Appum and Pappadum from a Myaree Mamak

How we love small, unassuming cafes with amazing food! Off Leach Highway in Myaree is a place called Spice Express, which sells Singaporean Indian food. We were there on Saturday afternoon, around 1.15pm and the place was overflowing with customers.

The reason was more than clear at first bite. The chicken biryani was mild but delicious, and came with raita, dhal and a pappadum.

The Mee Siam, which is rice vermicelli with a sweet and sour gravy with prawns, egg and dried bean curd was a perfect combination of flavours- the sweetness of prawns, the tang of tamarind and a hint of heat from chillies in the gravy. 

Dessert came in the form of creamy, coconutty pancakes called Appum, served with sugar and coconut cream. Of course, we drank teh tarik (tea with condensed milk "pulled" to cool the tea and form delicious foam on top).

We also took away Spice Express' specialty dish, the Indian rojak, described on the menu as 'fried fritters with peanut sauce' and included boiled egg encased in fried flour, fishballs, sliced cucumber and onions.

We savoured each bite of every dish.

Decadent Diet

Genesis in the Hills is a vegetarian restaurant tucked amongst lush greenery in Roleystone, approximately 35km southeast of Perth.

We sat on the verandah where the verdant foliage hid the traffic from our view.

It was lunchtime and the restaurant was packed! We tried the korma with lentils, cooked and baked in a rich tomato and herb sauce, served with marinated beetroot with apples and herbs, artichokes and string beans.  The lentil korma was mild but beautifully spiced. The accompanying vegetables were fresh, perfectly cooked and seasoned. 

We also had the grilled polenta with mushrooms, baby spinach, avocadoes in a creamy sauce.The grilled polenta was deliciously crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. The creamy sauce was a winner.

For dessert, we both chose cheesecakes- a ricotta baked cheesecake and a coffee ricotta cheesecake. This was served with a light ricotta cream with rose essence, which was smooth and so pleasant, not the slightest bit heavy! The cheesecakes were excellent, not too rich or too sweet but just right.

Even the hot beverages impressed us- Fiori coffee and lemongrass tea, freshly picked from the garden.

We can't recall a time where we've left a restaurant after such generous slices of cheesecake feeling so... healthy. Who would mind that?

Are you green with envy?

Oh how we love one dish meals! Thai green curry with jasmine rice is not only quick to whip up (especially with a pre-packed paste, which we bought from Woolies) but mouthwatering with the fragrance of lemongrass and Thai basil and the robust blend of flavours- creamy, spicy, sweet.

After frying the paste, we added extra lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, chicken breast, fish sauce, a pinch of brown sugar, fresh chillies, coconut milk, vegetables (eggplant and sugar snap peas) and Thai basil.  

The marriage of flavours in this dish, and in fact most Thai dishes, never fail to tantalise our taste buds. We love cooking Thai food, playing with the balance of flavours until we get it just right. We have not tried the halal Thai restaurants in Perth (we have heard that Supreme Thai Restaurant in Alexander Heights and Sara Thai in Karawara serve halal food) but if anyone has any recommendations, please share!

Perth-see-month

We will try to explore a few places around Perth this month, 'See Perth Month' or to phonetically suit the topic of this post, the agrammatical 'Perth See Month.'

Sometimes it is nice to get out of the city and see the country side. A 40 minute car ride from Perth can take you to Willow Springs Orchard off Albany Highway.

The gloomy weather and rain did not stop us.  

Willow Springs Orchard sells a variety of fruits, depending on what is in season. Currently, there are persimmons, golden kiwi fruits, dried Chinese dates and longans. 

The golden kiwi fruits and persimmon rejects or seconds (blemished skin, too small/large, not smooth/round in shape) sell for as little as AUD3 per kg. There are a few grades of persimmons, up to the flawless export grade costing around $26 for a box of about 20. There are soft persimmons (astringent/ original persimmons) with sweet gelatinous flesh and crunchy (nonastringent sweet persimmons/ Fuyu fruit) ones, which are equally delicious.

The orchard itself is enclosed so visitors are only really allowed into a shed where the already picked fruits are sold. There are a few other orchards along Albany Highway which sell fruits; perhaps some allow visitors to pick their own fruits. Please let us know if you know of one!