A Moment On The Lips Forever an Heirloom - East Perth

How quickly a year goes when you're having fun! Mr. T and I recently celebrated our first year wedding anniversary. It kind of snuck up on us, so we didn't have anything major planned. But, we did decide to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at Heirloom by Pete Evans.

Pork Belly Pizza ($26)

To start our dinner we ordered the pork belly pizza. This pizza was yummy! The crust was the perfect thickness and nice and crispy on the edges. There was a good amount of pork belly which tasted great. I thought the topping was a tad too oily, but it did taste great.

Roasted Barramundi ($40)

For the mains I chose the roasted barramundi. Before I chose this dish, I was actually tossing up between the duck leg confit and the barramundi, but when I saw the barramundi at the table next to us, I was sold. Fortunately, this dish tasted as good as it looked. The fish was cooked well, and the skin side was crispy. The barramundi was served with sweet potato puree and lemon and lime coconut sauce, the sauce was creamy and tasted great, I just wished there was more of it!

Cape Grim Scotch Fillet ($46)

Mr. T chose the scotch fillet steak for his mains. The meat was cooked perfectly the way Mr. T likes it. The dish also came with salad and bone marrow. The salad was fresh, but I couldn't get past the oily and greasy texture of the bone marrow to appreciate the flavour.

Paleo Rocky Road ($16)

Now it's time for the desserts. As I was in charge of ordering the desserts, for Mr. T I ordered the paleo rocky road. I was expecting just a slab of rocky road, but what came out took me by surprise. It was certainly intriguing and pretty. So the chocolate component was the drizzle of chocolate and the chocolate popsicle. There were also fresh fruits, with jellies and coconut marshmallows. All the components were best eaten together, although it was difficult to stuff our mouths with everything then lick the popsicle, but it was fun nonetheless. I thought the popsicle could've been creamier, but brownie points for creativity!

Lemon Lime "Cheesecake" ($18)

For myself, I ordered the "cheesecake". Only after I ordered it did I find out this dessert was dairy free. That made me realise why it was called "cheesecake". So the faux cheesecake was nice, but for a dairy-loving woman that I am, it was just okay. It had the right look but the texture was nowhere near as creamy as a real cheesecake, so it made this dessert very light. This dish came with black sesame ice cream, also dairy free, so the flavour was right, but the texture was not.

Overall, we loved our dinner at Heirloom, it was a great place for a quiet dinner and to celebrate the year that was. I loved the pizza and our mains, but the desserts left a lot to be desired, especially for someone who has no diet restrictions and eats absolutely everything.

Ratings: /10
Food: 8
Value: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Service: 7
Overall: 7.5/10

Restaurant information

Heirloom by Pete Evans

Fraser Suites

10 Adelaide Terrace

East Perth

Ph: 9261 0035

Let's Roll-o to Tavolo - Cloverdale

What's better than going to the movies? Having dinner before going to the movies! Well Tavolo would be a great place to do that because it's located just in front of Reading Cinemas in Belmont. But, don't get me wrong, this place is not just filled with movie-goers, they're filled with loyal customers too. 

So I had planned to try Tavolo with my friends from Uni, but due to unforeseen circumstances, that did not end up happening. But, because I didn't want to cancel my reservations and I still wanted to try this place, I decided to go with Mr. T instead.

Trio of Bruschetta ($12)

For starters we ordered the trio of bruschetta. Mr. T and I are both not big bruschetta eaters, but we loved this. Each one were so different, so it was like trying three different dishes. One of the bruschetta had tomato, basil and bocconcini on it, this was really light and refreshing. The second one had avocado, mushroom and goat chevre cheese, this was my favourite, the combination really worked well and the avocado was so creamy. The last was Mr. T's favourite, it was topped with porsciutto and parmesan cheese, which were very tasty, but the garlic cream added a really nice aroma.

Gnocchi Three Ways ($24)

For mains I ordered the gnocchi three ways. In this dish there were potato, spinach and pumpkin gnocchi. This dish was very filling. All the gnocchi tasted great, although the flavour difference between each type was very subtle. I loved the crunch from the pine nuts and I loved the little mounds of whipped feta, it went great with the gnocchi.

