Cross apples & Japanese food

Hold on a minute, I haven't yet covered any Jap food stalls in Perth yet have I?

Bother bother, getting a recommendation from a friend, we decided to pop by Applecross to check out a Japanese food stall. I wonder how the name Applecross originated? Like.. perhaps they had a farmer who grew very angry apples.

..or not.

Anyways, this place is fairly small, yet fully packed with a long waiting line for takeaway. It's got a good variety of dishes but the creativity is in that you could choose a main dish (eg. Katsu) and there are 5 sets which you could choose from. So you could have set A which comes with a soup and rice or set C which comes with 8 pieces of sushi or set D which is like a bento. I'm sure you get the idea.



Aah, this is the bento, which comes in a box for you to take home. Just kidding, you can't take it home, although my friend did.




What's in it? You've got fried tofu, a sesame chicken salad, sliced up vegetables with some dressing, two pieces of sushi and your main dish.

To rate what's best, I'd say the tofu; with a nice crispy outside, soft innards and tastily drenched in sauce. The sushi is surprisingly good too; of course, not Singapore-styled but more OZ-styled, that is, a little sweet overall.Sorry, didn't try this main course which was the teriyaki beef.



What I did have was the chicken katsu. It didn't come in a large chopped up chicken piece but in small nugget-like pieces, which I wasn't really enthusiastic about, and they were kinda oily. I loved the sushi though (in a sweet kind of way).



But on a lighter note, the teriyaki salmon was awesome. Soft yet tasty, a pity the portion was a little bit small.

Did I also mention that they have free flow green tea? Not something you can commonly find in OZ.

Overall, the price is a little higher than average (thinkg 14-16 for the bento set), but the food is not bad and definately worth a visit.

Muscle spasms

I'm seriously trying very hard not to cringe while typing every letter of this post. Oooh... my forearms.. Thing is, yesterday I spent like 3 hours squeezing and gripping and pinching and the bottom line is, I was hanging on for dear life.

Ah comon, it's only rock climbing. Only my ass, now even my back is sore.. And when you have a fear of heights, you look down halfway up and you feel like peeing.



I've never done rock climbing before but it was hell load of fun. Of course, it's necessary that you risk yourself looking like a spastic idiot with muscle spasms while trying to drag yourself up that wall. Well, at least I think that's what I look like.

All in all, you get a fantastic workout; basically your arms, fingers, legs and face doing all those expressions and it's only 13 dollars! (Well, student price, sorry!) If you need a harness it'll be an extra 5AUD and an extra 6AUD for shoes as well.



This is what it looks like; a pretty huge place actually, and loads of people!



I sure am going this Sunday too, anyone wanna come?

If you're interested, check out www.rockface.com.au

Collins road

When pictures start getting blurry, and your camera takes 10 seconds to focus, you know something's not right. Alas, I guess that's what happen when you drop your phone too many times. Well, at least you can still make out the pictures.

Mmm mm! Hawker food today! I'm always in the mood for hawker food aye? Just around the corner of Collins Road at Willeton, a small restaurant always buzzing with people having their meals.. Big meals, that is. The portions here at Taurus is so large, that you can actually ta pao for dinner as well. Check this out, the plates (some of them) are more than 30cm across! And not half empty, if that's what you're thinking, they really stuff you well.



Apparently what was recommended here was the yee mien, which came in an astonishingly huge portion and it was fairly good as well. Stringy noodles snapping in your mouth accompanied with a light yet sufficiently savoury egg sauce, with a good amount of chicken pieces and other condiments. I'd say it's a darn good deal for $8.



I had the mixed meat rice, an entire serving of chicken thigh and BBQ pork, for $8. That's a good deal! At least here in Australia. You know how people complain like how Australia food is expensive? I seriously don't think so, because you pay 8-10AUD on average, but two people can share the amount of food. Alas, the BBQ pork was thin and overly dry, the chicken was not too bad though.

Oh well, hop across to the next stall called Asian food or something and you'll find a smaller shop selling things like Bak kut teh, mee siam, satay, prata and claypot rice; very Singaporean, or Malaysian, considering how similar those two both are.




