Eden Delicacy

I'm not sure to what extent this applies to people, but for me, hitting the books always means hitting the food even more.
Sure, studying is connotated with stress, but even more sure, stress is connotated with CONSTANT PIGGING OUT!

The worrying, the lack of sleep, the procrastination, the post-procrastination guilt, the consequential cramming because of that guilt, the i'll-study-tomorrow urges, amazingly still means I don't eat any less.
It is a miracle I haven't really gained any extra kilos since high school days.

So what can I say? The journey to study meant a journey to a new restaurant :)
Who knew the pursuit for knowledge meant a new blog post ;)
I think I may have found a new interest!

(Trying out new restaurants, of course) =p

Udon Noodles

Took me a while to decide on breakfast. Not because I was in a carnivore in a vegetarian restaurant and feel so lost (ok, maybe*) but because I needed to make a choice out of the options available, and that's always a difficult task for me. And then, I'd have to sieve through those choices to a relatively healthy, low fat, less oily dish, EVEN IN a vegetarian haven.

I repeat, it seriously sucks. It gives people the wrong impression, perhaps the most WRONGEST, most MISLEADING impression ever, that I'm on a diet. Eww.

Because even with no meat involved, the way stuff is prepared might still screw around with my stomach. I can never risk it. So the owner was kind enough to offer to make something that specifically catered for my needs, like a MYO kind of thing. She asked me, soup or stir fried? What type of noodles?
And in the end, I realised what I'd chosen had come straight off the menu anyway. I am suchhh a bright kid!!!

So this bowl of udon came with capsicum strips, seaweed, "prawns" and "fishballs", both in quotation marks because not including the quotation marks would be a lie, as much as it would be a lie and maybe even a sin to serve in a vegetarian restaurant =p Fake meat always tastes pretty good to me, but it's not so real that you'd mistaken it for the real thing. That being said, real fishballs tastes pretty fake to me anyway.

Decent serving size, perhaps maybe even on the smaller side. My dining friend even said something about being surprised if I were able to finish it all. Baa haa haarrr what a joke, guess just didn't know me well enough! That impression is now long gone *sob*, after witnessing my very timid 5 plates + soup + dessert streak at buffet.
+1 for disbelief but +1 for respect as well. I hell earnt that respect well.

*Nah I'm kidding, I'm not a food snob. I'm happy and grateful with anything as long as I get food and not deprived of it :)

Eden Noodles

Ok, so from the epically VAGUE and pretty fail descriptions I've collected for this dish, this is what I got:

It tasted nice =)

BLOG RUINERRR! Since I didn't taste this myself it's hard to judge. So apparently the highlight of this was "uberrr good soup", enhanced by ... mustard?! Yep, you're probably like me: EW, mustard soup?! Like, mustard-that-goes-on-hot-dogs soup?! Lol, but no, mustard as in pickled mustard, somewhat like the preserved vegetables you can find in packets from Asian supermarkets.

This would probably remind me of my dad's homemade version, a sour-ish based, vinegary tasting soup and ever so addicting. Daw, I miss his cooking =( He's quite the chef in my life =)

Seaweed Omlette

So when a restaurant promotes one of its dishes as its signature specialties, it would be dumb to not order it right? So even though we were on the verge of being very full, what the heck. One more dish wouldn't hurt too much, and the name of this thing sounded all the more intruiging.
What on earth did a seaweed omlette look like? Would it be green? Would it taste like ... the beach? For a while my brain didn't realise that I ate seaweed all the time in Japanese cuisine.

I pretty much imagined collective seaweed bunches washed up on the shore of sandy beaches, gathered together, washed, chopped and slapped into an omlette.
Gosh, these vegetarians eat anything! =p (Initial stupid thought)

Alas, thank God, this was not the case OF COURSE! It came out looking very pretty and attractive, and this was when my brain started functioning again: OHHHHHHH, seaweeeeeed, I see. #8904580954892835479834543562512th dumbest moment ever.

