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P’tite Ardoise Bistro, Perth CBD

I have been intending to eat at P’tite Ardoise for a while now – it always scores highly on Urbanspoon/Zomato, so I was delighted to finally get a booking (booking is not easy – they only seem to answer the phone in the afternoons).
I arrived early for my booking and was surprised to find the restaurant already very busy. The tables are very close together, so they pack quite a few people in. It has a quirky ambience, is a little old-fashioned, and the waiters are all French, speaking fluent Franglais to the diners “Bonsoir, can I get you a drink?”. On first view of the menu, I wasn’t impressed, just three choices of starter, main and dessert, until I discovered the ‘menu du jour’ on the other side. I had been looking at the ‘classics’ menu.
The waitress brought lovely fresh bread in a basket – baguettes, olive bread, bread with grains, and I loved that they served it with a trio of butter, olive oil and tapenade. I cannot eat much dairy and I prefer olive oil to butter with my bread.

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I chose the rillettes de tours to start – similar to a rustic pate, but not as smooth as pate – pork belly with sauternes jelly and crispy bread. The bread was so crispy that it was extremely hard, and made my hard palate sore trying to crunch through it. The dish was served with an apple chutney, a raspberry jelly and some dill pickles. The pork was extremely tasty, but the overly hard bread was a let down – I would have loved some softer toast, then it would have been perfect.

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My companion chose the scallops and Merguez sausage with celeriac puree and calvados jus. He thoroughly enjoyed the dish and it looked fabulous.

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Other choices of starter included pumpkin soup, terrine of the day, and thinly sliced peppered beef with prawns and celeriac remoulade. It did occur to me that this would not be a great restaurant choice for the vegetarian diner.
For the main I chose snapper with manjimup truffle and potato macaire and port jus.

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The snapper was lovely – perfectly cooked, but I didn’t really enjoy the potato macaire, it was quite dry in texture and I didn’t really detect the truffle flavour. We were also served a dish of vegetables which were nicely cooked but fairly plain.

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My companion chose slow-cooked beef cheek with mashed potato, bacon, mushroom and red wine jus. He really enjoyed it and said that it was perfect winter food.

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Other choices of main included casserole of the day, lamb shank and ratatouille crepes. The portion sizes were quite huge and we didn’t feel that we had room for a dessert. If we had opted for dessert, we could have chosen from floating islands, chestnut meringue, plum clafoutis, trio of mini desserts or assorted truffles and nougat. All of them sound lovely but after two huge courses and two rounds of bread, we were finished. So would I rush back to P’tite Ardoise ? The food was definitely tasty, I think my companion chose better dishes than me, the service was a little haphazard, and the tables felt cramped. The whole restaurant was quite noisy and lively and is a fun place to be, however, I don’t
think it quite lived up to the hype. It was very good, but didn’t blow my mind.

Visit Date – July 2013

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Mon Taste of Japan, Leederville

Mon is a cosy Japanese cafe in Newcastle Street just off the main strip. It always seems busy and we decided to give Mon a try.
The first thing we noticed was that the staff were not particularly welcoming or attentive, probably because they were busy, rushing back and forth between the kitchen constantly. The menu looked good though and there were plenty of specials like chicken and prawn gyoza, mackerel don with ginger and soy flavoured rice, tuna karaage, triple chicken don. It all sounded really good and authentic.
We chose the gyoza to share, I chose the mackerel special and my partner chose the chicken katsu curry. We also opted for some miso soup. After waiting for quite a while, it became clear that all of the food would be arriving as it was cooked. Usually the wait staff ask if you want some of it as a first course, but this didn’t seem to be an option. Our miso came first, mine was okay, a nice flavour but tasted a bit grainy and had a lot of residue at the bottom of the bowl.

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My partner then received his chicken katsu curry, which he quite enjoyed. He did say that it wasn’t amazing, but an okay katsu.

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There was a bit of a wait before my mackerel dish arrived and it came up with the gyoza.

