Bonsai Japanese Restaurant

Bonsai Japanese Restaurant would have to be one of the earlier modern Japanese restaurants to have opened in Perth. Since its opening back in 2010/2011 it has only gone strength to strength and proves to always provide quality dishes at reasonable prices (see my previous post here).

However, since its opening the restaurant has refurbished and expanded the place, but it is still sleek with a cavernously airy affair.

The menu hasn't changed much, but I love that sometimes, because its comforting and allows you to have your favourites.

We ordered a few different dishes to share. We started off with creamy prawn spring rolls (per request of M). It really wasn't too bad, the spring rolls were lightly fried and weren't drenched in oil (BONUS!) an the pastry wasn't too thick.

Creamy Prawn Springrolls

This was followed by prawn kushi-yaki - grilled prawn skewers with caramel soy dipping sauce. The prawns were plump and juicy it lacked a bit of flavour, which I guess was made up by the accompanying sauce. 

Prawn Kushi-yaki

To cut through some of the fried and creamy tastes of the other dishes, we ordered something light and refreshing - salmon sashimi ceviche. The salmon was nice and fresh and was marinated in light lemon and olive oil dressing and tossed through salmon roe and witlof julienne. It was exactly to my liking, tangy, fresh and light. Delicious.

Salmon Sashimi Ceviche

The teriyaki patagonian toothfish was just heavenly and just melted in the mouth. It was dressed in this lovely miso-teriyaki sauce, which added that sweet and salty flavour to the dish. This is as good or if not better than that of Nobu's Black Miso Cod and its the fraction of the price!

Teriyaki Patagonian Toothfish

To break the seafood trend, we ordered the crispy skin duck.The duck breast was pan fried until the skin was crispy and was dressed with this lovely vinaigrette and caramelised soy. The pumpkin puree wasn't really needed, nonetheless it was delicious to eat!

Crispy Skin Duck

Bonsai is definitely one of my go to places for nice Japanese dishes that doesn't break the bank. The staff are friendly and are always rushed around. The ambiance is relaxed, a little loud, but cosy. The dishes are packed full of flavours and they use quality produce. It's a bonus that it's also on the entertainment card! What more do you want?

Sake Bar Restaurant

**UNFORTUNATELY THIS RESTAURANT IS NO LONGER IN OPERATION**

To celebrate the end of JJ and mine Photography short course we headed out for dinner at Sake Bar Restaurant on Francis street in Northbridge. The exterior and interior of Sake Bar Restaurant takes me back to Takayama, Nippon (Japan). Walk across the bridge and you enter an area that is like a ryouken, the "wooden" exterior and wooden furniture, Japanese style booths, "paper walls" is very much like what we saw in the town of Takayama and the ryouken that we stayed at. So lovely.

Sake Bar Restaurant offers sushi and makimono rolls that are made to order, fresh sashimi,  an array of teppanyaki dishes, but their signature menu is the omakase bridge, which is an assortment of sashimi, nigiri sushi oysters, sushi rolls on a wooden omakase bridge.

As it was just JJ and me we didn't get the omakase bridge, but from what we can see from our neighbours it looks amazing. We decided to have a small entree, mains, dessert and then JJ was craving gyoza (as we were having Japanese) so we ended up having a side of that as well. 

We started with something a little light by ordering the Maguro Tataki, which is seared tuna with finely diced tomato, cucumber, red onion drizzled with sweet miso sauce and lemon oil. The tuna was lovely and fresh. The salsa flavours were refreshing and zesty and complemented the delicious sweet miso sauce. The only downside to this dish was how thinly sliced the tuna was. If it was just another half a centimeter thicker (and decreased the amount of tuna pieces on the dish by making it thicker) it would be perfect, as you would be able to taste the tuna a bit more. Nonetheless, the flavours of the dish was fab.

