Avoiding all bad puns that involve the word "Must"

A weekend or so ago, my birth family and some of my old buds decided to blow Perth and hit the Southwest to make the most of the 50 knot winds, 30 foot waves and general onshore craziness.  And what is a trip to Margaret River without indulging in some yumminess of the food-al or wine-al variety?  I think it's the bomb that you can get good food in Margs because MY version of the perfect down south trip involves food and more food - so we made a booking for Must. 

I live in Mount Lawley and have only graced Must winebar with my presence once.  It was a long time ago when I still might have carried a bit of the all-you-can-eat-buffet mentality and I ordered off the bar menu.  I remember gazing with disappointment at the 3 ravioli that came to me...but I was older this visit and less hungry, so I figured it would be a whole different experience.  As we drove into town I couldn't help reflecting on the brief hippy interlude  I had in my twenties where I lived and worked in Prevelley for 8 months and NOTHING was open on the main street in winter at 7pm.  Apart from the pub.  Oh and the video store (you know it was a long time ago when it was video).  The main street may be a bit too developed now ( a bit like Claremont someone I know said) but it sure as shit beats that!

First impressions of Must:  it looked really dark from the outside, and us ageing and all I was worried about my mum being able to make out the menu!  Luckily that was no problem, the bistro was well lit and not too dim.  Sadly there WAS a guy playing a keyboard in the winebar which was uncomfortably loud and I distinctly remember hearing a cover of "Mad World" by Tears for Fears.   I politely asked the server how long he was going to be playing and she grunted at me.  Honestly I don't have a problem with music at dinner but I do like to be able to hear and talk to the people I'm having dinner with.  The interior was spacious - winebar at the front, bistro in back.  Service was decent - the server wasn't the friendliest but she kept our glasses filled and made sure we ate. 

To the menu:   first thing I noticed was that they had a section headed "Our local regulars menu".  Nice touch!  Smart business too as a lot of SW visitation dies off in winter so treating the regulars nice is a smart move.  The local regulars menu was small and simple - a charcuterie plate consisting of  jambon persillé; a pickled pork and parsley terrine, paté en croute with pear chutney, rillettes with cornichons and black olive tapenade, and a couple of burgers:  a Butterfield beef burger with bacon, gruyere cheese, zucchini pickles, aioli and frites, or a vegie burger (carnivore approved apparently) w/ frites.  They also offered up sirloin or rump or beef rib eyes served with an assortment of gussied up sides but essentially they were potatoes.. butter...jus... mmmmm.hat was as far as we got!  I love a good burger and I love frites and I LOVE pickles so it was a no-brainer for me.  Plus it was all for the very sexy price of $21.  The burger was juicy and full of flavour.  I'm usually not a bacon-in-a-burger kind of gal but this was soooooo good. That bacon was just all smoky goodness.  The zucchini pickles were served in a little side dish  and were crunchy and acidic and delicious.  But the frites were a big disappointment for me - I'm absolutely positive they were the ordinary shoe string variety you buy in a big white plastic bag.  While they were yummy, it's not exactly what I'd expect from Must.  Not a hand cut frite in sight!

On to dessert (and coffee):  I had a creme brulee with a coconut sorbet that was delicious if a tiny bit eggy - but I ate the whole thing and then scraped away forlornly at the bottom of the dish.  The coffee was excellent too, although I can't tell you what blend they use because by then I was in a happy food haze and had forgotten that I would most likely be blogging about it.  I CAN tell you they do an excellent latte.  I also know that I walked out about a mere $40 lighter - but about a kilo heavier.

Must Margaret River

107 Bussell Highway

(08) 9758 8877

http://www.must.com.au/MMRfolder/menus/local.pdf

Darwin - 4 Birds

When I lived in Darwin I was constantly moaning about the lack of cool breakfast places to go to grab a good coffee and something yummy in the mornings.  Not that Darwin doesn't have some good breakfast spots, but they can be a bit hit and miss eg Roma Bar (good coffee, average, cheap breakfast unless you stick to the more eclectic end of the menu offering dhal and homemade roti, the sago with coconut cream and palm syrup or the toasted coconut bread with lemon curd - yum!), Ducks Nuts (good coffee but shit food). 

