It Just Has To Be Delicious

Archive for May, 2020

Chatime, Karawara

Chatime Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Chatime is one of several outlets now selling bubble tea in Perth. Bubble tea has really taken off in a big way – you get to choose green or black tea, milk or non-milk, fruit options and then jelly or popping pearls to add another dimension of flavour. The combinations are endless. The tea is then sealed in the contained and you pop your straw in and suck up the jelly pieces with the drink.
Chatime also offers a mousse topping, something that I hadn’t seen at other outlets. I chose grapefruit green tea with coconut jelly and mousse.
Unfortunately I knocked it over and it went everywhere, all over the table and floor! However the lovely man serving gave me a free replacement tea and he cleared up the horrible mess that I made. I was so embarrassed.
After all of the kerfuffle, I loved my bubble tea – Chatime is a good option, and the staff are great.

Visit Date – April 2019

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Store review

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Cravings, East Perth

Cravings Cafe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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In a heritage building located on leafy Royal Street in East Perth, sits Cravings Cafe. It has plenty of seating inside and out, and I popped in for a quick lunch one day. The food in the cabinets looked awesome, everything fresh and appealing, with some beautiful home made pies and pasta dishes under the heat lamps.
I chose a pulled pork and slaw roll which the owner toasted for me – he was really friendly and helpful. I noted that they serve Karvan coffee and clearly have their coffee afficionado regulars.

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My pulled pork and slaw roll was everything I expected – tasty plentiful pork (although it was squashed down by the toaster), and delicious slaw, tasty bread – a very very nice lunch. I eyed up the home made treats like muffins bikkies and slices, but decided to come back on another occasion to try them out. Cravings is a lovely gem in an attractive area with plenty of office trade. Highly recommended.

Visit Date – September 2018

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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D’s Authentic Japanese, Connolly

D's Authentic Japanese Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

In the middle of Connolly shopping centre, not far from Connolly golf course, sits a wonderful oasis of Japanese food called D’s Authentic Japanese. It’s been on my radar to try D’s for a while, but I’ve been put off by the pricey menu, wondering if this food can really be as great as Perth stalwarts like Ha-Lu and Satsuki.

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We arrived for a 6:30pm table expecting the restaurant to be almost empty, but it wasn’t. A steady stream of diners arrived and were seated, as we sat and perused the menu to the jazzy sounds of the background music.
Not all of the menu is designed for sharing, so we asked for some advice from the friendly waiters and decided to go for pickles, dengaku and sashimi to start, followed by beef tataki and assorted tempura for mains.
We opened proceedings with a cheeky, delicious, (and reasonably priced) glass of prosecco.

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The pickles were crunchy and delicious consisting of daikon, celery, cauliflower, cucumber, carrot, and another unidentified vegetable which I suspected to be turnip or sweet potato.

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Sashimi consisted of 10 pieces, a mixture of John Dory, Ruby snapper, yellowfin tuna, Tasmanian salmon, and kingfish. Every morsel was fresh and tasty with a generous serving of good quality wasabi provided on the platter. For me, the ruby snapper was the star.

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The Garden Dengaku – twice cooked eggplant with miso flakes and microherbs was
absolutely divine. I would have been perfectly happy with a main course version of this and nothing else! The eggplant was the perfect texture and full of flavour and struck all of those umami notes that I like about Japanese food.

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The tempura was a great assortment – prawns, potato, different types of mushroom, green beans etc. Great tempura batter and a lovely dipping sauce and a green tea spice powder.

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The beef tataki with ponzu and spring onion was equally delicious. Delicate slices of good quality beef beautifully presented. The chef came out to make sure that we were enjoying everything – he seemed very happy that we polished off the whole meal.

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We also had some miso and rice. The miso was great – warming, delicious and umami.

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So what’s the verdict on D’s Authentic Japanese? The quality of food and ingredients is clear, everything was made with care, well presented and very very tasty. The location is a bit unusual, and the prices are undeniably expensive. If I spent the same at one of my other favourite Japanese restaurants, I would definitely have received more food, however the quality at D’s is outstanding, and the restaurant is a hit with the locals. I’ll go back for more, but keep this one up my sleeve as a ‘special occasion’ restaurant.

Visit Date – January 2019

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Restaurant review

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Distrykt, Beldon

Distrykt Coffee Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

I used to live in Beldon and felt quite nostalgic visiting this coffee shop. It’s situated at the smaller Beldon shopping centre in Gunter Grove, and is a nice clean welcoming shop.

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There is seating inside and outside, and lots of healthy looking savouries and nice muffins and pastries in the cabinet. We were impressed with the great coffee and the very fresh juice.

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The carrot cake was moist and incredibly tasty – a lovely bake with interesting toppings.

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The spiced bread was pretty awesome too – nice warm spices and nuts.

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The cafe seems to be linked to Kinky Lizard in East Perth as the menu mentions Kinky Lizard Espresso Roast. I also love Kinky Lizard, so that’s a good sign. The staff were also really friendly and seemed to know all of the locals.

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I will definitely return to sample more food and drinks – they were great and nicely prepared. Lovely little local gem.

