SUN BBQ Restaurant

 "FAVOURITIST KOREAN BBQ"

This has got to be my new favourite Korean BBQ restaurant. I am so blessed to have lovely friends who 'live to eat' to have been introduced to this restaurant. SUN BBQ is located in the corner of William St and Newcastle St, despite being a regular commuter in Northbridge, I have never really noticed the joint, I don't think I've seen it crowded for me to ever notice it, but this is where the "don't judge a book by its cover" comes in. Everything happens upstair, if you're wondering where all the koreans at, they're UPSTAIRS! BBQing a storm.

Dined in SUN BBQ on a saturday night with a bunch of friends, the first meet up of 2014. On arrival, downstairs was somewhat empty so I headed upstairs and it was JAM PACKED! I looked around and majority seemed to be korean looking. If there's a bunch of koreans in a korean restaurant you know you've hit jack pot. I was very excited. Ordered the obligatory korean bbq dishes, seafood pancake, kimchi pancake and BBQ meat platters of marinated Waygu beef and pork as well as non marinated thin meat shavings.

Those stools are not just stools

After putting down our orders, the korean waitress with beautiful porcelain skin began serving our side dishes, there were so many dishes, we struggled to find space for our main dishes, you know the dishes we actually ordered. I liked the little things around the restaurant, the little table buttons to call for service which we ABUSED and the bin-like stools for baggage storage TOTES CUTE.

Side dishes only

First came the seafood pancake which was delicious! pancake had alot of filling, almost TOO much but as long as it came with the sauce I'm happy jane! Kimchi pancake was a let down unfortunately, TOO much kimchi, it was basically an orange fermented pancake, still edible but it does not deserve a picture sorry.

Seafood pancake

Marinated waygu and pork platter seemed small but that was forgiven after the first bite. The waygu was good quality meat, tender and deliciously marinated, same goes with the pork. We loved it so much we ordered another one. Non marinated meat was also delicious but i'm team marinated ftw.

Marinated Waygu beef

Those white noodle like things are actually shredded onion

Overall very pleased with the restaurant, the bill came out to be cheaper than we thought around $23 each and we were all full, cheapest korean bbq I've had considering the meat served was Waygu. Service was a quite slow but I will forgive them as it was practically full house and there was a massive long table of at least 30 people. 

G' fun Nedlands

"Famous Chicken Rice!"

G'fun cafe has been around for ages, it took over Chilliz on Hampton road offering similar cheap meals. I use to go to these kinds of cafes when I was a poor uni student, meals were cheap like $4 cheap and unhealthy, I remember the Chilliz fried rice with honey chicken was so oily but so good.

Now that I'm a working citizen, I have this snobbish attitude towards these kinds of cafes, like I'm better than that *what a bitch right*. That changed when I just came back from a holiday in Singapore and was rather depressed, I missed the super cheap meals, I was in the process of  transitioning back to my Perth lifestyle, everything being expensive. One day I didn't bring lunch and refused to pay anything more than $5, I decided to try G'fun cafe. Ate my pride and did the long walk all the way to the other side of Hampton Rd from my workplace. Displayed on the window was a sign "Famous chicken rice is back" and I was intrigued, since I just returned from Singapore this is perfect. Went inside and it was rather quiet, I looked in the glass cabinet displaying all the hot meals all being $4.50 consisting of chicken rice, deep fried finger food, japanese bentos and fried rice. I ordered the roast chicken rice. There are also condiments on a table beside the counter where you scoop your own chilli or add soya sauce, I ladelled some chilli in my chicken rice and took a seat.

Looks wise, colour was perfect, chicken looks juicy. Took my first bite and WOW, I have to say it is damn good chicken rice! The roasted chicken was tender and the skin was full of flavour, rice had a good amount of chicken stock maybe a little on the oily side. The chilli sauce is a mixture of sweet and spicy and compliments well with the chicken rice, it is a definite MUST to add to the chicken rice, and it isn't really spicy, I mean if I can take it, I'm sure majority of people can handle the spiciness too.

I did alot of people watching and the business is doing very well, there are alot of regulars who order bulk and is very popular with the labourers, they come in big groups, not to mention students too. 

The only negative I'd say is that the dish needs something green, like slices of cucumber, it just makes the dish much more appealing. The photos outside the cafe are pictures of all the meals they offer and it's just all BROWN, I was quite turned off and was one of the reasons why I never went in, I only gave them a chance coz I had the holiday blues and was having a stingy day. In saying that, business is doing well, but I can't help but think they may have lost alot of potential customers, especially in this day and age where everyone is becoming more health conscious. 

Anyways back to the chicken rice, I've had this 4 times and I'm beginning to notice a pattern. The two times I went early in the morning, actually waiting for doors to open *shame*. In those times, my chicken rice wasn't as tender and was mostly bones. The other two times I went in the afternoon and the chicken was fresh and tender and more meaty. I think the morning batches are just left overs from the day before.

Wow just realised I've written alot, never had that much to say bout chicken rice, though it may not meet the authentic criteria, I will still name it best roast chicken rice! One day I'll buy a few as a take away for dinner and add my own steamed vegies :)

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.