It came served with a bowl of red, slightly thick, slightly spicy, slightly sweet dipping sauce (not pictured), which was meant to enhance the taste of it in an unbelievable way, apparently. I reckon it did fine without. Ingredients were seaweed, mushrooms, bok choy plus some kind of mysterious melon I couldn't recognise (yeah, fail, sorry). All held together with eggy mixture as well as a slightly interesting but even more slightly sickening clear, gluggy, sticky textured ... GOO. It was somewhat offputting but I'm a disgusting person so I ate it anyway =D LOL

Tasted prettayyy good. The omlette. Not the goo.
Well, the goo as well, since it was an inclusion inside the omlette.
Actually now that I think about it, without that liquid adhesive, the dish just wouldn't be as unique.

...Think I'll let you insert your own caption here ;)

This is a picture from a series a friend sent me, which I have enough of to compile a picture book of the food adventures experienced daily of his business trip. I thought I'd include this one here as it's a pretty damn accurate depiction of the GOO that was used inside that omlette. I think this is where creativity comes to play, where looking at this picture may stimulate widelyyy different thoughts inside different people's brains...

I won't hesitate to say, one of the most obvious descriptions that came about was something like,
Man, I just ate a bowl of sperm for lunch today!
But that was a guy talking, so...........yeah.
I'll stop there and leave the rest up to your vivid imaginations ;)

...

I'd never really known of this little simple eats restaurant that caters for those who have a meat aversion or just want to eat healthy for a meal, once in a blue moon =) I mean, you feel good about yourself because not only have you done your health good but you've done the world good, by letting one little animal free. Sort of. Not really.
But you know, eating here meant I'd done my little good deed for the day :D TEE HEE

It's a great concept, a purely vegetarian eatery serving up a variety of meals, snacks and desserts, which shows you still have a large variety to choose from if you love your animals too much to eat them. There's not many of these around Perth, I'm guessing because Perth is a largely animal-consuming nation (with the iconic Aussie BBQ and all) so if you see these pop up, it's worth a try.

There's not much seating available inside, but they've got a constant trickling stream of customers during lunch time, which is good to see. I love seeing family owned and run businesses be successful, because it shows anyone can be, if you put your heart to it :)
It's nice to see others' accomplishments when I don't see myself having too many achievements. Maybe that's because my heart wanders around too much.

Or, MAYBE, because I don't even have a heart. Apparently.

Taka Japanese Cuisine

After a painstaking long 30 minutes worth of catching up lectures, my stomach was just like,

STOP. Why so hardworking for?!

And I agreed. I'm so damn studious.

And so I stopped my ridiculous studious habits and all carpooled out to one of our favourite eating joints in the city, both value and taste-wise. It's no wonder it's always packed inside.
Full of hungry people, good looking food and over excited buzzers everywhere, which then in turn over excites me whenever it buzzes :D

Dinner for 3, happily shared around like a big fat happy family :)

Japanese style Curry - $7.30

Let me start with perhaps the most unappealing plate of food for the night. And every other time cause lets face it, curry is pretty damn ugly right? But always delicious, however :D

This was my friend's dinner from the night before this meal, served up on a plate*. LOLOL =p

Taka's curries are tasty, even though it looks like crap. Literally. This particular choice was chicken katsu curry served over rice with some lettuce pieces. Good, simple, nourishing brain food.

*Apologies for the crude and distasteful humour. 

Fresh Chicken Udon - $7.30

I got the feeling I wanted to be in a soupy kind of place, and plus, switching from rice sounded like a nice change, since I never seem to do it. This sounded *light* and *fresh* and not so heavy that it would make me want to fall asleep after dinner instead of returning back to my studious self of course.

Udon noodle soup with chicken pieces made for a good meal. They use chicken breast. Breast is something I don't usually like cause I'm not perverted like that and generally like the fleshy smooth thighs more ;) But here I'm not too fussed. I like all of Taka's bits =p

Teriyaki Chicken Udon - $7.30

Same choice as mine, substituted meat. Well not really, its still chicken, DAMN we love our chicken...but just a different form of chicken. Teriyaki chicken strips in udon noodle soup with the same garnish.

It's quite cute really.

But they do give you enough chicken to satisfy, it really is HEAPED ON high and stacked up like a neverending supply of chicken.

...

