Wednesday 28 December 2011

Missy Moos, 6162


Cheery service and décor dotted with childhood nostalgia; Missy Moos is a happy-go-lucky burger bar.  Kids texta drawings, pinned with alphabet magnets decorate the counter. Kitschy plastic watering cans and tomatoes are used for table numbers, colourful oragami dangle from the ceiling, and menu items are named from various children's nursery rhymes.

One missy moo chicken burger plus extras
I first tried the 'missy moo chicken burger'; the chicken tenderloins were cooked perfectly and there was a generous smash of fresh avocado inside. I must say I've had a better chicken burger elsewhere however.  The accompanying onion chutney was overly sweet, even to a sugar fiend like me. I would have liked the option of a brown bun over a white one too.

Chicken burger, dissected

If you like your veggie burgers, Missy Moos does the best version. Order the 'peter, peter pumpkin eater': a pattie of spicy pumpkin, spinach, cous cous and butter bean; its full of flavour!

'Peter Peter, Pumpkin Eater'


If you're more of a sandwich person, they do a whopping club sandwich too but be warned; I’ve seen it leave a grown man defeated.

Burger: 3.5/5
Chips: 2.5/5
Service: 5/5
Ambience: 4/5

Missy Moos Burger Bar on Urbanspoon


Friday 23 December 2011

Halo, 6000

Looking for a quintessential ‘Perth’ dining experience with a view?  Forget C Restaurant and make your way to Barrack Street Jetty. It’s here you’ll find Halo Restaurant, hovering over the ripples of the Swan River.  


It’s a fine dining experience that encapsulates everything there is to celebrate about Perth; fresh seafood, stunning waterfront views and that close to perfect weather.   I recommend Halo for a Friday or Sunday lunch to capitalize on the pristine scenery. 

Amazing French bread
Barramundi, sweet corn risotto, avocado

The restaurant itself is smart and contemporary; with service to match.  Our Irish waiter showed the informed and enthusiastic service that I find to be absent in most Perth eateries.

Green salad side


Fish on cumin carrots, fish samosa and eggplant relish

In matters of food, it’s all made with high quality and (very) locally sourced ingredients. What’s arguably the best part of the eatables at Halo is their magnificent bread. It’s baked by an in-house French Boulanger, who is employed solely to bake beautiful bread for the restaurant. 

Roast pumpkin, beetroot and greens salad


Rolled sponge with lemon creme and pannacotta
The menu is heavily skewed in the direction of all things form the sea and you can taste the freshness in every bite. I ordered a Barramundi dish when I had lunch at Halo a few weeks ago.  Whilst the fish was cooked perfectly, I have to say each individual item on my plate was greater than the it’s whole.  The fish was served on a base of cumin carrots, a fish samosa and a spiced eggplant relish. The chef was obviously going for a bit of a Middle Eastern take, but the flavours didn’t quite connect. 

Chocolate fondant, mocha soil, chocolate truffles and maybe a mocha parfait?


Money shot

Never being someone to shy away from dessert, of course I had to try the Chocolate Fondant cake.  This was even more enjoyable than my main.  It comprised a perfectly gooey fondant cake, chocolate truffle cubes, mocha soil and some sort of mousse/parfait which I forget precisely what it was.  I'd like to bet that the same French Boulanger was responsible for this dessert, because it was superb. I had to fend off foreign forks, picking at the chocolate truffles on my plate!



Rhubarb pannacotta, raspberry sorbet, white chocolate parfait, rhubarb jelly


Food: 4/5
Ambience: 5/5 
Service: 5/5


Halo on Urbanspoon

Thursday 8 December 2011

Saffron Indian Restaurant, 6052

Riding home in a taxi a few weeks ago,  I was knocked out by the strong smell of curry permeating the car.  I asked my friend sitting next to me if she could smell it too. The cab driver overheard and explained it was his dinner sitting in the boot and asked if I wanted to try some of it….as enticing as it smelt, I kindly declined his offer. It would be just a little awkward stopping on the side of the road, at 3am, to eat curry out of the boot of a taxi, no?  Whilst on the topic of curry with the cabby, and feeling fatigued with my current resorts in Indian cuisine, I started quizzing him on the best places to get Indian around Perth. The driver told me without hesitation, "Saffron, Inglewood".  I asked him what he thought of Gogos Madras Curry House, my current trust in Indian. He branded them "average". Intriguing.  What I describe as amazing, this guy considers mediocre, and apparently that plain looking Indian restaurant opposite IGA and Tyre-power, has promise. Naturally, this became my next culinary inquisition.



