Arirang Korean BBQ

We’ve been passing by Arirang Korean BBQ Restaurants on many occasions and saw that it was always full of customers inside but we have never try before…until last night.

After the fabulous Christmas Parade along St Georges Terrace in the city, we decided to pay the restaurant a visit as it was already 9pm after the show finished and we were all hungry and just wanted to go to somewhere nearby within walking distance. I enjoy walking all the time and with so many people walking alongside us, it didn’t feel tired or far.

Anyway, we finally reached Arirang Korean BBQ Restaurant at Barrack Street in the city centre and was surprised to see that there were still many people inside although it had passed dinner time. Went in to check with the waitress and was glad that there was still table for the three of us. After setting up my daughter baby chair and finally settled down, then came the moment that I am always dreadful about: select from a menu which dishes I am not familiar with! All the dishes names were in Korean although written in alphabets. Even if they have description at the bottom of those names, it was still a daunting task for me to go through the entire menu which seems thicker when you don’t understand a thing inside it. I became more confused when I saw in the menu their company tagline is “who said BBQ was boring…!!!” I thought what is it got to do with the food I’m going to get?

I decided to take the easy way out by just asking the Korean waiter to recommend us a dish. We were advised to try Modum (which sounds like a computer component than food to me) which was an assortment of finest bbq meats perfect for the indecisive. Was the description of the food trying to insult my character? Anyway it is a combination of 3 meats namely: beef, chicken and pork (buldogi + duk buldogi +daeji buldogi) grilled to Korean standard. By the way the names of these 3 meats sounded more like characters in computer games than Korean food to me.

The waiter said that we could use the round grill plate in the middle of our table if we ordered one more dish. No thank you was my reply as I am not those people who like to cook their food. I prefer to have the food cooked and delivered straight to me and my only job is to eat them.

I was amazed that the food was served to us quite fast considering the fact that there were still many customers waiting for their food. Although I’m not a fan of Korean food but our dish tasted all right. For a start there was no strong smell from the beef and pork. The meats were grilled with sweet Korean sauce. It would be perfect if you like sweet sauce. This set is good for 2 persons if you are not too hungry and just want something light. It costs $24 just for the meats and $29 if you ordered a set.

Modum [buldogi + duk buldogi + daeji buldogi]

Flat Korean chopstick - it is a challenge to use it although I've been using chopstick all my life. I spent most of the time preventing it from falling off my grip.

Arirang Korean BBQ Restaurant is located at 91-93 Barrack Street, Perth. 

Hanami Japanese Restaurant

Hanami Restaurant at 685 Beaufort Street Mount Lawley is one of the places that serve authentic Japanese cuisine in Perth. There are just so many Japanese restaurants sprouting out all around the city but most do not offer good quality food as they are not owned by Japanese. Hanami restaurant however is owned by Japanese although they do employ Chinese as waiters and waitresses.

The best part of this restaurant is that you can expect a huge portion for any dish you select from the menu and this is what makes it one of the few places that offer value for money in this expensive city.

Hanami Restaurant front entrance - the business is so good that they have to place extra tables and chairs on the two parking lots in front of their shop.

Japanese Green Tea - Don't you just love their cute little tea pot and cups?

Chicken Katsudon - deep fried chicken wrapped in egg omelet.

I think this is Sashimi Bento, the food is so good that I can't quite remember its name. 

Tempura Udon. I don't really fancy for Udon as I have ate a lot of lousy ones in Perth. But this dish in Hanami makes me like this wonderful Japanese noodle soup once again. The noodle is soft and tasty with the hot soup coupled with my favourite assorted tempura.

Tho Yuen Restaurant (桃園茶樓)

Tho Yuen Restaurant (桃園茶樓) is one of the surviving old restaurants that have been operating in Penang for over 80 years! Restaurants and shops like this is diminishing day by day following rapid urbanization and expansion of the city. Fortunately with George Town being enlisted by UNESCO as world heritage site, many traditional shops like this now have gleam of hope to survive in an intense competitive environment today.

One thing that ensures Tho Yuen’s success is undoubtedly the food they serve. To run a restaurant successfully in Penang is no mean feat as Penangites are spoilt for choices when it comes to food. There are just foods everywhere day and night! Tho Yuen Restaurant (桃園茶樓) specializes in Dim Sum and Cantonese cuisine and they have extensive menu for you to choose from. However, I’m going to share a few dishes that I will order whenever I visit this place.

Fish Ball Soup

Fried Crispy Noodle 炒生麵 with seafood, pork and chicken

Fried Hor Fun and Rice Vermicelli or 番薯: its nickname

Besides delicious Dim Sum and the dishes that I shared above, Tho Yuen Restaurant also serves good Hainanese Chicken Rise. The roast chicken thigh and drumstick is my personal favourite.

