Meet at Our Table

I had a playdate with my girl friend and her baby last weekend.  It had been awhile to be alone with my baby since my eldest son stopped going to daycare, so it was a nice day out to be with and focus my attention to a 7 months old.  My friend picked this place “Our Table” in Bedford to be our lunch place.  I had never been to nor heard this place before, but googling gave me some positive impressions.

When I arrived to the address, all I could see was big road and just a few shops on the side.  I checked the address couple of times to make sure I was in the right place.  Am I going to have lunch here??  I wondered as I headed to the shop with a sign board “Our Table”.

As soon as I stepped inside the place, I was blown away.  …. I LOVE the decor!  Beautiful floor, chairs & tables, lightings, wall clock, display shelves….  everything is to my taste.   I did not expect this from outside the building!!

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Beautiful.

There was a playpen next to our table, so I put my son inside there after he woke up.

The owner chef is Italian, and the menu had a good variety of food.  I ordered Prawn & Calamari Linguini and latte, and my friend ordered Chicken & Mushroom Penne and iced coffee.  The food was nice, and the staff were really friendly.

After meal, we had creme brûlée to share.  Oh boy, it was great.  I thought the sugar coating was little bit too much caramelized (tasted bit bitter itself) but it actually matched with the sweetness of the pudding.

With their atmosphere, interior decor and friendliness of the staff, I will definitely come back here again!

Our Table
180a Grand Promenade Bedford, WA 6052
08 6162 6620
Open 7 days, 8:00am-9:30pm
menu
website  (still under construction)

Pancake Lunch in Bicton

Had a pancake at a little cafe in Bicton Central Shopping Centre.  There are few cafes in this centre, and this one is located outside, just at the corner.  Small one.

My friend had beef burger.  Apparently she comes here with her hubby often to have burger.  I shall try it next time!

Staff was so friendly too.

Cafe for Tea Lovers

Since I wrote about this place Chapels on Whatley, they have transformed their tea shop into a nice, attractive tea-featured cafe .

This shops is located right in front of Maylands train station.  They were originally selling just ornaments, tea leaves, and tea-related products, but now they added cafe corner with great drinks and foods.

When I arrived there I could see from outside that many customers enjoying their food and drinks. Outside tables were all taken. When entered inside I was surprised to see how crowded the cafe is with customers and cafe staff moving around busily. They made the cafe counter in the centre of the shop, and there’re tables inside, outside, and at the back yard.

The shop still sells houseware, kitchenware and tea items inside and also at the detached room. We bought 3 teacups made of bamboo. It was $2.80 each.

I wanted to try the food and drinks as they were beautifully dished and looked so yummy, but I couldn’t find any seat available so I left the shop with just three bamboo cups. I definitely want to come back there for food and drinks near future – probably with my girlfriends 🙂

Theobroma Chocolate Lounge

As I wrote about it here, I went to Theobroma Chocolate Lounge in Waterford on the weekend to try out their sweets. 🙂

The place is well-decorated and I love the colour tone of chairs, walls, and lights.  Yap, all chocolate-like colours.  It was Saturday afternoon but there wasn’t too many people inside.

I actually had a cup of hot chocolate before going there (I didn’t know we’re going to a chocolate cafe!), so I didn’t feel like chocolate drink at the cafe (which was a shame).  I ordered a mug of latte, and D ordered white chocolate milk shake.

I must admit –  I didn’t expect them to serve such perfect coffee!  White chocolate milk shake was also delicious – I could taste real white chocolate, but not too heavy.

We shared a piece of cookie’ n cream cheese cake as well, and it was another hit.  Quite sweet, and creamy.  The cookies are soft and rather chewy.

As well as other sweet drinks and cakes, they also serve savory foods such as Turkish roll, bacon and egg roll, and quiche.

The staff was friendly too.  I will definitely come back there again 🙂

Waterford Plaza

If you haven’t been to Waterford Plaza for quite some time, you will be surprised to see the change of this small shopping mall in Karawara.  I used to go there when I was a student at TAFE in Bentley few years ago, and now it doesn’t look the same.