My last few visits to Darwin I've taken to stopping in at 4 Birds in the morning to grab a coffee and some breakfast, usually a bagel, always with ricotta and honey!  4 Birds has been open for about a year and a half now, located in Star Arcade next to Simply Vegetarian, it's probably the first of Darwin's truly funky cafes.  Run by sisters it serves good coffee, a pretty simple breakfast menu consisting of bagels, toast, muesli and fruit salad.  They even cater for the kids with nutella toast!   At one point I think they were offering savouriness for breakfast, but now you can just choose to have a savoury bagel if you are that way inclined.  Lunch works around fresh panini, bagels and salads.  Ingredients are fresh, delicious and seasonal.  They serve a cracking range of home made cakes and slices.  Seating is either in the cafe at seats or benches or outside at little tables with cushion-covered milk crates - I thoroughly recommend the latter if you have kids, there's even a little black cat that hangs round outside the chocalatier to keep them entertained and they can have the run of the arcade once you've exhausted them at the playground in the mall.

4 Birds
Star Village Arcade
Just off Smith St Mall

Is Perth growing up?

I went to a mate's 30th birthday dinner the other night.  She and her girlfriend had chosen a hotel where we were going to have dinner - the Rose and Crown in Guildford - and I must admit my heart sank when they told me where we were going.   My imagination went straight to the bad, overpriced food place - as it turned out, there was no need.  The Rose and Crown turned out to have a perfectly fine menu with a bunch of well-priced options, good variety, good service, decent dessert and good coffee (and a couple of really inviting fires - always a way to get me in).  But it made me wonder why I reacted the way I did.  I know I wasn't the only one who felt this way, in the car in the way home we all agreed that it had surpassed our expectations.  Now if this was Melbourne I don't think I would have had that reaction - hotels are not necessarily synonymous with bad food in Melbourne, in fact, it's probably the complete opposite.  But Perth often has a bit of the hit and miss about it.  I've been to a lot of hotels where the food is over thought, overambitious and often turns out to be just plain bad.  When combined with shit service and +++ prices this can add up to a frustratingly bad night.  Especially when you venture away from the city.  It's like teenagers pretending to be grownups:  trying too hard; and a bit pretentious.  But something occurred to me as I started writing this - am I like an adult looking at a teenager - guilty of seeing them as they've always been..refusing to see that they're growing into something else.. growing up?  Perhaps Perth is growing into itself and I don't want to see it. 

What do you think?

Elmars I love you

Elmars is one of the nicest secrets on Beaufort Street.  A German butchers, they sell the most amazingly scrummy selection of cured meats and smallgoods.  They pride themselves on their lack of preservatives, make deliciously mumsy homemade food like rissoles, schnitzel, smoked sausage goulash and pea and ham soup (I went in today to get some and there was a big pot on the stove - not today, tomorrow they said, it has to get creamy :-))).  They also make the most gorgeous rolls - I like to get a sliced rissole or some of their house made ham with all their salads in a wholegrain roll with mustard.  MMM MMM!  For an unhealthier (but probably yummier) option, get them to slap on some of their home made mayonnaise.  People who like to hang out or visit Mount Lawley on Saturdays will know that they set up a sausage stall out the front - but not just any old sausage - venison, bratwurst, knacker, fleishwurst..... oh yeah!  They also do a smashingly awesome continental smoked bacon that is out of this world.  Last but not least, if you have any German buds that suffer from occasional Germsickness LOL, they sell little German things like German lemonade and Ritter Chocolade.  Surprise someone!

Elmars
493 Beaufort St
Highgate

Pea and ham soup and a ham and salad roll w mustard

Are you?

