Hot Night In The City

Last Friday night M met me in the city after work so we could go check out the Twilight Hawker Markets in the Murray Street Mall.  What we didn't expect was that so many other people had the same idea as us! So we had a wonder around but decided to eat elsewhere as the lines were so long!

So because we were already in the city we decided to make a night of it and check out some of the bars that we had been talking about.

The first one was The Boheme on the corner of Murray and William Street. This used to be the old Bobby Dazzlers which was a bit of a run down old pub which smelt of beer and old bread. It was renovated into a bar and restaurant and I think it is quite nice! It is a bit dark on the inside but the restaurant looked like it would be the best place to be, Surprisingly the restaurant wasn't very busy but I think they have the layout right with it being separated from the drinking crowd.

As with most bars in the city on a Friday night, it was packed with people who had finished work and wanted to let their hair down. M and I had a drink but found it a bit too crowded for what we wanted to we decided to move on. 

Venn's gift shop next to the bar

Venn, a bar and art gallery in one, had only been open for a week but when we walked down Queen Street to find it, we discovered they were already at full capacity! We decided to wait for some people to leave so we could go in. The lady at the door was very friendly and we didn't have to wait long at all before we were let in. 

Venn has an art gallery upstairs and at the moment they have a exhibition from Matt Doust on. Unfortunately for us the gallery closes at 7pm so we missed out. 

The bar is located at the back, behind the gift shop, and it includes an outdoor area as well as an area inside with tables and chairs. If you go, take the second to look up and see the upside down pot plants hanging from the roof!

M decided on a beer and I ordered a cider with ice.

Even though it was packed we were lucky enough to grab a table and chair in the corner so we could relax with our drinks. It was a bit of a mixed crowd in there but it definitely had a friendly vibe!

Venn have the option of some bar snacks  and they also do breakfast during the week. I am going to have to get up early enough one day to try it!

After our drinks we decided to get some air and head off to Wolfe Lane, located in a lane way (funnily enough titled Wolfe Lane) just off Murray Street. 

We walked up to the wooden door which opened automatically and walked into the very busy room. 

I ordered a sparkling rose but the room was full of the scent of fresh fruit, obviously from their cocktails. We headed upstairs near where the DJ was and thought it was the perfect place to go after Venn as the music kicked it up a notch and got us into the grooving mood! 

So we continued our night there and ended up having an awesome time and the perfect start to the weekend!

The Breakwater - Hillarys Marina

So one sunny Sunday K and I decided to head north towards The Breakwater at Hillary’s Boat Harbour. It turned out to be a great day as one of my oldest friends G was there with a group. 

I grew up in the northern suburbs but moved away when I bought my house.  Because of this, I hadn’t been to the Breakwater since it had its major overhaul.  It is quite nice inside and it had an upper level for functions, as well as plenty of outside seating. First of all we decided to grab some drinks and with it being such a warm day I was in a cider type mood. This mood quickly disappeared when I discovered all that they had was Five Seeds. I find that Five Seeds cider is quite sickly sweet so after perusing the beverage list I decided on the Jacobs Creek 3 Vines Rose ($9). 

It was so beautiful sitting in the sun over the water with some good friends and a glass of wine.  

It was after lunch but none of us had eaten so we went and grabbed the bar menu.  I decided on the Seafood platter ($25) which consisted of salt and pepper calamari, Seared scallops, beer batter barramundi, garlic prawns and roll mops. 

K decided on one of the gourmet pizzas ($19) which had the following toppings; bocconcini, roma tomato, basil & kalamata olives. G didn’t order any food but his friends ordered the salt and pepper squid ($21) with some chips ($8). 

My seafood platter was really nice (well except the rollmops but G had those) and K really liked her pizza. So the food disappeared quite quickly between all of us. 

I don’t think I would go out of my way to head up there when I have so many good pubs closer to home but I had such a good time chatting, drinking and sitting in the sun with some good friends that I would definitely go back if they wanted to.

