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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Tuesday 29 June 2010

Time with family and friends, Perth

Most of our recent trip to Perth was taken up with (organising) Rob's birthday do, spending time with family, visiting a couple of friends and taking care of a few official stuff. Other than the lunch we had at Friend's Restaurant on Rob's birthday, and the dimsum lunch with my family and mother-in-law on Sunday after church at Northbridge Chinese Restaurant, we didn't get much opportunity or time for dining out. We did, however, have the pleasure of eating a home-cooked dinner at my sister-in-law's house (her husband cooked up a delicious Roast Lamb shoulder), enjoying a gorgeous home-prepared Eggs Benedict brunch at my friend S's home, and having an indoor Vegetarian Picnic at another friend E's house when the rainy day meant we had to can the plan for an outdoor picnic. And not to mention the yummy meals we ate while we stayed at Rob's mum's and my parents' respective homes. Fairly low-key, but we enjoyed warm hospitality, delicious food and wonderful company! Thanks guys :)

The Italian Liqueur Cake for Rob's birthday (his favourite cake) - cream-filled layer cake with strawberries and marsala:


At Northbridge Chinese Restaurant with my family and MIL for Sunday lunch, enjoying a dimsum feast; and then at Icey Ice for dessert after lunch, sharing a Peanut Snow Ice:


Delicious home-cooked roast dinner with lamb shoulder, prepared by my brother-in-law; and having a picnic at my vegetarian friend's place on a rainy day:


At S and J's gorgeous home, for a beautiful eggs benedict breakfast - toasted sourdough, wilted spinach, smoked salmon and poached egg complete with home-made hollandaise sauce!


We really enjoyed our time in Perth, but it was too short, and we wish we had more time to see everyone. Thanks especially to my mother-in-law and my parents for putting us up in your homes during our stay.

Saturday 26 June 2010

Birthday date @ Friends Restaurant, Perth (Australia)

One of the main reason for our trip down under was to celebrate hubby's 30th. In addition to the small-ish do to celebrate with family and some friends, the two of us had a degustation lunch at Friends Restaurant. Rob loves eating his way through a multi-course degustation meal, so it goes without saying that there wasn't a better meal to celebrate his birthday than with a degustation-style meal. There are less than a handful of such restaurants to choose from in Perth's dining scene, and I actually had my eye on a couple of other restaurants that serves degustation, but Friends Restaurant was the only one that offered it for lunch. And it had to be a lunch date because we couldn't find a suitable babysitter for the toddler in the evening.

Table with a view:

Friends Restaurant is located inside the Hyatt Centre with a lovely view of the Swan River and good attentive service by the husband-wife owner team themselves. The menu is 'modern Australian' and there is an impressive wine list to appeal to both the foodies and winos (the restaurant has won a number of awards, particularly relating to its wine list). Both a-la-carte and set courses were available, and the menu is updated to reflect seasonal changes in ingredients and produce. Rob went with the Ten Course Tasting Menu and I had the Manjimup Truffle Tasting Menu. Both sets came with the optional extra to pair with "3-star" or "5-star" wines (for extra costs, of course). While the dishes were well-prepared, I felt that they lacked the wow factor that we've come to expect in a degustation-style meal. Don't get me wrong - the food was delicious and beautifully presented, but they still seemed somewhat ordinary compared to one or two degustation meals we previously enjoyed. The only really negative thing about this experience was the excruciating long wait between each dish. While I get the concept of slow food, 4 hours for a meal is too long, especially for a table of two. Other than the length of time, I can't find fault with anything else, and this was overall a nice dining experience.

Delicious amuse bouche: Cheese and Tomato Palmier and Ham on Toast with Fruit Relish:

For the sake of simplicity I have described each course separately in this blog entry. Be prepared for the huge number of food photos...

Ten Course Tasting Menu

Jerusalem artichoke and thyme soup with truffle air - this soup was richly creamy, but we couldn't really taste the thyme. The foam didn't really do anything to add to the soup, but the truffle was delicious. As an aside, did you know that Jerusalem artichoke is not an actual artichoke, but is related to the sunflower?

Baked Coffin Bay oysters, garlic butter and thyme with lemon pickle - Rob enjoyed this, but I prefer my oysters not floating in a pool of butter.


