Momiji, 6104

Momiji happens to serve the most spectacular sashimi I've ever eaten. It also happens to be the cheapest, as well as the most ample. Fleshy cuts of raw fish that sparkle with ocean-to-table freshness. More than a dozen pieces of assorted sashimi go for around $13. Other mains range from $6 to $15. Simply amazing quality and portions, at next to nix prices!

Salad, miso, mixed sashimi and rice

Mixed sashimi gleaming with ocean to table freshness

The owner is an interesting sort. Call him the Sushi Nazi. Don't meander over the menu and definitely don't try negotiate any swapsies, add-ons or switches, you will just regret you ever asked. And perhaps don't bring young children because you will be turned away. I joke not. It's his way or the highway!

Dine-in...but really he wants you to take-away

From the street

Part of the Momiji experience is encountering the owners eccentric personality. Those who abide by his rules will have no problem with service. And anyhow, Momiji is a rare gem, a gift. And didn't your mother tell you to never look a gift horse in the mouth?

Food: 4/5 (Made fresh, fleshy chunks of well-sourced sashimi)

Service: 2.5/5 (Don't take it to heart. Amusingly blunt.)

Ambience: 2.5/5 (Clean, spacious, no frills)

Value: 5/5 (At least a dozen pieces of high calibre sashimi for $13 OMG)

PAWS City Cafe, 6000

I had put PAWS on the back burner after being rather put off by the animal smells that permeated the space. I returned more recently to find that PAWS no longer smells like a farm and the food offerings have swelled.

Filling $8 Small plate with beetroot salad, zucchini salad, chickpea curry and stir fried Asian veg

The unclassifiable exterior helps PAWS keep a low profile.  Inside doesn't exactly scream 'cafe' either. PAWS is very basic (yet warm and relaxing), furnished in what feels like donated furniture and 80s carpet. This is completely acceptable however, as the value for money lunching, can't be beat. Just don't bring your hot date here.

For $8- which they're calling 'Small', you can get a heavy serve of mixed salad and hot food. Boost your serving to a 'Large' plate for $12, and you may well be set for lunch today, and perhaps tomorrow.

Small mixed plate, $8

The prices are great, the selection is interesting, service obliging, and it's a non-profit. Cheap eats don't get much better than this.

Tak'E Sushi, 6059

This has got to be the best take-away sushi I know in Perth. Phenomenal freshness and big time deliciousness, at next to nix prices. I go bananas for the classic canned tuna roll. Flavoursome flaked tuna wrapped with just a slither of lettuce, smudgy avocado and crisp cucumber. The rice is the perfect consistency and there is a generous filling to rice ratio. Six pieces of this fantastic tuna sushi is just $5.50. Bargain! Donburi and bento sets go for about $10-$15.

The miso is also high quality. The taste is wholesome and you’ll find shaved leek wading at the bottom of your styrofoam cup, and its always piping hot!

6 pcs tuna $5.50

Miso soup

The family operating Tak'E are so sweet, greeting everyone with a genuine smile and little bow of the head.

Note that Tak’E is strictly take-away. Standing room only. The shop is tiny! Locals love their Tak’E take-away so be prepared for a bit of a wait if you come at peak times.

Food: 5/5 (Fresh, tasty, good portions).
Service: 4/5 (Helpful, fast…may be a 30-minute wait for fresh made sushi after 6:30pm)
Value: 5/5 (For the quality, it’s awesome!)
Ambience: 4/5 (Even though its just an in-and-out set up, the display of sashimi and friendly family make it a bit special).

Cambridge Forum International Food Court, 6014

This Wembley food court is an ol' faithful for food urgencies among locals. There's no food in your house, you don't want too spend much money and you want to eat now. Cambridge Forum food court is cheap, open most nights a week, has choice and is BYO. Most food courts are generally parcel of a larger shopping complex, where business is owed to shoppers in the right place at the right time. Cambridge Forum brings customers without the help of nearby stores. People visit for the food court fair alone.

It’s not all gravy though – the carvery and Japanese aren’t super great. But that’s ok, it wouldn’t be an authentic food court without the bad stalls too. The best is probably the Singaporean – famous for their Char Kuey Teow. Flat rice noodles stir-fried with shrimp, tender strips of chicken, omelette egg, bean sprouts, onion and chives in a mix of soy sauce. I have not eaten a truckload of Char Kuey Teow in my time but a plate of this stuff is too more-ish to savor. Delicate ribbon like noodles tossed with a bundle of chunky fresh prawns, combined with the salty soya sauce and a tinge of aromatic sourness…ideal comfort food.

Stir fried vegies

Char Kuey Teow $10.50

A plate of the Char Kuey Teow will set you back $10.50 here. We also knocked back a bowl of stir fried vegetables which came to under $10. These were tastier than they sound. I could eat a bowl of the veggies and be satisfied. If you don't feel like noodles, the dim sum place is also pretty good.

bzzzzz..

