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Sayers Sister, Northbridge

I have heard a lot about Sayers Sister, so decided to give it a try for Sunday breakfast. It is in Northbridge at the Bulwer St end of Lake St. I haven’t been to this area before and was quite surprised to stumble across some other places that I have heard of such as Tarts and The Dizzy Witch.
Sayers Sister was the only of these restaurants with a queue, so we persevered and queued up. The restaurant is not quite as chaotic as Sayers in Leederville, the whole layout is better, and the staff allocate tables, so it is a much fairer system.
We were seated at the long central communal table, which has lots of sweet treats in the middle that you can graze on while you are waiting – you just put your payment in the little jars on the table. I think it’s nice that you can do this in Perth – you wouldn’t be able to get away with it in London – those coin jars would disappear on the first day!
I chose the potato rosti with bacon, poached eggs, rocket, spinach, parmesan and bramley apple/thyme chutney.
Every mouthful was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You could really taste the quality of the ingredients.

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I also had a white peach and passion fruit lemonade to accompany it.
My companion had a coffee – which was really delicious and smooth with a caramel richness. He also had a full breakfast which was equally enjoyable – lots of nice quality ingredients, and a lovely cumin mousse/sorbet on the beans which was unusual and tasty. It consisted of home made beans, crusty bread, eggs, bacon, bubble and squeak, mushroom and pesto.

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Sayers Sister also has a very attractive selection of home made cakes – if I were not on my January diet, I would have tried one (or two).
I will definitely be returning to Sayers Sister. I think it is slightly better than Sayers, but they are both good quality restaurants that I will always be happy to dine in.

This is another blog post a few years later:

I haven’t been to Sayers Sister for a few years now and wondered if it was as good as before. It is affiliated with Sayers in Leederville – a cafe that consistently serves great food and a brunch stalwart in Perth.

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When we arrived there was a queue and we were told that the wait time was 15-20 minutes. They very kindly gave us a lovely chocolate and strawberry muffin to eat while we waited. Once we got seated we ordered coffee which was a lovely smooth rich blend.

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The menu was full of delicious sounding options like baked apple waffles, zucchini and tomato bread with minted ricotta and zucchini flowers, leek and parmesan croquettes, but I chose my favourite potato rosti with poached eggs, bacon, spinach, rocket, parmesan, mustard, and apple/thyme chutney.

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This was such a perfect brunch dish, and every ingredient added value. Quality oozy eggs, perfectly cooked bacon and the oh so yummy rosti with a little piquancy from the mustard – this was everything that I wanted on that chilly morning.
My partner chose the coriander and cumin beans tagine with babaganoush, walnut pesto, poached egg and toasted linseed. There were a variety of beans which made it interesting, the linseed bread was tasty and wholesome, the egg was nicely cooked and the babaganoush sublime. He loved every mouthful.

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Sayers Sister is still delivering one of the best brunches in Perth – no wonder there’s a queue. Consistent quality and beautiful ingredients is a surefire winner here.

Unfortunately our last visit was not so great, it felt as if everything had changed and the service and quality had deteriorated. We haven’t been back in recent times.

Last Visit Date – July 2018

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Red Opium, Perth CBD

This restaurant is not right on Hay Street, it is just slightly in Hill Street, and you would probably walk past it if you didn’t know it was there. Inside it is buzzing, the colour scheme is black and red with simple clean lines and pictures of opium smoking characters on the wall. It is not licensed so you can bring your own wine.

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The menu is set out into sections where you can have smaller tapas style plates or large main course size plates. There are also some set meals, but we chose to have 6 tapas style plates and a salad.
The first dish to arrive was Kataifi King Prawns. King prawns wrapped in a shredded pastry with a tamarind and chilli jam dip. These were really delicious, cooked perfectly and the dip went really well with the prawns.

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Next up was spring rolls. These were thin and long, nice but nothing spectacular.

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Then came the star dish of the evening – spicy scallops – seared sashimi grade
scallops with tamarind and chilli. I could have eaten a whole plate of these, they were so good.

