raw tender beef carpaccio served two ways – truffle mushroom aioli / lemon, olive oil, pesto and parmesan)
  • Capesante al funghi (WA scallops lightly sealed on a bed of oyster mushrooms, served with mustard vinaigrette, chilli salsa and a sprinkle of tomato coulit)
  • Polleto e gamberi (duo of spatchcock and tiger prawns served with crispy gnocchi, baked Portobello mushroom in a lemon sauce and chilli salsa)
  • Special Pork for the day
  • Tiramisu to share

We were given a complimentary starter before we started our “feast”. Alas, I don’t remember what it actually tasted like though. Boo hoo hoo!

The carpaccio that I had was such a generous serving, and because of the olive oil, it made for this dish to be rather heavy on the tummy. That said, the taste was pretty out of this world (in a good way). I would probably order this again but share it with whoever I am dining with.

The capesante that SK had was less tasty than the carpaccio, and wouldn’t be something I would order if I were to dine at this venue again. It had all the lovely presentation that you would expect based on the description in the menu, and there is a generous serving of scallops, but with the price of $20.90 for that entrée, it is to be expected I believe.

 

 

The pollento e gamberi appeared as a lovely dish, but the overall taste of the dish was a little less than how it appeared to be. I have to say the spatchcock that I had at Bouchon Bistro was tastier. The crispy gnocchi did not leave me with too much of a memory, so I think it is safe to say it was average.

The special pork of the day was such a generous serving that it gave me a real surprise (OK, it was somewhat a shock but it wasn’t the strength of the shock if you know what I mean *wink*). The taste was apparently alright – not overwhelmingly good, but it wasn’t bad either. Average may be the word for it.

 

 

By this time, we were already full but wanted to have something sweet to end the dinner – so we shared a tiramisu.

It was, as with the other dishes we had for the evening, beautiful with presentation. And it had a lovely taste too! I quite enjoyed this dessert. (:

The service was one of the best I have seen in Perth, with the Italian waiter who served us ever so attentive and friendly. He spoke to us about how he came to Perth, and is now really into indoor soccer and is part of the indoor soccer association. And much to our delight, we also had a complimentary serve of limoncello liquor – YUMMO! I had a sip but because I was driving, we only had the one glass.

I do find the food here rather steep with prices, particularly with the entrée, but I would not mind coming back here after such a wonderful experience with the service, the overall classy ambiance (despite my not so classy style), and pretty decent food (particularly the carpaccio and tiramisu!).

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Prego Restaurant on Urbanspoon

16
Jan
12

Five Bar, Mt Lawley

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Categories: Modern Australian and Tapas
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Website: https://www.facebook.com/FiveBarPerth

Having heard interesting reviews about this place, SK and I decided to check this place out on arvo, and with a nice warm day in the books, I couldn’t find any reason not to enjoy a pint of beer with what we’d hope to be some awesome food.

We came here to actually check the place out more than anything, to have a drink and some snacks because we were intending to end the evening at the beloved Andaluz bar in Perth. We found ourselves a neat parking lot just directly opposite the bar and found ourselves waltzing in to find a range of seating areas to suit different styles – vintage, bar, casual window, high tables and a lovely back area that we fell in love with comprising of crates and roof window that opens up when the day is lovely to let all that light stream in. No second guesses as to where we sat! Oh, not forgetting a pool table! I have yet to exercise my long-lost skills on that table, but I know I will one day.

Anyway, we had a look at the menu, and my first impression was, “wow, what a long list of beer!”… they weren’t all tap, but they did have a very intriguing list of beers – how I wish I have the capacity to actually all those beers! We scanned through the food choices too, and finally ordered:

  • Serve of Chips (served with a special aioli)
  • Marinated Octopus
  • Sassy Red
  • Blanche de Namur
  • Pilsner Urquell

On other occasions (yes we have been back… and back… and back. It almost feels like a second home – to me at least), we have ordered:

  • James Squire Apple Cider on Tap
  • Field Mushrooms with Danish Feta and Balsamic Vinegar
  • Reuben Sandwich
  • Open Pork Sandwich
  • Champagne Jelly with Strawberries & Cream
  • Brownie with Ice Cream
  • Tiramisu
 

The chips are always a favourite whenever I feel like some good fat potato strips fried in oil – because that’s exactly what they are. If you prefer the Macca’s type of chips (i.e. slim, skinny, not too much potato), then this may not be your cuppa. I personally would order this only on a case by case basis, though the taste of the chips and the aioli do have a great combination.

