UWA Club House Restaurant Dinner

The UWA club house is for the alumni house for ex-University of Western Australia students. It's suppose to be rather exclusive or something rather and costs a fair bit to join and keep your membership. The perks however is that you get to fully utilise their function centre and of course dine in their restaurant. The restaurant and cafe area isn't just for club members, so you can dine here if you like.

I didn't graduate from UWA, but I've been fortunate enough to have had the food provided by the restaurant and catering staffs of the UWA club on numerous occasions, such as balls, seminars and of course my cousin's wedding. The wedding and the seminar provided rather nice food, although the balls, was a bit of a let down. The recent dining experience at the Club Restaurant was at my Aunty's 60th birthday. A 3 course meal enjoyed with the best of companies, many happy and funny speeches and of course with delightful food.

The entree served to us was a tasting plate consisting of 4 different dishes.

There was seared wagyu beef, sesame crusted pan-fried scallops, butter and garlic prawns and I can't remember what the green thing and yellow-corn thing was but both were really delicious. The seafood was cooked to perfection the scallops being so wonderful I wanted more than just one. The only let down would have to be the wagyu beef. 

The main was a choice of either the angus fillet or barramundi fish. Bf opted for the steak, while I went for the fish. The fish was wonderful, melt-in-your-mouth perfection. Although I'm not sure about the condiments on the plate. They were a little sour.

The good thing about bf having the opposite dish to me is that I get to taste test his and he gets a bit of mine. The steak was perfectly pink, gorgeous to look and taste just wanted you wanted medium-rare. No major bleeding. The jus that came with it, wasn't the best of sauces, it had a slight tang to it and wasn't something you wanted the steak to be covered in, which was a bit of a pity.

Of course the best course of the evening was of course the dessert. Another tasting plate to boot! Tasting plates in the form of dessert I think is the best, because you get to try a variety of different ones so you don't get sick of just eating one thing, especially if that one thing you chose is ultra rich! Having said that, the bad thing is that if there is one that you like on the plate, it tends to disappear much too quickly!

The plate consisted of vanilla ice cream coated in dark chocolate, orange sponge soaked in lovely sticky syrup, strawberry meringue and an orange cake thing topped with macaroon (and everyone got a different flavoured macaroon! - I liked the coffee one best, but I ended up getting a chocolate orange one). The desserts were all lovely, but I have to say the orange sponge was delicious and more of it was definitely required. 

I think overall, the Club Restaurant is one that I have enjoyed having functions at as the staff are so professional and the food is pretty good, especially when they have to cater for a fair few people and each presentation plate of dish have to (or should be) the same. 

If you ever get a chance, or you are in the area, the UWA Club restaurant is really a nice place to dine at. It's tranquil and calm and the service is lovely and attentive (and especially patient on this occasion!). But please be aware that they have a strict dress code. For more information on the venue check it out here. The latest menu is also available here.

Wild Duck

Hampden road has numerous cafes, deli, boutiques and quick, yummy, Japanese and Chinese take-aways catering for the university students, office workers and of course the health professionals at the two nearby hospitals. Amongst all the quick food fixes, cafes, healthy options, deli and boutique stores sits a fine dining restaurant relocated all the way from Albany - Wild Duck.

The restaurant opened in south west Albany  and have won many awards including RCAA restaurant of the year, A Star in Gourmet Traveller and was part of the Good Food Guide 2011. The restaurant relocated to Perth, Nedlands in 2012 and was recommended warmly by fellow blogger Sandra of Perth Food Engineers, so I was very much wanting to try it.

I finally found a time early this month, and headed there with a few friends, who were very much foodies. We were given a seat by the window in the corner, which gave us the perfect view of the restaurant. The decor is rather somber  dark, traditional with wooden everywhere and everything. It was spacious and yet had warmth through it.

Interiors of Wild Duck - we were so early for dinner so there was no one else there except us, but not long after the place started to fill.

