Tannic Teeth

It may just be a taste hangover from the previous rabbit post, but again I’m in the game, for game. And good wine.

Aside from the standard European table-fare of game (rabbit, boar, pheasant, grouse, etc), we decided to have a crack at Kangaroo, Emu and Possum.

Yes, I know eating all of our national coat of arms would probably make the rest of the world recoil in horror, but I must tell you, when paired with good wine, it’s a  combination worthy of the deserved political atrocity.

Kangaroo is now a common meat available at most retail supermarkets, but keep hush-hush about it. I’d like to see it at $13.67 per kg for a long time still.

Emu is less common. With a dark meat, and similar pH, texture and taste to beef, you’d be hard pressed to convince a Beefeater it was a giant bird from Australia.

Last was Possom. Confit(ted), it tasted like duck with a slight ripple of porkyness. The texture was akin to chicken thigh that had a run-in with a forceful kitchen-hand. New Zealand has an issue with possums; they should eat them crumbed with sweet chilli. “Sweet Chilli Possum Wrap at KFP” — Perhaps it’ll take a while for the market to warm.

The wine that we decided to pick-a-part on the night was Forest Hill Vineyard “Boobook” Shiraz Viognier 2007 [Great Southern]

From first inspection it’s easy to tell there is much going on below the surface. Good splatterings of ripe berries and decorous oak which swayed between vanillian and cedar. On the tannin-front the wine presents a powdery texture, as if you copped it in the mouth in a baby-parlour. Purposefully  balanced, with Viognier’s heart sent on complimenting Shiraz and not providing too much to dwell on; Florally lifted, tumultuous fruit. As easy going as you’d expect from  Great Southern for the price. 17.6 points

Spend Summer with the Locals. Flora and Fauna.

Who would ever think that one of the most destructive introduced pests to Australia would fetch $21 per kilo at your butcher? Though I can say that these rabbits are farmed; they’re white (to be honest I prefer the wild rabbit) and pretty much taste like – you guessed it – chicken. And for a whole boned sectioned carcass, that’s about $24 a pop.

Leaner than beef, pork and chicken, rabbit meat is per meter squared, the most ecologically sustainable animal protein. They can be grown in hutches, mature quickly and, er, breed like rabbits. I don’t understand why rabbit meat isn’t:

1) cheaper

2) introduced widely among culinary menus (along with Kangaroo).

3) readily avilable available (thanks wonderfully accurate and anonymous literati for your contribution)

Our hopping friends are our only future if every one of the 6.6 billion hungry mouths are to get adequate protein and not reduce the earth to dust.

So we thought we would roast a rabbit (or two) and enjoy with some WA wine. I’ve kept wine it in the theme of the Rhône Valley. Shiraz (Syrah), Viognier, Marssane, and Roussane.

I could have been daring and picked a few bunnies off the road on the way to the butchers. But with the recent spell of Bikram weather, they’ed be close to jerky au jus than anything else.

It has become somewhat of a Perth institution that lead the way into opening up the now gilded King St. From what used to be warehouse storage and a no-go zone of Perth, the change has been, to use a sorrowful pun – dramatic.

King St Cafe AKA 44 King St, is a contemporary Australian menu with offerings from pizza to cous cous in a laid back atmosphere. It stares across the street at Tiffinay and Louis. Quite possibly the classiest street in Perth.

For ten years it’s been operating, churning out it’s own breads, roasting it’s own coffee and providing the people of Perth a friendly, artisanal experience.

Not a bad environment to be in, when you’re sipping to the cup of inspiration. The coffee is very well made and fruit toast is amazing.

Speaking of amazing, the wine list is probably one of the best in the state. Any (Australian) wine worth its salt you’ll find gracing the carte de vin.

The place is decked out with the functioning bakery at the back, mirroring the other side where a coffee roaster sits flanked with rows of roasted beans. It adds to the grass-roots feel of the place, the open air kitchen pushes further the theatre of food. You may stay longer than you had intended, for this is what happened on this particular day.

And if you were after a live performance of whatever takes your fancy, His Majesty’s it’s less than 30 meters away.

