Rasa Nyonya Penang

You know, one of the worst things in the world is rejection.
Rejection is ugly, it's unwanted and you never want it to happen to you. But of course, no doubt you'd face it at some point and it will pounce on you like a bitch.
But you know, if you're going to hit the ground, hit it harder and bounce back even higher.
You need that drive, that persistence, and the passion for whatever you want to keep you trying until you succeed.

Giving up is for the weak, and well...I'm pretty weak. ANTI CLIMAX?!

So yeah, that little dramatic inspirational story up there just sums up my experience with trying to eat at Rasa Nyonya Penang. LOL EVEN BIGGER ANTI CLIMAX?! No dramatic life changing story of my life or how I succumbed gruesomely to rejection or how I got burnt by the love of my life or anything like that. No no no, sorry no juicy gossip to share just yet ;)

So anyway back to my story, I developed a rather thick layer of skin on my face and after about 3 unsuccessful tries to eat here, I was determined to not back down and let them get away with turning me away every time. Gotta show that you're tough stuff, you know?

Though I must admit, it does get frustrating when you want something, go there 3+ times, on separate days, and still get shat on.
Says they close 2.30pm, get there at 2 give or take, and they don't accept anymore customers.
Says they close 9.30pm, get there at 9 ish (no give, just take) and they don't accept anymore customers. Really man, really. Stop playing with me.

So, another try, and we got here at 12.30pm ish, which is something we should have thought of earlier. But you know, its a struggle to get up anytime before noon and being a deep sleeper means I could probably sleep through a nuclear bomb also. Nevertheless, I woke extremely early at 10 that day, pretty grumpy, and would have chucked a hissy fit if this store was closed.

I was pretty excited when it came around to ordering. I can't help it, you know the feeling, when you finally get what you want? That feeling of achievement, cause you kept at it until you win? Yeahhh. I sound like a fool, cause this is nothing at all. But still.

So after some wasted time and a lot of indecisiveness, some eeney-meeney-miney-mo was involved in the following orders:

Malaysian Curry Laksa

I've noticed, laksa is always ordered, if we see it on the menu. I think it's good to try the same thing at different places to suss out the quality at each one, then you know where to get the best one. Plus, apparently laksa is the 7th most delicious food in the world (says a banner stuck to their wall).

And well, I can't complain about Rasa's version of this widely lusted after but also widely screwed up dish. Okay, maybe not to the extent of screwed up, but more like the changes to taste and appearance are so far fetched from each other at each different restaurant.

Yummy schtuff

But seeming like quite an authentic Malaysian restaurant, their laksa here is really scrumptious, creamy and smooth. Coconut milk curry soap laden with noodles, chicken, prawns, fish cakes, tofu skin and bean sprouts. When isn't that scrumptious?! Sometimes, but not often. And yeah, that's right, soap. Heh. Typos in menus always give me the chuckles. Like when you go to a seafood restaurant and order a plate of crap instead of crab.

Penang Char Koay Teow

We also gave their Penang Char Koay Teow a go, this dish being a well known, well loved favourite hawker dish of Malaysia, of the world. This was pretty tasty. Fragrant and aromatic steam going up in the air. I always like to waft all the steam into the direction of my face and take a biggg sniff of the really good smells. Got that strong wok hei flavour lah.
This was described to be the "Penang famous wok fried rice noodles with seafood (prawns, squid, fish cake) and bean sprouts. Lots and lots of bean sprouts. Like nearly on par with noodles level of bean sprouts. Hahaha, not quite yet, but just about. I'm not complaining because I like bean sprouts, but just a warning.

Special Telur Tofu

It's always good to have something that stands out from the crowd, something new, something unusual and something a bit different from the ordinary boring suspects. Because once you order it, you love it or you hate it, but at least you've tried it and it is now no longer a novelty.

I think eating is an adventure on its own and it's great if you find pleasure in making new discoveries and tastes. That being said, I was reluctant to order this at first and really wanted to opt for their style of Malaysian curry chicken dish instead. But when it came down to it, the waitress standing in front of me, waiting for an answer, my curiosity blurted out TELUR TOFUUU. And then I sat around, half regretting my decision, half hoping for the best.

Interesting garnish choice!

And boy, I wasn't let down. Pleasant surprises are so pleasant. The presentation of this was very nice, a cylindrical structure composed of all sorts of deliciousness, surrounded by artwork of a food artist's scribbles. This tower of gold was constructed out of deep fried eggs and bean curd with kerabu sauce, garnished with carrot threads. The garnish was a little unmatched to the dish but who cares, when the rest of the dish is so awesome? But eat fast, before it gets bored and gets all soft and stuff.

Wowwwww

 Everything just looked so gorgeous, its contrasting colours and textures, its glistening, glimmering beauty just had me in awe.

Gahhhhh

I didn't let anyone touch it until I was satisfied. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it! I started feeling like some sick, perverted photographer, and that's when I finally put my camera down and raped it with my spoon.

The insides, after I wrecked it

Everything was stuck together, interweving each other with an intricate lattice of something I'm guessing was the egg, as there were no actual egg pieces to be seen or eaten. Cubes of tofu were also fried til crispy skinned and fragrant. I had no knowledge of what kerabu sauce was whatsoever, but it bore resemblance to the dark, caramelly soy sauce used in Asian dishes. It was, however, salty, sweet and slightly sour at the same time and also spicy from the inclusion of some sweet chilli sauce. Gosh, I think my S key just died on my keyboard :S

...