They’ve got more cafes and restaurants at the site, and the area looks more modern.  I find that the parking area is still the same though – bit small –  and the drive way is bit narrow, and it causes jam around the exit to Kent street.  Once you enter from Kent street you can find Pasta Cups, Burger Edge, and Theobroma Chocolate Lounge etc along the drive way.

There are Chinese-Malaysian food (Chilliz & O’Mama Kopitiam), Thai food (Sara Thai), Japanese food (Mikasa Café) and more available in this place, and many students from Curtin and TAFE go there to grab lunch and dinner, just like old time.  And there will be a new tavern featuring the popular ‘Hippo Creek’ restaurant chain, and Singaporean food chain ‘Old Chang Kee’ in early 2012.

WaterPlaza had been under construction for few months and aimed to complete the transformation before the Queen arrived last month, as the Manning Road was the way she would go pass to visit Aboriginal College.  The construction operated 24 hours just before the Queen’s arrival, my friend told me.

I wanted to go to the chocolate cafe Theobroma Chocolate Lounge when I passed this shopping mall last time, but didn’t have time for it.  Apparently there is another shop in Fremantle (http://www.theobromachocolatelounge.com.au/) so maybe I go there instead.  I am so addicted to chocolate now.  I know I shouldn’t be eating chocolate too much because it contains caffein and too much sugar, but I can’t help it.  Hmmm, I guess little amount wouldn’t harm… :p

Taka’s Kitchen and San Churro

Sigh… I regret that we went to crowded Fremantle market area on busy Sunday. We didn’t do much – just had quick snack at Taka’s Kitchen then had churro and iced chocolate at San Churro. We walked around the busy cappuccino street and it just tired us out. We really shouldn’t go out to a busy place on weekend. We should go to a quiet park or beach instead and relax. It was Father’s Day but I don’t think D enjoyed the day. We were both tired from pushing a big stroller around and watching for cars, people, and trying not to get blight sun light on Hiro’s face. It’s not like we really wanted to eat Taka’s food and churro and chocolate. We simply just wanted to do something together. No more going out to busy places on weekends!

Miso-katsu-don and kaki-age-don.

I don’t know why D chose to go to Taka’s kitchen… It’s the worst place to go with a big stroller and a grizzly baby.

San Churro was also crowded as usual. It was much nicer when I came here with friends in early morning the other day. It was quiet, much less people, food and drink were perfect (because they weren’t busy and had time to prepare with care), and we could totally enjoy the moment. Yesterday was opposite. …Well, at least D enjoyed the churro and white chocolate..

Library Cafe in Cottesloe WA

The other day Hiro and I drove to Cottelsoe to meet my friend.  Gosh, I hadn’t seen her for such a long time…  We used to work at a cafe in Applecross 3 years ago.  She is a barista and makes great coffee.

The place she chose for a meet-up was a newly opened cafe inside Cottesloe library, just off Stirling Hwy. There is a underground parking underneath the library, and I went up with a lift.  The door between the carpark and lift/stairs area is automatic and it was very easy access with a big stroller.

The library looked so beautiful and stylish – Apple Mac desktops are available for use, free wifi, furnished with unique chairs and desks… even beanbag covers are made of denim.

I loved the cafe too.  Lovely flooring, modern and contemporary tables and chairs/sofas, and, of course, great coffee.

I ordered decaf latte.  Beautiful crema.

I couldn’t take photos, but they also had range of home-made cakes at the counter.  They all looked so fresh and delicious.  I will definitely try them out on next visit.