Here, I ate the best claypot rice in Perth, considering it's the only claypot rice I've ever had in Perth. Nah, it's alright; not fantastic or whatever, but tasty enough (I'm actually hard pressed to find a satisfying claypot rice in Singapore). A good portion of chunky chicken thigh pieces with lup cheong and salted fish pieces, drizzled over with loads of dark sauce and a fair bit of oil I suppose. Quite tasty, but don't think you can finish it all (too much!)



So if you ever need some good asian food, hop on down to Collins rd. On weekends, they serve nonya kueh, curry puffs and rice dumpings toos. Oops, I meant dumplings?

A picture post

Aaah, bugger me, I've left this blog half dead again. Don't place the blame entirely on me though, I've been really busy with school work!

Well, anyways, we went to this korean restaurant in Northbridge located near Billy Lee's. I'm really busy so I'll just pop the pictures up. Hmmm, I also wouldn't say the food is that great but here goes.



"Steamboat" w/ beef, rice cakes, mushrooms, sausages. (AUD13 per person)



Chicken bulgogi (Not bad, but looks really spicy/oily)

Beef bulgogi (Same sauce as chicken)

And some vegetables from the garden, as well as check out this super huge potato and watermelon we got from Canning vale market!



Potato (never seen one so large)


Watermelon ($5 only)


Cucumbers and long bean




This super small cantaloupe we grew and accidentally "dropped" is actually quite sweet.

And I've got to show you this place we have lunch at in school. It's this huge grass area with loads of tall trees and everyone just sits on the grass and lie down/relax/have lunch/chit chat. And there's a live band/DJ every Wednesday as well. It's really awesome (yes, come to Curtin).



And the view from our physio common room. Best view ever.

Poppo

There are probably lots of Korean restaurants in Singapore and even more Korean food available in food courts these days but how many are actually true, blue Korean cuisine? Well, the only restaurant I recall is at Suntec City top level and another stall in the food court of Meridian hotel. And another which I've never tried before located at Thomson road called Auntie Kim or something along that line. Don't even mention Seoul garden or Zingdo to me or I'll throw a container-ful of kimchi at you.

Let's put it this way, things are a little different here in Perth. Because of the multi-racial influx of immigrants over the years, you get a nice mish-mash of cuisines available for your picking. And other than that, most cuisines are whipped up by their countrymen. So if you go into a Korean restaurant, expect Korean chefs and even Korean waitresses, kebab stalls are mostly open by Turkish people, gotta learn Vietnamese when you enter a Viet restaurant and of course nicely sliced sashimi by Japanese chefs plus cute Japanese waitresses as well.

You what you get is really, the real stuff, except of course it may have been a little altered towards the Australian style. but it's still good nevertheless.

This little restaurant situated along the road at Perth's city center is called Poppo and is (from what I observe) a Korean-based restaurant which serves Japanese food as well. Prices range from AUD8 - 10 for lunch and around 9 - 15 for dinner. They do serve smaller portions though, like how you can order chicken teriyaki for AUD7 instead of 9 (comes with a smaller serving of course) so don't take the price range I gave as it is.



Qin ordered the spicy bean paste broth (AUD12 I think) which comes in a small stone bowl accompanied with side dishes of radish, bean sprouts, sweet potato and fish cake. She claimed that it was very rich and from what I saw, the ingredients were generous as well. Sorry, couldn't give much info because I couldn't try it, but it's pretty good and Qin said that she would go back for it again.



I ordered the chicken teriyaki for AUD9 which was really filling enough. The chicken was definitely not Japanese-styled teriyaki but more towards the korean way of cooking. Sweet sauce with a sufficient taste of wine. Hmm, don't come here if you are expecting some Japanese teriyaki chicken but since I was kinda sick of Japanese food already that day, this proved to be a welcomed dish. Plus, it satisfied my sweet tooth as well.