 

The marinated octopus was lovely. Enjoyed it thoroughly, and I would have had more if not for my abstinence from eating too much seafood. Not too sure if this is still available on their menu though – it does change with the seasons! More variety. Yay!

My personal favourites of this place are really the field mushrooms and the open pork sandwich, both of which are becoming regular orders whenever I visit this establishment. The field mushrooms is a must order if you love mushrooms because the combination of those ingredients is just AWESOME. Lovely. Such a great dish. MmMm. I want some now! The open pork sandwich grows on you bit by bit by bit. The initial bite, you would think, “Hmm, it’s alright”… then you take another bite, and go, “hmm. Nice”… and before you know it you keep taking bites until there is none left and you still want some more! Dangerous effect I say.

 

The reuben sandwich is great if you like your meat and your cheese because it is just packed full of it (as it should be). According to our friends at Wikipedia, The Reuben sandwich is a hot sandwich of layered meat, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, with a dressing. These are grilled between slices of pumpernickel or rye. And Five did exactly that. Got a bit much for me since I have reduced my meat consumption over the past 2 years, but it is a delight to eat. Would order it again if I was feeling like a carnivore.

I’ve tried all three main desserts that Five Bar has to offer, and my personal favourite is the Brownie with Ice Cream. It wasn’t overly sweet and the brownie wasn’t too dry as well. Lovely.

 

The rest of the desserts are absolutely stunning in presentation, but not really to my palate unfortunately. The Champagne Jelly sounded so enticing that I ordered it because I was just curious, and I thoroughly enjoyed the strawberries and cream, but am not too used to the flavour that the champagne jelly brought. The tiramisu had a nice coffee taste on the base, but a tad too much cream for my liking – so if you like your cream with tiramisu, then this would be for you!

My favourite drink by far at Five Bar would be having their James Squire Apple Cider. Yummo! And here’s the best part – it goes so well with their food!

With so many different areas to choose from to sit depending on how you feel on the day, you would actually want to go back just to try their different seating areas! I do anyway. The service has always been spot on, and now that I’ve gotten to know some of the staff members, it is always a delight coming back. Based on my initial experience, there was this level of friendliness in the staff that I was really impressed with.

Overall, such a great bar to go back to, even if it is just for 1 hour, to chill, relax and have a pint of their gorgeous James Squire Apple Cider! And look out for their new 2012 food and drink menu too!

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Five Bar
Telephone: 0467 534 267
Address:  560 Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley

Five Bar on Urbanspoon

15
Jan
12

Kinky Lizard, East Perth

By S.M. 2 Comments
Categories: Breakfast
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Website: http://www.kinkylizard.com.au

Continuing the breakfast posts, this time it was time to meet and catch up with SC and MS. Keen on trying a new place in East Perth, we chose Kinky Lizard over Toast (even though I do love that joint!).

Hidden in a little corner along Royal Street, where a growing number of great cafés are starting to pop up, Kinky Lizard is not too easily missed because of its cute little sign on the outside of the café.

Arriving there first, I quickly got a table for us outside – who wants to be kept inside on a day when the sun is out! After talking a bit of nonsense, and reading through the menu, we decided on the following:

  • Chorizo Funghi (Grilled chorizo sausage on a Ciabatta Wedge with Field Mushroom & Poached Eggs)
  • Eggs Benedict
  • Build Your Breakfast (Poached egg, field mushroom, asparagus)
  • Usual coffees

The most special of the lot we ordered was probably the Chorizo Funghi – something not seen too often around the cafés around Perth. I was rather impressed with the serving of the Chorizos being rather generous. The combination of both mushrooms and chorizo is definitely a winner for me, though I think it would have gotten a bit heavy on the tummy towards the end.