Slow-cooked rainbow trout, vegetable stock and herb tagliatelle with tarragon mayonnaise - I love the colours in this dish. The translucent tagliatelle was interesting but had a very subtle flavour.

Barramundi fillet with cauliflower cream, buttered potato, spinach and Jerusalem artichokes - this dish was presented with a trio of small bites: a crisp-fried fillet on top of wilted spinach, the crispy skin of the barramundi on top of a rectangular cubic cake of what we thought was the Jerusalem artichokes, and a cauliflower sitting on top of a cake of buttered potato. The flavours were very subtle, so this was a rather unremarkable dish, and a little confusing too with too much happening on one plate.


Mosaic of roast and confit kangaroo scented with thyme and rosemary, and raspberry vinegar dressing - I didn't think this dish worked well. Nice idea and unusual presentation, but we weren't feeling it.

Duck breast caramelised in molasses and bush pepper, crisp skin, caramelised chicory, fondant potato - the duck meat was tender and juicy with a slightly bitter-sweetness lent from the molasses. We thought the "fondant potato" was rather ordinary, basically roughly mashed potatoes formed into a pudding shape and then baked. This was probably my favourite out of Rob's set of dishes.


Salad of roast quail, chicken livers, toasted brioche, poached truffle and truffle dressing - this is probably Rob's least favourite dish as he is not a fan of liver. The quail was juicy, and Rob enjoyed the generous sliver of truffle.

Roast fillet of beef, braised cabbage, root vegetables and red wine sauce - a "safe" dish which would please the crowd but not the few looking for something different.


Deep fried blue cheese fritters with walnut salad - the blue cheese inside that crispy batter was actually pretty mild-tasting. Quite interesting texturally with the crunchy batter contrasting the soft cheese.

Pistachio soufflé, pistachio ice cream, and walnut tart - Rob really enjoyed this one. The soufflé was voluminously bouffant with a subtle pistachio flavour and just the right amount of sweetness. The tart was pretty good too. I think it's safe to say that the dessert course was Rob's favourite dish out of the whole ten dishes.


Manjimup Truffle Tasting Menu

The first dish was the same soup as Rob's course. Then came the Barramundi poached with truffle and truffle risotto. This was probably my favourite dish out of the whole course. The barramundi was so succulent and tasty, and probably rates as the best barramundi I've ever eaten. The risotto was also delicious with a wonderful creamy texture but without the richness of cream which can be too much for me to enjoy beyond the first two mouthfuls. The earthy flavour of truffle in the risotto was delightful. It is a simple dish, but I enjoy fish the best in this manner, without heavy sauces or fancy cooking methods.


Warm forest mushroom jelly and truffle foam with red wine vinegar caramel - Rob said this was his favourite from my set of dishes. Very mushroomy which is fantastic for a mushroom fan like me, though I'm not sure I quite understand the hype of eating foam. It's like eating flavoured air, which can be somewhat unsatisfactory for a person who likes to chomp down on stuff (including icy poles - yes, I'm not much of a sucker).

Roast fillet of beef, truffle butter, truffled creamed potatoes, braised cabbage, root vegetables and red wine sauce - like Rob's roast beef, I felt that this was a little ordinary. There was a generous slice of truffle on top of the beef which I must say I quite enjoyed.


Grand Marnier and truffle soufflé - I was curious about using truffle in dessert, and to my pleasant surprise, this dish worked quite well. The truffle flavour was very subtle and you would have to search hard to get it, but it was there.

The final course was supposed to be a triple cream brie layered with truffles, but I wanted to end the meal on a sweet note, so I requested Chocolate Fondant as a substitute. This was a beautiful plate, and the molten chocolate cake was truly decadent. I could only handle a couple of spoonfuls of the rich cake before handing the plate over to Rob for his taking. Definitely a dessert for chocolate lovers.


It was nice to enjoy a truffle-themed meal because I haven't previously had the opportunity to eat truffle on its own. I've fallen in love with the gorgeous earthy flavours of truffles, and I understand why it's such a commodity (it's the second most expensive food in the world at AU$3000/kg). I think it's fantastic that truffle is being successfully grown right in Western Australia.