One more thing we didn't order but saw the next table did was the seafood pancake. It was HUGE. And it looked very crispy with loads of squid and prawns as toppings. Verdict: Ang moh who ate it said it was good. (I didn't ask him la.. we only overheard)

So yeah.. we didn't get an address but it's across the road from Macdonald's at Perth city.

Comfort food

Back to Perth but still craving Singaporean food, qin and I decided to hit the alleys of Northbridge to get our fix.

Northbridge is Perth's Chinatown. Well, sorta. It isn't as packed with chinese as, let's say, LA's Chinatown where it's literally filled with chinese people, restaurants and groceries stores. It is, however, where you can find many dim sum places, chinese tze char restaurants, hong kong tea houses and taiwan bubble tea cafes. Not to mention a good amount of vietnamese and korean restaurants and the occasional malay restaurant. It's also home to the famous Corica apple strudel and Hog's breath cafe, plus a few other western restaurants which look a little too high end for my pockets.

The place we dropped by yesterday was called Da pai dang, or Hawker place in english. Apparently it's a Malaysian-food based restaurant which served quite a good variety of dishes, amongst them the Singapore-styled chilli crab.



We had Nasi goreng special ($9) and Hainanese chicken rice ($9) which were quite decent. The only bad point with both dishes were the rice which was a tad too soggy. Other than that, the chicken rice came with a whole chicken thigh which was tender and well flavoured. Although the rice was too wet, the taste was there as well and paired with the chilli, made for a very good meal. The chilli, however, is different from those we normally have in Singapore. Instead, it resembles more like the chilli served in chinese restaurants. Think chicken rice chilli infused with a little thai chilli sauce. Slightly sourish sweet but very tasty nevertheless, definitely a nice alternative to what we usually have.



The Nasi goreng was also well fried, a pity about the rice's moisture though. Filled with juicy prawns, mixed vegetable and chicken meat, it also comes with 2 sticks of satay which were not too bad. It also came with a freshly fried chicken wing which qin said was "very good!". Plus, she said that the belachan they provided was "quite power".

I'm really glad we still have Northbridge to fall back on. Stay tune as I'll be back for it's dim sum restaurants, Viet eating houses and Taiwanese tea cafes!

Busselton Jetty

Haiyaiyai, I've been meaning to post ages ago, but I just can't seem to move my butt to upload these pictures.

I finally did it.

Oh well, here are some pictures we took over at busselton jetty, a jetty which stretches out 2km into the ocean. We caught three huge squids on lure! With a different story to each one! Hohoho, I have the time, I'll tell you the stories :P



The first squid my mum was hooked on to this fish. When I was rushing over I saw this squidy shape on the surface on the water and down went my lure and wala!



The 2nd squid was caught like normal, just casting and retrieving the lure.



The third squid was the best! I had a live bait on float and was talking to my dad when I couldn't find my float on the surface. Ended up a huge squid took my live fish at the surface! Well, I reeled it back (oh, with a little bit of fight this one) and when I was pulling it up it dropped back down into the water.

Heng ah, my squid lure just beside me I plopped it down and it whacked it. Lucky lucky!


And we got some fishes as well, mostly my dad.



I got sunburnt all over but it was worth the trip, and this was the result of our squid.

Corica - Heavenly

Forget Ritz or whatever strudel you've been fooled into thinking is gastronomically divine. The stiff pastry, the overly sweet custard and the scarce display of caramelized apples. Pooh! Don't they put me off!

Let me show you something that's good. Something that'll be worth your time and money, something worth taking an hour's drive for. That's Corica's apple strudel for you.



It's pastry is soft and flaky to the fork with an abundance of adequately sweetened custard orderly lined with soft, sweetened apples. My man, this is truly to die for.

There are several things Perth is famous for and Corica's apple strudel is among those things. Famed for it's apple strudels, it also bakes a mean carrot cake which I find truly fantastic. It is, by far, the best carrot cake I have ever taste. With a subtle sweetness, softly dense and topped with cream cheese, I regret not taking a picture of it.



If you ever happen to come by Perth, I'd advise you to try the apple strudel. After all, the first apple strudel was invented in Perth and *whispers*, you wouldn't want to go back to Ritz would you?