Maguro Tataki

For the mains JJ ordered the Beef teriyaki. Charcoal grilled beef, the aroma was amazing, it makes your mouth water just inhaling it. It was covered in beautiful homemade teriyaki sauce. Cooked perfectly, it was tender, juicy and the hints of charcoal taste through the beef gave it that nice twist to a very Australian-Japanese dish. The serving was also very small and we didn't expect the meat to be cut up like it was.

Beef Teriyaki

I went for the Tooth Fish Chilli Misoyaki. The tooth fish was lightly pan fried and drizzled in Sake's homemade chilli-miso sauce. The fish melted in my mouth (literally), the texture was heavenly. The chilli miso sauce was sticky and sweet (more than chilli). It hit the right spot.

   

Tooth Fish Chilli Misoyaki

If we weren't full enough, we ordered a side of gyoza. Usually with these I find them a little too oily and not enough fillings with the skin being too thick. Sake's gyoza on the other hand, had plenty of filling of pork and vegetable. It was lightly pan fried and wasn't as oily as others I have tried. The Ponzu sauce it came with had the right balance of vinegar, lemon, and soy sauce and cut through the slight grease from the gyoza. 

Gyoza

Of course, celebrations cannot end without having some dessert. And we are both such suckers for homemade matcha and black sesame ice cream it was a no brainer. 

I was lucky to try a bit of JJ's matcha ice cream. I love it how the taste of matcha was plentiful and evident in the ice cream. It was sweet enough and the strong matcha flavour however didn't over power the ice cream. With a dab of red bean paste on top it was just lovely.

The black sesame ice cream was just delicious. I love the texture of this black sesame ice cream, it's creamy, indulgent and didn't have that sandy texture like some others do. BUT you can tell the black sesame has been in the freezer for too long as occasionally I would get pieces of ice through the ice cream, which was a bit of a let down.

Of course, the place also has an extensive drinks list, after all it is a bar too. It has a few Japanese beers - Asahi, Sapporo, Kirin Ichiban, some imported beers and of course Australian beers too. As the name suggests, Sake Bar Restaurant also has a nice selection of sakes along with a sweet list of shoyu. Pity I had to drive so didn't get a chance to try a couple of the sakes and shoyu. 

The staff at Sake Bar and Restaurant are lovely, friendly, accommodating, and attentive. The quality and flavours of the food at Sake Bar Restaurant is delicious. Compared to the other up and coming Japanese places, it is priced nicely, although the servings are small, it is no different to the serving sizes of other Japanese restaurants. Having the entertainment card will further decrease the cost of the meal, but it really isn't that bad to begin with. If you are in Northbridge and wants Japanese that's a little more than sushi head into Francis street and cross the bridge into Sake Bar Restaurant.

 

The Old Crow

Oh Northbridge how you have grown! From a pesty teenager rampant on god knows what to one where you've started to clean up your act and have a sprinkle of sophistication, a dash of culture and sparkle of arts and quirkiness. I've loved seeing you come of age.

Amongst all that, there will still be patches of not so niceness, but the recently revamped Newcastle street have seen increased restaurants and cafes, along with increased traffic and congestion. One of the latest addition, which JJ and I have happened to stumble on a few weeks ago (before the release of Rob Broadfield's review might I add!) is The Old Crow. 

An old heritage house refurbished and renovated to add a very modern-esque glasshouse at the front (resembling very much a greenhouse) and a rather traditional of eras gone by decor inside. Having said that I love the touches of old oil lanterns hanging on the glasshouse area and the succulents in teapots decoration.

We were here for a late lunch, but from what is written on their doors, they should also be opened for dinner. The lunch menu list isn't too large but it's big enough to make it hard to chose what we wanted. 

In the end we both settled for the slow roasted brisket sandwich, thousand island, pickled cabbage and fries. I would have preferred that JJ and I had two different meals to make this review a little more interesting, alas it was not to be and either of us was going to forgo our choices. 

Let me tell you, the sandwich is huge. We had to cut it into thirds to eat it without it going everywhere. I can most definitely share it with someone, because I didn't even get to finish mine. The brisket was slowly roasted to be tender, it was slightly sweet and the toasted bread was buttered to perfection. It was more than a sandwich it was a satisfying meal. The fries wasn't even needed but it was there and it's hot crispy crunchy chips. The homemade thousand island was a delicious creamy dip for the fries.