Dim Sum

Food: 4/5 (For the Singaporean Char Kuey Teow! Seriously better than tasty and not too oily, generous on the seafood)

Ambience: 2/5 (Its still a food court)

Service: 4/5 (Super fast, buzzer system)

Value: 5/5 (good size and freshness for what you pay)

Nao Japanese, 6000

So I haven’t tried a tonne of Ramen in my time, but I can still say with confidence that this may well be the best Ramen Perth has to offer. The steady Japanese patronage is one indication and simply devouring (and it will be a 'devouring') a flavoursome bowl of Nao noodle soup is another. It doesn't take a connoisseur to tell that this is DAMN GOOD RAMEN.  Unlike many noodle eateries, Nao make their Ramen noodles every morning inside their little shop. This is the simple secret.

Green noodle in spicy broth with added leek

You will choose from a delightful array of components. The broth - miso, salty, spicy or soy. My favourite is the miso – a must if you have an affinity for miso soup. The spicy is tasty too. Then you choose your noodles – green (laced with spinach), red (peppered with chilli), plain or chunky egg. Then you can add on a selection of different vegetable and meat toppings. It’s like bubble tea noodles! If you don't feel like noodle soup, the sushi is fresh and fast too.

Teryaki chicken susi - so fresh

Green noodle in miso with chicken and added leek

 Once I finished face planting my first bowl of Nao, I took a few beats to look around and take in my surroundings. I really enjoy the fit out- it’s quietly special. Nothing show stopping, but its cosy and cutely Japanese. I'm so happy to have found this place. My life is Nao complete.

Green noodle in spicy broth with chicken

*Note: closed Saturdays, open Sunday

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

Quinlan's on High, 6160

I was actually en route to another lunch cafe on High Street when the words "Vegie delight" and "$6.50" grabbed my attention. One of the young waiters persuaded me inside and set me up with cutlery, napkin and cold water.

Vegie Delight...with chicken $6.50

Quinlan's on High is staffed by hospitality students, so service is diligent and you get all the little details akin to a fine dining experience - pressed napkins, smartly dressed waiters, complimentary bread and side salad and table centre pieces - without the cost. Some of this stuff and the decor is a bit naff and the menu is a little trial and error but these things make Quinlan's lovable. Lovable like a mutty dog. It's also nice to feel properly waited on when your lunch is the cost of a simple sandwhich.

The best part is that just about everything on the menus under $10. You can get easy thing like wraps, soups, nachos and sandwhiches but they also have daily special board with hot cooked meals like my "Veg Delight" which actually had chicken in it (haha). The dish was a bit confused - one part chickpea curry and one part vegetable Ratatouille...with chicken skewer kebabs - but it tasted pretty damn yummy and at $6.50, you really cannot get picky!

I recommend Quinlan's for a quick lunch in Freo when you want a change form your everyday sandwhich. Excellent value, for sure.

Food: 3/5
Ambience: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Value: 5/5

Cafe 55, 6160

A satisfying power lunch for under $12 in Freo? Hello, Cafe 55

The name says; 'predictable coffee shop', but what you'll really find are tasty Asian style lunches for the time deprived. Steaming bowls of Pho, $11 (go so well with Winter) and fresh, tangled 'Buns' (Summer choice). Western transation: rice noodle soups and salads.

 

Also for lunch you can grab a ready-made Asian salad, rice paper rolls ($6.50) and simple, yet sustaining three component Viet meals, like lemongrass chicken or pork cutlets served with a mound of steamed rice and chopped salad.

 

I give the rice paper rolls about a 6/10 but you can't go wrong with a brothy Pho or a creamy Cafe 55 Laksa!

Food: 4/5

Ambience: 2/5

Value: 4.5/5

Service: 4/5

The Juicy Beetroot Cafe, 6160

Tricky to spot, The Juicy Beetroot Cafe is buried down Tum Tum Tree Lane (can you get a more adorable street name?!) that runs off High Street.

It's vegetarian, vegan, healthy and well priced! 

The Juicy Beetroot display a confetti of salads that get snapped up for take-away lunches by nearby workers (myself included). It's $7 for small and Juicy put no limit to how many different kinds you want to stuff into that plastic container.

beetroot, lentils, broccoli, carrot!

If you want something a but more filling and warm  - go for one of the hot dishes that rotate from the bain-marie. Last week I eyed off some Dahl and a Cauliflower curry.

Theres dine in seating provided - set to the backdrop of some cross-cultural decorations.

If you're tempted for something sweet - pick up one of the Chocolate Brazil nut slices. They're crumbly, chocolately and delicious and only $2.50.

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

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