Belgian Beer Cafe

I had the Crispy Duck with Vermicelli, Cashews and Spicy Fruit Sauce.

Sound good? I thought so too.

The duck was too salty, the cashew nuts were burnt and there was no spice or fruit in the sauce. And don't get me started on the serving size. Suffice to say, it was 16 dollars I would have much rather kept in my pocket, thank you very much.

The waitress we had was appalling as well. Too eager to get rid of us, she immediately brought the check after we said we had finished. Without us asking for it. And if that wasn't enough, she came back to ask for the receipt after we had finished. It's not like she was busy either. Sure it was packed, but she seemed to have enough time to spare to socialise with other customers.

Shitty Waitress plus shitty food makes Nadia a very cranky, after-work diner. So the rating goes:

Little Caesars

It was our 22nd Monniversary when Bruce decided he'd take me to a mystery cafe for dinner. So we drove up Great Eastern Highway, ignoring all the food stops along the way until we reached Little Caesars in Mundaring.

It's an understated but packed little cafe. The counter is overrun by staff, and there are only three booths, and about 4-5 tables scattered inside the premises and on the sidewalk. If not for the reputation of this joint, you'd be forgiven for thinking this cafe was just another neighbourhood pizza parlour which is just trying its best to make ends meet.

But Little Caesars is anything but that. Looking at the wall, you see a menu for over 40 unconventional pizzas ( Red Chicken Curry or Oyster Kilpatrick anyone?) and 6 dessert pizzas. And that's just the regular menu. Just looking at all the combinations brought out the wannabe chef in me - it inspired me to try out my own new combinations at home instead of sticking to the usual combination of mediterranean vegetables.

On another wall of Little Caesars, you see awards. And no, these aren't just your national awards... but the Inaugural America's Plate from an International Pizza Show in New York proclaiming that the pizzas won BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD in various categories. You heard me right, this little cafe has beaten the pizza chefs of Italy. ALL of them.

Bruce and I shared two pizzas - a large savoury and a small dessert pizza. He chose the Smashing Pumpkin and I (naturally) chose the Mud Honey Pizza before we settled into the couched area at the corner.

The cafe has the feel of the 50s diner without the cliched retro trimmings. Perhaps the warm and friendly staff had a role to play in creating such an inviting atmosphere. The chef is also unlike the "too busy to socialise" chefs you get in most restaurants and greets patrons with humility - I didn't even realise he was the pizza maestro until I googled Little Caesars.

The first pizza arrived, perched on a raised, silver serving platter. I had never eaten a non tomato-based pizza before, so I was quite eager to sink my teeth into a piping hot slice of the Smashin Pumpkin - garlic cream sauce, mozzarella cheese, roasted cashews, butternut pumpkin in pesto, parmesan cheese and parsley.

Who knew nuts would go so well with pizza? The pumpkin was beautifully flavoured, although we reckoned that the sauce could have used a more liberal lashing of herbs. However, perhaps we were just a little thrown off by our first experience of a cream style pizza base. Overall, the pizza toppings were generous and well distributed.

The staff at Little Caesars must have perfected the art of precise timing. Five minutes after our serving platter was cleared of the Smashing Pumpkin pizza, came the award winning Mud Honey Pizza - chocolate mudcake on a pizza base with honey icing sugar, chocolate buttons and chocolate sauce. My mouth was watering... and I was still finishing off my last slice of Smashing Pumpkin! The sight of the chocolate sauce oozing out of the icing sugar covered mudcake, peppered with chocolate buttons was too much to bear.

I didn't expect the mudcake to actually be BAKED on top of the pizza crust! Biting into the pizza, you are convinced of it's award-worthiness; the only way you could make that pizza any richer was to use Lindt 70 or 85 percent cocoa chocolate bars. We could only manage 3 slices between us, and we took the resst home.

My only gripe about Little Caesars - it's too small!! Well, and the fact that it's all the way in Mundaring, which is about 30-40 minutes away from Perth. The chef refuses to open another outlet in Northbridge or the city - saying that he doesn't want competition from other chefs to hamper his creative ability and commitment to creating superb pizzas. And you just HAVE to respect his prioritising quality over profit.

So I guess we'll just have set forth to Mundaring to pay tribute to this pizza artist - not that I'm complaining of course.

Rating:

4 and a half out of 5

Items we wanted to try:

Red Chicken Curry Pizza - Mozarella Cheese, sweet potato, chicken, red curry sauce, coconut cream, onion and parsley.

The Don - Pizza sauce, Fremantle Sardines in Lemon, Myrtle, Mozzarella cheese, fresh tomato, fresh chives.

