Perth: Food Wrap-up

OK, let's resume my report on the food scene in Perth. Browsing through my photos folder & looking at the remaining pics, I will wrap up the food stories in this post.

On the last Sunday we were there, we decided to make a trip to Mandurah, a pretty port town along the southern coast of Perth. For more pics and write-up on this place, do check my other blog - Raynebows.

There're many seafood outlets in Mandurah, but one of the bigger & more popular ones was surely Cicerello's... right at the jetty...

When I saw their menu and spotted Seafood Chowder, I just had to order this again - despite having eaten it in Fremantle earlier on in the trip. The deluxe version cost AUD13.95 - it came with 2 huge pieces of fresh & crispy baguette and the portion of chowder was very generous! The chowder was thick & creamy, with lots of fish, shrimps, squids and green-shell mussels - yummms!!

Sprinkled with chopped dried parsley and black pepper, the chowder was certainly very satisfying - much much better than the Fremantle version! Dipping the crusty baguette into it - it was more than fulfilling for one tummy!
I wasn't very keen on their Fish & Chips (AUD9.95) as it was just another of the Aussie favourite battered & fried stuff. It was also quite oily.
Although the Squid Rings (AUD12) was also another battered & fried item (how boring!), it fared better as the rings were less oily and the squids were extremely fresh! But, as you can see, there were more potato chips than squids!

LL ordered a Fish Burger (AUD7.50) - it came as 2 huge baguette sandwiches but taste-wise, I would rate it as just average. There were lettuce and tomatoes in between the bread and breaded fish.

We saw other people having plates of different looking squids - I mean, not the squid rings that we ordered. I was very curious what those were, so we went back to the counter & checked and found out that it was some kinda "Salt & Pepper Squids"... so we ordered it...It looked nice but taste-wise, it was disappointing as it was quite tasteless - the tartar sauce they gave didn't help! The squids used for this dish were much smaller than the ones they use for the squid rings, hence the smaller squids were more chewy.

Leaving Cicerello's and still with a little bit of stomach space to spare, we decided to go for some desserts at this bakehouse just a few steps away...
With a claim like that - "most awarded bakehouse" wor... surely must give it a try, right?!
The trays of cakes, cookies, pastries in their glass cases looked impressive...
... so colorful too!
So we decided to have a piece of this ... something with a biscuit base, topped with chocolates, marshmallows and dessicated coconut...
and also a piece of their Chocolate Carrot Cake... So what's the verdict? I find all their desserts too sweeeetttt!
To alleviate the overly-sweetness of the cakes, we had this drink...
So, that ends the Mandurah food experience.

Back at the apartment where we stayed, we cooked our own breakfasts and sometimes dinners as well. Coles - Australia's popular supermarket chain is readily located everywhere and it's very convenient for us to pop in there to get our groceries.

For breakfast, our usual fare was sausages, eggs and bread. The supermarkets stock very fresh sausages - they're cheap & yummy!
Succulent tasty sausages in various size, thickness and flavours...
Fried eggs...
...and fresh sweet mangoes and oranges - our staples for breakfast!

We bought lots of fresh broccoli (very cheap there! AUD2 for a big head!), mushrooms, asparagus and these were the usual dishes we had with rice... for dinner...
Mixed vegetables with seafood, grilled pork ribs...

and bacon/ham omelette... All these went very well with rice and it was so good to tuck into home-cooked dinners!

One evening we visited my cousin who lives in Willetton, a suburb south-east of Perth. She then took us to dinner in a nearby Chinese restaurant, run by Hongkees. Can't remember the name - Dragon-something-something... but it was a hugely popular place as it was fullhouse when we were there! The noisy diners certainly gave the restaurant its typical-chinese atmosphere and the food served were above-average, I would say.

We had a platter of their Roast Duck and Roast Pork...the skins were very crispy... the pork were a bit on the fatty side...

and this Salt & Pepper Fried Pork Ribs... with chopped chilli padi & garlic - very fragrant!
This was Fish Fillet with Ginger & Spring Onions... fish was fresh and firm...
and this was the Szechuan-style Long Beans with Dried Shrimps...
... the easy-to-eat Japanese Taufu - with minced pork, served on a hotplate with a layer of omelette underneath...
So that was the Willetton dinner.

During our shopping sprees in the city itself, we ate mostly at the foodcourts which are located within the malls. As far as possible, we chose Asian food as I was really trying to avoid the typical Aussie fried food + potato chips!

