S&T Thai Gourmet Cafe

Yesterday I headed out to Northbridge with my cousin and his thai wife for lunch. For the folks who do not live in Perth, Northbridge is the party part of town, as well as where all the asian restaurants such as Chinatown are. Situated right next to the CBD, it is conveniently located and full of every asian cuisine under the sun.

Seeing that my thai cousin-in-law (?) has not had thai food in a while, we decided to bring her to S&T, my favourite thai eatery. According to Urbanspoon reviews, this is THE place to go for honest and authentic thai. And with a 91% rating, it should exceed expectations.

I went to Bangkok way back in February 2008 and from my experience, thai food is extremely intense on the taste buds! By intense, I mean that once you get too used to the strong aromas, going back to other cuisines is like eating plain porridge. Flavourless. Thai food is like having a party on the tongue!

That said, It's a pity that S&T don't have mango sticky rice! *insert depressed face* 

S&T is decked out in basic furniture and is another eat-and-vacate kind of place. Definitely not somewhere to take someone on a date! 

 Apologies for small photo, I was too excited and forgot to take a pic!
(photo courtesy of Google Images)

The exterior looks very insignificant and you would want to keep your eyes peeled for their little A-frame sign outside, it is hard to spot! But for reference sake, S&T is a few doors up the street from Moon Cafe. 

Anyway, I started off with dessert, because you know, Im weird like that. 

Milk pudding with mixed fruits

Entree/dessert was milk pudding with fruits. Not really sure how authentic this is but it was delicious nonetheless. Not too sweet and the pudding was silky soft, like tofu.

Now for the exciting part : MAINS!

I really wanted to have the pad thai but my companions decided against it. In the end, we ordered 3 dishes to share.

1. Larb with Sticky Rice

Larb is a savoury meat salad that originates from Laos, and is one of the most famous dishes they are known for. It is typically made of chicken, beef or pork, tossed with fish sauce, lime juice and fresh herbs. It is very flavoursome and one of my favourites. Here it is served with a portion of sticky rice. 

Larb with Sticky Rice

By the way, if you are squeamish about spicy food, be extra sure to inform the waitress as their interpretation of 'mild' is the equivalent of eating a handful of small red chillis. I generally have a high tolerance for spicy food but S&T obviously have a very generous hand when it comes to giving you the kick! Believe me when I say that this place will give you the ring of fire if you aren't careful. The larb today was not spicy at all, probably because I extra emphasized 'mild'. Still delicious nonetheless.

2. Som Tum with BBQ chicken.

Som Tum is thai for 'green papaya salad'. It consists of thinly sliced unripe papaya, mixed with beans, chilli and lime juice. According to CNN's World's 50 Most Delicious Foods, Som Tum comes it at #46. Our papaya salad came with sticky rice, chilli dressing, a random chunk of lettuce and a portion of BBQ chicken.

Unfortunately, the papaya salad was a major disappointment. I think I just ruined my cousin-in-laws life haha! I personally have not tasted a really good som tum so can't judge but she said it was a very big epic fail. I tried abit and although I got the taste, it was extremely sour and I believe it was a result of too much lime juice and dressings. Perhaps we just came on the chef's bad day!

The BBQ chicken was good though. Im usually pretty indifferent when it comes to BBQ meat, so I was not expecting anything great but this surprised me. The flavour was beautiful and it hard to explain in words but it was one of the best BBQ chicken Ive had.

Thai critic at work

3. Pineapple Fried Rice

Fried rice, you can't really go too wrong with fried rice. I thought this was good though. Very flavoursome as usual with thai food. and had big chunks of juicy pineapples. It came out piping hot and it was such a struggle to not salivate!

So, having brought a true blue thai along, Im sure we all want to know what a native thinks. I asked her, if native thai food was a 10/10, how would S&T rate compared to the real deal?

"Ummm... papaya salad...no rating. So bad! Everything else 1-2 out of 10. Sorry."

So there you go! Perhaps not as authentic as Perth people make it out to be, but in my experience of eating out around in Perth, no thai food has come this close. So even if the thai native doesn't like it, I still do :D

The total bill was :

$55, including the dessert and one thai ice tea.

