Perth Girl's Wedding

I have updated my page about my wedding! Although I am kind of a last minute girl I know I had best book the majority of things sooner rather than later. I will be posting along the way as I organise more and more but I have the main details on that page.

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. 

ZushiBento

Japanese has to be one of my favourite foods and so when one night I had a hankering for some sushi, we decided to go to ZushiBento in Ascot. We previously had received their menu in the junk mail (just quickly, how awesome is junk mail <3) so we knew roughly what they had on their menu and the prices. 

When we arrived we parked out the back and were pretty impressed by the front.  There are quite a few bamboo trees and a big sign out the front with the name of the restaurant on it. It made the inside of the restaurant look inviting too. 

We were greeted by a waitress when we walked in and she directed us to a table of two, as well as handing us the menus. It wasn’t too busy that night but and on the inside of the restaurant there was a traditional dining area, where you can take your shoes off and eat at the low table. That would be fun with a big group of people! 

We looked over the menus and decided to have Gyoza ($7.90) and Yakitori ($5.90) for entrée.  Gyoza is a dumpling which is lightly fried on the outside and should be chewy on the inside. As I didn’t have the best day at work, I was delighted to see that they had the Japanese beer Asahi on the menu. Imagine my disappointment then when we discovered they didn’t have a liquor licence yet. Oh well, I shouldn’t have really been drinking on a school night anyway! They do allow BYO but we were too lazy to drive anywhere else to buy alcohol.

M decided on the Katsu Don ($12.90) for his main meal but when I saw the Tiger Roll ($15.90) I was sold. I love all types of seafood so when I saw a sushi roll with tempura prawns in the middle and more prawns on top, it really is a dish with my name on it! 

The entrees arrived quite quickly and we ate them even quicker! So I didn’t end up taking photos of them but they were yummy. They had a side salad on the side and M was so hungry that he ate that to!

Our mains weren’t too long after and I definitely think I made the right choice in what I had.  My sushi was lovely and fresh with the prawn in the middle and on the top. it also had a chilli mayonnaise on the plate to dip the sushi in. M’s Katsu Don looked nice but not as nice as my Tiger Roll.  It had big pieces of chicken covered in egg and sauce. M liked it quite a bit but he was eyeing off my dinner. 

I would definitely go back to ZushiBento. We found no problems with the service, the price was good  and the food was fresh and delicious. 

Tagged - 7 Questions

I have been tagged by Emmie at Desert Darling. This means I need to answer 7 questions she has asked me, and then tag 7 more bloggers with different questions so that the game carries on! So first of all, my answers…

1.  If you could give your teenage self one piece of advice what would it be? 

I would tell the younger me not to be so hard on themselves and the people around them. 

2.  Tell me about your first pet

My first pet was a poodle named Sweep. We used to watch a TV show which had puppets on it called Sooty and Sweep.  We got him from the Poodle Rescue Society and he was a lovely little dog.  Unfortunately on Christmas Eve 1996 he got hit by a car and we buried him in the front yard.

3.   If you had 1 million dollars to give to one charity, which charity would you chose?
This is such a hard question as there are so many deserving charities! After much thought though I have decided I would send it to the RSPCA. 

4.  Of the seven deadly sins (wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony) which do you consider the worst?

Greed; people do some horrible things for money and it can change people very quickly. 

5.         What is your star sign?

Libra! I don’t really follow my star sign but I am excited that it is only 12 days until my birthday!

6. What is your happiest childhood memory?

I was very fortunate to have a great childhood and there are so many things which stand out. One of these would be my dad taking my twin brother and I into the city for Christmas shopping. We would save some money up and go into the city on the train and have breakfast at McDonalds and buy some biscuits at Myer in the city. I also remember buying some soaps from the Body Shop that were in the shape of endangered animals. This is one of many I could write about though!

7.  What were you doing at this time three years ago?

I was heading off to Bali for my birthday with M for our first overseas holiday together. I had started to go through a bit of a rough patch, with the worse yet to come. Funny how things can change over time, I never thought I would be where I am today!

So now I need to tag 7 more peope but here's the thing, I don't think the blogs I read will respond. Instead, I would love to open it up to everyone and hear your answers to these questions in the comments! Here are the questions;

1. If you had to eat one thing, every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

2. Are you a cooker or a cleaner? 

3. How did you meet your oldest friend?

4. If you could kill someone and get away with it, would you?

5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

6. Do you sleep on the same side of the bed every night or do you switch?

7. Are you a bare feet or shoes person?

Dampier

As mentioned in a previous post, last week I was in Dampier for two days. I have been to Dampier quite a few times and I don’t mind it. The worst part of the trip was the 5:25am flight to get there!

