Emma’s Seafood & Dim Sum Restaurant, Victoria Park

Emma’s Seafood & Dim Sum Restaurant is owned by the same people who started the Emma’s oriental stores, one in Northbridge, and the other in Willeton. Owned by a Singaporean, this joint has been around for a while, and it wasn’t till quite a while later that we decided to try this place.

Serving dim sum from late morning, and actual chinese dishes in the evenings, it brings itself into competition with the other joints in Northbridge head-on. one of the advantages this place has tho’, is the ease of parking compared to that in Northbridge.

We decided to pop by this place for dim sum one day after being treated rather badly by a car dealer. We had hoped that dim sum could cool our horses down.

What may seem as a relatively small place from the inside is actually a rather extensive restaurant on the inside, with tables stretching all the way inside. This is maximising the spacial elements of this land! They didn’t make it too cramped between tables as well, which is always a plus in Asian restaurants. But this might be because of the trolleys of dim sum that need to be passing around the area during the late mornings.

When we arrived, there were barely any customers – which is always nice because you get better service, and you get full attention. *beams*

There was only the three of us this occassion, so we didn’t have much of a variety of things to eat.

We ordered the usual that we would usually order:

• Char Siew Buns
• Prawn and Chives Dumplings
• Steamed Glutinous Rice
• Rice Flour Rolls (doughsticks)
• Pork and Century Egg Congee
• Fried Pork Dumpling

The food was generally alright – definitely not the best dim sum I have tried around Perth, but it was alright :) I did enjoy the congee, in which they had put some ginger. Lovely twist to the usual ones we’d have at other places. The prawn and chives dumpling were also a highlight for me because the dumpling skin was done up quite nicely. You often see these dumplings failing in quality due to its really thick skin. Destroys the flavour inside in my humble opinion. *winks*

The service was great since we were early this morning. Once it gets frantic, it can get quite difficult to pin a waiter/waitress down, tho’ once you do, they are efficient in serving/responding to your requests :)

Ambience – well it’s an asian restaurant :)

It’s a simple place, with a casual setting, so it’s always nice for a family gathering, and with more people to share a wider variety of dim sum, in an area where there’s more free parking available – why not? :)

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Emma’s Seafood & Dim Sum Restaurant
Telephone: (08) 9470 2238
Address: 886 Albany Highway, Victoria Park 6100, Western Australia

Barre Lounge Cafe, Perth

Website: http://www.hismajestystheatre.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=49

So I met the lovelies for lunch one day, and we already made plans to go to the Somerset, but alas!! It wasn’t open!! :( Boo.

Then we walked around, trying to search for a place to just casually pop in and eat. But we couldn’t! Not on St George’s Terrace. We didn’t know what it was. Finally figured it was probably the Xmas cheer going on, and everyone just heading out for some good Friday pub or cafe lunch to catch up before the break.

Alright, so we walked and walked. Ended up along Hay Street, and walked past His Majesty’s Theatre, and noticed that the Barre Lounge Cafe wasn’t as packed as the others, but looked like a nice cosy little place for a meal.

As we entered, we were a tad confused as to what we should be doing, but was soon directed by a waiter to our table. This was followed by an instruction for us to order at the counter once we have decided.

Walking towards the counter, we noticed this nice sign. We should have known. :)

By the time we went to order, there was a decent queue awaiting at the counter. So I looked around and found this lovely stack of cutlery so very neatly arranged for us to take back to our tables.

After a short wait, we ordered the following:

• Baked Pasta of the Day
• Chicken Schnitzel
• Steak Sandwich
• Coke

We didn’t have to wait too long before the food came, and that was exactly what the waiter said as he sat us down and we were concerned about our waiting time (seeing how we’ve already wasted about half of our lunch time searching for a proper place to dine!). So excellent information from the waiter! And probably excellent knowledge of the kitchen at that. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to tell us anyway. :)

The baked pasta of the day was devoured by Miss Anise, and she was really pleased with it… I had a taste of it, and tasty it was and extremely reasonably priced for what it was too!! The chicken schnitzel was my order this afternoon, and when it came out, the golden brown colour of the schnitzel was so entising that I couldn’t wait to just get right into the meal. As it turns out, the chicken schnitzel was lovely… not too dry, and the golden brown were an indication of the frying time – perfecto. :) I think it would have been lovely with some sauce (I’m a saucy person!)… but eating by itself can be quite delightful too.

