Pastacup

"fatto a mano"

If you’ve read my Ciao Italia post, I was raving about the creamy ciao italia fettucine. I have recently tried Pasta cup and I reckon their pasta is just as good. I fell in love with the place and found myself coming back 3 weekends in a row to the Karawara branch. The staff even said “see you later” :O what is she talking about, how does she know I’m coming back? How does she know I like the pasta? Okaaay..she probably remembered me =-= . 

Pasta cup is a MAKE YOUR OWN PASTA dish concept, you pick your pasta which is fatto a mano ie. MADE BY HAND and then you pick your sauce which is also fatto a mano. If you’ve heard their advertisement it is the motto of their campaign PASTA..IN A CUP..MADE BY HAND.

Spinach fettucine with creamy sauce

I love their creamy based sauces, I’ve probably tried almost all of them, my favourite would be the creamy pumpkin and the bonnie sauce which is tomato and cream. Pasta wise, I like my spinach fettucine. The bf loves the Chilli fusili which is a great twist to a pasta dish. All this packaged in a cute cup with a bread compartment on the top. Love it! My advice, come in between 11am – 3pm you’ll get the lunch special which is $7.95. 

 

Miss Kitty's Saloon

The new talk of the town is Miss kitty's saloon, an American themed restaurant. After hearing about this saloon-like venue, I had to try it out. F and I went in on a Saturday morning for brunch before heading off to a cupcake decorating class.

First impressions was wow! Definitely saloon looking with a rustic look accentuated through the wooden decor, cute booth seatings and outdated quirky items. 

We pondered over the menu for awhile, there wasn’t exactly alot of exciting choices but also confusing at the same time as there wasn’t much description into each item, does the name of the item really say it all? I usually encounter menu items with a description stating its accompaniments and basically marketing the item. I was juggling between the buffalo wings or the chicken and waffles $19. In the end I went for the waffles for something different. F had the chorizo and eggs $16.

Chicken and Waffles

Verdict, I didn’t find my chicken and waffles amazing. It was basically crispy deep fried crumbed chicken on top of waffles. Put two things people like together and you can’t go wrong.  Salad on top was refreshing with pieces of orange slices? sauce was just sweet chilli. Nothing special. Overall I enjoyed it as a dish, but I do think $19 is pricey for what it is.

Chorizo and eggs

F was rather disappointed with her dish, but then again it’s Chorizo and eggs with a green sauce and hash browns. Not sure if she was expecting more, but she scoffed it down easily but wasn’t exactly ranting about it.

Living room area

Overall I enjoyed the environment more than the dishes. It is such a happy venue and so much to look at, even the toilets are cute. They have large tables to cater for big group bookings and even a living room themed area for little catch ups. I looked into the dinner menu and it actually looked more exciting and appealing than our choices for the brunch menu. I would definitely go back to try their other menu.

Pacific Rim Mix Plate

"Ono" 

I felt like trying something new and as I was browsing through urbanspoon in the cuisine category, I came across Hawaiian. Next day the bf and I went to try the place out. After reading reviews I knew we were to expect a fish and chips looking joint and basically a fast food kind of vibe.

We went on a Saturday at 1:30pm and it was packed with customers. We pondered over the menu and wanted to try the very popular Huli Huli chicken, but when it came to ordering, we were informed by the owners who looked hawaiian-japanese that they were out of sauces for the chicken :O we were lucky to be the last to order with what they had left. We ordered the Maui chicken bites and Tarragon fish to share.

Maui chicken bites

Tarragon fish

Dishes were like Japanese food with a Hawaiian name and Hawaiian inspired sauce. Maui chicken bites was basically deep fried chicken but the sauce was something different and unique, I enjoyed it but thought it needed a side salad. As for the tarragon fish, battered fish soaked in sauce was also ONO! *delicious in hawaiian*, again needed more accompaniments. I realised that if I wanted accompaniments, I should've opted for the plate rather than the bowl which the lady asked when I was ordering. I actually did not know there was such a difference and I believe it would only be $1 more *damn*.

Overall we enjoyed our meal and this joint is definitely buzzing, one day I will come back to try this Huli Huli chicken and opt for the plate.

Echye's restaurant

Authentic Ethiopian

J and I decided to be culinary adventurous and tried a newly opened Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant in Victoria Park. This was probably one of the most exciting dining experience I've had as I've never tried Eritrean food before.

