Chi Restaurant, Victoria Park

It’s been awhile since we found the time to make something special, or cook for that matter! I’ve been in and out of Perth again in the last weekend, so that threw any inclinations to cook or bake out of the window! Our routine has also been a bit topsy turvy lately and my poor hubby had to fend for himself because there was no one to cook for him!

Anyhow, it explains why we’ve been eating out a lot!

Chi Restaurant is another one of those restaurants which we frequent, especially when we’re in the area and in the mood for EasyWay Bubble Tea. We decided to go to Chi after a game of squash, and also because we have a few vouchers to use there. Yes, the asians in us are out in full force that week, trying desperately to use up the Entertainment Book Vouchers!

Just a note to remember to book ahead with Chi (especially at night), because they few times that we tried going there without a booking, we had to be turned away. Having said that, we were quite surprised when we did make a booking for lunch for 1pm on a Saturday, the restaurant was quite empty.

There were 7 of us that day, and we were quite hungry after that game so we ordered 5 dishes. There’s a formula that we used to use to work out how many dishes to order in a Chinese Restaurant that would be enough to share around the table, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was! But this is a little snapshot of our orders…and I had no complaints about any of them – they tasted great.

Our orders:

1. Spinach with Century Egg and Salted Fish

2. Golden Spicy Pork Ribs

4. Combination Seafood with Tofu Hotpot

Our token hotpot dish – we always tend to order these when we dine in chinese restaurants – maybe because of the asian in us who will try to combine as many things as possible in one dish, therefore making it more value for money! In this hotpot we have servings of seafood, tofu and seasonal vegetables, all cooked in a tasty sauce which you can eat with rice alone..

5. Chilli Pepper Tofu

The whole chilli pepper ordering craze for us, I think, started here in Perth – I don’t think I have ever ordered anything back home that is chilli pepper! It’s yummy though and I think you can’t go wrong with chilli pepper anything – chicken, pork, squid! Crunchy, salty, slightly spicy on the outside and juicy on the inside – mark of a good chilli pepper dish..yumm

5. Steamed Herbal Chicken

Oops..I think I forgot to take this dish! But anyway, when we first ordered this dish, we thought that it would come in a form of a “paper bag” where the chicken will be cooked. But it was steamed chicken with a herbal sauce (which was quite nice) – the chicken was cooked well and it was tender..just the way I like it!

Overall, our experiences at Chi Restaurant have always been positive (unlike its’ Perth City counterpart which I hear has closed down). The waitstaff have been friendly and the food has always been prompt and delicious and with our vouchers in hand, we will be sure to come back for more!

 

Ohnamiya (Applecross)

Apologies for neglecting the blog! I have been away for about a week in the land of culinary delights – aka Melbourne 🙂 So I have been busy working, eating and obviously, not much blogging…but here I am! Since I have been away, I obviously haven’t been baking/cooking very much – so stay tuned for Sammy’s chronicles because she has been cooking up a storm lately!

We have also been eating out quite a bit because it is MAY 2011 which heralds the end of the Entertainment Book 2010-2011!! If you have one sitting pretty on your bookshelf, and if you’re kiasu and Asian like us, it’s time to dust it off and tear out all the ones that you want to use because you have exactly one more week to use it!!

Which is what we’ve been doing 😛 We’ve been busy tearing out coupons and using the ones that we have somehow saved until the last minute. Ohnamiya was one of the places that we often frequent, but somehow never used the voucher…hmm, we need to stop hoarding our vouchers and actually use them!!

A few of us went to Ohnamiya on Friday (yes, in the pouring rain!). Ohnamiya Japanese is located in Applecross and can be quite unassuming. Walking in, you can choose to either order at the counter for takeaway or be seated to be served (make sure you have your whole party!) and you can choose from a range of basic Japanese food (Katsu, Teriyaki, Karaage etc) set out in different boxes (Bento box, Rice box, Sushi Rice box, Salad etc). We often come here for cheap, quick and good dinners and I like the variety that they have. Also, we get great service from a team of very polite staff which doesn’t hurt as well! 🙂

So, I ordered Chicken Karaage in a Rice Box (comes with a side of salad and pickles), I liked it- one of the better ones I’ve tasted, chicken was tasty, the batter was crispy and goes so well with the rice – I especially love the toppings on the rice!!