The steak sandwich (more like steak burger) came out, served very beautifully, with the burger/sandwich on one side, and a bucket of shoestring fries on the other. Brilliant idea!  It was one of those things you’d see at Macca’s where they would use it to fry the fries, lift it, and wait for it to dry before placing the fries into the ‘holding area’. Interesting concept! It just gives you the feel as tho the fries have just been extracted from the oil, and onto the plate. Of course we all know it isn’t true, but I commend the chef’s idea of playing with our heads in this aspect. :)

According to D.A.W, the burger/sandwich was lovely and probably one of the better steak sandwiches/burgers he’s tasted around Perth. (: (: so thumbs up for this! I would probably be having this the next time I visit this cafe.

The shoestring fries were a nice change from our usual Aussie chunky chips, and because it was sprinkled with a good amount of salt, it tasted beautiful. If we were to really pick on this place on one thing, it was finding about 2-3 shoestrings of burnt french fries. Not too burnt – but burnt enough not to want to eat.

Overall, this place was a lovely surprise to the really hot day we spent walking around in search for lunch. If I weren’t working on the eastern side of Perth, I would be making this one of my usual hangout places! :) really affordable for somewhere in Perth and good serving sizes!

The service was impeccable and the wait staff were friendly and accommodating. Definitely no form of complaints whatsoever.

The ambience – lovely. We found ourselves looking at the various theatre advertisements that was used back in the old days, and they were beautiful! It was as tho’ you were transported back in time. I loved it. So did D.A.W. :)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Barre Lounge Cafe
Telephone: (08) 9226 1006
Address: 825 Hay Street, Perth 6000, Western Australia

Toscanini’s Cafe, Hillarys

Website: www.toscaninis.com.au

Entertainment Voucher 09/10: 25% off (up to a value of $15)

A group of us was at a retreat in Scarborough one weekend and decided to have breakfast somewhere nearby and ended up at Toscanini’s Cafe.  There are a number of Toscanini’s Cafe around - in Perth, Applecross and Bicton.  The one we visited was located inside the Sorrento Quay Boat Harbour in Hillarys. 

Toscanini’s is opened for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is located at a premium location with a panoramic view of the blue ocean and the Harbour,  speckled with boats and yachts.  I love the feeling of the crisp morning air while basking in the warm sunshine having a meal and coffee.  Toscanini’s meets all these requirements and more!

For breakfast that day, we had:

• Lattes, Long Macchiato and a Milkshake
• Scrambled Eggs on Toast ($9.90)
• Eggs Florentine ($17.90) – Two poached eggs with spinach on toasted English muffin and chef’s hollandaise sauce
• Fresh Fruit Salad ($12.90) – Fresh seasonal fruit with Athena Greek yoghurt and toasted almonds, served with cinnamon French toast
• Vegetarian Breakfast ($18.00) – Eggs, tomato & mushrooms on toast.  Includes coffee/tea with orange juice
• Ricotta & Strawberry Jam Toast ($8.90) – Served with fresh strawberries and toasted almond

     

All the breakkie dishes came out looking awesome!  They use very fresh ingredients and I couldn’t wait to dig into the food.  I had the Vegetarian Breakfast and loved how they heaped up the mushrooms, a plus for me.  It also came with a coffee and orange juice which I thought was a bargain!  I also tried the Ricotta and Strawberry Jam Toast which was quite yummy.  The bread was still crisp even after sitting there for awhile and the ricotta/jam/almond combination was nice especially topped with big slices of refreshing strawberries.  All in all, everyone thought the food there were great.

I will definitely recommend this place for their breakfast and lovely atmosphere.  Service was ok – order had to be placed at the counter but dishes brought out to the table.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Rating by: N.L.  