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The som tum with soft shell crab was really really nice, spicy, and quite lip tingling. The soft shell crabs were crispy and a nice contrast to the soft salad which was jam packed with papaya shreds, chilli, peanuts, onion and tomato.

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Tod Man was minced fish with thai chilli paste, herbs and minced prawns, served with a salsa.

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The salmon ceviche was really refreshing with caviar, onions, chillies, truffle oil and lemon.

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The satay was lovely, served with authentic rice cakes, cucumber relish and satay sauce.

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For dessert we chose mango with sticky rice which was thoroughly delicious.

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The food at Red Opium was really high quality, well presented, very tasty, cheffy, authentic and served by friendly staff. You couldn’t ask for more from a restaurant and I will certainly be returning.

Update – Unfortunately our second visit wasn’t as good, we found the food quite lacklustre and disappointing.

Last Visit Date – October 2017

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Pinchos, Leederville

We stopped off at Pinchos for some Sunday afternoon tapas. It occupies a corner position in the heart of the Leederville strip with tables outside as well as inside. When they first opened a few years back, they had a small shop, but have expanded into the shop next door, a move that was needed because they are always busy.
The menus are the type where you tick what you want – at least the wait staff can’t get your order wrong. There are Pinchos classics, small bites, salads, ham and cheese, grilled bread with toppings, tortillas, croquettes, tapas, and a few bigger plates.
We started off with Pan Arabe – flatbread, saffron labne, olives, beetroot, guindilla pickle, grpaes and dukkah. This was one of my favourites, a really nice combination, and the flatbreads were beautifully prepared. I could have happily eaten a very large plate of this and nothing else.

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Next came Berenjena – Grilled bread with eggplant, brie and pear chutney. This was nice but quite mildly flavoured and could have benefited from a bit more seasoning.

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Then my favourite Patatas Bravas – beautiful roasted potatoes with paprika, tomato and aioli. My only wish was that all of the potatoes were coated with the sauces.

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Then the salad arrived – Frutos Secos – rocket, confit nuts, pear, goats cheese and orange segments. A nice mixture that I thought went well together, but my companion wasn’t overimpressed – describing it as a ‘trail mix’ salad.

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The last dish was a tapas favourite Campinones con Queso Azul – grilled mushrooms with px vinegar, blue cheese and roasted candied almonds. This was probably the best dish – full of flavour and not too overpowering.

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It was a very nice late afternoon lunch, and Pinchos is a casual relaxed atmosphere where you can sit outside and watch the world go by. It’s very tempting to compare it with Duende which is just around the corner, but I think that they are two different vibes. Duende is much more polished and had more of a gourmet feel to it, whereas Pinchos is perfect for dropping by to eat simple but delicious bites. Both venues have a place in Leederville, and they are certainly well loved by the locals.

Last Visit – October 2018

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Pictures from other visits:

Flatbread, pickles, labne, olives, grapes:
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Spanish pate with bread:
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Mushrooms with blue cheese, PX vinegar and almond crumb:
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Roast pork belly with cumin and lemon:
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Pho 4 U, Malaga

Pho 4 U is a casual cafe in amongst the parade of shops between Illawara Crescent and Beach Road facing Alexander Avenue. It is clean and modern, with a stereo that plays Asian pop and emits coloured lights while you eat. The staff are lovely and helpful, and the food is good. The menu is quite extensive, with the usual Vietnamese favourites as well as Chinese style sharing dishes.
While we perused the menu, the waitress brought us some peanuts – nice slightly spicy peanuts.

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We chose some crab claws and stuffed chicken wings to start.

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These were really tasty and cooked to order. The wings stuffed full of filling and the crab claws nice and generous.
For mains we chose fried prawns with salt and chilli. Beautifully cooked, crispy, spicy, and with those lovely fried onion and chilli bits, we ate them hungrily. We also ordered some boiled rice.

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We also chose stir fried chicken with vegetables and sambal sauce. The sauce wasn’t as spicy as I hoped but the vegetables were fresh, colourful and tasty, and the chicken was very nicely cooked.

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All in all it was a very nice and generous meal, and I will definitely go back to try some more traditional dishes.

