Poppo Korean & Japanese Restaurant

At the end of a long day of uni, I am STARVING.
At the end of a long lecture at uni, I am STARVING.
Uni food sucks, cost of it sucks, and doesn't fill me up either, which, well, SUCKS!

So it is really natural instinct to want to bolt out of there straightaway and head towards the city, where one of my favourite food joints is situated. Ahh, good old Poppos. I frequented twice in a week so I'd call that just a mild case of addiction. But you've definitely got me hooked and wanting more.

Both of us were starving our ass off and I felt as though I could close my eyes and point to anything on their menu and order it immediately so I didn't have to waste time in battling my indecisiveness. Most of their food is trustworthy enough to actually do something like that.

Vegetable Curry - $8.00

So when I can close my eyes and point to anything in the menu, not everybody else can. Because usually there will exist the one boring, standard, predictable vegetarian dish which is usually uncreative, unexciting and just...BLAH! So I was chuffed that Poppo's offered quite a few (i.e. MORE THAN ONE) variety of dishes that are suitable for those with a meat aversion.
Cause those need some love as well =p

At the end of the day however, it was back to the somewhat standard choice of vegetable curry. Their curry IS good, so why not I guess? Seasonal vegetable curry (being potato, carrot and onion chunks) with rice served with miso soup and pickles side dishes. Poppo's pickles consist of pickled carrot, cabbage and lettuce shreds that hold a slightly sour but refreshing flavour.

Sooooo doesn't look like a tummy filler.

Teriyaki Salmon close-up

I have a very affectionate relationship with salmon. If I see it, I want it really bad. Love it in all forms, shape, size, fat, thin, rare, medium, well done, steam, seared, fried, cooked, uncooked, raw, fresh out the ocean, WHATEVER. But the bigger the better. Dump a slab of it in front of me and it's like...giving a bone to a dog. No connotations.

Sorta looks like spam here. Salmon spam. LOVE IT.

Salmon Teriyaki - $11.00

But putting my love for Poppos aside for a moment, and I have to admit that the salmon was not as spectacular as I'd anticipated it to be. It was thick and consequently not as cooked in the middle, but maybe that was intended, which made me even happier. Really moist but a little chewier than I'd expected but ahh, what the heck.

So here is my pan fried salmon with syrupy teriyaki sauce, miso soup, pickled vegetables and that stinking hot thin metal conducts-heat-burns-your-fingers bowl. Damnit I hate that bowl. It ALWAYS burns and makes me want to chuck a sad and throw it across the room or at whoever's eating with me BUT...
it holds rice and I wouldn't want to waste it on unworthy people.

Katsu Chicken Curry close-up

Hahahahahaha.

This looks like a cracked sewage pipe.

Say whattt did I just say that?

Chicken Katsu Curry - $10.00

Vivid imagery aside, this is the Chicken Katsu Curry, being chicken cutlets and seasoned vegetable curry on rice served with miso soup and pickled vegetables.
This was very comforting to eat on a cold and wet day, despite looking all gluggy and unattractive and like a shapeless, formless, useless SPLAT.

Only downside being slightly burnt - no, very overcooked crumbed chicken. Like...black chicken.
Lolol. Whatevs. Everything looks the same when drowned in curry. Curry turns everything it touches into "slightly burnt" and it sorta makes you not care what you're putting in your mouth anymore.

Dragon Roll - $15.00

So like, everything I said before about salmon before, is exactly how I also feel towards eel. I have a strange but deep yet obsessive feelings towards it but I think people would describe this being the relationship between me and in general, anything edible.

This is a bad angle but you know, I was hungry, my dining companions were hungry, and I wasn't going to come in between that. And I finally realised why it's called a Dragon Roll! Well, not really, I don't see it, not even vaguely.

But WHO CARES, when you've got a massive ... thing in front of you, consisting of cucumber, avocado, crabstick, and omelet rolled in rice and topped with gleaming, shiny, drool-enticing eel. Too little eel. Too little, too gone, too soon.