Toscanini’s Cafe
Telephone: 08 9246 4406
Address: Shop 53, Hillarys Boat Harbour, 39 Southside Drive, Hillarys

***NEWSFLASH: FEATURED!!!***

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, food lover or food obssessor, the perth food engineers have made their way to a nice restaurant website, and has been described as follows:

They really get out and about Perth and ‘burbs – prolific!

We hope we have lived up to that standard. And after stumbling across their website, that place looks like a gem that we have yet to discover and will probably do so in the near future, so look out Ristretto! The engineers will be making their way there over time to pay you a visit with a smile =)

Ristretto Quote

And whilst we’re at it… Perth Food Engineers celebrates its FIRST birthday! :) Thank you all so much for your support. It’s comments and you joining our facebook group that has really kept us going (well, of course the food as well!).

Here’s to a fantabulous 2010 in which more great food is discovered in our not-so-little state of WA!

Miss L., Miss Anise & Miss Egg

Nao Japanese, Perth

A somewhat little place hidden along Murray Street, where the infamous Insan and Miss Maud’s are located, I would never have gone in to try this place if not for the recommendations being put forth by my good friend D.P.

The little place only sits about 6-7 tables inside, with a couple of tables on the outside (not that great on a summer afternoon – from a first hand experience!). So the general idea is to get there early, or be willing to just wait around for a table. Turnover’s quite fast with this place.

I forgot to take one of the dishes we ate, but describing it should be an easy feat :))

So on the two occassions I went to Nao, here are the dishes/drinks ordered:

• Spicy Ramen (made of Miso Soup!)
• Teriyaki Chicken
• Takoyaki (Octupus Balls)
• Gyoza
• Japanese Lemonade (comes in a bottle)
• Pokka Japanese Coffee (comes in a can)
• Cold Green Tea (comes in a bottle)

I thought I’d start off with the drinks since it’s easier. The Japanese Lemonade was something very interesting (especially to us engineers who’d want to dismantle every other thing we see that can be dismantled and analyse it to death). It wasn’t the usual bottle that you’d get when you buy say a Schweppe’s Lemonade… it was a bottle with a little ball that you had to push in. Once you did, the fizz is created, and then you pour the lemonade into the cup. I am not too sure if it’d be the best idea to drink it from the bottle because of that ball that’s in the way, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem. :)

The green tea is unlike the green tea we’d get in other stores. This one actually has no sugar (literally), and it tastes of roasted wheat. I loved it but Mom wasn’t too pleased with the taste. I guess it would fall under an acquired taste category.

The entrees were all up to par in my opinion, with my favourite being the TakoYaki. This is the second place in which I have found this dish… something I fell in love with in Singapore, where it’s a real hit!

What I love about the Takoyaki in this place is how they’ve made it smaller than the ones I have seen at the other restaurant, and how crisp it is on the inside. Good amount of mayonnaise served too.

The gyoza was pretty average, and it would have been nicer if they served more in one serving. That said, they did it well, with the gyoza oozing out with liquid when you take the first bite into it!

The spicy ramen is probably my favourite thus far at this place. In fact, the ramen dishes in general are just brilliant. Not having seen another Japanese place serving ramen, this is the place to go (for now) if you want a nice piping hot soup with some ramen noodles.

They have three different type of ramen noodles for you to choose from should you want to try their special combinations too. :)

The spicy ramen is made up of miso with some spice put into it giving its hot taste, but for those of us hailing from Singapore/Malaysia/Asian countries, this spiciness is probably not even enough to get us going. Nevertheless, it’s got a nice taste, and because of the sesame seeds, it had a nice aroma!

The Teriyaki Chicken is something special too. Miss Anise mentioned that they sell their very own teriyaki sauce in bottles, which probably means their teriyaki sauce is actually homemade. It didn’t taste as salty and thick as the usual teriyaki sauce you’d get in other places. Pretty damn good!

Overall, this place was a lovely dining experience. But it wouldn’t be the place to bring your love on a first date :) Good for a quick meal, good for a tasty meal, but ultimately it’s somewhere you would just eat and go, without really staying to chat much at all.