Visit Date – August 2019

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Coffee shop review

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Rich chocolate orange brownie

Many years ago I popped into Mooba coffee bar when it was in the heart of Subiaco, and had a jaffa brownie with my coffee. It was one of those brownies that was so memorable and delicious that I can still recall the flavour of it now. Today I decided to try and replicate it myself, so looked for a recipe and ended up with my variation on a few different recipes. My recipe is pretty much dairy free – there’s a little bit of milk in one of the chocolate bars, but it’s fairly small. It’s not vegan though because there are eggs in the mixture.

You can make a half serve in a loaf tin that will give you six generous slices – just halve the ingredients. The full recipe will fit nicely in a 24 x 20 cm square tin.

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Ingredients (full recipe):

200g butter or dairy free spread like Nuttelex
200g Lindt dark chocolate (70% or 80%) (broken up into pieces – break each square into four pieces)
zest of 2 oranges (pick the orangiest colour ones you can find – the deeper the colour, the better the zest)
4 large eggs
300g caster sugar
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
100g Lindt dark chocolate orange intense (chopped into small pieces)

Method:

  1. Heat the oven to 180 deg C or 175 deg C if fan assisted.
  2. In a smallish saucepan melt the butter, 70 or 80% dark chocolate and orange zest – keep an eye on it, stirring occasionally, only heat it gently. Once melted, take it off the heat to cool.
  3. Whisk the eggs and sugar until the colour goes really pale and they increase in volume. I whisked mine for 3 minutes with an electric whisk.
  4. Stir the melted chocolate mixture into the whisked eggs, make sure it has cooled enough otherwise it will scramble the eggs.
  5. Now sift the flour, cocoa and salt into the mixture and fold it in with a metal spoon.
  6. Stir in the broken chocolate orange intense pieces.
  7. The mixture might look lumpy and rough, but don’t worry – it will be delicious.
  8. Pour into a lined tin approx 24 x 20 cm. Tap the tin on the worktop to make sure that the mixture is down into the corners and then pop it in the oven on the lower shelf.
  9. The full size will take approx 40 minutes to cook and a half serve will take approx 30 minutes to cook but it depends on the efficiency of your oven.
  10. When you insert a skewer, it will be slightly gooey in the centre, but as long as it is not too liquid – that’s fine. The top should be crispy like a brownie.
  11. Cool on a rack and serve.
  12. You can add ice cream, sorbet, fresh orange slices, crushed nuts, candied orange, or dust with a little icing sugar. The brownie is good on it’s own too.

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Category:

Recipe, Vegan/Vegetarian

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Uma, Pan Pacific, Perth CBD

Bar Uma Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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At the Lobby Level of Perth’s Pan Pacific Hotel sits Uma, a Peruvian restaurant and bar, and we chose to dine in the restaurant – it was somewhere that we had wanted to try for some time.

We were met by Eric, a charismatic sommelier who we know from Co-Op Dining, and he recognised us which was nice. Charming as ever, he seated us, chatted for a while and suggested a Pisco Sour to start which was absolutely cracking. The citrus burst and the hint of warming brandy-style backdrop was a mouthful of pleasure, complete with three drops of bitters on top.

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Next, a Peruvian waitress explained the dishes to us and suggested, two small plates, a larger plate and some vegetables. We already knew that we wanted to try the ceviche, so we chose the ceviche Peruano, which was kingfish with leche de tigre (the citrus marinade), charred sweetcorn and caramelised sweet potato. This was delightfully good, and the star of the menu.

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We also chose alpaca croquettes with a fermented chilli sauce. Alpaca is a bit like beef cheek – a rich meat, and the chilli sauce was a great accompaniment.

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We also chose some Yuquitas – cassava potato chips with shaved parmesan and huancaina (queso fresco and chilli) sauce – lovely crispy and addictive.

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For the main dish we chose slow braised lamb shoulder with adobo sauce, heirloom carrots and shallots. We also chose Salpicon de vegetales to go with it, a medley of vegetables on pureed quinoa. Together they made a hearty main with plenty of lamb meat to share, and lots of nice textures and flavours.

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We finished with picarones – sweet potato and pumpkin doughnuts with roasted quinoa ice cream and fruit molasses. A case of vegetable meets dessert, not overly sweet, but with some good unusual flavours.

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We also chose some Alfajor Peruano, corn shortbread with Peruvain caramel. They were like the lightest and shortest melting moments you have ever tasted with sublime gooey caramel – a really good dessert.
We left the restaurant with happy tummies and good memories – it’s a great place to try something different. Elegant and friendly, Uma is a star in the CBD.

Visit Date – August 2020

We recently had their pisco and ceviche flight – a wonderful experience – great cocktail matching to different ceviches:

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Restaurant review

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Citron Modern Asian, Wilston QLD

Citron Modern Asian Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Citron is in a nice location just off Kedron Park Road, elevated with balcony seats as well as tables inside. The wine list is just right and we had a glass of sauvignon blanc to start. Everything on the menu sounded appetising, so it was difficult to choose a dish – this is always a good sign.
For the starter we chose a small plate of mixed hors d’oeuvres consisting of a betel leaf with sandcrab, coconut, chilli and coriander, a mahor (minced prawn and pork with peanuts on pineapple) and a heavenly beef bite with nahm jim jaew. All were delicious and set the scene for a very nice meal.

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For main my companion chose the caramelised beef cheek with flavours of pho, pickled bean sprouts, vietnamese herbs, fresh rice noodles and lemon. This was tender but the caramel was a bit thick and sticky in the mouth.

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I chose the seared scallops, crisp pork belly, asian mushroom salad & sesame soy dressing – a very nice plate of food, and all the flavours matched nicely. The scallops were cooked perfectly.

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For dessert I chose the yuzu curd, crunchy cinnamon filo, raspberry ripple meringue and candied ginger – a nice array of flavours but I am not sure that they were flavours which went well together. The ginger was quite hot and although I love ginger, I can imagine that it would be too overpowering for some diners.

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My companion chose the roast banana pudding, salted peanut ice cream and palm sugar caramel. This was delicious and every flavour had a place on the plate. The banana in the pudding was tasty without being too sweet, the salt in the ice cream was perfect and the caramel was just right.

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So would we go back to Citron ? I think yes because I would like to try other items on the menu. however I think it is a bit overpriced. The food is beautifully presented, but the dishes are probably overpriced by around 15% – to charge the prices that Citron charge, every dish and flavour needs to be perfect.

Visit Date – February 2016

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Restaurant review

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Chutney Mary’s, Subiaco

Chutney Mary's Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

It’s been a while since I visited Chutney Mary’s which is one of the stalwart establishments in the heart of Subiaco on the corner of Hay Street and Rokeby Road.
The menu is a blend of traditional Indian fare with some specialities like goat curry. The staff were very welcoming and there were three of us dining on this occasion. After perusing the menu, we decided to go straight for main courses.
The portions were really generous too! We chose a king prawn masala, which was nice and spicy, with a great tomato flavour. The prawns were good but did taste frozen, and I think that fresh prawns would have made this really superb.

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We also selected makhani dhal which was delicious. I would have liked more lentils though – the sauce was quite runny. It didn’t need the cream garnish.

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The star dish for me was the kadhai chicken – lovely and rich with tomato and capsicum.

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We also shared basmati rice – beautifully separate grains as you would expect from the rice-making experts, and a keema naan. The keema kept falling out of the naan, but it was very tasty nonetheless.

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Our fellow diner chose a butter chicken. He’s from Mumbai and he craves this dish – he really enjoyed it. He also chose a butter naan. I didn’t try either of these because I prefer to avoid butter, but there’e no better recommendation than a man from Mumbai enjoying Indian food in Perth.

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Chutney Mary’s has stood the test of time and it’s easy to see why. Great Indian food in a busy location, with some great lunch specials too – one of Subi’s best.

Visit Date – April 2019

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Restaurant review

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Chilli Orange, North Perth

Chilli Orange Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Situated on Angove Street in amongst the buzz of the local bars in North Perth is Chilli Orange – a modern Asian restaurant. It’s a really stylish place, with easy parking (car park next door), romantic candlelit tables, and is obviously a firm favourite with the locals.
When we visited, there was a mixture of older and younger clientele, and a comfortable casual atmosphere – it’s the kind of place where the dress code is smart-casual. We ordered a glass each of the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, a really nice brand called Whitehaven. Very fruity with a lovely clean pineapple and gooseberry finish.

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The menu is full of Asian style favourites and modern Australian cuisine with an Asian twist. Starters included Pork belly tacos with asian pickles, tempura prawns, seared scallops, duck bao buns, sashimi salmon and san choy bow. We chose to share two dishes.
The tempura soft shell crab was crispy and succulent with a wonderful wasabi mayo dressing.

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We also chose duck pancakes with spring onion, cucumber and hoisin sauce, a lovely reminder of the crispy duck pancakes that are available in every Chinese restaurant in the UK, but somehow quite rare in Perth.

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My partner chose the red duck curry for his main course. This was very authentic with Thai holy basil and aubergine among the rich creamy curry sauce. The duck was ‘melt in the mouth’ delicious, and a plentiful supply of rice made sure every drop of sauce was mopped up and his plate was left clean.

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I chose the fish of the day which was swordfish (a nice change from the ubiquitous snapper). This was served with a delicious som tum (green papaya salad) and pink grapefruit. The fish was fresh and perfectly cooked, making for a lovely healthy and zesty main course.

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We also chose tempura mushrooms as a side dish – a lovely flavoursome dish to nibble on. Again, very authentic with light crispy batter and delicious ponzu sauce.

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At this point we were heading for a food coma, but couldn’t resist sharing a dessert. We chose the ginger creme brulee with almond cake, crispy tuile and honey cream. Perfectly presented, this really hit the spot – the almond cake was moist and rum baba-like, the top on the brulee was delicately crunchy and the honey cream divine. An absolutely well constructed dessert.

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A lovely meal in a great environment, with attentive service, and above all, fresh and well-presented ingredients. Definitely one of Perth’s finest restaurants.

Visit Date – December 2017

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Restaurant review

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