Suprema ($26)

Mr. T ordered the suprema pizza for himself. We loved the crust on this pizza, still moist and fluffy but with a nice crunch too. There was plenty of toppings on this pizza and it tasted great. 

So, we enjoyed the food at Tavolo, but the service let us down a little. So, initially we were served the wrong pizza, so they took it away and we had to wait for them to make a new one, which was fine. We were promised a free drink as compensation, which we ordered, but, they forgot to bring out that drink. So we were little disappointed, then happy, but then even more disappointed. Also, as it was busy on the night we went, it was difficult to get anyone's attention, so service was a bit slow. Oh well.

Ratings: /10
Food: 8
Value: 7
Atmosphere: 7.5
Service: 6
Overall: 7.2/10

Restaurant information

Tavolo

Shop 5, 237 Knutsford Avenue

Cloverdale

Ph: 9478 4412

Website: tavolo.com.au

Falling into Angel Falls Grill - Perth

When Mrs. M came back to P-town for a few days, she wanted to try something different. Well, Angel Falls Grill came to mind! When you can hardly understand a menu because it's in a foreign language, it's bound to be different right? So, we made reservations for a Friday night and off we went.

When we arrived the place was absolutely buzzing. Every seat was filled and there was even live music. Impressive for a relatively small restaurant.

Empanadas ($14)

For entrees we ordered the empanadas, which were nice. The flavours were nice but I would've liked more of the filling in each one. Also I thought the empanadas were a bit too oily.

Roraima Arepa ($20)

Mrs. M chose the Roraima in the Arepa. This dish was steak strip, chorizo and chicken wrapped in a flat bread. When this dish arrived, it looked small, but as she dug in, there was an endless amount of meat! I tried a little bit of this dish. The green aioli tasted great and added a nice moisture to the dish. The flat bread was nice a fluffy and the meats tasted great too.

Pabellon Cachapa ($16)

I ordered the Pabellon in the Cachapa. This dish was pulled pork with beans and feta wrapped sweet corn pancake. This was an interesting dish. I would've like some kind of sauce in the dish as it was a bit dry. But, the pork was nice a tender and I love beans, so that was great. The pancake was not as fluffy as I would've liked, but it was very interesting texture and flavour.

So, we had fun during our dinner at Angel Falls Grill and it was certainly different.

Ratings: /10
Food: 7
Value: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Service: 7
Overall: 7/10

Restaurant information

Angel Falls Grill

Shop 16, Shafto Lane

Perth

Ph: 9481 6222

Corner of Nasi Lemak and Sedap Place - East Victoria Park

One place that never seems to slow down is Sedap Place. Everytime I've passed this place there seems to be a crowd trying to get in. So, one day Miss A and I planned ahead and made reservations to try this place.

We've heard a lot of feedback about this place, what dishes were popular and what were not so popular. So we chose two of the most talked about dishes. The roti telur bawang and the nasi lemak.

Roti Telur Bawang with Chicken Curry

The roti telur bawang was great. Some parts were perfectly crispy and other parts were perfectly soft and fluffy. We liked the dhal that came with it, but the chicken curry was just okay. The chicken still had bones in them and were cut in funny cuts so we had to be careful eating as to not to hurt our teeth on the bones. Also, the chicken curry was a bit too spicy for me. 

Nasi Lemak with Beef Rendang

The nasi lemak came next. We thought the nasi lemak was okay, not great. The rice was nice a fluffy, but not very fragrant. The best part of the dish was the rendang. The beef was tender and the sauce smelled great and tasted great too.

So, we liked Sedap Place, but we didn't love all the food we had. We have heard that their noodle dishes are great, so will have to try those next time!

Ratings: /10
Food: 6.5
Value: 7
Atmosphere: 6
Service: 7
Overall: 6.6/10

Restaurant information

Sedap Place 

876 Albany Highway

East Victoria Park

Ph: 6161 0741

 

Ramen Said "Eat Me" - Perth

It's raining ramen in Perth right now. It seems like a new ramen bar is opening on every corner of every street. One of the latest is Eat Me Ramen Bar. Yesterday I finally had the chance to try Eat Me and here's what I thought.

