Yip Kee Noodle Restaurant

It's devastatingly rare to still be able to choose where to grab dinner after about 9pm in Perth.
After like 4 hours of badminton and vigorous running, diving, getting hit by cocks, we decided on a fair deal:
Loser shouts dinner.

I didn't shout dinner.
We're too good.
We even won in a 3 vs. 2 game.
(My side being 3. LOL)
We didn't even need to cheat to win!
:$
Too pro.

A schmancy dinner would have been great since we were supposedly getting a free dinner, but conveniently and lucky enough for the losers, there was still an open restaurant nearby where we were, past 9.30pm. It made sense to bolt there ASAP before they decided to close up.
So we scattered to our respective cars and drove allllll the way, across the road. LOLLL what?
4 hours of exercise was definitely enough for the week.

We called the following to share. Not like different bowls for each person and grab from the middle type of share. By share I think we just meant intrude into each other's plate whenever we wanted to.

Satay Beef

This was a pretty well flavoured dish. I'd started to regret calling my own dish when I'd realised it had bones in it and was hoping someone would be nice enough to swap with me. Nobody did. So I did my best to eat everyone else's food until I got rejected =]

This smelt really satay-ey, with mixed vegetables stir fried with beef slices in satay sauce served with rice. Simple but nevertheless tasty.

Honey Chicken

I didn't try this. Suchhh a generic, conventional, boring dish. I can't help it. It may be fantastically mind blowing or can taste like heaven but for me, honey chicken will always just be honey chicken. There's no special place for it in my heart.

Usually I know it's the crispy batter that does it for people. Anything deep fried usually does it for most people. But it just gets annoying when you bite into a honey chicken ball, but you feel like you've ordered just deep fried batter balls instead. Just batter wrapped in batter. See, that's when too much of a good thing is bad.

But when it's done well, ooooooh. Succulent popping hot chicken wrapped in golden crunchy batter coated in sweet, sticky, syrupy burning hot honey sauce sprinkled with sesame seeds and deep fried rice noodle threads must be the best thing ever. Hopefully I just described Yip Kee's version of honey chicken.

Malaysian Curry Chicken

I was so determined to try this so didn't let anybody else order it. LOL. Like I've said before, only because I'm selfish and I wanted to try more dishes instead of ordering 2 of the same things on the same table. But then laziness is my most prominent and strongest strength (??) and I give up altogether. Why can't chickens and everything else just be boneless?

At this point I swapped dishes with M, who ended up de-boning my chicken for me. Yay! And I got to eat her boneless chicken and cashew nut dish while she did that for me. Yay! Double win.
And gave her dish back half finished. Oopsie, accident...

This was ok, but I've had better Malaysian curry chicken. Good enough, actually.

Beef Rendang

I'd always thought beef rendang was a drier, darker beef dish with less liquidy sauce. Here the beef rendang is swimming in a sauce suspiciously looking exactly like my curry chicken sauce. I can guarantee beef curry was not ordered!

But ah well, I tried a little block of beef after numerous attempts of reaching across the table and being denied access to the dish. I've learnt not to ask for permission because people know I'll reach for it regardless, and ask after I've forked something. Hehe.

Beef was pretty tender, forgetting about any rendangness it should be and served with fried rice instead of steamed rice will cost you an extra $1. Just a heads up.

Chicken with Cashew Nuts

I think I pretty much demolished this dish off. Funny thing is though, this isn't even mine. This was "my second dish" as I mentioned previously. It wasn't like awesomely awesome or anything but it was nice to have a really home-style dish like this.

Stirfried vegetables and chicken with what seemed like endless supply of cashew nuts. Nuts everywhere I dug! Everywhere! Nuts!

Barbeque Pork

From memory this actually wasn't on the menu, and apparently this was meant to be a "really good dish" and runs out by the end of the day because of its popularity. So...it was 9.30pm.
I guess we got lucky? Or...

I'm not sure how much this costed but it was a little mountain of meat that didn't get finished in the end. It tasted alright. Think it would be a bit sweet with the more you eat, so the sour vegetables on the side would probably do a great deal of help.