Is it 130?

Ever since Cafe 130 closed it's doors I've been eagerly awaiting it's return.  But has it been too long?  I arranged to meet my old bud down there to check it out this morning, eagerly anticipating my soy latte and some eggs on hot buttered toast.  But something had changed... something ... or is it just me? 

Cafe 130 was one of the only quirky cool cafes in Perth, Leederville to be exact, before Perth had quirky cool cafes.  A limited menu of eggs on New Norcia bread plus various sides (avocado, tomato, feta, jalapenos etc etc), massive sandwiches, house-made muffins, cakes and good coffee to be had any time of the day or late into the night.  Entire menu cooked from electric frypans and toasters. GI Joes abseiling from the rooftop.  Crazy wall covered in posters of Perth happenings. A massive rack of papers and magazines hanging from the wall.  Milk crates out the front.  A few booths to sit in.  It was all good until it got taken over.  Then the New Norcia bread disappeared, the staff became surly, it got old and grimy and it all REALLY needed some love.  The guy who ruined 130 (as he came to be known) shut it down and concentrated on building up the clientele at Greens and Cock over the road - also his cafe - while he quietly beavered away turning 130 into ...what?  Today was the big reveal for me, even though it's been open for a couple of months and all the good things about it are still there - it just looks better.  The booths are the same but it doesn't feel as if the couches are going to collapse underneath you. Tables are still all tatty and scarred.  The poster wall has been painted in orange wash, the rack is still on the wall, tables are in the same places, that beautiful pressed tin roof has been fixed up so that there's no longer more rust than roof...the only really different thing is that it's now not open until late - it's open until 630. 

After longing for it to open again after so long, I was kind of surprised by my reaction to being there.  In the time that it's been shut, Perth seems to have sped up and run right past 130.  There are small funky wine bars, there are lots of good cafes now with exciting menus, there are burger bars, there is change afoot my friends.  Leederville has a bunch of new places going on.  And seeing as the inside had been tweaked (same same but different), SO TOO I hoped the menu might be same same but different.  But no.  It's just the same.  It's bloody cheap - you'll only pay $13 for two poached eggs on (Lawley's) toast and a coffee, which is the kind of price that is becoming increasingly hard to find in Perth.  They also offer a half serve of eggs - we like that :-)  The toast is thick and waaaay too much to eat with just your eggs - my advice is to save one bit of toast and go up and get some jam from the pots lining the service bar.   The coffee, which was always yummy but a bit on the weak side, is still on the weak side.  Consistency!!  We like that too.

So I wondered - is it still that time?  That 130 time?  Only time will tell. 

Cafe 130

130 Oxford St

Leederville

The Blue Fuck

Oh now that's just childish!!!!! 

I went to the Blue Duck Sunday morning  for my dad's birthday. And I have to ask, what IS it about these places with the magnificent views?  Do they deliberately set out to wreck my ogling of beautiful Perth waves with their craptus food??  I paid 13 bucks for a "seasonal" fruit salad with yoghurt that was just so shit it defies belief.  Small, tasteless, with hard fruit and a tiny blob of greek yoghurt it was uninspiring at best and just plain shitful at worst.  If I dig deep within, I will admit that their coffee (Fiori) was nice.

The end.

The Blue Duck
151 Marine Parade
Cottesloe

The Mount Lawley morning coffee run - Cantina or Fez?