So, these were some of the familiar Asian items we had...
Curry laksa - I find their curry extremely lemakkkk - there was a strong pungent coconut taste in the curry soup! The portions are big and each bowl cost around AUD9.
This was LL's favourite Thai Fried Rice. It's very good, I must say - full of flavour & wok-hei!
Fried yellow noodles with Roast Pork...
Another Fried Rice - this was at the Harbour Town Foodcourt - not as good as the other fried rice above... but I kinda like their cockerel plate, haha!

More fried rice - Thai-style, from another mall...
...and DL's favourite Curry Laksa, from another mall... but with the same strong pungent coconut curry soup! I think all these laksa sellers must be getting their curry paste and coconut milk from the same supplier??! Because they all taste pretty much the same!

And so... that ends my food stories of Perth. Nothing really exciting. Please don't go to Perth for its food! Go only for the exceptional weather, the wine, the friendly folks, the kangaroos and the koalas, ok!

Porky Affair at Dave's

Dave's Pizza
Lot G 209, 1 Utama
Bandar Utama
Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-77254017

The air-cond in my office is running in full swing and before noon, I was already feeling the hunger pangs. So it was just as well that at 11.30am, LL called to say that his class ended early and that he was coming over to 1U for lunch. At my suggestion of having something porky, LL's eyes sparkled up... and that's how we ended up heading for Dave's.

I have passed by this place many times but have never gone in to try their food. Just this morning I was reading some reviews of this place and I thought, with LL as lunch companion, this would be a good place to try.

My first impression of the place was that it's too dim. Good for lovers out on a date...hmmm... I'd prefer to be able to see my food clearly while dining in a restaurant! Better lighting helps with the photography too, if you know what I mean.

Flipping through their somewhat tattered menu (some of the pages were falling off! or maybe I was just unlucky to get one in that state!)... recalling what one fehmes blogger raved about their Pork Belly Shavings (RM18), we decided to have that as a starter.

The menu said it's served with Scrambled Eggs. However, as you can see in the pic, that was definitely not scrambled eggs - the yolk and white were clearly not mixed, as what good scrambled eggs should be. It was just fried eggs, ok.


The "pork belly shavings" were nothing more than thin strips of bacon, fried till crispy and topped with a forgettable & undiscernible brown gravy. The portion served was quite miserly too. So... I would say this was rather disappointing, contrary to what that fehmes blogger reviewed.

I ordered a regular-sized Aussie Pizza (RM31) to share with LL. Now this was definitely much better than the disappointing starter. The thin-crusted pizza was topped with generous helpings of ham, bacon, anchovies, olives, onions, fresh basil and oozing with melted mozarella cheese! I would say the "regular size" was also generous - more than enough for 2 people.

It was served in an oval plate and I had 3 pieces of it - and that already filled up my tummy! Needless to say, the rest of the pizza was polished off by LL, smacking his lips.


After that yummy pizza, I hardly had any more stomach space for LL's ultimate lunch - the Pork Knuckle (RM51)! It was not an overly big piece of knuckle (for that price) but the side dishes of mashed potato, salad and pickles were pretty complete.

I liked the purple cabbage salad - it had bits of fried bacon sprinkled on top. The skin was super crispy and the meat was well marinated. I took a few nibbles of the meat and my only complaint was that the gravy served with it was really not up to par. I think Dave's has a problem with making sauces/gravies - they're nondescript and tasteless. I can do much better gravies!

This is the end-result of the Pork Knuckle...

Oh by the way, they charge RM1 for a glass of plain water. All in all, lunch for 2 persons today cost me RM117.

Hey LL, can't do this too often, you know... otherwise I'll go pokkai soon, man!

Lightning Makan Trip in Ipoh

I made a day trip back to Ipoh on Saturday as I had to send my mom back there. She had been staying with me here for the past few weeks.

Whenever I'm back in Ipoh, I never miss my favourite food in Tai Shue Geok (Under the Big Tree) next to Tuck Kee Restaurant in Pasir Pinji.

The stalls under the big tree... last Saturday was not too crowded, thank goodness!Unlike a few Saturdays back (the pre-christmas weekend) when it was so crowded the Yong Taufu stall had limited items left... last Saturday, they had the full range of choices...