Bigger pork pieces would have probably worked wonders to improve the dish. Slices were chopped into little itty bitty pieces and just...scrappy. It's like you're eating scraps. I feel like a bird. A bird eating scraps. Scrappy scrap scrap. crap.

What?

...

Yip Kee is a little eatery hidden away in the suburb of Maylands and serves up pretty decent dishes at affordable prices. These were all $10 meals, minus the BBQ which was a little more. On the occasions I've came have all been lunch time, when they offer a bigger variety of hawker style dishes on the Lunch menu.

I tried my luck and tried ordering from the category that said Only available at lunch time. Yeah I know I was about 7 hours too late but no harm in trying right? What WAS ordered came out super fast, but probably because we were the only ones in the restaurant. They were closing up around us as we ate, stacking chairs etc etc. I do appreciate restaurants who stay open for last orders and when staff are clearly ready to go home, but don't. And don't make you feel unwanted.

But still,
I sort of felt like a waste of space. Lol. That also happens on other occasions. Occasionally.

Poppo Korean & Japanese Restaurant

At the end of a long day of uni, I am STARVING.
At the end of a long lecture at uni, I am STARVING.
Uni food sucks, cost of it sucks, and doesn't fill me up either, which, well, SUCKS!

So it is really natural instinct to want to bolt out of there straightaway and head towards the city, where one of my favourite food joints is situated. Ahh, good old Poppos. I frequented twice in a week so I'd call that just a mild case of addiction. But you've definitely got me hooked and wanting more.

Both of us were starving our ass off and I felt as though I could close my eyes and point to anything on their menu and order it immediately so I didn't have to waste time in battling my indecisiveness. Most of their food is trustworthy enough to actually do something like that.

Vegetable Curry - $8.00

So when I can close my eyes and point to anything in the menu, not everybody else can. Because usually there will exist the one boring, standard, predictable vegetarian dish which is usually uncreative, unexciting and just...BLAH! So I was chuffed that Poppo's offered quite a few (i.e. MORE THAN ONE) variety of dishes that are suitable for those with a meat aversion.
Cause those need some love as well =p

At the end of the day however, it was back to the somewhat standard choice of vegetable curry. Their curry IS good, so why not I guess? Seasonal vegetable curry (being potato, carrot and onion chunks) with rice served with miso soup and pickles side dishes. Poppo's pickles consist of pickled carrot, cabbage and lettuce shreds that hold a slightly sour but refreshing flavour.

Sooooo doesn't look like a tummy filler.

Teriyaki Salmon close-up

I have a very affectionate relationship with salmon. If I see it, I want it really bad. Love it in all forms, shape, size, fat, thin, rare, medium, well done, steam, seared, fried, cooked, uncooked, raw, fresh out the ocean, WHATEVER. But the bigger the better. Dump a slab of it in front of me and it's like...giving a bone to a dog. No connotations.

Sorta looks like spam here. Salmon spam. LOVE IT.

Salmon Teriyaki - $11.00

But putting my love for Poppos aside for a moment, and I have to admit that the salmon was not as spectacular as I'd anticipated it to be. It was thick and consequently not as cooked in the middle, but maybe that was intended, which made me even happier. Really moist but a little chewier than I'd expected but ahh, what the heck.

So here is my pan fried salmon with syrupy teriyaki sauce, miso soup, pickled vegetables and that stinking hot thin metal conducts-heat-burns-your-fingers bowl. Damnit I hate that bowl. It ALWAYS burns and makes me want to chuck a sad and throw it across the room or at whoever's eating with me BUT...
it holds rice and I wouldn't want to waste it on unworthy people.

Katsu Chicken Curry close-up

Hahahahahaha.

This looks like a cracked sewage pipe.

Say whattt did I just say that?

Chicken Katsu Curry - $10.00

Vivid imagery aside, this is the Chicken Katsu Curry, being chicken cutlets and seasoned vegetable curry on rice served with miso soup and pickled vegetables.
This was very comforting to eat on a cold and wet day, despite looking all gluggy and unattractive and like a shapeless, formless, useless SPLAT.