New York Pecan Pie - Butterscotch pudding mix, pecans, icing sugar, golden syrup, caramel sauce, pecan toffee.

Updates:

None yet.

Pop on over to:
Little Caesars
Shop 7, 7125 Great Eastern Highway
Mundaring
Phone: 92956611

Licked Chops

This is the list of places we have visited and reviewed (or are going to anyway!). This is a work in progress, so do check back from time to time!

Note: All information from takeaway menus and business cards taken after meals. Thus, details may be subject to change.

Analaksmi Indian Restaurant
Indian Vegetarian
Review

Catalano's Cafe
266 Albany Highway, Victoria Park 6100
Italian
Open 7 days
ph: 9362 1121
Review

Golden Tandoori Restaurant
North and South Indian Cuisine
128 James Street, Northbridge WA 6003
ph: 9228 8280
Review

Makan Makan Cafe
Singaporean/Malaysian
Review

Sweetlips
125 Oxford Street Leederville
Fish & Chips/Fresh Seafood
Open 7 days, 10AM - 9PM
ph:9242 5745
Review

Yawara Japanese Takeaway
9/228 Guildford Road, Maylands
Open:
Lunch: Mon - Sat: 11 - 2.30PM
Dinner: Mon - Wed: 5 - 8.30PM
Thu - Sun: 5 - 9PM

ph: 9371 2288
Japanese
Review

In The Beginning...

I am sick of waiting for Bruce to redo the RestauRANTS site we had planned over a year ago. So I decided to post all our content here in the meantime. I guess I should kick things off with an introduction...

The Full Scoop - What you Need to Know About RestauRANTS.

Based in Perth, Western Australia, the RestauRANTS team comprises:

Bruce Sutherland (aka The Webmaster Type Dude)

Bruce is the genius behind all the complicated web-type stuff which Nadia gets a headache trying to decipher. He maintains the page, makes it look pretty and thinks of a million ways to improve the site.

Bruce’s working life revolves around computers and he likes tinkering with weird codes and programs every now and then. He once made a program which would let him send free smses to Singapore without having to deal with the website’s security code. Yes. He is a computer geek with too much time on his hands. But Nadia loves him anyway.

Bruce is always up for a good, cheap meal (namely because he's the one who has to foot the bill most days) and loves Indian and Japanese cuisine. He is quite an adventurous eater, which works to the team's advantage because they inadvertently find cool little places to dine.

Boring stuff:

• Graduated from Curtin University with a Degree in Computer Science.
• Currently working as a programmer/system administrator

Nadia Haniff (aka Cranky Rambler)

As the heading suggests, Nadia is the cranky rambler who writes most of the junk on these pages. She also argues with Bruce over the look of this site when she’s not busy pretending to be busy.

Nadia's an aspiring writer. At least she pretends to be so that she has an excuse to be at her beloved laptop all day (playing the Sims, Civilization and Zoo Tycoon no doubt). Her most embarrassing achievement to date is getting her soppy poem published in some anthology by poetry.com

Nadia loves food - eating and cooking it. While she may not be as adventurous as Bruce, she does appreciate a well-cooked meal. Her main function is to play the role of bimbo/customer from hell to ensure they get the service they deserve. She detests bad service.

Boring stuff:

• Finally completed her Honours in English and Linguistics.
• Working as a project and marketing coordinator.
• Currently applying for Permanent Residence in Perth.

How the twain met…

The two met via a mutual friend and have now been together for six 29 months. Nadia still gets cranky at Bruce for no particular reason and Bruce is still attempting to make a PC geek out of Mac junkie Nadia. Unless he buys her a complete set of The Sims and its expansion packs... he will remain doomed to failure.

In the meantime, Bruce spoils her rotten with insane amounts of chocolate... among other things. She on the other hand, lets him.

How this site was born…

Once upon a time, there was a mama site and a papa site… no.

The idea popped up during dinner at a café. In jest, the pair had previously discussed being food critics. Bruce had just gotten his webserver up and running and was looking for something to actually host, other than email addresses. Lo and behold, the idea of a blog-like food review was born.

What makes RestauRANTs different?

You will not find posh restaurants which require advance bookings here. Bruce and Nadia are not professionals in the kitchen, but like most people, appreciate good, affordable tucker. In fact, most of their restaurant encounters are completely random and spontaneous.

Also, unlike other reviews, we update our ratings everytime we re-visit cafes so that our readers can get a better picture of the deal they’re getting. No way are those restaurant owners going to get away with only laying special treatment once. Customers are entitled to be treated special – ALWAYS.