Yeah okay, I cheated, this is two different dinners compiled into one post. Don't be put off or scared by our seemingly gluttinous appetites since I said this was a dinner for 3 and there's 7 meal orders posted up LOL.

That being said, I think many of my friends wouldn't be too surprised if that were the case. I mean I am their rubbish bins most of the time after all :$ GLADLY! =)

Chicken Karaage - $7.30

I gotta admit, one of the things I miss the most is my gall bladder. Not so much the organ itself, but the things I could eat when I still did have the thing inside me. Without it, I am restricted from so many things I love, one of those being this dish at Taka. The bloody awesome Chicken Karaage. Sigh.

I generally called this dish at Taka, 100% of the time (LOL coffee prince :D) Without fail, I could probably eat it everyday for the rest of my life, but then again, that would probably mean I wouldn't live very long anyways so I wouldn't be eating it for too long LOL.

Marinated garlic/ginger chicken pieces, deep fried...yeah okay...served with salad. BOOM healthy meal right there =) You see the picture? Half plate of greasy chicken, half plate of a garden. Balanced meal right there!

It's good stuff. The interior is always popping hot and juicy and the outside is seductively crunchy and delicious. They've got this magical honey mustardy sauce available as well, and its like a match made in heaven, right inside Taka.

Chicken Katsu - $7.30

Deep fried. Panko crumbed. Chicken fillet strips. Combine words together. Imagine inside your mouth. MATEEEEE!

This wasn't my dish but I found my eyes constantly checking it out and eyeing it down. Such a good looking plate of chicken. Panko crumbs from what I know are a special type of Japanese breadcrumbs that have a crispier and airier texture. Greasier too, probably.

You can see the gleam of oil in the picture. It's either that, or just a very dirty iPhone camera lolol.

Teriyaki Don - $7.30

Nowadays it's teriyaki everything at Japanese meals. Personally I'm not so fussed about it. For me it's just a little meh.

This is chicken fillet strips cooked in teriyaki sauce, served over a bed of rice and salad. I think you can begin to sense the pattern in the meals at Taka, with the rice and salad plus meat variation. I should probably mention the free miso soup that comes with large meals also.

Oyako Don - $7.30

And this is my order. I thought I'd go for something a bit different and then realised I'd chosen the plain chicken version, exactly the same as last time but with rice instead of Udon.

Damn I'm dull without even realising it! Guess I enjoy the plain-ness and simplicity :)

This was a bowl of Japanese style egg omlette with plain chicken pieces and onions, garnished with nori seaweed and an overall sweet flavour. It comes in a big bowl that you can happily eat with just a spoon and not having to fuss about other eating utensils and crappy spiky splintered chopsticks. Which means you can probably eat faster than you normally can too.

Friend: "You're really hungry aren't you :)"

Well yeah, either that or it's pretty damn good since I took epic fast to down this whole bowl of food in what seemed like no time at all. Which then resulted in me picking at bits from other's plates of food because I had nothing else to do except wait for everyone else to finish :)

...

If you haven't already realised, this whole post consists of chicken, chicken and more chicken x100. All chicken, all large meals. It makes it seem like Taka is one big Japanese KFC but it is definitely not. Its menu is extensive, offers other meats and is affordable as well as being a good quality feed. I assure many will keep returning.

The place is always really busy with all sorts of customers, but despite the fact that it can be hard to get a table, the turnover is extremely fast. On top of that, the meals are ready in no time at all. It's crazy quick. Order, sit down, get some tea and then your buzzer already goes crazy. It's a very efficient system set up, where it's all a very non fuss eatery - you go in, you eat, you go out.

Free sauces/seasonings, free tea from one of those huge boiler things means you can get a free drink - for free! Lolol. It's all do-it-yourself system with all the cups there, meaning I usually am too lazy to get up from my seat once I sit down with/without food so...I spam on the cup usage and fill up like 3 at once and bring it back to my table. All. For. Me. Mua. Ha. Ha.

Tips: Avoid peak meal times. Don't forget to keep some cash on hand. EFTPOS facilities are non existant once again. It's one of the reasons why the queue keeps shuffling fast even though there's a sea of people floating around crowdedly, cause nobody's allowed to flash their cards and create traffic inside a constantly-moving traffic-less restaurant.