Would definitely want to go back to try their other types of ramen!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Nao Japanese Restaurant
Telephone: (08) 9325 2090
Address: 117 Murray Street, Perth 6000, Western Australia

Some additional photos from the menu (contribution by N.L.):

• Miso Soup Ramen
• Miso Soup Ramen with Corn and Butter
• Teriyaki Beef

  

Bullcreek Hawker, Bullcreek

A place my folks and I visit rather frequently, Bullcreek Hawker sits in a little shopping village along Parry Avenue in Bullcreek.

They serve Singaporean/Malaysian dishes that remind you of home should you be from these countries.

We always love coming early to this place because of how packed it’d be after about 11.30am. Yes, so bring yourself there for an early lunch so that you miss the crowd, and avoid waiting for your meals.

This place is rather small, but with the reletively fast turnover of tables (as with most asian places), you can be assured a seat fairly quickly (unless you have a big group – then make a reservation!)

We usually order the same things over and over again for some weird reason, but this time, we added an entree! So here are our selections:

• Spring Rolls
• Beef San Mee (Crispy noodles topped with gravy and beef)
• Yee Mee (Fried noodles with gravy – choose between seafood/beef… we usually get seafood)
• Seafood Hor Fun (Fried Kuey Teow, or Rice Noodles drenched in a nice egg sauce)

The spring rolls were not really to our taste, largely due to the five spices powder that they’ve used whilst making the ingredients within the spring roll. Five spices powder is largely used in chinese cooking, however I would like to think it is quite an acquired taste. From what I have noticed, it is either you love it, or you don’t. Love-hate relationship.

That said, the dipping sauce was rather tasty :)

The beef san mee is always a personal favourite of mine t order simply because of the crisp noodles, and tasty sauce it comes with. I have to say it can be a little inconsistent with the saltiness of this dish, but overall, it’s nothing I would kick up a big fuss about.

The proper way to eat this, really, would be to soak the crispy noodles into the gravy so that it’s easy to eat. But I love the crisp nature of the noodles so I tend not to do that, and just eat the noodles separately.

The beef’s a little chewy, but they do have a seafood choice available for those of you who love that. I can’t eat that at the moment, so beef will have to suffice.

Also, just a warning that the serving of this dish is quite HUGE. I consider myself as having a rather healthy appetite, and I can only finish about 65% most of the time. So it’d be a good dish to share.

I have tried the Yee Mee before and it tasted like those we’d get back in Singapore… so thumbs up!! It’s important (I feel) that an Yee Mee have a wet texture… a dry Yee Mee would fail my test immediately. Then comes the taste. Each noodle strand should be relatively consistent in its colour, and when you taste the noodles, they really should have a nice savoury taste to them. :)

One of my favourite Yee Mee’s in WA!

Seafood Hor Fun has always been a family favourite, even when we were back in Singapore. The important bit in this dish (as what momma would tell me) is that they do fry the rice noodles (kuey teow) first with some sauce. That should give it its nice brown-ish colour. Should you be eating one without that brownish colour in the kuey teow, then chances are the kuey teow hasn’t been fried first – thus reducing the overall taste of the dish!

The Seafood Horfun here is rather tasty, and has a nice consistency in its egg sauce. There’s heaps of it as well, which makes the dish even better.

Overall, we’re always satisfied with what the food that we order (simply cos we keep ordering the same dishes!). We have tried some other entrees before but they weren’t really to our liking. Other dishes we have ventured into include the Laksa (too heavy on the tummy according to momma), Lor Mee (which is braised noodles with pork slices… not the best that I’ve tasted… way too watery), Hainanese Chicken Rice (momma quite likes this one, but I have to say my heart stays with Tak Chee).

I would definitely be going back for my usual dishes, but if you have tried the other dishes at this place, please do comment! :)

Rating: 3.3 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T a.k.a Miss Egg

Bullcreek Hawker
Telephone: (08) 9312 3888
Address: 118 Parry Ave, Bullcreek, Western Australia

Some additional photos from the menu (contribution by N.L.):

• Deep Fried Squid Tentacles
• Lobak – rolls of pork wrapped with beancurd skin and deep fried until crispy
• Tofu Goreng - deep fried tofu on a bed of beansprout and cucumber topped with satay sauce
• Singapore Fried Mee Hoon
• Hainanese Chicken Rice
• Laksa
• Rice with Two Meat Combination (steamed chicken and roast pork)

      

Quite like the food here – I had the Laksa which as Miss Egg indicated is quite heavy on the tummy.  It’s a huge dish as can be seen in the photo, I had a hard time finishing the whole bowl!  The Lobak and Squid Tentacles were nice but was disappointed with the Tofu Goreng as the tofu was not crisp and I have had better satay sauce elsewhere.  Totally agree with Miss Egg about the serving of the dishes – HUGE!!