Front Entrance of Tho Yuen Restaurant (桃園茶樓) 

Morning tea 饮早茶 at Tho Yuen Restaurant (桃園茶樓) 

Campbell Street, George Town, Penang.

If you want to travel back in time and experience the traditional ambience of Penang, then you got to visit Thou Yuen Restaurant (桃園茶樓)!

Located at 92 Campbell Street, Penang, Malaysia.

Business Hours: 6am – 3pm everyday except Tuesday.

Contact number: 04-2614672

Spencer Village - Asian Food Court

I was particularly delighted to discover this place called Spencer Village in Thornlie, Perth a while back ago. That day we were driving around visiting display homes in Piara Waters. Thanks to my daughter who couldn’t stop playing in the neighbourhood playground, it was fast getting dark and my stomach has started protesting that it needed food pretty soon. So I dragged my reluctant daughter into our car and head off to Spencer Village which is the nearest we could find from that place. You see finding food after dark in Australian suburbs is a challenge, it is something that is very different from Asia.

I’ve heard of this place before and most people have positive comment about its food. So we decided to give it a try. Hawker stalls and little food courts are something that I have grown up with and it is quite unusual for me that there are so few of this type of places in Perth. So it is a big thing for us to be able to find this place.

The first impression was definitely a good one. We saw the car park in front of the place was almost fully occupied, that means good business and most importantly good food! I managed to find one parking spot at the back and we walked straight in to start our food hunt. Upon entering the building, it was as though we have been teleported back to Asia in one of those Star Trek high tech devices. Almost the entire space was filled with Asians, the ambience was noisy and chaotic, exactly what you would experience in any Asian cities. I saw familiar names like Laksa, Char Koay Teow and Roti Prata.

We ordered a Unagi Rice and Fried Hor Fun Cantonese style. As you can see in the photos below, both came in very big portions. If you get bored with Perth lifestyle at night and would like to go for supper just like you normally do in Asia, then Spencer Village is the place. And the food is really value for money. But if you have high expectation in terms of taste and quality of food, then this may not be a place for you. I’m more for taste and that’s why I’ve only visited the place once and have never gone back so far. I may go again in some nights when I miss experience the Asian ambience while in Australia!

Spencer Village Main Entrance

Malacca and KL Food Stalls

Spencer Village Interior

Stall selling Indonesian food

Hong Kong and Japanese food stalls

Roti Prata stall

Cantonese Fried Hor Fun

Unagi Rice

Jaws Town Hall

It was a maximum of 38 degrees today and we have so far experienced the hottest November month ever recorded in Perth’s history. Summer has definitely come early this year and it could be tough to walk under the hot midday sun to visit some of the heritage buildings around the city. It is the Heritage Week on today and tomorrow and we have first visited the City Farm in East Perth before catching the free Yellow Cat bus to the central city for lunch.

We initially wanted to have noodle in this Japanese restaurant called Nao along the Murray Street but it wasn’t open for lunch. We have seen many people dine in there last night when we walked past the place after the city’s Turning Christmas Light On Ceremony. So we had to changed our plan and go to the nearby newly opened Jaws sushi restaurant opposite the Town Hall.

It was a relieve walking into that outlet with their air-conditioning turned on full blast. I haven’t had that feeling for a long time as we don’t need it during previous colder months. We checked out their menu and found out that it was not costly plus we could hardly walk any further without first filling our stomach under that intense heat.

Being newly opened, it has squeaky clean interior with a wall hung TV broadcasting Japan promotional video. All the staff are Japanese and we were happy to see that because it means they would provide authentic Japanese cuisine. Japanese have always been well known for the dedication and passion they put into preparing their meals.

I couldn’t stop looking at the TV with scenes of Japanese places, people and culture. It made me almost feel like booking air tickets to fly to there instantly. The hot midday sun and my stomach’s craving for food may have caused illusion in my head. Pulling myself back to earth, we ordered two meals: a small Teriyaki Salmon with rice and a Bento Set.

Interior of the Jaws Town Hall

Bento Set

For a price tag of only $6.50, the Teriyaki Salmon was indeed value for money. It’s portion is big enough for my wife. And my Bento Set was simply wonderful with Salmon Sashimi, Tempura Prawn, Deep Fried Chicken, Beef Tataki and Teriyaki Chicken for only $19.50. As we have expected, the food tasted authentic and delicious. The service was superb, the floor manager even gave our 3 year old daughter a chocolate bar for free. We would definitely go there again for their quality food and excellent service. Jaws Town Hall is located right opposite the Perth Town Hall at Hay Street. 

