A mixed bag of Persian, Italian and Modern Australian cuisines at Recipe Restaurant, East Perth

Recipe Restaurant

After going through a few difficult months after my grandma's passing, my family has made a more conscious effort to spend more time together. Time is precious, and fortunately for us that means more frequent family dinners, whether that be around the dinner table at home or a restaurant dinner.

After I excitedly declared to my family that I had made a booking at Recipe Restaurant for the week's 'Restaurant Family Dinner', the conversation went a little like this:

Family: What cuisine are we eating?

Me: Persian!

Family: What kind of food is Persian cuisine?

Me (with sudden images of the Prince of Persia computer game popping into my mind): I think it's...bread, and, uh...yeah don't know.

I have never dined at a Persian restaurant before so I was quite ignorant at the type of food involved. I thought I'd educate myself a little by having a look at their menu but was left in a slightly more puzzled state than I was in to begin with. The menu doesn't reflect its claims of authentic Persian cuisine, but is rather a mix of Western and Italian dishes such as pastas, burgers and grilled seafood. It is actually a huge menu and choosing is a bit daunting.

Garlic Bread - $9.90

Our waitress was very friendly and was more than happy to guide us through the maze of choices on the menu. All the mains look very similar to one another as they consist of largely the same ingredients but with different combinations. Will we have the beef and chicken, or beef and lamb, or chicken and lamb, or beef and chicken and lamb together, or just the beef on its own?!
Gosh, it was as hard as choosing my career path!

Looking around us at the restaurant that was filled to capacity, we started lamenting about how long our dinner would take to arrive. Just in those initial moments of sorrow, the basket of garlic bread was plonked onto our table with our other orders following closely behind. The wait time for such a busy restaurant is quite impressive!

The toasted garlic bread did not disappoint - it was fragrant and crispy and perhaps might be a bit too much if you like your garlic bread to be slightly softer and fluffier. The bread is buttery and sprinkled with herbs and 24-month old parmesan cheese, and is extremely moreish and satisfying on a hungry belly.

Caesar Salad with Chicken - $23.90

On the flip side, the caesar salad leaves much to be desired. The serving size is meager, and looked somewhat poorly presented. The taste of the caesar dressing was tasty and strong but there wasn't enough of it to coat the cos lettuce. For its price, I think we could do with more chicken, croutons, bacon and parmesan.

Family Feast - $94.90

The Family Feast was the most anticipated dish of the night and the our first introduction to authentic Persian cuisine after the initial entrees. It is a massive protein feast; a huge plate loaded with skewers of different meats with different tastes. I really enjoyed the variety, which involved two skewers of seasoned hand-ground lamb (koobideh), two skewers of chicken breast and thigh fillets marinated in a mix of saffron, lemon juice and capsicum (jujeh) and one skewer of grilled beef striploin (barg). The description in the menu simply states that the beef has been 'tenderised in the traditional way', and whatever that way might be definitely left the meat deliciously tender.

Fragrant saffron rice (served with the Family Feast)

I underestimated the size of the skewers in the dish, and was pleasantly surprised at how hefty the skewers turned out to be. The chicken and lamb skewers were especially tasty and did not need any more seasoning - they were fragrant, delicious and very easy to finish! The beef striploin was tender but lacked flavour, and caused me to be heavy handed with the salt shaker. The grilled tomatoes, barbequed jalapeno peppers and shirazi salad (tomato, cucumber and onion tossed with mint) sides were not star components by any means, but a welcome addition to a very carnivorous meal.

Chicken Saffron Risotto - $26.90

Again, not an entirely authentic dish is a seemingly authentic restaurant true to Persian cuisine, I wanted a carbohydrate rich dish to fill the carb-hungry void in my stomach (more so my mind hehe!) Unfortunately I can't find any stand-out components of the risotto to speak about highly, as the dish was somewhat mediocre.