If you live and/or work and/or hang out in Mount Lawley you will know that over the past few years, a number of coffee shops have appeared along the strip. The first of these boutiquey type cafes was Soto which opened it's doors 8-9 years ago.  At the time, Soto reached lofty heights not previously scaled in the Mount Lawley area (which up until that point only boasted Globe and Dome)  - it had comfy couches, al fresco smoking table coolness, an interesting breakfast menu, it was open late and it had gooooood coffee.  But 8 years is a long time and Soto is now looking a bit old, a bit lonely, a bit worn and there are now a LOT more cafes to choose from - the Merchant, Cafissimo, Exomod, Cantina, Fez to name but a few.  For the most part I don't rate them for coffee, Mount Lawley cafes often seem to trade on the coolness of the area rather than the quality of their coffee.  The exception is Cantina which does just about everything well - coffee, breakfast, lunch, cakes, snacks, dinner, impromptu coffee and dessert post movies, Cantina doesn't falter.  Even though I've had a go of every cafe on the Beaufort St strip, for the past couple of years I've gone to Cantina for my coffee and it's always good, attested to by the massive queue and 15 minute wait.  Fez, a more recent addition to Mount Lawley, is closer to my work so my workmates go there on the coffee run.  Fez uses 5 Senses coffee and Cantina uses Fiori.  Fez and I got off to a bad start when my first coffee on their first day was talked up bigtime but not that great.  Being mindful that it was day 1, I've been back a few times and sadly the coffee is never quite right, but Cantina always is.  Awesome flavour and texture, never panic-attack-inducing.  So for now it's Cantina for me.  Until the Planet Cafe opens - Planet have never done anything half-assed, so I reckon they could be a contender.  Keep checking!

Cantina:  663 Beaufort St Mount Lawley

Fez:  83 Walcott Street Mount Lawley

<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/338/1550188/restaurant/Perth/Mount-Lawley/Fez-Mt-Lawley%22%3E%3Cimg alt="Fez on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/1550188/minilogo.gif" style="border:none;width:104px;height:15px" /></a>

Fur (Pho) - Belicious!

 From this....

















To this!







Sunshine Lunch Bar:  683A Beaufort St, Mount Lawley 6050.  Ph:  9370 1165








<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/338/1563235/restaurant/Perth/Sunshine-Lunch-Bar-Cafe-Mount-Lawley%22%3E%3Cimg alt="Sunshine Lunch Bar Cafe on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/1563235/minilogo.gif" style="border:none;width:104px;height:15px" /></a>

Tom's Kitchen

Last Friday night as I was awandering through Perth, I mentioned to my mates that there was a place off Hay Street that I'd dogeared in my mind but couldn't remember what it was.  Food, shopping - I honestly had no idea.  Anyway we got a bit peckish and took a turn down Shafto Lane - which brought us to Tom's Kitchen.  I remembered that my housemate and her gurl had dinner there a few months ago and gave it a rave and I'm pretty sure it was the reason for my dogear, so we figured we'd have a go.  At first glance it looked the goods:  Warm lighting, tick.  Friendly and attentive waitperson, tick.  A little bit bistro, a little bit New York and some intriguing menu choices (salt and vinegar crips crisps dammit for $6?).  Feeling confident we sat down and made some choices - lamb, barley and lentil soup, meatballs and orriechete with red wine and beef cheek - tick!!!  (Triple tick for housemade pasta). 

First worrying thing - the guy next to us pushing his dinner around and whispering to his date that his duck was raw.  Oops.  Never mind we said - could happen to anyone.  Our dinners came out about 25 minutes later - 25 minutes just teetering on the border of the point where you summons the waitperson and delicately ask exactly how long it's going to be EXACTLY.  Out came the soup - at first glance (and second too it turned out) it looked to be very thin with a lone lentil swimming in the bowl.  Complimentary bread with a herb "butter" was placed on the table - but it wasn't butter.  Bread was a little on the stale side. Then came my orriechete - such a disappointment - the little ears were tough and the beef cheek and red wine sauce underseasoned and bitter.  Uh oh.  Such promise!  The soup got sent back.  The meatballs eaten.  Lest we look like wowsers I didn't complain about the orriechete but at 24 bucks I expect a bit of taste and glamour.  I hasten to add that I'm not super fussy about food, but I know what I like and what I don't.  From the on-line reviews I've read there are a lot of supporters of Tom's so lets just hope that it was an off night!

