Carven's Table

It's that time of the year again where food & wine enthusiast got excited. Yes, in 3 weeks time, it's gonna be the annual Perth Good Food and Wine Show. An event where all food & wine lovers appreciate and most look forward to. If you haven't been to the show, check out my post on last year's show here  to get a rough idea or just to see how much I'd enjoyed last year's show. This year's show returning with a bang and it falls on the 15th-17th of July at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The session time are as following:         Friday (15/7) 10am - 5pm         Friday (15/7) 6pm - 9:30pm (After Dark Session)        Saturday (16/7) 10am - 6pm        Sunday (17/7) 10am - 5pm Either you're a food lover, a wine lover or just there to spot a celebrity chef, there are many programs featured in this year's show for everyone, even if you're only in for a couple of drinks because it's wi...

While we all know not to expect too much of spectacular experience when going to an Asian Restaurant, except for fast and tasty food. It doesn't bother me much if they were not providing top notch service or the tables were sticky, or using chipped crockery, as long as the food is good. Unfortunately ... Dao Vien is not like the others.  An empty restaurant with tired looking decor  Walking into the restaurant for lunch, immediately gave me a weird sense of vibe. It was hot and stuffy, I wondered if it was open as there were no other customers during lunch peak hour. We waited long for the lady owner to notice us and gave us a table. It was a huge place with lots of table but majority of the small table have dirty dishes that were left uncleared. Dirty tables all around us Well, first impression didn't quite make the cut, we were feeling uncomfortable and intimidated. Several negative thoughts were running in my mind, "did we just walked into a bad restaurant?...

Cappuccino at Ristretto I am professing my love for a cup of well made coffee. A good source of bean, tick; Bannister Downs' milk, tick; well trained barista, tick; passion and love in the cup, double tick. Flat White   I first came across with Ristretto in some time last year, attending their Friday cupping session at Central Arcade, Perth. I had a cup of coffee that changed my life/my love for coffee, it opens up a whole new world to me. It was my first time trying specialty grade coffee, it has a thick and creamy body that carries a sweet berry flavour with a hint of strawberry - Amaro Gayo from Ethiopia. It was also a day that I said good bye to burnt and bitter coffee. A quality cup always come from a Synesso  Emmanuel and his partner ventured to Perth from Melbourne with a mission to bring good quality coffee to the people in Perth. They started with a kiosk at Central Arcade, Perth and now they also have a small coffee shop at Howard Street. They also ...

Brand new start In the past, I failed miserably at growing plants, flowers, herbs and all things green. I think I've inherited my mom's gene - the 'No Green Hands' gene. I always love the idea of having a lushful herb garden at my backyard, so whenever I need the herbs for cooking, I'll be able to get them just right at my doorstep. Unfortunately for me, I've never succeeded in growing them. They were all dead after a month or so, or they just slowly dry out under the hot sun. Perhaps I didn't shower them with much love and care. On my New Year Resolution this year, I've included 'growing herbs successfully' into my long list of personal achievement for the year of 2011. Went to Bunnings on a fine day, bought packets of potting mix, fertiliser, mulch and seeds. Instead of spending money on planting pots, I've decided using recycle material from various dairy bucket. Drilling holes at the bottom for easy drainage. As I am quite determin...

Andaluz Bar and Tapas has been on my "Restaurant Wishlist" for more than a year. A while ago, I finally managed to gather my foodie adventure friends to come along with me to one of the most talk about tapas joint in town. When it comes to tapas style dining, the more dining companion you have the better it gets! Which was true as we got to try many different dishes. We were there on a Wednesday without a reservation (evening bookings not accepted), which came to our surprise that they were full to the brim, mostly with after hour suits wearer, thank god we dressed well enough to fit in to the crowd.  Staff were really busy to attend to us and we were left standing in the middle of the restaurant exchanging awkward eye contact with other patrons hoping that they understand we were waiting for a table, so please leave soon... Not long after, we got ourselves a small table to share among 5 of us, some of us even sharing seats. We then peruse the given menu while waiting fo...

I have heard a lot about Tak Chee House serving one of the best Penang Char Kuey Teow and Hainanese Chicken Rice in town, because of that it has been on my "To-Eat List". Unfortunately, every time when we were in Northbridge area, we tend to visit other eating joint instead of them. Today, I've finally gotten the chance to verify it's authenticity. Tak Chee House is only a small fitting cafe style restaurant serving Malaysian favourite hawker's cuisine. We were there at about 8pm, but the restaurant was full of patrons waiting eagerly for their meal to arrive. There were also some other patrons queuing up waiting for table inside and out of the restaurant. With a good mixture of Asian and non-Asian customer, that's a good sign. We waited for a good 10-15minutes for a table for two. The table arrangement was a little cramp, just like the typical Asian cafe's table setting in Perth. The staff were busy with orders taking, drinks making, delivering food,...

Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar, an addition to Retail T6 complex at Subiaco I was invited to attend my first ever blog related event 2 months ago by Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar marketing team. In conjunction with the opening of their first WA's shop, some of us were invited to attend an exclusive blogger masterclass at the Subiaco store. Joining me to the event was Karen from Karen Cheng's Fashion and life , Conor from Hold the Beef ,  Lori from Musings of a Wannabe Gourmand and Devan from Bowl of Honey . Clean and brightly lit pizza shop  I used to work at a local suburban pizza shop as a delivery driver back in my uni days, a place where most client smells of bourbon and the shop was located at one dark corner of a dodgy suburb. However, I personally think their pizza was better than those international chain. Fast forward to 2010/2011, "gourmet" is the cool word to use and modern decor that plays with colours and lightings tends to attract more people, especially the...