Only downside being slightly burnt - no, very overcooked crumbed chicken. Like...black chicken.
Lolol. Whatevs. Everything looks the same when drowned in curry. Curry turns everything it touches into "slightly burnt" and it sorta makes you not care what you're putting in your mouth anymore.

Dragon Roll - $15.00

So like, everything I said before about salmon before, is exactly how I also feel towards eel. I have a strange but deep yet obsessive feelings towards it but I think people would describe this being the relationship between me and in general, anything edible.

This is a bad angle but you know, I was hungry, my dining companions were hungry, and I wasn't going to come in between that. And I finally realised why it's called a Dragon Roll! Well, not really, I don't see it, not even vaguely.

But WHO CARES, when you've got a massive ... thing in front of you, consisting of cucumber, avocado, crabstick, and omelet rolled in rice and topped with gleaming, shiny, drool-enticing eel. Too little eel. Too little, too gone, too soon.

Dynamite Roll close-up

I gotta admit, with zero boastful implications whatsoever, I am so in lurrrve with this shot. It's not often that I am happy with the mash of colours and textures and intricate details that make up a photograph I take, or the style the food poses with at my eagerly perving camera lens. Sexy and I know it doo doo doo :)

The forever lustful Dynamite Roll is hot stuff. Lightly battered prawn, avocado, cucumber, omelet and crabstick rolled in rice topped with Tobiko (caviar) and special sauce served with miso soup. It has sported a rather fitting name, I mean, look at it. The prawn tails are like fuses and the bright colours are hell BOOM - explosion on the plate and explosion in the mouth. More so in the mouth, actually. The crazy wild artistic swirls on the plate are sweet chilli and a sort of mustard apple-y paint job that tastes of brilliance.

It's like I've died on gone to heaven. I've died quite a lot of times now, having ordered this so many times. It's a masterpiece almost too beautiful to be ruined but I guess for me, death by food is sooooo worth it.

Dynamite Roll - $16.00

Here is a better depiction of what hot stuff actually looks like. And I meant it when I said explosion in the mouth, with those many little balls of caviar along with crispy scattered specks of tempura batter going pop, crunch, pop, crunch, pop, pop, crunch pop pop poppety as you savour every bite. It ignites such a sensory delight as you eat it.
Or, maybe...that's just me going overboard with the description and you might be let down. But THIS, is definitely my type of porn ;) Food porn =p

Oh, hellooooooo sexy.

Tofu Bibimbap - $11

This came out looking all pretty and better than I had expected. I should have learnt by now that my impression of vegetarian dishes looking like crap is wrong wrong wrong. I think this has captured my attention enough - more than enough! - to entice me to give it a try next time. I judge based on looks.
Ooooooooh damn I'm shallow :)

Seasoned vegetables, a fried egg and battered tofu served over rice is what makes up the Tofu Bibimbap. This bowl is served with a deep crimson spicy sauce and a bowl of miso soup, from the Korean section of Poppo's menu. Picture came out just a bit fuzzy and was more-than-just-a-bit crap looking, but I've learnt to be considerate and not take my sweet ass time and keep people waiting, just in case they kill me.

Chicken Teriyaki - $8

I'm usually indifferent to teriyaki sauce, I mean, give it to me - give anything to me - I'll put it in my mouth but I wouldn't choose to order it over the countless other Japanese dishes. Soo like, wth I ordered 2 teriyaki dishes on 2 visits here? Whhhaaart? I guess its the pan-fried chicken thigh that lured me in. More of a legs and thigh person. Ho ho ho

It looks like a pretty small portion, cause it was a pretty small portion. (For me anyway) If a restaurant dish can fill me up, it's pretty generous. But very very decent serving for its price, especially compared to other places, and Poppos is always so win. Personally I reckon it would have tasted better minus the sauce, but that just defeats the whole purpose of teriyaki chicken.

Oh and, I don't want to mention this, but I am compelled to mention, there was sorta a caterpilla lodged in between the broccoli stalk. Lol. It was definitely UGH! but you know, shit happens. Bugs are a part of life. Can't escape them.