I stayed at the Peninsula Palms which is basic accommodation on the esplanade in Dampier. There are two things I look for when deciding where to stay when I travel for work; those are that the place is clean and secure. Glad to say that the Peninsula Palms had both of those qualities! To be honest, there has only been one hotel which hasn’t met those two criteria’s in the past (I am looking at you Greenwich Inn in Sydney!). 

As Dampier is situated on the water I think it is quite a pretty town. Even Karratha (which is only about 20 mins away) isn’t too bad. Anyway, below are some pictures from my recent trip, including a picture of my dinner from the mess hall at the Peninsula Palms. Enjoy! 

Laser Tag

At work I am responsible for organising all of our corporate social events. It came be quite a daunting task trying to please everyone when there is a mixed bunch of people. Lately we have been having quite a few sundowners so I wanted to try and do something which is away from alcohol and also gets us away from the office.



After going through my options I finally decided on playing laser tag. Laser tag is something that most people have done before but not since they were around 10 years old!


We went to Darkzone in Northbridge and I have to say, it was one of the most fun activities that I have done in a while! We had a group of about 20 and payed to have the place locked out. This meant that we didn’t have anybody else in the venue at the time we were there. For those not familiar with laser tag, the objective of the game is to shoot people of other teams (there are 3 in total) and to shoot each other’s base. You wear a vest with panels on it that the other teams aim for and you all hold a laser gun.


With activities like this it is hard to know how much people will get involved or if they will think it is silly. I was quite surprised then to see everybody’s competitive side come out as we ran around the darkened room shooting lasers at each other. At the Darkzone in Northbridge, there is an upstairs component and a downstairs area. Believe me when I say you will get hot and sweaty playing this game!


We had a group of people in their 20’s/30’s and everybody had a fantastic time. I think I had more fun now than I did when I was younger!


So for those that watch ‘How I Met Your Mother’, Barney said it best when he said it was “Legend, wait for it….ARY!”

picture via

Coode Street Cafe

One glorious Sunday morning, around 9am, M and I wanted to go out for breakfast but didn’t want to venture to far away from home. After doing some investigative work, and looking at their menu online, we decided to go to the Coode Street Café in Mount Lawley.

The Coode Street café is surrounded by houses so your only option is parking on the street. We pulled up at the front of the café and saw that there were quite a few empty tables out the front (good!) but no parking (bad!). After doing another lap we were lucky when a car that was parked directly out the front, pulled away. After getting out of the car and closer to the empty tables out the front of the café, we realised that they all had little reserved signs on them. After speaking to one of the waiters, he found us a table outside which was reserved for 11am. It was only about 9:30 at this time so that was perfect.

Even though we saw the menu online we still had another look once we sat down at our table. After recently discovering that I am allergic to egg I have found it quite difficult going out for breakfast. Normally I have been ordering the “big breakfast” type dish and giving M my eggs. So I was glad to be going somewhere where there is quite a bit of range in dishes. Coode Street café have the usual mix of bacon and egg dishes along side muesli, fruit salads and hotcakes. Although those were all quite tempting I decided on the croissant with ham and Swiss cheese ($9.00), with sides of mushrooms and bacon ($3.00 each). M had the poached eggs and bacon ($13.00) with gourmet beans on the side ($3.00). We also ordered a vanilla milkshake ($5.50) between the two of us and a cappuccino for me and flat white for M (both $3.70). They have a big range of fresh juices and smoothies, including having the option of a Berroca mixed in with them! I must remember that when I am looking for a hangover cure breakfast.

I was quite happy that the milkshake came out first as I was really craving some milk. It had a lovely taste to it but it wasn’t anywhere near as good as the milkshakes we got at Millpoint Café and Bookstore. After that the coffees came out and they had a nice flavour to them too. They weren’t too hot either, perfect temperature to drink them. The only negative was that there was no sugar on the table; they were just served with a sugar sachet. That is fine with me but M normally has two sugars in his coffee. Nothing major, just a small thing we noticed.

While we were waiting for our meals to arrive we noticed that there was a double storey house across the road, with a dog on the balcony looking at everyone’s meals! Poor dog, smelling all the bacons and sausages without being able to have any!

M’s meal arrived first and I was quite surprised to see the beans, having just assumed they would be Heinz baked beans from a can. These were beans of all different sizes and they had a spicy type flavour to them too.

My meal came out not long after and I realised they had given me beans instead of a side of bacon. When I spoke to the waitress they just took my beans away and replaced it with some bacon a minute or two later. My croissant was flaky, crunchy and soft and it was lovely with the mushrooms and bacon. M’s poached eggs were perfectly poached and as soon as he pricked the eggs the yolk ran over his bread.


When we got up and went inside to pay our bill, we saw that they had a big range of cakes, slices, muffins, sandwiches and other treats they people can choose from. They all looked really delicious so we will have to go back there for lunch one day!


