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Black Kettle, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

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Georgetown has some nice coffee shops, and it would take quite some time to visit them all.
When I researched the best coffee in Georgetown, two cafes came up time and again – China House and Black Kettle. Black Kettle is a bistro, patisserie and cafe, and the array of cakes is pretty impressive. As you walk in, the breads and pastries are on display in glass cabinets, available for takeaway or dine-in and it’s really difficult to choose a favourite. We decided to have brunch first, then walk around Georgetown for a while and come back for coffee and cake
later.
I chose a cherry blossom tea for my beverage. Black Kettle serve teas from Harney and Sons, and cherry blossom is a flavour that I hadn’t tried before. It was beautiful, crisp and clean with a slight floral and fruit flavour, and so nice that since I returned home, I have been looking for a local supplier.

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My partner chose a flat white, and decided that it was a fabulous coffee, well made, fresh beans, perfectly brewed.

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For breakfast he chose an omelette – duo of cheddar and mozzarella, and this was a triumph, delicious from the first mouthful to the last and accompanied by the house made pain de champagne bread.

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I chose scrambled eggs, house made bread, and tomato. This was lovingly made and each ingredient although simple, had a depth of flavour that made it a wonderfully satisfying and memorable meal. Sometimes simple ingredients, prepared well, make the best meals, and this was a fine example.

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When we returned a few hours later, we had the difficult job of choosing a pastry from the vast selection available.

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After much deliberation, I chose a peach danish, with beautiful melt in the mouth flaky pastry and succulent peaches, with a smooth sweet glaze.

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My partner chose the salted chocolate caramel tart. A beautifully made chocolate case with a layer of caramel and chocolate ganache. Very well constructed.

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What a delight Black Kettle is. It’s modern, airy, everything looks delicious, and the quality
shines through. The staff are friendly, and I will definitely return next time I am in Penang.

Visit Date – February 2018

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Fortysevenkirwanstreet, Floreat

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

FortySevenKirwanStreet is unsurprisingly on Kirwan Street in Floreat, a nice leafy location in suburbia. I first came here quite a few years ago and was underwhelmed, but decided to give it another try based on recent really good reviews.

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The coffees were very good, nice, mellow and freshly roasted beans.

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For my brunch I chose the pulled duck benedict on a brioche bun. This was really good. I wasn’t really expecting a charcoal brioche, but it was quite nice, the eggs were cooked really nicely, and the accompanying cherry tomatoes had an amazing depth of flavour.

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My partner chose the beans with chorizo with poached eggs and garlic bread. They had a good depth of smokiness to them, and all of the elements worked well together.

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All in all this was a lovely brunch, and we very much enjoyed our return visit.
Fortysevenkirwanstreet is one of the stars of Floreat.

Last Visit – January 2019

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Bib and Tucker, North Fremantle

Bib & Tucker Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Bib and Tucker is located in North Fremantle, on Leighton Beach. It’s in a relatively secluded area with just a few residential apartments nearby and a surf club. Looking to the left you can see the cranes of Fremantle docks, looking to the right you can see along the coast to Scarborough and beyond, and looking out to the ocean you can see Rottnest Island.
When we arrived for brunch on a Saturday morning it was busy and lively with several patrons seated on the deck outside. As it was a slightly chilly, although sunny, winter morning we were glad to be seated inside with a beautiful view of the ocean by the window.

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We settled in and ordered coffee. This was nice but quite full bodied and slightly bitter, and I enjoyed it – beans from Campo.

The menu is full of yummy options and I had trouble deciding. The buttermilk and banana pancakes with salted caramel and pecan being served on a nearby table looked amazing. I was also very tempted by the green vegetable bowl – roasted vegetables, green hummus, sauerkraut, preserved lemon, quinoa and roasted seeds. In the end I chose the Bibs-burn addict – poached eggs, crispy pork hock, cornbread, smoked chilli hollandaise, crispy leeks and pickled chillies.

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This was beautiful. Lovely flavours, well matched, great cornbread and perfect poached slightly runny eggs. Yum. It was a good amount too – I couldn’t finish all of the bread.
My partner chose the huevos rancheros.

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Coal roasted tortillas, red beans, fried eggs, smoky tomato sauce, fresh corn salsa, feta and sour cream. There was a soft tortilla and a crispy one. The beans were not too spicy, very tasty, and all the flavours went well together. He thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful.

Bib and Tucker is definitely a venue that I will return to, maybe for dinner. Great location, great food and an amazing view.

