Ciao Italia

When you see a sea of people crowding around a source of light at the Mill Point Road intersection, you'd think that there was free food or something.

Anything that included the word "free" really. Humans are realistic.

But this wasn't the case. It just doesn't make sense, but as you get closer, you realise the restaurant makes a lot of scents. And you become one of those many peeps swarming around the lights and smells, itching to get a feed.

The source of attraction that is Ciao Italia, its charm luring in hungry moths from all over Perth.

Chilled Berry Fusion drink

After a long wait outside but shortly after being seated squished and packed up compactly onto a table next to the semi-open kitchen, drinks were needed. I thirsted for food more than I did for drinks though, seeing the tables right next to me laden high with big plates of Italy.

It's so close you could taste it - provided you extended your hand over to the next table. And if that wasn't weird, you really could reach it. The tables are that close.

There aren't too many drinks on offer here, most of them being soft drinks and some other bottled beverages, the Berry Fusion being one of them.

Garlic Bread - $5.50

To suppress our stomach grumbles, the infamous garlic bread starter came out super fast. Specks of garlic and a light sprinkling of herbs adorn pieces of toasted bread generously lathered with butter.
It smells gloriously rich and one single bite contains both fluffiness and crispiness. *swoon*

The only way I can eat garlic bread :(

One of the downsides to deliciously fatty food is that I'm very susceptible to it. I can't tolerate them very well. If you are curious about my autobiography Life Without a Gall Bladder, it would feature images like this. It's how my diet has consequently changed for the worse (because I have to eat like a health freak)!


So out of one slice of garlic bread, this is what I DIDN'T eat. Yep, I can't touch the very heart and soul of what garlic bread is all about. This slice of gold is too golden for me and the crust becomes the only edible bit, so thank God it's crunchy and just to my liking. Yes, it IS a better diet I admit.
But it's just so, so, so painful to eat so healthy.

Gnocchi Napoletana - $21.50

Gnocchi is fondly known in Italian cuisine and at Ciao Italia as their very own homemade potato dumplings. I'm so used to dumplings having substantial fillings inside that I don't feel obliged to term these as dumplings. But dumplings schmumplings, they're still little delights to pop.

The small sheer size of these little things are so easy to keep eating, and eating, and eating without realising that you're still...eating. Liberally bathed in a herbed tomato sauce, soft, slightly mushy but still having a slight chewiness, they're actually really filling after a while.

Ciao Italia Fettuccine - $22.50 

The thinnest person on the table ordered the fattest dish on the table (and maybe on the menu as well!) We all know those skinny people who look like they've been deprived of nutrition, who in fact can eat 5 times their own weight. In one sitting.
I may seem like one of them, but so many people beat me hands down. I'm so curious to see what I'd turn into if my metabolism suddenly broke down. God forbid!

This plate features a combination of marinated tender free range chicken strips, sundried tomato and fresh diced tomato in a calorific creamy white sauce. Heart attacks only cost $22.50 nowadays.

Gnocchi Bolognese - $21.50

This is like a replication of the Gnocchi Napoletana, the addition of minced meat producing another texture and visually adding to the presentation of the gnocchi. Delizioso! :)

Spaghetti Bolognese - $17.50

Spaghetti Bolognese was the healthiest option I could spot on the whole menu. Trying to spot a healthy dish on a menu of Italian cuisine is sure challenging, if not impossible. They sure know how to make rich and delicious tasting food but keep looking good.
Where on earth does all that cheese consumption go?!


Spaghetti was cooked just right with whole strands that wrap effortlessly around your fork. So much rich and meaty sauce that flies everywhere and makes a striking appearance on your clothes.

Dessert Cabinet

Can't comment on dessert 'cause what the hell, I didn't have any dessert! But I managed to snap their dessert cabinet which takes up much valuable and needed space. The cabinet doesn't house much variety but it does house "Perth's best tiramisu"! (Or so I've read). BEST!
In capitals so you can tell I'm shouting in your face.


Best is a loud and daring position to claim. Not a big tiramisu fan myself, I'd be an inaccurate judge on this. Unfortunately you're gonna have to go and pig out.

Dessert Cabinet

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Ciao Italia is such a roaring, successful establishment, evident from the lines outside the restaurant despite the slightly annoying No Bookings policy. You sorta have to just get there and hope for the best after you put your name down on the long waiting list. This dinner is gonna be a test of patience.


Sometimes you get the impression they seem to operate on a mass scale, systematic procedure of getting you in and getting you out ASAP to have the highest turnover possible. But it is the most efficient way, and they even have their rule of not seating you until your whole party needs is present outside the restaurant. These guys know how to make optimal use of space, with tables situated right up near the toilets too. So even if you came in, hate it and want to leave, it's still a challenge to get out.


