Raah

I've been trying a fair bit of middle eastern cuisine recently. I guess it's because there are so many "modern Australian" restaurant and going to an Italian or Chinese is such a norm that it's rather pleasant to try something with spices and herbs, and although Indian foods tends to have that too, I just find it rather creamy and rich sometimes and a lot of my friends are not really Indian cuisine fans. 

One of the recent middle eastern places we tried at was Raah, located on the Beautfort street strip, closer towards Highgate end then Mount Lawley end. They specialise in contemporary middle eastern cuisine, which was rather exciting. 

There are black drapes at the front making it all mysterious and exclusive. Because there was a big group of us we were lucky to score a private area, closed of from the rest of the restaurant, which was packed on a Friday night. The private area had a MASSIVE grand solid wood table, which made the person on the opposite side of the table seem so very far away. It also had a beautiful chandelier/lantern like lighting and fireplace. Gorgeous. Private and cosy.

 We ordered a bottle of Spanish Tempranillo wine  Rioja Calo, highly recommended by our waiter, who was so friendly warm, knowledgeable and funny. He made the night so enjoyable.

We decided to start the night off a mezze plate as a few of us were running late and we were getting hungry. 

 

Silky hummus with minted lamb and toasted almonds with Turkish bread

 

The silky hummus with minted lamb and toasted almonds with Turkish bread lightly drizzled with oil. This was so beautiful and the edible petals added a beautiful aroma to the dish when eaten with hummus. You can opt to not eat the petals. The hummus really was silky and having the minted lamb through it added a nice satisfying "meaty" feel to it. The Turkish bread was slightly overcooked but crunchy nonetheless. Because there was six of us we ordered an extra plate of Turkish bread, which also allowed us to finish the hummus nicely.

We opted for 4 "more substantial" meals to share followed by dessert each. There was so many wonderful sounding dishes on the menu that it made rather hard to chose. After much pondering and several visits by our waiter and possibly pouring of more wine we decided on the following four.

Yoghurt Marinated Goat, spicy aubergine relish, moghrabieh salad

The goat was so tender and the dish was rather spicy for some, but I loved it. It just melted in your mouth and the flavours of the dish was amazing. If eaten with the freshing salad and relish side dish it eases the heat that you might have from the goat dish. Perfect balance if you ask me.

 

Seafood/Clams/Mussels stew with seeded cous cous

This flavours and aroma of the stew would make any non-fan of seafood a fan. It was filled with spices and heat it was fantastic.

The next delicious plate to share for the evening was a chicken dish, which I can't recall what it is (I really need to start making notes or at least taking a photo of the menu!), but it had pita bread on the side. The chicken wasn't too dry and was sweeter and seemed milder in flavour than the other two previous dishes.

  

Chicken with chickpea and stuffed pita bread

 

 

Wild mushroom, date and chickpea 

This was rather refreshing in comparison but still had that punch of spice through it. 

There was so many yummy options on the dessert menu that there was more sharing to be done. 

 

Turkish Delight sorbet with strawberries

There was the Turkish Delight sorbet with strawberries. The sorbet was this intense flavour of Turkish delight, so refreshing, light and tangy, perfect way to cleanse the palate a good one to start off if you are thinking of sharing the desserts amongst friends. 

Stuffed donuts with melted chilli chocolate

We also had the donuts with melted chilli chocolate. Who doesn't like warm donuts dipped in melted chocolate? The donuts were fluffy and had this lovely Turkish delight stuffing in it.This of course went beautifully with the dark chocolate mousse. Light in texture but rich in dark chocolate flavour. The brittle however wasn't crunchy, but rather chewy, which was a little odd.

Chocolate mousse with brittle

Overall, Raah is a great place if you want to try something a little different in the Perth food scene. It packs a punch with the dishes they serve, the service is so friendly, warm and accommodating there is nothing to fault there. The only thing I would comment is that it was a bit too dim, it was almost hard to read the menu, just a slight turn up on the dim lights would not have ruined the mood and would enable us to see the menu. Also if you don't feel like having to choice out of the mains and mezze plates there is also the set menu that is available. 

If you haven't already, definitely check out Raah. It's worth going.

P'tite Ardoise Bistro

J'aime un bon restaurant français, I love a good French restaurant. The cosiness and simplicity of P'tite Ardoise and the friendliness of the very Frenchy staff takes me back to my time in Paris, (except perhaps the staff at P'tite Ardoise was nicer and much friendlier).

“P’tite Ardoise” means “little blackboard” or “little slate” in French, and the blackboard motif is used throughout the restaurant with a lot of their food being served on black slates - which I think oozes sophistication, elegance and simplicity. The decor is minimalistic, sleek and is very French. The waiters and waitresses are authentically French, one of whom was from just outside of Lyon and was here to study English. So you really were transported there!

The menu at P'tite Ardoise consists of a selection of regular menu items and a selection of seasonal items. It's intimate and yet quite a fine selection of food to choose from. 

Bf and I opted for a three course of French flare and the menu offered so many lip-smacking good dishes it was hard to choose. Whilst we were pondering what to get, the waitresses were rather helpful and were very knowledgeable about the dishes. The one thing lacking on their menu though was a wine list - when we visited last month the place was still waiting for their alcohol license and it was still BYO. I really hope they get it, because we forgot to bring a bottle and the meal would have been fantastic if we had it accompanied with some red. We instead opted for lemon lime and bitters - which really isn't the same.

Before the entree, we were asked if we would like bread (which I thought was free - but it turns out it's $3.50 for bread - so if you are a bread eating and planning to eat more than just one then get it otherwise forget it). Having said that though, the butter, olive oil and olive dip was rather delicious.The ambiance of the place was also remarkable - very much like we were in France - I was very much nostalgic and wished I was back in romantic Paris.

For entree bf opted for the scallops with pumpkin and pesto (i believe - i can't remember what the dish was called) . I remember it being very well cooked - the scallops were perfect - not rubbery and it had beautiful balance of flavours.

I on the other hand, opted for escargot cooked chefs way. It came in ceramic dishes with this lightly toasted bread on top and what was underneath was a bit of a surprise. There was a creamy, delicious broth (although slightly on the salty side for me) filled with escargot. With the bread soaked in the broth and with spoonfuls of the escargot, both and bread it was fantastic!

For the mains, bf ordered the steak while I opted for their signature twice cooked duck. The steak was tender with a great cut and fantastic sauce (which was served separately in a gravy boat), while the duck literally fell off the bone it was perfection, although I wished they gave more of the sauce. Although the duck did come with a side of vegetables. Despite that it was truly an amazing dish and bf thoroughly enjoyed his meal too!

Then the best part of the night - the dessert. There was such a lovely selection to chose from. I really wanted to try the chef's tasting platter but decided that I can get that next time I came back to P'tite Ardoise, so instead tried their seasonal dessert which was this "flowery" patisserie - the smell was so fragrant and the taste was sweet. The patisserie was unbelievable good and mixed with the melted chocolate sauce the dessert was sensational - granted it was huge!

Bf on the other hand got this chocolate delight - however it had peanut on the top so had to be sent back and they carefully scrapped it and gave it fairy floss hair! And the ice cream that came with it had intense flavours.

All in all, P'tite Ardoise was a culinary delight, and one with attentive, obliging, friendly service and smiles. The only downfall is that it is hard to get a booking -in fact they might have changed their rules since we were there and no longer excepts bookings. Apart from that, once their alcohol licensed is approved it would be the perfect place for a date.

ps. Sorry the photos were taking on my iphone without flash so they turned out a bit yellow from the lighting in the restaurant.