to Little Town of York... Western Australia's York..

A few weekends ago I went to York with JC and bf to catch up with M. It also happened to be the food and wine festival at York. After about one hour drive we were there. Got a few bits and pieces from the festival, had lunch at the local pub before talking a nice stroll around the tiny, but totally quaint town.

York's Town Hall

The short but pleasant walk onto the swing bridge that crosses the Avon River

The Swing Bridge on top of the Avon River

Views from the bridge.

I wish I had taken a photo of the town center, it was adorable. More importantly, I wished I explore the antiques shops and bric and brac stores, but alas, I did not have enough time (plus they close so early! - before 5pm??!!). Next time I will try and go to the shops and perhaps have some tea and scones at the tea house.

The Silver Spoon - Food and Wine

I don't fine dine as often as I used to, mainly because I'm saving it all up for all the eating, drinking and shopping that I will be doing in the UK and more importantly in France. After much deliberation we decided to venture to The Silver Spoon - in an area that is starting to have a string of good eateries, Victoria Park/East Victoria Park..

I have researched about the place the only way I know how - through fellow food bloggers and from what I have seen it looked to have been rather nice place to eat.

So bf and I headed into East Victoria Park - parking wasn't that hard to find luckily enough because it was at the quieter end of the Victoria Park strip. The restaurant is in the corner, near the weird kidney-shaped round-a-bout. It looked more like a casual bistro then a fine dining place. The waiters grabbed our coats which was nice and took us to our seat which was by the window - not that there were anything to look it. I don't know if it was the sterile street light, but the mood and ambience wasn't there for a romantic night out with your significant other.

Anyway, tables and chairs were arranged every way to try to fit in as many diners as possible in a small space. There was a bar on the left-hand side of the restaurant, a giant silver spoon sat at the back wall near the kitchen door, where occasionally you see glimpses of the chef preparing the food. Leading into the toilets you had to pass the kitchen area (which on the occasion that I went was left open - and not only that but the outside door opposite to the kitchen was also left open - and the toilets were obviously not cleaned as often as they could have been).

Alright enough about the interiors. The waiters were very nice and were very cautious of bf's allergies and were always double checking all the ingredients.

Silver Spoon also has a nice selection of wine and cocktails but as usual I picked myself a red, which complimented very nicely with my meal.

We started the night off with Charcuterie plate for two –  ham hockboudin noir terrine, smoked mackerel pate, San Daniele prosciutto, tapenade, sourdough (bf choice "because it was on masterchef" all I can do is.. >_______<"")

We both agreed it wasn't the best and to an extent wished we ordered something else. But at least now we know Silver Spoon does not make good Charcuterie plate.

We had a main each.

Bf had the Assiette of beef fillet, glazed brisket, ragout croquette, artichoke puree & broad beans
It had a delicious sauce and the beef was tender, and cooked perfectly medium.

I went for the trio of lamb.
It was beautifully presented, although all the lamb presented three ways were cooked perfectly, the middle one was a little tough and the one on its rack was a little dry.

The biggest disppointment of the night has to come from the dessert. Firstly the one I wanted, the rose water panacotta with fairy floss was sold out because it was their most famous dessert (and as far as I am concerned if they knew it was their most famous dessert how can they not have enough???!!!!) and secondly what bf got as his dessert was massively disappointing!!

Bf ordered the yogurt cheesecake, orange & honey jelly, citrus & mint salad (only thing on the menu that did not contain nuts). The restaurant served up this thin slice of cheesecake (I wouldn't even call it a slice of cake!) - which by the way was not very nice! if anything I think it curdled, especially as the citrus juice was splashed everywhere on the plate! I'm pretty sure it's cooking 101 that citrus and yogurt = not a good combination!

The Silver Spoon, however managed to redeem itself, thanks to the Chocolate brownie, cookies & cream parfait, peanut brittle. The chocolate brownie was moist, it oozed out chocolate when it was cut and the parfait was fantastic (the brittle was hard and was really unnecessary!). And even bf had some (nuts free!) and loved it!