Visit Date – June 2018

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Peppermint Green, Joondalup

Peppermint Green is a lovely cafe just off Winton Road in Delage Street. As soon as you walk in, you can see that it is clean, bright, and welcoming.

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We stopped off for a small bite before shopping. I ordered an orange and cinnamon iced tea which was lovely. They also offer allergy friendly options, and various different milks if you don’t do dairy.

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My partner chose good old English Breakfast tea, served with a cute Teddy biscuit.

I accompanied my tea with some raspberry and pear bread. This was lovely and i really enjoyed it.

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My partner chose raisin toast – again a great fruity rich option with lost of nice spices.

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The cake cabinet is very tempting and nicely laid out:

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I have revisited since and found that staff were very accommodating in preparing scrambled eggs and bacon for me with no cream or butter.

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My partner had smashed avocado on toast with feta, which was nicely prepared and a good texture.

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This coffee house is a local gem, well worth a visit. They also have a good homewares section to browse through.

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Last Visit Date – October 2019

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Kabalason, Joondalup

We popped into Kabalason one evening on a whim as we were passing. The last time we dined here was many years ago and we ate thali which was nice, but not amazing. I remember the flavours as being very strong and the spices a bit raw. Anyway, that was ages ago and last time we walked past Kabalason there were many people dining and we felt that it was worth another try.
We were quite early, and there was one other diner. A buffet was laid out under heat lamps, but our experience of buffet food is not good, so we decided to eat a la carte. The waitress did try to persuade us to have buffet ($24.50) but we wanted something freshly cooked and relatively light.
We chose chicken tikka, seekh kebab, cauliflower capsicum masala curry and two garlic naans.

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The tikka was served with a limp looking salad and a mint yoghurt sauce. The meat was a bit tough and didn’t taste as if it had been freshly cooked. It tasted more like a part cooked tikka that had been warmed up, the flavour was okay, but the mouthfeel was dense and I have had much better tikkas.

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The seekh kebab was better than the tikka, but again served with a limp salad that we didn’t touch. I suspect that the salad had been made up quite some time earlier and left in the fridge. The meat was nicely spiced, and a bit on the salty side, but a nice flavoured kebab.

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The cauliflower capsicum masala started off okay, but as I ate more of it I found it quite strongly spiced, and the spices had a raw edge to them as if they had not been cooked through. One of the secrets of a great curry is to cook it long and slow so that the spices really get a chance to develop and lose their hot rawness. The first few spoonfuls were okay, but as I ate more, I found it salty, hot and overbearing and I left most of it.

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The garlic naans were nicely flavoured but variable in texture. One was soft and a little doughy, but the better of the two. The other one was quite crisp and stiff, so I couldn’t wrap my curry in it.
So will I go back to Kabalason ? Probably not. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that they make a lot of food in advance for the buffet and then just reheat as required. Other than the naan nothing tasted really fresh and bright, and the constant throat-clearing and sneezing coming from the kitchen was quite off-putting. We spent over $60 on a very average meal.

Visit date – October 2019

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Heirloom, East Perth

Heirloom is a restaurant in the swish Fraser Suites in East Perth. Pete Evans is apparently the executive chef, but I’m not so sure that he has seen the latest menu.
We were directed to a nice table near the window, and given the menu which is extremely limited and quite ordinary. The kind of menu that I love is one where I can’t decide what to eat because everything sounds so delicious. This menu was the opposite. I struggled to find something that appealed to me. Appetizers were bread and dip, or olives with chorizo, hmm not that inspiring. Small plates were calamari, chicken and avocado tacos, arancini with prawns, duck leg salad or falafel. We ordered drinks while we deliberated over the best option.
I asked for a mocktail, and the very helpful waitress Nicole showed me a choice of two. I picked a lychee version only to be told that they had run out of lychees but the barman would make up a coconut version. I ended up with coconut water containing a few sprigs of mint, lots of cucumber, and a hint of lime. It was plain weird.