Fried fuchook, wantan, fishballs, fishcakes, stuffed taufu, taupok, brinjals, ladies fingers...
...and this Ipoh speciality - the "sah kot fupei" (turnip in beancurd skin)... a favourite I must always have whenever I visit this place!
This was what we ordered...



...not forgetting the Ipoh-style Sotong Kangkung... the sauce is very different from what you get in the Klang Valley...
Here they actually cooked the special spicy sauce... whereas in KL, they merely dribbled some sweet sauce + chilli sauce over the boiled sotong & kangkung...
This Cha Kueh Teow was pretty good - LL had 2 plates of this!
Then I went downtown to Sin Eng Heong to try and get some of their famous kaya puffs. (Read here for Motormouth's post on this). I thought that since it wasn't a public holiday weekend, I would have no problem getting some of that. Wrong. When I went into the shop there were several people waiting... and looking at their counter, there was a pile of orders to be fulfilled. So the guy told me to wait and see if there's any "left-over" for me. So I waited while he counted and packed the puffs and then he turned to me and said "only got 5 left - you want?"

Well! So I ended up with this pack of 5 miserable pieces and LL, who earlier discouraged me from buying and who normally dislikes kaya.... upon tasting the 1st bite of the puff promptly proceeded to demolish 3 pieces right there in the car! And if I hadn't stopped him, he would have whacked all of it too! So, in the end, I was left with these 2 pieces at home...
And out of those 2, I only got to eat 1 piece as LL polished off the other piece!

From Sin Eng Heong, I drove over to Aun Kheng Lim to buy 3 of their famous Salt-Baked Chicken. They're still selling it at RM16 per bird...

and we ate these over the weekend! Delicious tender well-salted kampung chicken baked to perfect tenderness!Driving past Funny Mountain soya stall, there was a long queue of cars lining up for their soyabean milk/curd... I went down and bought 2 bowls of their Taufu Fah and enjoyed it at home later...
And so that ended my lightning makan trip back to Ipoh last Saturday! Just a few hours spent and came back with tummies filled to the brim, haha!

Port Village Seafood

Restaurant Port Village Seafood
LMS A 12800 Tg Harapan
42000 Port Klang
Tel: 03-31764530/1
Business hours: Mon-Fri: 11.30am-3.00pm; 5.30pm-11.00pm
Sat & Sun: 11.30am-11.00pm

Happy New Year! How's the feasting so far?!
I was looking through my purse and discovered some receipts of meals eaten during the year end - ahhh.... so much eating!

Now already in the 2nd week of January and trying to lose some of the weight gained during the year end... aiyoyo! not an easy job... especially when you reminisce about good food eaten recently, hehe!

Port Village has always been a firm favourite with my family whenever we go for seafood in Port Klang. It has been quite some time since the last visit and feeling generous that day, we decided to invite a few of LL's friends for this seafood jaunt. I told LL to invite only friends who can really eat, haha! He took my warning to heart and those 3 youngsters he invited could really eat!

The one dish you must order in Port Village is their fresh Mantis Shrimps. Cooked in their signature style, ie Fried with Salt & Pepper, the sweet freshness of the shrimps just burst onto your taste buds the moment you bite into the succulent crustaceans! Price: RM4 per piece.

What's seafood in Port Klang without crabs, right?? Port Village serves one of the best Sweet Sour Crabs and we never fail to order this. In fact, we go there for this!! The sauce is so good that we kept ordering plates & plates of their Fried Mantou to dip into it! The portion we had for 6 people cost RM66.

I lost track of the no. of repeat orders we made for the mantou!
Fried Sotong Rings in crispy batter (RM18) - these disappeared in record time, hehe!
The Lala in Superior Soup (RM23) brought out the fresh sweetness of the clams. The fragrance of the chinese wine and ginger was certainly very appetising!
LL loves Orh-Chien - Oyster Omelette (RM20) and will not fail to order it if it's on the menu. However, I found Port Village's version was just average - nothing to shout about. But with 4 hungry youngsters around, this was walloped pretty quickly - no questions asked, haha!
Hailam Mee (RM10) is one of their signature noodles. Thick yellow hokkien noodles braised in chicken slices, eggs & dried prawns and topped with shredded cucumber and bombay onions. Certainly a very different style and it's yummy!

We ordered a steamed fish, fried rice and fried kangkung too - didn't take pics of those as the kids were digging into the food. Add in the drinks, peanuts and paper towels, the total bill came up to RM268 for 6 people. Not very cheap but it was a satisfying cholesterol-laden meal!