This meal was paired with the most satisfying long macchiato. But for those more inclined to start the day with EtOH then there is an extensive list of cocktails, wines and beers available at the Old Crow as well.

The only thing I wasn't too sure about was the black high-waisted pants with black suspenders and white shirts. It really minded me of Twiddle-dee and Twiddle-dum of Alice in Wonderland. Apart from the fashion choices of the waitstaff, they were attentive, patient and friendly. 

The Old Crow is intriguing, the menu is different from other places around Perth and I wouldn't mind checking more of it out, perhaps for dinner. I predict their dinner menu would be filled with good surprises. 

Getting my Sweet Fix

I've been eating out a fair bit recently so feeling rather fat (more eating less exercise - not a good combo..and anyway have to save $$$) anyway, the first Saturday of April was pretty much the last weekend of the French Film Festival, and my little cousin and I went and watched our last pre-booked tickets - Meet Me In Real Life. Lucky for us we didn't have to spend any money on dinner because mum made a traditional Burmese dish (one of my favourites) which was just fantastic!

This meant that we can get desserts! What better place than going to Sweet Fix! Located on James street downstairs from Utopia (used to be a little Utopia.. and next to Immigration offices). It has all sorts of Asian desserts, including ice kachang, tau fu fah (soya bean desserts), ice creams (home made of course) - durian, green tea, black sesame ice cream (all homemade) and of course bubble teas.

It's small place, decorated with brightly coloured stools and mismatched furnishings. The decor is nothing spectacular, perhaps a little tacky, but the area is chilled, relaxed and comfortable.

I had the green tea ice-cream and unlike other places you can actually taste the green tea powder - matcha action-packed! Finally found one that reminds me of Tokyo! and topped with red bean it was just the right sweet fix that I needed. In fact, I thought it was rather generous serving of ice-cream for about $3.50-$4.00. 2 big scoops.

Green tea ice cream with red bean paste

Little cousin got the ice kachang minus the cream corn. The ice was nice and fine and wasn't too chunky so you don't feel as though you were eating big pieces of ice - so props to that. It had this really strong banana flavoured smell through it though (do not like banana flavoured things.. just the smell and taste is so artificial.. well duh!). Not bad though, and cousin reckons sweet fix does one of the better ice kachangs.

Ice Ka-Chang

Overall, Sweet Fix provides you with a nice Asian dessert fix without a huge expense and without the massive lines seen at Meet Fresh. It's also more chilled and relaxed and you don't feel rushed, nor is it noisy. So why not get your sweet fix on?

Gong xi fa cai! (Happy Chinese New Year) and here's to the new hairstyle!

Today is Chinese New Year Eve and it is said that you celebrate by going back to your family homes and spend time with them and of course lots of food is involved.

Apart from eating, (which at the moment the feast is being prepared and I have helped my parents as much as I can with the preparation for our massive feast..(the post of the food will follow soon)) - Chinese people believe that you should cut your hair or trim it before you ring in the new year. This way you have gotten rid of what was bad before to welcome a happy and prosperous year.

A new look for a new year right?

I don't believe in the superstition, but coincidentally I ended up booking my hair appointment with Stephanie Chew owner and hair styler of S2C designs. Colour and trim and a fringe.

Stephanie prepping me for my colour

Colour done! and now sitting under "the egg" waiting for dye to set

She did a fab job I think and it didn't take as long as I thought it would! Yay! And as always reasonably priced at $120 for colour, cut and style for mid-length hair, not bad for Perth hey!?

She was rather busy today so there wasn't as much chatter although I did find out that she just got engaged! How exciting!

Anyway here's to new hairstyle and of course a Happy Year of the Snake!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

What do you think? Before the haircut on the left - waiting for her to finish with her previous client and the after on the right? I also ended up dying it a couple of shades lighter than my hair but keeping it as natural looking as possible.