Umami Bomb ($15)

From the small list of ramens available, I chose the Midnight Sun. The broth is on the thick side,which I like. The broth does get richer as you get to the bottom of the bowl, so it's best to stir well before eating. Even then, the flavours of this ramen are subtle, the smokiness from the pork belly was one of the strongest flavour. But, I loved all the toppings that came with the ramen. There was corn, butter, egg and the pork belly!

 

Midnight Sun ($15)

Mr. T ordered the Midnight Sun. When his bowl arrived we were a bit disappointed, it looked like plain noodles in broth. But, as he stirred all the toppings underneath the noodles surfaced. The pork belly, boiled egg and mushrooms. I thought the flavour of this ramen was much stronger and better than the umami bomb despite how it looked. 

Overall, we enjoyed our lunch at Eat Me Ramen Bar, would definitely be having the midnight sun when we revisit!

Ratings: /10
Food: 7
Value: 7
Atmosphere: 6
Service: 7
Overall: 6.8/10

Restaurant information

Eat me Ramen bar

110 Barrack Street

Perth

Ph: 0422 810 239

Me and U-Bento - Perth

While we were in Melbourne and enjoying the gyu tan don at Menya Ramen, we heard that Perth has its own delicious gyu tan don in a new-ish restaurant, U-Bento. So, after we arrived back in Perth we tried U-Bento as soon as possible. Here's what we thought.

Gyu tan don ($12.90)

Well, obviously we ordered the gyu tan don. It certainly looked very similar to the one at Menya ramen, but it was considerably smaller. I didn't mind though as it was a few dollars cheaper. So, I thought the tongue was cut a little too thinly, the flavour was very nice, but a little too salty as, so more rice was needed per spoonful to balance it out. I liked how there wasn't too much rice in the bowl, so there was a good balance of quantities of ox tongue and rice.

Unagi don ($12.90)

Another dish we tried was the unagi don. On first glance, it looked very impressive, for the price they were generous with the toppings, especially with the unagi. I loved the flavour of the unagi and the egg individually, but when eaten together the flavours of the egg overpowered the unagi.

Black garlic ramen ($12.90)

We also tried the black garlic ramen. This dish smelled amazing! It looked amazing too! Well, this ramen was certainly garlicky. I thought the garlic was too overpowering at times, but the chashu and the egg tasted great.

Overall, we enjoyed our dinner at U-Bento. The gyu tan don was similar to the one at Menya ramen, but I would have to say Menya is still the clear winner. I thought everything was well priced and the dishes were all tasty.

Ratings: /10
Food: 7
Value: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Service: 7
Overall: 7.3/10

Restaurant information

U-Bento

144 Murray Street

Perth

Ph: 9218 9938

Last Minute Brunch at Hardware Societe - Melbourne

As long time residents of Perth, we were not aware of the impact the ANZAC Day Parade had on the roads and shops in the Melbourne CBD. So, Mr. T and I wandered around the CBD to realise many of the places we wanted to explore were shut. Fortunately for us, Hardware Societe was open and we were able to get seats without queuing! I call that, meant to be. 

I've visited Hardware Societe many years ago, but have forgotten just how adorable this cafe is. Luckily for us, we were seated on the bench in front of the kitchen, so we got to watch how all the dishes were plated. A show and breakfast!

Lobster Eggs Benedict ($26)

So, Mr. T decided to order the lobster eggs benedict following the advice of our waitress. This dish was certainly tasty, the hollandaise sauce was the right amount of tart and perfectly creamy. The lobster tasted light and fresh and went great with everything else. We did think the portion, especially for the price, was small. If you're looking for a hearty breakfast, this one is not for you!

Grebiche Trout ($25)

I ordered the grebiche trout. This dish, unlike the lobster benedict, was quite filling. The trout mixture was dense, creamy and tasty, it went great with the poached egg. The potato salad, on the other hand, was not creamy, which was great as it wasn't too heavy. 

Overall, I enjoyed my breakfast, but Mr. T was left wanting more, so I gave him some of mine! As I said we were able to watch how the dishes were plated from our table, and one dish we saw seemed tempting. It was the pork belly and fried eggs dish. As I can't say we'll be back anytime soon to try it, I highly recommend you guys to try it!

