Main Street Ryu for Something New - Perth

To follow from my last blog post about Korean food, I'm now going to write about Japanese food. Yes, I like Asian food. In saying that, I like most cuisines. This time, I'm writing about my experience at the new restaurant Main Street Ryu. They've taken over from the good people of Zensaki and turned it upside down. What used to look like a family-friendly restaurant, has now been transformed into a hip and modern bar/restaurant. Not that I'm saying you can't take your family here, but once you get there you'll understand what I mean!

Did you see how I just tried to subconsciously make you visit this place? Clearly some kind of power has gone to my head.

To begin our meal, we ordered two nori tacos. Oh did I mention this is a Japanese fusion restaurant. It's Japanese fused with whatever the chef wants, which is awesome! Back to the tacos, we ordered the salmon belly tartare taco and red back spider taco. If you Google translate red back spider, it translates to soft shell crab. 

Now, normally I love soft shell crab more than salmon sashimi, so I was sure I would like the red back spider taco more. But, boy was I wrong. The red back spider taco was full of flavour from the crab, the mayo and the tobiko. This taco was crunchy inside and out, so this was a winner at our table. But, the when I bit into the salmon belly taco, it was like a lightbulb switched on in my mouth. Whereas the red back spider taco was full of crunch, the salmon belly taco was the perfect balance of crunch from the nori taco shell, freshness from the salmon belly and flavour from all the yuzu dressing. 

For mains, we decided to share the Volcano ramen. This is the first seafood ramen I've ever tried, so I was very excited to try it. It is definitely in no way traditional, but that's not a bad thing. As the name suggests, the broth is spicy, it was a little too spicy for me, but in small doses I loved the flavours. I did also love the toppings. There was green mussels, prawns, squid, fish and soft shell crab. All the seafood bad absorbed all the flavour from the broth, so even without slurping on the broth everything tasted great. Due to the chilli oil, this dish was a little heavy, but we still cleaned the bowl. Also, I would've loved a boiled egg in there (there I go again with my boiled egg, should start carrying a whole boiled egg with me everywhere I go).

That was our experience at Main Street Ryu. It's certainly a new, original addition to Barrack Street and I hope they do well! So, go check it out! We didn't try many dishes, but we were very satisfied and everything tasted great! 

Ratings: /10
Food: 8
Value: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Service: 8
Overall: 7.8/10

Restaurant information

Main Street Ryu

83 Barrack Street

Perth

Ph: 9221 7577

Mr. Bean meets Phill - Shelley

Hey there faithful readers!!! I assume you're out there and have been waiting on the edge of your seat for my blog post, seeing as the last one was in July last year! Shame on me! I wished I had a great reason for my absence, like travelling around the world or super busy with new ventures, but no, just pure laziness. Well I'm stretching my fingers and slowly getting back to optimal typing speed and prowess.

So where did I go this time, you might ask. Well wait no longer. This time I'm writing about my experience at Phill Bean. We were first introduced to Phill Bean two and a half years ago by Mrs. M. Apparently this is her and her hubby's absolute favourite Korean restaurant. We loved our first visit, but haven't been back until now. We were missing Mrs. M and Mr. A so much, we tried to emulate our last dinner together by visiting their favourite restaurant. Creepy, I know.

First, the entrees, seafood pancake and deep fried pork dumplings. We loved the pancake, it was crispy on the outside and still fluffy on the inside. We also loved the generous amount seafood. One thing I didn't enjoy was the chunky cuts of chilli, but I simply removed them with my impressive chopstick skills. The dumplings were also delicious, although they were a bit oily. But, the flavour of the filling left us wanting more!

For mains, I ordered the bibimbap. It wasn't a great choice in this heat, but it was a great choice in terms of flavour. Once I added the gochujang and mixed everything well, it tasted amazing. There were charred pieces of tasty rice and the egg yolk was the perfect ooziness. I did think there was very little meat, after mixing, it was like the meat disintegrated, but it left a lovely meaty aroma. 

Mr. T ordered the spicy cold noodle. This was under the persistent and slightly pushy recommendation of Mrs. M (she bosses me around all the way from Singapore). Well our obedience paid off! Ok, let's just start by mentioning I was very disappointed by this egg, on the picture and when it was first served, it looked like a whole boiled egg, but when it toppled over, the ugly truth was revealed, it was only half an egg. 

Although the egg disappoints, the rest did not. The soup looked red with chilli, but it wasn't too spicy at all. The beef broth was ice cold, so it was refreshing, and it was packed with flavour. The noodles were the perfect chewiness and they were so long we needed scissors to cut it to size. This dish was tasty and fun to eat!

So, we finally revisited this restaurant after putting it at the back of our minds for a couple of years and we're glad we did. We were so impressed with the food we actually took my brother and sister-in-law here the week after! They too were impressed! It's not the fanciest of restaurants and the always seem understaffed so service might be a bit slow, but, friendly. 

Ratings: /10
Food: 8.5
Value: 9
Atmosphere: 6.5
Service: 7
Overall: 7.8/10

Restaurant information:

Phill Bean

2/17 Tribute Street West

Shelley

Ph: 9354 7272