West End Deli - Leederville

I woke up this morning, and thought about breakfast. We had no bread, no coffee, I didn't want cornflakes. I snuggled up to S, and told him so. The kitchen was also a mess, and I had no intention of cleaning it, since I do most of the cooking (the rule is whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes). So I suggested breakfast out, somewhere new that we've never been to before. We'd tried to go to West End Deli a couple of weeks ago but it looked like they were doing some kind of refurb, so we went somewhere else. This time though it was fine, busy but we were able to get a table straight away. I loved the vibe of the place, gritty chic is probably the best way I can describe it. Grey walls painted haphazardly, old frames hung around the place, and chandeliers made of old chairs, held together by the electrical cords of the lights hanging from the ceiling. Really cool. 

Our drink orders were taken straight away - S wanted a mug of coffee, but they don't do them. However our friendly waitress offered a large takeaway cup instead, which was fine. They came out after about 10 minutes, and mine looked great. It tasted good too, a hint of bitterness, not too milky, it was nice. I ordered a take away coffee once we'd finished as well, and I rarely do that!

We'd had time to have a look around, I liked the look of the tables and the general decor of the place. They have silver buckets for cutlery etc, which I've seen around and we have some now too (got them from Ikea, cheap as chips!), as they're great for entertaining! They gave us a saucer of salt as well, which looked perfect for eggs!

We had a while to peruse the menu, and I wasn't sure what to get as there were a few things that looked great! I ended up choosing poached eggs on toast, with black bean cassoulet and a mushroom and herb terrine on the side. I tossed up whether to get the bacon as well, but at $8 each I figured it would be too much for one person to eat! S got the steak and mushroom pie with spicy relish and salad.


It took about 10-15 minutes for it all to come out, and it looked really yummy. I couldn't wait to tuck into my little spread, and upon seeing it all was glad I didn't get the bacon!

I ate my eggs and toast first, leaving a slab of toast for the other sides. The eggs were cooked really differently, one was ever so slightly overdone and the other was underdone, which was a bit strange. I really hate it when the white is gloopy and slimy and I had some of that with one of my eggs which wasn't great. However the toast was thick and tasty, and the salt made the eggs delicious!

The mushroom and herb terrine had a blue cheese butter on top which, though I don't like blue cheese, was actually quite nice. The mushroom flavour was very rich and though it was a small serving, you don't need alot of it! It comes served hot, and tasted quite fab on the thick buttered toast, which I then used to mop up the rest of the egg on the plate. 

The standout for me though was the black bean cassoulet. That came with a big dollop of sour cream on top, and when stirred through gave the dish a light creaminess that went really well with the other flavours. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was in the beans that made it taste so good, but it was delicious. The spices weren't overpowering, and the beans were soft but had retained their bite. I dunked my toast in it and once that was gone, just spooned it onto my plate. I would order this again in a heart beat!

The pie that S had was great. The pastry was light and flaky, and you could taste the butter! The filling was so tasty and the beef fell apart on your fork. The spicy salsa on the side wasn't spicy according to S, but he loved it anyway because it tasted so good. The salad was just mixed leaves with a simple dressing, but they had used peppery leaves and a sweet dressing to counter the richness of the pie which was fab. S said that he felt really full after the pie because of how buttery it was, and that after a while it was a bit heavy - but he had no complaints about the flavour!


Our meal, with 3 coffees came to $53, not the cheapest brunch but it was great quality, so I had no probs paying that price. The staff were all very friendly and approachable, we received great service the whole time we were there, and that's quite rare in Perth really, as there are plenty of places who have to work on their customer service.


I almost left without seeing the baked goods table! They had fabulous looking baguettes for sale, as well as rolls, cakes,  brownies and tarts. They all looked fab, and if I hadn't been so full it would have been even more difficult to walk away without getting something!

I will absolutely be back to West End Deli - fab service, good coffee, delicious food in funky surrounds. Sayers used to be our go to place, but I think now its going to be a coin toss as to which place we go to, as this was just as good, without the wait for a table!

Cranked - $25 Steak Night

Everyone loves a good steak... and everyone loves a steak night. We've walked past the sign at Cranked, Leederville a million times, noticing their $25 steak night on Thursdays, and thinking it looked like a good deal. When Botanica was fully booked for their $10 steak night, we decided to give this one a go! We didn't need to book, when we rang up the woman on the phone didn't take our name or anything, she just told us to come down. When we got there, it wasn't that busy at all, so easy to get a table.


We both ordered the steak, which comes with a loaded stuffed potato, onion rings, and sirloin steak with red wine jus - an added bonus, you get a middy of their tap beer (which is Little Creatures Pale Ale I think) or a glass of house red/white wine.


Drinks came out pretty quickly, and our food came out after about 10minutes. I got the white wine, and I cant remember what it was, but it tasted pretty standard for a house wine. Nothing special, perfectly drinkable, but not something I sought after...

Our meals looked good - I would have liked a bit of salad but hey, it wasn't advertised so there you go. Our meals looked the same, aside from the fact that S had a bit of his steak that wasn't even close to being cooked. Raw as raw can be, I poked it and it was cold... Hmmm...