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Here are some pictures from another visit:

House smoked salmon, potato and leek fritter, creme fraiche tartare, dill verde, poached eggs:

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Bib’s green bowl – broccolini, kale, spring vegetabes, sauerkraut, pomegranate, miso pumpkin, quinoa, seeds, with extra poached egg:

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Last Visit – December 2019

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Bites By D, Mount Hawthorn

Bites By D Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

This is an updated blog post about Bites by D, because I am already a fan, but for the first time I went to this beautiful cake shop for High Tea.
Bites is not a licensed venue, so you can bring your own bubbles, but if you
forget there’s a liquor store nearby that gives discount for Bites by D customers. Everything on the table was set out perfectly, and the fine china looked really great.

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The tea menu contains a good selection of loose leaf teas from T2, and when you order, the pot is quite generous. The High Tea includes unlimited tea and coffee, which you can order at any time.
The savouries platter included a lovely risoni pasta salad in a pot, and exquisite beetroot cream tart with pastry to die for, a beef slider, and a pumpkin scone with cream cheese and chive spread.

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It took quite a while to chomp our way through the savouries, and they were so so nice, the scones perfectly baked, and everything was made with care and finesse. After the savouries, we were presented with a raspberry sorbet, topped with freeze dried raspberries. This was lovely and bursting with raspberry goodness.

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Nothing could prepare us for the beauty of the sweet platter – oh my goodness, every piece looked so appetising.

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The top layer contained a rich buttery friand, topped with strawberry and buttercream, and a profiterole with a crunchy surface known as a choux au craquelin. Both of these were light and delicious.

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The bottom layer contained the signature summer delight which is gluten free, layers of vanilla and lemon Bavarian cream, almond and pistachio biscuit, raspberry and strawberry jelly. The star item for me was the golden chocolate cube with chocolate crumb, chocolate mousse, salted caramel cremeux, all dipped in chocolate and topped with meringue, raspberry and a golden praline.
They also provided a cupcake for my partner who was celebrating a birthday.

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We definitely felt very special having High Tea at Bites By D. This is definitely one of the best venues for afternoon tea in Perth.
This is my first blog post which I posted in 2017:
Ever since leaving Brisbane, I have been looking for a patisserie to match the finesse of Le Bon Choix. There are plenty of cake shops in Perth, but so far nothing has displayed the attention to detail and aesthetic pleasure that LBC did. Then I discovered Bites by D, a shop in Mount Hawthorn on Scarborough Beach Road and oh my goodness this place delivers.

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We selected a toffee crunch eclair and a Ferrero Rocher cupcake. The eclair had a wonderful gooey but not too sweet salted caramel filling, great pastry with a lovely crunchy nut topping.

The cup cake was like a cross between a cup cake and a brownie, wonderfully moist with a quality chocolate cream inside. Very nice.

There is seating in the shop so you can sit and have a drink with your cake, and they also offer high tea, which sounds amazing. I can’t wait to go back for more. Well we did go back for more and I took some better photos. I had coffee which was lovely – Five Senses.

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Tea served in a stylish pot:

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Chocolate Eclair – lush soft chocolate cream, not too sweet, in a delicate choux pastry eclair bun:

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Salted Caramel Cheesecake – luscious salty caramel filling:

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Winter Delight – layers of rhubarb and cream with a chocolate brownie base.

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Plenty more choices on display:

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Last Visit Date – November 2018

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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Amani Bar and Kitchen, Leederville

Amani Bar & Kitchen Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Opposite the Luna Theatre on Oxford Street, sits Amani Bar and Kitchen. We visited after work and it was already filling with Friday night socializers. A combination of high tables, a few lower chairs and tables, and a long bar, there’s a perch to suit everybody, and the music is retro funky, perfect for setting a carefree mood.
We had heard that their vegan/vegetarian selection was good, so we chose a range of tapas style dishes.
Starting off with a superb glass of Castelli Riesling while we perused the array of choices.

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The first dish was most likely the star of the show – a beautifully soft and gooey mushroom parfait with onion jam and generous fingers of toasted focaccia.
Everything melted into a wonderful combination on the tongue, and I would have
been happy of this were my only dish of the evening.

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The next dish was cauliflower and walnut tacos with guacamole and a preserved lemon cabbage slaw. Again, each mouthful – pure joy.

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Next came miso glazed eggplant with hummus and coconut ‘bacon’, perfectly cooked, soft and luscious, and another tick in the excellent column.

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Our last serve was non-veggie – cajun prawns with charred corn salsa, guacamole, and white corn chips. Excellent finger food, plentiful prawns, and every scoop a delight.

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We had a really good time at Amani, there was a great friendly vibe, and the food was outstanding. There’s certainly plenty of dishes to suit most palates and diets, other dishes on the menu include charred pork shoulder, scallops, chicken liver parfait, fried chicken and maple bacon sliders, plus a variety of cheeses and dips. I’ll definitely be back.