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The gyoza were nice and succulent with a good dipping sauce. The bowl was a bit small to dip them, but they were good gyoza and we enjoyed them.
The mackerel was little different. When it arrived the waitress said to be careful because the claypot was very hot. It was. It was searingly hot, and a bit unstable on the wooden base, so it kept shifting and despite my best efforts, I did keep burning my hands on the bowl almost every time I dipped the spoon in. The other aspect of the extremely hot dish was that it made the rice incredibly dry and a lot of the rice stuck to the pot. The mackerel was good and succulent, but not very ‘saucy’, so it really was a fairly dry dish, and with the constant awkwardness of trying not to burn my hands, it wasn’t easy to eat.
So will I try Mon again – probably not. It was authentic, but not outstanding food, the service was lacklustre, and my dish was the stuff that health and safety nightmares are made of. I dread to think what might have happened if it was served to a child or somebody with poor coordination. There’s a lot of competition in Leederville and if Mon continue with that level of service, they won’t last.

Visit Date – January 2019

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Moments, Joondalup

Moments cafe is on Davidson Terrace in Joondalup, an area that is a little hub of eateries outside of the main shopping centre area. Nestled in between an Indian cafe and a Chinese restaurant, not far from Dome and the newly opened Paper Avenue, it has quite a lot of competition. Moments is quite popular and always busy.
The menu is huge and consists of all day breakfast, toasties, sandwiches, gourmet sandwiches, burgers, wraps, cakes, various options in the chilled cabinet and some hot options like noodles and Asian fare in ready to go takeaway containers. We chose to dine in and our food was cooked fresh. Everything is lovingly prepared and ‘no frills’ style. The drinks menu is equally enormous, and I ordered a chilled soy chai.

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My partner ordered a pot of tea which arrived on quirky spotty crockery. The whole cafe is filled with quirky posters and ornaments and they have a thing about moustaches.

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I fancied a bacon and egg muffin, which was very nice, and they asked if I wanted HP sauce (of course I do – I’m of English heritage), which was a nice touch. This was tasty with good quality ingredients and certainly made a nice light lunch.

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My partner chose a cheese, tomato and chicken toastie. Again simple and nicely made with a good amount of filling and very tasty too.

Moments is a sweet little cafe and certainly worth a visit. Strangely it’s not open on Saturdays, but it is open every other day, and definitely a local favourite.

Last Visit Date – April 2018

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Miss Chow’s, Whitfords

Miss Chow’s is one of a group of new restaurants that have opened in the last 12 months at Whitfords shopping centre. They all seem quite popular with the locals, and we decided to try Miss Chow’s for Sunday lunch after a morning visit to the cinema.
It’s a large open area for dining and we chose to eat inside, although it was a bit chilly with the aggressive air con and fans running.
We didn’t want to order a huge amount, just some dumplings and ribs.
I chose a fresh iced lemon tea to drink. This was lovely, and I could taste the tea as well as the lemon. It had just the right amount of sweetness.

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We ordered three lots of dumplings. No dipping sauce was provided other than with the fried dumplings. There was soy sauce on the table but no small dishes to put the soy into for dipping. The siu mai prawn and pork dumplings – four in a portion. These are very traditional Chinese dumplings served with almost every dim sum meal. they were very tasty and enjoyable. Sorry about the photo, we ate two of them before I remembered to take a photo.

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We also chose the traditional partner of siu mai – har gow which are crytsal prawn dumplings. Again a portion of four, but they tasted quite bland, the flavour of the prawn did not come through.

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The pan fried dumplings were pork and vegetable (like our favourite War Tip), and served with a sweet chilli oil type sauce, but it didn’t have any real heat to it. The flavour was okay, but not as nice as the previous dim sum restaurants that I have visited.

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The best item that we ordered were the caramelised spare ribs. Served with black vinegar caramel, pineapple, bell peppers and fresh mint, they were succulent and fell off the bone. I wasn’t too keen on the large mint leaves – they could have been shredded. After a while the ribs felt a little too sweet, but generally they tasted quite good.

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So would I go back to Miss Chow’s ? Maybe for the ribs or to try something else from the menu, but not for the dumplings. I have had better dumplings in Northbridge and won’t settle for bland ones.

Visit Date – March 2018

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Matilda Bay Restaurant and Bar, Crawley

Matilda Bay Restaurant is right on the Swan River. It’s a popular area for families with many people jogging, walking dogs and picnicking in the vicinity. The view from the restaurant is lovely – yachts and ducks, with King’s Park and Mounts Bay Road as a backdrop.