Aside from that, our meals were both good. S had a bit of sinew in his steak and I didn't really have any but on a cheap steak night you come to expect that. The steak was still tender and didn't feel like you were chewing through leather like you sometimes get! The steaks were of a good size and both were cooked really well (aside from that raw bit!)

The potato was stuffed with bacon, onion and fetta, and was really tasty. They didn't get stingy on the fillings, it had generous chunks of fetta, which added a welcome hit of salt and creaminess. After my last experience at Cranked, I was expecting the potato to be less than generous on the fillings as I had found with my omelette, however I was happy to be wrong!

The onion rings were my favourite bit though! Big chunks of red onion, crumbed and fried, they were delicious when used to mop up the red wine jus, crunchy and sweet. The onions didnt have a raw flavour at all, and they weren't difficult to eat at all - sometimes you bite into them and end up getting all the onion coming out of the ring. Not so here! 

I'd go back for sure. There wasn't much of a vibe there, it was pretty quiet compared to breakfast times, but we both enjoyed our meals, they were a good size and mostly well made!

Ria Malaysian - Leederville

I was hungover, but pretending to be perky and upbeat. I had spent the entire afternoon handing out brochures and menus at the Beaufort St Festival, and was totally knackered and over being super nice and friendly. I didn't want to cook. I didn't want to face a mess in the kitchen. Thats it! Were going out for dinner! NOW! I was starving. I hadn't eaten since 10am.


I didn't know what I wanted to eat so S took  me to Ria Authentic Malaysian in Leederville, because its one of the only places there that we hadn't been to yet. Their doors were open, their tables were mostly set, but we couldn't go in because they didn't open for another 10 minutes. All I wanted to do, was sit and drink some water. 10 minutes and one short session of sitting on the pavement later, we were allowed in. We ordered quickly, having the Pork Rib Nibbles for a starter. How can you not order it with a name like that?! 

These were pretty tasty, sticky bbq-y tasted just like they should, and the dipping sauce was nice - but I felt the size of the dish was on the small side, considering its $16.50. I also felt they didn't have loads of meat on them - now I know that a rib is a bone and that will constitute some part of the nibbles. However I felt that there was alot more bone than meat, and I've had really meat ribs before, but these ones weren't that meaty. Again, for $16.50 I thought we'd get more meat on the bone. I guess they weren't joking when they said they were nibbles!


For mains, S ordered the beef vindaloo (which is Portuguese in origin according to the menu), and I ordered Mums Loh Ak, braised caramalised duck, which had come recommended to me by a chef friend of mine who knows one of the Ria chefs. We also ordered Nasi Kunyit to share (yellow rice spiced with turmeric, star anise and cloves).  S asked the waitress what did "Portuguese in origin" mean in regards to a vindaloo. He orders the vindaloo ALL the time, so knows what he likes, and is well versed in the Indian version, but was curious about the Portuguese style of vindaloo. Our waitress couldn't tell us, and asked uncertainly if we'd like her to check with the chef - we said yes, and off she went. She came back and said they used Portuguese spices rather than Indian ones. Right, so were none the wiser on that front! 


However the lovely Yvonne of Red Hot Spatula Catering (@RHSpatula on Twitter!) has read the blog and has been able to clear up what a "Portuguese Vindaloo" actually means! She is a wealth of knowledge on Asian food and is often my go to person when I have questions!


"There is a big portuguese influence in Malaysian and Singaporean curries thanks to the hordes that migrated decades ago. The curries are now Portuguese influence or Eurasian Influenced (which is my heritage). So in some restaurants they will have vindaloos with beef (as Indian ones can't be done with beef) or other curries like Devil Curry, Prawn and Pineapple Curry etc..... which is all part of the Portugues OR Eurasian culture derived from Malaysia and Singapore.


Vindaloo in India is done with Lamb (as hindus can't eat beef). Vindaloo in Malaysia and Singapore are generally served using beef as the main protein and sometimes pork (more so in Singapore as pork won't be so popular in Malaysia due to the Muslim differences). From my taste comparisons Malaysian Vindaloo has a stronger vinegar taste to it, but that may be just the recipe. I personally would say that the main differences are the proteins used with a mild spice difference. Google Eurasian Vindaloo or Malaysian Vindaloo and it'll pop up predominantly beef and pork recipes while Indian Vindaloo pops up with Lamb."


This conversation has continued on Twitter with Jesse (@good_drop also has a great wine blog Good Drop), who is a self confessed curry nerd, telling me that Vindaloos originated in the Indian state of Goa, as it was colonised by the Portuguese and it was a variation on a dish made with pork, red wine vinegar and garlic. The Indians used pork, coconut vinegar, garlic and Kashmiri chillies. He speculates that it was usually made with fairly mild Kashmiri chillies, but when taken out of India, these chillies weren't as easily available and so regular HOT chillies were used instead, which is where it gets it's searing heat from. Interestingly, Goa is one of the only places in India that use pork! 


Thanks to all those who have been able to answer this question for me! I've learned so much since posting this!

S enjoyed his vindaloo, but mentioned that if we came back, he wouldn't order it again. There are plenty of places he said did a better one, and he'd try something else next time. In saying that, he finished it, and it was nice enough! I didn't taste it, so I cant comment personally on what it was like - that's something for you to judge for yourself!