 

The breakfast that I built was light, and I have to admit that when I said “Poached egg”, I thought there would be 2 in a serve. Having to pay $4 for one egg is a bit too much for my pocket. I know better next time for sure. The other items tasted alright – nothing too ‘wow’ about.

The eggs benedict looked alright – typical of what you would expect of any eggs benedict dish though the hollandaise sauce did look a little more diluted than expected. As to its taste, I didn’t actually taste this, so I will have to give ‘reviewing’ this a go.

The coffees were decent. Nothing to complain, nothing to grant too many kudos on either. Service here was pretty good but the service is really only restricted to the wait staff taking orders at the counter, and serving the main meals. They were friendly though – which is always a plus when dining at any café/restaurant. As they say, “A smile goes a long way”.

I don’t know if I would be back to this place – it was lovely while it lasted, but I think I’d go try some other places first before returning.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Kinky Lizard Espresso Bar on Urbanspoon

14
Jan
12

Myoung Ga, Perth

By natashalam Leave a Comment
Categories: Korean
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As good, quick and reasonably priced places for lunch is not common in the East Perth area where I work, I’m always on the look out for cafes/restaurants to visit.  I walked into our office kitchen one day and spied my colleague eating a nice looking chicken bulgogi (marinated and bbqed) lunch set.  I pounced on him and enquired about his lunch – it was korean, tasted good and was only $10 came the reply.  That was enough to set me off on a lunch quest to try the place out.

Myoung Ga is located on the quieter area of Hay Street, near where Croissant Express, Canton Lounge Bar and Shot Espresso Bar are.  I vaguely recollect visiting this restaurant a few years back but it was a different one then with what I remembered was a mixture of Korean and Japanese food.  Same place but different owner now.

The restaurant can be easily missed as it is so small that it is hardly noticeable, almost like a hole in the wall.  The inside contained 4 – 5 small tables and the outside another 4 small tables.  We sat on the outside.

The menu is quite simple – only two pages, and has the usual BBQ meats and a few traditional korean dishes.

 

We had the following for lunch:

  • BBQ Beef – $13
  • BBQ Ohsam (consisted of pork and squid) – $15
  • Ja-jang-myun (noodles in a sweet black bean sauce with marinated pork and vegetables with pickles) – $12
  • Bi-bim-bap (steamed rice and vegetables, slices of beef, topped with fried egg & chilli sauce) – $10

 

The BBQ dishes came in a sizzling pig plate which were very cute :p, and were accompanied with rice, miso soup, kimchi and two side dishes.  They were quite generous servings and filling to say the least.  I especially liked their side dishes of lotus roots and bean sprouts.  I ate most of them as my colleagues didn’t like the side dishes.  The meat were tender and tasty.

 

The Ja-jang-myun was my colleague’s favourite and he frequents this place so often for this dish that even the owner recognises him.  For myself, I’m not too sure about eating noodles in a black bean sauce (not one of my favourite sauce) but I may give it a try next time.  It must be good though if he comes here that often to eat this.  The regular size for this dish is $10 (the pic is of the large).

 

The Bi-bim-bap was my order and it was so-so in terms of taste, it seems to be missing the ‘punch’ as what I have tasted in places like Seoul BBQ Cafe or Took Begi.  Not that it’s a bad dish but it was not the best.  You can order it in a stone pot as well for an extra $3, not sure whether that would make a difference to the taste.  Maybe I will try that next time.

The service was extremely good, the owner was very polite and extremely friendly, and catered to our needs in terms of water, efficient order and prompt food service.  I like!  I will definitely be back again.  A great place for a casual lunch, and not to forget their take-away lunch packs as well!

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Rating by: N.L.

Myoung Ga
Telephone: N/A
Address: 536 Hay Street, Perth

Myoung Ga on Urbanspoon

14
Jan
12

JACS, Applecross

By S.M. Leave a Comment
Categories: Breakfast
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Website: http://jacsapplecross.com.au

Since departing (I rather call it retiring) from the STMC Saturday Choir, the pioneer group of ladies made another commitment – to catch up every 6 weeks or so for a brekkie or lunch session! And this was one of them. We deliberated on some cafés in Applecross as that was the suburb of choice for this meet up. Found one that was in the entertainment book only to be left disappointed by the lack of proper breakfast choices when we arrived (they specialised more in coffees).