Double Lucky Leederville

Last Saturday I turned 25 so in celebration of this I decided to have drinks at Double Lucky in Leederville.  It has been open about two years but I hadn’t been there until recently. It is located behind the Niche bar, down a little alleyway.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the night as I forgot my camera(!). I can tell you though that it is unpretentious, relaxed and fun! They play house music and there are plenty of couches and chairs if you wanted to sit down.  Some places can be very particular about what people wear and I liked the fact that my friend could get in with jeans and a shirt! It is also good not to feel like the oldest person in the room! 

They have yummy cocktails, and I can personally recommend the vodka cocktail “Tastes Like Dancing”.  They muddle fresh lime and strawberries in the bottom of the glass; add vodka, Chartreuse and Chambord. Yum! 

 If you are looking for somewhere to go in Leederville which is relaxed and fun, head on down to Double Lucky. 

Springs Tavern, Beechboro

As is our usual Saturday night practice, M & I were discussing where to go for dinner that night (hey, I didn’t say we were the most organised people!). We then remembered that a couple of weeks beforehand, we had gone to the new Springs Tavern in Beechboro for a drink and thought the meals looked nice. Decision made!

We arrived just after 8pm and after grabbing a couple of menus, we sat down to decide what we were going to have. Inside is open plan and about half of the area inside is tables and chairs, the rest is filled with lounges and chairs for sitting to have a drink. It seemed quite busy and was filled with families having dinner. I did find the atmosphere a bit weird because as it is just one big room, there were people who had been drinking all day clearly, mixing with the people who had come in for a meal. 

They had some specials of the day and the Grazing plate really stood out for us. It was $25 and had 4 dishes; chicken wrapped pancetta, mini pumpkin scones with dill cream and smoked salmon, chicken cacciatore sausage rolls and barramundi fish balls. For mains I ordered the Moroccan Prawn Salad ($22) and M ordered the Surf & Turf ($35). M also ordered a Principle wheat beer and as they only had the one cider there, I had a Strongbow.  I did ask them for their cocktail list but nobody had been trained in how to make cocktails yet.

The tasting plate came out not too long after we placed our order. We had the mini pumpkin scones first and they were delicious. They were bite sized with the salmon and dill cream inside. Unfortunately it went a bit down hill from there. The chicken skewers were awfully dry and definitely needed the sauce they had in the centre of the platter. The sausage rolls weren’t even chicken, never lone chicken cacciatore! The fish balls were equally as dry as the chicken and I have my doubts on it being barramundi. We then crossed our fingers about our mains. 

About 20 minutes later the mains came out, just after 9pm. I was happy when I saw my Moroccan prawn salad as they weren’t stingy with the prawns and had about 8 in the dish. M liked his Surf & Turf as well as they had a couple of big prawns on top. 

We were the last diners in the area with the tables and about 5 minutes into our mains, a DJ started to play some funky house music. That was fine with us, we quite like that music.  Then suddenly they turned the lights out on us. It wasn’t completely dark, but dark enough to not be able to see our meals properly as we were in the corner.  They were obviously trying to turn it into a bar as the kitchen was closing. Then a staff member must have realised we were still eating and asked us if we wanted the lights turned back on! We told them yes, as they had just served us our meals and we wanted to see what we were eating! 

 As we felt like we were getting pushed out the door, we finished our meals quite quickly after that. We did however stay to finish our drinks but in the area away from the tables.  I really think that they need to decide what they are doing with the place as I didn’t get any sense of direction. At the very least they should section off an area for the people eating food and people coming to have a drink.  Would I go back? Maybe if I lived a bit closer. We have far too many options which are closer to home and are a lot nicer. 

Royal East Perth - Strawberry Daiquiri Sunday!

Recently all the weekends have been sensationally sunny and on one particular Sunday, my friend K and I wanted to go somewhere for a drink where we could sit in the sun and have a few cocktails. We decided on the Royal in East Perth as it is on the water and is quiet enough to have a good chat as well.