The thing that immediately struck me was that the service was haphazard. The waitress showed us to our table, only to decide that it wasn’t as expected, and ushered us to an alternative table. We then waited for 20 minutes before being offered a drink. I chose a mocktail (I chose the only one that was compatible with my food intolerances), and my companion chose a mocktail too, explaining that we would not be drinking alcohol. The drinks were nice and well-presented, but the waiter insisted on trying to sell us some wine despite our earlier conversation about not drinking alcohol.

Cranberry and Elderflower mocktail:
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When the bread arrived, it was accompanied by butter, which I cannot eat, so I asked for some olive oil instead. Two waiters told me that the olive oil was on it’s way, but it didn’t arrive until I reminded them again, and 20 minutes later, my bread was cold.
The starters, however, were very good.

I had kingfish sashimi with squid noodle salad:

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My only minor criticism was that there was a bit much of the squid noodle salad. The wasabi was lovely and hot, and the kingfish very fresh.
My companion chose prawns in a chick pea crust with a tomato salad and a spicy aioli:

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The prawns could have been a bit larger, but overall it was a very pleasant dish. For main course I chose a trio of seafood – prawns, marron and crayfish:

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My companion chose a steak – black Angus rump:

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Both main courses were overcooked to some degree. The steak should have been medium rare, but it was more like medium to well done.
The seafood was varied – the prawns were perfect, the marron was nice but not amazing, and the crayfish was overcooked. Such a shame because the cray should have been the star of the dish, and it was a real disappointment.
Matilda Bay need to step up their game if they want my custom again. I am so glad that we had an Entertainment Book Card which gave us 25% discount. I would not have been happy to spend $200 on this meal. The service could be much better, and the chefs need to pay a bit more attention – cooking seafood and steak is not difficult.

Visit Date – December 2012

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Little Cultures, Subiaco

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Little Cultures is a healthy superfood and dessert bar on Rokeby Road in the heart of Subiaco. If you are on a dairy free or paleo diet, there are plenty of options to choose from, and there is seating inside and on the pavement.
The menu consists of yoghurt bowls and smoothie bowls with all of the health freak ingredients like acai, goji berries and raw cacao. You can also order a smoothie to drink or for dessert a Hong Kong/Macao style egg waffle puff. The waffle puffs are a hexagon of bumpy puffy batter, dressed with all kinds of goodies like banana, strawberry and caramel.
You can also have the waffle puff folded into a cup and filled with ‘yolato’ or other goodies. Yolato is yoghurt gelato. I chose the strawberry fields waffle with coco yolato, nutella and whipped cream.

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My partner chose the popcorn cookie party – with cookie crumbs, caramel and chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream, and caramel popcorn.

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Both were nice, I loved the eggy waffle, it was more interesting than a regular waffle. The yolato didn’t blow me a way, but the rest of the ingredients were good quality. After a while, I found the whole thing a bit sickly and it would have been nice to have a half serve. I would like to return to try some of the other offerings like the superfood bowls.

Visit Date – April 2018

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review, Store review, Vegan/Vegetarian

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Mr Munchies, Mount Lawley

I was very keen to try out this new sushi bar in Mount Lawley – everybody seems to be talking about it. I am still lamenting the management change that happened to Yuzu just around the corner – and since the ‘old’ Yuzu went, I have missed good quality, exciting, consistent sushi.
The reservation was quite difficult – the staff did not seem to understand me, but I managed to make a reservation eventually – good job that I did because it is a very small place. It is not really a place to linger – very canteen style, and they serve you quickly to maintain a good turnover of customers. You can invent your own sushi, but I decided to choose from the menu.

Karaage Chicken:

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Tuna and Avocado Roll:

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Spider roll with soft shell crab:

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The portions were generous, and I found them difficult to eat. I like my sushi portions to be mouthful – if I have to bite into them they invariably fall apart and make a mess on the plate. I liked the variety – it annoys me when sushi bars serve mainly salmon and cooked tuna.
The sushi was nice, but nothing outstanding, and certainly not good enough to have me trekking back to Mount Lawley on a regular basis like Yuzu used to.