7am till Late every day

44 King St Perth

Take your time. Enjoy.

Golden King BBQ Express is a place like this:

You order, you eat, you leave. Done.

Any given lunch service will see all tables turn over at least thrice with a queue of takeaway-ers clogging the procession of those filing in. I’ve been shoved onto a table with a complete stranger before. Now sharing a table with a stranger may be one thing, but the food is the reason we all endure such comical economics.

For 5 years I have viewed this haphazard approach to service. Why? Because the food is excellent. Their egg noodles are cooked to perfection, roast duck – tender and char siu draws a queue out the door. They don’t care much about presentation here either. The decor is tacky and all you can really hear is the bone crunching sound of a meat cleaver sectioning off duck, and roast pork. Who cares if the service is rushed, inattentive and lost in translation. When I get my plate of combination wet fried ho-fun and with egg sauce, all is forgiven.

I challenge any reader to find me a better ho-fun anywhere in Perth. And for the price.

Shop 19 Morley Markets

Morley

Monday – Sunday 10am – 9 pm

Phone 9375 666

You’ll have to put your blinkers if you’re sensitive about dining in places that err into third world territory.

For those that grace Beaufort Street would know there used to be an old shop at 513. Correct me if i’m wrong but was it a kebab shop, right? I remember it because there is a florist further down the road with the most amazing blooms. They’re always beaming towards the sun, perfect to take a few happy snaps.

But I digress.
So there’s going to be a small bar in that retail cavity left behind. I saw the Notice of Application the other week. Yes. It took me a while to actually blog this, and hopefully full renovations are well underway.

Mezza Tapas is the name.

Watch this space.

So I was supposed to have a get-away down South.

1 week of floundering around wineries of Margaret River, tasting wines and seasonal produce.

But Mr Murphy’s Law was rightfully instructing. We got sick.

3 days savagely bed ridden with a bout of gastro-intestinal dysfunction. Hoary! for Gastrolyte or I’d probably be dead.

Consolation prize: you get to discover the eateries 15 min drive from your hotel. Meal-up was one of those places.

It’s a kinda shop, open kitchen, tapas, light eatery thingy that is approachable at random hours of the day. Well random for the dysfunctional intestines we seemed to be suffering from.

The ‘take’ is: fresh, organic, wholesome and holistic. You will eat off biodegradable plates with biodegradable cutlery. The food is mindfully crafted by Chef Adam Lane. Nicolette helps with front of house with her gorgeous demeanour and stunning heterochromatic eyes (different eye colour). Husband and wife team helped by Lisa Tayolr. The food is nothing short of amazing. End of story.

Warming food. Warming philosophy. Love it. It helped healed my wretched belly

Meal-up

Shop 3

Bay View Centro

Dunsborough

P 9755 34 11

www.mealup.com.au

There are probably only a hand full of restaurants around Perth where you can go at any time of day, day of week and get consistent quality food. Cantina in Mt Lawley is one of those places.

It’s looks like it’s an a small cafe that burst at the seams and spilled tables and chairs into the near by arcade. I’m sure this has been a crafted entrance as much as the menu is every few weeks. Yes I said every few weeks. There are a few dishes that are the mainstay but other than that, the produce is seasonal. I like that transitory nature of things. It keeps things interesting. Interestingly Italian.

The wine list is well chosen with imported reds sharing the carte du vin as much as Aussie ones.

I tried the slow cooked duck cannelloni with pine nuts. It came out bubbling like some primordial lava pool in a stoneware dish that retained the heat long after it disappeared. That was prequeled by seared chorizo with caper berries, The chorizo is as good as it gets this side of the equator. It’s made by local señora, Rosa.

This place is a no brainer if you don’t want to be disappointed.

Cantina 663.

663 Beaufort St, Mt Lawley

If you don’t know what Pho is by now, I’m sorry, but you have probably lived in a cultural bubble. For those well acquainted with the subtly spiced, simmered beef broth with noodles and DIY mint and bean sprouts, will be well aware it’s messy business. It can also be quite hit-and-miss. Sometimes the serving size is too small with an unfair noodle-veggie ratio. Or the broth just doesn’t have enough oomph. Or it’s ludicrously expensive. That’s the dead giveaway for a shonky Pho. Over $10 and I’d walk in the other direction. Because I know where you can get a killer for $9.