We will definitely be going back to Coode Street café, the service was good and the food was even better.

Perth Girl in the Pilbara

Just got back from a two day trip in Dampier, always good to be home in Perth again!

Rembrandt Polish Restaurant

A couple of weeks ago, on a chilly Saturday night, M and I were trying to find somewhere to go for dinner when I thought I would use my Urbanspoon application and have a bit of a lucky dip. It came up with a place in Inglewood called Rembrandt and described it as Eastern European food. After reading some of the reviews we realised it was Polish food and decided to head down there and take our chances on getting a table for two.

After finding the restaurant (it is near Mondo’s the butcher) and finding a park, we went inside and found a dimly lit restaurant with a few people sitting down. We spoke to one of the waitresses but she told us we would have to come back another time as they were full tonight. BOO!

Fast forward to last Friday night when we were going through the usual process of discussing where we would go to dinner. M remembered about Rembrandt and booked a table for the two of us at 7:00pm. Success! I had never had Polish before but I love trying new things so was looking forward to the meal.

Upon entering the restaurant we saw it was quite empty but there were quite a few reserved markers on those empty tables. We were greeted by a friendly waitress who then took us to a table for two, near the rear of the restaurant. We were then handed two menus, including the drinks menu. This is probably a good time to mention that it is BYO alcohol so we ended up ordering a coke and ginger beer.

Looking around the dimly light restaurant it had quite simple décor. There were candles on each table which created a bit of ambience, along with paintings on the walls behind us and vodka bottles on the shelves in front of us.

 

We were then served a starter of a small dish filled with lard and pork pieces, with two pieces of bread on the side. Interesting. I sampled a small piece of the bread with a tiny amount on top but I realised immediately it wasn’t to my taste. It was simply fat with little pieces of bacon in it. M quite liked it though so he had my share and then the rest.

After perusing the menu for a while I had decided to order the Vegetarian Croquette ($9.50) for starters and then the Pierogi ($13.00) for main course. These are traditional Polish dumplings and I ordered some with meat and some with cheese and potato. I also spotted they had Polish doughnuts on the menu which I thought sounded quite interesting. M ordered the same entrée but the Hunters Stew ($12.00) as a main meal. This was on the menu as ‘traditional beef, pork and sauerkraut Polish stew with wild mushrooms red wine served with potatoes or rye bread.

The Croquette was quick to come out and I discovered that it was served with a cup of Borsch next to it. I had never had Borsch before and the reason for this is that I don’t really like beetroot. Anyway, I still tried it but only a sip. Definitely tasted like beetroot. The Croquette was different to how I expected it to be but it was very nice. It had a crispy outside and inside was soft and cheesy with little pieces of mushrooms inside. It also had a strong pepper flavour.

After finishing our entrée we didn’t have to wait long for our main meals to come out. My Pierogi came out first and my immediate reaction was to pick up the little dumplings and eat them with my fingers. Common sense prevailed and I used my knife and fork to spread the sour cream (which was on the plate along with a salad) over the dumplings.

M’s meal appeared soon after and his arrived inside the bread roll, in the middle of the plate. The top of the bread roll was cut off so you could take it off and eat the stew from the middle. 

The dumplings were quite nice with my favourite of the two being the meat ones which had minced meat inside. The salad on the side acted more as decoration than a side salad. On the menu it did say that there were 7 dumplings that come with the meal but I had closer to 12! Needless to say, I got very full, very quickly! I tried M’s stew and it was ok but I was glad I didn’t order it. It was a very heavy meal with a lot of it too.

I was so full after a couple of the dumplings that I stopped eating them, especially as I wanted to order some of the Polish doughnuts. I then asked if I could take a ‘doggy bag’ home with the leftover dumplings and if we could see the dessert menu. Then after seeing the menu I realised the doughnuts were only available on the weekend. Devastated!

I was glad that we went to Rembrandt’s. As I mentioned before, I had never had Polish food before and I am glad I can mark it off the list of things to try. The waitresses were very nice and the service was great. The only reason I wouldn’t go back is because I don’t think the food was quite to my taste.

Pony Express O

As mentioned in previous posts, I do love my coffee in the morning. I also like to get out of the office and have a gossip with L, one of my workmates. After hearing about Pony Express O, one Friday we decided to take the longer walk and go to Mayfair Street in West Perth.

I drive past Mayfair street everyday on my way to and from work but too be honest, I had never noticed this little hidden gem and, I admit, we were actually a bit lost when we first tried to find the entrance (it is from the back, away from the street).

For those not in the know, Pony Express O is an old stable turned coffee shop. When you walk in you will first notice the fake lawn on the floor and the vines on your right, which have plastic insects all over it.

