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Portofinos, Mindarie

Portofinos is a large restaurant at the Quinn’s end of Mindarie, and it has the advantage of overlooking the ocean. We went there on a Friday evening and it was quite busy and noisy with lots of families dining.
We were directed to a table fairly close to the large windows with a panoramic view of the ocean. The waitress seated us, but it was quite a while before we were offered some drinks.

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The menu includes tapas style plates as well as larger mains. We decided to choose some tapas to share. We also chose a glass of Jim Barry Lavender Hill Riesling each, which was okay, but not the best Riesling that I have sampled.
We started with a sharing plate of chicken wings, halloumi, arancini, smoked sausage, mixed pickles, vegetable frittata, olives, dip and flatbread. The bread was nicely made and cooked, and the wings were quite tasty. The halloumi was overly salty and not pleasant to eat and the chorizo was very strongly spiced. In contrast, the frittata needed some seasoning and the other items were okay. The dip was quite nice.

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We also chose whitebait – nice standard fare, quite tasty.

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Next came a duck spring roll and this was definitely the best dish of the meal, but a bit pricey at $12 for one roll which was cut into 3 pieces (sorry I ate one before taking the pic).

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Lastly a chicken pate with pear chutney and turkish bread. The pear chutney really didn’t add anything to the plate. The pate was quite nice though.

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So what was the verdict on Portofinos ? It certainly has a great view, and if you have a family it is very child-friendly. It’s not a great place for a date though, because it is noisy and brash. The food was okay, but expensive considering that it wasn’t amazing. The duck spring roll was very nice, but everything else was pretty average.

Visit Date – October 2017

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Pixel Coffee, Leederville

Pixel is a cafe that sits on Oxford Street about halfway down, away from the main Leederville hubbub and close to Bourke Street.
There are tables inside and out, but not a lot of them. We started off seated at the coffee bar and the moved to a table as one became available.

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The menu is quite varied with healthy bowls, chia pudding, and brunch options and Pixel are famous for their array of milks. If you don’t drink dairy, they have pretty much every other option you could need. I chose the banana smoothie with coconut milk, a lovely thick banana honey smoothie with cinnamon – absolutely yum.

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My partner chose a decaf soy coffee, a Colombian blend which was rich and smooth, you couldn’t tell it was decaf by the flavour.

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I chose the Pix Plate to eat – a potato and herb hash with poached eggs, prosciutto, peas, sprouts, parmesan and lemon oil. What a lovely combination. The oozy eggs soaked over the potato hash, the parmesan added a salty piquant hit as did the prosciutto. Posh bacon and eggs with a twist.

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My partner chose the Mushroom Ragu, rich braised mushrooms with tomato and fennel, on two pieces of Mary St Bakery sourdough, with fried eggs, peas shoots, crushed walnuts and smashed avocado. He really enjoyed it.

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The staff were nice and really enjoyed serving the customers, and the cold take away cabinet looked very appealing. There was a steady stream of take away customers. I’d definitely go back to Pixel, it’s good honest healthy food, well prepared and nicely seasoned. There are good vegan options too.

Last Visit Date – January 2019

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

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Kitsch, Leederville

Kitsch is an Asian style bar and restaurant on Oxford Street, but a bit north of the main strip – close to the Re-store, Pappagallo, Pixel and the Bourke Street community. We had an early Friday evening booking and were seated at a comfortable table for two. The menu is quite varied with lots of good-sounding options. We chose the lotus chips with wasabi mayo to start. Unfortunately there was no wasabi mayo (we were too early for chef to make it), so we had sriracha chilli mayo, which was nice, but a shame because I was really looking forward to the wasabi, and it would have been nice for them to tell us before delivering the dish.

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We chose several plates to share and the first to arrive was a plate of eggplant sambal. The eggplant was well cooked, soft, but not squishy, however the whole dish needed more seasoning.

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The next plate contained Korean sweet and salty chicken wings. They were simply delicious – definitely the best dish of the evening. They came with a spicy mayo and were nice plump and meaty with a gorgeous sticky coating. We were also given some wet towels to wipe our sticky fingers.