Getting Frisky @ Frisk Small Bar

I haven't seen a few of my friends in a while and we've been meaning to have a Sunday sesh but the problem being that one of the guys tends to work on the majority of the Sundays in a year that it makes it hard to have one. So when Frisk Bar invited me along to check out their bar I took it as the perfect opportunity to get a couple of the gang together and have a Saturday sesh instead of a Sunday one.

The Saturday that just went past, was one of those scorching weekends, but I tried to find the coolest thing - (apart from just a bikini) to wear to Frisk to meet the manager Will Holland and his gang of passionate and friendly bartenders.

This is awkward photo but it'd do.. I love that country road dress it's just so comfy

Really into accessorising at the moment.. 

We arrived an hour early and found bartender Tuan hiding behind the air-conditioned doors at Frisk. It has changed a lot since the days of vintage couches, board games and a corner where Sweet on Cupcakes sold their cupcakes. It's now got a mural on one side, industrial looking bar stools and seats that may not be the most comfortable, but gives you awesome posture! - Basically it has evolved to be more a small bar with a relaxed, chilled vibe that you can come and just hang out, drink and meet people. Will stated that there will be more changes to the interior to come - redecoration and interior designing is in full swing with furniture changes, lighting and new paint work. It'd be exciting to see what it'd look like at the end of it all.

We started a bar tab, ordered some of their nibbles and made ourselves comfortable at one of the empty seats. One thing I love about Frisk is that it is chilled, relaxed and has this awesome soundtrack playing in the background. They are also very serious about their liqour. Their specialty being GIN. 187 bottles of GIN lined up behind the bar, locked up in a vintage cabinet and behind closed doors. 187 - making it the LARGEST COLLECTION OF GIN THE WORLD (in little ole Perth that's pretty impressive!) - now they just have to hold onto it for 6 months and they will be in the Guinness Book of Records. But seriously even if you are not a huge lover of gin (which I'm not) - have a go - because surprisingly there is one or two or few out of the 187 that you will like (which I ended up liking!).

This is just a fraction of the shelves behind the bar.. my portrait lens just can't get the shot to fit all the bottles in.. but trust me it's pretty impressive

But if you are not for trying something new there is always the rum, scotch, and a pretty decent selection of ciders of all sorts (yay! and so rare these days to find a decent selection in Perth) and of course beer. And if you want to take a break from the drinking (which I'll be surprised you will) there is always their coffee made with love. Or better yet why not the double espresso martini. Best of both worlds really.

Fog City Pear cider... so refreshingly cool and just the right amount of sweetness for a hot summer's day.

As to the nibbles - their bread is pretty damn good - warm, fluffy, with flavours of garlic, rosemary and cheese. Yum. With the pesto mushroom - a little under cooked, but still delicious. The sardines - eat with the bread! Salty goodness in warm bread.

Then my favourite - fresh strawberries dipped in dark chocolate with cream (sad that the cream isn't homemade whipped cream but at least it was quality cream). YUMMO.

Truth be told, those nibbles are literally to nibble as you catch up with friends/coworkers/family etc.. There is no real big items on the food menu, because this place isn't for that, it's just great snack food. However, the best bit about this place is that Will encourages people to bring pizza, burgers etc. from other restaurants to eat at Frisk down with their 187 choices of Gin with tonic or yet a Martini (stirred never shaken according to the man!). And why wouldn't you do that when you have an array of gin, scotch, rum, beer and ciders to chose from.

And if you are lucky you can try Tuan's blue/green concoction with chilli mixed in Gin Mare (beautiful gin distilled in thyme, rosemary and basil) and of course tonic. Why not attempt to name it. We suggested Garden of Eden (with all those plants based things - chill, thyme, rosemary, basil...) but I don't think he was too impressed, pretty sure he thought it was a little too girly, or perhaps Devil's Advocate? I think at this stage it's still up in the air.