Staff are really good at handling the crowd and are very evidently, are mostly charming and charismatic Italian waiters. We waited an hour, was seated at 8pm and left before 9pm. Barely had time to chew my food but they have a knack for making you not realise just how rushed your whole dinner is. I think you have an intrinsic sense of urgency when you see people standing outside in the cold wishing you'd hurry your ass up.


Dining in seems to be the popular option even though diners are ushered in and compressed into a small, tight-fit brick building with a maze of chairs and tables. This all adds to the ambiance of the bustling, loud, but warm and happy atmosphere where voices, Italian music, sounds and smells are all rebounding off each other. It's unusual to see somewhere so densely populated in Perth. The proximity between tables and people is dangerous, requiring you to take extra care to make sure you don't knock someone out as you struggle past them. As I talk from experience.


Takeaway seems to be a busy area too, and deliveries can be arranged to a limited number of Southern suburbs. Prices are on par with most other Italian restaurants but Ciao Italia produces huge servings and seem to have a love for cinnamon powder as presentation! IT'S EVERYWHERE! The pictures you see are SMALL servings too, which are $5 cheaper and they are quite...not small. They pride themselves on homestyle Italian cuisine and a wood fired gourmet pizzeria producing crazy larger-than-life sized pizzas!


Bring two things: A big appetite and wear your eating pants. Loose fitting ones too, cause you'll be competing with your stomach.

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(08) 9368 5500
Tuesday - Saturday: 5pm to 10pm
Sunday & Monday: Closed


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Edo Japanese BBQ Restaurant

Every single night, I look forward to dinner.

Every single night, I hate deciding where to eat.

Judging by the amount of posts labelled under Japanese I have consumed, you'd think what I ask every night is "What do you feel like tonight? Japanese, Japanese or Japanese?"

I could, should and would. And I probably will.

Sashimi

I don't really know anybody who doesn't like sashimi. Those who don't, are usually misled by their own impressions of it being slimy and having a strong raw, fishy smell. To that, I would say DUH IT'S FISH but actually, quality sashimi has none of that.

Fish that doesn't smell like fish, is good fish.

Edo's sashimi offerings are fresh, thick-cut, lustrous pieces of gold in the form of salmon, tuna and snapper. The brilliance of the colours on the dish are bold, vibrant and is my type of eye candy. I could stare at this all day. IF I resist gobbling it up.

Rice

Calling the donburi version comes with a small heaped bowl of sesame seed studded steamed white rice.
A must.

Sashimi Donburi (Main + Rice)- $8.90

Intense colour adorning the raw fish slices with its white stripey embellishments, its a godsend that fish fat is actually so good for you. Edo lives up to its claims of providing sashimi that is fresh daily, proof when you taste a generous, melty, smooth consistency, buttery slab of these different versions of raw chickens of the sea.

Curry Vegetables Bento Lunch - $9.90

As much as I'll get shunned for this, I think Vegetarians are disadvantaged in the dining world. Because like I've read somewhere, "Becoming vegetarian is a big missed steak" and while anti-meaters will be disgusted with that and the thought of a big slice of delicious juicy steak, I couldn't agree more.

By no means am I anti-vegetarian and I love my meat-free meals and friends alike. I myself, am also pretty meatless and could do with a bit more on my figure. But life is already so full of mistakes that I just simply cannot afford yet another missed steak!

Curry Vegetables

J, as a vegetarian who can only choose Curry Tofu out of a meaty menu, hearing "sorry we've run out of tofu today!" is not a very pleasant experience. Did it mean no vegies no say no lunch today?

Instead of having to watch this carnivore devour her meal, we asked for an on-the-spot creation of a vegetarian dish with whatever meat-free leftovers ingredients they had lying around in their kitchen. Alas Edo whipped up a vegetarian curry compilation of cabbages, carrots, onions, cauliflower and whatever else healthy stuff I don't want to see.

Traditional Japanese curried vegetables among the usual Japanese bento box offerings form a vivid, colourful canvas of colour which sorta makes up for the lack of meat :P

Small Salmon Sashimi - $7.90

The freshness of the sashimi still fresh in my mind, a second time ordering their salmon reinforced this. With a softness that requires minimal chewing, these just about melt in the mouth with a sharp wasabi hit. I tend to deliberately hit myself with a level of spiciness I cannot handle every time I eat the stuff. Wasabi consumption just doesn't feel complete without crying.

Katsu Chicken Bento - $9.90

Considering how much you have to pay these days just to keep your stomach from grumbling, at $9.90 for an entire bento box is pretty damn good value. All their bento boxes come with rice, miso soup, dressed garden salad and assorted sushi (sometimes smoked salmon, other times Californian roll...a lot of the time, chicken).