This was worth me to keep coming back just to try and step foot into this restaurant. I got a bit grr because as Rasa is further along the eating strip of Albany Highway, it is further to drive to. And efforts are wasted cause it's flippin CLOSED all the time. Then when I head back to find another restaurant everything else is closed as a result. Grr.

However, everything tasted fresh and authentic. A steady lunch crowd kept trickling in, lots of Malaysians - a good sign. I guess it's the good food and the reasonable prices charged, this meal came to the $30 mark. Reasonable right?! I would say so.

One thing that did irritate me a little was that everything had seem to run out, even though it was only the beginning-ish of lunch hour. I'd ordered their Roti Canai, to which I was told they had ran out. I thought those were house made anyway. Then I'd ordered their Pisang Goreng with Cheese (deep fried banana with condensed milk and cheese), and those were ALSO out. I gave up trying to ask for anything else. Though I guess with the prices of bananas having been sky high, bananas have sorta disappeared and fell off the face of the earth.

I was looking forward to trying their Dinosaur Milo, with such an enticing name it reminds me of childhood and I've always had a strong affection for Milo. However I was way too full, and I didn't want to risk it. Always a next time to try "Malaysia's favourite choco malt drink"! They offer a wide variety of interesting drinks and judging by orders on others' tables, they are worth a try.

They seemed to be having a fit out of their lights the time that we ate there, so the electrician kept having to flick the lights on and off and on and off. Lololol. On top of that, the waitress was efficient and all, but she gave the vibe that she was really busy, and I felt like I was wasting her time by trying to order. Kept wanting to take the menu away from me! She did, and put it on the next table, so I got up to the next table, and stole it back :)

I wanted to study it closely after my order, cause I think menus are such good reading material and good time passer to wait til your food gets served. Time goes so quick when I'm studying food and drool all over the menu.
Time flies when you're doing something you love, right?

Hawkers Cuisine

I thought I should introduce a little fact about myself.
Hello.
I'm a girl. And no, I don't belong in the kitchen because I don't know what I'd do in there. Seriously.

So one thing you should probably know, is that even though I go nuts at the sight, smell, taste of food and all like, wannabe foodie, is that I wasn't blessed with ANY TALENT WHATSOEVER in the area of cooking. So yeah, I'm good for nothing besides stuffing my face.

That's why I'm not welcome at friends' cooking days, cause I sorta like, don't contribute to the cooking. I sorta lie around the kitchen waiting to eat. Then the end product served is less than intended cause I would have already stolen a lot of food during the cooking process too.
Taste testing along the way, you know?! I think they've unwillingly accepted me doing this.

I've always wanted to be well rounded with food, as in able to recognise it, to cook it, and least importantly to eat it of course.. but sadly, I fail so hard at it that it's not even funny. Or maybe I just don't want to admit to sucking. But hey, I'd be blogging about many, many - too many - restaurants, cause I'd probably starve to death in a house full of uncooked food.

I can cook some things though. Those being 2 minute noodles and eggs. And by cooking I mean making the egg no longer raw. Cause, well, the egg still tastes crap. And having said that, sometimes my instant noodles are wayyy overcooked. I swear 2 minute noodles are meant to be like 30 second noodles. Or maybe...I just don't want to reveal my other identity as a Masterchef. Ho ho ho

It's not like I don't try. The last time I tried to cut a carrot, I ended up staining the carrot blood red.
Blood red, because it was my blood. Oooh it sucked. Knives always end up biting me. And people probably don't fancy trying out stir fried human flesh and skin so I got booted out of the kitchen. Wise idea. I remember reactions to when I put frozen taro, into a plastic bag, into a metal bowl, into the microwave. They nearly killed me. It's great pretending to suck at cooking, cause then you don't need to move a muscle ;)

So in a desperate attempt to get me to start learning, the family has tried to set up a schedule, in which each family member is on a rotational roster to make dinner each night. Theoretically this is genius. However, when it was my turn, I cbf (couldn't be...stuffed). So I schemed. And I came up with the brilliant idea of convincing them to go out for dinner, their shout. Which I think is a muchhh better and thoughtful idea than cracking open some canned soup and spaghetti and treating them to a tinned dinner on my designated cooking night.

And I obviously succeeded - so this is how we ended up at Hawkers Cuisine.
So that is how I escaped my first night of being a masterchef, and how I also saved their ass from a horrible dinner. Voila, now you know the story of my life.

Man, I just got full from talking. Onto the food now, shall we?

Golden Prawns

This...is...like...DROOOOOOOOOOLLL...keep...drool...ing...droo..ooo..oooool...ing.
No words. Just lots of saliva and excitement comes out of nowhere when I think of this dish. Big plump prawns coated with a light crisp magical batter that literally melts in your mouth, along with salted egg yolk crumbs. Oh man. Ohhhh maaan. OHHH MAAANNNNN!!!!!

You definitely cannot stop at one. Or two. Or three or four or five. You'll probably want to order another dish of it in that same sitting. It's savoury, it's rich and buttery and it feels like you're eating a golden waterfall. I don't know what heaven tastes like but it probably tastes like heaven. If they served these in heaven, I'd die right now.

Pssh. Of course I'll be going to heaven! :P

Fuzhou Tofu

Next up, we ordered a brick. A very delicious golden brick smothered in delicious stuff. Deep fried homemade tofu topped with minced pork and preserved radish sauce is what it really was. And it is quite similar to the adored Japanese silky smooth tofu but with thicker skin.