The others ordered Prawn Katsu (and I can’t remember what Deb ordered!) both in a Sushi Rice Box, also came with sides of salad and pickles. Deb says she loves the sushi rice – and that definitely says something!!

Esthey also ordered Salmon sashimi which was nice and fresh – if only it was a little bit thicker! But I remember that the wasabi was really good 🙂

Once again, Ohnamiya didn’t disappoint and there is a reason why we always come back here. With the Entertainment Voucher (which gives you 50% off the total bill up to a value of $6.00) we saved some money too! Thinking back, with the howling wind and the weather outside, it would have been good to have an udon instead…oh well! I’m sure we’ll be back, and I think I know what my next order will be!

*All credits of the photographs go to Deb*

 

Jus Burgers, Subiaco

Many other blogs have written about Jus Burgers in Subi, Northbridge and Leederville – so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here – but just letting you know what we think is GREAT in Jus Burgers 🙂

I think our group of friends are frequent diners of Jus Burgers (especially the one in Subi) – mainly because of the distance to church and also how it instantly hits the spot of any onion ring cravings 🙂

Jus Burgers has quite an extensive menu and drinks that are made on the spot. I’m thankful for the Grommit sized burgers (smaller in size and comes with a side of chips) because I’m always too full after eating a normal sized burger. But that’s just me and hubby wallops the whole burger without thinking much about it :p

We’ve tried quite a few burgers but I always return to the Wagyu Beef burger (with Wasabi Mayo). It’s me and hubby’s favourite!! The beef pattie is cooked to perfection and paired with the hint of Wasabi – tasted soo good. The other burgers are not much to shout about however.

If you DO want to shout about something involving Jus burgers – it’s their onion rings with aioli!!!

The batter is crunchy, the onions are sweet and tender. And when you eat it with the aioli it’s a match made in heaven!! Ok, not quite but I’m craving them big time now!! So next time when you’re there don’t bother with the chips, go straight to the onion rings!!! 

 

Orange & Poppyseed muffins.. because toast for brekky gets boring!

We tend to get bored of eating toast or cereal for breakfast every morning, so sometimes I go looking for something yummy to bake so we can keep it for breakfast the following day(s). Sometimes we get frozen mantous or rice rolls (chee cheong fun) from the oriental shop to create some variety as well.

But last weekend, we visited the Subi Station St markets for our weekly fruit & veg shop, and jie went to pick up some veggie chips (of which she has an upsetting story to tell) as well as some poppyseeds.

I’ve never seen poppyseeds until I came to Australia, and they would typically be paired with lemon in a muffin/cake. It doesn’t add much flavour or smell, but it is visually appealing, and adds a bit of texture -sometimes you might bite into a seed when chowing down the muffin/cake.

So since we had them, I decided to hunt down a recipe to use them in. Off i went to Dr. G again.. oh what would I have done if the internet wasn’t around? (probably not writing this post.. but I digress!) And I found this orange and poppyseed muffin recipe from taste.com.au (they have some great recipes there! I’ve used them a few times for dinner ideas before)

Muffins have got to be the easiest thing ever to bake! No gentle folding, or creaming butter and sugar, or need for fancy-schmancy cake mixers. Just measure out the ingredients, put them in a bowl, give it a good stir with a wooden spoon (or spatula, whichever you fancy!), and put them into lined/greased muffin pans! even Becks (our younger sister) should be able to do it! 😛

So thats basically what I did. Measured the ingredients according to the recipe, and about an hour later (taking into account the prep & baking time) we had fresh, hot and fluffy orange and poppyseed muffins ready to be devoured! *lip-licking smiley* (someone sholud create one!)

 

Rendezvous Hotel Perth

Disclaimer: All pictures were taken by my iPhone so I apologize for any graininess, or if the food doesn’t look too appetizing! 😛 Once again, the resident photographer is still out of town!

 

Hubby and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary last month (woohoo! two years of bliss!) with a bunch of friends down south. It’s probably not a typical way of spending your anniversary, but what better way than to share it with friends that you consider family right?

Well, we didn’t actually plan it that way to be honest! We wanted to use a voucher that we bought from Scoopon that gave us a night’s stay at the Rendezvous Hotel with champagne, dinner and breakfast included but because they were booked out for our anniversary weekend, we had to postpone it. We finally used the voucher last Saturday,  which worked out well because it was a weekend away with just the two of us before hubby got sent off to Mission Week for 5 days where we have to do the whole long distance relationship thing again! (sobs!)…brings back not-so-good memories.

But anyway, the day started off in Claremont Quarter area , so we had lunch there and of course we HAD to drop by for more Koko Black 🙂 where we shared a delicious chocolate mousse martini. But more of that in another post to come 🙂

We checked into Rendezvous Hotel and Observation City at about 2pm in the afternoon. The concierge there were excellent and were so willing to help with my 1 tiny overnight bag 😛 and check-in was a breeze (also the state of the lobby area!).

Our room was on the 17th floor and had a fantastic view of the ocean and the beach and their Cascade Pool and Bar, and we had champagne chilling in the fridge as well (which was part of the deal).

The hotel was a stone throw away from Scarborough Beach, so we decided to take a stroll down the beach. Even though it was a fine day, it was really windy so the “No swimming” signs were up that day, which was a bit of a shame but there were still surfers there enjoying the waves.

I reckon Perth has one of the most beautiful beaches in the world – blue skies, soft sand, clean and the inviting waters of the sea! There’s just something about the sea and the waves crashing that just calms everything down…

We managed to get back to our hotel room and watch the sunset, which was literally breathtaking 🙂 Hubby had a field day clicking away on his camera taking pictures of the sea and the sky as it changes colours. It was so pretty and a perfect way to end the day. I will try and post some pictures from his camera when I actually get my hands on it!

Then, it was dinnertime! We were starving by now and since we had a voucher to dine at the Pines Grand Carvery and Buffet (Dinner – $36 per person), we decided to give it a go (even though I’ve been there a few times for lunch and I remembered that the food wasn’t too impressive). We were ushered into our seats straightaway and a very nice waitress came and explained where everything was, told us of the wine special to go together with the buffet, and gave us a bottle of water to start off with, which I thought was a nice touch.

There were basically 3 sections to their buffet – the colds or starters, the hot foods and dessert. My first impression was that the selection wasn’t huge but there were a lot of people that night, so there was a constant flow of food. There were a combination of hits and misses with regards to their food – I started off with soup; it was chicken and noodle soup, doesn’t look that great, but tastes good! It reminds me of the soups that I drink at home, I wanted to go back for more, but knowing me and my small tummy capacity, I didn’t want to waste space. 😛

The salads were alright, nothing to shout about…prawns were fresh and cooked just right.

I liked the roast beef and mashed potato (especially the mash! It was smooth and creamy, very buttery)…

I was a little let down by the other hot foods, the crumbed fish was a little soggy, the cream sauce ravioli was ok and the lamb shanks, whilst it was tender, still had that game-y taste which really didn’t do much for me. I think it was a preference thing though because a couple who sat beside us polished it up clean!

With desserts, they had a range of cakes which tasted pretty good. I just wished I had the tummy space to fit them all in! There was chocolate cake, passionfruit cheesecake, brownies and a selection of fruits. The brownie and the passionfruit cheesecake was a standout I thought and I wouldn’t have minded going for more if I could!

As a whole, the buffet was not too bad, but the food didn’t have a great selection, neither did it have the quality (with misses more than hits!), if only they improved the taste of their foods – I think that the dining experience will be quite pleasant, especially with the view and the delightful waitstaff!

We were also given breakfasts for 2 the next day and I was delighted to find that there was a hot breakfast included as well due to past experiences of being served only continental (cold) breakfast. My plate of hot foods had scrambled eggs (good!), bacon (a bit cold), tomatoes (a bit soggy), mushrooms (I preferred fresh ones), hash browns (excellent! fried to perfection) and sausages (yummy! I think they were chipolatas). Hubby took the fried eggs but complained that they were cold and a bit rubbery. They also had a coffee machine which you could select which type of coffee you wanted and even provided guests with little takeaway cups if you wanted to do that. There was a range of fruit juices and different types of cereal (which I thought wasted space in my tummy and therefore didn’t take any), so I went for the danishes instead. It was yummmy! I wished they were a little bit heated up, then it would have been perfect.

Once again, there were some hits and misses for their breakfast buffet, but overall a positive dining experience because of the atmosphere and the smiling waitresses even at 8 in the morning! I liked Rendezvous Hotel quite a bit – even though it’s a bit older than the flashier hotels in Perth, it’s in a great location with great staff making their guests feel comfortable and well looked after. I would go there again if I had the chance, but I probably wouldn’t dine there, we just might try out the local restaurants in the area…or splurge out at Hippo Creek! 🙂