My verdict :

Taste : 9.5/10

Price : 7/10

VFM : 8/10

(VFM : Value For Money)

You can visit S&T Thai Gourmet Cafe at : 349 William St, Shop 3. Northbridge. 

Took Bae Gi Korean Restaurant

Yup its another post, on the same day! Aren't you lucky ducks.

Later today, I picked my cousin up from East Perth train station as he works in Albany as a podiatrist and was coming back to pick up his car. So after a bit of window shopping at Claremont Quarter, we went to Took Bae Gi Korean for dinner. At this point Il'd swear I was still 75% full from my vietnamese pho lunch (see previous post) and I would probably skip dinner.

For those who know me, you are probably all shaking your heads furiously thinking 'NO WAY REENA EATS ANYTHING IF U PUT IT IN FRONT OF HER'

Well fine, you win. I ate. 

Hot stone bowl spicy fish bibimbap

I had a spicy fish bibimbap. Bibimbap is a signature korean dish meaning 'mixed rice' and is commonly served in a hot stone bowl as shown above. Bibimbap is basically white rice, with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables), gochujang (chilli pepper paste) and a choice of meat to accompany the dish. 

As I mentioned earlier, I was totally not intending to finish this. But one spoon became two, two became three and ..... the rest is history, or rather, in my stomach :D

How can you say no to this?

Kimchi Pancake

We shared a kimchi pancake and kimchi soup. This is my first time trying a korean pancake. I personally thought this was a bit on the dry side, but it still tasted decent nonetheless. 

Kimchi soup

The kimchi soup looked extremely appetizing especially on a cold night. It had a very strong aroma and was packed full to the brim with various vegetables, greens and large chunks of tofu. Definitely recommended if you like spicy food.

My total bill was :

$ZERO. I got shouted dinner!
However, for reference sake, the Bibimbap was $15, and the pancake and soup were approximately $7 each (give or take a dollar) as far as I can remember. 

My verdict :

Taste : 8/10

Price : 8.5/10

VFM : 9/10

(VFM : Value For Money)

You can visit Took Bae Gi at : Shop 6, 542 Hay St, Perth. 6000

Kims Vietnamese Cafe

I have been craving for pho alot lately and really needed a fix so I asked my good vietnamese buddy, Annie to join me at our favourite local pho house : Kim's Cafe in Marangaroo.

Irrelevant car self portrait before leaving pho pho.
See what I did there?
*ba dum tsssssss*

Inside of Kims Cafe
(photo courtesy of urbanspoon.com.au)

The interior is decked in plenty of red and white, with christmas style baubles lining the ceiling. It features simple furniture and does not appear pretentious. Kims is your typical get in, eat, get out asian eatery. with cheap prices to boot. Definitely not the place to sit for hours on end with friends catching up over a long meal. 

Spicy beef and pork noodle, my favourite dish

I know the above picture isn't pho-pho per se, but its also one of my favourites. I just love the taste of vietnamese noodle soups in general so I just lump all wet noodles into the Pho category! I am a big fan of spicy food so if there's a similar spicy option you can bet Im going for that! My other favourites include the beef ball version as well as the sliced raw beef or mixed beef ball and raw beef pho.

Coconut Milkshake

The drinks at Kims Cafe are also something I look forward to every time Im there. In particular their milkshakes. Coming in various flavours such as avocado, durian and coconut, there's something to suit the safest eater to the most adventurous (I find avocado milkshake disgusting.)

I usually steer clear of anything durian, not only because Im not fond of the fruit itself but also because I dislike anything that tastes fake and durian falls under that category of flavours which, unless you use the real deal, just doesn't taste good in general. However, the durian milkshake at Kims is actually quite nice, doesn't have an overly strong odour and I like it even though I don't like the fruit itself.

My friend says that Kims is not as good due to the fact that they are the kind of eatery which prepares the soups the day before and dishes it out to the masses as opposed to cooked individually, fresh. I suppose that is the case as their prices are affordable.

But overall, we think that Kims tastes authentic, is good for the price you pay and the owners are friendly enough! I did ask for a noodle refill ($2) expecting them to hand me a bowl of noodles to throw into my remaining soup but it came with the soup and abit of garnishing as well! Exceeding expectations much?  