The Burger Bistro, Perth

Website: http://www.burgerbistro.com.au

With little burger pubs (as I would like to call them) opening up around WA, it wouldn’t be right if we did more reviews of them! Upon hearing about this place from a church friend (A.C), I thought it’d be nice to check this place out.

Shafto Lane has always been a place of very interesting things, and The Burger Bistro’s owners were place saavy enough to have their burgers sold in this little alley.

The inside of Burger Bistro boasts of a nice vintage, yet very modern feel, two thumbs up for me!! :) Well decorated with ceiling fans that resemble those you would see in the good ol’ days, and with nice art painting decors all around, it’s hard not to feel warm when you enter the place.

We dove straight into the menu, and found ourselves ordering the following:

• The Emmental ($14) - hand made CAAB Angus beef patty with emmental cheese our own garlic mayo and tomato relish on a bed of our usual salads
• The Big Smoke ($15) – hand made CAAB Angus beef patty with pancetta bacon, emmental cheese the burger bistro’s own garlic mayo and a smokey barbeque sauce on a bed of our usual salads
• Miss Saigon ($15.50) – Mt Barker free range chicken breast marinated in lemongrass, garlic and chilli served on a bed of mixed leaf with spanish onion, pickled carrot, fresh basil, fresh mint and hot sauce
• Belle of the Ball ($14.50) – hand made CAAB Angus beef patty with grilled field mushroom and the burger bistro’s own tomato relish on a bed of our usual salads
• New Yorker (approx. $15) – One of the specials on the board, CAAB Angus beef with old aged cheddar cheese, tomato sauce, and the usual salads
• Chocolate Milkshake ($5.50)
• Bowl of Chips

I won’t go into detail of each of the burger because that would make this the longest post PFE’s ever seen, so I will just give a brief summary of the burgers and the sides we ordered.

Everyone’s burger had good comments, with the Saigon given good ratings on the spiciness, and the Big Smoke getting its highest rating from the three lovelies who ordered this burger. And it was obvious too since they all the Big Smokes were the first to be devoured completely!

The Belle Burger looked lovely but was a tough feat to eat since the mushroom added further thickness to the burger.

The New Yorker that I had was nice too, except that the cheddar cheese was too thick a cut, and made the burger a tad dryer than it could have been. BUT! The taste was GOOOD. :)

The only bad review for burgers was the Emmental. According to Miss Anise, it was the relish that really killed the burger more than anything (a correction to my crazy talk about the garlic mayo!).

The sides were great stuff, especially the chips. Crunchy and with the right amount of salt (plus the choice of some sauces on the side!)… this was the almost perfect complement to our burgers whilst we were eating. I say almost-perfect because… really. Is there anything perfect in this world? :)

The chocolate milkshake was lovely too. It has been a while since I tasted a chocolate milkshake of that kinda taste! Awesomeness.

This place was a lovely experience. Orders are taken at the counter, with staff friendly and willing to accommodate certain requests. Service was good when burgers were ready ad the overall ambience of this place, as mentioned is top notch! Just take note that they don’t take reservations, so be there early!

Would definitely be back to try more of these lovely burgers. :)

Rating: 3.65 out of 5 stars

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

The Burger Bistro
Telephone: (08) 9485 1729
Address: 872-884 Hay Street (Along Shafto Lane), Perth, Western Australia

 

Tak Chee, Northbridge

 This will probably be quite a quick review because there’s only two dishes that we’ve tried here each time we visit!

Tak Chee is quite a well-known chinese restaurant/cafe along William Street in Northbridge. Those who know where the famous Vietnamese Pho place Viet Hoa is, it’s directly opposite! And now they’ve actually installed a new signage which makes it quite a lot easier to spot.