Dynamite Roll close-up

I gotta admit, with zero boastful implications whatsoever, I am so in lurrrve with this shot. It's not often that I am happy with the mash of colours and textures and intricate details that make up a photograph I take, or the style the food poses with at my eagerly perving camera lens. Sexy and I know it doo doo doo :)

The forever lustful Dynamite Roll is hot stuff. Lightly battered prawn, avocado, cucumber, omelet and crabstick rolled in rice topped with Tobiko (caviar) and special sauce served with miso soup. It has sported a rather fitting name, I mean, look at it. The prawn tails are like fuses and the bright colours are hell BOOM - explosion on the plate and explosion in the mouth. More so in the mouth, actually. The crazy wild artistic swirls on the plate are sweet chilli and a sort of mustard apple-y paint job that tastes of brilliance.

It's like I've died on gone to heaven. I've died quite a lot of times now, having ordered this so many times. It's a masterpiece almost too beautiful to be ruined but I guess for me, death by food is sooooo worth it.

Dynamite Roll - $16.00

Here is a better depiction of what hot stuff actually looks like. And I meant it when I said explosion in the mouth, with those many little balls of caviar along with crispy scattered specks of tempura batter going pop, crunch, pop, crunch, pop, pop, crunch pop pop poppety as you savour every bite. It ignites such a sensory delight as you eat it.
Or, maybe...that's just me going overboard with the description and you might be let down. But THIS, is definitely my type of porn ;) Food porn =p

Oh, hellooooooo sexy.

Tofu Bibimbap - $11

This came out looking all pretty and better than I had expected. I should have learnt by now that my impression of vegetarian dishes looking like crap is wrong wrong wrong. I think this has captured my attention enough - more than enough! - to entice me to give it a try next time. I judge based on looks.
Ooooooooh damn I'm shallow :)

Seasoned vegetables, a fried egg and battered tofu served over rice is what makes up the Tofu Bibimbap. This bowl is served with a deep crimson spicy sauce and a bowl of miso soup, from the Korean section of Poppo's menu. Picture came out just a bit fuzzy and was more-than-just-a-bit crap looking, but I've learnt to be considerate and not take my sweet ass time and keep people waiting, just in case they kill me.

Chicken Teriyaki - $8

I'm usually indifferent to teriyaki sauce, I mean, give it to me - give anything to me - I'll put it in my mouth but I wouldn't choose to order it over the countless other Japanese dishes. Soo like, wth I ordered 2 teriyaki dishes on 2 visits here? Whhhaaart? I guess its the pan-fried chicken thigh that lured me in. More of a legs and thigh person. Ho ho ho

It looks like a pretty small portion, cause it was a pretty small portion. (For me anyway) If a restaurant dish can fill me up, it's pretty generous. But very very decent serving for its price, especially compared to other places, and Poppos is always so win. Personally I reckon it would have tasted better minus the sauce, but that just defeats the whole purpose of teriyaki chicken.

Oh and, I don't want to mention this, but I am compelled to mention, there was sorta a caterpilla lodged in between the broccoli stalk. Lol. It was definitely UGH! but you know, shit happens. Bugs are a part of life. Can't escape them.

I'm pretty lucky when it comes to eating insects. Like...avoiding them LOL. Like the time I bit into an apple to meet a worm snuggling inside. Like the time I happened to drop the peanut on the floor that was housing a worm between its two halves. Man...............put me off nuts for a while.......
bahaha.

...

I cannot recommend this place enough, seriously. I don't know anyone who doesn't take a liking to it so if you don't like it, you're probably one picky little princess =p Merging the two cuisines together allows them to provide an comprehensive menu with so much choice that'll probably make you want to go back to try more dishes. And so you should!

It's a pretty humble little restaurant, pretty dark and dimly lit. Many people notice Taka and go there as a no brainer but not many people notice Poppos, probably. Staff are really friendly and considerate - one even stopped me in my tracks to warn me about the slippery floor on the way to the bathroom :) - and speak with accents, which gives the better impression of the food being real, authentic and honest.

Really casual and simple dining vibe makes it all the more better, along with the complementary barley tea, water and sauces you can spam your meal with. I am somewhat a sauce freak and get really excited over sauces so you know, I go a bit gaga whenever its like, Whaaaat free Japanese mayo?! and tend to just eat sauce on its own for dessert after a meal.
Sorry for grossing you out.

Good location but the downside of being situation in such a central location is the epic traffic, zero parking bays and distance from carpark (which is actually just across the road, but still...). Coming here on a rainy day in peak hour sucked. It was something like,
J: "Omg, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we're there"
M: "Yeah okay go sleep for 30 minutes"
And we were only about 3 traffic lights away.
Zzzzzz indeed.

But whatever. Nothing is perfect and minor problems shouldn't step in the way of true love.
From your forever loyal fan,
S.
:)

***
Update on the 20th of December, 2012

Dynamite Roll

The thing we can't resist - The Dynamite Roll, with a lot less...dynamite.
There just isn't the same explosion of caviar there once used to be.

Salmon Sushi Roll

The inside out sushi roll, with the perfect light mouthful of fresh raw salmon, cucumber and avocado.

Still your forever loyal fan,
S.

Dome: Mandurah

So for some stupid and unknown reason, we chugged all the way to Mandurah on a Saturday with crap weather. Not the best timing but what the heck, what's the chances of going to Mandurah purely based on impulse?

Though I have been down (up? Not sure =p) to Mindarie Keys a few times on impulse and GOD DAMNIT, it's beautiful there. I remember sitting on a cliff with the ocean crashing down below and nothing but the sea stretching out forever in front of you.
And it feels like...I can just stay there forever.

So anyway, on the outskirts of the heart of Mandurah where most of the restaurants are, is a little lone Dome situated adjacent to the ocean. And this is where we camped for the next 5 hours or so...trying to study. The place has a very open design, where the lack of windows becomes one huge open-spaced window overlooking the beach horizon.

We settled down to a spot to take in the lovely black storm clouds, random downpours of rain and the angry, angry ocean. See, the view really IS lovely, when you are smart enough to check the weather before you go and burn half your petrol tank getting there!

Going on roadtrips usually means I'm starving by the end of the car ride. And going on roadtrips in the morning ALWAYS means I've woken up 15 minutes before the scheduled time, skip breakfast and complain about my hunger the whole way there while my stomach talks non stop. God I love journeys. But it's probably best not to sit in the same car as me if we ever go on one =)

We needed food. We ordered food:

Caramel Nut Crunch - $5.95

This came out first and gosh, it was mouthwatering eye candy in anticipation of the rest of our meal. I was pretty jealous I didn't get one for myself and started to feel deep regret for declining the offer of one. It's usually a personal policy of mine to say YES to offers LOL =p

I love looking at their drinks page of the menu. It's sorta like a sensual feast, reading and imagining what all their drink selections taste like and wanting to just GET THEM ALLLLL. Alas that would be idiotic and hence only this one was ordered.

Milk blended with a shot of coffee and topped with cream and big chunks of chocolate filled with peanuts and caramel wafers. Damn, that's like music to the ears. I didn't drink this but something that sounds so good must have tasted just as good.

Vegetarian Wrap -$10.45

I was tempted to get this but the other beat me to it :( And I have a strange dislike of ordering the same food as someone else at a meal. It's not really a case of that annoying girl syndrome of "Omg, she's wearing the same dress as me" but more because I'm greedy and want the chance to be able to sample different dishes in one meal.

I always, always, always end up scabbing from other people's plates. I can't resist. Never much (well, sometimes much, if I fall in love with it) but I do. Conversations always go like this:
"Geez, finish my whole plate why don't you?!"
And I'd pause for a second..."Yeah okay :D"
If you ever eat with me, I'm sorry, and be prepared to lose half your meal yeah?

This seemingly healthy vegetable wrap consisted of grilled eggplant, zucchini and red capsicum with fetta cheese, fresh spinach leaves and basil pesto in a lightly toasted flat bread wrap, substituted here with turkish bread and served with a side of tomato chutney. Grilled vegetables always taste a bizzilion times better than fresh vegetables. Like how raw food tastes better when it's cooked, yeah? =p

Vegetarian Break-Feast - $14.95

For some reason the carnivore in me died off and this choice became pretty appealing. I think it was all the colours that did it for me, which explains why I was so in love with fairy bread when I was younger. And maybe I was being considerate and wanted to uphold my sharing theory from above so that he could have my breakfast also. I am such an awesome, thoughtful friend.