My friend is so good at kids/babies.  Hiro was smiling and enjoying her cuddle for 1 hour.  We talked about many things – about families, other friends, etc.  The weather was beautiful, the area is quiet and peaceful, and it was a lovely morning 🙂

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The Miami Bakehouse Cafe

D has been having such a big craving for a sweet bun with icing…  He loves sweets, especially sugary ones and buttery ones.  I really think he should cut down his sugar intake!  I can’t believe his favourite flavour of ice cream is cotton candy.  The vivid colour (blue? pink? purple??) really turns me off…

Anyway, the other day he wanted to grab some icing buns from somewhere.  It was mid afternoon and Hiro was awake but quiet, so we decided to go out to get some fresh air and buy some buns.  Somehow, we headed to Miami Bakery in Melville. (I wrote about this place before here)

To be honest, I don’t really like their pastries… they look great, but  are not to my taste.  Pies are nice though, they have a variety of flavours.  The pie of this month “chicken green curry” was tempting.

…..  I did it again.  I thought “hey this apple turnover looks nice” and ordered one.  The pastry was too dry and hard (I think it was more than 2 days old…), and the cream was tasteless.  I think I had this experience here before, and I totally forgot about it.  I should not order anything with cream here…

I thought D was going to have something with icing, but he ordered chocolate croissant instead.

They do hight tea now. (only at Mandurah and Melville shop)  It’s $27 per head, and includes warm savoury pastries, finger sandwiches, scone with jam & cream, and a selection of desserts and cakes.  Ummm, if you chose a right dessert/cake, I think it’s a good deal.

* Miami Hight Tea $27.00 per person

* Sparkling High Tea (with a glass of sparkling wine) $33.00 per person (only at Mandurah)

Mandurah Foreshore: Saturdays & Sundays from 2PM (08 9581 3000)

Melville: Sundays from 2 PM  (08 9319 3555)

Pregnancy Photo Shoot and San Churro

Yey, week 35! ♪  It’s finally the last month of my pregnancy…

I’ve wanted to take some photos of myself with this biggest-ever belly.  At first I was thinking to take a pregnancy photo shoot at a studio, but I rather have it for my baby after he is born, so I asked D to take me to Kings Park and shoot some photos of me and belly.  Kings Park is the place where we had our wedding photo shoots too.

It was a shiny day with cool breeze – actually it was rather windy.  The sunshine was strong though – so we had to walk in the shade.  My pelvic bone hurts when I walk too much, so we sat down several times to rest during the 1 hour walk, and took around 50 photos.  I’m quite happy with the result. 🙂

We needed something cold to chill our body down afterwards. First I was thinking about Gloria Jeans, but we headed to San Churro in Subiaco instead.

We had an iced chocolate and a kid’s churros.  The smell from Jus Burger next door was really tempting, but we were after some sweets only – probably we eat burger then enjoy the sweet chocolate next time!

Out to Lunch, Massage and Cafe

The weather was cloudy with light drizzling rain on Sunday.  I had a 1 hour massage appointment at Mayumi’s at 1:30pm, but my in-laws wanted to have lunch together at Bintang Cafe as one of the sister was going back to Jakarta on Monday afternoon.

The sister and D went to church in the morning.  While waiting I was getting myself ready for the lunch, massage and meeting friends at C15 in Applecross.  Around 10:30 the sister and D came back… with Mcdonald’s bacon egg muffins and pancakes!  “I thought we’re going to have lunch soon” then she said “Yeah, this is just breakfast.”

After eating the muffin I was pretty full, but still joined the lunch anyway.  I ordered bihun goreng (stir-fried rice noodle) and D ordered a rice dish (Nashi something Champur).  Very full… but I’d gotta go to get 1 hour massage!

This time Mayumi had prepared a big donut-shaped cushion for me so I could get massage while lying face down.  Starting from my back to neck & shoulders, then my legs…   It was again, a 1 hour of heavenly massage.  As I told her that my legs kept getting cramped, she concentrated on my calves. I was almost asleep half-way through the massage because it was so great and relaxing.

After the massage I headed to C15 in Applecross.  My friend just came back from Hong Kong and Japan trip, and she is returning to work soon after 1 year + 3 months maternity leave.  As both of us will be busy in the next few weeks we decided to catch up while we still have our time.

Friend and I wanted to order pancake (we love pancake at C15!) but it was impossible for my stomach to take another solid food.  My friend also decided not to eat pancake this time, so we just had drinks and stayed there for 2 hours non-stop talking.  As she gave birth at St John of God in Murdoch (where I’m giving birth to my baby) I had lots of questions to ask!