Overall, the Silver Spoon is trying and it's getting there. It just needs to really taste some of their dishes properly before serving it I think and really consider whether all the flavours actually go together. If it wasn't for the entertainment card, the place is a little overpriced for what you get and the service wasn't too bad, attentive and non-invasive.

Wicked!

Having epic weekends is something to look forward to after a long week at work. A few weekends ago, after waiting almost 5 months it was finally the day of the show - the broadway musical, Wicked - The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz! I went with my family and all I can say is I know why it's so POP-U-LAR!

The setting was detailed and amazing, the lighting was well done. The costumes, stunningly detailed and beautiful. The songs and music - so catchy!! and the plot? - well, although I'm not a big fan of the Wizard of Oz, I absolutely loved this. I thought it fitted very nicely to the whole Wizard of Oz. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but I can say that Wicked is loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel 'Wicked: The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West' and it's about all the things that happened before Dorothy dropped. And of course, like most musicals there are lessons to be learnt, little morals and guidance.

The only thing I was a little disppointed about was that Bert Newton (who was to play the Wizard) was sick and his understudy, although pretty brilliant, was unable to fully capture the Wizard character. He did try and wasn't bad at it. As for the Glinda (Good Witch of the South) - Lucy Durack and Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) - Jemma Rix, they were both so amazing! such fantastic actresses!

If I had the chance to see it all again I would! I might even try finding all the songs, they just so catchy.

Tarts Cafe

A sunny Saturday morning in winter was the perfect time to have brunch in Northbridge. Although our original destination proved to be filled with complications, namely someones not wanting to sit outside in the sun for the fear of being burnt, then only to discover sitting indoors meant sitting on stools with no real table, as the place was packed out. So we ventured inside to around the corner to an equally nice, funky cafe called Tarts.

photo of the interior main dining area

When you walk in Tarts cafe you have this overwhelming feeling of wow! There are all kinds of things in the place… from dresses, jewellery, to magazines and greeting cards all in the main dining area. When you walk further in you discover a corner with lovely leather vintage chairs and on a warm summer day (or in winter if you are brave enough) you can venture into their courtyard filled with mismatched seats and tables.

Tarts Cafe makes delightfully beautiful coffee and their mochas and hot chocolate comes with chocolate buttons - melted chocolate goodness instead of the chocolate syrup. However, if you are unlucky and they have not delivered your coffee on time to your table you won't get the chance to melt the chocolate yourself.

Hot chocolate - melting chocolate pellets at the bottom of the glass

The breakfast menu has the usual breakfast of eggs, egg benedict, big breakfast along with interesting mixes like the cheesy wraps.

On this occasion I had the healty option of a raspberry yogurt muesli. It was rather delicious, but I would have preferred it if they also provided a side of milk as the whole thing became a little to dry. Apart from that it was fine.

Raspberry yogurt muesli

The big breakfast proved to be delicious and hearty as NM said.

 The big breakfast

On the second occasion that I came to Tarts I tried their egg benedict, I must say their hollandaise sauce wasn't the best, but they do make good poached eggs.

Apart from breakfast tarts have a cabinet filled with lovely cakes and of course tarts which can be purchased at anytime (unless sold out of course!). I rather like the cafe, it's casual, relaxed and yet sophisticated. It provides fantastic coffee, although I'm not sure if I think their breakfast is fantastic, it's rather average, but the ambience, coffee and the lovely staff makes up for it.

winter bliss

Sometimes the best ways to spend a chilly winter's afternoon is to get yourself indoors at your favourite chocolatier (or cafe really) and get yourself your favourite drink.

In my case, nothing was better than spending a chilly afternoon with a few girlfriends in Koko Black drinking cinnamon hot chocolate and eating amazing desserts.

Complete winter bliss.


ps. photos were taken by my iphone and playing around with instagram.

Hanami Japanese

Tucked between a cheesecake shop and the side of a pharmacy lies a cosy Japanese restaurant, Hanami. It provides a selection of bento boxes, sashimi, sushi and udon noodles all at the start of the Beaufort street strip in Mount Lawley.

