Matilda Bay Tea Rooms

Last Friday was a public holiday! That meant that my Mum didn't have to go to school. As I handed in an assignment that day, a few of us decided to go out for a meal to celebrate. We wanted to go to somewhere pretty near the water so ended up at Matilda Bay Tea Rooms. 

This was my view from our outside table! So pretty and relaxing, we ended up walking along the coast for about an hour after our meal. 

We went inside to order our food and were given a buzzer. This was our feast for four of us when I collected it!

 I had fishcakes and salad, it was lovely! The little pot of sauce was delicious, and I thought the salad was a bit hard to eat (I'm not a huge fan of plain raw cabbage) until I tipped the sauce on it. Then I couldn't get enough of it! The fishcakes were nice, cooked crunchy on the outside and with a nice spicy flavour. However, one of my Mum's signature dishes is tuna patties and these couldn't quite compare!

The squid and salad was the same as my dish, but instead of my fishcakes it included really well cooked squid! The squid was seasoned nicely and very tender. 

Mum decided on the seafood plate. I don't usually like battered and fried fish but this was nice! The batter was nice and light and it didn't taste overly oily. We were all helping ourselves to her chips in exchange for some of our salad, they were nice and crunchy!

 My dining companions included a 10 year old, who went with the nuggets and chips from the kids menu. This was a good serving size for a kids meal and he seemed to enjoy it!

We all also got a drink, 600ml glass bottles of lemon lime and bitters. There were nice but $5 each! Next time we would just stick with the free water provided from a little esky. This was a lovely place to sit and have lunch, especially because our little 10 year old could run around and play when he got bored of sitting at the table. While the highlight of the meal was the view and the walk after eating, the food was lovely and prepared in a reasonable amount of time, we will be back for sure!

Hometown Kitchen

A few nights ago, Jaymes and I felt like going out for dinner! It was a public holiday so not many places were open, and after a few phone calls we ended up at hometown kitchen. It was about a 20 minute drive, which took us to a bit of an unknown area for us. We were surprised when the GPS directed us down some little suburban roads, and we ended up at a tiny little shopping centre. The best part was there was a lady dressed as a bee next to the restaurant haha!

As we walked in, we were immediately seated by a really friendly lady. We were worried about our seats as they looked uncomfortable but they were actually 100% more comfy than they looked! We had a cute little table for two. 

The first thing we got was the prawn toast (so cliche haha). It was so good! It tasted like it was house made with juicy prawns in the middle and crispy toast and sesame seeds on the outsides. Best prawn toast we've had.

For our mains, we started with sizzling garlic lamb. It was really nice! Tender lamb, delicious sauce and the veggies included were cooked perfectly. It had so much lamb in it, much more meat that you'd usually get in a meal like this!

The next main we got was the spice pork belly. AMAZING! I love pork belly, and once again this dish was packed with meat. It was pretty spicy, but not overwhelmingly so. In this photo it looks like it was just full of onions but it really did have lots of meat in it!

We also had the special friend rice. I think it's hard to make fried rice stand out but I must say this fried rice had big juicy prawns and massive chunks of meat, very nice!

This was a lovely night. It wasn't as cheap as I was expecting, and as it was a bit of a drive from where I live I'm not sure if we'll be back. However, it was delicious and if I'm ever in the area I will be back for that pork belly for sure!

 

Jus Burgers Fremantle

On April Fools day my Mum had a day off from work, so I skipped uni and we headed out to Freo for lunch! We originally planned to go to iPho, but unfortunately as it was a Tuesday it was shut. We got a bit flustered and ended up in Jus Burgers. We haven't really been there before and were surprised to find that a drink would have set us back around $7, so decided we would order a burger and side each but no drinks. 

The lines were HORRIBLE! There weren't many tables so I grabbed and outside table while Mum went and ordered. She was gone for so long that I was actually worried she had gotten lost! When she came back we spotted an inside table so we ran in and claimed it. The food came relatively fast.

I had the lamb burger and Mum got the chicken. We also got onion rings which were brought to the table about 5 minutes after everything else came. The chips were lovely and crunchy and tasted quite fresh. The onion rings were so salty they made us wish that we got a drink, no matter how expensive they were! The burgers were nice, my lamb was definitely better than Mum's chicken. Mum ordered the chicken because it came with pesto and was disappointed to find she could barely taste the pesto! The small coleslaw that came with my burger was nothing exciting and I didn't feel it added anything to the meal. 

Overall while we weren't totally disappointed with our meals, I feel we could get better quality burgers elsewhere for a cheaper price. I do have friends that love Jus Burgers so perhaps we caught them on an off or especially busy day! 

Moore and Moore

I'm sure everyone who lives around Freo like I do has been to Moore and Moore, but I'll add my two cents!

I ordered the roast burnt butter, roast pumpkin and poached eggs on turkish bread. It was amazing! The pumpkin was seasoned perfectly and had a good balance between sweet and savoury. The egg was cooked to perfection, I requested my egg not too runny (which often results in my egg coming out rock solid) and it came out beautiful, not too runny and not too hard. 