Seafood Fried Ho Fun

I used to work as a kitchen hand in this restaurant more than 10 years ago when I was studying at the nearby University of Western Australia (UWA). Those days it was owned by a Hong Kong couple, the wife took care of PR and recruitment while the husband was back in the kitchen busy cooking. I wasn't too keen of their food back then because they cater to the Australian market so you would find fried rice with potato chips for example, something that tells you that it is not authentic Asian cuisine.

So I visited Sunflower Chinese Food Village again recently not because of the food but just hope to catch up with my ex-colleagues and boss. I found out that it has changed ownership instead. The interior of the restaurant does not changed much but there were completely new faces working around. I flipped through the new menu without placing high expectation and ordered Seafood Fried Ho Fun. Ho Fun is a flat rice noodle that is very popular in Cantonese dish.

My order came quite soon and I was glad to see the big portion considering that I was in the middle of winter that time. To my astonishment the Ho Fun was so smooth and with the delicious gravy blanketed all over it on top just made it so warm and tasty. They were also very generous with the scallops which is my personal favourite. Big chunky scallops sweetened your taste bud made you crave for more. The whole experience was unexpected and a surprise to me because I never thought it would taste so good. Although it costs slightly more expensive than elsewhere but with the big portion and plenty of seafood, it was value for money.

Dim Sum @ James Street

I'm now in Perth for more than one year and everything is better than Malaysia except food. Being a Penangite, food is an important part of me and I've been searching for good Malaysian food but unfortunately none is as good as what you can find at home.

As with other Australian cities, Perth embraces international communities coming from all over the world with very different cultures and not to mention their cuisines. Asians make up quite a substantial number in their population. This is a good thing because you then get to experience food from around the world.

If there is one Asian cuisine that I think is better than what you could find in Malaysia is definitely the Dim Sum. I've tried various outlets in and around Perth. All of them serve better Dim Sum than back home. Recently, we discovered a place where you think has the best Dim Sum among all that we have tried. It is the Golden Century Seafood Chinese Restaurant at 1/191 James Street, Northbridge.  

The joy of eating Dim Sum is the push carts or trolleys that the waiters bring out and move all around the restaurant. It is like food on parade and we the spectators just sit around and wait for our favourite to arrive. It is definitely a different experience with other cuisine in that you are always waiting for the waiters to surprise you with some fantastic food. The busy and often noisy ambience make you feel like you are not in Australia but in Asia. It is a good place to catch up with friends, eat some good food while sipping Chinese tea or Yum Cha as the Cantonese would call it.

Century Egg Porridge - A must order dish whenever we go for Dim Sum because this is the only food that our 3 year old daughter could eat.

Deep Fried Prawn Dumpling - Not as oily and hard compared to others I have tried which make it very delicious while still managed to retain the juiciness of the prawn meat within.

Beside porridge, egg tart is another Dim Sum dish we would order for our daughter and she loves it!

Fish ball is very common in Malaysian Dim Sum but not so in Perth. Most Dim Sum restaurants don't serve them but the Golden Century does which will surely attract me to their front door more often in the future.

Most dumplings have prawn meat inside and you certain do not wish to order 5 different dumplings with the same common ingredients inside. If you are scratching your head to decide which one to go, I suggest you go for scallop dumpling instead of the usual prawn dumpling.

Soft shell crab - a very uncommon dish for Dim Sum but very delicious, crunchy and juicy at the same time.

Big Breakfast At Victoria Park

It is a place where you can have all day breakfast, butter and honey, scrambled eggs, poached eggs and maple syrup. The big breakfast was definitely value for money considering its location being so close to the city. The mushrooms were simply fabulous! The coffee was also very nice. Crumpet is a nice looking tiny little cafe. It was a pleasant experience, and I'd definitely go back for those mushrooms!

Among the dishes in their menu includes crepes with strawberries, banana, nutella and cream; eggs benny; big breakfast (my personal favourite); eggs benedict with salmon; mushrooms, rocket, onion jam, grilled haloumi cheese on toast; sausage omelette; smoked salmon with feta cheese; spinach fetta and pine nut omelette.

 

Most people who live in Victoria Park don't even know it exists due to its very bland exterior. The interior on the other hand is acceptable with a simple mural painting on one of the feature wall. You will definitely find yourself fighting for a table as they simply don’t have enough in their tiny internal space.

Address:

8/885 Albany Highway,

East Victoria Park, WA 6101

Phone: 08 9355 0901

Open Tuesday to Sunday for Breakfast & Lunch.

Big Brekky

Mocha