We were there on a Friday night, which allowed us a choice of A la carte or degustation. I was adamant before we got there that I would don't want the degustation menu, simply because I don't have the funds for it. However, upon seeing the degustation menu and the a la carte menu and the prices of both, I was swayed into having the degustation. Six course meal at $105 (and $155 with matching wines - which we didn't get because we were all driving/had work the next day) was comparable to other places in Perth and was more than reasonable, especially if I were to have a 3 course meal, it would be close to $105 anyway, so might as well go for the taste tester and see why this restaurant has won so many awards in the past.

We started off the evening with amuse bouche of chicken parfait with carmelised onion, came out in friendly bite sized form on Chinese spoon soup. The chicken parfait was silky, smooth and had that slight creamy texture, and for the first time ever, I felt as though it needed a sprinkle of salt for flavour. Although the carmelised onion that give it that sweet kick, there wasn't enough of it to off-set what was a slightly bland chicken parfait.

Amuse Bouche - Chicken Parfait 

The first real course of the evening, was a lovely flavoursome espresso cup full of smoked seafood chowder shot with scallop and king prawn. The scallop and king prawn was perfectly cooked and the flavours of the chowder was delicious, creamy, seafood goodness. I love how it came out in a glass bowl and when opened let out this wonderful smokey seafood smells. Pity I didn't manage the capture it on photo - I was too busy going Ooooo and aaahhh.. It leaves you wanting more.

Smoked seafood chowder shot with scallop and king prawn

The next dish was the beautiful mushroom ravioli - wild mushrooms, goats cheese, asparagus foam, truffled mushroom sauce and micro herbs. The ravioli was pasta perfection and the flavours of the goat cheese with the earthy flavours of mushroom works so well. The asparagus form was so light and delicious, I was attempting to scope every last bit off the plate. Lovely pasta dish.

Mushroom ravioli with goat cheese, truffled mushroom sauce, asparagus foam and micro herbs

The next dish of the evening was fish - I'm really not sure what fish - I can't remember (?trout or barrumandi - I don't believe we were told)  with fennel puree, caramalised leek, snow peas and seared scallop. The fennel puree and caramlised leek was delicious and the fish was cooked to perfection, moist and soft still, as was the scallop. However, I wasn't wowed by it.

Fish of the day*(I'm not sure if we were told because I can't remember and it was noted down on my inote!) with fennel puree, leek, snow peas and scallop

Then there was a bit of wait, in fact a long wait before the next course came out. It was some what nice because it gave us a chance to talk and catch up, however, the boys were a little hungry half way through it. We were all waiting for the 16 hour slow cooked pork belly, but I'm pretty sure what came out was the beef cheek. I queried the waitstaff to ask what I was eating and she wasn't sure and asked if I wanted to see the menu. Hmm.. wasn't impressed with that. 

Beef duo - braised cheek and sous vide fillet with persian feta mash, baby veg and red wine jus

The degustation menu we profuse over at the start of the evenings stated we were getting 16 hour slow cooked pork belly, but what came out was the beef duo. The fillet was lovely, the cheek could have been more tender, it just didn't melt in your mouth and there was  lack of red wine jus making the dish slightly flat.

After the beef dish was the palate cleanser - passionfruit sorbet. It was refreshing and tangy, readying us for the dessert. 

Passionfruit Sorbet palate cleanser

Orange and chocolate - the classic combination, so it should be great right? But the white chocolate ice cream came out melting all over my plate (clearly either been out too long or the freezer isn't working well or it just hasn't set properly at all), the chocolate delice was rich dark chocolate which was beautiful and decadent, it went perfectly with the orange jelly and the orange sherbet gave it that nice tangy kick to try to balance out the richness and sweetness. However, it was a little bit of a let down and nothing spectacular at all.