 Jaymes ordered the smoked salmon on toast. If my order wasn't so delicious I would have some serious order envy, as smoked salmon and asparagus are two of my favourite foods! For the price (I believe it was between $15 and $20) there was an abundance of smoked salmon on the plate, the eggs were once again beautiful and the asparagus was lovely, fresh and crunchy. 

The bread on both the orders was fresh and delicious, toasted to perfection. We both got coffee which I forgot to take a photo of, but they were really nice! I was brave and got the spiced pumpkin latte. I was nervous but it was really nice, it didn't actually taste like a pumpkin- more like the flavour of a sweet pumpkin pie! I can't recommend it enough!

I have been to moore and moore countless times since my first visit, and everyone who I have taken with me has loved it. The service is friendly and efficient, the food is delicious and reasonably priced and the coffee is great! 

Big Bang Cafe

Near the Yangebup IGA, there is a restaurant that has gone through a few management changes in the last few years. Recently, they have changed to become 'The Big Bang Cafe' and safe to say they have turned the restaurant into one of my favourite places to eat! The first time I went was with a group of about 15 people and every one of us was more than satisfied with our dishes. 

Last time I went to 'The Big Bang Cafe' I ordered the grilled salmon. Considering it only cost $19.95 I wasn't 100% sure about how good it would be. Needless to say, I w
as stoked when I received this minutes after ordering!

The salmon was cooked to perfection, moist and pink on the inside and crispy on the outside. It comes with a garlic sauce that is delicious but not so overpowering that it takes the focus away from the salmon. I thought the veggies would be boring, and was pleasantly surprised when I ate them to find them sautéed to perfection an with a lovely garlic flavour! The potato was cooked perfectly- in the pizza oven I think?- with a nice dollop of butter melting into it. 

My boyfriend ordered the scotch fillet which was $19.95. It came cooked perfectly with crunchy chips and a lovely fresh salad! I should also add that he ordered the steak with a sauce that it doesn't usually come with, and I ordered my meal with the two sauces that you see on my plate above (tomato and sweet chilli) and the staff were perfectly accommodating to each request, and didn't charge us any extra.

If you live around Yangebup (and even if you don't) give 'The Big Bang Cafe' a try! The prices are great, the food is delicious and the staff and friendly. 

Find 'The Big Bang Cafe' on facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Bang-Cafe/495295770587372?fref=ts

iPho

My friend Gegs is the best at finding new places to eat at, I always end up loving the places she takes me. With this in mind I jumped at her suggestion to try iPho, and I'm so glad I did!

When Gegs and I went we were both a bit overwhelmed by the huge menu so we both decided to narrow it down by choosing from the vegetarian menu. I decided on mock beef soup and she went with the mock duck noodles. As we realised we'd saved money by ordering vegetarian options, we decided to also get an entree of vietnamese rolls. 

These came out about 5 minutes after we ordered and were amazing! The filling was fresh, crunchy, had a generous amount of prawns and the sauce was amazing. We were literally dipping our chop sticks in the sauce once we had eaten all of the rolls it was that good!

My mock beef noodle soup was absolutely delicious! I have eaten tofu many times before but it has never been this good. It had a meaty texture and melted in my mouth. The broth smelt so good and had the perfect balance between salty and sweet. The clear noodles, which I normally find boring, were cooked to perfection and had taken on the flavour of the broth. 

The serving was massive so I took almost half of it home for lunch the next day, and it was even tastier after sitting in the fridge over night.

I didn't get a proper photo of Gegs' mock duck noodles, but I can tell you that the tofu in that dish was equally as amazing as the mock beef I had, but was also completely different! When it first arrived we both thought that they had brought the wrong dish because the tofu looked so much like real duck! The noodles had just enough sauce on them to save them from being dry, and not so much so that they were drowned. 

Overall I was super happy about iPho and have been back several times since first visiting! 

The Rosemount

A few weekends ago, a few friends and I were going to the casino. As it was dinner time and we didn't want to wait in the long lines for any of the restaurants at crown, we decided to go to Rosemount for a bite to eat and to see some other friends!

Chloe and I decided to share a pizza and a cocktail. We had the zucchini, tomato and crumbed fetta which was $17. I'm not usually a big pizza lover but this was so good! When I saw that there were big slices of zucchini on the pizza I was slightly worried as I sometimes find zucchini rubbery, but this was tender and well seasoned. The pizza was also awesome value for money as this pizza was enough for both of us to share and still feel full!

We also shared a cocktail! The cocktail jar menu is always changing and I'm not sure what this was called, Chloe and I saw someone drinking this and asked the bar for what they were having! It had lychee, mint, orange and lemon that I could see and it was amazing! For $20 it was a huge jar and well worth $10 each.

Overall, I really enjoyed this night at the Rosemount! As it's 2 minutes from the city and my university I will be visiting more often. The atmosphere was amazing and there was a live band!