This was a pleasant experience, but I think that the restaurant needs to work on the timing of serving the dishes. I would expect a degustation meal to take no more than 3 hours, and 4 hours is definitely too long. The dishes were not anything remarkable, but I think these were the type of food that majority of the restaurant's clientele would certainly enjoy. There aren't many in Perth (or even in all of Australia) who are looking for food which are too different and outside of what they're comfortable with. I suppose it really isn't fair of me to compare with the excellent fine dining experiences we've enjoyed in Japan, because it would sort of be like comparing apples with oranges (I recall that we had similar sentiments about the other degustation-style meal we had in Perth). I must say, though, that it is nice to see that in the last few years, a handful more restaurants have cropped up in Perth that serve degustation, and one in particular has recently gotten international recognition. I would love to have the opportunity to try that one out next time we're in Perth.

Friends on Urbanspoon

Thursday 24 June 2010

Trip down under

We are back in Tokyo after spending the last couple of weeks in Australia. It was a hectic jam-packed trip, but we enjoyed a fabulous time with both sides of our families in Perth and Sydney. Highlights of the trip was celebrating Rob turning the big 3-0, and meeting my niece baby B for the first time. It was nice to be back in Perth, enjoying the clean fresh air, beautiful winter weather (wearing singlet!) and strolling through quiet suburban streets. Yet at the same time we also experienced some reverse culture shock as we found ourselves with a critical eye, comparing areas where Japan does so much better. Not surprisingly, I found that we didn't criticise much while in Sydney, and I think it's because we enjoy the big city life.

Anyway, I'm in the process of sorting through the photos and will soon post up more blog entries. In the meantime, I just wanted to showcase Australia's beautiful blue sky with this shot of Sydney Tower taken from Hyde Park.

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Contemporary Spanish @ Fofo by el Willy, Hong Kong

This is my last post on our trip to Hong Kong, and I'm already having to start packing for our next trip, this time to Australia. I think we need a break from all that flying around after this trip down under.

This was our last evening in Hong Kong, and Rob's lovely aunt C brought us to FoFo by el WIlly, a newly-opened restaurant that serves contemporary Spanish food. The opening of Fofo followed the successful el Willy restaurant in Shanghai. The restaurant had a simple but classy design, and service was pretty good. The menu offers tapas and rice dishes, both traditional and contemporary. I like the idea of tapas, especially when dining in a group, because it's nice and bonding to share food and everyone can get a variety of mini-sized food.

(About the photo quality, we initially had great natural lighting by the window, but as the evening wore on, the natural light faded and the restaurant was pretty dimly lit, so it got more difficult to take good shots without flash on the point-and-shoot.)

Complimentary Bruschetta with tomato bread and olives; and Saute Prawns with Garlic & Chili:


A special dish of the day, off the menu: Hand-sliced Iberico Ham, acorn-fed and aged 36 months - nice with crusty bread; and Beef Cheek with Banana & Passionfruit Crispy Roll - tender meat that went surprisingly well with the fruity pastry base. L and Rob liked the fruity beef cheeks so much that they ordered a second plate of it:


Fried Croquettes of Iberian Ham aged 36 months - a favourite with my fellow diners; and Chicken with Lobster Traditional Catalan-style - delicious juicy chicken with generous amount of lobster flesh in a mushroom sauce:


Dessert time! Churros with Warm Chocolate & Vanilla Ice-cream - delicious, but so unhealthy; and the Assorted Dessert Plate, which included Layered Mascarpone Mousse, Berries & Banana Cake, Chocolate Cake, Catalan Cream, Mango Sorbet and Dark Chocolate Gelato - all pretty good, and I particularly enjoyed the smooth rich dark chocolate gelato:


I don't encounter much Spanish cuisine in Tokyo or Australia, so I don't get much chance to eat Spanish food. This was a lovely meal to farewell us on our way back home to Japan after only a short few days in Hong Kong. It was a productive trip, and we covered a lot of ground so we now have a better idea of how it'd be living in HK.

We're off to Oz tomorrow, so my blog will be sadly silent for a couple of weeks. However, I promise that after we return, there will be a sudden influx of journal entries about what we ate and did, so stay tuned!