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Next to arrive was a bowl of spicy mince with green beans – similar to a larb salad. This was tasty and had some nice gravy at the bottom. We didn’t eat it all though – it was good to start but the flavours didn’t carry through for the whole meal and we became a bit bored of it.

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Then came crispy skin pork belly in a red thai curry broth with lychees and pineapple. This was another star dish that we really enjoyed. We also had rice to soak up the lovely sauce.

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So Kitsch – is it a winner? They definitely have some fabulous dishes, but they also have some mediocre dishes too and it’s not cheap to eat there. The staff were friendly but I found it a bit strange that in an empty restaurant they chose to seat a table of three right next to us when there was plenty of other seating available. It also seems to be a venue where you go for a drink and cocktails, and I heard the lady on the next table singing the praises of the gin. Maybe we’ll give Kitsch another go, but there’s a lot of competition in Perth, so watch this space..

Last Visit Date – March 2019

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Pavilion, Joondalup

Pavilion is a restaurant located at the West Coast Institute in Joondalup. It is a restaurant where hospitality staff are trained, so it’s best to bear this in mind when attending. Sometimes everything runs perfectly smoothly, and sometimes not so, but everybody has to train somewhere, and this aspect is reflected in the price of the food. I went there for lunch with work colleagues, and the floor was full of eager beaver trainee wait staff who served us admirably, especially young Bella who was assigned to our table.
The menu does not have a massive choice and there is usually only one vegetarian option. The regular choices are 3-4 entrees, mains and desserts. It’s not particularly inventive or masterchef-like, but then again, the objective here is to train wait staff, and to have an over complicated menu would add an extra dimension of difficulty to proceedings. That said, all the food here is very tasty and well prepared.
We ate a set menu for a special staff function. Our starter was a pumpkin and coconut soup. Lovely and smooth, with a bit of a spice kick to it, and perfectly prepared croutons, I enjoyed this very much.

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Then we had a ‘go up and serve yourself’ carvery with a choice of pork or lamb. I chose the pork, and the chef served up a slightly clumsily carved thick slice of pork, when a few smaller slices would have been preferable. This was served with apple sauce, potatoes dauphinoise, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, crispy roast potato cubes and gravy. I really enjoyed the food, despite having to cut large chunks off of my ginormous slice of pork. The veggies were a little underdone, but this is probably intentional as carvery vegetable sit around on the heaters for a while (and probably eventually become overdone).

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Dessert was a lemon tart or an orange chocolate mousse. The orange chocolate mousse was luscious and very moreish with some wonderful candied nuts on top. The lemon tart was nicely made and served with fruit.

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We were offered tea and coffee and the meal was complete. There were a few ‘accidents’ in the dining room, a few dropped glasses, and some service mistakes here and there, but generally it was a very pleasant meal and the staff tried very hard to ensure that we had everything that we needed.
If you are happy to be served by young trainees, and don’t mind that the service is a little slow and deliberate at times, you will end up having quite a good value delicious meal. The trainees are really enthusiastic and pleasant to chat to. If you are looking for silver service and perfection, then look elsewhere. I liked it, and would be happy to return.

Visit Date – March 2018

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Mia Cucina, Hillarys

We stopped by Mia Cucina for a Sunday brunch with family. It’s an Italian restaurant on the North side of Hillarys marina with great window views across the boat harbour.
The waitress was friendly and provided table water promptly. The brunch menu is not huge, and includes favourites like eggs benny, breakfast croissant, pancakes, as well as a full brekkie (Eggs with benefits) where you get given eggs (your choice of style) on toast and then you choose your other items from a table of sides e.g. bacon, sausage, mushrooms, hash browns, beans.
The coffee was very good, I had a soy cappuccino. The beans are prepared by local Perth roasters Karvan, and I was quite impressed with the house blend.

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I chose Eggs Benny with ham which came with spinach, cress and hollandaise. The portions were quite variable – mine had a few slices of ham whereas others in the group had much more ham than me. The eggs were cooked well, nice and gooey in the middle and the ham was okay but not particularly tasty. It was shaved ham, and I think that a nice slice of thick premium leg ham (as stated in the menu!) would have added more to the dish.
The bread was disappointing – everybody on the table found it hard to get through the sourdough bread, and most of us ended up leaving a considerable amount of it. I would have preferred a good old English muffin.