Fish Goan Curry $23.50
The restaurant itself is a large open space, perfect for groups.  Hanging lights and wooden floor boards. Matching burgundy chairs and table cloths make for an uninspired but homely decor.


We ordered a serve of Vegetarian Samosas ($9.50) the Channa Masala ($15.90) Malai Kofta ($16.90), Fish Goan Curry ($23.50), a Kachumbar Salad ($4.50) and spiced Raita ($4.50) and wholemeal Paratha ($4.50) to mop up the curry sauce.

Channa Masala $19.50

Paratha $4.50

Tummies rumbling, the waitress brought over our entree Samosas.  Everyone at the looked at the epic Samosa with shared surprise -  they were MASSIVE. Three giant triangles of crunchy pastry filled with a mash of peas, carrots, potatoe and fragrant spices. The sauce that came with them was a treat for the taste buds too.

Epic Veg Samosas $9.50

Samosa dissection

Chana Masala was enjoyed by all - a mix of large, pulpy chickpeas and caramelised onions, flavoured with masala, coriander and cream.  My favourite dish was the Malai Kofta.  Soft, fluffy balls made from potato, cheese and chickpea flower, swimming in a creamy cashew nut sauce. Its no wonder that the creamiest, nuttiest curries always taste the best. We levelled out the rich curries with zesty Kachumber salad. Itty-bitty dices of cucumber, tomato and an unexpected carrot, doused in vinegar dressing.  

Malai Kofta $16.90
A word of warning: don't come here for an early dinner, with plans to catch the 7:10 movie, because the service isn't speedy.  It's not sloppily slow, but slow like the cooks are taking careful time with your meals.  To me the wait is a small sacrifice, especially when you get to pass the time with great friends and BYO wine.

Food: 4/5
Ambience: 2.5/5
Service: 2.5/5

Saffron Indian Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Bench Espresso, 6000

Whilst I'm no coffee specialist, I have drank enough Soy Cappuccinos to recognise an excellent coffee when I try one. The tribe of discerning coffee drinkers is becoming a noticeable wedge in Perth's sub-culture, and the availability of a quality brew is vast and growing, particularly in the CBD.

Soy Mocha, Cappuccino

Allow me to illustrate my point with newcomer: Bench Espresso.  At the less happening end of Hay St, the espresso bar has a sleek, modern interior, punctuated with deep purple and lime green. You can pick up slices and bakes, or try one of their really tasty looking toasties.  I don't need to go on about how delicious the coffee is, but I will recommend trying their hot chocolate or a mocha. They use those most exquisite liquid coverture chocolate. If coffee alone isn't enough caffeine to buzz you out of that 3pm slump, doubling it with Belgian chocolate is sure to do the trick.



Coffee: 4.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3.5/5

Bench Espresso on Urbanspoon

Monday 28 November 2011

Fortysevenkirwanstreet, 6014

Existing quietly among the leafy homes of Floreat is Fortysevenkirwanstreet. Here you will find a cafe that treats brunch with far more finesse than poached eggs on toast.  Peaceful ambiance, creamy coffee and a dish for every mood.


My favourite menu item would be the Mushrooms and Asparagus breakfast.  Comprising a small mountain of three of my favourite yummy things, it is a dish of plenty.  Button mushies, perfectly seared asparagus and a generous glob of soft, salty goats cheese.

Mushrooms, asparagus, rocket, spinach, goats cheese on multi-grain toast

On the mornings when you're craving that savoury saltiness, I recommend the Potato and Leek Bake. An oven made hash brown making nice with smoked salmon, runny egg and crowd pleasing Hollandaise.