Tom's Kitchen - Shafto Lane, Perth.

<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/338/1459970/restaurant/Perth-City/Toms-Kitchen-Perth%22%3E%3Cimg alt="Tom's Kitchen on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/logo/1459970/minilogo.gif" style="border:none;width:104px;height:15px" /></a>

Grill'd

Just thought I'd quickly share the love about Grill'd - I popped in there for a burger as you do, or as I do, seeing as I work and live aroung the corner.  I had the Bombay Bliss which was a chickpea patty with tzatziki, roasted red peppers, cos lettuce, other salady bits and tomato relish in a traditional bun.  Pretty tasty and a bargain for $11.50!

http://www.grilld.com.au/

Bar 399

This is my friend Dawn holding a cup of coffee at 399 on William St.  This was taken a few months ago and I've been meaning to blog about it - not the coffee, 399.  But it's kind of like falling in love - sometimes you come over all articulate, but in my case, which isn't that great for someone who writes, I came over all inarticulate.  But what I can say is this:

• the coffee is great
• the bar peeps are friendly
• you can usually get a seat and not a hideously uncomfortable one, either at the bar, or in one of the many booths with the many cushions
• they have wifi
• they don't think you're a freak if you come in on Friday night and order coffee and play uno
• the bouncer will look out for a seat for you if you can't find one
• they have yummy biscuits
• ooh they have yummy other stuff - little plates of stuff
• although drinking isn't really my thing, they do offer some of the yummiest beers, including a wheat beer that won "best beer in the world" or something - it's $10 for a stubby which isn't much more than a crownie LOL
• they can show some serious cocktail love
• they play very funky, very laid-back, always appropriately pitched, tunes

Yup we love it there :-)

http://www.399bar.com/

399 William St Perth

Not all that

Sooooo - it's the day after the night after a degustation at ... dant ta na na ta na NAAAAAAAA - Jackson's.  which you would think would be ALL THAT but, surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, it really wasn't.  and i feel a bit wanky even writing about it - it's a bit of a cliche to go to Jacksons for the dego (as they call it).  I've been once before, years ago and we had a strange experience - our waiter was weird and quit in the middle of service and i can't tell you anything about the food apart from the dessert that we had which blew my mind.  last nite was much the same.  i was waiting for the flash of brilliance or whimsey - and there were a couple - one was a little between courses amuse - it was a little pastisse dusted with icing sugar and filled with lamb and drizzled with pesto - that was really really good, as was the amuse bouche at the very start, a very thomas keller - esque cone of delights involving a sorbet and some anchovies - sounds hideous, but made me think that the meal would be one to remember.  sadly not.  the food was definitely a bit hit and miss:

Hit: the pork belly sort of banh mi, the squid and scallop risotto, the two amuse bouche, the wine's, my NOjito, the desserts, the toilets, sitting for 5 hours with good buds
Miss: the sea bass and tasmanian salmon, oyster and champagne sauce (bland), rabbit (tough, tasteless, prosciutto overcooked), the emptied bread basket that sat in the middle of the table for half the meal and wasn't refilled), the detritus of the meal that just sat there
hit and miss:  the roast beef with yorkshire pudding (beef tender, yorkshire pudding verging on burnt)

would i go again?  not on your nelly.

those french boys

I don't really know what the deal is with Scents of Taste, surely one of the worst names in the history of Beaufort and Walcott street cafes/bakeries/patisseries/eateries - how long they've been there, who originally owned or ran it,  but don't let the name put you off.  Scents of Taste is one of those little places tucked away round a corner where you will find loyal locals drinking their coffee and reading their paper outside in the middle of the carpark.  Run by two french boys who can often be found smoking filthily strong cigarettes out the front, they have quietly put SOT on the map with traditional french goodness. You can even get duck confit!  For eg, I have been eyeing off their macarons* for some time now and I just bought one - well crikey, the outside of the macaron* cracked as I bit into it, into a chewy chocolatey yummy centre - I'm experiencing a post-macaron* sugar rush as I type. 

I can't give a definitive review of all their food because I stick in a kind of compulsively OCD-ish fashion to a very limited assortment of things:

1) Their plain croissants:  the best in Perth. Well the best in Mount Lawley.  There are of course the organic butter croissants at the Subi Farmers Market but seeing as that's only open on Saturdays (and in Subiaco).....  these babies are the real deal, buttery, almost cheesy in taste they look slightly overcooked but are always always ALWAYS flaky and scrummy.

2) Their coffee:  always ok.  Not the best in Mount Lawly, but I would certainly come here if Cantina was shut and I was too lazy to get down to Soto (which can be variable - but that's another story). 

3) Their lunch rolls: I don't pay that much attention to these because I usually get my lunch from Antonio's or Elmar's but look to be pretty tasty combinations of things.  I did have mortadella, salad and cheese in a baguette with mayo the other day which was pretty rich.  Would I have another one?  Probably not my first choice, but only because it didn't feel that healthy!!  (A strange place to draw a line considering the other things I eat).

4) Their macarons* - enough said. 

5) Other pastry goodness:  their palmiers, escargot and chocolate croissants which are all thoroughly thoroughly french and not for the faint-hearted.


*macarons are not to confused with macaroons as my discerning sister just informed me - macaroons are dipped in coconut whereas macarONs are what I'm talking about.

Scents of Taste
Shop 3
80 Walcott St
Mount Lawley
Ph:  9272 6708

Royal flush?

I've eaten 2 meals at the Queens in the past 3 days - if you were with me and noticed me lingering over the menu it was because I was scanning it for something, ANYTHING that was edible and wasn't turkish bread with a trio of dips or potato wedges, two of the most uninspiring menu items to ever (dis)grace a menu:

1) A steak sandwich.  One would think relatively inoffensive and hard to fuck up.  The descriptor of 'onion jam' even made me mildly excited.  Sadly, so much onion jam had been slapped onto it that I couldn't taste anything else and it made the sanger so slimy that everything fell out.  All over me.  Not that good. And how hard is it to get chips that wrong!!!!  So wrong - yellow and waxy and tasting of oil... bleugh.

2) A BLT. It was ok.  The bacon was crispy, it was was pretty tasty, it had tomato and it had lettuce.  They should totally get rid of the turkish bread though... it's so early noughties!!  But the chips - wrong again.

The thing that the Queens has going for it is a glorious beer garden.  Oh and nice beer. But stay away from the lunch and dinner food cos it's trading on a time when its food was good, when not everyone offered turkish bread, wedges and some kind of shitty pasta.  That time is OVER baby!!!  But if you're drunk and can't leave the premises, can I suggest that you sit back down, relaaaax and eat a refreshing trio of dips?

To end on a positive note though:  As I was flicking through the breakfast menu in despair I noticed coco pops with cream and strawberries.  Even I'd go back to have a go of that. 

VERY Good Fortune

People have been asking me when I was going to blog again and I've been pretty evasive, think I lost a bit of my blogging mojo after moving from Darwin... but late this weekend after checking out the Mundaring Truffle Festival and then chilling out watching The Runaways, I rounded off a perfect eating day at Good Fortune Roast Duck House.  Good Fortune - well anyone who went to Hung Long to eat all those years ago is familiar with the site of Good Fortune.  A tiny shop front shining red and gold in the heart of Northbridge on William St (344 to be exact), Good Fortune exudes the happiness of people eating EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT. You can tell you're getting near if you see people queuing outside on William St day or night... some of them peering in the window watching the chef hacking up roast pork, duck or chicken with his cleaver, some waiting impatiently and checking and rechecking to see if their number has come up. We were lucky 100 and had to wait 20 minutes to get in and it was worth every second!!! 