The rice is still quite hard and overall the dish is dry. I looked forward to this as I loved each of the individual ingredients - chicken, spicy lamb chorizo, peas, mushroom and asparagus - but compared to other risottos I would probably stick with the dishes that Recipe Restaurant does best by staying grounded to their roots, cooking delicious food that is aromatic from the combinations of herb and spice marinades.

Pay Recipe Restaurant a visit or two if you love your meat and to try the different combinations in their menu. A good idea would be to round up a few carnivores and share the dishes with each other so that a little bit of a lot can be tasted, especially when their dishes are more towards the pricier end. The food is worth the experience if you stick with eating Persian cuisine at a Persian restaurant rather than gravitating towards more contemporary western meals.

The restaurant is very family friendly and when the relatively small restaurant is full (like it was when we visited), the noise bounces and noise levels can become uncomfortably loud. A personal pet hate of mine is needing to compete with other tables just to talk to someone sitting just across the table within arm's reach of you, and this was a constant occurrence on the night.

The service was commendable for such a busy dinner service - our waitress was happy and friendly, and was great enough to share a joke with us that the kitchen did not need to wash our plates as we left them so clean after our meal. The wait time for food was also great for a restaurant that was full house! Positives aside; this is a message for the food photographers among you: You're going to absolutely hate the harsh white lighting inside the restaurant.

Isn't it just the worst when your food just doesn't look as good as it tastes?! Haha!

Recipe Restaurant, East Perth

Restaurant Menu

Recipe Restaurant

Monday: 5:30pm - 9:00pm

Tuesday - Friday: Lunch 11:30am - 2:00pm and Dinner 5:30pm - 9:00pm

Saturday - Sunday: Breakfast 8:30am - 11:00am, Lunch 11:30am - 2:00pm and Dinner 5:30pm - 9:00pm

(08) 9225 5484

1/78 Terrace Road, East Perth WA 6004

Take your furry friend to this pet-friendly cafe at Gustav's, Mosman Park

Gustav's, Mosman Park

I've never had a pet dog or cat in my entire life, so I've never actively sought out a pet-friendly cafe when eating out. So when my good friend's adorable puppy changed her lifestyle (for the better!), I never thought it would end up influencing myself too by dictating where we would be going for brunch.

I ended up conducting some research on Instagram and came across a gorgeous and amusing little cafe called The Leaky Tap, whose page is flooded with pooches drinking out of insanely cute but nevertheless insane toilet bowls.

Please don't freak, they were massive cups shaped exactly like toilets, and the dogs have never looked happier to drink right out of them!

Huey - you may remember him from cooking adventures on afternoon TV

Unlike the tendency to delay the fixing of a leaky tap, I felt the immediate urge to link my friend to The Leaky Tap and we ended up there pretty soon. Before going there just for Huey, my friend came across Gustav's, which was also in the same area. And thanks to the effect of positive comments on Urbanspoon - no matter how real or fake they are - we dropped by, but not before having no idea where the actual place was.

Gustav's is quite literally hidden down a driveway, away from obvious views from the street. An inconspicuous sign next to the road directs you down the driveway, and even when you reach the end it is not clear the actual cafe is there due to the lack of any signage to indicate you are at Gustav's instead of trespassing somebody's front yard.

The entrance is small and unexpecting, and once inside you are actually still...outside. The seating area is under timber roofing, providing shelter from the elements but still very much like an outdoor patio. A fake tree with bare branches stands as a striking centrepiece and whilst the design is so unique, we were thinking how much of a nightmare it must be to clean and maintain!

Sweet Potato Rosti - $16

We have a read of the breakfast and lunch menus, which are both short and sweet. Nothing in particular jumped out and said 'Eat me!', so I had a snoop at their daily specials until something did. And I'm so glad this did :)

My beautiful brunch

The special of the day was a sweet potato rosti dish, with two poached eggs, grilled mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, chilli and dukkah. I was afraid of the potato rosti being too oily for me to eat, but the staff were only too accommodating and made it with less oil for me as possible. The flat cake of grated sweet potatoes was admittedly dry as a result, but this was my fault! (Although a small cup of balsamic vinegar and olive oil is provided, but I sadly left it alone). Whilst the star component of the dish was my least preferred due to its blandness, I did still like the crisp exterior and contrasting soft innards textures.