Chocolate and orange - chocolate delice, orange jelly, orange air, white chocolate ice cream and orange sherbet

Looking back at the photos, and reflecting on the restaurant I feel as though we were missing a course. I believe we are missing the duck course and to state on the menu that they were serving us pork belly and clearly we did not get that - with no explanation seems rather unacceptable. At any restaurant, we should be told, especially so at a fine dining one, when certain ingredients on the menu have not available and what is being substituted

What got me even more was that there was absolutely NO explanation of the menu, or of the dishes that were served to us. Nor was the degustation menu (a small version) left on our table - the menus were taken away - which was fair enough - but to have no explanation of what or reminder of what we were eating, and in fact there just a smart arse reply of "Do you want the menu for referral" - I really should have said yes, because then I would have realized that we were not given one of the courses. The service really wasn't warm or welcoming. 

It's such a pity because it has so much potential. Each dish was lovely, traditionally cooked, lots of foam and micro herbs used. As one of the boys said "we were eating air all night.." - so much foam, which I personally have no problems over, but I can see where they are coming from.  "nothing was wow.. it was a little boring" - it really was - nothing wow, nothing spectacular - except perhaps the seafood chowder and the rivaoli - after that it was all a bit of a blur and nothing too much to drool about. I'm sure in the past the food would have been amazing, but currently, with so many restaurant options in Perth and palates appreciating the finer things, Wild Duck needs to do something spectacularly with their traditional methods of cooking (don't get me wrong - traditional methods are sometimes the best!). 

Will I go back? Perhaps, if their service skills improve - they really need to make us feel like we are welcomed and to at least explain to us what we are served if we are to have the degustation. That is part of the whole degustation dining experience, it is in fact part of the fine dining experience.  

Ohnamiya Nedlands

Cheap, over-filling, yummy Japanese food, just a walk away from my work. Ticking all the boxes here so far. Ohnamiya Nedlands is located on Hampden road and provides consistently decent Japanese.

They have different size dishes bento options. For example you can just have Karaage Chicken or Fish (where you will get a very decent size karaage chicken in a bento box and comes with Japanese mayo and bbq sauce) or you can chose to have it with their rice bento or better yet have karaage chicken or fish and sushi.

Karaage Fish + Sushi Bento Box

So basically you can have..

Chosen dish (aka Teriyaki Chicken/Fish, Karaage Chicken, Unagi, Agedashi Tofu) - Small, Medium, Large
or
Chosen dish + rice
or
Chosen dish + rice + sushi

My favourite however have to be their agedashi tofu. I am yet to find an agedashi tofu quite like theirs. The tofu is creamy goodness covered in very light tempura batter then covered in the sauce. Unlike other places, the sauce other covering the tofu, doesn't make the tofu go soggy, the tempura remains relatively crisp. The medium size is plenty to fill you up, but if you want some sushi with it you might as well have the tofu sushi bento. The price isn't that much different either.

Agedashi Tofu + Sushi Bento Box

Alternatively, there are things like udon dishes (which is also rather delicious - the broth is yummy and udon noodles are just so filling and you can't help but slurp up the noodles and make a mess). Although the udon is a little hard to eat quickly during lunch hour at work. It's too hot and you tend to burn your tongue.

For lover of sushi there is a decent selection of sushi on the board from your teriyaki chicken, salmon/tuna rolls, unagi, to vegetarian options.. Just take a pick!

They also offer sashimi plates and there is even this tuna and salmon sashimi bento. This is where the salmon and tuna cover a bed of rice. Their sashimi isn't great quality but for the price of about $12-15 it isn't bad.

Sashimi Tuna and Salmon bento box

OH also note that there is also free self-served Japanese green tea and refrigerated tap water.

The staff there are friendly, but the place can get noisy. But it's great value for money Japanese. It's filling, way too filling that you are more than likely to have food coma afterwards, which may be a problem if you have to go back to work. Nonetheless, I like it.

Also note that the place gets packed at lunchtime especially when university is on, so its worth getting there early. Otherwise, the other option is to give them a call and pre-order from their menu. This also saves you a bit of waiting time, which means more time to eat without scoffing your food down. Although it doesn't guaranteed you a seat in the tiny restaurant. Then again, you can always pre-order then get take-away. So many options of ordering and so many menu ordering options too.

