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!
Method:
3. Add in the macadamia nuts & chocolate chips alternately with the sieved flour.
4. Drop balls of the cookie dough onto a greased tray and bake in 200 deg.C for about 20 minutes until cookies are golden brown. Remember to spread them some distance apart as these cookies will flatten a bit during baking.
It's a very simple recipe - do try it! You can substitute the macadamia with other nuts of your choice - eg pecans, walnuts, almonds, cashews etc. This is a hit with people who have tasted it!