Katsu Chicken

The Katsu Chicken variety features breadcrumbed and deep fried chicken fillets. Dribbled with that recognisable dark sauce, but even better combining these golden strips with the rich, creamy and absolutely MAGICAL Japanese mayo blob in the middle.

Wasabi Beef Bento - $9.90

Before my crazy food fanatic days, I'd come to Edo and seeing wasabi beef really excited me. The first time, they'd misheard my order and gave me Teriyaki beef instead. Upon sending it back, it seemed that they plopped this splatter of wasabi cream on top and sent it back to me as Wasabi beef. It musn't look like this, I thought.

The second time, it came out looking like the same splat on non-wasabi'ed sauce drenched marinated beef. I was still in doubt.

This third time, I finally accepted that this was indeed Edo's variant of wasabi beef. Usually I don't need very much, if any at all! convincing. Very different to my interpretation of wasabi beef, where the wasabi is stir-fried into the beef. This version is suited better to those who are a bit of a wasabi wuss, as the sauce isn't distributed evenly over everything. To me, this is everything a teriyaki beef with wasabi topping should be.

Salad, Miso Soup & Sushi

ANNNNNNNDDDDDDDD I'M BAAAAAAACKKKKKK! - about a week or so later. When coming for dinner, choosing teppanyaki is a no brainer and comes oh so naturally. It's one of the more affordable Japanese BBQ options I've spotted in Perth, if not the cheapest. This art of dining doesn't take up a lot of stomach space but your wallet ends up with a large dented space :(

Teppanyaki at Edo doesn't come with the personal theatrical cooking show or with talented chefs throwing your dinner at you. $25 can probably get you half a steak or so at fine-dining but here you are loaded with a set menu of salad, soup, steamed rice, teppan vegetables plus different entrees and barbeque mains, depending on your choice.

My choice? The Sakura.

Sushi Entree

The meal starts off with a sushi entree - simple, light, leaves you delirious for more.

Fillings aren't shabby or skimped on either, which is always good to see. On this occasion, prawn and tuna sashimi make extravagant appearances.

Fish Fillet

A small, lightly pan fried fish fillet is presented next, which you should savour really, really, really slowly while waiting for the rest of the dishes to come.

If you position yourself close enough to the cooking hotplate situated at the counter, you could still get your dose of entertainment of watching the chef's cooking that Teppanyaki is famous for. But if that's what you were really after, you could always just watch yourself cook, in your own kitchen.

Just not the same.

Beef Tenderloin

I don't know about you, but somehow beef becomes exquisite when it is done Teppanyaki style. Whether it is pure chef talent, my own bias, the addition of a secret untold ingredient or just a sprinkling of magic, I fall in love with these tender babies over and over and over again.

With this type of unconditional love, I never want to part ways with eating this. Which might mean I double, triple, quadruple, five-ple, laksjdflkwejvodklawejfkjlksdfj-ple my intended red meat intake in the one sitting.

Unbelievably soft and tender bite-sized cubes of grilled beef, full of aroma and flavour. Served with a pool of cloudy beef stocky sauce, the little juicy meaty pops has me love struck.

Teppan Vegetables

And to balance out a very proteiny meal, a side of stir-fried vegetables (read: mostly beansprouts) makes an appearance. Just cooked, crisp and full of simplicity is just what I ordered.

Teriyaki Chicken

The last to come was this alfalfa garnished, teriyaki glazed dish of chicken thigh meat chunks. All in all, a good balance of seafood, red meat and white meat.

The dishes initially come out slow then suddenly, bam bam bam your table is loaded and delightfully cramped with a feast of mini dishes. From afar, you look like a fatty who over ordered and up close, you feel like a fatty who under ordered.

You can never please everybody, so the best you could do is to please yourself :)

Stumbling around Subiaco, it is so difficult finding food options because there's just TOO MANY! Stumbling into Edo is one of my treasured finds that I often come back to. The place is of simple set up with neat and cute furnishings, with red and black as its dominant colours.

Large number of choices available in the menu with slight changes in prices when it comes round to dinner time. Takeaway also seems to be a popular option with a small availability of seating in the restaurant. And loving restaurants who stay open the whole day, readily available at your call. You get your whole range of Japanese fare at very delicious prices and delicious portions.

There is a casual atmosphere circulating the place with free water/tea, order and pay at the counter system and uniform-free waitresses. Staff are there to do what they are supposed to do, sort of like an inherent no-fuss policy in place. Fine by me.

I think me having 3 dates with Edo in a month is the beginning of something very real.

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(08) 9382 1608

Open 7 days: 11am to 9pm

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