I'm pretty lucky when it comes to eating insects. Like...avoiding them LOL. Like the time I bit into an apple to meet a worm snuggling inside. Like the time I happened to drop the peanut on the floor that was housing a worm between its two halves. Man...............put me off nuts for a while.......
bahaha.

...

I cannot recommend this place enough, seriously. I don't know anyone who doesn't take a liking to it so if you don't like it, you're probably one picky little princess =p Merging the two cuisines together allows them to provide an comprehensive menu with so much choice that'll probably make you want to go back to try more dishes. And so you should!

It's a pretty humble little restaurant, pretty dark and dimly lit. Many people notice Taka and go there as a no brainer but not many people notice Poppos, probably. Staff are really friendly and considerate - one even stopped me in my tracks to warn me about the slippery floor on the way to the bathroom :) - and speak with accents, which gives the better impression of the food being real, authentic and honest.

Really casual and simple dining vibe makes it all the more better, along with the complementary barley tea, water and sauces you can spam your meal with. I am somewhat a sauce freak and get really excited over sauces so you know, I go a bit gaga whenever its like, Whaaaat free Japanese mayo?! and tend to just eat sauce on its own for dessert after a meal.
Sorry for grossing you out.

Good location but the downside of being situation in such a central location is the epic traffic, zero parking bays and distance from carpark (which is actually just across the road, but still...). Coming here on a rainy day in peak hour sucked. It was something like,
J: "Omg, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we're there"
M: "Yeah okay go sleep for 30 minutes"
And we were only about 3 traffic lights away.
Zzzzzz indeed.

But whatever. Nothing is perfect and minor problems shouldn't step in the way of true love.
From your forever loyal fan,
S.
:)

***
Update on the 20th of December, 2012

Dynamite Roll

The thing we can't resist - The Dynamite Roll, with a lot less...dynamite.
There just isn't the same explosion of caviar there once used to be.

Salmon Sushi Roll

The inside out sushi roll, with the perfect light mouthful of fresh raw salmon, cucumber and avocado.

Still your forever loyal fan,
S.

Dome: Mandurah

So for some stupid and unknown reason, we chugged all the way to Mandurah on a Saturday with crap weather. Not the best timing but what the heck, what's the chances of going to Mandurah purely based on impulse?

Though I have been down (up? Not sure =p) to Mindarie Keys a few times on impulse and GOD DAMNIT, it's beautiful there. I remember sitting on a cliff with the ocean crashing down below and nothing but the sea stretching out forever in front of you.
And it feels like...I can just stay there forever.

So anyway, on the outskirts of the heart of Mandurah where most of the restaurants are, is a little lone Dome situated adjacent to the ocean. And this is where we camped for the next 5 hours or so...trying to study. The place has a very open design, where the lack of windows becomes one huge open-spaced window overlooking the beach horizon.

We settled down to a spot to take in the lovely black storm clouds, random downpours of rain and the angry, angry ocean. See, the view really IS lovely, when you are smart enough to check the weather before you go and burn half your petrol tank getting there!

Going on roadtrips usually means I'm starving by the end of the car ride. And going on roadtrips in the morning ALWAYS means I've woken up 15 minutes before the scheduled time, skip breakfast and complain about my hunger the whole way there while my stomach talks non stop. God I love journeys. But it's probably best not to sit in the same car as me if we ever go on one =)

We needed food. We ordered food:

Caramel Nut Crunch - $5.95

This came out first and gosh, it was mouthwatering eye candy in anticipation of the rest of our meal. I was pretty jealous I didn't get one for myself and started to feel deep regret for declining the offer of one. It's usually a personal policy of mine to say YES to offers LOL =p

I love looking at their drinks page of the menu. It's sorta like a sensual feast, reading and imagining what all their drink selections taste like and wanting to just GET THEM ALLLLL. Alas that would be idiotic and hence only this one was ordered.

Milk blended with a shot of coffee and topped with cream and big chunks of chocolate filled with peanuts and caramel wafers. Damn, that's like music to the ears. I didn't drink this but something that sounds so good must have tasted just as good.