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One companion chose the Eggs with benefits, and enjoyed the meal but was disappointed to note that there were no beans on the buffet table. Hmm Mia Cucina should really provide the items as stated in the menu ! My companion had to ask for another portion of butter, as the amount provided was not sufficient for the large slices of bread. The items on the plate were good and tasty and the eggs cooked well.

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Another member of our party ordered the ‘breakfast schetta’, a bruschetta with tomatoes, onion, basil, bacon and poached egg. It was nice, but again the bread proved to be a problem, hard to carve through, and difficult to get to the soft middle part.

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All in all, we enjoyed the meal, but I think that Mia Cucina should reconsider their bread choices. It seems that sourdough was the only option and it would be nice to have a choice. The menu clearly states that items on the breakfast dishes cannot be changed, so it seems that they organise breakfast to be easier for the kitchen rather than suited to the diner. It is definitely one of the better eateries at Hillarys, but I also feel that with a bit more care they could do so much better.

Visit Date – January 2018

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Mister Walker, South Perth

You couldn’t wish for a better location. Right on the Swan River on Mends Street Jetty with views of the city and King’s Park, sits Mister Walker, a restaurant with tables inside and out. On our Sunday brunch visit we were fortunate enough to be seated by the window.

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The menu has some attractive options and I really liked the idea of the grilled peaches and dosa. Other options include eggs, waffles, benny, beans and corn bread. The waitress took our order and didn’t write anything down. Our coffees arrived okay, but she had to come back to confirm the brunch dishes.

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The coffees were a bit weak for our liking which was a shame because they were nicely presented.
I ordered the grilled peaches but was disappointed to find out that they were off the menu so I chose the potato gems, egg and pickles instead. When the dish arrived the waitress asked if I would like a plate as the dish was served on a little skillet. I didn’t want to trouble her so I declined, but on second thoughts I should have transferred the whole dish to a plate. The skillet was quite warm and wilted the leaves, overcooked the eggs which had dribbled down, and generally it was a bit awkward to eat from.

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The first few potato gems were nice, but after a while I had that ‘fried food overload’ and felt that there were too many of them compared to the pickles and eggs. This is a dish that could have benefited from a rasher of bacon or prosciutto. There was a small amount of chorizo crumble, but not enough to make a big impact.
My partner chose the uncle benny on a charcoal brioche. The brioche was very nice and not too crispy like other charcoal breads. The menu had advertised sriracha hollandaise, but there was no sriracha in sight, and it all seemed a little bland.

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This is a restaurant that could do really great things especially with a location to die for, but sadly it was all a little lacklustre.

Visit Date – February 2019

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Island Market, Trigg

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Island Market is the new restaurant right on the beach at Trigg. Situated in the building that used to be Kailis fish cafe, and Trigg Island Cafe before that, it has had a makeover inside. Pastel colours, trees and a lofty airy feel, it still has the great view over the ocean – ideal for romantic sunset dinners.

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The menu is a tapas style sharing affair with a modern Australian and
Mediterranean/middle Eastern vibe. We chose to start with pita bread and dips. The pitas are freshly made every day and arrived in a quirky pizza style cardboard box. We chose labneh and feta dip and baba ghanoush.

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The dips were very moreish, the labneh had a nice garlic hit and the baba ghanoush was smoky with a nice depth of flavour and a sprinkling of sumac and olive oil. We also chose the crudo of kingfish, nicely presented with piquant tomato, peppers, olives, cucumbers, slivers of red onion and a sherry vinaigrette.

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Next came a small portion of fish and chips – supremely fresh snapper, and served with lemon and aioli:

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Even though we were getting full, we tucked into the next two dishes of fried cauliflower with hummus, pomegranate and molasses, and chicken wings, adobo and pickles.

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The cauliflower was delicious and the wings had a smoky flavour. They came with some quirky dehydrated hand towels. You pop the little discs in the water and they grow and rehydrate before your eyes:

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We really were too full for dessert but couldn’t resist the liquorice ice cream with dulce de leche and bitter chocolate crumble. I love liquorice ice cream and this version was very well made and packed with flavour.