Tuan is such a happy chap! haha 

Will also made me this lovely gin based cocktail called Aphrodite's Martini - splash of vermouth, splash of Aphrodite's bitters, and Isfjord Gin topped with orange peel. It was lovely smooth with hints of fruit bitters throughout it. Makes you feel all sophisticated and grown up drinking it.

The look of concentration on his face is still there after the cocktail is prepared - Dedication right there ^_^

Frisk Small Bar is just one of those great additions to Perth's growing small bar scene, but with a bit of difference. It's relaxed, it's chilled, it's cosy, it's really passionate about concocting their own drink mixes that work and just really into serving up the best possible cocktails AND coffee possible. It's somewhere you could easily spend a few hours having Sunday or Saturday seshes, without having to raise your voice about the noise.

Lido

A group of workmates and I went to have Vietnamese after work one Friday evening and decided to head to Lido, which is undecidedly not very Vietnamese. It's more Vietnamese catered for Australians and that becomes even more evident as the early evening turned into a dinner rush, and the restaurant became packed with non-Vietnamese people.

 The first time I ate there it was rather bland and the flavours just didn't work. This time around I was rather surprised by the overall taste - flavoursome, not too salty but definitely not authentic flavours of Vietnam.

 

To start  the night there was a round of drinks. Matso mango beer from a brewery in Broome and having one of my favorite smoothies; avocado!  Creamy nutty yummy goodness! 

Avocado Smoothie goodness on the left and Matso Mango Beer on the right

After the drinks there was a couple of entrees. The first was the lovely Vietnamese prawn and vegetable rice paper roll. It was refreshingly light and delicious, great appetizer and too popular that it was gone before I could take a photo! 

 

There was also the traditional vegetarian spring rolls - crispy and golden! Deep fried goodness.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Then there was the delicious golden and rather huge stuffed chicken wings! The stuffing was generous and well made - probably one of the best stuffed chicken wings in town!

Stuffed Chicken Wings

We then got a little too excited. And ordered a vast selection of mains. We ordered half a crispy chicken. This simple dish can go so badly wrong but Lido did it just right. Crispy golden skin and succulent chicken meat that was not dry. Only pity was that I wanted more.

Crispy Chicken

Crispy chicken was followed by kangpo beef (oh I may have made that up because I really can't remember what the Vietnamese name of the dish is called.. So dreadful of me!) It's just beef cubes seasoned well, sitting on top of a bed of salad well with amazing sauce that needs to be poured all over the beef. This was one of our favorite dishes. The aroma, the beef cubes were cooked well, although some were a bit chewy but the taste was a balance of salt, sweet and spices. 

Beef "kang po"

We also ordered prawns with this coconut tomato sauce (I forgot what it's called... I really need to take notes of what I eat next time)... Nonetheless it was delicious! I'm not sure if the prawns were fresh or if they were the frozen ones but the sauce was this coconut and tomato sweetness without it being too creamy.

Prawn with coconut and tomato

Then there was the tamarind squid, something I didn't get to taste due to my unusual allergy to all things squid (and its family group). But from the comments around the table the squid was well cooked, not rubbery or chewy and teh tamarind flavours added something a little special to what is otherwise a simple stir-fry-like dish.

Tamarind Squid

Having covered the seafood dishes we ordered the seasame seed coated sweet pork cutlet. This again is another dish which can turn badly if the wrong cut of pork or the quality of pork is used. However this wasn't the case for us. It was succulent and the sauce was sweet and sticky.

Seasame seed sweet pork

To even out the meat dishes we had some stir-fry vegetables. This was a colourful dish of green, red and yellow vegetables. It had a bit of tapiaco to "glue" the dish together - just a simple delicious and somewhat "healthy" option to try to offset all the other carnivorous dishes.

 

Stir-fry Vegetables

Overall, Lido dishes were flavoursome, although not authentic Vietnamese per sa, it is still delicious and offers a wide variety of choices. The thing is though the servings are a little on the small size compared to other Asian restaurants and the price dearer. However it is still cheaper than most other cuisine. One to at least try.