It’s called Pho Huynh and it’s in the central northern suburb of Girrawheen. Though the greater surrounds would make me feel uneasy at night, this place shines like a beacon in the newly named Saigon Business Centre. It’s quite the opposite of every other noodle house I’ve been to: fresh decor (no plastic table coverings here), air con and a plasma TV that blares Vietnamese karaoke all day long (well maybe this is the same). The staff are attentive and family-like. It’s not uncommon to see the proprietor babysitting her (Eurasian) children, and the matriarch wisely staring from the corner. I’m sure she’s analysing my Pho eating style and chopstick etiquette. Whether I’m a sauce adder or dunker, and whether I add all the bean sprouts with judicial use of mint and hoisin. It’s highly personal stuff. Lunch time,  it’s packed. The car park swells with oddly out of place Mercedes and BMWs. Sunday lunch is pretty much like being back in Vietnam, 100 people per metre squared. The litmus test for a good Asian restaurant is how many countrymen dine there. This place passes with flying colours.

The food is better than I had in Vietnam, Pho sure.

Pho Huynh. Vietnamese Rice & Noodle Bar. Shop 1/32 Balgonie Ave Girrawheen WA Open 6 Days 9am-8pm (Closed Wednesdays)

So you’re on a ‘less-than-20 grams -of-fat-per-day-diet’ for about 2 months now. You have made good progress. Lost about 3-4% body fat percentage (bfp) bringing it down to about 10%. Single diget bfp is six or eight pack material. And it’s fucking hard. It means you run every other day (about 12km in 40min) and work out in the gym in between those other days so you spend about 7 -8 hrs in the gym per week.

NO DAYS OFF

You’re going well eating pretty much hummus, canned tuna and ‘weight watchers’ wraps which provide a reasonable base of carbs-protein-fat ratio. Then your brother and housemate come home with the new abomination Hungry Jack’s has concocted. Four patties of greasy beef in between four slices of plastic cheese with two strips of fried bacon. The smell was that unmistakeable HJ’s flame grilled beef, crisp bacon and salty chips- It was making me salivate; I was preparing my usual daily meal and I was so tempted to just take a bite, or steal just one chip off the plate, but I’m proud to say that I didn’t. And boy was it hard.

Taken from  here the quadburger contains 4518 kilojoules, or 1080 calories, and 71g of fat. What on earth does that mean? Well the average male functions on about 8000 kilojoules (less if you are female) per day meaning if you down one of these babies you are pretty much half of your daily energy requirements. 71g of fat… most people eat about 100g in a day (I wonder how much of that is saturated?). Having not touched fast food in about 5 years I often snigger inside when I see fatties in line at HJ’s or Maccas. Surely they must realise what they are eating is probably going to kill them. Cigarettes by law have to contain warnings, there is no reason why something as hideous as this should be exempt.

I was so grossed out that burger that I just had to share it with the rest of the world- oh yeah- and my equally gross looking healthy food. And I heard from my housemate and my bro that it was awesomely tasteless. I was later told that they felt sick and depressed from eating that with large fries and half a litre of coke.

hurm wonder why…bring on the single digets…

Probably the largest planted grape in all of Spain, Tempranillo has only a select representation in Australia; Adelaide Hills prefectly suited to showcase this variety. Fragrant, lifted wines encompassing the dark cherry spectrum with approachable tannins. It’s a supple grape variety with mass appeal.

Mr Riggs Tempranillo 2004 [Adelaide Hills] South Australia 14.5%

‘Not peering too deeply into this wine, it’s upfront with a reasonable array of cherry, leather and sweet spice. This wine belongs to the Yucca Paddock, a single vineyard wine concocted by Ben Riggs and Co. Fruitful and generous, the mouth feel is not too big but ample fruit and hints of menthol; finely complementing the mince and mushroom Gözleme later devoured.’