So we walked around and found some empty tables at Jacs that was just directly opposite. We figured we might as well give this place a shot.

We found ourselves a table outside, and started deliberating the menu.

Hungry and eager to have some munching started, we ordered the following:

  • JACS Big Brekky (Eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns, mushrooms, toast)
  • Salsa Poached Eggs (poached eggs, bacon, tomato & avocado salsa)
  • Eggs Atlantic + Avocado (poached eggs, Tasmanian smoked salmon, hollandaise, sourdough toast)
  • Latte
  • Flat White
  • Cappuccino
  • Pot of Tea
   

 

The big brekky was everything you would expect in a typical big brekky but being a real lover of hash browns, this was a real treat for me! The serving was nice and big, and being the hungry monkey I was, I managed to finish this up nicely and was rather satisfied. The one thing that I would say is I would have appreciated a bigger serving of the mushrooms… greedy much? :P

The salsa poached eggs that SC ordered turned out looking rather appetising, and apparently it was not too bad. I think this would be what I’d order the next time I head there – just for variety and because of the much loved rocket!

The eggs atlantic was ordered without the hollandaise sauce, and looked pretty good with the serving, especially with the avocado – great choice as an additional side AC! This is probably the typical dish you would order, and since we didn’t get to taste the hollandaise sauce, I would not be able to say too much more about this dish. (:

The coffees were average, nothing ‘wow’ about them.

I loved sitting out there and enjoying the fresh air, and because of its location, it almost feels as though you are in a little village away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Lovely. Service was neutral, but the ladies who did serve us were friendly and patient as we deliberated our orders.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

JACS
Telephone: (08) 9364 8687
Address: 45 Ardross Street, Applecross

JACS Applecross on Urbanspoon

13
Jan
12

The Boulevard, Hillary’s

By S.M. Leave a Comment
Categories: Modern Australian
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Website: http://www.boulevardrestaurant.com.au

Entertainment Book: Complimentary MAIN for any MAIN ordered (up to $40)

We had a good friend popping by to visit from Singapore, and we decided to pay the lovely Hillary’s Boat Harbour a visit one evening, along with the plan to have dinner there. So we searched the good ol’ Entertainment Book and found a spot that I haven’t heard before, and neither had SK and AC, so we decided to head there!

I have always loved Hillary’s for the water views, and the lovely fresh air that you would get. So I was pretty psyched to be there.

Having already perused the menu at home, I was swayed in my decision for the evening because of their specials (and guess what, Miss Egg conveniently forgot to snap a picture of this order!)… but anyway, I digress. Here are our orders:

  • Banana Milkshake
  • Twice Cooked Pork Belly with Sweet Potato Mash & Apple Relish
  • Nut Crusted Barramundi with Lebanese rice pilaf and Dark Mustard Sauce
  • Special for the day – Steak with red wine/mushroom jus
  • Crab Spaghetti w/ Fresh Garlic, Chilli, Tea Soaked Raisins & Lemon EVOO

The banana milkshake looked really appetising actually, and SC quite enjoyed it. I wouldn’t think they had much real banana in there, but I’m sure the banana taste was strong enough.

I will just get away from my embarrassment by talking about the steak I had first. It was a huge chunk of cow. May be one of the bigger chunks of cow that I have seen served around the cafés and restaurants of WA. But size doesn’t mean good. And it was certainly so in this case. I still remember not being impressed with the way the meat turned out for an order of medium rare. It felt like a medium-medium well, and so I found it more and more onerous towards the end of the meal having to chew and chew, chew and chew some more. There was a lack of jus too with the meat, which to me, is a real boo boo since I love my sauces and gravy (I hear Duncle calling me an Australian already!). Not the best piece of meat I have eaten, really.