Potato & Leek bake, smoked salmon, poached egg, rocket, hollandaise

These days every second cafe seems to have a Middle Eastern style egg dish.  Served in some sort of claypot/basket/rammekin, its offered as a alternative breakfast item...now not so alternative. Fortysevenkirwanstreet is no different, creating their own (delicious, still) version of a Shakshuka.  The sauce is thick and rich, teeming with tomatoes, peppers and fetta cheese. Eggs are cooked just right with a lovely inclusion of fresh herbs.                         

Shakshuka

The Bircher muesli is one of the most attractive birchers i've seen.  A mound of shredded apple, sultanas, cherries and toasted macadamias, it is very fruit-rich. This ones a bit light on the oats-factor for my liking and I couldn't taste a hint of cinnamon but its an enjoyable, wholesome breakfast all the same.

Bircher muesli, cinnamon apple

Shakshuka sticks around for lunch and joining it are  dishes involving (from memory) Pork Belly, Slow cooked meat and parpadelle, a salad of smoked trout, egg, potato and my choice that day; salad of beetroot, baby zucchini, green beans, mixed leaf and fetta tzaztiki. Fresh, summery, scrumptious!

Beetroot, herbs, beans, zucchini, roasted onion, tzaztiki

Tempting you at the counter bench are a small selection of ready to enjoy goodies like paninis, mini brioche, custard tarts, chocolate-postachio brownies and sweet and savoury muffins. We couldn't help but grab ourselves a treat for the road.

Blueberry -coconut slice.

Custard tarts

If you like a brunch menu with interest and enjoy being tucked away from hustle and bustle, Fortysevenkirwanstreet is for you.

Food: 4/5
Coffee: 3.5/5
Ambience: 4/5
Space: 3/5

Fortysevenkirwanstreet on Urbanspoon

Sunday 20 November 2011

Collodel Ice Creams & Sorbets, 6076

Don't be fooled by the generic blue and white cups because what's inside is far from ordinary. Collodel is a family-run Ice cream parlor located on Haynes Street in Kalumunda. This place sells the real deal, and often misleads new customers with it's ho-hum exterior, making that first lick of Collodel gelato, even more memorable.


The dreamy gelato is made using traditional techniques that come from the Dolomite region in Northern Italy, and they make it every day, right there on the premises. How it should be.


Soft, rich, voluptuous gelato, the stuff here is on par with that I’ve tried in Italy and Spain. With flavours like Coconut, Crème Caramel, Coffee Cream, Vanilla Bean, Yoghurt & Berries, Cookies & Cream, it’s very hard to settle on a single serve. Faced with this difficulty, I ended up choosing three scoops; Cookies and Cream, Chocolate Rocher and the stand out flavour - Mascapone with Cointreau and Lemon Curd.


My goodness they were delicious! The Chocolate Rocher tasted like Nutella and is honestly the best chocolate/hazelnut version I've ever tasted. Eye-popping good. The Mascapone with Cointreau and lemon curd was exquisite; a perfect balance of tartness, sour and sweet. It tasted like a richly creamy cheesecake, stained with citrus. The Cookies & Cream was a treat too; a real vanilla bean base with crumbled bits of what tasted like half-baked tiny teddies.


At $4.50 for three scoops and $3.50 for two, I think this is pretty decent value. For amazing quality gelato, this is definitely worth the drive (and the calories). I'm calling it. Collodel Ice Cream & Sorbet; best gelato in Perth!

Food: 5/5
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 3/5

Collodel Ice Cream and Sorbet on Urbanspoon

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Spice Shack, 6053

Its slim pickings out in Bayswater and Spice Shack is a welcome relief from the monotony of grotty lunch bars around this industrial area. I discovered this little oasis driving on my way to work one day and have been back a few times since trying their delicious Sri Lankan home cooking.


The curries are SO tasty and not to mention great value. 1 Meat + any mix of vegetable curry is $10.50 and 2 Meat + Veg combo is only $12.50. They also have a "Pick Me Up" pack, which they describe as a "quick, fresh and tightly packed box of takeaway goodies".
Its also nice to try some spicy food that's a little different from the plethora of Indian and Thai curry options around Perth. So today I got the special which was some sort of hot pot of Roast Pepper Chicken along with a Dahl, a Pumpkin curry and rice ($8.50). The rice was fragrant, light and not starchy. The chicken had a tasty smack of pepper and chilli and the pumpkin was mushy and mildly honeyed. I generally find Dahl to be a runny, bland excuse for a vegetarian curry but the Dahl I had today was a lovely lumpy texture and full of flavour.