I'm not sure what the "radish sauce" is all about, I couldn't really taste the specialty in it. The sauce includes the mince, dots of chilli everywhere and the little ingredient which makes everything taste better - mini cubes of fried pork fat. So crisp and fragrant and everytime you come across one there's a burst of flavour in your mouth that tastes soo good =p

I deem it as a brick because of its presentation. Its literally just a big slab of tofu on a plate and you sorta just rummage through and destroy its perfectly shaped body with a spoon. Its just like jelly wibble-wobbling on a plate - except its a savoury, slightly spicy jelly.

Bakar Fish

Mmm, this is another Hawkers specialty that we feel compelled to order everytime. Once you're hooked, there's no turning back really. So it's a good thing that we're hooked onto a good thing!
The Bakar Fish is the "fish of the day" served on fresh banana leaf and grilled with sambal sauce. Now it looks like a plop and messy and like someone just spewed their dinner on it, but sometimes the ugliest things are the most delicious. You know, like, don't judge a book by its cover type thing. You can never ever ever judge food before you taste it. NEVARRGHHH.

I forgot what type of fish we got, but it was good. They slice it open and beat the hell out of it to flatten it a bit so it appears really big. The flesh was smooth and flaky and all the different additions made it really flavoursome. Sambal sauce is typically stinky and ugly but its flavour is really strong and turns the dish into a plate of YUM. The meat was a bit annoying in that it didn't come off easily and crumbled from the chopsticks that tried to pry it away from the bones.

A little messy to eat and frustrating to eat (for me anyway), cause you need the patience to refrain from wolfing everything down (which is what I do...). I learnt the hard way when I was little and had a fish bone stuck in my throat for a few hours, and made me avoid fish for a few months. Luckily, I've learnt to pick myself up and now, fish is one of my favourite foods :)
Lesson for the day: Learn from your mistakes!

...

On the other side of the well known Billy Lees in Perth's "China Town", is where Hawkers is situated along with the many other Chinese restaurants. It's more like just a square of restaurants and you can't miss it, cause the entrance is lovingly adorned with rubbish bins and the stench is ridiculous. But a few more steps and you are then greeted with the more inviting and familiar smells of Chinese cuisine. Still intertwined with the bins however, so you get a bit confused to what you're actually smelling.

The restaurant is visibly and noticeably busier than the other eateries that lead up to Hawkers and it does get a bit awkward as you walk past all those other shops with staff eagerly inviting you to become their customer instead of Hawkers. They must be used to getting rejected, sadly.

I must say I do not have much fate with Hawkers as everytime I am craving their cooking, it's closed. It's either closed, cause we're too late, or it doesn't open on Mondays (or something), or they've gone on holidays. Damn! I swear there's been so many times where I've ended up elsewhere because these guys are closed.

That's not to say they close early though, they close pretty damn late, late here in the context of 1am/2am ish, and that's DEFINITELY late. But, compared to the adjacent restaurants who seem to have owners and staff who don't seem to need THE BEST THING EVER called sleep, Hawkers closes early, because the other guys close at 4am.

They offer a really good selection of homestyle dishes and I don't think I've come across a bad dish here. It does get annoyingly busy though (but good on them!) and it takes ages to wait for a table, especially during peak eating hours. Everyone sorta hangs around outside or stands at the doorway or stands next to the fish tank staring at the mundane creatures inside, which stare straight back at ya. Seafood always seem to be full of hate and angry facial features, but you would be too, if you knew you were being bred to be fed to others.

But when you do get a table, the food comes out amazingly quick, despite the hoards of other customers. There's upper level and lower level seating indoors, as well as an outdoor wooden patio area holding a few heaters to heat things up in there =p Service here sure is efficient and quick, but so efficient that you get the impression the staff don't give a shit about you. A...cold, very cold sort of feeling. This very polite gentleman even shoved apart another person and me, to create some distance so he could put down tea and bowls. Excuse me?

Consequently these bowls were hurriedly distributed out to each person, or more accurately, banged and thrashed out to each person.
No wonder why so many Asian restaurants bowls and plates are chipped.

***
Updated: 12th February 2013

The lovely consequence of everybody being too can't-be-assed to cook dinner.

Taro Chicken Claypot

Mum and I love taro, and asked for more taro and less chicken in this pot. They politely obliged, but we will never know if the amount is the same or not haha. The chicken pieces are chunky and still on the bone, and are cooked in a broth with taro, sliced chinese sausages, garlic and ginger.

A very homely dish.

Bakar Fish

Like a broken record, we order this on every visit. Sure it's repetitive, but we never tire of it!

This time round however, was a let down. We chose the stingray to be grilled on this occasion, but the flesh was tough, chewy and was hard to pry off the bone. The piece of fish was also quite blackened in some spots, which gave it an unpleasant bitterness and gritty residue.

Beef Kai Lan

Our philosophy goes that it's always a bit "empty" to order a vegetable dish with JUST vegetables, which is why I don't think I could ever be a vegetarian.

We wandered over to the "Beef" section of the menu after scanning through the "Vegetables" section and settled with this; beef fillets stir fried with coarsely chopped leafy kailan vegetables. The greens are just cooked, and stalks still crunchy, perfect for the rabbits in my family who love to chew.

