Neon Run

Recently I participated in the Perth Neon Run. It was a blast! I have never seen so many glow sticks and flashing lights in one place. It's such a kitsch idea and yet we embraced it with gusto and would do it again in a flash. The track was about 5km long, and we walked it instead of running. I collected stray glow sticks along the way (like the kid at heart I am!).

Here we are with our neon laces or glow sticks attached to our trainers, pre race:

We even had flashing neon balloons, which were super cool. They were normal balloons with little flashing lights in them, which caused the whole balloon to glow and flash.

We made it!! That's me at the front with my glow stick collection!

Afterwards, a post race snack at San Churros was in order:

Sculptures by the Sea 2013

This is a belated post, as Sculptures by the Sea was held in March this year. I absolutely love this yearly event which is held at Cottesloe beach in Perth. It is such a lovely day out, especially when combined with brunch at one of Cott's great beachfront cafes.

Here are my favourite offerings from 2013:

Look This Way by Ken Unsworth. Sydneysiders might recognise this guy from the Sculptures in the Sea held at Bondi in 2011, where it won the Children's Choice Award.

Ghost Net Crocodile 2011 by GhostNets Australia. It is made out of 'ghost nets', abandoned fishing nets which pose a risk to sealife. GhostNets Australia is an alliance of over 22 indigenous communities from coastal northern Australia across the three states of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland.  Since its inception, the programme has supported Indigenous Rangers to remove over 7,500 ghost nets of varying sizes.

Menang (memory) by Cave Urban. Cave Urban is a design collective of architects and musicians with a focus on sustainable living systems. Modelled on bird-scaring devices in Balinese rice paddies, each pole was carefully tuned to the chord D-minor sustained, and made an eerie but beautiful sound as the wind passed through. It won the People's Choice Prize in Perth this year.

Hard Rain Landscape 1 by Hugh McLachlan. According to the artist, "The steel frames focus the viewer and landscape, while the structure itself reflects aspects of landscape through form, texture and light."

The Optimist by Stephen Marr. I can imagine this guy as public art, he would make a wonderful addition to any communal space. About this sculpture, the artist states "It is in direct response to the political, economic, social pessimism that seems to be currently dominating world culture. For the brief time that I hold a persons attention with this work I wanted to make them see what a wonderful place (state of mind) this is."

Happy Floating Dream Cloud by Kathy Allam. A mobile made of hundreds of bright plastic kids toys! It's no wonder that it won the Kids' Choice Prize in Perth. I heard one little boy pointing at it and screaming "Look, we have that toy at daycare!"

Pot Luck by Lewis Horne. Mr Horne is an artist from Nannup in WA, and his sculpture is a tribute to the western rock lobster and the dwindling art of pot-making (I'm not entirely sure what 'pot-making' actually is).

A view over the beach with some statues (including a red chilli) in sight.

Brunch Review: Cranked Cafe, Leederville

Cranked is one of those places I have walked past 100s of times but have never tried. That changed thanks to the entertainment book- I had a voucher, and I wanted to use it :-)

The Scoring

Menu variety / creativity: 7.5/10. Something for everyone, and some creative options. You can read the menu for yourself at the website.

Taste: 7/10. I had the 'Crank Addict': Two soft poached eggs bedded on wilted spinach with smoked chorizo and sourdough. Finished with home-made tomato jam and shaved parmesan cheese. The eggs were nicely poached and the home-made tomato jam was divine. Generous serving size and plenty of bread. I didn't like the chorizo much, it seemed to be cheap/poor quality. My friend had a "make your own" breakfast - she chose scrambled eggs on multi grain toast with avocado and homemade tomato relish. Yum!

Coffee: 6.5/10. Drinkable but not amazing.

Setting/location: 6/10. The decor isn't anything special but they have a nice big outdoor area for sunny mornings (and it has outdoor heaters in winter).

Service: 7.5/10. No complaints, efficient and friendly.

Price: 8/10. The more creative menu options are around $18, but the servings are very generous. If you have the Entertainment book, use the voucher in it for a further 25% off :-) We did!

Verdict: Nothing special but it was a solid meal with a generous serving size. I'd go back, especially with another voucher!

Brunch Review: Sayers, Leederville

Ahh Sayers, now I understand what the hype is about!

Menu variety/creativity: 8/10. Lots of very creative options and something for everyone. Impressive.

Taste: 9/10. I was blown away by the roasted mushroom with spinach and fetta on sourdough. The boy loved his potato rosti with poached eggs, bacon and onion jam. The best tasting brunch I have had in Perth - this one is a winner!

Coffee: 6.5/10. We ordered it in mugs which may have been the mistake - it tasted too milky. Perhaps it's decent if you order normal sized.

Setting/location: 8/10. The inside is gorgeously decorated with damask wallpaper, big mirrors and lots of bling. They have a very cute outside courtyard too.