I love this cafe – not only the food, drinks and services, but also even customers are friendly.  Great place to pass the time.  I’m not surprised this place is always full of people.

Icey Ice Snow Ice

After a little shopping and printing a photo of father-in-low with the Indonesian Comedy Singer at OfficeWorks, we took a dessert break at Icey Ice in Northbridge.  It was a slightly hot day and I was little thirsty, and I was craving for the cold snow ice to chill my throat.

When D and I arrived the shop, the sweet delicious smell hit my nose and I wasn’t sure if I wanted snow ice or sweet crape anymore.  In the end, we ordered 2 crapes and 1 bubble tea (there was a deal of “buy 1 Icey Ice crape and get 1 bubble tea with one filling for $2.00”)  

Their crispy crape is pretty huge, and I realized that ordering bubble tea was a mistake!!  Super sweet….  Besides, I was eating Icey Ice green tea crape, and D was eating condensed milk and white choco bits!  The sweetest crape ever…

Their crape is different from normal soft crape and is certainly different from those you get in the crape shops or summer festival stalls in Japan.  I’m not talking about only the crape skin, but also the contents.  Banana & Peanut Butter, Nutella & Rainbow Sprinkle,  Condensed Milk & Crushed Oreo…  They might be a good snack for a sweet fix though.  

I’m also curious about the eel crape, by the way.  Has anyone tried the grilled eel crape?   

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Baking, Window Shopping, and Reading

It was another relaxing weekend for me.  The Saturday was hot, I didn’t need to wear a jacket and I saw many people enjoying the marine sports at the Swan River from freeway.

I had many banana left which were starting to have black spots, so I used them all up to bake banana bread.  It turned out to be good, I could smell the delicious cinnamon from the oven while baking.

Just after I took it out from the oven, one of my sister-in-low and her husband visited our house.  They just came back from Dubai and gave me this souvenir from Daiso which I’ve asked them to buy for me.

Wood clips.  I actually wanted a simple one (like the one Kiki-K sells), but they said that’s all they could find at Daiso.  

The left wooden clip got a motif of chef, because they know I like cooking 🙂  and, I can probably take of the rings from the wooden clips (centre on the photo) to use for papers and notebooks.

I gave them a half of the banana bread as a “thank you”, and I brought another half to another sister-in-low.  Last week she gave us tuna bake for dinner (she said she cooked too much) and it was delicious.  This banana cake was a “thank you” for the tuna bake.

Then, we headed to Subiaco.  There wasn’t anything particularly we wanted to do in Subi, but just wanted to walk around and do window-shopping.

We walked into Henry Hiccup – a toy shops for kids.  We loved the image of the shop and the product range.  

We sat down at Oriel cafe to have a cup of drink.

It was a pretty windy day, so we sat down on a couch inside.  He ordered flat white, I had fresh OJ, and a pecan tartlet to share.

At the cafe we talked about many things – this is one of the reason why we go out for a cup of coffee sometimes.  We can talk more things outside compared to when we stay at home.

After the pit-stop, we went to Borders to get inspiration from the books, and stayed there until late.   In the end of the day I was tired, but it was a good day.

The Imp

My friend invited me for a late lunch at The Imp in East Victoria Park.  It was my first time to have a meal at this cafe, and the cafe was very busy as I expected.

There’re people queueing waiting to order for take away coffee.  This cafe only has a few tables because of the size of the building…  but we were lucky enough to get this counter seats for three of us. 😀  The chair was actually difficult to sit and eat the food, as all of us are pretty short (I’m 155cm, other friends are 151cm and 158cm) and the stalls were quite high: but we managed it.

The staff are friendly, and the service was fast.  I also like the look of the exposed brick wall and the polished concrete counter.  It has the retro-looking.  It must feel nice staying here sipping hot coffee in winter.

We ordered smoked salmon baguette and feta baguette from the lunch menu, and croquette from the tapas menu.