The feature of this dish that made my heart flutter was definitely the grilled mushrooms. As the silent hero of my dish, they were flavoursome and oh so aromatic! Three just wasn't enough and I would have happily devoured another 10 or so more (not even joking). The eggs were poached perfectly and the golden yolk that gently oozed out provided the moisture needed to enhance the dish, as there isn't any sauce.

Nay for eggs that are well done, but yay for eggs that are done well!

Hello gorgeous!

A sprinkling of their house made dukkah on top especially does wonders for the aesthetics of the plate, and also worked wonders for the taste and texture. The combination of herbs, nuts and spices add a crisp and crunchy texture to each mouthful as they give a savoury kick to the taste.

Increasingly so, I find that you're not only buying a plate of food when you go out for a meal, but you're actually buying a beautiful piece of art put together by a talented artist who also happens to be a chef. When things look too good to eat, you go ahead and DESTROY it haha!

Poached Eggs - $10

Opting for a light breakfast which I really thought would not even satisfy her, my friend was nothing less than impressed. Although this was such a simple dish that had me silently screaming at her when she ordered it, this was simplicity done right and enough to make her really happy about her choice.

I'll have to admit, it's the prettiest eggs on toast I have ever seen. I'm not a big fan of having my food served to me on slates/planks of wood/whatever is trending in hipster cafes that make horrible sounds when my fork hits the bottom, this made it look rustic and just so beautiful.

I grilled her on what made her eggs on toast so worthy of her praise, but she couldn't pinpoint the exact thing that made her so 'wow'. Her two free range eggs were equally as perfect as mine, so perhaps in combination with the lightly grilled, crisp and buttered bread was what made her dish such a game changer.

Even so, I still would still never ever order eggs on toast at a restaurant - because forget YOLO, I have a serious case of FOMO on all the other potentially delicious things I would have sacrificed for eggs on toast!

I spy a pizza menu!

There is limited seating at Gustav's, but this little space is full of character. Everything you see in the area just look like they belong exactly where they are, right from the pots and pans, to colanders, to the lanterns and light fixtures hanging around the ceiling or draped over poles. Together, it is a sight you'd expect to see in someone's old but loved garage space, strewn full of their own belongings.

There's also a fry-pan clock hanging on the inside wall which I would love to make my own!

And naturally, a pizza oven

Gustav's has only been open for under 6 months, but good word are spreading and it doesn't take much (or long) to fill up the tables, especially with the limited seating available. It shares the same premises as a clothing store so there is only the choice of outdoor seating at a handful of tables. Unfortunately the only downside was the wait time it took from ordering to actually eating - a good 40 minutes for both our orders. This is probably longer than acceptable for most people, so it is a good idea to leave yourself plenty of time and prep your stomach with the anticipation of knowing it is worth the wait.

My eyes fixated on that door - the diagonal opening is just so awesome!

There was a dog parked out at the cafe's entrance the entire time, which presumably is one of the staff member's dogs. With Gustav's being pet-friendly, we were able to bring Huey right inside (technically, still outside!) and taking up more of the already cramped space, which the staff were totally cool with.

I also love the staff here, all of whom are down to earth and up for a chat. The service is great but then again, Huey does pull in all the ladies haha! We were looked after well but what mattered to me was that the staff are friendly and their smiles were genuine. And that alone, is something I find to be a very rare, thus very cherished trait.

The entrance at Gustav's, Mosman Park. Don't miss it.

Gustav's

Tuesday - Saturday: 7am-3:30pm

Sunday: 8am-2pm

15 Glyde Street, Mosman Park WA 6012

0449015425

Bookings available