Sunday 6 June 2010

The Peak, Hong Kong

The Peak is a big tourist attraction in Hong Kong, and I actually intended to hike to the top on foot from Central, while Rob looked after Zak back at the Mandarin Oriental. Unfortunately, on the morning of the planned hike, there was a smoggy haze hovering over the city, and I didn't end up doing the hike for the sake of my respiratory health. I had already been to the Peak before when we first visited Hong Kong for our honeymoon in '04, but we didn't get much time to explore, so I decided to accompany my sister and re-visit the Peak while Rob was working at the office. The boy fell asleep during the walk to the Peak Tram, and although we were told we had to fold up the pram in the tram, we snuck it on so that Zak could continue napping. There was already a fairly long queue when we arrived at the tram station, but thankfully we could fit onto the next tram service.

The queue at the Peak Tram station to go up to the Peak; and inside the crowded tram:


Zak asleep in the pram on the tram; and Honey and the tram:


We got onto one of the scenic paths that curved along the mountainside, which was shady with lots of greenery. It was quite a pleasant walk, and we got plenty of photo op during the walk.

Panoramic view of Hong Kong city and the harbour:


The lovely and shady scenic route hugging along the mountainside; and my son watching the world on an incline, during the descent from the Peak in the Tram:


Next chance I get, I will hike up to the top of the Peak.

Friday 4 June 2010

Hong Kong Park and Dim sum @ Maxim's Palace

One of the great things we love about Hong Kong is that although it is a typical big city with crowded streets, traffic jams and high rises everywhere in sight, there are beautiful and spacious green public areas to be found in the midst of this concrete jungle. The Hong Kong Park in Central provides a lovely respite away from the buzz of Hong Kong, and this trip we found another reason to love this park even more: an excellent large children's playground!

The artificial lake in Hong Kong Park; and the boy and his dada on the slides at the Children's Playground:


There are many other facilities in the park, such as a greenhouse and a squash centre, but we only had time to visit the walk-through aviary which houses a collection of 800 birds from 100 species. We saw many pretty birds, and a few brilliantly coloured ones too. It was really nice inside the aviary - you wouldn't have guessed that you were actually in the middle of a huge city.

Entering the Edwarde Youde Aviary enclosure; and a bird feasting on banana:


Brilliantly-coloured birds perched on hanging feeders that kept rotating due to birds alighting and taking off so it was difficult to get a clear shot. Don't ask me what birds these are because I have no idea:



We had a dim sum lunch at Maxim's Palace at City Hall, which was one of the yumcha place suggested to us. The restaurant has a vast dining hall, and dim sum trolleys rotate around the hall with the waitresses hollering out the names of the dishes (there are signs on each cart in both Chinese and English indicating its contents). You can also order dishes off the menu, but that takes the spontaneity out of the experience, which is half the fun of yumcha dining. It's a very popular place, and it was very crowded even though it was a week day.

The massive dining hall at Maxim's Palace - and shown here is only half the room:


The food was average, and we were quite surprised at how pricey it was. Rob was not impressed with this meal, and he said that the dim sum we had at Fargara's on Discovery Bay was better (and he wasn't terribly impressed with that either). I'm not sure whether comparing dimsum-from-the-trolley and dimsum-prepared-to-order is like comparing apples and oranges, but I'm sure we can get better dimsum in Hong Kong for less, and it's only a matter of time before we find a favourite. We ate a lot, and I stopped taking photos after a while, but here are shots of some of the dishes.

Two types of bao (buns): Charsiew Bao (bbq pork bun) and Lotus Seed Bun - both were delicious; and Fried Squid, not crispy and crunchy enough for Rob and Honey, but I actually enjoyed this better than others I've had:


Phoenix Talons (aka chicken feet), which was pretty good; and Beef Balls, which I'd never before noticed is a popular dim sum dish:


Pastries: Egg Tarts and Taro Dumpling - both were delicious; and Dou Fu Fa (silky tofu with sweet ginger syrup), one of my favourite childhood foods:


Just as an aside, the delicious roast duck and charsiew (barbecue pork) that I featured in my first post for this Hong Kong trip is also from another Maxim's eatery, called Maxim's MX, at City Hall. It's also really popular with the lunch crowd, and you can get a pretty good variety of substantial meal options here.

There were two queues: one to order and pay at the cashier, and a second one to receive your food - both were quite long during the working lunch break; and our take-away orders of charsiew and roast duck which were infinitely better than the ones that Rob and Honey had the night before: