Happy New Year! and the week that was...

It's New Year's Eve today... the past week must have been a food fiesta for many of you (judging by the many many reviews you people have put up!).

We had a simple pre-Christmas party at the office and these were just some of the food we had...

The ever-popular Roast Lamb...
The must-have Satay...

Fried stuff: prawn fritters, popiah...
...and more... chicken wings, sotong balls...
And carbo to fill up the tummies...

As if all those fattening food was not enough.... there was more eating at home. We had our traditional family gathering on Christmas Day. These goodies were cooked at home...

Roast Leg of Lamb...Roast Turkey - already half-sliced by the time I remembered to snap this pic!

Slices of roast lamb & turkey nicely arranged on the plate...Pork ribs succulently roasted too...

Ahh... must have some carbo, right? We had Linguine......with creamy Seafood...

Oh we had some BBQ'ed stuff too (which I didn't take any pics!)... more lamb chops, chicken wings, sausages, prawns... burppp!

After all that eating, I think I will just have a salad today... a healthy way to usher in 2009, hehe!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone! Eat well and be merry - have a joyous happy time during this holiday season and a wonderful New Year ahead!

The Perth Experience - Part 2

Seafood!
Perth has a coastline, so fresh seafood is readily available, especially at those places located by the sea.

Firstly, we went up north to Hilary Harbour & Sorento Quay.

This is really a very picturesque place - all the scenes and sights there are very postcard-like! In Hilary Harbour, the main attraction is the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA) which we visited. After saying hello to all my fishy friends, we headed to Sorento Quay which was just a shout away.


There were quite a no. of eateries there. We stopped by one of the outlets - this one:

Bucking Beef! but we had pork and I was attracted to it because the dish I ordered did NOT have fries!


It had sliced Roast Pork, baked potatoes and boiled vegetables! Some kinda brown gravy was splashed all over it. Taste? Mediocre - but I was happy with the boiled vegetables although it wasn't fantastic.


LL ordered the Sandwich version... same sliced pork, same brown gravy ... on a bun, instead of a plate. (and no vegetables!)

LL wolfed that down in no time... and still feeling hungry, he ordered Seafood N Chips from another outlet - Top Catch...

The fish, calamari rings & shrimps were all very fresh, albeit oily! What do you expect huh... they were all battered & fried! Of course we couldn't finish the fries.

This candy shop was just across our table - so colourful! Nope, I didn't buy anything from here! We took a walk down and saw this...


Of course we had to have some gelato, hehe! I had the Rum & Raisin and it was so creamy and smooth... yummy!


Fremantle

We went to Fremantle on a Saturday - it seems weekend is the best time to visit this popular seaside town. After walking & shopping in the streets of Fremantle, we headed for the jetty area looking for Kailis' because it's "Voted the Best Fish n Chips" place wor.
We headed for the Fresh Seafood counter ...

and there was a huge array of fresh uncooked seafood ...


as well as boiled ones like these...


We didn't fancy any of the boiled seafood - I didn't wanna eat cold bland seafood dipped in tartar/tomato sauce/thousand island dressing. So we decided to order their Grilled Mixed Seafood Platter (AUD65) and this came... (certainly not cheap!!)

There was half a lobster, calamari, shrimps, fish fillet kebab-style, 4 fresh oysters - all on top of a big bed of fries!! I think there were more fries than seafood! Looks like we just couldn't escape the darn fries.

The grilled seafood was pretty bland - they merely sprinkled some chopped parsley on top and that's it! Oh by the way, you have to pay for the sauces, ok - packets of tomato or tartar sauce are not given free!! It's 50 cents for a small packet!


Seeing how the seafood platter wasn't very satisfying, we ordered the Grilled Baramundi and a Seafood Chowder...
Both these were also very mediocre. The chowder was so-so only... While the baramundi was fresh, it was bland (due to lack of seasoning) and we had to buy more of the tartar & tomato sauces...

They have a very canggih way to let you know your order is ready... once you have placed and paid for your order, you're given one of these remote-control-kinda-gadget...