Ratings: /10
Food: 8
Value: 6
Atmosphere: 8
Service: 7.5
Overall: 7.4/10

Restaurant information

Hardware Societe

120 Hardware Street

Melbourne

Victoria

Ph: (03) 9078 5992

Menya Got My Ox Tongue Wagging - Melbourne

In my circle of friends, it is general knowledge that if you go to Melbourne, you have to go to Menya Ramen to try their gyu tan don. As this trip was Mr. T's first time to Melbourne, Menya was high on our to-do list. The day finally came for Mr. T to have his first glorious taste of Menya's gyu tan don. We went on a Sunday morning, straight after Mass at St. Francis' Church, which was very close by. As mass ended a little earlier than expected, we became the very first customers at Menya.

Being the first customer of the day certainly had its perks, we got to sit wherever we want and the food came out quickly. Oh, and as I'm writing this Mr. T is reminding me to tell everyone about the fact that you get free fruit and mint infused water at Menya!

Gyoza ($7.30)

So, as if to draw the suspense of our gyu tan don, the gyoza was served first. The gyoza was great! The skin was nice and soft and the bottom had a nice crunch. The filling was also very tasty. The gyoza was the perfect moist, not too wet and sticky that the skin falls apart and not too dry.

Gyu Tan Don ($17.50)

So, to the reason we visited Menya Ramen, their gyu tan don. Ok, so this dish a little pricey, especially compared to everything else on the menu which was about $12-15. But, they are large portions. I did feel there was too much rice compared to the tongue, but now I'm nitpicking. Overall, the flavour of the tongue was delicious. The tongue is cut thinly so it melts in your mouth and it's not tough like how some barbecued tongue can get. The sauce on the tongue also melts onto the rice, so even the rice itself is tasty.

Overall, we were both satisfied by our meal. The gyu tan don tasted great and the portion was very generous!

Ratings: /10

Food: 8

Value: 7

Atmosphere: 7

Service: 7

Overall: 7.3/10

Restaurant information

Menya Ramen

437 Elizabeth Street

Melbourne

Victoria

Ph: (03) 9328 8928

 

It was No Simple Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

While Mr. T and I were planning our Melbourne trip, I knew that I would love to dine at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal! Lucky for me, Mr. T agreed! So we made a booking and I became even more excited for our Melbourne trip.

The night we were have dinner at Dinner was also the night of the Logies awards, this made finding the restaurant that much more difficult. But, we finally made it through the hubbub, into the calm atmosphere of Dinner. Now, Mr. T and I are not used to fine dining of this caliber, so we felt slightly out of place, but the staff made us feel welcomed and comfortable.

So let's get down to the food!

Meat Fruit ($38)

The entree I ordered was the meat fruit. This was a no brainer, we've seen a lot of photos of this dish and we've heard a lot of hype about it too. Well all the photos and hype was right. This was one delicious dish. The pate was silky smooth and the flavour was intense and delicious. There was definitely not enough bread for the pate, but fortunately they offered us more bread and we enthusiastically accepted. Also, I was amazed that the orange "skin" of the pate just melted in the mouth and it was flavourless, so it didn't disturb the tastiness of the pate.

Salamagundy ($37)

Mr. T ordered the salamagundy. Actually I made him order it. So this dish is made of chicken oysters with radish, horseradish cream, marrowbone and pickled walnuts. Before this night, I didn't know there was a part of the chicken called oysters, so this dinner was educational as it was delicious. Of course the chicken was tender and tasty and the horseradish cream added a nice zing to the dish. The pickled walnut added a nice crunch, so overall this dish was like a tasty and light chicken salad.

Roast Hapuka in Cider ($56)

For mains, I chose the roast hapuka as was recommended by our waitress. Well, I loved it. The fish was moist and so tender, I barely had to touch it and it fell apart. The hapuka itself was very subtly seasoned, but eaten with the cider sauce/soup, it was like an explosion of refined flavours. There were also mussels in this dish that was equally tender that I barely had to chew. I loved every element of this dish, down to the roast onions!