The smoked salmon baguette contained cream cheese, baby spinach, red onion and capers.

The feta baguette came with roasted red capsicum, baby spinach and drizzled with balsamic glaze.  Both baguettes came with homemade tomato chutney.

I loved the baguette.  It was like short flute baguette, crusty but not too hard, and chewy!  The tomato chutney was tasty too.

I wanted to have another cup of coffee, but my friends kept talking and talking..  It was around 4 pm when we left the cafe.  … I thought the staff were little annoyed by us (as we stayed long without ordering another cups) but they were smiling.

It was a good afternoon 😀

MillPoint Caffe Bookshop

It was lazy afternoon for me…  I had to wake up very early to do some work.  Around noon I thought I should take a little nap, but didn’t feel like going back to bed.  Then I decided to surf the web for a bit, and I lost track of time!  When I shut the computer it was already around 3pm.

I had headache, but thought I should get out of the house.  Because it was Sunday I didn’t quite know where to go.  I was driving around Swan River, then popped into this book cafe in South Perth.

I knew about this cafe from before but it was my first time to go inside.  Once I stepped in, I realised it was an actual book shop where you can buy books.  I thought it was like a cafe where you share the books with other customers and read while sipping on coffee.  They had many kids books, novels and some other types.  I liked all the books they sell.

There’re a few tables near the book shelves, but all the seats were taken by customers.  I walked towards the back, and I found a cafe counter and tables in the terrace.

I felt like something warm, so I ordered flat white.  My husband ordered latte, and one apple & blueberry crumble to share.

We sat on a sofa, then realised we couldn’t take the book to read into the terrace.  We read the paper in stead, and shortly a waitstaff came to us with our order.  All the staff were very friendly!  And, the coffee was just how I wanted… perfect 😀

We could totally relax there.  I want to go back to this place, definitely.

<MillPoint Caffe Bookshop>

Burger Cafes

I like the idea of cafes and restaurants specialising in one type of food.  Examples are San Churro, The Raw Kitchen, Pancakes and Grill and Egg O Mania Omeleteers… serving only specialised items evokes curiosity and make people want to visit the places.  If I go somewhere for a holiday and there are two cafes near the hotel, one serves typical cafe menus including coffees, ready-made cakes and some light foods, and another specialise in homemade waffles and a few choices of drink menus, I would chose the second one.

Since few weeks ago I’ve been having a craving for a burger.  Not a sandwich, a burger!  I’ve been to few burger cafes around Perth and want to write about these places here.

Gourmet on Wray

Gourmet on Wray is a burger cafe located in Fremantle.  A little walk away from the heart of Fremantle city, this place offer relaxing atmosphere and friendly service.  I had vege lurve, and husband ordered simple simon.

Each burgers came with salad and garnished with rosemary, and soft sourdough buns were lightly grilled. Vege lurve is a burger with seasonal veggie patty with sauteed mushroom, avocado and chilli jam.  I must say, I really loved it.

Thanks to the chilli jam, this burger is quite spicy.  In contrast, the veggie patty was little sweet (mushed pumpkin or sweet potato was a part of the ingredient, I believe) and the spiciness and the sweetness was a great match.  Sauteed mushroom was perfectly seasoned and cooked, and, a chunky layer of avocado!

Simple simon is a burger with beef patty, grilled onion, tomato relish and lettuce.  It was nice too, but I preferred Vege lurve to this.

The another good part is the price. All the menus are around $10.00 ~ $14.00.  Very reasonable, and right portion size.   😀

They also serve wraps and snacks, and of course coffee menus.  I will try the chicken burger next time.

(20 Wray Ave, Fremantle)

Jus Burgers

Jus Burgers can be found at Leederville and Subiaco.  This place is always packed with people, and their burgers are simply delicious!

At this gourmet burger bar, they use meat from local supplier in WA, Turkish bread from Turkish bakery in Vic Park, and all other ingredients are also purchased locally.  I actually prefer the bun here to Gourmet on Wray.  This Turkish burger is lightly grilled, and then stacked with juicy patty and salad.  I like the presentation : steak knifes stabbed into the burgers.