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.

Fuku - Omakase and Teppanyaki

"Quality produce, Quality service"

http://thefuku.com

I was blessed to be invited by Milan Rai to dine in Fuku as a guest blogger.  Like the many blog posts that have flooded into Urbanspoon by bloggers, there is a common positive consensus. I will now put in my two cents, this will be a honest post, my opinions will not be influenced regardless of the invite in order to keep to my values and the integrity of my blog.

Few days before I recieved the invite, I was coincidently reading into Fuku in search for a place to take the bf on his bday. He loves japanese so I was contemplating on teppanyaki since we both have never experienced it before. When I think tepanyaki, I think a food show with a big price tag, hence it has always been on the "to do" list and under the authority of my wallet :(

On arrival we were well prepared for the intercom entrance, had I not gotten the information from reading blogposts before, I would've tried yanking the door open. After the intercom was pushed, the door slid open and we were greeted with a warm and welcoming dining area, numerous sake displayed on the wall, lovely soft instrumental music in the background, inviting waiters and a good looking chef HAHA! A+ for environment. We were seated and had a look at the menu which consisted of good, better and BEST which consists of luxurious ingredients like lobster, foie gras and truffles . We were informed that we will be having the better menu. *excited*

Calamari with Herring Roe and Antartic Ice Crab

 

First of 8 courses, simple, fresh and I loved the seaweed crackle giving a good contrast of textures to the dish. They were very  generous with the roe.

Smoked Wagyu, Oyster Tempura, Burdock and School prawn Kakiage

 

This was one of my favourite dishes. I am not a fan of oysters, I don't like the look of them and sometimes chewy but this oyster was big and juicy and so tender, the fact that it was a tempura made it look more appealing. Waygu with a miso sauce was delicious and the prawn kakiage was surprisingly not that hard to eat,  it's just like soft shell crab.

Sashimi

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the sashimi. Sashimi was very fresh and melted in my mouth. I'm normally not a big fan of sashimi but I gobbled this down easily.

I loved the quality of the service. The chef would prepare and present the dish on the bench top in which the waiters will come in and place the dish in front of us all so delicately.

Partridge

 

Never had partridge before but tasted like chicken *how amatuer of me* it being wrapped in crepe reminded me of peking duck, it didn't blow me away, but I still enjoyed it.

Scallop, prawn and crispy prawn head

 

This dish was another one of my favourites. Scallop was volumtious, juicy and perfectly cooked, prawn was well seasoned and also well grilled. Who knew I'd actually enjoy prawn head, it wasn't hard to eat and the chef said it was good for our skin. In that case, good skin is coming my way baby!

What I learnt so far is that tepanyaki is all about working with great produce and simple cooking to keep the natural flavours, in saying that I haven't seen any theatricals and was getting abit disappointed..UNTIL!

The chef started setting things on fire :O!

.........making a volcano

........ Juggling pepper and salt shakers

............... Doing some crazy chopping

............. Pulling out the flesh of the lobster and putting it back into the shell like nothing happened whatsoever

............ Juggling with knives, throwing eggs and cracking it on the knife, as well as picking up an egg yolk and cracking that onto a knife, though there was a couple of failed attempts and a big mess made, it's just all part of the fun.

Now back to the serious stuff..

At this point another chef came to cook, he was wearing a different hat. I think he was not as experienced as the first chef but he was more willing to try out the harder tricks which was entertaining. The experienced chef was left to serve the customers whom ordered the BEST menu. *rich*

Fish of the day

 

I didn't quite enjoy this dish, I found the fish over cooked and a little tough, I also didn't dare to eat the baby octopus, moved it to J's dish, he enjoyed that part. It also took awhile to prepare with the blow torching of the fish and the leaves, not sure if that added flavour to the dish with the torching of the leaves.

Waygu (full blood) sirloin steak. Mayura Station grade 9+, Fried rice with wagyu flavour

 

The chef went around asking everyone how they liked their steak, many chose medium rare. In the end he recommended waygu to be medium to medium well done so the fat can melt away to achieve the full tender steak. From then everybody changed their preferences on their steak. I enjoyed the waygu with the garlic chips, full of flavour. Unfortunately I found the fried rice lacking flavour and some rice was abit hard.

Yuzu cheesecake, chocolate drink and mountain peach

 

I was very excited for dessert and it didn't disappoint. Yuzu cheesecake was creamy and refreshing went well with the chocolate drink. A great end to a wonderful 8 course.

Overall J and I enjoyed our first tepanyaki experience. We can definetly tell that the produce is A grade and they strive for good quality dishes. I highly recommend this place for private parties, it only seats 16 people, but I think the experience would be more fun sharing it with friends and encouraging the chefs to demonstrate more tricks. I'm sure they'll be happy to give them ago knowing that everyone is willing to have some fun. It would definitely be a more interactive dining experience. I believe they have a new WALK-IN menu which I would like to try one day $75, just walk in and make your own menu.