Upon walking through the entrance it is more confusing still with no clear sign on where you place your order. L and I walked back and forth between the two open doors, trying to work out where the counter was. The gentleman behind the coffee machine obviously realised we were new to the place and explained the system. We placed our orders with him (cappuccino and flat white) and if you have the right change, which we luckily did, you place it in a steel chute which is next to the barista. The coffees were $4 each.

There is plenty of seating inside with long wooden benches inside and wooden stools on the outside. There isn’t much in way of food you can purchase there, except for a couple of slices and bars. I did however notice a sign welcoming people to bring their lunch in there!

The coffee took about 5 minutes to be ready and in that time there were quite a few people coming in to place their coffee orders, some even bringing their own cups. Quite the place to be on a Friday morning it seemed!

The coffee was lovely, perfect temperature and not bitter at all. The only thing I didn’t like about the set up was that the sugar, if you wanted it, was behind the barista, which made me feel a bit awkward, like I was getting in his way!

Usually when people talk about coffee in West Perth it is all about Epic Espresso on Outram Street but I definitely think Pony Express is up there with the best. 

Greenwood Hotel

A couple of days before Father’s Day I had a call from my mum to say that my family would be having a Father’s Day lunch at the Greenwood Hotel. The Greenwood Hotel is located on Warwick Road in Greenwood, right near the Greenwood shops and not too far off the Warwick Road Freeway exit. I had heard quite a few positive reviews about Greenwood Hotel so I was quite looking forward to it.

M and I arrived and saw that my family had already been seated. They then told us about the debacle they had been through to get seated. In my dad’s words “When we first arrived there were 2 girls talking behind the counter. We stood there for about two minutes while they talked; then they just turned and walked off, totally ignoring us.  We then walked across to a bloke and asked which table we had been allocated.He then simply pointed and said number 20 over there. I couldn't believe my ears.”

My family then grabbed the menu’s themselves for the table.This wasn’t even bad service, more like no common courtesy. The inside of the Greenwood is quite nice and has a lot of natural light coming through the windows. It isn’t a dingy pub by any means and is actually quite large on the inside.

When we arrived M and I placed our order for the drinks first with M ordering a beer and a Bulmer’s cider for me. I did like the fact that they had this on tap, It was perfectly refreshing!

After looking at the menu we had to go up to the counter and place our orders. They did have a specials menu but it wasn’t really “lunch time” type foods with all the meals being quite heavy. In the end I decided to have the steak sandwich ($16.50) which was described on the menu as “tender steak, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sautéed onion and tomato sauce, served with a side of golden fries”. This seemed to be the most popular choice of the day with M and the majority of our table ordering the same.

My dad had the Eye Fillet Steak ($34.90) which was on the menu as “Grilled to your liking served on sautéed garlic and herb potatoes with broccolini and your choice of pepper sauce, mushroom sauce, a simple jus or hollandaise”.He ordered it with pepper sauce and served medium.

My mum ordered the Chicken Involitini ($33.00) which was “Chicken breast filled with prosciutto wrapped prawn served on a citrus risotto with broccolini and Hollandaise” and my Nan had the Caesar Salad, main size with chicken ($21.90).

The meals came out in a reasonable amount of time, close to about 20 mins, and the steak sandwiches arrived first. I first noticed the amount of bacon that was spilling out the sides of the sandwich. There was also quite a bit of salad inside and a decent piece of steak. This was no problem for M or my brother but I found it quite difficult to eat as it was so big. I ended up eating each item of the sandwich separately using my knife and fork. The consensus of the table was that there was so much bacon, it was really a bacon sandwich with steak. Normally it should enhance the flavour of the sandwich but it seemed to dominate the flavour of the sandwich. I ended up eating the steak, bacon and the salad as the bread was about an inch thick and wasn’t particularly fresh. The chips which came with the meal were cooked well and had a nice taste to them. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, just the way I like them!

Notice the bacon spilling out?

The steak, chicken and Caesar salad came out a couple of minutes after the sandwiches. The Caesar salad looked quite nice and fresh and had a perfectly poached egg on the top. The steak and chicken also looked good with the sauces poured over the meals. After my Dad had finished his meal he commented on the fact that his steak wasn’t very tender and thought it was quite expensive in hindsight for what he got. 

The Caesar Salad with Chicken

 

Chicken Involitini

 Eye Fillet Steak

I know my Nana liked her Caesar salad but she wasn’t able to finish it off as it was so big.

Upon looking at a poster about half way through our meal, we noticed that they were giving away gifts to all fathers. We assumed this would be given to us after we had finished our meal but when they seated another party next to us and handed them their gifts we decided to ask for ours. It ended up being a card and a stubby holder, better than nothing!

I mostly enjoyed the meal we had at the Greenwood but I think it was more the company that I enjoyed rather than the food or the service. I wouldn’t rush to go back there if I was making the decision but would go there if somebody else wanted to.