I had a cheese burger.  ….it was huge!  You have to be quite hungry if you are going to this place, I think.

The meat tasted delicious, and I loved the bread.  I thought guys would love the burgers here.  Big portion, thick patty, and tasty sauce.  The sauce was bit garlicky to me, but I ate up all.

You can read about the owner Justin Bell here.  It’s interesting to know what he did in his life before opening this burger bar in Perth.

Fab Burgers

Same as Jus Burger, Fab Burgers offer burgers with ingredients that are mainly locally produced.  Wanneroo Burger (minced WA kangaroo steak with salad and relish) and Barra Burger (WA saltwater barramundi with salad and relish) are the examples.  There are two Fab Burgers restaurant: Subiaco and Hillarys, and I went to Subiaco this time.

We ordered a Chicken Burger with Brie and Cranberries, and a Wirrapanda Burger.  Wirrapanda Burger contains 100% Butterfield Beef patty, smokey barbecue sauce & salad.

I really loved the combination of chicken breast, brie cheese and juicy cranberries!  This burger also contained semi-dried tomato as well.  It was good.

The bun for burgers are like focaccia bread (at a glance it looked like a normal bun) and it was tasty.  The burgers were served on the plates with wooden skewers stabbed.  Presentation-wise, it didn’t look great compared with other two shops.

I don’t know which burger cafe I liked the best, but if someone asks me where to go, I would recommend Gourmet on Wray or Jus Burgers.

Cozy Afternoon

Although the mornings and nights get really cold, the daytime is still pretty warm and I like hanging around at a cafe and having a little time for myself.

As I sat down at Fiorentina in Fremantle and ordered a glass of latte, I started to hear some Italian people talking.  Then  I remembered my friend’s blog writing about her trip to Europe last month.  She showed some photos of cafes there, and pastries and tartlets in a showcase looked so delicious.  I liked the atmosphere of those photos.

I like this cafe in Fremantle, although the sweets here are little too sweet to my taste, I enjoy the atmosphere.  I noticed their kitchen has been changed from my last visit.  There’re more staff working in the kitchen too.  I guess their business is well.

The other day I had lunch with friends at Vinh Hong in Northbridge. I was curious what’s Vietnamese coffee is, so I ordered one Vietnamese white coffee.

It was drip brew coffee mixed with condensed milk…  The taste was just like normal coffee with condensed milk.  I thought it has different aroma or some spiced added :p  Anyway, it was just as nice.

I didn’t like this Beef Brisket Noodle when I just came to Perth, but since sometime I realised how much I like beef.  I like the ethnic flavor of the soup and tender bits of beef.  It warms up chilled body 😀

By the way, I baked souffle cheese cake that I was talking at here.

It is very sponge-like, and very fluffy and soft.  Should I call it “cheese sponge” ? 🙂

C 15 Applecross

This cafe is one of my favorite.  The food is nice, friendly staff and the atmosphere is good 🙂  Today was little cooler compared with the last few days, and my friends and I sit back and enjoyed the food at this cafe on this weekend.

Our favorite food there is .. pancake! Big volume, soft and fluffy and I love the sauce!

They, of course, make food on order and you will be so spoiled with this freshly made pancake..  Dusted cinnamon sugar and juicy blueberry compote is a great match.  2 of my friends ordered this pancake and one asked the staff to serve the blueberry sauce separately.  

I, on the other hand, ordered French toast this time.

This is also dusted with cinnamon.  It was so good, sweet, juicy and pretty filling 🙂

My friend really loved the freshly squeezed orange juice.  You can choose between 100% bottled juice, or hand-squeezed one. She chose hand-squeezed juice and it was delicious ♪

Ummm, what a perfect brunch 🙂  

We sometimes need a treat for ourselves, and for me this was it.

C15 Espresso.

15 Riseley St Applecross WA 6153      (08) 9316 4242

Weekend in Fremantle

Going to Fremantle once a week has been a thing to do since I bought a nikon camera from camera house last year.  They were doing a campaign that anyone who buys a camera during the period gets 12 month free photo prints.  So, since then my husband and I go down to Fremantle every month to get the free print out.