... which will beep & vibrate when your order is ready to be collected!

These were the remnants of our meal at Kailis'...

Whoever voted them the "Best Fish n Chips".... well, judging by what we ordered, we certainly didn't think they were the best. But then we didn't try their Fish n Chips wor... and maybe only that is the best??

Anyway, to wash off the disappointing after-taste, we ordered this huge ice-cream to share...

And after this cold creamy treat, we were ready to look forward to the next seafood feast, LOL!

The Perth Experience - Part 1

Hi, I’m back! Been back for more than a week actually… still trying to recover from the bliss of a vacation and trying to get back into working reality here, hehe!

I’ll just blog about the FOOD aspect of Perth here. All other non-food related things will be posted in my other blog - Raynebows, so that there’ll be no double-blogging. So, if you wanna know about the places we went, where we stayed, the AirAsia experience etc, do drop by the other blog :-)

OK…about the food… ahhh… what can I say about food in Perth? Put simply, let’s just say that Perth is really not a food destination, haha! Unlike Asians, I don’t think the Aussies are very creative in their food - mostly fried or grilled stuff with LOTS of potato chips! OMG - the way they eat chips there, it’s unbelievable! I could not even finish half of the portions served as a side-dish whereas those Aussies there actually ordered chips as another dish by itself! They really lurve their potatoes, man!

Swan Valley

We visited this renowned wine-producing area just north of Perth.

One of the many vineyards we passed by... and the awesome jacaranda tree - lots of those around and they're absolutely beautiful!

Vineyards, small and big dotted the area… it was so refreshing driving along the long & winding road with lots of greens on both sides of the road. Weather was perfect too... sunny blue skies and oh-so-cooling!

The 1^st stop we made was the Margaret River Chocolate Factory because it was touted as a “must visit” in the brochures. We expected to see a real factory showing how chocolate is made.

Free chocolates for tasting...

However, it turned out to be just a shop selling chocolates (of course lah), wines, jams & conserves and some other snacks.

Trays of beautifully hand-made chocolates

...and all gaily packed...

Some for your sweethearts too?

Wines, jams etc on sale too...

There was a café in the shop too… and as it was lunchtime, we decided to try some of their “specialities”.

We had their Roast Pork Sandwich, Chocolate Carrot Cake, Hot Chocolate and a Chocolate Shake.

Portions were quite big… so we shared the food among the 3 of us. Prices ranged from AUD7 (the cake) to AUD16 (the sandwich)… dollar to dollar, it’s reasonable - just don’t convert to RM, ok!

Taste-wise, I would say it’s just decent, nothing outstanding.

Oh, we didn’t buy any of the chocolates either - they were on the expensive side and we’re not really chocolate fans, hehe!

Next, we stopped by the Duckstein Brewery - a German brewery - yes, it’s beer and not wine, haha! Just look at the abundant colourful bougainvilla growing at the entrance - I love I love!

Upon entering their café, which was set up pretty much in a German fashion, we decided to have our 2^nd lunch for the day here, hehe!

Browsing through their menu, we picked their German Pork Chop & Sausage plate (with fried potatoes and sauerkrat at the sides...


and had their “Krystal” - a Bavarian-style filtered wheat beer.


I must say the beer was very nice - smooth & refreshing. The beer was AUD9 and the pork+sausage plate was about AUD20 - too salty for my taste and the sauerkrat was sooo sourrr! I think the pork and sausage tasted just like the ones we bought at Coles supermarket and which we cooked in our apartment, haha! (much cheaper too!)

After that, we went to Lancaster Winery as it seemed to be a popular spot with quite a crowd there tasting and buying their wines.

The 2 cheerful guys manning the tasting counter were your typical cheerful-friendly-chatty Aussies and we had a great time testing their wines and cheese.

We ended up buying 6 bottles (plus 1 free bottle) of their delicious dessert wines.

And that was a slightly-tipsy end to our beautiful day in Swan Valley.