Sen

Everything about this place feels incredibly fresh and clean - including the fact that the restaurant itself still feels shiny and new - which fits perfectly with modern vietnamese cuisine. The location is terrific - directly across the road from Langley Park, with views across the river. The louvered front windows have me eagerly anticipating summer evenings of al fresco dining!

We started with perfectly grilled, local garlic king prawn, vegetarian rice paper rolls and an inexpensive - but lovely - bottle of local semillon sauvignon blanc. Refreshingly, their entire wine list was relatively inexpensive. They do offer BYO if you're looking to bring something a little special.

Soon after ordering our waitress approached us to offer us an opportunity to try a new steamed rice option, not yet on the menu - steamed rice with lotus seed. When it arrived and the lid was removed, the aroma of lotus was amazing, though the flavour was beautifully subtle. For mains we ordered stir fry scallops with fresh ginger and vegetables with homemade sauce and steamed choy sum with burnt garlic and oyster sauce. The scallops dish was a fabulous combination of crisp, naturally sweet vegetables and scallops with the homemade sauce, beautifully understated.

Only slight negative was that the service (although pleasant) was a little inattentive. Dishes came out from the kitchen very quickly, however our mains did not arrive together - not crucial as we were sharing, but still preferable - and once our mains had arrived we were given no further attention and had to approach the bar for the bill.

Overall though, a lovely dining experience - and I have a feeling I'll be back quite often over the summer!

--- update ---
Have been back a few times since that first visit with mixed results. The garlic king prawns and 'home-made sauce' stir-frys are still a hit, though the lotus seed rice has never re-appeared. Anything deep-fried has been disappointing. Avoid batter and deep frying and you'll be happy!

132 Terrace Road, East Perth
ph :: 08 9325 1868
Price guide :: entrees $5 - $12, mains $15 - $30
Very vegetarian friendly!

Arirang

First good food (and vegetarian-friendly) experience in Perth, hurrah! I wasn't blown away by the experience, but it really was pretty good!

We did have some difficulties with our on-table BBQ set (first it couldn't get hot enough to cook, then hot enough to burn pretty quickly). It's a nice enough place though, with friendly staff and a good (if expensive) Korean beer selection, including my favourite - Hite. Though it is mostly my favourite 'cos if you turn the bottle just the right way, it looks like it says "Shite"! :)

Each member of our group selected a different BBQ set menu, so we ended up with a selection of seafood and beef, with chilli sauce. The scallops were probably my favourite, but the squid was pretty good too. For me, the highlight was with the sides served with the set - possibly the best kimchi I've had in Australia. I'm actually looking forward to going back sometime soon to try the jumbong.

www.arirang.com.au
91-93 Barrack St, Perth
Price guide :: mains $15 - $30
Vegetarian friendly!

Tank Lounge

Ahh, the search for a good, cheap and cheerful sandwich bar. So far ... not ended. I had take-away, so can't comment on the ambience. The limited selection of sandwiches seemed okay, and I loved the idea of 'mini rolls' ... the perfect antidote to all those massive ciabattas we see everywhere. However, since I was hungry I was not in the look-out for such an antidote. Instead I had a egg, avocado, cheese & tuna roll ciabatta. Not massive, but plenty big enough. The bread was a little too crusty and I'm not sure where the avocado was, but it wasn't bad. Glad I eat seafood, as there were no vegetarian options.

Shop 9, St Martins Arcade, Perth
Price guide :: sandwiches < $10
Other :: Not vegetarian friendly

The Lucky Shag

Simple and casual – and in a great location, right on the water - The Lucky Shag serves up pretty limited standard pub fare. I had the grilled snapper with chips and salad. The fish and basic garden salad were okay, but the chips (were really fries) were a bit … faded. Others in my group had the burger, the parma and the salt & pepper squid. Squid was declared "mostly salt, very little pepper. Or squid." Not a great introduction into the Perth dining scene ... hope to do better this weekend

http://www.luckyshagbar.com.au/
Barrack Street Jetty, Perth
Price guide :: mains $15 - $30
Other :: Not vegetarian friendly

Food adventures in a frontier town ...

I moved to Perth this morning. And today I decided to write a blog about food experiences in this frontier town.

So I was trying to find an only very occassionally used old blog account of mine, that I'd set up a year or so ago, when I stumbled upon this. Blog entries written in 2001, at the start of a journey that didn't see me move back to Australia for quite some time! Thought about deleting, but just couldn't bring myself to - too funny!

Anyway - food. Perth.

The idea came from my friend Sash, who had wanted to buy me "a good food guide or something for Perth, but they don't exist" ... I've not done any investigation to determine whether this is true, however I did suddenly decide to document my food explorations of this place. So here goes ...