My duck was nice, but not amazing. Like S, if I went back again I would order something else. It was very sticky and the flavour was dominated by spices, the sauce, thick and syrupy. I did enjoy it, maybe it just wasn't what I expected or felt like, I'm not sure, but it wasn't rave worthy. Not unpleasant, or untasty, or anything like that. It just didn't win me over.

The rice tasted how you expect it to taste, spiced, with a sweet bite of raisin every now and again. It was good to soak up the sauce from the vindaloo but I didn't really have much sauce, so mopping up of sauce wasn't happening on my side of the table! Was good rice, but Ive not often had a rice dish that wows me...


Overall, despite the fact we weren't wowed by Ria, I would go back. Alot of people have said good things about them, they are always  booked out, and I think I should try something that I would normally order so it could make a more accurate impression upon me. 


Other noteworthy blogs who have come here are; 


Juji Chews (what she ordered was far more to my liking!)
Foodie Cravings (seemed to have a similar experience to ours!)
Hold the Beef (ordered similar to us so worth comparing!) 

Cranked, Leederville (Breakfast)

This morning, for no apparent reason other than I couldn't be arsed making breakfast, as well as me deciding I'm going to try and eat less carbs (and all we have in the house is bread for toast), we decided to head out for breakfast. Knowing its a public holiday for NYD, we weren't sure what would be open. The Cabin in Mt Hawthorn was our first pick as we like it there and haven't yet tried their breakfast, but it was shut... So onwards to Leederville, where we knew something would be open.


We've been to Sayers a few times, but it looked shut (though I didn't look that hard to be honest!), and Duende looked packed. S wasn't super keen on Duende, as he's a slightly fussy eater (I've come a VERY long way with him, he used to be REALLY fussy) and the breakfast menu there is small and doesn't offer the usual fare. Its a really interesting menu, but for someone who doesn't really get excited about breakfast, its not really the place for him. Thankfully though, Cranked was open, and BUSY! If we could get a table, we'd go there.


We weren't sure if we were meant to wait to be seated, or just grab a table, so we went to the counter and got ignored for 5mins, including getting bumped aside by a waitress, and having to listen to the stressed ramblings of 2 waitstaff passing food and cutlery between them and trying to figure out which table it belonged to. One waitress pushed past a customer who was waiting to pay without the bare minimum of manners, such as polite smile and an "excuse me, sorry". Just "scuse" reached over him, grabbed what she needed and carried on. She looked stressed, hot, and irritable. We decided to find ourselves a table... There was one table for 2, but we had to clear it ourselves and put the coffee cups from the previous diners on the table next to us, which became a dumping ground for the other dishes on tables that diners eventually had to clear themselves. It was clear that today, they were understaffed and stressed out. In saying this, a waitress did come and attend to use quickly, she did look a bit under the pump but she took our coffee order, and offered to come back when I had decided what I wanted. She bought us water, in glasses hot from the dishwasher, and with my glass only half full of water. Water that hadn't gone near the chill of a fridge. Not really that impressed. Its a hot day, some cool water, at least a cool glass, would have been appreciated. 

Is that all the water I get?

The breakfast menu at Cranked is good, there's a good variety of dishes, some really traditional and some with a few quirky twists. The mushroom bruschetta had sauteed shrooms, and strawberries, as well as being finished off with raspberry vinaigrette and fresh enokis. Interesting. I ended up choosing the 4 egg spinach and fetta omelette, with cranberry sauce on my choice of New Norcia toast (I chose the 7 grain sourdough), and S chose the bacon and egg toasty with horseradish aioli and bbq sauce. Please note that the link I provided for the breakfast menu is out of date, and about half the items have been changed.


Our food came out quickly, with our coffees coming out about 5mins later. I like my coffee to come out first but hey... they were stupidly under the pump, I saw the lineup the barista had on coffees, she was pumping them out as fast as she could so, no biggie.

I said I was going low carb... but its multigrain bread, and its just ONE slice, cmon...

My omelette looked good. It also tasted good, well cooked, there was definitely butter used in that pan! It was creamy and tasty. It was a little under seasoned though, and I could have done with some S&P, but our table had none. We looked around, one table had a S&P shaker, another table just had salt. I just let it go, I assumed that Id find the fetta soon enough and that would be enough salt. I found some fetta, which was delicious, but I only got 3 bits. Is that stingy? I dunno, it felt to me like there should be more in there... When I did get a little block of fetta, it was delicious. I would have liked more. The cranberry sauce on top was interesting, it went well with the fetta and spinach, and it actually tasted a little tomatoey, which is a traditional accompaniment to breakfast dishes. I'm not sure that I would put cranberry sauce on my eggs in the future, but it was a nice addition, I quite enjoyed it. I had to carefully remove the omelette to get to the toast to butter it which was a tricky operation, given I don't have the use of my left thumbtip (sliced off with a scanpan serrated tomato knife... ouch) which made for entertaining viewing by S. The toast was thickly sliced and tasty, if a little difficult to cut through. This was partially because of my thumb disability, partially because it was a bit tough. I enjoyed my omelette, it was filling, not over sickly (sometimes they do that to me, I don't know why), rich, creamy and tasty. Id order it again, hoping to get more fetta!