The pork belly that SC had was really quite average too – it looked pretty with presentation, but that was it. From memory, this dish had a bit too much sweetness on the palate because of the apples. But I am a salty person, so feel free to raise your objections if you have tried this before and think otherwise. (:

The nut crusted barramundi with rice was the tastiest dish of the night by my palate. It was a lovely break away from the usual grilled (which I love by the way, don’t get me wrong here), or pan fried fish we usually get. With sesame seeds included, there was no reason why it wouldn’t be tasty! Yummo. In saying that, it was tasty, but it was not a ‘wow’ dish. The rice was a nice accompaniment.

Finally, the pasta. All I can say is “oh dear…”. This dish was the biggest disappointment for the evening, and if it had not been the gang who continually said, “yes, it is rather tasteless considering the description they gave in the menu…” I wouldn’t have bothered trying because it did look pretty decent. This was one pasta that had no character, unfortunately. They had those crab pieces in there but they did not accentuate the dish… Like I said, “oh dear…”.

We decided not to stay for desserts because of a rather disappointing experience with the mains.

Overall, this place has a good ambiance, average service, food that was average, and quite a bit to be desired for. I don’t think I will be back too soon, for sure.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Boulevard Restaurant on Urbanspoon

12
Jan
12

The Dizzy Witch Cafe, Northbridge

By S.M. 3 Comments
Categories: Breakfast
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Website: http://www.thedizzywitchcafe.com.au

So SK and I missed out on catching up one Friday evening, and we figured perhaps we could do a relatively quick brekkie on Saturday morning before she had to go meet up with another friend. Onwards we went with urbanspoon and I stumbled across this place with pretty decent ratings called The Dizzy Witch. Sounds enticing enough! Did a bit more research into the menu, location and before I knew it, the time and place was set.

It is along Brisbane St in Northbridge, which already makes it more convenient than the usual suspects of Northbridge roads like “William St”, or “Roe St”, where parking can be a real hassle. We had absolutely no issues trying to find parking this rather sunny Saturday morning, and we made our way in and found ourselves a little spot in the corner to sit and peruse the menu (again for me).

In line with the witchy name of the café, the names of the dishes followed suit with “warlock”, “wizard” all making it into the menu. One of the first things I did notice too, about the menu, was the good variety of dishes they had available for order, which was great.

Anyway, onward we go, we ended up ordering the following between the two of us:

  • Eggs Benedict Griselda
  • Mushrooms on Toast Esmeralda
  • Skinny Cappuccino
  • Caramel Milkshake

Didn’t take too long before our drinks and food orders came through.

 

I had the eggs benedict, and it was lovely that they use free range eggs for all their dishes. Score! And I loved loved loved the fact that they had wilted spinach with the ham for eggs benedict – something you don’t usually get with benedicts (not in my mind at least).  The taste of this dish is quite typical. They did mention a spicy hollandaise sauce but it wasn’t all that spicy, really. The wholemeal bread did soak up all that hollandaise and egg yolk goodness (oh, those eggs were poached beautifully!). Good ham too.

The mushrooms on toast was the highlight for the morning. It came out looking so creamy, generous in serving, and just looked so good to eat! Smelt even better, so SK was pretty damn keen to get started on that dish. And lo and behold, it did taste as good as it looked! I had a bit of it too and it was marvellous. The fact that it was creamy, and fat, and together with the bread to give that additional character, lovely. I am almost definitely going to order that the next time I head there.

 

The caramel milkshake received pretty good reviews from SK, but my skinny cap was a bit disappointing. I am not sure if it is because of that heavy breakfast I had with the benedict, but it certainly tasted odd that morning. I am willing to give it another go, but the coffee that morning just did not taste right. Hmm.

