30 Apr - Cafe Villa, Leederville

Last night, we had dinner out at Leederville with our cousin CK from Singapore, who is here for a family wedding. I had a hard time picking out something to eat, but for my main, opted for the Chicken Parmigiana and a Vanilla Milkshake.

For a light starter snack, a large bowl of chips were shared. They were fresh, hot and nice and crunchy. They were quite good, good enough to forget to take a picture whilst I was eating.

The milkshake was milky and thick enough for the straw to stand up and not touch the sides. I would've liked it to be a bit thicker but then it would've been a thickshake. It was quite filling, I had drunk the milkshake before starting my main and didn't feel like eating afterwards.

The Parmigiana wasn't bad, with more chips and a nice dressed salad, consisting of assorted leaves, spanish onion and cucumber. The Parmigiana wasn't overdone and the tomato sauce and melted cheese was decent enough.

24 Apr - Catalanos Cafe, Victoria Park

Last night, we went out to Catalanos Cafe in Vic Park for my Aunt's birthday. We arrived and only noticed 9 chairs for 10 people, however an additional seat was supplied relatively quickly.

Service was a little slow to start off with, and remained that way for the rest of the night. I had to order my first drink with my food order. Plates were a little slow to get cleared away and due to the cramped nature of the cafe, we had to pass the plates along in some instances. Being a cafe, it was noisy as usual, and generally hard to hold a conversation.

But how was the food? I found it pretty good. The Iced Coffee I had with icecream was pretty good once the icecream was mixed in.

CB and I shared a tapas plate .. not sure it was called a tapas plate. It also stated turkish bread, however I don't think the supplied bread was turkish. The dips however were really good. We ended up with leftover dip and I was eating the leftovers with my knife as I didn't want to waste any.

For my main, I went for the Involtini Di Pollo. Described as "tender chicken breast filled with smoked ham, spinach and ricotta sauteed in a mustard, bay leaf and cream sauce", I found it quite delicious. The chips were crunchy and fresh and the vegetables were plainly boiled but I found them to be a good match.


I didn't opt for a desert afterwards, going for a lemon lime and bitters instead. No picture for that as I forgot.

Would I go back? Maybe, maybe not. The food was quite good, decent serves and taste wise it was up there. I tasted some of Arneeah's sausage entree and some of CBs salmon pasta dish and both were rather nice. However, the service and the noisy atmosphere makes it not the best place to eat and chat...

19 Apr - Shimizu Grand, Floreat

Last night, Ants, Gaz and I went for a feed in Floreat at Shimizu Grand, a Japanese buffet restaurant. I can't remember the last time I had eaten at a buffet, but I had prepared myself for a smashing by eating lightly the entire day.

We arrived about half an hour early, but were able to get our table anyway. The place was full of Asians, but not Japanese, however, due to the layout of the buffet area, a lot of pushing/shoving and elbows were used to manoeuvre around the area. We were not seated in the most optimal of areas, away from the buffet and right next to the toilet entrance. Thankfully, no wafts from the toilet were experienced during our time at the restaurant.

The pictures I took are fairly lousy, due to my camera phone and it's shittiness in low light. Here's what I ate:

Round 1: California Roll and Tuna sushi, Gyoza, Japanese Curry, some colf seared beef and some salmon sashimi.

Round 2: Salmon, Prawn and Unagi nigiri sushi. A little more salmon sashimi. Teriyaki Chicken and some beef of some sort (I forget). Two spring rolls (not very Japanese).

Round 3: Chicken Katsu, a few more bits of nigiri sushi, Gyoza, more cold beef and some Japanese coleslaw.

Round 4: Whilst grabbing Round 3's stuff, some tempura and teppanyaki beef were delivered to our table. I chomped on some tempura prawn and vegetables and had some beef. The other guys had the rest.

Round 5: We had a little break, drinking tea and talked for half an hour or so. Before desert, I touched up some more Katsu and cold beef.

Round 6: Frozen cheesecake, strawberry cake and Black Forest cake. And a piece of rockmelon.

During the meal, I had quite a bit of tea and 3 bowls of miso soup.

How was the experience? The food was a little hit and miss. I guess that's due to the buffet nature of the place (I quite like Shimizu Harbour Town, although expensive). Highlights for me were the sashimi and sushi (they were quite fresh, but a little slow to get restocked), the miso soup was decent (and endless) and the katsu chicken was good (provided you got it relatively fresh). I'm a bit disappointed there was no karaage.

I would go back, but not so soon. I definitely overate and after going to GJs in Leederville afterwards for a coffee and some water, I was very uncomfortable. Even lying in bed when I got home, I was uncomfortable. Definitely have to eat less and savour the food more next time.

18 Apr - The Roasting Duck Restaurant, Northbridge

Last night, CB and I were in Highgate/Northbridge to see an "amateur" comedy night held at the Brisbane Hotel. Before however, we went to grab a bite to eat in Northbridge, which was only a short walk away.

I originally wanted to go to Good Fortune, after eating there once for lunch. I was really hankering for some roast duck, char siu and rice, however once we got there, the line was out the door, and we didn't have enough time to wait around.