The toasty came unadorned with anything green, which I noticed but I doubt S did! He tucked straight in, and ate the lot. It was generously filled with egg, tomato and what S decided was the best bacon he'd tasted. He gave me a bit and it was indeed tasty! I dunno about the best ever, but it was definitely good! I asked him how it was, he said it was fine, But the bread was a bit too soft, it had been toasted on one side but it would have been better for the whole lot to be toasted. He enjoyed it but said it seemed to be slapped together. You can see the poor quality of the tomatoes, they're not ripe and the redness should stand out against the pink bacon but it doesn't. Using anemic tomatoes isn't going to win flavour points.

The coffee was fine. I mentioned to S that it wasn't the kinda coffee that I notice when I'm drinking, I don't mention its a good coffee, I don't mention that its a bad one. I just drink it. It was a little milky, but otherwise drinkable. The thing I did notice though was that they use those annoying cups you cant get your finger through the handle. Get a bigger cup.


Anyway, today was a very busy day at Cranked, with not much else open in Leederville, as such I'm not sure they were well equipped enough to deal with a packed house. The service was lacking for sure but there was only 2 waitstaff for the whole place, and we weren't left waiting. The kitchen stood up, albeit on slightly shaky legs. For breakfast choices in Leederville this will please the whole crowd you're with, as well as not being super expensive. Our bill was about $36, and we left well fed. I've had a better all round experience at Sayers and Duende, but if Cranked is an option, and its NOT packed out like it was today, Id give it another go. If Sayers and Duende were too busy...

Duende - Leederville

Finally - I got paid. Id had no money for weeks, and I finally got some moolah. S has been studying hard for his final exams in his masters, and so I decided to take us out for breakky in Leederville. We'd been to Sayers before and I didnt fancy risking the wait, so I decided on Duende, the tapas bar across the road from Sayers. 

It was really quiet. 2 other couples in there, so we took a quiet spot on the booth and our waitress came straight out with water and asked for our coffee orders (in agreeance with Breakfast in Perth blog - big fan of them asking for coffee straight away, does anyone ever really read the coffee menu? Everyone knows what they want, straight away).

We had a look at the menu, and to be honest, breakfast options are kinda limited. They dont have a big breakfast like most other places do, which is often a safe bet if youre taking someone kinda fussy out. In saying that they do have bacon and eggs, and the options you do have are interesting.

Breakfast/Brunch

7:30am – 4pm

house made bakes
watermelon, strawberry, apple & mint salad – 13
bircher muesli – 8
sourdough, rye or fruit toast strawberry butter – 6
rye toast, guacamole & tomato salsa – 14
organic eggs anyway, shulz bacon – 16
merguez sausage, capsicum, feta & baked egg – 16
crab, chorizo & spring onion omelette – 17
croque monsieur - 14
corn fritter, hot smoked salmon, asparagus, egg – 19.5
caramelised pumpkin, eggplant & feta tart – 17
char grilled vegetable salad, couscous, labne – 15

S went for the bacon and eggs, and I chose the sausage, capsicum, fetta and baked egg. I was looking at the croque monsieur wondering how on earth can they make a ham and cheese toasty be worth $14?? Beyond me. 

Our coffees came out, they're kinda small, but they're tasty. Creamy milk, not too much froth (I always have a skinny FW - am dismayed by how often its got a load of froth on top), and nice smooth coffee underneath. I toyed with ordering another after Id finished but thought better of it.

Our meals came out quite quickly, and we were both pretty pleased with what we got. S had plenty of bacon and 2 eggs, toast and french butter. I had the same toast as him and it looked a bit stingy. I would have thought Duende would use nicer bread. It seemed to be just toasted sandwich bread. I was under the impression they used Organic Loafers bread, but they dont. They tell you the brands they use for alot of other things, Schultz bacon, Cackleberry eggs, but nothing about the bread.

Mine looked impressive, as well as being a decent serve! 2 eggs, 2 sausages, chunky potato, lotsa capsicums and melted fetta sprinkled throughout! 1 piece of toast with french butter. I really enjoyed mine, the eggs were almost perfectly cooked - the whites were a bit too runny in places which grosses me out, but it wasnt too bad. The sausage was spicy and peppery, which went really well with the sweetness of the peppers and the creamy potato. Another piece of the small toast would have been nice, to scoop up the mish mash of goodness in my little baking tray!

Overall we enjoyed our meal at Duende, the staff were friendly, the food came out fairly quickly and we enjoyed our meals. They use locally roasted Dark Star beans, and made a good brew. We looked at the menu for tapas and we'd be back to try some of those for sure! The wine list is great, though pricey, and all the bottles are displayed all over the bar, and it makes you want to drink something! It gets really busy on the weekends and our waitress told us that you should book a week in advance in you want to be seated if youre more than 2 or 3, otherwise wednesday at the latest. I think its a bit overpriced, but that seems to be the norm in Perth, so prices are standard for an upmarket hip n happenin place (Im aware that if you actually use the term hip n happenin, youre not actually cool, I accept that).