Somewhat average scrambled eggs (choices of fried/poached/scrambled), mushrooms, spinach, grilled tomato, hash brown which I so generously gave away because I shouldn't eat it anyway LOL, baked beans and pretty burnt-on-the-other-side-so-you-can't-see-it toast. And 2 slabs of melted liquid butter. It did alright. Filled me on the spot but not for too long :(

Classic Scones - $8.95

Probably about 2 hours later, I needed food. Not necessarily hungry, but just felt like eating so to speak. This was meant to be a "reward" for getting some work done, much like a carrot on a string type thing. But since I was still sitting in front of a blank word document, I wasn't allowed.
Call it discipline if you must, I call it GAYYYYYYYYY!!!!! What am I, 5?

So probably an hour after this, we begrudgingly spewed up a paragraph or so onto our respective word documents and thus could share some scones. Hard life.

At that price, it got us 2 fluffy scones accompanied with whipped cream and a pretty sweet berry jam. And 2 slabs of non-melted not-so-liquid butter this time. Surprisingly, I didn't eat much, after all that lust. Like they say, the chase is always better than the conquest ;)
To me, scones are nothing special. Cause they aren't!
Before I ate: "It just looks like bread"
After I ate: "It just tastes like bread"
Verdict: Scones are just like bread.

And I got on with my work.

Hot Chocolate

This definitely used to be my drink of choice, probably because of that thick, fluffy layer of milk foam on top adorned with chocolate powder sprinkles. And I still fight people for that layer from people's cups when it comes to the table, so I guess it is STILL my drink of choice. And I guess I steal drinks as well as steal food. Need. To. Change. Badly.

So whenever someone orders a hot chocolate, they automatically give it to me first. I always get called a kid for getting excited over the foam. It's so good! Then the rest of the drink is usually just complementing the foam for me. If a cup of hot chocolate could be just a cup of hot foam, I'd be over the moon.

This was made with skim milk I think, so the resulting drink is probably not as smooth/creamy as it could be, but that's my fault that I shouldn't drink/eat fatty stuff. Good pick-me-up on a cold, rainy, gloomy day like that day. I got halfway only as I still can't understand my sometimes-fine-sometimes-not tolerance for milk. Like a friend said,
"I am sometimes lactose intolerant." LOL yeah, when I feel like it.

...

I've eaten at Dome a few times, at different locations, and I gotta say different locations have their own strengths and weaknesses. Hot chocolate at Leederville Dome for example, pretty good from what I remember of it. Drink prices are pretty standard, but some food prices are a bit overpriced for what they are. Good menu choices as well as a seasonal changing menu makes for interesting choices but sometimes, I think I enjoy reading the extensive menu and imagining the tastes over eating the food itself. Sometimes. When it falls short of expectations.

So of course, obviously, DUH, you wouldn't make the trip down to Mandurah just for Dome, when there is probably a Dome down the road from where you are. Which makes me feel all the more stupid for wasting time and (not my) petrol but it was a good getaway from the usual city scene :) Mandurah is quite a picturesque and eventful place and is quite a touristy spot if you visit leisurely, and not for a one page report summary with size 11 Arial font with 2.5cm margins and 1.5 spacing on your mind.

Zzz.

I think the advantage and special thing about this particular Dome is its location, opening up to a seaside view from its front verandah. It would make for brilliant sunsets on a better day when the sky is feeling a bit happier. Pity.

There's customers all the time, seeing as they open throughout the whole day and don't shut doors between lunch and dinner times. Laid back, relaxed cafeteria atmosphere means you can laze around to your content and procrastinate as long as you need without a time limit. Always useful when you need to study. That probablyyy explains my grades. And how good they are. LOL...

Sigh. My fluency in sarcasm screws me over most of the time.