27 Aug - Bonsai Restaurant and Café Lounge, Northbridge

Julie's birthday this year was at Bonsai in Northbridge, the same place that CB and I ate at in 2009 prior to its opening.

After perusing the menu, I ended up picking a few items from the their sushi and "shares" menu, meant for sharing amongst others.

Unagi sushi. Japanese BBQ eel and cucumber dressed with aioli & caramel soy. Similar to the usual unagi sushi, but was missing the teriyaki sauce which usually accompanies it. Coupled with wasabi and soy sauce, this went down well.

Mushroom miso soup. Combination of Japanese mushrooms (shiitake, shimeji, enoki and portobello) in your favourite traditional miso soup. Sounded good with all the mushroom goodness, but for some reason, not as flavourful as other misos.


Fried chicken tosazu. Pieces of deep fried chicken boneless thigh fillets served with leek tosazu sauce. The chicken was flavoured with soy and ginger, similar to karaage and therefore disappeared within a few minutes. If only I got the crab balls with the chilli mayonaise at the same time...

Chilli crab claws. Golden deep-fried crab dumpling, served with hot chilli mayo. The crab was sweet and coating was crunchy, although these were smaller than two years ago.

I washed it all down with water and Gen Mai tea. The service was a little erratic this time and food came in dribs and drabs.

9 Aug - La Bella Woodfired Pizzeria & Restorante, Padbury

CB bought a voucher for La Bella from Spreets awhile ago and we finally used it earlier this month. The deal consisted of:

• Bellissimo two-course dinner for two with wine just $35!
• Grab a dining companion and head into the newly-opened La Bella Woodfired Pizza and Ristorante in Padbury
• Begin your meal with an entrée; either delicious pizza bread and dip OR a calamari plate to share
• Leave plenty of room for mains: your choice of any two pizzas, pastas or risottos
• PLUS enjoy two glasses of Chalice Bridge Wine (red or white) with your meal.

CB and I shared the calamari plate to start off with, and the plate disappeared as we were hungry (booking was at 7:45PM). It came quite quickly after ordering and was okay .. nothing to rave home about.



We both had pizza for mains and I went for the Trattorian pizza, which had Italian sausage, salami, bacon, mushrooms, red onion and parsley. The pizza was quite tasty with the cured meats, but was slightly soggy in the middle, which I don't like but have found at many pizza places with thin crusts.

After demolishing my own pizza, I had a sample of CBs Pescatore pizza which had prawns, calamari, mussels, fetta, olives and garlic oil. This was milder in flavour (due to all the seafood) but was still quite good.

To wash it all down, I had a Hahn Light instead of the wine on offer.


To finish off, CB and I paid extra and shared a "wicked chocolate terrine". A chocolate base with nuts, cherries and honeycomb marscapone.

6 Aug - San Churro, Subiaco

After CB's dinner, we headed to San Churro for some sweets. We got there at a good time, as there were two empty tables next to each other.

CB and I shared churros for two, with dark and milk chocolate.



I had a hot chocolate to myself which was too much after eating all the food before.

6 Aug - Hippo Creek, Subiaco

CB had her birthday this year at Hippo Creek. Whilst we suggested Hillaries, we were only able to get Subiaco.

To start, I had some Peri peri corn crusted onion rings. These were crunchy, but not very hot/tasty. Some rings had a citrus twang to them but not all.



As a main, I went for the Wagyu beef (600 Day Grain Fed F1 Wagyu Marble Score +5, QLD, NSW and VIC.) Not wanting to spend a fortune, I went for the rump, with some chips and pepper sauce. The meat was quite tender and although a bit overdone when I first cut into it, it got rarer as I ate along. I wasn't very hungry by this stage and struggled by the end of it. Whilst the meat was good, I'm definitely going to try a steak over charcoal on one of my Weber BBQs and compare.

23 Jul - Hungry Jacks, Beechboro

CB and I shared a Jack's pack for $15. I had a Whopper and CB had a Grilled Chicken burger. I asked for heavy onion but didn't get it. Apart from that it was typical fast food fare. Didn't need the sundae afterwards too but it was included in the pack which was cheaper than individual meals.

2 Jul - Cafe Bellavista, East Perth

Ah-Stan's second birthday celebration was at Cafe Bellavista in East Perth. Everyone arrived half an hour early so we decided to start dinner a little earlier than planned.

I started off with some garlic bread. This was more buttered toast, I hardly got any garlic aroma.

I chose the linguine vongale special. This was seasoned well and very tasty. Linguine was al dente, clams were tasty and there was the slightest hint of chilli.

To finish off, I had a cafe latte. Whilst I got my coffee in a reasonable time frame, others had to wait a long time for their coffees.

1 Jul - Padburys, Guildford

Last Friday was Ah-Stan's supplies 60th birthday. We got there on time, and mingled a bit before dinner was served.

Starters was a poached prawn dish. Prawns were poached in a sweet white wine and served with an avacado salsa. The dish was nice, although it didn't touch the sides.
For mains, I chose the chicken option. It was chicken breast, wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with sundried tomato.

We were served cake afterwards and a choice of coffee/tea. I chose the coffee option.