Carven's Table

Before Chef David Coomer opens up Pata Negra and before Restaurant Amuse being on the talk list of "Restaurant must visit in Perth", Star Anise was once the talk of the town and also one of the top 5 restaurant in Perth. After listen to my colleague animated description on how good the food was, I've decide to bring my best mate for her birthday dinner together with another friend. Thank god we've made a reservation, as this small little restaurant quickly filled up by diners waiting to enjoy good food created by team David Coomer.  The dining room is quite small, but was decorated with lots of modern-Asian inspired decorations such as bamboo and wooden cupboard; just like their menu, it is modern and Asian inspired. Warm lighting and soft-textured elements like curtains making it quite an intimate place to bring your love ones for dinner. Having said that, most of the table were set up for big groups too. Service was prompt, as we seated, water was offered and ...

There are so many different eating habits among man-kind. Some of which, you can accept for who they are; everyone has a different cultural background, different kind of brought up and different kind of exposure to food culture. Recently I have encounter with more of these weird or different kind of eating habits. However, one that i can't tolerate is the one (a group of them actually) that carries LV or a luxury branded handbags, wears a Christian Dior sunglasses, branded apparel from top to bottom, probably pays up to thousands to fix up their hair every fortnight, in their 40s, sipping French Champagne during lunch with their group of ladies friends. Yes, I am hereby judging them by the way they carry themselves, nothing wrong with dressing up with branded apparel, don't get me wrong. You would have thought they are the well-educated, successful women in their 40s, expose to all sort of things, probably have eaten at a few michelin star restaurant in Europe. But when the...

I've always love going to restaurant in a winery, especially when i'm in the region. It's the best place to taste the best of everything in the region. A while back, me and my family went down to Margaret River for a road trip (there were 14 of us and they were all travelled from Malaysia), I thought why not try lunch at one of the winery restaurant, it will be a great way to introduce the wine and the Modern Australian cuisine to them. And I suggested to try Flutes Restaurant at Brookland Valley, reason being that the restaurant is overlooking the lake and the vineyard, and of course the menu sounds good and not overly priced, plus I've got 10% discount using EatingWA VIP card. I've made reservation for 14 of us on a Tuesday lunch, most restaurant would have asked if a big group like that to go for a set menu, instead they didn't mention anything about set menu on the phone and were fine with us having a la carte. That's what I wanted anyway, to sample ...

I have always love Thai food, especially after travel to Thailand myself. Thai food are best known to be extremely spicy, aromatic, fragrant, rich, sweet and sour, all of these exciting flavours. Have heard alot of great review about Nahm Thai, they were even being mentioned in the little booklet of Australia Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide both 2009 & 2010. Especially after reading the write up about them on Gourmet Traveller, I told myself I've had to try them one day. Went there one day spontaneously after shopping with my girly friend, we were lucky enough to secure a last minute reservation but had to be in before 6:30pm. We were driving along the quiet end of Bulwer St and try looking for the restaurant, instead we spotted Nine Fine Food but later discovered Nahm Thai is actually just next to them. Nahm Thai is definitely not your neighbourhood traditional Thai take-away shop that sells spring rolls or your classic Thai Green curry. Think fine dining mix with Tha...

Stumble across Ecco Restaurant on a late busy Friday night. After shopping in the city til 9 o'clock, we were sick of dining in the city nor Northbridge, so we head over to Subi in search for hidden gem. Walked past a fair few restaurant along Rokeby Rd and then we saw Ecco and Santa Fe, they were both pretty crowded that night, somehow there were a large group of loud customer in Santa Fe, so we opted for Ecco! And thank god for that. Ecco in Subi is very small, tables were cramped together, but you can sense that they are serving some really good food here. A mini wood-fired oven at the back of the restaurant, black board or a mirror with interesting special written on, a few small tables on the pedestrian for those who wanted to be outdoor, warm lighting and warm smile you get from the staff. I like it! It's intimate, it's crowded but not too noisy, it's alive!  Had a pizza and wood fired crispy octopus to share with my mate, the crispy octopus turn out to be se...