Service: 7/10. A little bit disorganised - some people who didn't have a table were crowding the till, and they kept bringing us someone else's drinks. Otherwise it was fast and friendly. You order and pay at the counter and they bring the meals out to you.

Price: 7.5/10. Smaller servings than elsewhere but the taste totally made up for it. Expect to pay around $18 for the meals and $3.80 for a regular coffee- standard for Perth.

Verdict: My favourite brunch in Perth so far. This one is a keeper! From previous experience, they do delicious homemade cakes for afternoon tea too.

Brunch Review: Mrs S, Maylands

I have heard so many people talk about Mrs S in Maylands, I was excited to try it out and had high expectations. I arrived at 10:25am and put my name down for a table for 2. There were several people on the list before us, but the waitress seemed positive about our chances of getting in quickly.

Unfortunately, we waited outside in the wind for 50 minutes and by the time we finally got in, we were only just in time to order breakfast before the 11:30am cut off. By this time we were quite hungry and annoyed.

Our meals:

The Scoring

Menu variety / creativity: 7.5/10. Not a lengthy menu, but they do have some creative options (notably the rice pudding, apple and rhubarb crumble with yoghurt and cornbread with eggs, bacon and maple syrup). I was a little disappointed in the sweet options (nothing appealed to me that much), but I think the menu might change regularily.

Taste:  6/10. I chose the banana bread with pistachio cream, and my friend had the apple and rhubarb crumble. We were both unimpressed. The banana bread was very sweet and too heavy (it really needed some fresh strawberries or something on the side to balance it out), and my friend thought that the crumble was sickly sweet too. Perhaps we chose badly, but at an impressive café there aren’t any bad menu choices.

Coffee: 7.5/10. Pretty good.

Setting / location: 8.5/10. Lovely indoor décor with a cute vintage vibe. Fresh flowers, a large communal table, mismatched chairs and kitsch home wares for sale all add to the character. I love how the menus are inside vintage Little Golden books.

Service: 7.5/10. Once we got inside, the service was fast. You order at the counter and they bring the meals out to you.

They need to be more informed about the expected waiting time (We didn’t ask specifically what the expected wait was, but someone who arrived just after us did and was told ‘It could be 20 minutes, or it could be 5 minutes’. It wasn’t close to either!) and maybe work out a better waiting area (we were all crowding the sidewalk outside, making it hard for pedestrians to get past).

Price: 8/10. Reasonably priced, with my banana bread coming in at $10 and a regular coffee only $3.50 (cheap for Perth).

Verdict: Given the hype, I was so disappointed. If we had not had to wait so long and were able to order and eat at a more leisurely pace, perhaps our experience would have been markedly different. After the wait, we really wanted to be blown away by the food and coffee but experienced the opposite. I definitely wouldn’t bother with this place again unless we could get a table immediately.

Brunch Review: Zil Cafe, West Perth

It was 11:30am on a weekday. Thankfully, Zil were still happy to serve me from the brunch menu, and who can resist a second breakfast? Not me!

My meal:

Mushrooms and spinach with balsamic reduction + a poached egg (OK, so it's not hand poached... but at least it had a good consistency!)

The Scoring

Menu variety / creativity: 6/10. A short and simple menu. I probably chose the only ‘creative’ option.

Taste:  7.5/10. Very good, I really enjoyed my meal and thought it was a great combination of flavours. The egg wasn’t hand poached, but at least it had the right consistency.

Coffee: 7.5/10. Pretty good.

Setting / location: 7/10. Nice, simple décor. Around the back there are some bookshelves and wall decorations. The front has a wall covered in music/concert posters.

Service: 8.5/10. Very fast and friendly, personalised service. Love it!

Price: 7.5/10. Reasonably priced, with my breakfast costing $12 and the coffee coming in at average.

Verdict: Cute café and I wouldn’t hesitate to order the same dish again if I was in the area. Free wifi was handy too, but the service is what really made it special.

50mL, Leederville

50ml is a newish addition to the Leederville coffee scene. By newish, I mean that it wasn't there when I moved from Perth to Canberra 18 months ago. It is open late, has quirky decor and although I had hot chocolate (which was okay), it looks like they'd serve decent coffee. They had a nice selection of cakes too, and some simple breakfast-y foods on the menu. 

My photos came out red due to the lighting, but you get an idea of what it's like:

The lights are very cool, made out of red plastic baskets. Simple but quirky.

"toast $6, fruit toast $7, baked eggs $10"

Interesting artwork

Verdict? A great addition to the late night coffee / chill out scene in Leederville. A whole lot cosier and cuter than Greens & Co and San Churro which are its two main competitors.

Brunch Review: Mooba, Subiaco

If you want a nice start to your Sunday morning, I'd avoid brunch at Mooba. This was by far the worst brunch experience that I have had in Perth (I had a nicer breakfast when I took my elderly grandfather shopping and we decided to have the canteen style brekkie at Jamaica Blue... seriously).