The first thing you'll notice is that Good Fortune is PACKED.  Packed full of happy eating people.  The second thing you will notice is, hopefully not the dying fish in the tank that we noticed, rather that the service is brilliant: orders will be taken in under 2 minutes, your food will be on the table in 5. The third thing you will notice is meat.  Lots and lots of meat.  Roast duck, roast pork, BBQ pork, steamed chicken, roasted chicken... Good Fortune is a meat lovers paradise.  They also do seafood but I kind of overlooked that in my meaty frenzy.  Not that you can't also find one or two good vegetarian dishes on the menu - I usually find it pretty hard to go past their salt and pepper bean curd with lots and lots of green chilli or their gai lan or bok choy with ginger sauce.  But last night I was there for the meat.  I don't know why a good living largely vegetarian eating girl (for the past 7 and a half years at least) such as me occasionally wants to just go crazy with meat but there you go.  Last night it was BBQ pork that I was craving.  Also, once I realised that you can order off the takeaway menu for a dollar or two more and get everything you want (rice, chilli, pickled cabbage, BBQ pork and bok choy) on one plate I was the happiest girl alive.


One of my eternal regrets is that you can't usually order everything you want unless you spend a bomb or share, and that means everyone has to want to share... luckily I got to eat out with my friend whom I shall name my food girlfriend or MFG for short.  MFG likes to share and to eat and has no girlfriend, my girlfriend is far away and thus we are joined as one.  MFG ate a meaty platter off the takeaway menu also - her meatiness was a two meat combination of roast duck and BBQ pork.  Normally I don't rate duck, but I think I've changed my mind.. or should I say Good Fortune changed my mind!  Succulent is a word best left to the likes of Matt Preston but oh my god it was!!!  Tender, succulent... I've turned for duck.  As for my dinner, the rice was fluffy and hot, the pickled cabbage was tart, pickley, the green chilli hot, crisp and doused in soy, the bok choy was tender, maybe a bit oily and the PORK!  The BBQ pork was crisp, sweet and savoury all at the same time - all things good.  Our other two dining partners had a - well I'm guessing now because I was so mesmerised by my food and hunched over my plate - but I think it was a two meat combination with noodle.  Another important point to note, if, like me you are sometimes disinclined to wait, is that Good Fortune do a roaring trade in takeaway (and according to their menu, you're more than welcome to place phone orders).  I saw half a pig disappearing into the back of a ute and heard an order that went BBQ pork and rice thanks, with extra pork... YEAH!  not hold the pork, or I hate pork, but I'll have pork thanks with some extra pork.  That's definitely saying something.


MMMMMM MMMMMM and by the end of dinner my lips were covered in an alluring layer of duck fat.  All the better to eat you with.


Good Fortune Roast Duck House
344 William St Northbridge
9228 3293
www.goodfortuneduckhouse.com.au
Open 10am - 10pm

to market to market!!!

Last week a mate invited me to accompany her to the Subiaco Farmers Market.  And just in case I was in any danger of not going, tantalising mental imagery was used... phrases like free range ham, market spinach and freshly baked organic rolls were used in a not very politically correct fashion and, you know, I'm just not the kind of person to be able to withstand that kind of emotional pressure!!  Here are some pictures of my journey that day:


First, a quick stop at Boucla for a restorative coffee (declared to be the best coffee in Perth - them's fightin' words thar)

Oh and hang it, a little muesli cakiness to be going on with

God and what's all that other good looking stuff?

After a little bit of a rest we headed off to the Farmers Market - which was so fun and we were, like, total cliches talking about the sense of community and how lovely it was to talk to random strangers.  Anyway it was a lot of fun even if I did spend about a hundred bucks on two organic apples and an organic butter croissant... and it all looked SO GOOD that I bet any of you would spend a hundred bucks too!

you can see my two apples right here

Arty fish shots

Honey honey how you thrill me uh huh honey honey wa wa wa wa-OOOOOOH

SOOOOOO good - i think these were triple cho brownies.. all fudgy and gooey and delicious

And just to round it off - a little bit of $90 gorgonzola my good woman :-)

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMM!!!!!

a spewing of sorts

Since I got back from Darwin I've been going crazy eating eating alla time eating... Darwin has some amazingly good food but the bulk of it is Asian with a few rare exceptions: hi Manoli's :-).