Vegetarian Wrap -$10.45

I was tempted to get this but the other beat me to it :( And I have a strange dislike of ordering the same food as someone else at a meal. It's not really a case of that annoying girl syndrome of "Omg, she's wearing the same dress as me" but more because I'm greedy and want the chance to be able to sample different dishes in one meal.

I always, always, always end up scabbing from other people's plates. I can't resist. Never much (well, sometimes much, if I fall in love with it) but I do. Conversations always go like this:
"Geez, finish my whole plate why don't you?!"
And I'd pause for a second..."Yeah okay :D"
If you ever eat with me, I'm sorry, and be prepared to lose half your meal yeah?

This seemingly healthy vegetable wrap consisted of grilled eggplant, zucchini and red capsicum with fetta cheese, fresh spinach leaves and basil pesto in a lightly toasted flat bread wrap, substituted here with turkish bread and served with a side of tomato chutney. Grilled vegetables always taste a bizzilion times better than fresh vegetables. Like how raw food tastes better when it's cooked, yeah? =p

Vegetarian Break-Feast - $14.95

For some reason the carnivore in me died off and this choice became pretty appealing. I think it was all the colours that did it for me, which explains why I was so in love with fairy bread when I was younger. And maybe I was being considerate and wanted to uphold my sharing theory from above so that he could have my breakfast also. I am such an awesome, thoughtful friend.

Somewhat average scrambled eggs (choices of fried/poached/scrambled), mushrooms, spinach, grilled tomato, hash brown which I so generously gave away because I shouldn't eat it anyway LOL, baked beans and pretty burnt-on-the-other-side-so-you-can't-see-it toast. And 2 slabs of melted liquid butter. It did alright. Filled me on the spot but not for too long :(

Classic Scones - $8.95

Probably about 2 hours later, I needed food. Not necessarily hungry, but just felt like eating so to speak. This was meant to be a "reward" for getting some work done, much like a carrot on a string type thing. But since I was still sitting in front of a blank word document, I wasn't allowed.
Call it discipline if you must, I call it GAYYYYYYYYY!!!!! What am I, 5?

So probably an hour after this, we begrudgingly spewed up a paragraph or so onto our respective word documents and thus could share some scones. Hard life.

At that price, it got us 2 fluffy scones accompanied with whipped cream and a pretty sweet berry jam. And 2 slabs of non-melted not-so-liquid butter this time. Surprisingly, I didn't eat much, after all that lust. Like they say, the chase is always better than the conquest ;)
To me, scones are nothing special. Cause they aren't!
Before I ate: "It just looks like bread"
After I ate: "It just tastes like bread"
Verdict: Scones are just like bread.

And I got on with my work.

Hot Chocolate

This definitely used to be my drink of choice, probably because of that thick, fluffy layer of milk foam on top adorned with chocolate powder sprinkles. And I still fight people for that layer from people's cups when it comes to the table, so I guess it is STILL my drink of choice. And I guess I steal drinks as well as steal food. Need. To. Change. Badly.

So whenever someone orders a hot chocolate, they automatically give it to me first. I always get called a kid for getting excited over the foam. It's so good! Then the rest of the drink is usually just complementing the foam for me. If a cup of hot chocolate could be just a cup of hot foam, I'd be over the moon.

This was made with skim milk I think, so the resulting drink is probably not as smooth/creamy as it could be, but that's my fault that I shouldn't drink/eat fatty stuff. Good pick-me-up on a cold, rainy, gloomy day like that day. I got halfway only as I still can't understand my sometimes-fine-sometimes-not tolerance for milk. Like a friend said,
"I am sometimes lactose intolerant." LOL yeah, when I feel like it.

...

I've eaten at Dome a few times, at different locations, and I gotta say different locations have their own strengths and weaknesses. Hot chocolate at Leederville Dome for example, pretty good from what I remember of it. Drink prices are pretty standard, but some food prices are a bit overpriced for what they are. Good menu choices as well as a seasonal changing menu makes for interesting choices but sometimes, I think I enjoy reading the extensive menu and imagining the tastes over eating the food itself. Sometimes. When it falls short of expectations.