Visit Date – March 2020

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Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

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Bistro 38, Joondalup Resort

Bistro 38 Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Bistro 38 is situated in the heart of Joondalup Resort, a classy hotel with an adjoining golf course. I went there recently with three work colleagues for a nice local lunch. There are tables inside and out, and on our visit we were seated at an outside table with an enchanting view of the pool. Some days, when the temperatures is just right, you can see kangaroos on the golf course.

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The waitresses were very helpful and offered us the a la carte menu as well as the drinks and smaller lunch menu. Table water arrived quickly and we were greeted with smiles every time. We all chose to have a main course (or combination of dishes that constituted a main) and a dessert. Some of the group asked for adaptations to the menu, and the staff were happy to oblige.
I chose the grilled prawns from the lunch menu with Asian style salad, caramelised chilli cashews and nam jim dressing. The prawns were plentiful and the dressing was spot on.

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One of my colleagues chose an entree meal and asked for it to be made main course size. She chose pepper caramel pork bits with a charred pineapple salsa. Although delicious, it was essentially a plate of pork and she would have preferred an additional side salad to contrast the protein. Although this was a disadvantage of choosing something ‘off menu’, maybe the chef could have suggested how to make the plate better.

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My other two colleagues chose to share the pan fried pea and potato gnocchi with
mushrooms, asparagus, truffled cream, parmesan and pine nuts. This was tasty, but the pea flavour was masked by the other ingredients. The chef obligingly divided the dish into two plates.

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They also chose to share the curried cauliflower with roasted sweet potato, cashew cheese, beetroot gel and rosemary and sesame crisps, again helpfully divided into two plates. This was a nice dish – very well presented – however the cauliflower had been cooked for a bit too long. Of the two dishes, the gnocchi was the winning choice.

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We all decided to try dessert and I chose a berry bliss sundae. This was a perfect amount with freeze dried strawberries, strawberry and boysenberry ice cream, cream, meringues, and strawberry coulis. The freeze dried strawberries did not look too appealing but tasted divine, and each mouthful was nice, not too sweet and sickly.

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Some of my colleagues chose the vanilla brulee with apple and blackberry compote and cinnamon shortbread. The brulee was nicely finished with a lovely crisp caramelised top and a rich creamy custard. The shortbread had a lovely measure of warm spices.

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On the whole we enjoyed our lunch. It was a nice setting and apart from a few minor issues the food was tasty and well presented. We paid around $45 a head, and left the resort with smiles on our faces.

Visit Date – December 2017

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All Things Delicious, Rochor, Singapore

All Things Delicious Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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We ordered coffees which were very nice, but the main reason that I felt compelled to blog this cafe, was the absolutely perfect raspberry chocolate tart.
The pastry was short and tasty, the chocolate filling dark and luscious, and the raspberries soft and slightly sweet. It was an absolute triumph of a cake, definitely worth a visit just for this.

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Visit Date – April 2019

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review

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F5 Coffee Co, Belmont

F5 Coffee Co Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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F5 Coffee Co is an unassuming cafe in amongst some local shops on Belvidere Street in the airport suburb of Belmont. It’s clean and tidy with an appealing cake and sandwich cabinet and a menu with an Asian twist. They serve 5 Senses coffee which is a bonus, and today’s blend was a special roast (made especially for the cafe) of Ethiopian and Brazilian beans. It was smooth and delicious – no sugar needed to sweeten this coffee – and we loved our soy latte and soy flat white.

It was hard to choose something from the menu because everything sounded great, from toasted bagels and big brekky, to Lamington style French toast , zucchini, corn and sweet potato fritters, tom yum salad, and truffled mushroom ragu.
Eventually I settled for a nasi goreng and oh my goodness it didn’t disappoint. Served with a wedge of lemon and sriracha sauce, it was beautifully spicy, but not overly so, and contained the most delicious selection of capsicum, beans, chilli, chicken and prawns, all topped off with a wonderfully dippy fried egg. I ate the lot and enjoyed every mouthful.

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My partner chose the pulled pork benny, served on sourdough toast with a sriracha hollandaise, bbq sauce, and perfectly cooked poached eggs. The pulled pork was soft and melting, the combination of flavours on each forkful really complimentary, sweet, hot and savoury. Absolutely delicious.

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We really enjoyed our visit to F5 and will definitely return next time we are down in Belmont. The service was friendly and it’s a place where the locals all know each other and get a warm welcome from the staff. Ooh that Lamington French toast – I can’t wait to try it !

Pictures from another visit:

Soy Cappuccino:

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Zucchini, Pea and Broccoli fritters with spinach pesto, avo and feta smash, beetroot hummus and fried egg:

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Vegan black bean, beetroot, and walnut burger with chips, pickles, tomato relish and aioli:

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Last Visit Date – June 2020

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Coffee shop review, Restaurant review, Vegan/Vegetarian

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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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