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I asked the waiter about the size of the starters and he said that they were about 200 grams each, which I thought was a strange way of describing them. He said that if we ordered arancini, we’d get just three arancini balls and three prawns, and he seemed to be recommending the tacos, so we decided to share the chicken and avocado tacos to start. In my head I imagined soft tacos with lovely slices of green avocado, crispy chicken, and some kind of mayo. What we actually received were 3 crispy tacos with a sandwich style filling, a few diced mango pieces on top, and a lettuce leaf with some further filling. They tasted
okay, but the mango wasn’t really enough to come through, and they could have looked so much more appealing. I also asked the waiter if there were any specials, but he said no, the menu was brand new, and that’s all that was available.

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Nicole came back and asked me how I was enjoying my cocktail. I said that it was a bit odd, and she very helpfully asked if I would like to try a strawberry daiquiri style mocktail instead. I said yes that sounded much better, so she disappeared and then came back and offered me a virgin mojito instead, so I settled for that. When it came up it was much better than the previous cucumber water style effort, although I am not sure if it was very mojito-ey.

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The choice of large plates was equally as dull as the small plates. The waiter told us that the macadamia crusted schnitzel was a very popular option (not my idea of fine dining), but he also advised us to order side dishes because he said that there weren’t many vegetables with the mains. Other options were barramundi, salmon, sirloin steak, lamb rack, mushroom fettucine plus a veggie tian option. My partner chose the barramundi and I chose the sirloin. At this stage I was regretting that we didn’t walk out after first seeing the
menu.
When the mains arrived they were beautifully presented and very tasty. My steak was cooked well, it came with some nicely presented carrots, some charred onions, a fondant potato, and a mushroom puree. As instructed, we also ordered a side of sauteed vegetables which was a nice selection, cooked well.

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The barramundi was again nicely cooked, tasted good and came with a cumin spiced potato galette the cumin was not detectable), a nice snow pea salad, braised fennel, and a quenelle of preserved lemon and pesto.

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The mains were tasty, and well prepared, but not amazing. There was nothing to give them a wow factor, and I am glad that I had 25% discount voucher. We looked at the dessert menu and chose not try the lemon tart, orange honey parfait or the coffee creme brulee.
It was an odd meal and Nicole the waitress did a great job of trying to make everything as good as it could be, but I can’t say that it was memorable, and I won’t go back. It was okay, just boring, very limited, and not the standard that I expected for a restaurant that is claiming serve ‘beautifully crafted’ food.

Visit Date – April 2018

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Hyatt Regency, Perth CBD

I attended the IPAA awards at the Hyatt Regency Grand Ballroom. I know that it can be difficult to cater satisfactorily for hundreds of diners at an event like this, but everything was organised very well and the food was delivered to the table hot and well presented.
I didn’t sample the bread basket, but my colleagues enjoyed their rolls and butter. The starter was chicken breast with quinoa, celery, peas, tabbouleh and local feta salad. This was a delight with a generous portion of succulent chicken and tasty accompaniments with real depth to the flavours.

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The main was Amelia Park medallion rib beef with Pommes Anna, mushroom, kale,
pumpkin puree and Madeira jus. The beef was beautifully tender, and the vegetables again had really good depth of flavour, obviously having been prepared with care.

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We finished off with tea, coffee and some handmade biscuits. A really good example of how to do conference catering – congratulations on a great meal.

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Visit Date – June 2019

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Moore & Moore, Fremantle

This was my first trip to Fremantle for brekkie, and I was very pleased that we discovered Moore and Moore. It’s a long drive, but I will be happy to go back for a return visit. The cafe is within an art gallery, and it is very interesting, a little kitsch in places, but very warm, cosy and inviting – I really loved the atmosphere.

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A lot of the dishes on the menu are vegetarian. If you want meat the only options are bacon and meatballs, and if you want fish, there is a smoked salmon dish, however, as a meat eater, I found the vegetarian dishes very appealing and the lack of meat did not worry me.
I chose the burnt butter, sage and roast pumpkin mash. This consisted of roast pumpkin spread on turkish toast with two poached eggs on top, rocket, and tomato relish. I added bacon as an extra. The whole dish was delicious – the bacon good quality and nicely crispy, the pumpkin mash slightly sweet and the eggs cooked perfectly.