Rainbow Tofu

Rainbow Tofu is a cute dish name, and seeing those 2 words together actually makes me imagine fluffy unicorns. Hawker Cuisine's homemade tofu dishes are always very tasty so I had no doubts on trying something new and intriguing.

It arrived as a tofu brick in a shallow plate, immersed in a thickened liquid with a scattering of diced carrots, corn, peas and mushrooms with prawns, squid and fish pieces. It was a little bland, so I think I'll stick with the drier versions of their tofu.

Update: 20th December 2012

Sorry for the disgustingly blurry photos, graduating tends to make me shaky all over!

Bakar Fish - Seasonal Price

A choice of fresh daily fish on a banana leaf grilled with sambal sauce.
Can be quite hot, but it is that exact bitey taste that keeps you wanting more.

Superior Seafood Claypot - $26.80

Lightly simmering over a gentle candle is a small but full metal bowl filled with deep fried egg tofu, stewed together with large prawns, scallops, fish fillets, squid and vegetables including mushrooms, broccoli, baby corn and carrots.

Salt & Pepper Pork Rib - $16

With a mild chilli undertone, these deep fried pork ribs tossed in salt and pepper are popcorn chicken-like addictive.

Hawker's Tofu - $12.80

Hawker Cuisine's rendition on the normal tofu is this delicious deep fried homemade tofu, heavenly silky golden strips ladled over with oyster sauce and served with vegetables.

Rendang Beef - $16

Also remaining heated over a flame, these beef cubes cooked in a thick coconut curry sauce are a saucier edition of beef rendang, topped with fried shallots and cut chilli.

Supper at midnight is gorgeous :)
So is graduation, a prized piece of paper I can now frame up and a disgusting HECS debt.

Billy Lee's Chinese Restaurant

So no doubt you'll hear the whole of Perth's population, nag and complain and nag and complain and nag and complain some more about how boring the city is. I quite disagree.

Yeah, it becomes dead and dull and like a graveyard when the sun has gone down for a few hours, and yeah, there seems to be nothing to do here and yeah... it may all seem grim and really bad... but...I guess it really is pretty bad :S

And I just found out the fact that Perth is even the most isolated city in the world.
How's that for excitement! I live in a desert.

Though I do still enjoy the lifestyle here. So no complaints from me. But one thing that does irk me is the lack of food places that are still open late, BESIDES McDonalds. You don't get much choice after around 9pm, so after getting rejected by several closing/closed restaurants, that is how we ended up here.

Billy Lees always welcomes you with open arms, until about 4am anyway.

This was the feed between 4 hungry people. I am quite surprised how small our appetites were. Mine definitely shrunk a s#itload after a very nice, forgiving exam earlier on.

Snow Peas & LaLa in XO Sauce

Yes, that's right, before you think I made a typo, no it is not a typo, yes, this suggestion was plastered on the wall as LaLa. We were so intrigued by this mysterious thing. And what do you do to cure your curiousity? You order it of course! Told you I was adventurous with my food.

We waited in anticipation for this unknown dish that we ordered, expecting something pretty good because its price was relatively higher than the other standard dishes. What can LaLa possibly be?!

But I guess I killed the mystery already as you can already see in the photo above. We nearly spewed on our decision to order this when we saw it. Sucha joke, cause these were merely clam meat, the exact same kind that we have at home for breakfast lunch and dinner. Nearly!

Ah well. The flavour of the dish was intense though, and aromatic with the XO sauce, chilli and garlic. Clams, LaLa, if I may, with sliced champignons, crunchy snow peas, and a few baby corns here and there.

This worked absolute wonders on my sore throat...

Sizzling Japanese Tofu with Chilli Beef Mince

This came out bubbling its life away on its hissing hot plate. The redness of it was vivid and firey, as it name suggests. I didn't really want this but someone else did so we ended up with it. And this is number 24 on the menu, if you ever want to try it. I just need to get it out of my head.

Personally I prefer the sizzling Japanese tofu with chicken mince and salted fish. This was ok I guess, but as you can see, the sauce wasn't distributed properly. Yeah I know, I can smother it myself but the tofu wasn't as hot in the inside or outside as a consequence.

The tofu is always smooth ASS though, like a baby's bottom :) It's got a custard like texture and burns your throat if you get too excited downing it. The tofu, the minced pork and the lava is piled on top of fried eggs on the hot plate, which sits on top of a wooden board.

Smart thing to do, otherwise you'd probably get a hole in the table, but that's still not as bad as someone I know who apparently accidently set a table on fire.

Salted Chicken

This is an Asian style dish. And I know that sounds stupid, because all the other dishes are Asian style, and we are in an Asian restaurant after all. DUH?! But there's a Chinese name for this, and that literally translates to Salt baked Chicken. To my understanding, the chicken is rubbed all over and scrubbed over with salt and various other seasonings. Main ingredient being salt though.

And after being cooked, the tenderness of the meat is retained, as well as the saltiness thanks to the condiment of salt affectionately being massaged thoroughly through its flesh and joints and every other part of its body one can get their fingers into. Every bite and mouthful is nice and salty. On this occasion, it came served with a dish of oil and minced ginger mixture.

I LOATHE ginger with a passion but this was surprisingly edible.
Sometimes I still eat foods that I want to regurgitate back up, simply because they're good for you. Because I'm good like that.
I mean, in life you've gotta give everything a chance, right?

...

I think Billy Lees have established themselves well to become the place to fall back on for late night dining options. Most diners are Asian but it would probably be hard to find someone who hasn't heard of Billy Lees, Asian or not. Sure, the staff aren't exactly friendly and you're probably not going to fancy being treated like dirt, but you're there for food and that's what you get. In fact, that's all you'll get.
Nothing else is present, manners or smiles or whatnot. But you gotta give them a break, cause they'll be working til 4am, and they DO work their ass off. And you won't give a crap either, cause you just want to eat.

This restaurant caters largely for late night punters still out in the wee hours of morning, and offers an extensive menu of choices. You know its got to be good, judging by the volume of customer turnover here. And the best thing is there is no one to impress here, so if you have a liking to get down on your hands and knees to eat, then you get down on your hands and knees to eat. No one really gives a damn.

All my eating utensils were chipped in one way or another; my bowl, my plate, my cup, the teapot. But that's something I've grown soo used to, in fact, its odd if you see brand spanking new unchipped utensils in a hustling bustling Asian eatery. So ahh well. I've probably eaten a whole porcelain bowl in my lifetime so far. Give it a few more decades and I've probably consumed a whole dinnerset.

Most Asian restaurants are typically no-fuss-eateries where you go in, scoff down your meal, and back out in a matter of seconds. Hahaha, ok that's a bit of exaggeration, but that does give you an idea of what you'll see in Asian countries where everybody's way of life is rushed, pressures building constantly and will give you death stares if you waste any precious time.
Time is money, and with restaurants, tables and chairs are also money, meaning it'd probably be best if you don't linger around after a meal.

There's even a saying for it that I love, it goes something like (vague translation): Stop holding back the world from spinning. So if you waste time and cause traffic, you're intruding on the world and where it wants to get to. Asians have a way with words, all so witty, but so harsh, and oh so blunt.
Just a practical and real bunch.
Blunt for sure, but boy can it still sting you.

San Churros: Northbridge

Ahh, chocolate. It's got itself so many followers, all hooked and all in deep addiction.
Who doesn't love this sticky, ooey gooey sweet thing in all its various forms?

I, for one. *GASP*?!
Yeah. I'm not an avid screaming fan of chocolate like the many unanimous maniacs out there who worship chocolate.
I dislike sweet comas and I think I have a sweet tooth that has grown old and frail and is now scared of too much dessert.
I've slowly grown into a more savoury food person but that doesn't mean I'm not a sweet person still ;)

But I mean, I don't hate it, I don't love it, heck I probably don't even like it.
I guess I'm indifferent to it.
Take it or leave it, doesn't really bother me.

WELL, there's my autobiography for today.

...

But that doesn't mean I'll say no to San Churros. Cause yeah, they're a chocolatier, but they predominantly specialise in churros too, which are what I fell deep in love with when I tried them the very first time. Love at first bite, for sureee.

So here we were, at the newest store opened in Perth, right in the heart and soul of Northbridge.
I'm ready! We were all ready!...Then took a heck of a long time to decide what to order between 9 people. Zzzzz.

Then we finally came to a conclusion.
Party Fiesta, anyone?
Gosh that was some painstaking decision making involved.

Various dips

Now THIS was awesome. The Party Fiesta involved some 18 sticks of churros, with 6 tubs of dips. Now I thought this only included the choices of melted milk or dark chocolate, or caramel.

BUT GUESS WHAT?!
You can get ice creams as dips! PHWOARRR :D

So there you see above, from L-R are 6 handsome churro dips, which are basically dessert on their own, without the churro. But I guess for $34.95, one should be entitled to a wider variety of choice anyways. So back to my original point, L-R: dark chocolate, vanilla/white chocolate (LOL I'm terrible), milk chocolate ICE CREAMS then white/dark/milk melted chocolates.

Thought I should point out the obvious.

Churros

How beautiful are these babies! Long, slender and thin and utterly good looking. So attractive to look at, good for the eyes and even better in the mouth ;)

These sticks are affectionately known as THE churros, a kind of Spanish donut (to my vague understanding) and are deep fried dough sticks. Sounds pretty average but I guess these are heaven when they're done hot and when they're done perfectly. And most of the time, they are.
18 of these, separated onto 2 plates, which sorta disillusions how epic it would all look on a single plate.

A mountain of churros. Oohhh man, bring it on.

They're crunchy to the bite with the texture enhanced by all those riggedy raggedy edges protruding from the golden tube. You get the choice of cinnamon or icing sugar being dusted on top, and naturally we chose cinnamon sugar here. It just sounds more exotic don't you think?
Exotic things always taste better in my head.

...

Since the opening of this newish San Churros, business looks as if it's going good. It's in an awesome location, right in the middle of the entertainment precinct of Perth, meaning you'd get the day crowds and drunk/party/normal night crowds also. They've established well, because the few eateries prequeling San Churros kept dying. They'd open for a while, hang around but then ultimately end up saying goodbye. It's like a curse. Unfortunate.

The store is huuuge and you don't have the distinguishable San Churros setup, where typically you get tables aligned so close to each other that it gets awkward trying to squeeze through people and tables. You gotta brush against people and everyone shuffles their chairs and convos get disrupted trying to let you pass. It all makes you feel a bit...large.

But this store has none of that and has heaps of seating, both indoors and a nice outdoor alfresco area out the back. It caters for table service as well, the only store I've seen that being used! Definitely a bonus but I'm still getting accustomed to feeling like a king and being served while not needing to leave my ass from the chair. What a grand oily indulgence.

AND ISN'T IT SO EXCITING TO WALK PAST WHEN FREE SAMPLES ARE GIVEN?! Or maybe that's just me. I've never seen sampling done for Churros, but they did! Just free offers on the street on a quiet Monday night. I sorta did a double take and did a u-turn at the end of the street and happened to walk past again. LOL :P
I think if that was on this Fiesta night, no Fiesta would have been ordered. Each of us probably would have taken the sample, diverge directions, then unsuspiciously came back for seconds. Schemers. No brains involved here, only guts and some thick-skin.

With my first experiences of San Churros, they were very hit and miss. At times they are heaven on a stick, other times they really need to change the oil, and sometimes they just need to change the fryer. As in like, the person doing the frying. (Not that I am a good fryer at all!) so just to be sure, I'm not being all stuck up or assume any (if any) superior cooking skillz.

The first time I experienced Northbridge San Churros wasn't memorable, because I came near closing time and maybe the oil was colder than usual, and the churros weren't cooked thoroughly in the middle.
Puhhhhh. I think my dining companion mixed those bits in with the thick chocolate sludge and made, well, poop. Hard, solid clumps of little droppings. A little pile of them. It was delightful.

But yeah, despite this little act, there are no implications whatsoever :)
San Churros is definitely not shit.

Grill'd: Mount Lawley

M: "Lets go dinner!"
Me: "Yaaayy!!!!!!!"
M: "Grill'd?"
Me: "Yaa - whaaat? Nooooo not again, lets go somewhere else"
M: "Yeah ok. You decide."

So few days later, after some serious pondering and research, here we were.

At Grill'd.

Ahh, I'm just so damn good at decision making. It's great.
At least it's a different location? Which makes it a bit more exciting -.-
Damn indecisiveness - I just can't get rid of that stupid trait, it follows me around everywhere! Like seriously just go away.

I was starvinggg having not eaten for about 7 hours. It kills me inside and it kills me outside as well, cause sometimes I appear physically grumpier without something in my stomach. It's not my fault food makes my world go round.
Food also makes my face go round. Considering the foods you see on here and how frequently and how much I eat.
*Tear*

Moroccan Lamb

Apologies for the quite out of focus picture above. That wasn't the only thing out of focus, the cousin was also out of focus when she made this order.

You'd think someone who had such a strong hate for capsicum wouldn't order a burger containing a grilled lean lamb pattie, ROASTED PEPPERS, tzatziki, salad and relish. I think it just didn't click in her little head that capsicum goes by another name of peppers.

And she didn't know what tzatziki was either. I think she may have very well just took a chance with this burger. I was secretly hoping she'd reject the capsicum and so I could have it instead.
I was crushed to hear that she actually quite liked it.

Garden Goodness

I think I'm scaring myself with the amount I can eat. I reckon subconsciously my brain told me to GO FOR SOMETHING HEALTHIER WILL YOU?! So I did :/ I would have NEVER done this. But SOMEHOW I was out of my mind and I did. And I will never do it again.

Oh for the love of God I don't think I can ever turn vegetarian! Sorry animals, I love you way too much to let any of you go.

I also reckon this looked so much bigger than all the other meat burgers I've had. It's like they make it up for you not picking meat so they give you a bigger garden in return, for not killing any animals.

So I went to the counter and said, "Can I please grab a Garden Goodness?" Oh gawddd that sounds terrible in my head LOL, I just ate tree leaves in my last post and now I'm moving onto eating a whole garden. It really puts a grand image in my head: garden, vegetables, dirt, compost and mulch. The Lot.

But of course, instead of a nutritious manure patty, there sat a thick hefty "premium quality veggie pattie" with beetroot, cheese, avocado, salad, relish and herbed mayo. I forgot to ask for no beetroot and thus my burger was stained disgustingly pink. Beetroot always tastes like the earth and its dirt. Not that I've eaten dirt...maybe.

Vague emoticon patty

HA HA HA! I didn't even notice the smiley face on this until someone pointed it out. Such a sad observation...

But of course, this picture wasn't intended to show you the happy happy pattie, but rather the level of burntness it had suffered through before getting into my burger bun.
Sigh, I ordered a vegie burger to steer away from the blackness this Grill'd store always gets my patties to. I can't escape this curse.

The vegie pattie was made with a mixture of bits of carrot and corn and not much else from my memory, even though I know there had to be a lot more in there. Must take more notice next time. Forgot that I'm never ordering this again. There's nothing wrong with the burger itself, just not to the best of my liking.

I don't think I would have ordered this if avocado wasn't in there. Good old avocado. Always the superhero in my eyes. It made me go vego for dinner :O AND EAT BEETROOT :'( Peh!

Hot chips & Sweet Chilli Mayo

Fat hot chips! More vegetables! I was on a rolllllllll on my healthy streak that night :P
I wouldn't exactly call them crunchy chips, cause they're not crunchy. But that doesn't make them not good.

They're fat and fluffy and sprinkled with a few herbs which I'm guessing are Grill'd specialty. They're soo addictive with that sweet chilli mayo dip. I spread that dip in my burger to become my sauce and then I eat whatever's leftover in the little tub.

Ok, I think my addiction is towards the dip, and not so much the chips as much. Creamy stuff is always addictive... ;)

...

I got a stomach ache after this. Cramps, to be precise. But I must stress it was not at all Grill'd Burgers' fault. I think I was being overambitious and stomach did this to get back at me for aimlessly but mindlessly overfilling it up and completely challenged its digesting ability.
Cause after my own burger and the chips, I went on to demolish the rest of the Back Bar Steak Sandwich that my friend could not finish.

Ahh I'm going to die from over eating one day. No surprises there. But what a pleasant way to die right?

Parking is somewhat a hassle on Beaufort Street when night time comes to play. The lively street is abundant with eateries, bars, cafes, convenience stores and various entertainment precincts, which is GREAT, but as a result, you really gotta fight for your parking.
And when you try to do street parking, you end up feeling self conscious and fat for creating a line of traffic behind you.

As for the quality of food, Grill'd has got to be doing something right, they're giving birth to multiple stores rapidly! Which is a good sign that everything's all good and people are loving the product. If I had to choose, I would stay the Claremont stall reigns superior.
Simply cause my patties don't get burnt as bad :P

It's even more awesome if you have the Entertainment Book voucher with you, with its very enticing Buy One Get One Free deal. It makes the burger that much sweeter :) You pay half the price for your burger, but I'd have to pay full price cause I'd probably claim both the burgers.

Sharing in life is good. You give a little, you take a little, but when it comes to food, then just take the whole lot. It's always best to be selfish there. Tee hee hee :D

Secret Garden Cafe

I woke up past midday on a lazy Sunday afternoon to the most perfect sunshine through my windows.

Nah I lied, it killed my eyes cause it was way too bright. I did NOT wake up pleasantly.
I grunted that the sunlight had woken me up earlier than I wanted to. Urggghh.

But a good eating agenda was planned and it was more than enough to drag me out of bed looking like a dead zombie. But I was hungry and ready to go kill some food!!!

But I had to travel a fair distance to get my feed. I think this was worth waking up "early" for.
Cause yes, in my dictionary, 1pm still falls under early.
So yeah, I'm a glutton AND a sloth, gladly. That's 2 sins only, so I won't end up in hell just yet.

I think that's why my cousin calls me Snorlax. Sleep til I eat, then eat til I sleep again.

Steak of the Day - Scotch Fillet

They call this the steak of the day, but from memory it doesn't change. But that's not a bad thing, cause when you find a good thing, you should stick to it. And Scotch Fillet is always a winner.

The thickness of this is quite thin (ha - what fail description :-|) but it gets cooked to the amount you want it to be and retains all its meaty juices sealed inside. Even though it's thinly cut, it doesn't go all tough and dry and cardboard-tasting like some poorly cooked steaks at some institution which shall not be named.

This was ordered as RARE and it pretty much came out RAW. Right on track. I like my red meats and like them to stay red. Har harr harrr! Came with chef's garnish (the salad on the side), a clump of seasoned spinach and awesome crunchy addictive battered chips.

When aren't chips successful at luring me in! Damn chips. Damn tasty delicious fatty chipsssss!

Caesar Salad

One great thing about being acquaintanced with a restaurant's owners is the benefits you reap off them and the free food you scab. We are not scabs by any means, but this was given to us free of charge out of their pure good heart and generosity.
Friendship is a wonderful thing - It gets you free stuff! ;)

A fresh caesar salad is always welcome. And eating it in a sunny garden setting surrounded by nature, it just might feel like you're eating tree leaves.

Cos lettuce leaves, salty bacon bits, crunchy croutons and boiled eggs mixed into Caesar dressing. Simple but tasty salad.
But lets not kid ourselves, free is always good.

Grilled Whole Flounder

The flounder served was huge - that monster took up half the plate size. There's something stylish and delicious about serving the fish whole, bones and tails and eyes and all. It's reminiscent of a great outdoor Summer barbeque, with the fish straight out of the ocean and straight onto the barbie then straight onto your plate and straight into your stomach.

Ahh, fish live such grim lives.

Grilled to a nice golden brown colour but unfortunately the skin wasn't as crusty or crispy as I hoped it would be. A light finish of herbs sprinkled on top and served with a dish of some sort of creamy tartare sauce, this was very good.

Mixed Seafood Grill for one

This got me exciteddd! You get a bit of everything in here, so it's a bit like eating an aquarium. A tasty aquarium that breeds a few prawns, scallops, squid and fish that all eventually get killed until they taste delicious. But hey, they died for a good reason! You don't get a chance to die for me very often LOL

I couldn't be bothered with those annoying shelled prawns. I love prawns and all but I was lazy. I probably wouldn't work harder for rewards, I know it's terrible. My family says if there was money on the ground I would still probably be too lazy to get down and pick it up.

Squid wasn't rubbery, scallops were sweet and fish was alright, but could have been juicier and moister. (Moister...?)
The golden colour rocking this seafood plate is attractive to the eyes and the tastebuds.

Cascade Premium Beer

And here is some beer to wash it all down. Those chips are now beer battered chips, in my stomach! Ho ho ho
This very masculine beverage was served in dainty un-masculated milkshake cups filled with ice. Something very immasculating about that, and I actually enjoyed it. Beer is usually just meh.

It wasn't too heavy in flavour and was a light brew, so meaning I was still good to drive. I get drowsy and tired with little alcohol intake but beyond that level, is a whole new story hahaha.

Did I mention this was f r e e e e e e as well?
Well. It was.

...

Marketing themselves as being Perth's best kept secret, they really gotta live up to that.
And it does sort of surprise you when you are revealed to a spacious outdoor seating area with a tranquil environment where you eat with the birds and the bees...and the flies and the bugs and the numerous legged unwanted stuff that jump off the trees and feast on your food and YOU instead.