Oxford 130 Cafe, Leederville

We stopped in here for a coffee the other day after breakfast at Sayers. We came in here because I've tried most other places in Leederville and was looking for something new!

The decor is arty, funky n a bit all over the place. Its a hard place to miss because of the psychadelic wall paper that fronts the street, and one bright orange wall with posters all over it. To me, walking past it seemed like a big of a Greens tryhard - you only need one Greens in an area as small as Leederville...

We ordered a skinny flat white and a skinny capp , after being ignored by one girl, who was making the coffees, and then served by a girl who looked a bit flustered and didnt crack a smile once. They dont take eftpos, so paid cash and went and sat on a bench seat by the window. There were about 5 people in the cafe, so it was pretty quiet. We had some time to have a look around at the decor before our coffees were ready, upon which they call out your order and you come and get it a la Greens -  however with so little people in there you'd think they might bring it to your table? They didnt seem to have much else to do, as there were 3 staff on.

Anyway back to the decor... they have some tonka trucks on a shelf, and action man figurines hanging from the lamps. There was a painting of Tintin on a far wall and the furnishings were "shabby chic" for lack of a better phrase. We were sat at a pretty banged up looking table, and outside were milk crates to sit on as well as little Ikea style stools. It seemed to me to be a bit try hard, confused... The staff looked like they were a bit too cool for school, hardly any smiles, moping around. The girl who came and took our glasses was wearing a white shirt and had been making coffees all morning I assume n she was looked mucky. Covered in cocoa, coffee etc... It just felt like the care factor of the staff was really low...

The food looked fine, but we only had a coffee. In all fairness the coffee was fine, I enjoyed it and would have another one, but I dont think Ill bother going back to Oxford 130, unless I was going with a mountain of work and I wanted to be cool and do it all in a coffee shop.

Sayers, Leederville

I really dont think this place needs much of a mention... Look on Urbanspoon, 780 people have voted and 83% like it. I havent seen a place with a rating from that many votes. Yet somehow, I hadnt heard of it till recently. My head was in the sand!


We decided to go after the whole weekend of us being sick and there being no food in the house. I checked the menu online and it looked fabulously different to normal breakfast menus, which suits me down to the ground! I love it when there is more on offer than just variations of bacon and eggs, various other standard egg dishes and museli with yoghurt. Dont get me wrong, if you want some standard breakfast things, they're here, but with a Sayers twist. They're open 7 days a week from 7am, we were there at about 10:30 on a tuesday morning and got the last table inside. There was one table outside. Nowhere else in Leederville was as busy as that, except Greens. We didnt expect that at all!


The inside is cozy and decorated like someones home. Its crowded that for sure, but no one seems to mind, everyone is just happy they've gotten a table! We were sat near the window, quite close to another pair of diners who had ordered before us, and so we got a sneak peak of what else was on offer! One of them had ordered the ricotta and white chocolate hotcakes with sticky apple and double cream (from memory, I could be slightly off with the details), and the other ordered the same as I did, more on that later! The hotcakes were quite thick, about 2cm, so its definately a hefty meal! They were topped with half an apple which looked like it had been stewed and candied - it looked sticky, soft and sweet. Topped with a dollop of cream, it wasn't a meal you'd eat often but it looked good!


We ordered 2 skinny flat whites, S got the full breakfast and I got the potato rösti with poached eggs, onion jam, bacon and lemon scented wilted spinach. I went up and ordered our meal, and within 10 minutes we got our coffees, complete with a little love heart in each!

We finished them really quickly - they were very warm but I wouldnt say they were hot. They were at a drinkable temp straight away, but I would have preferred them to be hotter. It was a smooth easy coffee to drink, slightly too milky for my tastes but enjoyable nonetheless! They were all gone, real fast!


Our food probably took about 20mins to come out and we weren't disappointed! The full breakfast came with a choice of poached, scrambled or fried eggs, a potato cake, homemade beans, grilled tomato, field mushroom with pesto,italian sausage & bacon. Its alot, but its portioned so well that its not a huge huge meal.

The mushroom was delicious, softly roasted, juicy and so tasty - the pesto was obviously home made, and all kinds of droolworthy. I am a BIG pesto fan!
The sausage (wrapped up in the bacon) was also very tasty. S and I both remarked that it had a great flavour, it didnt taste processed at all and we thought it was home made as well - the only downside was, it was a bit dry. Perhaps adding more fat into the mix would fix this. But the flavour was great.
The potato cake had flecks of spanish onion and mustard seeds, and one of the first flavours I got was mustard. It could have been seen as slightly overpowering, however both S and I like mustard and so for us, it was no problem. It was soft and flaked away with the fork. It was a different addition to what was a fairly standard full breakfast - better than a hash brown anyway!
The beans were served in a little bowl which I thought was good because I dont love it when beans are spread all over the plate n make everything soggy and beany! The beans were obviously not canned, as they still had a bit of bite to them, and the sauce was thick and rich. There was a hint of spice as well as some heat which wasnt overpowering but noticable. S enjoyed them, which was a surprise because he thought he didnt like beans other than Heinz... I didnt try the eggs, bacon or bread but S ate the lot and didnt mention anything negative aside from the slightly dry sausage - so assuming it was all good!

