West End Deli

I love having brunch on weekends (when I haven't got work). It's just nice to sit at a cafe somewhere with good company, gossip, eat good food and drink coffee. It's extremely important with a brunch place that it has a nice ambiance and the coffee has to be good. I decided to go to West End Deli. It's an old favourite of mine and I haven't been there for a while, and can you believe it? my other half haven't been there at all.

The interior hasn't changed much and the little corner shop turned cafe was as packed as it always was. We were lucky and got a seat near the door before an influx of hungry patrons walked through the day. The rustic, bare walls, old type writers in the corner and floating chairs always takes my fancy. 

We decided to order from their lunch menu as it was closer to lunch than it was breakfast. Coffee was in order. Flat white to boost my mood. I don't think there was enough coffee in it (and yes I realise it is a flat white, but you should still be able to taste the coffee).. what a bummer.

 Bf wanted the pork belly that was on the menu, but he was disappointed when the waiter came back to say that it was unavailable, causing bf to grumble "why put it on the menu when you don't even have it.." So he settled for the open steak sandwich. The steak was cooked well and flavoursome. It was enough to fill the belly but not stop bf from grumbling about the lack of pork belly.

I craved for good pan-fried homemade gnocchi, so when West End Deli presented it on their menu I jumped at the chance. I was disappointed though. The gnocchi wasn't cooked through properly. It was still doughy on the inside. It also lacked any sort of flavours. I was not happy with my meal. The gnoochi was very photogenic though, and looked so good to eat, but, alas it was a big let down.

There is something nice about sitting at West End Deli. The hustling and bustling of the open kitchen and the chattering of nearby tables makes it seem very homely. In terms of food quality, I feel as though they have slipped a bit, either that or they were having a bad day. I like to think its the latter.

Lunch at Gordon st Garage Coffee/Bar/Kitchen

My very last RDO was a few weeks ago, and it will be the last for a long while. This meant it's time to enjoy it the only way possible - organising for my epic holiday and of course catching up for a very late lunch with a good friend.

After practically running across the city (very fast walking pace from one end of Hay street to another - east to west) to get to Gordon St. Garage. An old warehouse turned breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night dining area. Exposed lights, air-conditioning units with lots of different areas for dining - upstairs, outside, main area. A little canteen like, for some reason reminded me of school/university and of course very much like Little Creatures in Fremantle.

Jojo and I were served by a lovely French waiter who has only been in Perth for a few months and will be travelling around Australia and New Zealand in another few months time. Sounds rather bliss. I don't think my travel bug will ever be extinguish. Anyway, he recommended us the soup of the day, but we both weren't in the mood and it just wasn't cold enough at the time. It was sunny and warm, despite it being close to the start of winter.

We started off the afternoon with a flat white for Jojo and a Zenzero, ginger beer with ginseng and apple (warning it is alcoholic) for me. Zenzero was refreshing and did not taste alcoholic at all, but the taste of ginseng, ginger and apple was all there. Delicious in a drink.

Our mains followed a while later. 

Jojo opted for the open pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw.It was served on a wooden slab, which at the moment is all the rage for serving dishes. It was most definitely open sandwich and the bread (not sure what kind because I didn't get a chance to have a proper look) was definitely well toasted and possibly grilled too. I was lucky to have a taste of the chutney and the pork. The chutney was flavoursome and so was the pork but nothing that was outstandingly amazing.

I got myself a quinoa and lamb kofta on a bed of pita bread. The lamb kofta was delicious and the quinoa (one of the super foods prounced "Keen-Wah" NOT "qui-no-a") added that bit of dimension to the chickpeas/hummus and vegetables. I felt rather healthy eating it too! However, the downside was the pita bread was a little tough and definitely was left in the oven a little too long. Like the open sandwich it was served on a wooden slab, which is all very cute, if not a little small for my dish, as I keep getting quinoa rolling out around everywhere, and didn't help that I couldn't cut into the pita bread. Nevermind, it was great lunch, just ate it like 2-year-old. 

Of course an RDO lunch is never complete without dessert. We decided to share a piece and after having a look at their cake selection and their little dessert cabinet consisting of pannacotta, mousse etc. After much deliberation, we settled for the peanut butter gateau/wafer cake thing and was also recommended by one of the waitresses.

It was most definitely peanut buttery and the wafer/biscuit thing at the bottom was chewy and crunchy all at the same time, a nice textural difference to the creamy peanut buttery taste and the dark chocolate. It was a little bit hard to crack through though and again a little messy, but hey at least it tastes great.

Gordan st. Garage is your little casual chilled place to catch up. The female toilets also have an awesome mirror to freshen up from head to toe. The service is a little slow, even at 3pm and there was hardly anyone there, or it is because it was 3pm and there was hardly anyone that caused the slow in service? The one thing I love about this place though is the desserts and you can usually get the full and fresh range in the mornings. They also open late Monday to Sunday meaning you can get your coffee and dessert fix at any time! BONUS.

The food? I don't rate it as amazing and it isn't bad. It's decent and the dessert selection is what is probably going to be bringing me back.

Epic Espresso Barista Course

J and I woke up early to attend a barista course, something we've been meaning to do for a while. We chose to do it at Epic Espresso, a cafe purely devoted to making coffee, you can call it a coffee bar, with beans from 5 senses (locally roasted coffee beans from WA's South West area).

They are located on Hay st, West Perth, on the corner of Outram street. They offer 3 courses, Espresso Mastery, Latte Art and Advanced Espresso Mastery. J and I took the Espresso Mastery (sort of a beginners sort of course). It was taken by Natalie, a lovely sweet lady with a passion for coffee (who also makes the PERFECT lattes - no joke!) and the coffee beans from Epic Espresso are just beautiful. According to another student in the class, Ian, who is a regular customer of Epic Espresso, they make awesome mochas, which I must try out one day.