I've wandered around there for a quick bite after my boxing sessions, possibly because it's healthier to get sashimi and sushi then indulge in an italian meal further down the street. You are able to just do a quick unexpected drop in on weeknights without booking, but I wouldn't recommend trying to do that on a Friday night or the weekends. The restaurant is small and very popular so bookings definitely recommended.

One of my favourite dishes at the restaurant would have to be their Rapture Sushi Roll. It has lovely pink fresh sashmi salmon on the top with deliciously and perfectly cooked sushi rice (it's an art ok! the amount of times places get it wrong is unbeliveable!), which is wrapped around tempura prawns. This roll is NOT for the fainthearted and the roll of 8 is a struggle to finish - I've only ever managed to eat maximum of 5.

Rapture Roll

Their bento boxes are very generous.

I had the unagi don - the eel were deboned, tender and cooked perfectly. It had a generous amount of teriyaki sauce. There was a bowl of rice, miso soup, japanese salad, bean sprouts, and a few slices of fruit.

Unagi Don

Their udon noodles are also claimed to be amazing as one friend said when she tried it the last time we had a group catch up. However, on the occasion when I had a camera (namely my phone), it was after a boxing session, so another bento box that was grabbed was the katsu don, which had its amazingly japanese mayo and bbq sauce on the side (which I think is a better solution then not giving anything, seeing as katsu don on it's own can become too dry!).

Katsu Don

 

Overall, I quite like Hanami for local Japanese - it's quick, it's resonably priced, and it is one of those Japanese restaurants that I can frequently go back to and expect consistently great food.

latte induced inspiration at 2am

I just realised I have not written here for over one month! That is probably the longest hiatus ever. All I have to say is that I have been busy every weekend, jammed packed and too tired every other time to bother to write. In this space of time I have probably eaten out a fair too much, have lost weight 3-4kg (although the last 2-3 weeks of massive eating and little exercise I'm hoping I haven't gained it back!). I will endeavour to go tomorrow to the gym, but my latte induced awakenedness is probably not going to help me achieve that goal.

The one thing I have enjoyed doing on weekend (although granted I've only ever done it twice since my absence to the world wide web) is going for brunch in Northbridge - notably on Brisbane street/Lake street - there is Tarts, The Dizzy Witch Cafe and Rochelle Adonis (and if you really want to asian it up - yum cha - heading towards the city). The brunch is then followed by a stroll down William street. Starting at the corner of William and Brisbane street heading towards the city; starting on one side of the road and hitting the boutiques.

My favourite must stop place to admire top quality and amazing prints and wish very hardly to own one is at Outre Gallery. I really do adore that shop. I have an eye on a few of the prints there.

I love the works by Kozyndan. Especially the ones with rabbits. There is something about the use of rabbits to convey cherryblossoms blooming, or a wave crashing is fantastic. It's cute and has this calming effect, and different something different. I don't claim to be an art expert but I really do love his work! In particular the following prints:

"Bunny Blossom"

"Winter Bunnies"

"Uprising"

"A Moving Mass"

I really do want the prints but they are so expensive! I don't have the money to frivolously spend it on limited edition prints! I suppose I could get the posters on Kozydan's website for $15 each + postage. But posters are just not the same or worth as much compared to real prints on oil/canvas/whatever else, even if you do frame it in a beautiful frame.

I also love the work of Audrey Kawasaki! They are just so dreamy. I especially love the following:

"Just Between Us"

"Tangled"

There is also another print that I love, I just can't remember the artist but the print is so whimsical and reminds me of childhood and innocence. It is of a girl in a yellow dress holding a what is to be a hoola hoop (but its also a maze) and a stick and in the background you can see a faint picture of a boy playing the olden day game of hoola hoop which is being rolled by a stick. It's so simple and yet so pretty and calming. I love it so much and I really want it, but I have no where to hang it at the moment and it cost a pretty penny of $345.


Alas, I must sleep on it some more before I invest in anything. But I'm really tempting to walk into the store tomorrow and get the print of the girl in the yellow dress!