With about 19-20 small tables in this place, you have to get in rather early to have a seat of your choice (that’s why Momsey and me tend to be there by about 11am… which is really the time they start business!).

Their menu is quite extensive hosting dishes from Malaysia/Singapore… familiar dishes such as “Sambal Kang Kong” and “Lor Bak”…

They have daily specials as well that are stuck on the walls, so do look out for them! Examples are “Penang Assam Laksa” on Saturdays, “Bak Kut Teh” on… hmm. Now I can’t remember. Boo. Point is - look out for those signs! hehe.

We ordered what we always order when we visit:

• Hainanese Chicken Rice
• Sour Plum Drink (ice)
• Stir-Fried Garlic KaiLan (not in the menu)

The reason why we know about the garlic kailan was because of a simple enquiry the first time mom brought me here to try. From then, we started our “best garlic kailan in Perth” search, and this is one of the top! :)

Hailing from Singapore, this Hainanese Chicken Rice is the first of all that I have tried that brings me back to familiar childhood grounds… days of just gorging this fatty dish into my mouth and down the tummy… There is more to it than meets the eye. :) You might think this is a healthy dish, but it really isn’t all that healthy once you hear how the rice is done.  BUT!! That’s how the rice gets its brilliant flavour. The chicken at this place is very tender and whilst it doesn’t melt in the mouth, it has a nice tenderness to it. The sauce is not too salty which is nice, and the chilli sauce, could be a tad more sour to neutralise the oily nature of the chicken and rice, but it’s alright.

The dish comes with a bowl of soup as well.

The garlic kailan as mentioned, is one of the best we have tried in Perth! Not in the menu, you’ll have to tell the waitress that you’d like “stir-fried garlic kailan”… because there are other methods of frying garlic kailan. :) this one has a nice garlic punch because the chef actually sprinkles fried garlic pieces on top of the vegetables, making it an awesome accompaniment to the crunchy green vegetables!

So… you’re wondering what this Ice Sour Plum drink is? It’s really just sour plum with what I think is a mix between ice cream soda and soda water to make it nice, fizzy, cold and refreshing!! Be warned that when we say sour plum, it really isn’t sour plum, it’s more salty than sour, and you’re wondering how a salty drink can be drunk?

It can!

It is probably an acquired taste tho’. I wouldn’t imagine many people ordering this, but hey, if you’re up for a challenge and you like to try different things, then this is definitely one to try!

I’ve personally  been trying to replicate this drink at home with the ingredients I think they place in there, but I just can’t! I wonder what the secret ingredient is. Oh wells. Maybe that’s why they have it on the menu. They know that their drink is special!

Anyhoo, I love this place for a quick chinese meal – especially for their Chicken Rice… would love to try their other dishes but the chicken rice wouldn’t let me go!

If you’ve tried this place and other dishes besides the chicken rice, do leave a comment to let us know how they are!

Service is prompt when we arrive early, so I really don’t know how they are when it’s crunch time. Ambience – well, what you would expect in any Asian place, really. :)

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars (simply because I have yet to try their other dishes!)

Rating by: S.T. a.k.a Miss Egg

Tak Chee Restaurant
Telephone: (08) 9328 9445
Address: 182 William St, Northbridge 6003, WA

 

 

 

Some additional photos from the dinner menu (contribution by N.L.):

• Stir fried Beansprout with Salted Fish ($12)
• Roti Canai with Curry Chicken ($9.50)
• Penang Char Kuey Teow ($10)

  

Totally agree with Miss Egg about the Hainanese Chicken Rice…it’s yum yum!  It’s a must order everytime we go there, and a favourite take-away dish :)

Fratelli Restaurant, Sorrento

Entertainment Card 09/10: Complimentary main course when another is purchased  (up to a value of $35)

Fratelli Restaurant is located along West Coast Drive in Sorrento in the upper corner of a shopping centre complex.  One needs to climb a flight of stairs before arriving at the restaurant itself.  The outside of the restaurant looks pretty simple but the inside reveals a classic setting with a warm ambience.  It supposedly boasts a panoramic view of the beach looking from the inside but we were not able to enjoy such a view as it was too dark by the time we arrived.