Echye's is a family owned restaurant with a lovely African feel depicted through their furnitures. The menu is based on a wide selection of curries all accompanided with Enjera (yeast risen flatbread). J and I had our pick of different curries, we chose Zhigni and Goredgored curries. We also ordered the Habesha coffee just to experience it. Menu can be found on their website.

When the Enjera came out, we were so shocked with it's appearance, it literally looks like a sponge, I studied the texture and it accurately resembles one. The colour was also odd. Taste wise, it had a fermented sour taste to it just like DOSAI. Unfortunatly I'm not the biggest fan of dosai.

Our curries arrived in cute African stew pots and we were told to put the curry on the bread and tear it with our hands, the waitress gave us cutlery just incase but we decided to do it the African way.

Zhigni - Most popular meat dish - tender lamb with berbere (mixture of spices with red chilli), onion, garlic and tesmi (purified butter with spices).

Like many curries full of spices, it tasted like an indian curry but probably more intense with the spices. Meat was deliciously tender accompanied with lovely sauce. 

Goredgored - tender beef pieces, pan fried served with awaze (chilli paste)

The Goredgored wasn't as saucy as the Zhigni but still delicious.

Since the bread was huge! We struggled to finish our dishes and I wasn't too keen on the bread, the waitress gave us a different kind of bread as she understood Enjera may not be for everyone. We actually prefered the new bread. She also brought us a paste which I wasn't sure what it was called but J loved it! he started putting it on everything. I on the other hand found it abit too strong for my liking. 

We started wondering when our coffee was going to arrive, the waitress then came out with a smoking pot with coffee beans and wanted to show us the roasting process. She said in Africa the aroma from roasted coffee is an invitation to come over and have coffee. I thought that was cute and nice of her to show us abit of their culture.

Few minutes later she brought out our coffee in a funky teapot with a wired ball in the spout which much resembled a hair ball, this served as a filter. Teapot was quite heavy than the norm and there was a technique in pouring the coffee. Coffee-wise, we both thought it was very strong, I would have liked some milk and I overloaded my little asian looking cup with sugar. J on the other hand took it in pretty well.

Overall, we enjoyed our Eritrean experience and would definetly recommend it to everyone who has never tried it out, food is authentic and I believe it's as close as you can get.

Foo Wah Seafood Chinese Restaurant

"Wah..Food so good ah" 

Whenever dad comes to Perth, we always go to dinner as a family to  Foo wah chinese restaurant. Dad seems to only like good chinese cuisine and Foo Wah ticks all the boxes on the lists, it's chinese, it's delicious and it's nearby to where we live.

Foo Wah is part of the asian hub of restaurants off collins road, I come to this area to fix any asian cuisine cravings. It is always busy during the weekends so definetly make reservations. The first time we came here, we asked the owner what she'd recommend, she told us the vinegar chicken is good, we order, tasted and ever since then have always ordered it. These are our usual orders:

Vinegar chicken

Salt and pepper squid/fish

Sizzling japanese tofu

Beef pepper beef

White rice

At first I thought the vinegar chicken would be bitter and not pleasant but I was wrong, it was so tender with a layer of crispy chicken skin swimming in a pool of sweet vinegar sauce, the sauce was a combination of vinegar, sugar, garlic and chilli, a marriage made in heaven. As we've ordered this dish many times, there have been occasions where the chicken is abit dry and other times when the meat is juicy and tender, it's a cross your finger and hope kind of dish.

Vinegar chicken

I always order salt and pepper squid in every chinese restaurant I go to, you can never go wrong with this dish, super crispy batter around very tender squid.

Salt and pepper squid

Love my sizzling japanese tofu and again can't go wrong with this dish. It goes well with the other dishes that have very strong flavours.

Pepper beef  was a big hit with my cousins from malaysia so something must be right with the dish. Beef is super tender and packed full of peppery saucy goodness.

Black pepper beef

Our other dishes also include yam duck and peking style pork ribs. I think the yam duck has too much yam and not enough duck underneath, it's not my favourite dish but my other family members like it, I also think the sauce is rather tasteless. Pork ribs on the other hand can never go wrong.

Yam duck

Peking style pork ribs

Not only is the food delicious, the tea is so fragrant, presented in napkins folded into a lotus flower. Usually I think all chinese tea taste the same but I actually notice the tea here, I guess they're not stingy with the tea leaves.

Overall this would be my favourite chinese restaurant so far, fast customer service, delicious high quality dishes and I'm always amazed with their speed in bringing out the dishes. Chefs must be ninjas.