27 June - The Mahogany Inn, Mahogany Creek

A group of us went to Mahogany Inn last night for Ah-Stan's birthday. After arriving, the waitress took a drinks order in which I went for my usual Iced Coffee. It wasn't bad actually, decently strong coffee with cream and some icecream.


After taking our orders, we were given complementary bread. I cracked open the still warm roll and lathed the butter on. mmmm. The crust was relatively crispy whilst the inside was quite fluffy.



To start with, I ordered a basket of wedges for $6. It came with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. When the wedges arrived, I knew straight away I should've shared a serve. The wedges were served piping hot and were crisp.


I liked the sound of the Beef and Ale pie on the menu. The puff pastry was resting on top of the beef and gravy. It was accompanied by some mash potato and a little salad. I was so full from the wedges that I left a bit of salad and mash behind. The mash was a bit gluggy and had a watery texture to it. The pie was OK, there was a heap of gravy but the beef wasn't as tender as I'd hoped and there wasn't a lot of mushroom. When eating the pie, I broke up the pastry and dunked it in the gravy. It was the tastiest part of this dish.



I was so full from the wedges and pie that dessert had to be small. The affogato fit the bill perfectly. The coffee was a decent strength (just like the Iced Coffee) and the icecream was of decent enough quality.

25 June - Cafe Nocello, Success

Today, the guys at work wanted to have lunch due to BBQ happening tomorrow, and the fact that some of them were off to another work location for the next few months. The most popular place was Cafe Nocello, so we headed off at noon.

Not really feeling like pizza or pasta, I went for something light, which was bruschetta and a side of fries. At $17, it was edible but quite expensive, the bruschetta was weird because I wasn't expecting the parmesan cheese. The chips were hot and fresh but went floppy and soggy by the time I finished them.

20 June - Sense Lah!, Malaga

Last nite, a group of us tried one of the local Chinese establishments near me. I went for the hor fun, which came in two parts, the fried wok-hei noodles and the "egg" sauce. The sauce had a gelatinous quality that I can't replicate in "my version", although I would've loved more egg in the sauce.

Overall it wasn't bad. I'd have it again, but I have to try the kway teow first. The picked cut chillies that came along were quite good too. Although some other places offer a larger serving, at least I know there's a decent hor fun less than 5 minutes drive away.

19 June - Chinese Canton, Cockburn Gateway

Lunch at Cockburn Gateway last Friday was Sambal Squid at the Chinese stall. There was enough squid and vegetables to last two servings, or one gluttonous one. The sambal didn't have a "punch in the face" kind of heat, but my mouth got hotter and hotter as I progressed through the dish. With some snow peas, capsicum and a load of onions, this was a good change from the karaage I had before (I didn't blog about it as I've had it a number of times already).

5 June - Chinese Canton, Cockburn Gateway

I was heading towards the Japanese stand, but as I passed the Chinese place, the fried food was calling me. I grabbed an assortment of fried foods, along with some noodles, beef and black bean, garlic chicken and a vegie omelette.

I thought I was going to feel wrong afterwards but I was OK.

23 May - Mille Cafe, Inglewood

Gaz decided to have dinner at Mille Cafe this year. After 5 minutes, drink orders were taken, and I went for an Iced Coffee.

The Iced Coffee wasn't that strong this time. But it went down quickly. It might've been an Iced Chocolate thinking about it, with the chocolate sauce in this pic. The Iced Coffees here used to have coffee beans on top.

For entree, CB and I shared some wedges with sweet chilli and sour cream. The sour cream was a little weird, it was like it was whipped, and it wasn't quite sour enough so it might've been cut back with some normal cream.

For mains, I went for the "valencian style mixed paella", which consisted of tiger prawns, calamari, mussels, quail, chorizo, garlic, saffron rice, chilli & peas. The rice was quite spicy but was quite good, the quail was a like duck but smaller. Whilst quite good, I was getting very full towards the end and had trouble finishing.

I didn't have desserts afterwards as I was too full. CB and a toblerone tart which I had a little taste and wasn't bad.

22 May - Nine Fine Foods, Northbridge

CB and I went out to Northbridge for our anniversary this year. After reading a few good reviews of Nine Fine Foods, I had high expectations. This place is a schmancy Japanese inspired place.

The menu offered the choice of a set menu with 4 courses (everyone on the table had to take the option) or order from the ala carte menu. We decided to choose the latter. After finding out that Wagyu was not on offer, I was slightly disappointed.

CB and I decided to share a tasting platter which was $37 for tiny morsels of food. It lacked in size, but it certainly made up in flavour. The plate consisted of:

• Beef and scallops
• Barramundi mash and battered fish of some sort
  
• Tempura prawn
• Egg omlette
• Seared tuna and
  
• Chicken karaage

Everything was small but tasty, but two things stood out: the tuna and the karaage. The karaage was by far the best I've tasted. It is unfortunate that they do not offer this on its own, otherwise I would go back in a flash to smash some. The tuna was tasty with the accompanying Japanese mayo and fish roe.

I also ordered some gyoza and spring rolls, which were OK, but nothing that special.

I ordered the steak and prawns for a "main", and consisted of char grilled steak (rare) and prawns, served with a mushroom sauce, mash potato and some greens. The steak was slightly over what I'd call rare, but the mushroom sauce was a flavour explosion! With slivers of shiitake and enoki mushrooms, this Japanese inspired sauce went superbly well with the steak, prawns and mash, and I made sure to mop up as much as I possibly could.

For dessert, both CB and I ordered the Banana Azuki icecream. The spring roll had banana, red bean and chocolate and was served with a scoop of chocolate macadamia icecream, and little diced bits of fruit. This was quite good actually, and I'm inspired to trial some banana and chocolate fried desserts.

Overall, the food was good, and the service was prompt and friendly. After discount from the ent book, the meal was a reasonable cost. I wouldn't hesitate to go back, if they sold karaage on a plate by itself, I would go back in a flash!