Service was prompt as we sat down with offers of drinks and water on the table.  The restaurant was not that busy at that time so we got alot of attention.  We proceeded to order the following:

Note:  comments only on the dishes I actually tasted.

Entree

• Garlic Bread ($5.20) – Fratelli’s secret recipe, fresh from the oven and served warm and crusty
• Italian Sausage ($16.50) – Grilled spicy sausage served with a capsicum jam and fresh lemon

We were too eager to consume the food and so I had forgotten to take a photo of the Garlic Bread except for that one last piece on the edge of the plate which proved the tastiness of the bread.  One of my friend has a palate for sausages especially the foreign type so we ordered the Italian Sausage to try.  The sausages were chewy and a bit oily for my liking but it went well with the rest of the people so no complains there.

Mains

From the pasta corner, we had:

• Linguini Marinara ($25.90) – Pan fried seafood tossed with linguini in a napolitana sauce
• Chicken Florentine ($23.50) – Penne mixed with herb marinated chicken, sauteed onion, fresh garlic and spinach in a creamy parmesan cheese sauce

 

The Linguini Marinara was a huge serving and had big chunks of fish, prawns and calamari strewn through the linguini.  The napolitana sauce had the right consistency.  Great dish!  I did not have a chance to try the Chicken Florentine so the picture of the dish would have to suffice – looks good though doesn’t it.

From the mains, we had:

• Seafood Risotto ($29.90) – Prawns, scallops, calamari, mussels and fish sauteed in a perno and onion cream sauce and finished with a fresh basil
• T-Bone ($30.50) – T-Bone cooked to your liking on a roasted root vegetable champ, fresh greens and drizzled with a rosemary jus and bearnaise sauce
• Veal Sirlon: Chef’s Choice ($32.90) – Prime steak from the grill served on a potato and spring onion fritter, topped with a drambuie and porcini sauce
• Lamb Shanks ($28.50) – Slowly cooked with roasted vegetables and blended into an aromic sauce served with roasted potatoes
• Warm Chicken Salad ($23) – Marinated chicken, sundried tomato, roasted almond, feta cheese, spanish onion and mixed lettuce in a honey mustard cream dressing

    

I had a taste of the Seafood Risotto and it was superb.  Normally not a big fan of risotto dishes, I was sold after the first mouthful.  Once again, big chunks of seafood with the risotto and large serving overall.  I like how the risotto was soft (I have had crunchy risotto before, yes..crunchy and that’s definitely not a good taste) and the sauce blended well although it got too creamy at the end, we could hardly finish the dish. 

The Warm Chicken Salad was topped to the bream too as can be seen in the photo.  Generous serving of chicken pieces and veggies!  The only thing that could have improved the dish was probably the distribution of the sauce in the salad rather than having it at the side.  Maybe it’s healthier that way.

And who can forget the pizzas…the Gourmet type….

• BBQ Chook ($24) – Cajun chicken, caramelized onion, crumbled feta, crisp proscuitto and home made barbeque sauce
• Vego ($22) – Honey sweet potato, spinach, olives and goat cheese topped with chilli jam

 

The BBQ Chook Pizza was another great dish with thin crisp base and big chunky chicken pieces – very fresh and appetising.  One of my favourite dish that night.  An easy dish to eat and share as well.

After the big meal, some of us still had room for Desserts, so we ordered:

• Latte & Cappucino
• Chocolate Mousse
• Tiramisu
• Toblerone Cheesecake

   

The only thing disappointing that night was the desserts.  None of them made an impression and tasted quite bland.  Well, at least we tried them.

Overall, I thought this was a great restaurant in terms of its food and service.  A great place to try! 

They are open for dinner Tues – Sun (from 6pm onwards) and for lunch Fri – Sun (12-3pm).

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Rating by: N.L.  

Fratelli Restaurant
Telephone: 08 9447 0616
Address: 130 West Coast Drive, Sorrento

 

Pancho’s Mexican Villa, Victoria Park

Pancho’s Mexican Villa is a rather hidden-away establishment in the northern side of Victoria Park. By northern, I mean towards Welshpool, Cannington, etc.