Vons chicken

There is an invasion of Korean restaurants happening in Perth. In the future we will all be dancing and singing to K pop and dressing up like one. Oh wait. that's now. that's me *shame*. The BF have been going to alot of man dates to Vons chicken in which they all talk highly of including my workmate, so I decided to try this place out myself.

Vons chicken is a franchise restaurant in Korea serving mainly chicken from which you can opt for the roasted or deep fried. I stood aside and let the BF take the reigns for this one ordering chicken and rice, he chosed the roasted chicken with mild chilli sauce. You can choose your level of hottness. For me, i'm not that hot :(

We all sat down and got our plastic gloves which I think is pretty awesome! at that moment I was very excited, who wouldn't be excited with plastic gloves!...PLASTIC GLOVES!! *crazily waves them around* Each table is equiped with a chicken scrap bin and baby wipes.

The chicken arrived and as expected it was a bunch of chicken on a plate, glistening with sauce and a lovely brown, make you salivate colour. At that moment I thought, we should've ordered the fried rice or something, so it wouldn' t be so plain and repetitive, but I need to let the control freak that I am go and just eat. 

I slid on my gloves *excited fit* and started digging in, only to realise it wasn't what I imagined it to be, I thought in wearing the gloves I'd be able to devour the saucy chicken with my dignity still intact looking classy and all lady-like, but it proved to still be quite difficult, like I was better off eating it with my bare hands. It was difficult to eat the rice and have gloves too, so I only ended up using one glove. Chicken wise, they were delicious but I think they were too hyped up, I've been told they're better than KFC, KFC is pretty damn good. I think they're both equally good but vons is probably healthier and also pricier . I didn't end up eating my rice, just had the chicken so I guess the rice was really not that necessary nor would fried rice either since I was too busy handling the chicken and was happy with just chicken.

Overall, eventhough it's just roasted saucy chicken, it's still GOOD chicken. The next time I come here, I'd have a take away so I can devour it in my own privacy sauce on my face, clothes, hands and all. I also wouldn't mind a side serving of chips, it would be a great alternative to KFC, without the greasy, unhealthy feeling you get after a KFC meal. 

Red Opium

“Hidden gem”

http://www.redopium.com.au

Photos courtesy of Emandy

Red opium is a new concept restaurant serving thai food but in modern tapas style. It is literally a hidden gem being located underground in a basement on Hay St. This restaurant was the chosen venue for a dear friend’s birthday. Walking down the stairs into the basement was exciting, we were greeted with red lanterns and draped curtains depicting a mysterious asian thai feel, there was even a little section to play chess and a lovely bed-like couch as one of the seatings. I was very impressed with the interiors.

Chess area

We were seated and greeted by the lovely waitress whom is the owner with her husband being the chef. My friends have read a critic review before going in and we decided to order some items he recommended and some from the owner. Items on the menu had very unique names, we ordered a total of 6 dishes.

Crudo tuna

Crudo tuna

Tuna was fresh and melted in our mouths, also had a hint of lemongrass which really gave it a punch of flavour. Everyone enjoyed this dish.

Ying and Yang Dips

Yin and Yang dip

Crackers served with creamy prawn and coconut dip and minced pork tomato dip. These dips was so unique and absolutely delicious, the crackers was so light and crispy and presentation was spot on. My fault would be more dips and more crackers please *I will just keep saying this throughout the post*.

Crying Waygu

Again another spot on dish, this reminded me of beef tataki but with a thai twist. Proabably a favourite amongst the group.

Son in law eggs

Son in law eggs

These eggs was exciting to eat. The owner recommended this dish as she told us stories of customers falling in love with it. Double cooked eggs, boiled then fried to give a crust on the outside and a sauce that tasted like the ones you find in maggie mee, packed full of flavour and abit on the spicy side. A rich dish we all enjoyed.

F duck

F duck

Roast duck in red curry. This is probably one of the best red curry I’ve had. So rich and creamy, packed full of flavour with lovely voluptuous duck pieces. This dish brought out the ugly side of me, I just didn’t want to share.

White bait

White bait

Unfortunately our lack of knowledge of what a white bait is led us to expect a big fleshy white fish, we were left disappointed with this dish. All the Malaysians referred to it as Ikan bilis. It was more a snack than a main dish. We ordered this as it was apparently one of the recommended dishes by the critic, but I’m sure there are better dishes than this.

All our meals were accompanied with fragrant white rice and we all left JUST full. We decided to have dessert elsewhere as they ran out of what we wanted, the dessert menu was still being refined at that time, I've recently seen the dessert menu and it looks promising. The bill came out to be just under $20 each which we were all very surprised. I think we could have ordered a few more dishes to bring us over the line in terms of feeling just full and FULL. I would have liked the dishes to be 10x bigger, but that’s just me being greedy and throwing the tapas concept down the drain.

I enjoyed dining in Red Opium and have been recommending the place to everyone I know since then. I have tried dining in again but they were fully booked so word has definitely gone out.

NB: The entertainment card offers a 25% off the bill to Red Opium
NB: They do private functions