 Natalie - our Barista Trainer

 The workshop was informative, interesting and practical, providing backgrounds about how to source good coffee beans, bean storage, identifying roast profiles and of course teaching as the fundamentals of perfect espresso dosing, milk texturing, machine maintenance, the creation of espresso-based drinks and machine and grinder management. They was a lot of practical time allowing as to perfect the perfect latte making etc.

The course/workshop has given me a better knowledge of coffee and has even allowed me to identify what's wrong with the bad coffees I've had, and it's more than just burning the beans or the milk! I didn't realise that there was so much art, science and technic that goes into making a good coffee! And having a small group (only 3 people this morning) allowed us to have more time to play around and perfect the skills.

I'm even comtemplating completing all 3 workshops when I have more time, oh and of course getting myself a coffee machine at home!

If you get the chance you should definately take a barista course, it's just so much fun and hey you learn something new and interesting so why wouldn't you?? I plan to/dream to open up a nice little cafe one day hahhaa maybe when I'm sick of doing what I'm doing at the moment.

All photos courtesy of Epic Espresso 

Villa D'Este

The pronounciation of the second word of this restaurant caused such a fuss amongst us, but not more than having to share a plate of the yummiest gnocchi ever tasted in Perth EVER. In fact there was just so much fuss, fuss over the name, having to share a yummy entree and a quarter of us usual diners skipping out on this fabulous dinner, resulting in M's disappointment that only one Entertainment Card was being used.

Villa D'Este itself is a bit of a fuss, only because its located in West Perth amongst all the boring attire of black and white suiters, in what looks like a villa plucked out from a countryside somewhere and dropped in the middle of CBD buildings, hence the fuss - a bit paradoxical, and well, parking in the city... The deco is typical of Perth's restaurants, wooden floorboards, very 1800s-like socialite "homestead". I did however, loved that there was a rose with a simple vase in the middle of all the tables.

The service was slow. It took them 15 minutes or even more for them to take our drink orders and even longer for our meals, even though there were two different waiters for us - one for our meals, one for our drinks. Maybe they should have only had one waiter who took both the drinks and the meal orders, that way everyone in the restaurant gets exceptional service.

I suppose all this can be quite forgotten, because the meals that came out were absolutely sensational. We had bread,  before the entree - which was much needed because it took them forever to bring out anything and to take any sort of order. In fact I think they forgot that they hadn't taken our order - took them 30-40minutes before they came around to us to take our order. But like I said, the lack of service can somewhat be overlooked because the food really was sensational.

Two entrees -

one of which was the special of the evening - the blue cheese gnocchi - it was the best ever!! My tastebuds were in heaven and just looking at the photos again makes me drool...

there was also  the Linguine alle Vongole Saporite - which was a home made pasta served with a sauce of fresh clams, white wine, pasley, garlic, olives, capers and chilli - it was also superb, but not even close the heavenly experience that the gnocchi.

Our side mixed salad to go with our mains (and to get some sort of vegetables into us - have to have a balanced meal right??)

which also was dressed with their homemade dressing or some other choice which I can't remember. They dressed it at the table so the salad wasn't soggy - I can't stand soggy salad.

The mains -

S's Medaglioni di Vitello Con Prataiolo - Medallions of veal topped with a field mushroom and served with a sauce of dry sherry and a touch of garlic and thyme..

M's Due Gemelli alla Montanara -  beef fillet medallions grilled topped with a porcini crust and served with a flamed brandy sauce

My was a Chef's Special of the night - it was breast and leg of duck (MASSIVE PIECES!) - double cooked duck with my choice of a porterhouse sauce rather than a creamy one. Best duck I've had in Perth so far.

We didn't get dessert because by the end of the night we were stuffed. We had also forgiven them for their bad service (although I still believe if you going to claim that you are a fine dining establishment you still need to have damn good service!! especially if you are going to charge ridiculous prices for food, although sensational, are not exactly mind blowing - except for that gnocchi..) and promised we be back and will be bringing the fourth member of the team who bailed on us because he was 'sick' and 'coughing up a lung'. Oh and understood why a collegue of mine raved and ranted about how it is her favourite restaurant in Perth. I don't know if it's my favourite, but it's definately up there.

West End Deli

West End Deli is situated on Carr st in a cornershop in the middle of a quiet neighbourhood. When I first walked through the doors, my first reaction "oo the kitchen is right there" - i like open kitchens...and "omg there are chairs hanging on the wall!". Yes, the decor is charmingly mismatched with a rustic feel and total comfort. In fact it was so comforting that we recognised one of the waiters, who happened to have served us at Cantina 663.

As soon as we sat down, he served us two large glasses of water, followed by a drinks order. I settled for their fiori coffee - mocha, which tasted like it had a little bit of spices through it - like maybe chocolate chilli powder? I'm not sure. Maybe, I was tasting something weird in the coffee. S on the other hand, had a freshly squeezed orange juice, as she was unable to have any "iced" drinks due to not having any ice left, or something rather.

Although, we got there at 11:30am on a Wednesday, so much of their freshly baked goods were already consumed by the hungry early morning crowds, so the last bits of the famous West End Deli's banana bread and portuguese tart was gobbled up by S. I on the other hand, settled for one of their menu items, the morcilla croquettes with scrambled eggs. It was just fantastic and continued to fill me well into dinner time.

 

freshly squeezed orange juice with banna bread and portuguese tart

 

 

My personel salt and pepper - oo and the cultery came in a mental bucket! <3

 

the morcilla croquettes with scrambled eggs

It's definately worth a bite to eat at West End Deli, especially if it's for a branch meal, or just to stare at their interesting deco. I definately be back for another round of their menu.