Oh boy, don't I miss writing these stuff.

Woohoo!

Woo!

Shiokadoodoo babey!

Cows & the melons they are

Didn't find this melons at a melon farm. Rather, it's scattered all over the place! You can find them beside the road, on empty state land etc.



These cows though, are found on a small farm 5 minutes walk from my house.

Oops..

Sorry.. couldn't help it.

My Dad

I always mention about my mum being an awesome cook, but I've never revealed my dad being an awesome guy have I?



Yeah, my dad is more than awesome. He built a business from scratch with his own hands, looked after us the whole time, and now, he has brought us to wonderful Perth.



And all the gardens, bricks seating, stone pavements, alfresco and nursery, are all made by his own two hands.

Unbelievable?

Believe it.

Our little heaven

We've got a little nursery just to give the kitchen a little supplement. Strawberries will be great after winter, and we've got all kinds of salad vegetables, spring onions, broccoli, french beans and some grape vines going.


It's winter and the plants don't feel like growing much.

But we still managed to grab some fresh salad from the nursery.

Clarity.. Peace.. Serenity...

The cool air washes over my face, as the sun shines through the clear blue Australian sky, finally engulfing me in it's comforting rays.

Then I open my eyes and look out to the fields of grass and trees, swaying with every gust of cool breeze and harboring the occasional nonchalant flock of ducks.

And I compare the past, and then the present, and finally think to myself, "This is life.. and it must be what content and happiness feels like"

Pears and Pizzas

Subtly sweetened, caramelized, soft pear slices on pizzas would be an intriguing and fresh idea to break away from tradition. Its such a pity though, that I'm not here to recommend such a pizza because firstly, I can't seem to find any pizza joints selling fruity pizzas in Singapore [except Pasta Mania which has a chocolate and banana pizza on its belt] and secondly, I haven't got the time, and creative juices in my brain to find a way to make that pizza attractive yet appetizing.



Nonetheless, I'm utterly amazed at the size of this thing. Yep, my mum brought it over from Perth along with a few other amazing things including some extremely delicious and addicting banana chips. Banana chips are really quite the embodiment of perfect chips, even better than apple crings and potato chips if you ask me & my taste buds.



Its subtly sweet with a nice crunch and the starchy feeling you get from it after chewing away really gets your digestive juices flowing.. like a waterfall. Thats right, your hand doesn't stop picking at it. But banana chips are a big fat lie, like a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing, because if you mistake it for a healthy snack, you're screwed [like me] Like they say, all good things come to an end eventually, like how I found out that those chips were deep fried rather than baked [Oh Holy mother of ..something!]



Oh yeah, back to the pear, or bear judging by the size of that "thing", I swear it will keep you full for quite some time. The taste is similar to any other pear but extremely juicy with loads of pear juices dripping down my chin when I devoured it, if that sounds gross then try not to make a picture of it, or simply imagine I'm Brad Pitt. Hey, now thats a good one right!



I hear you asking where's the pizza? It's nothing special really [hands signalling a nothing special gesture *try to use your imagination*] We popped two pizzas from Canadian Pizza yesterday and one of them was pretty good so I thought I'll share it with ya.



BBQ Chicken Bonanza! Hai! Sounds like some Japanese Kung Fu Kamakazi chicken right? Well, it sure got my risible muscle working. The pizza is surprisingly good coming from a 2-for-1 pizza joint. The dough was generously peppered with thick chicken pieces and other ingredients and extra super entizing BBQ sauce (because we asked for more). Mmm! Its good! And cheap! Plus the crust is thin and not too doughy which is such a despicable way to make you feel full. Don't get me wrong though, Canadian Pizza has got the worst Hawaiian pizza ever but they just got it right on this one somehow.



6 235-35-35! That's the number NOT to call. Or the number to call if you want pizza crusts the thickness of the sole of my Nike dunks [which are pretty thick by the way].. or the width of Steven Tyler's mouth.

Instead, check out their website here.