Our meals:

 Fried brioche 

  House baked gluten free toast

The Scoring

Menu variety / creativity: 6.5/10. A short menu without all that much creativity. They had a coconut rice pudding, but this was premade in the counter cabinet and didn't look all that appetising. Other options included a breakfast panini or fried brioche (my pick).

Taste:  4/10. Absolutely terrible. My fried brioche was cold, soggy and tasted too eggy. The ricotta on it was runny. My friend said that the house made gluten free bread wasn't bad, but it wasn't even properly toasted throughout.

Coffee: N/A. We wanted fresh juices but their juicer was broken, so we settled for the premade stuff (I'd just had a coffee elsewhere).

Setting / location: 6/10. Modern decor, which is pleasing if a little uninspiring.

Service: 6/10. You order at the counter and they bring the meal out to you. Despite the cafe being almost empty, it took them 45 minutes to make and bring us our simple meals (which were then served cold). My friend's toast didn't come with butter, and when she asked for some, the guy behind the counter remarked "What, you want another one?".

Price: 5/10. Probably the worst value brunch ever, and inconsistent pricing. My friend's toast was $5 which is great for gluten free bread which often comes at a premium. However, look at the size of my brioche in comparison and it cost... wait for it... $16! For a tiny piece of bread that didn't satisfy me at all (although, because it tasted so bad, I wouldn't have been that much happier with a more reasonable serving size).

Verdict: Terrible food, a waste of money. They might do good coffee (who knows?) but I won't be back. 

Recommended? Absolutely not. Urbanspoon's high rating is surprising, but most people are just rating their coffee which is misleading if you want to eat there.

Brunch Review: Daily Planet, Mount Lawley

Daily Planet is a cute cafe on Beaufort street, connected to Planet Video and bookstore. From the looks of it (on Urbanspoon), this place got off to a rocky start with sketchy food and disorganised service. It has definitely improved; we had a lovely brunch with no hitches.

My breakfast of toast with pesto, rocket, mushroom, grilled tomato and feta.

Quirky decor. Perth has totally embraced the Melbourne cafe scene, I love it!

 

Menu variety / creativity: 7.5/10. A decent choice and some creative savoury options. More points if they had creative sweet options.

Taste: 6.5/10. My breakfast was good. What would have made it even better would be chunkier toast (or 2 slices), and balsamic reduction drizzled over the top instead of the pesto.

Coffee: 7/10. A solid brew.

 Setting / location: 8.5/10. A lovely casual setting with lots of sun and quirky decor. Great for people watching if you get a window seat. No air conditioning I don't think, so might be uncomfortable on one of Perth's stinking hot summer days.

Service: 8/10. Friendly and efficient, and the staff wear cool vintage clothes. Bonus points for that ;-)

Price: 7/10. Average for Perth.

Verdict: Yummy and very enjoyable, I'll return to sample another menu option!

Brunch Review: Belissa Cafe, Bedford

I have compiled a very lengthy list of “must try” brunch spots in Perth. So many new places have opened up in the 18 months that I have been away, it’s amazing.

The first place on the list that I visited was Belissa Café in Bedford. For those of you who have never heard of Bedford (I wouldn’t be surprised…) it is located next to Morely. The location is an unlikely one (in a dodgy looking strip opposite a big Harley Davidson showroom), but Belissa is a little gem.

It was bustling on a Saturday morning at 10am, but it is pretty big inside and we had no trouble finding a table for two.

Our meals:

The Scoring

Menu variety / creativity: 7.5/10. Lots of choice on the savoury front, but only one sweet option. Bonus points because the menu changes every 6-8 weeks.

Taste:  7.5/10. It was good, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the food. The baked beans weren’t the best I’ve had, but I enjoyed them. They came with a generous serving of avocado, and the crumbed Danish feta complemented them well. My friend had the mushroom and cheese omelet which was a bit overpowering (too much goats cheese). We swapped half of each others meals, and the baked beans + toast went well with the omelet to balance out the cheesiness.

Coffee: 7.5/10. Above average taste, and big servings. 

Setting / location: 7/10. Cutely decorated with feature chandeliers and a nice selection of home wares to browse before or after eating. 

Service: 8.5/10. Fast table service with a smile, brilliant service.

Price: 8/10. The coffees are a tiny bit dearer than usual ($4 for a regular, $4.50 large) but they are also much bigger than at most places. The meals were very reasonably priced, and the servings very generous. Our meals + a large coffee each came to $20 per person.

Verdict: There is nothing in the area that compares, this little place is a keeper and will no doubt become a regular spot for many locals. I’d love to try it for lunch, and their Sunday high tea looks fantastic too…

 Soooo tacky, yet so... appealing ;-)