Ok, I realised I just made it sound really negative but that was not my intentions really. It's a change from the usual cafe restaurant style and if weather permits, it creates a perfect backdrop to just take in all the greenery, water fountain features and even a mini wooden bridge in the middle of no where.

Sorta makes you feel like you're transported somewhere else, even if that sounds a little exaggerated, and probably is. But sorta makes you smile about it too.

So anyway, this garden dining area is hidden at the back of the deceptively small looking cafe, which is all the eye can see initially. You really gotta dine in to experience this "secret" and not just be boring and get take out. It's always busy, more so on those days where the sun is bright enough to make you squint, which is always a good sign.

Being a family owned and run business, you can be sure that they are sure to maintain good quality food and service. I hope they continue to do as well as they have been! I'm sure they will satisfy you as well as they satisfied me.
But then again, I'm easy to satisfy. Give me food, give me a bed, and I'll live happily ever after.

Theee end.

Grill'd: Claremont

After a hard day of procrastination, we went to satisfy our hunger pangs. Though for me, I just wanted to get away from the books. Any excuse to get away from the books! Actually I don't even buy the books, so just get away from the study in general.

We decided where to go and what we wanted to eat for dinner before we even had our lunch.
Ahh, such are the topics of conversation between 3 fatties.

Oh, it was nothing special, but here was our shared lunch at a very bogan tavern with terrible singers on the karaoke machine :)

Chicken Nachos, supposedly

These probably look like very normal nachos but the truth is... they were indeed very normal nachos.
I was grumbling throughout the entire eating process about how there was WHY IS THERE NO CHICKEN IN HERE when we specifically asked for CHICKEN NACHOS and PAID A WHOLE EXTRA 50 CENTS FOR CHICKEN NACHOS AND NOT VEGETARIAN NACHOS damnit.
And the excuse that the chicken was ground up into the sauce was just poor.

Soo veryy muchh cheeeeeeese and we admitted defeat and left the nachos unfinished. I did try my best to, long after my companions got bored of eating it.

Hot Chips

Chips with gravy. Not much to say. You don't say much when there's hot freshly deep fried chips in front of you anyway. You just eat as much as you can and cry about it later :(

...

So here we were at Grill'd Burger Bar in fancy pants Claremont Quarters.
This was my first time at this store despite having been numerous times to their other one in Mt Lawley. I had good expectations for this anyway because of my usual affection towards Grill'd burgers. Good food always leaves a good impression.
And good company leaves good memories. Isn't that right Fattyboomba? HA!

We got one burger each, as normal people would. But secretly I wanted to order 2. For myself.
Actually not secretly, I declared I wanted another one after my first one but that's nothing new to my dear friends who put up with my big appetite and stomach.

Baa Baa Burger

This was the Baa Baa Burger. As its name so fondly suggests, it contains a sheep in it.
A grilled lean lamb pattie with avocado (AVOCADO!!!), tasty cheese, salad, relish and herbed mayo in a nicely toasted wholemeal panini bun. What's not to love!

I love my lamb lots and this is my number one burger order most times but truly, I get this cause the word avocado lures me in. Baa baa haaaaa. Too bad it's thinly spread most times and has me lusting after it :(

The burger looks a bit disproportional and that's the way most burgers are at Grill'd - you need to take a few generous bites until you confirm that there is actually meat in your burger.

Grill'd Bird & Brie

The wannabe Coffee Prince (dude you got way too many identities...) was being an indecisive prick and couldn't choose between the Baa Baa Burger and this. I tried selling how good the Baa Baa was but ultimately the look of this burger sold itself to me.

It looked so generously stuffed and bursting with grilled chicken breast, brie cheese, thick cranberry sauce, salad and herbed mayo and looked like a monstrosity.

Most of the times I try their chicken burgers I am disappointed with how burnt they are and how bitter they consequently taste. This Claremont chain looks good though :) And you can sorta taste how creamy the cheese is just by looking at it...3 whole slices is a very generous portion apparently!

Simply Grill'd

For some reason I was being boring and went for the most basic choice, the Simply Grill'd burger. Even I surprised myself when I was ordering it. Sometimes it's good to enjoy the most simple things in life.

As its name suggests, the simplicity of this burger lies in its ingredients, being only a grilled 100% lean beef pattie with salad, relish and herbed mayo. I felt pretty damn healthy eating this, and wasn't exactly full after it, but oh well :)

As you may realise, herbed mayo is the star of most of Grill'd's burgers. It's good though, cause they've mastered the taste and texture of it and it makes eveything taste good but it drips all over the place. So the conclusion is, be really careful or you'll stain yourself! :P

...

Suddenly Perth is experience a wave of gourmet burger bars popping up everywhere all claiming how delicious, healthy and ace their burgers are. Personally I give thumbs up to Grill'd for living up to it thus far.

Its stores are always busy and bustling with a wide variety of different groups of people at all times of the day, and the happy, always-energetic staff seem to handle it all very well. No complaints :)

So many parking bays and it's open til late so convenience is a big factor. And after your burger session you can always extend your date and get your sugar rush and sweet talk next door at Koko Black. And you STILL won't be over your 3 hour free parking limit downstairs.

However the routes through the shopping centre close up and we had to take a big detour walking around the complex to get back to the car. The streets outside are dark and quiet and we got a bit freaked out that we shamefully screamed at an innocent tree. Sigh...