We arrived at about 3pm, paid our $6 for an hour and a half of parking and managed to get a table in the sun.  A waiter helped us with some menus and soon after we decided to share a tasting plate. I can't remember how much it was but I think around $30. I did remember to take a picture but not before we started hoeing into it already! The plate was nice, it had chorizo, which was nice and crispy, along with satay chicken, quiche, olives and bread with dips. 

I ordered a glass of champagne (les petites vignettes crémant nv  burgundy, France) which was $11 and K ordered a Strawberry Daiquiri ($18.40). 

As soon as the drinks had come out I wished I had ordered the same! Hers was decorated with a cherry as well as a strawberry on the top. Needless to say that when it came to ordering for the next round, I decided to get one.  The cocktails were nice and refreshing with a good kick to them. As I wasn’t driving I could indulge in a few more than K.  I did find it odd though that the cocktails had very exact prices. There were some on the menu priced at $19.55! 

At about 4:30, when our parking was due to be topped up, we decided to go for a drive to the Inglewood so we wouldn’t have to keep paying for parking.  It turned out to be a good move as the Daiquiris were only $15 and they were a lot nicer.  Keep in mind that this opinion is from someone who consumed 5 or 6 during the day! 

The Royal is a nice place to go for a meal and the view in Claisebrook Cove is awesome. I will definitely be going back there but if it is for cocktails I may just stay more local and head to the Inglewood. 

The Cabin Wine Bar & Bistro

M and I decided early in the week that we were going to go to the Jazz Cellar in Mt Hawthorn for the first time on the following Friday night. We have been loving Jazz music recently and all week I was looking forward to going to the Jazz Cellar. Imagine my disappointment then when we got there just before 7pm to be told it was a full house! We still went inside and spoke to the gentleman who runs the place and he suggested coming back next week but around 5:00pm. Seeing that we were all dressed up with nowhere to go, we decided to head on over to the Cabin Wine Bar and Bistro which was just down the road.

The Cabin was one of those places that when M and I had seen it advertised or driven past we always said “we should go there” but never really thought about it much more than that. I also didn’t know it was targeted at over 25’s which, as I am 25 in a matter of weeks, I am loving. There is nothing worse than feeling like the oldest person in the place!

Of the first things we noticed when walking in was the décor they had used to set the scene. There was a fireplace in the doorway and pictures hanging on the walls which really make you feel like you have walked into a ski lodge in the mountains. We then noticed how busy the place was, with not a free table in the place.

After taking a walk around, we found a long table outside that we could share with another couple that were on the other side. Luckily it wasn’t a very cold night but they also had heaters outside which took any chill out the air. After a couple of minutes an attentive staff member walked by and offered to get us a menu so we could see the food and beverages they had on offer.

M decided to have a glass of the house Shiraz they had on offer ($12) and I decided on their sparkling rose they had on offer ($12). Sorry, I should have written down the names of what we ordered! Our waiter came and took our order and money and was back in a matter of minutes with our change. After about 10 minutes our drinks arrived to our table.

Love my purple sparkly clutch!

We weren’t really impressed with our drinks (possibly the reason I didn’t note the names) and after looking at the menu there wasn’t anything that stood out. What we did like about the place was that it had such a good vibe, not pretentious at all and it was a nice place to go for a drink and a chat. As it was so busy we had 3 other couples all within earshot but it didn’t feel like we were on top of each other or that we had to talk quieter than normal.

We were originally going to get some dessert there but after seeing the menu, we decided to go into Leederville and go to San Churro (an upcoming post!).

We didn’t realise it at the time, but after looking at the website for The Cabin we realised it is owned by the same company who owns the Suite in Subiaco. I can definitely see the similarities and when we went to the Suite we were really impressed with their coffee! I really want to go to the Suite for a meal, must remember to keep that in mind.

LIKES: The laidback vibe, the service

DISLIKES: The drink prices being on the more expensive side

*We have been taking swing dancing classes lately and we have even booked a jazz band for our wedding. More on that another time!