Roast Quail ($56)

Mr. T chose the roast quail (yes, he chose this dish all by himself). I'm not usually a big fan of quail, but this I liked. I only tried a little bit of this dish, but I loved what I tried. The quail was well cooked and the sauce was light and tangy. The pumpkin elements in this dish made it smell, taste and feel so homey and warming.

Tipsy Cake ($32)

Now, on to the desserts! Mr. T ordered the tipsy cake, again recommended by our waitress. The cake was so cute, it looked like a fluffy pillow, but perfectly golden. The brioche cake was like eating one tasty cloud and the pineapple was nicely caramelised. The cake was perfectly sweet and it went great with the sourness of the pineapple.

Eggs in Verjuice ($32)

As for me, I ordered the eggs in verjuice. The egg was like magic on a plate. It was a lot of fun cracking through the chocolate shell and finding what was inside. So inside is coconut pannacotta and coffee parfait as the egg white and verjuice and citrus mixture as the egg yolk. This dish was sweet, sour and bitter all at once, which was great. At times I found the verjuice and citrus mixture and little too sour, but the pannacotta balanced it nicely.

Then to bring our dinner to a close, they also served these tiny chocolate post-dessert desserts. It was made of chocolate ganache with chocolate biscotti. Everything on this dish was rich, and left a sweet after-taste after what was a great dinner.

Our dinner at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal was not just dinner, it was a whole experience and we loved every minute of it!

Ratings: /10
Food: 9.5
Value: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Service: 9
Overall: 8.9/10

Restaurant information

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Crown Towers

8 Whiteman Street

Southbank

Victoria

Ph: (03) 9292 5777

Website: dinnerbyheston.com.au

I Challenge you to Rice Paper Scissors - Melbourne

So after all my hard work of making a feasible schedule for our Melbourne trip, Mr. T decided to throw the schedule out the window. We made a last minute decision to spend our third day in Melbourne checking out Great Ocean Road, to see the 12 Apostles. I had originally planned to lunch at Rice Paper Scissors on our third day, so we flipped our schedule and decided to try it for dinner on our first night in Melbourne instead. 

This probably wasn't the best idea as trying to get a table at Rice Paper Scissors on a Saturday night proved to be a challenge, but this made us want Rice Paper Scissors even more. So we waited for three quarters of an hour for our table. 

When we finally sat down, we were told that we could choose the "banquet" option, where we could choose five main dishes for two people for $65. This was perfect for us as we had chosen five dishes we wanted to try anyway.

Crying Tiger

Crispy Barramundi

The first two dishes to arrive were the Crying Tiger and Crispy Barramundi. The Crying Tiger has a misleading name, it's actually wagyu beef with a dipping sauce. The beef was not too tasty on its own, but after dipping in the sauce and wrapping it in the leaf, the flavour became more complex. The dipping sauce was tangy and tasty. 

The crispy barramundi was certainly crispy. We loved the apple salad on top of the fish which was sweet, sour and slightly spicy. The apple added a nice refreshing crunch to the dish. 

BBQ King Prawns

Then came the BBQ king prawns. The prawns were certainly large! It got a bit messy peeling the prawns, but they did give us a small bowl of water to clean our fingers with. The prawns were juicy and that dipping sauce was great! The sauce was pea-nutty, thick and tasty.

Prawn Dumpling

Duck Salad

The last dishes to be served were the dumplings and the duck salad. The dumplings were so-so. The filling of the dumpling was full of prawns, but I thought it lacked flavour. Most of the flavour came from the black bean and chilli dressing, but the black bean was a bit too salty. The dumplings were nice, but not great. The duck salad had to be our favourite dish of the night. The duck meat was tender and tasty and blended with the salad well. The salad was full of flavour, yet still light and refreshing.

To also satisfy our sweet tooth, we ordered one dessert to share. Not sure what this was called, but it was a mousse topped with chocolate soil and crushed peanuts. We liked the balance of textures, the smoothness of the mousse and the crunch of the toppings. The dessert was light, which was perfect as we were very full from the five main dishes!

Ratings: /10
Food: 7.5
Value: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Service: 7
Overall: 7.1/10

Restaurant information

Rice Paper Scissors

19 Liverpool Street

Melbourne

Victoria

Ph: (03) 9663 9890

Website: ricepaperscissors.com.au