My potato rösti was a bit of a surprise, as I was expecting something thin and crispy, however I got a monster of a chunk! It appeared to be a bit of a rösti sandwich - with the tangy onion jam in between. It was topped with 2 poached eggs, bacon, the lemon wilted spinach and some rocket, parmesan with a generous serve of S&P. The potato rösti was soft and well seasoned. The grated potato wasnt starchy or gloopy, and though the texture felt like the potatoes might be underdone they werent. I think it was a case of the chef having pretty good judgement when to take the rösti off the heat - it could've had a little longer on a higher heat to give it some crunch, as that was definately lacking, but the flavour was good. The onion jam gave the mound of potato some guts, it was tangy and sweet which helped the spuds along - it would have been a very different meal without it!

The eggs were done exactly how I like them, 30seconds past just done. I cannot stand uncooked egg white, its revolting, but I love a mostly runny yolk - I like the edge to be on the verge of going hard, but not quite... they were both cooked to the same "done-ness" and I was very pleased!
The wilted spinach had a lemony sharpness that caught me by surprise, but once you mixed it with the potato base, the rich yolky eggs and the deliciously salty bacon, it was one element in a series, you needed all of them together to make it work. It was really nice. Some may find the sharpness of the lemon a bit much, if you're eating the spinach on its own, but when combined with the other things on the plate, its perfect.


I will definately be going back to Sayers, I'd love to try their tapas style lunch menu. The whole breakfast came to about $50 so its not the cheapest breakfast around, but it was certainly one of the tastiest and well thought out breakfasts Ive had, and for that its worth the extra cost!

Kitsch Bar - Leederville

Last night my bf and I decided to go out, on the spur of the moment. He was googling places that were close by and came up with Kitsch Bar, that we had never heard of, in Leederville. The menu looked cool so we rang up for a reservation. The guy we spoke to said that they were busy, but to call 30mins before we'd get there, he'd see how they were going and they'd reserve something for us, if not to have another drink or take our time getting there. He was quite accomodating and very friendly. We got there amid a staff member telling some customers lining up that they had no table as yet, but have a drink and when a table comes up we'll come get you. Take note, its a busy place! Book ahead!!

Graphics from the Kitsch Bar website, which gives an indication of the decor inside.

We got straight in and were shown to a table. Well it wasnt a table really, it was some wood sticking out from the wall, with another smaller platform above it for putting drinks etc. The table was REALLY small... It was also REALLY dark, we needed to use our phones to read the menu, which wasnt ideal! We ordered some drinks, which came out quickly, and our food ordered were taken quickly as well.

We ordered;
sechuan peppered duck, w/green apple, and ginger salad and candied chilli
spiced green papaya salad w/peanuts, cherry tomatoes and sweet, salty pork ribs
steamed pork dumplings w/hot chilli sauce and sticky soya
serve of rice 

Our table was really small and so we were a bit worried about all our food coming out and it not fitting, but the waiter told us that the food comes out as its ready, and so more than likely we'd manage it. We got the duck and pork dumplings first, as well as a serve of rice which pretty much filled our table! Our drinks were on the little platform above, and we had no more room! But we were managing.

The duck was SO GOOD!! It was crispy and crunchy, deliciously salty peppered skin, and the meat was easy to pick off the bones. My bf didnt talk much during this part of the meal, he loves fried chicken and so fried duck was pretty special in his eyes! I let him have his moment with the duck. The salad it came with was really nice, it was nice n sharp, really lemony which was great with the fatty salty richness of the duck.

The pork dumplings were really small, smaller than we expected for $10. They looked cute though, and they had a little dollop of spicy chilli sauce drizzled with sticky soy sauce. While they were small, they were tasty, and the sauce that came with them in a little spoon was good, I couldnt put my finger on what it was, but it was nice! Just wish they were bigger!

Pork Dumplings (Photo courtesy of http://www.spicyicecream.com.au/)

The green papaya salad we both didnt really like... to be honest, Ive never had it before so dont know what its meant to taste, like but I had high expectations because so many people have gone on about it. I found it too heavy on the fish sauce, and the other elements of the salad didnt add much to it, there were no other flavours t hat really stood out, and I found it quite unexciting. The pork ribs though were really nice, sticky and sweet, slow cooked to falling apart deliciousness! However, it was so dark that we couldnt see where the little bones etc were so it could have been a danger! Would love to order it again but without the salad... There was alot of it, and considering we werent huge fans of it, less of it would have been better!

Green papaya salad w/pork ribs (Photo courtesy of www.spicyicecream.com.au).

We had a great night at Kitsch. The vibe was really cool and we loved the way it was decorated. It had a really good feel to it, everyone in there was laughing and having a great time, we found the service to be friendly and generally prompt. Our waiter was very laid back, always had a smile on his face, he had a chat to us about the phone I was using, and was generally very friendly. The guy in charge of FOH was also very friendly, stopping by for a quick chat.

Beer garden at Kitch (Photo courtesy of www.perthnow.com.au)

For another great review of Kitsch check out this great review from Spicy Ice Cream.