Visit Date – December 2012

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Kobe Sushi, Whitfords

Kobe sushi has been serving up great Japanese options for many years at Whitford City Hillarys. There are a few vegan things on the menu – delicious vegetable tempura, and vegetable sushi rolls. There are bento box options and donburi as well as items in the cold cabinet. I chose the tempura with udon noodle soup. This was freshly made to order.

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The tempura veggies were beautifully crispy, a selection of onion, potato, broccoli, zucchini, and sweet potato served with a tentsuyu sauce. The noodles were nicely soft and in a delicious broth.

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Kobe is definitely a good choice for lunch when you are shopping at Whitfords.

Last Visit Date – January 2020

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Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

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Kinky Lizard, East Perth

Kinky Lizard is located on Royal Street, near Haig Park. Just a stroll from the riverfront, it’s a magnet for cyclists stopping by for their morning coffee and locals alike. The cafe has been around for years which is a testament to its quality offerings. There is an outdoor seating area that is somewhat protected, as well as indoor tables. They serve breakfast, brunch and lunch, and everything is prepared with care and love. Coffee is smooth and rich, the flat white and soy cappuccino were both delicious.

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The chalkboard had a range of tempting smoothies on offer – I must try the peanut butter brownie version soon.

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The menu was full of great choices, I probably could have chosen anything and I would have been happy with it, but I settled for a Kinky Bruschetta with pulled pork, red pepper spread, capsicum, labne and pomegranate salsa. I also had a choice of bread and I chose rye. This was a beautifully constructed dish, the pulled pork nicely cooked, with a lovely spicy backdrop of peppers, and the slightly sweet pomegranate contrast, the labne was thick, creamy and moreish, and altogether the plate was one of the best plates that I have tasted for brunch. My only criticism would be that the bread was slightly soggy in places
and it would have been nice to have an additional slice on the side to add the crunch element.

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My partner chose an eggs benny with bacon. As eggs benny goes, it was a classic, well prepared dish with great crispy bacon and perfectly poached eggs.

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This is one of East Perth’s finest. Make sure that you drop in next time you are here for a riverside stroll.

Last Visit Date – February 2018

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Katsuya, Joondalup

Katsuya is a wonderful Japanese restaurant/cafe in the centre of Joondalup CBD located in the Central Walk area between Reid Promenade and Boas Avenue.
It is quite spacious inside with plenty of seating, and has a busy takeaway service and a faithful lunch patronage. The menu consists of many regular japanese starters – gyoza, spring rolls, octopus balls, agedashi tofu, crab claws etc. They also provide a range of sushi rolls, sashimi, tempura, bento boxes and katsu/teriyaki sets. Unlicensed, there is a range of soft drinks and Asian drinks in the fridge, and the waiters are always happy to provide chilled tap water.
We chose some spring rolls and gyoza to share. There are 5 in each portion but I forgot to take the spring roll picture before we ate some.

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The spring rolls were nice, served with a sweet chilli sauce, and the gyoza were plump and juicy. A very good start.
I chose a high protein meal of agedashi tofu and mixed sashimi. The agedashi consisted of three large pieces of tofu and some tempura vegetables in a lovely tentsuyu broth. The silken tofu is dusted with potato starch and deep fried giving a lovely contrast of textures.

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The mixed sashimi was beautifully fresh and skilfully cut, served with spinach,
light soy and wasabi. Some of the best sashimi I have tasted worldwide.

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My companions ate teriyaki salmon bento and a katsu curry set.
The bento boxes contained a portion of teriyaki salmon with rice, salad, edamame, and miso soup. Every element was well presented and tasty, the salmon very fresh, and the sauce sweet and luscious.

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The katsu curry was also well presented. The chicken was a nice thickness in a lovely crispy crumb with a mild and fruity flavoured curry sauce. It was accompanied by a miso soup and a bowl of salad.

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The staff at Katsuya are very helpful and willing to answer all questions about the menu. Everything is served with a smile and created with care. This restaurant serves food of a high standard and is well loved by the locals. I will definitely be a regular at Katsuya.

Last Visit Date – March 2020

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