Having heard about this place from many people, and reading great reviews about this place, good friends D.P and S.K suggested for us to go there for dinner on this little occasion where I was just a tad tipsy.

Not knowing too many Mexican places around WA, I was really excited about trying the food here.

The place is actually at the end of a little building that seemed to be a tad dilapidated with offices, and unknown businesses. Being at night, it was a quiet walk to the restaurant.

We were swift to start ordering drinks first… but because poor D.P. was on antibiotics that day, she couldn’t drink with us!! :(

S.K and I ordered:

• Margherita (with salt!)
• Dos Equis (Amber)

Absolutely loved the Margherita, and since the place itself was ravin’ about its Margheritas, they certainly lived up to their reputation and name! :) Brilliant. The salt on the rim was just nice for me too – being such a salty person by nature. It felt lovely just sipping the margherita bit by bit during the dinner. Surprisingly, I didn’t order any more than that!

S.K’s Dos Equis Amber beer was also rather tasty – something we both never tried before, and with trying to be budding beer entrepeneurs, we felt as tho’ we had found another beer to look out when we head out beer drinking! :)

Being rather hungry souls, we quickly decided on what we were to order:

• Nachos to start
• Delores (Seafood Enchilada, Prawn Taco, with Frijoles, and rice)
• Mascata (Chicken Enchilada, Beef Enchilada,  and Beef Taco)
• Accapulco (from memory!) (Beef Enchilada, Chicken Enchilada, rice and frijoles)

The nachos were something that was a great start to the dinner. We didn’t order the spicy salsa, which might have been a mistake because I was told the spicy version is actually da bomb! Oh wells, there’s always a second time to this place. :) Also, I was told of the cheese sauce that is perfect with these nachos, so to all you people going there sometime soon, perhaps ask for the cheese sauce!

The nachos were great! Served warm, with the nachos still crisp when bitten, this serve of nachos in my opinion beats the one from Mexican Kitchen hands down :)

We quickly devoured this little dish down our throats and into our tummies, then awaited for our mains to be served, which came rather quickly!

We had a little hiccup in the midst of them serving the main course tho’. They mixed up an order of S.K’s, but they were quick to rectify the situation and tell us that it will be changed quite quickly.

And quite quickly it did get changed! KUDOS!!! For efficiency and for their great friendly service.

I didn’t get to try the other two dishes because I was too busy stuffing my mouth, but the Mascata (combination of chicken and beef Enchilada and beef taco), sent me drooling for more by the end of it, despite my stuffed tummy!

The presentation’s are as with any other Mexican place because of its nature of goo-ey cheese and great splash of salsa/tomato based sauces, but the taste was definitely something to rave about. I could now see why people actually love this place as much as they do!

One thing I do see as a difference to Mexican Kitchen is in its serving size. It’s a tad smaller, but it might as well be, because you can fit some dessert in there!

And that is exactly what we did. We ordered some dessert. To my delight, there was quite a range of desserts that you can order from the menu, and the best part was really having a recommendation put forth to me by D.P.

So for desserts:

• Sopapillas (Fried flour tortilla chips laced with caramel and cinnamon served with a big scoop of premium vanilla ice cream)

The dessert came out with a nice little presentation, and I couldn’t wait to dig into it looking at the melting ice cream, and the lovely cinnamon-sugar that’s been dusted with such generosity on each little chip.

First bite – pure pleasure

Second munch – I think I can eat this for a while.

Third crunch – MmMmmMmmMMm

Enough said? I’d like to think so :)

The service of this place is quite impeccable despite its busy atmosphere. The waiters and waitresses serve with a smile and good enthusiasm that leaves you going “mmm, I like this place”.

A place I’d definitely be visiting again sometime!

PS. Do make a booking before you go because it does get really full, especially over the weekends!

Rating: 4.15 out of 5 stars (I had to rate this higher because Mexican Kitchen was given 4, which really should be lowered after this experience)

Rating by: S.T a.k.a Miss Egg

Pancho’s Mexican Villa
Telephone: (08) 9361 2135
Address: 885 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park 6101, Western Australia