Unfortunately I didnt take any of my own pictures at Kitsch, because we were planning on heading out later on and I didnt want to take my SLR out with  me. I wasnt going to bother using my phone to take pics because it was simply too dark for my phone to capture any kind of quality image. So I used others that I found on the web and have given full credit for all of them.

The Garden, Leederville

After a long drive from my home town 3 hours away, and moving house the previous Thursday, S and I couldn't be bothered cooking dinner last night... Half the kitchen is still in boxes, we have forks and spoons, but no knives... too hard basket. The answer? The Garden, Leederville.

Ive been there before for drinks, but never ate anything before, and when we checked out the menu we were happy to see a tapas style selection, which were fans of. We were planning on going to Duende, but its shut on sundays...

At about 5:30 it was pretty busy, but we managed to snag a pretty decent spot on bar stools next to the restaurant. There were no menus or anything on the table so S went hunting for one and came back 5mins later. There were some nice things on there, and the headings were cool - Garden Deli, Small Things, Things in Bread, Pizza, Salady Things... It also had a wine list on the back, and a section on the food menu with their pitchers of cocktails made with Belvedere Vodka Fruit Macerations, all $35 - $45. We drove there so didnt get one, but the Pimms Pitcher appealed to us - Pimms, fresh lime, lemon, orange, cucumber, mint, dry ginger and lemonade. Yum. One for a hot saturday arvo. With a taxi home!

S went up to the bar and ordered (it sounds like he was doing all the work - he was. He owed me, I did all the leg work at the last place we went!), and we decided on the "garden variety of small things" and a pizza, topped with sausage, potato and rosemary ($20). He got himself a James Squire Sundowner Lager, and I started off with the Mazza Temperanillo from Donnybrook. Interestingly, the menu has prices for everything aside from the beer - which only shows the percentage of alcohol? Other things we liked on the menu were the Garden Farmhouse Cheeseboard ($30) with fig and pear relish, lavosh, green apple and a daily selection of cheeses, as well as mixed spiced nuts ($5), chorizo, piquillo pepper and fresh basil pizza, and the chicken, pancetta and ranch dressing pizza. The little nibbly things looked great - it turns out theyre all on the tasting plate so Ill talk about those soon!

We got a little garden bucket with a chalkboard on it, with our name on it and a table number, inside it held our napkins and cutlery as well as another menu. Was a cute touch, but sometimes I think it might be a bit difficult for the staff to see them? We liked it anyway!

We got the tasting plate first, with 4 little ramekins of goodness on a wooden board, and long bamboo skewers to eat with (fear not, there were knives and forks in the bucket!).

On it were (which can all also be ordered individually, for $10 each);
Braised meatballs w/spicy tomato relish
Brie & broccoli arancini w/ tomato chutney
Grilled chorizo, fresh parsley and lemon, and
Salt cod and potato croquettes w/ chipotle aioli.

Again, a little disclaimer - pics taken with my HTC Desire phone... not the greatest quality when its dark. Bear that in mind when looking at the pics of the food!

The meatballs were piled up, covered in a tomato sauce, with parmesan. They were pretty good, I had no real complaints about them. However I wouldnt order them, because I felt like they werent really special enough to order when going out. I tend to order things I wouldnt make at home, and these I just felt I could have made, easily. Nice, but nothing special.

The chorizo was exactly like it said on the packet. Slices, grilled, with a wedge of lemon. If you like chorizo you'll enjoy it! We found it to be really tasty chorizo, a little spicy and juicy. Some chorizo I find is just not as nice tasting as others. This was a good one.

The brie and brocolli arancini were good. Crumbed and fried balls of risotto always go down well when they're hot! Dipped in the tomato chutney, they were tasty morsels. You could really taste the brocolli. S, who doesnt really love brocolli OR cheese, had a bite and didn't mind them, which is a pretty good sign! They had a pretty creamy texture, as youd expect from both brie and risotto. I enjoyed them, and I ate most of them as S found other things he liked more!

Ive never had salt cod before, so mixed with potato in these little croquettes was a first for me. The flavour of the cod was very mild, S didnt even realise there was fish in it, and I could only just pick it up. A good thing to have for the transition from vegetarian to omnivore perhaps! The potato was creamy and soft, no lumps! The salt cod pieces were really small - like I said it had a really mild flavour so dont order it thinking its going to be really fishy. Again, I enjoyed them, and they actually gave me some inspiration to make them myself at some stage, but with salmon or tuna instead.

The pizza came out about 5mins after the tasting plate, and S got stuck straight in. The sausage on it wasnt sliced as I had expected, rather chunks of sausage meat, torn into bite sized pieces. The base was really nice, however we both felt that because of the chef being a bit heavy handed with the sauce and cheese, the base wasnt able to crisp up nicely. It was pretty cheesy, and it wasnt a really tasty cheese, so it was quite a heavy pizza. The hit of rosemary was a welcome respite from the bland cheese and the same sauce as what we'd gotten on the tasting place (there was a strong theme of tomato sauce/chutney/pizza base sauce which tended to taste very similar), as it gave a hit of flavour. In saying that, it wasnt a totally unpleasant pizza to eat - but it certainly wasnt the best Ive had, and it has the potential to be much nicer should the base improve.