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A very good meal with a beautiful view and nice wines on the menu. Will I be going back to Island Market? Certainly yes, but I don’t think we’ll order quite as much this time – the portions were quite filling.

Visit Date – September 2017

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La Veen, Perth CBD

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I had heard that La Veen did great coffee, and today we were in the centre of town so decided to have lunch there. It is on the corner of Wellington and King Street, quite a spacious cafe.

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We were quickly seated and decided to order coffees first – a flat white and an iced latte. They serve Five Senses coffee here and the house blend is delicious. Five Senses is the brand of coffee that we have delivered to home, so we know that it’s the best in Perth.

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Both coffees were smooth and rich with a lovely caramel finish. For lunch I chose the pulled pork burger with chips. This was a little disappointing – the pork was quite sweet, so I had to eat it with the chips to add a bit of blandness to the strong sweet flavour. I would have liked more slaw, and the bun was also quite sweet.

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My companion chose the Boston beans with a poached egg. The beans were nicely cooked and tomatoey, but a little sweet, the cheese was a perfect amount and the egg was nicely poached. The potato skins were a nice touch, although it was quite a small portion for the price.

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When we left, I had a look at the cake cabinet which seemed quite appealing.

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So will I be going back to La Veen ? Not for lunch, but definitely for coffee and cake if I am in the area. I think there are better food outlets in the city.

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Visit Date – November 2017

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Mount Street Breakfast Bar, Perth CBD

Mount Street is next door to King’s Park, a pretty leafy area of Perth, and it’s a very steep street. Luckily we visited on a Saturday when parking was free, but midweek the parking will set you back $4+ per hour.

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We ordered coffee while we perused the menu. The coffee was nice but quite rich and slightly bitter, suggesting a South American blend.

The menu is a mish mash of breakfast and lunch items but everything is very appealing. I had a shortlist of 5 things but ended up choosing the prawns with scrambled egg, garlic shoots, prosciutto and baguette. This was lovely but quite bold flavours and probably more of a lunch dish than a breakfast dish.

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My partner chose the crushed avocado, with roasted paprika pepper, goat’s feta, rocket, soft boiled egg and multigrain. This was a nice combination of textures and flavours and he thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

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Other menu items on my shortlist included:

  • pumpkin, potato hash, labneh dukka ball, crispy bacon, poached egg on rye bread
  • pan-fried yucca & spinach gnocchi with walnuts, shitake mushrooms, sage and egg yolk in a spicy, creamy peruvian sauce
  • french toast, caramelised banana, strawberries, crispy bacon, maple syrup
  • omelette: spinach, sweet onion& herbs, topped with sun blushed tomatoes, feta and pinenuts with pecorino tomato dip and turkish breadDefinitely a venue to return to with inventive dishes galore.

Visit Date – June 2018

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Mouthful Duck, Ellenbrook

Mouthful Duck is a modern Asian restaurant in the town centre of Ellenbrook with a big open kitchen and friendly wait staff. The menu offers fresh lemon iced tea, which is lovely and refreshing.

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Perusing the menu, there are quite a lot of tasty sounding options. Lots of sharing options to start, dumplings, buns, roast meats, and larger plates like pork belly, fillet of beef in black bean sauce, tamarind duck curry and seafood tempura. We chose one of my favourite starters – prawn toasts. They didn’t disappoint, nice thick bread with a generous serving of prawn on top and a sweet soy dip.

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Next came DIY duck pancakes with tender sliced roast duck, apple, spring onions, plum sauce and hoisin. This was an interesting take on Peking duck with apple
instead of cucumber, and I loved each mouthful.

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For mains we chose crispy skinned barramundi with kailan, rice on a bed of egg
white and ginger. The barra was very fresh and nicely cooked and the kailan were in a delicious oyster/soy sauce.

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We also had some mee goreng with prawn, chicken, egg and vegetables in a spicy sambal sauce. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before we had eaten half of it, but it was presented very nicely and tasted lovely – quite spicy – with a very generous helping of prawns and chicken.

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Mouthful Duck is a nice experience – the menu is slightly quirky and everything was certainly very tasty. It’s a little on the expensive side, but well worth it for the quality ingredients and generous portions.

Visit Date – June 2018

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