With a casual, relaxing setting to this place, with a variety of seating arrangements (i.e. there is the sofa type chairs, the normal café chairs, etc.)… and such a lovely first experience, there is no reason why I wouldn’t go back there again sometime. Service was what you would expect in any café. I would give it a neutral.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a. Miss Egg

The Dizzy Witch Cafe
Telephone: (08) 9228 1501
Address: 199 Brisbane Street, Northbridge

The Dizzy Witch Café on Urbanspoon

09
Jan
12

Cooking Class: Cultural Tastes, Mt Hawthorn

By natashalam 1 Comment
Categories: Cafe and Events
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Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cultural-Tastes/181831525227877

In continuation of my birthday celebration, my friends organised a group of us to attend a cooking class held at the newly opened Cultural Tastes cafe in Mt Hawthorn.  They had told me that they wanted to take me out for pastries at some patisserie, but the surprise came when I was blindfolded as soon as I got into the car.  The next statement that came was “I have known you for a long time, do you trust me?”.  It was quite bizarre.  I was led to some backyard, blindfold taken off and popping sounds came from everywhere.   “You are here for a cooking class, not pastries!!” was the next statement.  Yay, I was excited!  Thanks guys for really surprising me!! I had no idea whatsoever! :p

The cooking class was of traditional spanish tapas, right up my alley (I fell in love with spanish tapas after dining at Pata Negra a couple of times).  Our cooking teacher is Manuel Martinez from Spanish Catering (www.paellasandtapas.com.au).  A friendly and entertaining chap (he loves his Spanish music and dance!), he welcomed us and started explaining what we will be cooking that afternoon.  We will be preparing 6 dishes!  Wow!  All recipes are written by Manuel personally and a copy given to us to take home!

 

Dish 1 – Almogrote (soft paste made mainly from cheese and tomatoes, used as a dip)

A great thing I found about this class is the tips given by Manuel, for example, he told us about the specific paprika powder to buy that will help with the authenticity of the dish!

 

Dish 2 – Spanish Chorizo cooked in natural cider

Manuel showing us how to slice the chorizos :)

 

Another tip of which cider to use to bring out the flavour in this dish.

Our hard work paid off.  Final product. I love chorizo!

Dish 3 – Melon and Jamon Serrano (a type of dry cured Spanish ham)

Jamon is quite an expensive ingredient, approx $50-$60/kg.  I have never eaten jamon partnered with a fruit before so this is something different.

Final product.

Dish 4 – Tortilla de patatas (Spanish potato omelette)

 

Manuel taught us how to flip the tortilla de patatas from the frying pan onto a plate and back.  Very handy!

Final product.

Dish 5 – Ham rolls filled with sweet egg

This is probably the hardest dish to make!  I have never seen a dish quite like this.  To make the sweet egg, the egg yolk (separated from the white) was squirted onto the boiling sugar syrup, put into ice water and dried with baking paper.  The sweet egg is then wrapped in ham slices.

 

Final product.

 

Dish 6 – Croquetas (small fried food roll)

The croquetas we made were filled with oven cooked chicken.  There are a few steps to go through before completion, such as refrigeration of the mixture overnight, rolling the mixtures into balls, frying etc which made this the most tedious and time consuming dish.  As there was a time limit to the class, Manuel showed us how to prepare the mixture and rolled his pre-made croquetas mixture.

Final product. (Note: I made this dish for a dinner party after the class and it was a success!  Everybody loved it.  Yay for a good recipe!)

We took approximately 3 hours to finish ‘cooking’ all the dishes, with help from Manuel of course.  All dishes were served in the small shaded garden at the back.  Nice to sample our ‘hard work’ in a lovely environment!

Manuel also prepared some meatballs and champagne sorbet to accompany our meal.  Thanks!

 

While waiting for our dishes to be set up, we had a chat with the owners of the cafe, Lisa and Dave Hill, and browsed the store as we had a $20 gift voucher to use.  The cafe not only serves food + drinks and provides an avenue for the cooking class, it also retails cooking books, culinary related items, travel and lifestyle books and giftwares!  Amazing place.  I bought the Adam Liaw’s Two Asian Kitchens cookbook.  Sadly to say though I have not attempted any of the recipes yet.  I also spied at the cake cabinet and bought myself a banana, coffee, chocolate and walnut cake ($7.50).  It was such a delicious cake, freshly baked, moist and lots of ingredients.  Love it!

Some pictures of the store…

    

The friendly and enthusiastic owners…

Overall it was a very fun, informative and entertaining cooking class!  Wine and beer are BYO, however drinks were provided when we asked.  Lisa made a concoction of fruit juice for us.  It was yummy!