We still felt a bit peckish, or maybe we just saw how nice the chips looked... so we went and ordered a serve of chips that we didnt need, but wanted. They came out after about 10minutes, and it was a huge serve! Considering they're $9.50 you would expect a decent size. We werent disappointed. They came in a metal colander, with a newspaper style lining. Cool presentation, however I cant help but think of the paper wasted, just for the purpose of a nice looking plate of chips. In any case, we couldnt finish them, and ended up heading off for a wander around the streets, followed by a stop at il gelato for some delicious lemon sorbet!

The vibe at the Garden is nice, I like it there. There are loads of tables all over the venue, it caters well to groups as well as only a couple of people. We found the music too load in some areas for a conversation which seemed weird as it was a sunday afternoon n theres no dance floor... We'll definately come back, as we didnt get to see the dinner menu (everything we ate was on the bar snacks menu - which is pretty extensive).

All in all an enjoyable experience, best enjoyed on a sunny afternoon with drinks and friends!

UPDATE
We went here again for drinks on saturday night at about 10pm after a meal at Kitsch Bar. It took 25mins to get served at the bar, and while waiting I decided that I was NOT going to go back to the bar for another drink, so I ordered a Belvedere Vodka jug, of the Starburst variety. It had Belvedere orange vodka, aperol, cranberry juice, grapefruit juice and soda water, with a squirt of lime juice, some oranges and lemon. It was pretty nice, but for $45 I kinda wanted more than 3 shots of vodka and one of Aperol.......... hmm.... We couldnt have a very good conversation, because the music from the Leederville Hotel next door was so loud. Im pretty sure that I wouldnt be heading back to the Garden on a saturday night, not really my style of place!

Jus Burgers - Leederville

It was a rainy friday afternoon. My bf and I had just gone and gotten the keys to our new house, wandered around, had a look, taken some measurements and then realised we were hungry. Even better, we now live 10minutes from Leederville. After a wander, I dragged him to Jus Burgers. I've been before but he hadnt, and I had a hankering for a good burger (again!). He liked the look of quite a few things, so we decided. Jus Burgers it is!

I went and grabbed a seat while he ordered. The thing with this place is, its TINY. It doesnt take bookings, and you have to line up. Rain, hail or shine, people will line up for these burgers. We got lucky and didnt have many people in the line, but the fact that a few people showed up spurred us on to get organised! We didnt wanna wait any longer than we had to... So I found us a seat against the wall looking at the space opposite, covered in a huge graffiti style mural. The place has a funky vibe, and the staff were friendly and not too cool for school, which happens alot in places like this.

Its difficult for either of us to go past a burger with beetroot in it, so we both went for the Mullet burger - partly for the name! Its got bacon, cheddar cheese, beetroot and a free range egg, topped with a char grilled Amelia Park beef patty (other accolades include being MSA approved, and hormone free). We ordered a side of chips and the spanish slaw, with sherry vinegar, honey and smoked paprika dressing.
These burgers are big. They come skewered with a steak knife, partially to keep it together when they're bringing it to you. This is not first date food. Im very lucky Im in a secure relationship and were past impressing each other. This got messy. Neither of us could take an initial bite for the ridiculous height of the thing, I had to resort to cutting mine in half, bf actually used his knife and fork. Juice everywhere. The bottom of my burger bun was bright pink from the beetroot. It was friggen delicious. We didnt talk much...

Ill admit the photo isnt of our visit, rather c/o the Spend it in WA blog, I didnt have my camera... so have had to troll the net for a substitute. These pics so the actual product you get served justice. They dont look that much different... Im always relieved when I hear a band live, if they sound just as good as what you hear from the studio. Same with food. A doctored pic, set up to look appetizing and appealing, is only any good if the product you end up with is similar. In the case of Jus Burgers, you do get what the promo pics show you.

The sides we ordered came out pretty fast. The chips were good, crunchy, salted, good portion size. The slaw would have been nice, however it was full of coriander and I hate coriander. This is normally fine, but it wasnt mentioned on the menu, which ruined it for me really. If I had've seen it had coriander in it I would have ordered something else, so I barely touched it. Bf wasnt sure he liked it either. Im not too sure about the addition of the smoked paprika either, Im not sure it did it for me, but to be fair I didnt give it a good crack, due to the evil green herb.

I ordered a chocolate shake, made from Bannister Downs chocolate milk, which was thick and rich. This is local milk which is FAB - we buy it regularly, their Cafe au Lait flavoured milk is also great. This leads me to another plus at Jus Burgers, theyre proud suppliers of local produce. The menu tells you where all the meat comes from, and the milk. They use free range eggs, and Australian oils. Its all on their menu, and they're vocal suuports of the Buy West, Eat Best campaign. They have great vegetarian options as well as a range of sides and sauces to make your burger how you want it - check out their menu. Boerworst, kangaroo, chicken... truffled chicken parfait?! Fancy pants or basic, you'll find it.

The food here is great, we both loved our burgers, even though they were stupidly huge and messy. I love that they're promoting local WA produce. Go there. Go early or line up!