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My friend Karen chose the smashed new potato rosti. This consisted of mustard seed, spinach and romano cheese potato rosti topped with a poached egg, avocado, green olives and caper salsa, rocket and tomato relish. Karen really enjoyed it, she has been a vegetarian for quite a few years and found it tasty and the flavours quite interesting.

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As well as the food, the coffee and the drinks were really good – fresh orange, home made lemonade – all refreshing and delicious.
I really loved Moore and Moore, the menu is inventive without being ridiculous, the flavours all go well together and it is nice to see a menu with a wide vegetarian choice. The building is lovely – the Moores building – it is a heritage listed building that used to be an old merchant’s warehouse. There are various rooms where you can dine including an alfresco area out the back. When we were there a musical trio were entertaining everybody in the walkway. It was very typically Fremantle – a bit different, a bit quaint and very colourful. I loved it.

Last Visit Date – December 2014

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

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Nobu, Perth

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Nobu in Perth is one of two branches in Australia (the other one is in Melbourne), a cool sophisticated restaurant located in the Crown Casino complex at Burswood. Sleek and stylish it is similar to other Nobu branches around the world, and this one has the advantage of overlooking the hotel pool, and has an interesting ceiling centrepiece of glass coloured baubles.

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The menu is quite varied with nibbles, oysters, sashimi, salad, tempura, wagyu, lobster, gyoza, sushi, and various signature hot and cold dishes.
We chose mocktails to drink.
A Nobu sunrise – Pineapple, Orange, Passionfruit Juice, Sugar Syrup & Grenadine – with a wonderful dehydrated slice of orange on top – yum.

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A Berry Mule – Fresh Lemon, Raspberries, Grenadine & Ginger Beer – with a mountain peach.

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Our first dish to arrive was a special of the day. Salmon sashimi with nashi pear, truffle oil, yuzu and chives. It was quite nice but the truffle was a little overpowering for the delicate salmon.

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Next came sashimi salad with matsuhisa dressing – a favourite of ours. The dressing is made from finely chopped onion, rice vinegar, mustard powder, sesame oil and soy. The seared tuna went beautifully with the leaves and dressing.

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Next came the best dish of the night. Tempura soft shell crab harumaki – beautifully cooked crab inside a crispy tempura batter served with a reduction and a wasabi mayonnaise. The mayo was just right, just enough wasabi to taste it without dominating the dish. Every mouthful was a delight, and the dish was served with some very addictive pickled vegetables.

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Next came Pepper Crusted Seabass with Balsamic Teriyaki. A beautiful seabass portion sitting on the sauce with lotus root chips, spring onion and pak choy. The crust was nice and crispy, and the fish really fresh and just flaking apart nicely. Another really good dish with the flavour of the crust being a nice contrast to the soft flesh.

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Next was Pork Belly Spicy Miso Caramel. Melt in the mouth pork belly with a delicious sticky sauce – another great choice.

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The last main dish consisted of two maki rolls and some miso soup. If you thought that all miso soups were the same, then I urge you to try Nobu’s miso soup. Such a wonderful umami flavour with beautiful silken tofu and seaweed.

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Maki rolls are fairly standard Japanese fare, and I didn’t really expect them to blow me away, but they really delivered at Nobu. I loved how they were very tightly rolled so that they didn’t fall apart on dipping, and the ingredients were top quality. The salmon skin rolls contained lovely crunchy salmon skin and flesh with some veggies to contrast the seasoning of the salmon. Then the little spicy tuna rolls wrapped in seaweed were explosions of flavour, great quality tuna with a nice chilli hit.

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For dessert we chose Nobu alfajores (South American cornstarch cookies with dulce de leche), and a Nobu cheesecake. The alfajores were a yuzu flavoured shortbread with yuzu curd, chocolate ganache, dulce de leche ice cream and candied puffed buckwheat.
The cheesecake was small but perfectly formed, baked (our preference to whipped) with passionfruit sorbet and raspberry sauce. A really wonderful selection of desserts to complete the meal, with a ‘Happy Anniversary’ thrown in.

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Everything at Nobu is made well with quality ingredients. This comes at a premium price, but it really is the perfect location for a special occasion.

Last Visit Date – November 2018

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