While waiting for the photo print, we walked around the market as usual.  And, there was a person who was entertaining people in front of Fremantle Market, as usual.  I normally keep walking and don’t see the entertainment, but last Sunday the guy was really good!  It was so funny… 🙂

On the way back to camera house, we stopped at Pierre’s Kitchen cafe to try out one of their crape.  The price range was around $4.00 ~ $5.50.  Because it was a hot day, we ordered a cheese cake crape with ice cream.

I didn’t expect it coming in a tall glass, I thought it’d be served on a plate.  Well, actually it’s a clever idea, as ice cream kept melting and it was easy to scoop it out with long spoon.  I found that the crape was bit difficult to eat though.  I had to cut it into pieces with spoon each time.  But, the crape was nicely crunchy and it was a good dessert. 🙂

The crape cooled down my body.  I picked up my photos from camera house and headed to the car.  On the way, we stopped at REMEDY, one of my favorite zakka shop in Perth.  The goods sold in this shop are all cute and stylish!  Some of them are from Japan (eg Shinzi Katoh) 🙂  Yap I can’t wait to shop around in Japan for cute zakka stuff again.

Exomod Cafe on Barrack Street

I was little tired from shopping in the city, so I went to Exomod cafe on Barrack st to sit back and have a cup of coffee.  I ordered long mac (top up) and a piece of apple strudel.  

As I moved a scoop of apple strudel to my mouth I could taste some cheese.  I was little shocked, I didn’t know is was apple cheese strudel.  

Just in case it’s just old cream ( :p ) , I walked to the counter and asked one of the staff nicely (I think).  I was very disappointed by her attitude …  ” isn’t it obvious that there is cream inside?  I think you can see clearly.”  I told her it’s better to write down “apple cheese strudel”, not “apple strudel” on the tag.  She said  ” ok, I will remember your face and remind you next time you come here.”  … it’s not what I asked :p

Ummm I couldn’t enjoy the coffee time anymore!  Besides they should really should do something about those flies..

Ogori Cafe – Japanese Unique Rule-

What would you feel if you get something different from what you ordered at a cafe?  You may feel confused, disappointed, and some may feel upset.  Actually, there is a cafe in Japan which has very unique rules for its customers.

At this Ogori Cafe in Kashiwa (CHIBA prefecture) in Japan, customers will not get what they order.  At this cafe, you get what the person before you ordered.  The next person gets what you ordered.

I find it very very unique, and bizarre… but very interesting.  Let’s say, even though you have something particular that you want to eat/drink , you won’t get it.  Instead, you will get something the previous customer ordered.  How unique the system is! 🙂  I wonder what the first customer on the day will get…  

I found about this cafe from someone’s blog, Cabel.  According to his story: “my friend went up to the cafe, and ordered a little bit of everything: some ice cream, some snacks, some candy, some drinks: worth about 2500yen (AUD$25) for the next lucky customer. (After his order, he received single iced coffee.)  After a while he heard an extremely excited “arigato goazimasu!! thank you so much!!” yelled in his direction, from an ecstatic mom and her equally excited young son. They truly appreciated the surprise.”  

I like this type of unique system!  And establishing the system in an actual cafe is fascinating.  The owner must be an unique person too 🙂

BTW there’re a few rules at this cafe:

Rules :  

1. Let’s treat the next person. What to treat them with is your choice.
2. Please form a single-file line when your order, and you can’t buy twice in a row.
3. Please enjoy what you get, even if you hate it.  (If you really, really hate it, let’s quietly give it to another while saying, “It’s my treat…”)
4. Let’s say “Thank You! (Gochihosama)” if you find the person with your Ogori cafe card.
5. We can’t issue a receipt.

Dreamy Donuts

Dreamy Donuts was started in Australia and New Zealand, and currently there are 16 shops within Australia.  The shop in Carousel shopping centre (WA) opened just few months ago.  When I saw the sign of this shop in Carousel shopping centre before it’s opened, I actually thought “hmm just another donut shop”.  I didn’t really think that I would want to try them.  