Instead, we went to The Roasting Duck, which was only up the road. These guys also have roast duck and char siu, however it seems that their restaurant at night doesn't serve it :-( Instead, we opted for a couple of dishes, steamed rice and some Chinese tea.

The two dishes we chose were 'Garlic King Prawns' and 'Chicken fillet and vegetables'. They were relatively simple tasty dishes, the only downsides was the near raw onion in the prawns and the rather large prices. But in the end, we finished our meal with enough time to spare to get back to the hotel and grab a seat. There were four acts in total, with the first ones being a bit shizenhouzen and the last couple being the best.

18 Apr - Shimizu, Harbour Town

I probably shouldn't have had Shimizu today, since I'll be going to their buffet version in Floreat tomorrow night, but I couldn't resist some deep fried chicken goodness.

It was good as usual, I wonder if they'll have it in the buffet .. I'll be stocking up if they do. Unfortunately, this one was a little cold by the time I got to it, since I was talking to wagg on the phone. But it was still tasty and went down quickly.

7 Apr - La Porchetta, Morley

Last night, I had dinner out at La Porchetta as it was CB's sister's birthday. In the pizza mood, CB and I shared a couple of pizzas. In typical La Porchetta style, the pizzas came out 5 - 10 minutes before everyone else got their meals from the kitchen, so we finished before everyone else.

The two pizzas we shared were the Antipasto and Rocky's Special.

Rocky's Special - "Slices of tomato, mozzarella, tuna, marinated seafood, basil, olive oil on a tomato sauce base."
Verdict - The pizza was pretty bland, there was hardly any tuna or marinated seafood.

Antipasto - "Marinated artichokes, eggplant, semi-dried tomatoes, olives, capers,
mushrooms, zucchini, mozzarella on a tomato sauce base."
Verdict - Too salty, due the the sheer amount of capers on the pizza. I thought I'd give it another shot since CB loves this pizza, but yeah, way too salty for me.

Next time I'm at Porchettas, I'm gonna go for a normal main... I think last time I had the chicken which wasn't bad.

7 Apr - Fujimore

I feel ripped off. $7.50 and I only got 5 bits of chicken! It used to be a dollar cheaper and more chicken! The standard of the food was the same, but yeah, not happy jan. This will be one of the last times I eat here anyway as the office is moving soon...

6 Apr - Welcome Inn Teahouse

Today we had dim sum at Welcome Inn in Northbridge. The food was as usual, however it seems that the serving sizes are smaller (the squid was definitely smaller), and I think prices are higher since the last time we ate here. It was busy as usual, but luckily we had a booking and didn't have to wait outside at all.

Sorry, no food pics, too hungry and too hard to take pics of everything. But I ate most of the things I've eaten before ... fried squid, chicken feet, siew mai, chee cheong fun, potsticker dumplings, spare ribs with black beans, various dumplings etc. For sweets, I went for a mango pudding, which turned out to also have coconut. It wasn't bad, but I much prefer sago and will have that next time again...

4 Apr - Tony Romas, near Woodside Plaza

CB and I hadn't been out for dinner together in awhile, so I asked if she wanted to go somewhere on Friday night. After awhile, it was decided to give Tony Romas a try, which is located next to the Woodside building, between Hay St and St Georges Terrace.

We arrived and waited about 5 to 10 minutes for a table. CB had tried to book earlier in the day, but was told only groups of 10 or more could book. I'm not sure if it's always going to be like this or not, hopefully it's just for the opening phase.

For starters, we shared two dishes. One was half an onion loaf, effectively breaded onion rings, deep fried and clumped together and served with some special mayonnaise. Apart from being a little greasy, it was pretty good, I think anyone who likes onions (and I am the first to put my hand up) will love this dish.

The other starter we got were some 'Fiery Wings', served with a blue cheese sauce. The wings were breaded and deep fried, then the sauce was put on. They weren't bad, but weren't that good either. Heat wise, it would've been white man blasting, but for us, it was a mild tingle.

The blue cheese sauce wasn't as strong as say "Meat and Wine Co's", so I had a little bit more of the sauce than I originally had intended to.

For my main, I went for a full rack of Original Ribs, with some coleslaw and a baked potato.

I chose the baked potato for something different, other options included mash, fries or corn on the cob. It was loaded with spring onions, bacon, cheese, butter and sour cream, despite me asking for no sour cream. But there wasn't a lot of it in there (I was expected a heap, which is why I asked for it without), so I didn't kick up a fuss. The potato was really really good. The skin was nice and firm, the inside was smooth and silky. Must be the type of potato, I haven't seen them in supermarkets, might have to try the markets or a fruit and veg shop.

The coleslaw was a bit average, the dressing was not strong enough... however..

The ribs were what I had come for. They were quite good, very smokey, little sweet and fall off the bone tender. I'm not sure if I was as blown away as "Meat and Wine Co's", but still, I'd go back for these again.

Just a little photo of everything smashed...

I would definitely go back to Tony Romas. Maybe in a few months when they've sorted out their service issues. There were a few hiccups along the way in terms of service, but coz they've only been open for only a few days, I'm willing to go for another shot.

One thing I did notice though, that the prices did not include GST on their menus .. a bit dodgy if you ask me...