Great taste and rotating daily specials have made spice Shack a lunch time favorite. They also sell a selection of refrigerated meals and Ceylonese snacks like Roti breads, cutlets ($1.50), fish cakes, curry puffs ($2.50) and a sweet home-recipe iced coffee. An assortment of curry pastes, chutneys and spice mixes are also available, making it possible for customers to make their own spicy creations at home.

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Decor: 2/5
Value!: 5/5

Spice Shack on Urbanspoon

Friday 11 November 2011

P'tite Ardoise Bistro, 6003

I had been eager to try P’tite Ardoise ever since I saw the cute chalkboard sign had been raised outside its doors on Beaufort St in July. The name transaltes to "Little Blackboard” which nakes for a recurring motif around the restaurant. I found myself playing a game of spot the baby blackboards, picking them out on the menu, the napkins, on the waitstaff as well as bearing the tasty bonne bouche!


After being warmly greetd by the staff and seated at our table for 8, we all took a very lengthy look at the menu. It was so hard to choose! After changing my mind about 4 times, I settled on sharing ‘Snails My Way’ for entrée and the casserole of the day, which was seafood, for main.


Orders in, the doting waitstaff moved around our table with baskets of freshly baked assorted breads. I love that we got to choose what bread took our fancy (seeded? Herbed? Baguette?) and whether we even wanted bread to begin with. I usually shun carbs before my meal so I can squeeze in dessert, but the bread (along with trio of butter, e.v.o. and olive tepenade) looked to good to pass up.


The snails arrived; three ramekins lined up on a rectangular slate. I was a snails virgin before this night and I definitely chose the right time and place to try, because these were delicious. Sealed under a toasted circle of buttery bread, in a luscious sauce of cream, herbs and tomato – simply yummy!


The mains were excellent too. Each of the Pork, Beef and Salmon were paired with the sweetnees of apple or pear and sealed with a lusty wine reduction. Each element of my casserole; the catfish, the prawns, the clams, the potato; cooking was timed perfectly. The accomapnying sauce was really delicious too. Despite a reluctance towards parsley, I ended up spooning it up like it was soup.




The vegetarian main was "superbly tasty” according to my company. The French aren’t famous for their ‘tolerance' for vegetarians, so this was another gold star to P’tite Ardoise’ name. The last authentic French meal I had in Perth was at La Caascade and whislt delicious I ended up leaving the restaurant feeling like I’d ingested the furniture too. P’tite Ardoise remains true to its Noman roots in flavour, but not in terms of heaviness.



Extra- mile service is where P’tite Ardoise truly distinguish themselves. I really respect their attention to detail. The owner, who I must mention was humbly dressed it the same uniform of black slacks and yellow waistcoat as her waitstaff, asked me discrettly between courses if were celebrating a Birthday and should she bring a candle with dessert. Well she didn’t just add a candle to birthday boys dessert but presented us with an additional little cake on a plate decorated with ‘HAPPY BRITHDAY’ in chocolate.


Other details I was impressed by were the vegetables that came as a side with every main - they were cooked just right and complemented the dishes perfectly. The sweet-tooth in me also adored the wooden box they brought around at the end of the meal. It was brimming with strawberry clouds and Carambars - a quintessentially French confection, ensuring your night ended on one final (sugar) high.



Whilst the standard of food and service is 5 star, there is no ego at P'tite Ardoise. Seen in the modest surroundings of pale yellow and burgundy (very Old-France), to the friendly service, the demeanour here is warm and unpretentious. From the first encounters when you walk in the bistro's narrow wooden door, to the personal meet and greet from the Head Chef at the end of your meal; its clear this is a restaurant that really understands the concept of dining experience. The owners are clearly very passionate about what they do and want to share what they know about good food with you.



I'm giving P'tite Ardoise Bistro top marks. Me and my fellow diners are already talking about going back. Can't wait.

Food: 4.5/5
Service: 5/5
Mood: 4/5

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