After the shop opened I passed the shop and I noticed that they’re pretty busy.  All the donuts in showcase looked delicious and cute!  

I didn’t still buy donuts from them that time ( :p), but yesterday my sister-in-law bought a dozen of Dreamy donuts and I tried one.  It was really fluffy, soft and moist.  Yes it was delicious, almost like a cake. 🙂   Look at the photo!

I will buy them in the future for sure!  If the price was little cheaper it’d be great though … but I guess it’s the standard price for donuts in Perth 🙁

Milk and Honey

Next Cafe

Next Cafe, a newly opened car themed cafe is located on Ardross street in Applecross. Although the size of the cafe is not that big, I was pretty impressed by their service and menu.

As I entered the cafe a lady (staff) gave me a big smile and kindly showed us their menu. I had to sit down and think what to have… they have a wide range of drink menu.

They have normal cappuccino and also some unique flavored coffees such as Iced Strawberry Espresso with Soda and Hawaiian Coffee, as well as Iced Red Bean and Iced Fruit Punch. One of their menu “Passion Me” is often consumed in Italy in summer, as the combination of passion fruit juice and coffee gives very sweet and refreshing taste. “Alpes Coffe” is named after its looking – a white snow (thick milk froth) topped on a double espresso and hazelnut syrup.

After browsing the menu for few minutes, my fiance and I decided to have orange latte and coconut cappuccino.

The staff asked me if I needed some sugar with coffee. I told her “no” as I don’t usually put sugar to my coffee. Then she said “this coffee is already pretty sweet.” I tasted orange latte, and it was, yes, really sweet! Ummm it was too sweet to me but I’m sure lots of people will like this type of sweet coffee. Then I tried coconut cappuccino; it smelled coconut syrup, but didn’t really taste coconut. :p Well, I loved nicely brewed coffee and fluffy milk froth very much though. The decoration on the milk froth was really cute, and I could feel that these coffee were made with care. 🙂

i will definitely come back here to try other drinks. Currently they are doing “$2.00 coffee on Tuesday” and “$3.50 cake on Thursday”.

Oh, and, I loved their interior too 🙂

San Churro Fremantle

I’ve wanted to try their freshly made churros and chocolate menu since my friend recommended me this place. San Churro is located on Market Street in Fremantle, just a step away from cappuccino street. Even though it was early morning on Sunday there’re already few customers sitting on relaxing chairs and enjoying freshly brewed coffees and teas.

This cafe is named after the head monk, San Churro, in Spain who was a leader of monks manufacturing chocolate for the Spanish aristocracy. I didn’t know until today that churros was actually a Spanish food. I used to eat churros at Mister Donuts, and sometimes from convenience stores in Japan 🙂

At San Churros, you can enjoy freshly fried churros and some sweets with a wide range of drinks such as milk shakes, coffee and chocolate. My friends ordered iced chocolate and chocolate vanilla milk shake, and I ordered Spanish latte.

For churros, you can chose a dipping from 4 kinds of chocolate: dark, milk, white and caramel. I had dark, and my friend had caramel. Apparently a dipping chocolate comes with any cakes too, not only for churros. Another friend ordered a ricotta dark-berry cake with white chocolate dipping.

The dipping was very nice. Caramel dipping was little thick, and dark and white chocolate dippings were really creamy. Churros were also nice, crunchy and really chewy 🙂 According to this friend, who is from El Salvador, churros in his country are little chunkier and longer, but those churros at San Churro were just right size for me. Spanish latte was little too sweet for me though, but I guess that’s how it should taste. I could taste sweet syrup in the latte.

At the cafe they sell gift-wrapped chocolate products and some sweets as well. You can find out more about this place from San Churro website.

Chocolateria San Churro Fremantle (08) 9336 7557

91 Market Street Fremantle

Sun-Thu : 8:30am ~ 10:00 pm

Fri-Sat:    8:30am ~ 11:00 pm