It’s worth enrolling in this class.  This particular tapas class costs $90 per guest.  They have a Spanish seafood paella Create and Dine class coming up.  Why not give it a try? (Refer to their facebook page for contacts and information).

Cultural Tastes
Telephone: 08 9242 1688
Address: 167 Scarborough Beach Road, Mt Hawthorn

Narration by: Miss L

08
Jan
12

Amphoras, West Perth

By S.M. Leave a Comment
Categories: Tapas
Tags:

Website: http://www.amphorasbar.com.au

At one stage, Miss Anise, SK, DP and myself had this thing for tapas, and so we set up a relatively short-lived-but-fun-while-it-lasted tapas club in which we visited various places serving tapas.

This occasion we found ourselves in Amphoras Bar in West Perth.

We invited Miss Anise’s lovely husband JT along as well. The more the merrier for tapas, after all, right? *wink*

Upon arriving, we found the bar already pretty packed out, with people having the usual after work drinks on a Friday – and why not! The bar had a nice feel to it, and because of the dim lights, created a somewhat cosy and romantic feel.

Deliberating the menu wasn’t too easy a task, but we managed to get by with the help of a little booze. We finally ordered:

  • Trumer Pils (for moi)
  • Bottle of Red (not too sure what the real name was, but it is what I think nicknamed “Mother’s Ruin”.
  • Pedro Ximenez glazed Rosa’s  chorizo w/ corn bread
  • Margaret River wagyu meat balls with porcini mushroom jus
  • Pork Cheek and Scallop
  • Special for the day – stuffed squid
  • Prawns with special made sauce (you can tell I have forgotten what this dish was called!)
  • Dorper lamb pintxos, sweet potato puree, broccolini
  • Apple, rocket, beetroot salad

Mmmm. Let’s just get started on the photos!

 

 

The chorizo soaked with pedro ximenez was probably the favourite dish of the night amongst everyone. It had such a nice amount of pedro in it, and mixed with that spiciness of that chorizo, yummo!!

The salad was pretty good too – it was simple, and it was a risk for us (namely SK and myself) because we were not biggest fans of beetroot. But I have to say, this was a salad that changed the opinions of us not-so-much-beetroot fans. We were happy with the taste of the salad, though I wouldn’t rave too much about it since a salad is a salad. I would say it was a good combination of ingredients.

The pork cheek and scallop was a disappointment for us with the taste being a far cry from the one served at Andaluz. It didn’t have that character that we were looking for in this sweet-as combination. The taste was alright, but not fantastic either. Wouldn’t be ordering this dish again for sure.

The stuffed squid sounded lovely on the menu and when described by the wait staff, but it wasn’t all that appetising in reality. I am off squid these days, so I had to rely on the reviews of Miss Anise and the gang this evening for this dish and it was really quite average from the response of my fellow diners.

So we have 2 up and 2 down.

 

I am not the biggest fan of lamb because eating too much of this meat actually causes a real increase of heat in my body (i.e. lamb gives me fever) … yes, unfortunate I know. =( But anyway! I had a little bit of the lamb served with broccolini… and it was actually rather tasty! I wouldn’t know if this was exceptional lamb since I am not a lamb person, but I didn’t get a real ‘wow’ out from the gang, so I would suppose this is quite the average dish.

The prawns… well, average, really. It didn’t really live up to how it did sound on the menu (and I cannot even remember how the menu described it to be! eek)

The wagyu meat balls were probably the next best dish (for me personally at least), next to the Chorizos. It had a nice moist texture, but what really brought the flavour out was the porcini mushroom jus! And LOTS of jus for that matter!! Just the way I like it… we liked it so much that we used the corn bread to soak in all that jus too! Whee.

Service here was a hit and miss in my opinion, somewhat like the food. We got served by different waitstaff, and whilst some were friendly/helpful, others were a bit distracted (for lack of a better word).

I would come back for the chorizo and the meatballs, but I wouldn’t be rushing back here in all honesty because there is just so many other tapas places to try.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Amphoras Bar
Telephone: (08) 9226 4666
Address: 1303 Hay Street, West Perth

Amphoras Bar on Urbanspoon

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