Why not try it for lunch? OH a plus they have also started opening in the evenings, so good for those shift workers at the hospital or those stuck at UWA.

Santi's

I'm glad a cafe that is friendly and is happy to cater for the people that work near Hampden road is finally here.

Santi is a very cute cafe with a beautiful colour scheme of baby blue/cyan, black and white. Owned by a mother daughter team, it makes great coffee, scones with cream and jam and their breakfast and lunch menu is hearty and reasonably priced.

I'm just really glad that the coffee is amazing and Dianella always takes our order with a smile and is ever so friendly. So when I heard that they do bookings and allows us to pre-order our lunch so when we get there it's all ready, bunch of girls decided to try it for Friday Girl's Lunch. To top it off they were offering specials! Buy a la carte meal and get a coffee free for the month of July! w00t! BONUS.

J ordered the Santi Burger with side of homemade cut chips. It looked devine and massive. The chips were definately great!

We ordered the pasta special - which was fettuccine with chicken and bacon with flakes of chilli through it in a napolitana sacue. The spices through the sauce was amazing and it wasn't too rich (I hate that about the creamy sauaces) and it wasn't drowning in sauce. Although I wish there was a little more of the sauce. The chicken was a little tough and chewy, slightly overcook, but not complaining.

Overall, Santi's is a great addition to Hampden road with a warm, friendly atmosphere. It offers delicious a la carte meals at resonable prices and to top it off has great coffee! I think next time I want to try their pork belly.

ADDITION (20/07/2012): I just went there again on Thursday with a bigger group of girls from work and although the food was great we were grossly disappointed by the fact that the addition of chicken/squid to our salads ordered by some of the girls was $5.50. Seems a little on the expensive side. I was also a tend disappointed with my pasta special because the supposed braised beef I was to have in the pasta was NON-EXISTENT. The soup of the day - potatoe and leek, however was beautiful. Despite this, Santi is still a good lunch spot, especially when I want something a little bit fancy, and the atmosphere is great. But perhaps I might chose my dishes a little more carefully next time.

Alive at Boubar

I've just been so busy with post-grad assignments, work, work projects, getting my house and trying to maintain some sanity by catching up with friends and family that this space has just been abandoned for a while. I have to say though nothing says I'm busy but having to do a Friday night shift followed but a Saturday night shift. This meant that the only time I could spend time with my boy was him picking me up Friday night to go and watch Snow White and the Huntsmen and really, Kristen Stewart still can't act and omg she just can't stop crying (I have to admit though that her ability to cry on cue is pretty impressive). I wish the evil queen story was told more. I did prefer this version simply because it was darker. 

Anyway, back to having to also work Friday and Saturday nights - talk about cutting into my social life. Bf and I decided to have brunch before work. We wanted to try the Tuck Shop cafe in northbridge, but even at 10am, it was a 20minute wait, which I couldn't afford as I had work at 12. So we ventured closer to work and went for Santi - which was unforunately closed due to a private function. By this stage I was getting very hungry and very anxious about not getting food and having to go to work hungry! 

So we went to Boubar, even though it was packed. It took them about 20-30 minutes to get our meal out but It wasn't too bad. I was rather impressed by the quality. And of course their long mac was well made. I had the chorizo, egg and baked beans on toasted bread. It came in a ceramic plate and the flavours of tomato, spices was well infused into the sauce which coated the homemade baked beans, chorizo and toasted bread. I had an extra side of mushrooms which went beautifully with the dish. The egg was fried lightly and folded back so the york was still slightly runny when it was cut into. The downside was I think it was a little too zesty after a few bites.

Bf had the egg florentine. The poached eggs were a little overcooked but he seemed to have enjoyed his meal. The holladaise sauce according to him was a little tangy, which he wasn't sure if that was usual holladaise sauce tangy or over-doing it. Either way he was full by the end of it, especially as he had extra mushrooms.

Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised by the food that Boubar put out. Considering their wraps and that aren't all delicious - I've had them a few times during lunchtime break at work. I have to say though, the prices are inflated but at least they give decent portions with lots of chirozo, mushrooms etc. in their dishes.

Overall, I was happy despite having to run around Perth just to get brunch before work.

The Byrneleigh Hotel

The Byrneleigh Hotel is the perfect venue for after work drinks and catch up session with collegues seeing as it is just down the road. The bar section was filled with workers starting their happy hours. The dining section however wasn't packed out but we were told that we had to be out by 7:30pm (it was 530pm) as there were bookings for the tables.

The first thing that struck me about the Byrneleigh was the trendy decor. They’d done an excellent job decking it out. Plenty of warm timber, offset with astro turf and shiny, modern chandeliers. Sounds like a strange mix, but it all balances together. The outside has a massive screen for all those die-hard sports fans.

The second thing was that we were harassed to place our order. Unfortunately, the menu was so bland that nothing jumped out at any of us, causing us to turn the waitress away twice. Finally, when we were ready to order and it seemed that all the waitresses were playing host to customers.

Thirdly, no water delivered to the table, even after we asked. After the second request, we were provided water.

My fourth issue was the food provided on the tasting plate, which was below average. I give credit were credit is deserved and the squid on that tasting plate was quite good according to everybody. Not too chewy and the batter was light and flavoursome with a perfect amount of salt. The rest of the food however was below quality. The chorizo with lime was rather poorly done. I now realise that it is VERY possible to get VERY bad chorizo. It was oily and fatty and reminded me of chinese sausages (except chinese sausages actually have flavour instead of just tasting oil), west australian olives with feta, pea aranchini with truffle aioli, (which were nice and crispy and probably the only good item on the tasting plate), peppered beef, orange and bernaise, some toasted turkish bread with home made hummus (the bread was cold and the hummus seemed to have old oil taste to it) and two garlic prawns, which seemed to need to be cooked a little bit more.

We also had a chicken pizza to share, which was rather average, nothing remotely exciting. In fact, it probably needs more flavours to it, was rather bland.

As a happy hours place and the fact that it's walking distance from work the Byrneleigh is the perfect place to catch a few drinks, but other then the awesome decor, everything was below average, even as a pub food place. It definitely needs to work on it.

sometimes work can be awesome...

I love the current work place, I couldn't have been more blessed to have finally ended up where I am. After all the whinging, working at different places have given me so much experience and lessons I couldn't have found anywhere, and thus also bringing me to where I am. I guess, it's true what they say, everything happens for a reason, and when a door closes, a window opens... or something along those lines anyway.

So apart from having nice collegues, work being enjoyable as much as it can be, I have awesome venues for lunch not so far from work. One of those venues is the famous patisserie, La Galette de France.

They sell crepes, savoury and sweet, as well as croissants, homemade sauasage rolls, pies, macaroons, coffee etc. Unfortunately, I was so hungry I didn't take any photos of the crepes (besides, it wasn't very photogenic!)
However, I definately took photos of the almond croissant, which was just absolutely delish, I had a bite! It has custard in it!! And, the chocolate crossiant and macaroons. 

Almond Croissant..

 

Chocolate Croissant

 

Macaroons

 

Ham and Cheese Croissant

As far as I'm concerned, I shall go back on a weekend one day and actually try something more than the crepe (I had chicken and mushroom!), and maybe actually have proper brunch like meal/tea and enjoy it so much more instead of worrying about the time and having to get back to work!

Now I just need to find a weekend when I am free so I can go.

Sailing

I've taken up sailing. Learning to sail at the UWA yacht club and I'm loving it.

It's been really nice to spend beautiful Saturday mornings on the Swan River and making new friends. I be sad to see the end of the course, which is in about 2 weeks time (it's a 5 weeks course).

Although, the only bad thing would be having to wake up early on a Saturday morning, other than that, it's been fantastic. Learning new skills, loving the water, and learning to read the winds and water. Hey, I get a certificate after this, so it's not all lost.

I'm thinking I might do the following course. It's so much fun.