I've missed deli's and great bread, Italian food and amazing butchers.. so it seems like everywhere I go these days there's something I want to try or write about. I've also realised that I've been storing up all these little Perth food nuggets for years and now I finally get a chance to write about them! So I'm starting with the Mount Lawley strip because that's where I scour the mean streets looking for my lunch.

Antonio's Continental Deli must be one of Mount Lawley's most loved institutions - an Italian deli, in a nondescript alleyway tucked in behind a tobacconists and a butcher, it opened around 12 years ago. It also has the sweetest women working there! It does a roaring trade in lunch rolls cos they are sooooo good... so good that when I'm getting one I have been known to textually torment my sister to which I can pretty much guarantee an anguished and/or abusive response. My favourite is the swiss cheese continental roll with all the salads - this guarantees a crisp italian roll (fluffy on the inside) stuffed with layers of swiss, beetroot, cucumber, tomato, spanish onion and any other yumminess you can dream up - everything that should be in a roll and so rarely is.

Anyway I digress - the reason I started this post is because of their pizzas.
Every Friday for years now Antonio's have gotten in stacks of wood fired pizza's neatly wrapped in their individual plastic bags, all ready to be taken home and loved. They used to be a cool five bucks and 12 years later they're 8 bucks (that's an inflation rate of 25c a year!). They come in potato, zucchini, eggplant, a plain mushroom and tomato and on occasion I've seen a hawaiian tenderly placed in the fridge. They even sell the plain bases (which the Antonio ladies tell me MUST be turned upside down and the topping placed on the bottom so it doesn't slide off). Anyway, now that I've told you about them I don't want you to have any. More for me.

Antonio's: 7/623 Beaufort St Mount Lawley, 7 days a week

http://www.antoniosfresh.com.au/

Perth: good meat hunting

I just have to send a big shout out to Mondo's butchers on Beaufort Street in Inglewood for making the best pies I have ever tasted, anywhere EVER.  I had one years ago but didn't have a food blog that I could write in because they hadn't been invented yet.  But now I have and so I will say these puppies haven't changed a BIT in all these years - they are just SUBLIME, crammed full of huge chunks of steak and pieces of real mushroom (apologies to the vegetarians), no gravy overload here and the best pastry I have ever tasted. I also bought a chicken one for my housie and even though it was full of massive yummy chunks of chicken AND she offered me some, I only had eyes for my new girlfriend the Mondo's meat pie.


Mondo's:  824 Beaufort St Inglewood
Times:  Open every day but Sunday and Monday (busy prepping all that loveliness I'm guessing)

http://www.mondo.net.au/

I'm baaaaa-ackk!

Hey there

I realise it's been, like, YEARS (months probably) and for that I can only apologise.  I went to New York (see attached New York Yankees doughnut) and was so despondent when I got back that I just couldn't do it! But I'm back and I'm eating.  The main differences are that:

1) My main eating hangout will be Perth for some time, which doesn't mean that I won't be posting up Darwin tips that come my way (hi Sam).  So send them to me. 

2) The old blog got taken over by some chick holding a puppy so you'll find me now at www.chickwithguts2.blogspot.com (I think).  All the old posts are here so anyone hunting for the lowdown on Darwin eating will be able to find them still. 

3) I have a macbook now so I won't be trying to manage my blog in worktime (oops).

4) I have a new camera so won't be posting any more dodgy cameraphone shots.

Very excited and looking forward to sharing more eating adventures!

The chickwithguts (x 2) X