My total bill was : 

Hot and Spicy vermicelli noodle soup : $10
Noodle refill : $2
Coconut milkshake : $5

My verdict :

Taste : 7/10

Price : 7.5/10

VFM : 7/10

(VFM : Value For Money)

You can visit Kims Cafe at : 70, Marangaroo Drive. Girrawheen 6064

My First Book Design

During my third year at uni, we had to design a publication and what else did I pick, but every girls best friend (besides diamonds) : Chocolate!

It is designed as a young girls book, filled with everything from the history of chocolate, random facts and recipes to try out. Pretty basic but it definitely was hard work putting it together. I believe I spent about $200+ just buying props (aka shitloads of sugar) for the photoshoots, them Woolies checkout chicks must have thought I was nuts for rocking up to the tills with a trolley full of confectionary. 

Looking back, there are things I would have liked to change now but all in all, for a first publication I am proud of it. :)

Favourite Foods

Everyone has a/some/shitloads of favourite foods, and I am definitely the sort who has a neverending and ever growing (just like my waistline) list of favourite noms. Whether it be comfort food, savoury food, guilt food, its always interesting to see what peoples tastebuds are passionate about. Today I am going to share with you my top foods that I cant live without.

Pancake Stacks

Plain buttermilk drizzled in pure maple syrup - you just cant go wrong. 

Oh yes, and not forgetting the icecream.....and berries....and more berries....

Sushi

Spicy Beef (or spicy tuna) has such a good flavour combination 

Smoked or Fresh Salmon

...of course, paired with delicious pickled ginger and lashings of soy sauce. 

I am not really a fan of wasabi. 

And if you have not noticed, I also don't support the idea of avocado in sushi making. More on that at a later date.

Vietnamese Pho (pronounced furr)

Phở is a vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef (phở bò) or chicken (phở gà). The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with asian basil, mint leaves, lime, and bean sprouts that are added to the soup by the person who is dining. The dish is associated with the city of Hanoi, where the first phở restaurant opened in the 1920s.

Still one of my dreams to visit Vietnam one day JUST SO I can try a true blue pho.

Picture this : bowl in hand, asian squatting like a boss by the side of a road. 

Confoodcius say YES!

Yum Cha/Dim Sum

If you aint not had yumcha before, then shits going down man! MISSIN OUT!

Yumcha, as far as I understand, has Hong Kong origins and was a social way to lunch together be it with family or business associates. Trolleys of steaming hot baskets filled with oily but so delicious offerings, such as prawn dumplings and steamed buns, would trawl the aisle of the restaurant bringing the food to you. Kind of like an asian style buffet but table service. Always a place with good vibes and usually isnt too expensive. My favourite is Regal on Roe (Northbridge, Western Australia) just because the old auntie owner there is so cute and friendly. An overflowing stomach comes to about $20 +/- per head including desserts and drinks. 

My other recommendation is Xin Tian Di on Francis St. My japanese bosses from work took us there for a staff christmas lunch and that was good too, however, a little on the steeper side. More variety there though, especially desserts.

So yeah that about wraps up a quick summary of things I love. Of course there are many more but this is just a start. Definitely will be reviewing any great versions of these should I come across some good gems in Perth!

Welcome!

Hello!

Welcome to Confoodcius, my food blog about everything well, everything edible.

My name is Reena and I am a 22 year old passionate foodie hailing from Singapore, the land of awesome noms. However I have been living in Perth, Australia since goodness knows when so to put it into a (food) analogy, you could say I am a banana. Yellow outside, white inside!

I love food. I am one of those annoying people who post up food pictures on Facebook making everyone drool all over their newsfeed. To me, food is so much more than just something you eat and shit out the next morning. I love trying new foods, trying to cook, trying to find out more about where our foods come from and the people who grow it, trying to stay slim while doing all of the above yada yada. I definitely won't claim Im any kind of Masterchef expert but Im learning more and more everyday, bite by bite. 

So in advance, thank you for coming here to support me (bad overweight pun not intended) on my adventures and I hope this inspires you in whatever way possible!