So of course, obviously, DUH, you wouldn't make the trip down to Mandurah just for Dome, when there is probably a Dome down the road from where you are. Which makes me feel all the more stupid for wasting time and (not my) petrol but it was a good getaway from the usual city scene :) Mandurah is quite a picturesque and eventful place and is quite a touristy spot if you visit leisurely, and not for a one page report summary with size 11 Arial font with 2.5cm margins and 1.5 spacing on your mind.

Zzz.

I think the advantage and special thing about this particular Dome is its location, opening up to a seaside view from its front verandah. It would make for brilliant sunsets on a better day when the sky is feeling a bit happier. Pity.

There's customers all the time, seeing as they open throughout the whole day and don't shut doors between lunch and dinner times. Laid back, relaxed cafeteria atmosphere means you can laze around to your content and procrastinate as long as you need without a time limit. Always useful when you need to study. That probablyyy explains my grades. And how good they are. LOL...

Sigh. My fluency in sarcasm screws me over most of the time.

Eden Delicacy

I'm not sure to what extent this applies to people, but for me, hitting the books always means hitting the food even more.
Sure, studying is connotated with stress, but even more sure, stress is connotated with CONSTANT PIGGING OUT!

The worrying, the lack of sleep, the procrastination, the post-procrastination guilt, the consequential cramming because of that guilt, the i'll-study-tomorrow urges, amazingly still means I don't eat any less.
It is a miracle I haven't really gained any extra kilos since high school days.

So what can I say? The journey to study meant a journey to a new restaurant :)
Who knew the pursuit for knowledge meant a new blog post ;)
I think I may have found a new interest!

(Trying out new restaurants, of course) =p

Udon Noodles

Took me a while to decide on breakfast. Not because I was in a carnivore in a vegetarian restaurant and feel so lost (ok, maybe*) but because I needed to make a choice out of the options available, and that's always a difficult task for me. And then, I'd have to sieve through those choices to a relatively healthy, low fat, less oily dish, EVEN IN a vegetarian haven.

I repeat, it seriously sucks. It gives people the wrong impression, perhaps the most WRONGEST, most MISLEADING impression ever, that I'm on a diet. Eww.

Because even with no meat involved, the way stuff is prepared might still screw around with my stomach. I can never risk it. So the owner was kind enough to offer to make something that specifically catered for my needs, like a MYO kind of thing. She asked me, soup or stir fried? What type of noodles?
And in the end, I realised what I'd chosen had come straight off the menu anyway. I am suchhh a bright kid!!!

So this bowl of udon came with capsicum strips, seaweed, "prawns" and "fishballs", both in quotation marks because not including the quotation marks would be a lie, as much as it would be a lie and maybe even a sin to serve in a vegetarian restaurant =p Fake meat always tastes pretty good to me, but it's not so real that you'd mistaken it for the real thing. That being said, real fishballs tastes pretty fake to me anyway.

Decent serving size, perhaps maybe even on the smaller side. My dining friend even said something about being surprised if I were able to finish it all. Baa haa haarrr what a joke, guess just didn't know me well enough! That impression is now long gone *sob*, after witnessing my very timid 5 plates + soup + dessert streak at buffet.
+1 for disbelief but +1 for respect as well. I hell earnt that respect well.

*Nah I'm kidding, I'm not a food snob. I'm happy and grateful with anything as long as I get food and not deprived of it :)

Eden Noodles

Ok, so from the epically VAGUE and pretty fail descriptions I've collected for this dish, this is what I got:

It tasted nice =)

BLOG RUINERRR! Since I didn't taste this myself it's hard to judge. So apparently the highlight of this was "uberrr good soup", enhanced by ... mustard?! Yep, you're probably like me: EW, mustard soup?! Like, mustard-that-goes-on-hot-dogs soup?! Lol, but no, mustard as in pickled mustard, somewhat like the preserved vegetables you can find in packets from Asian supermarkets.

This would probably remind me of my dad's homemade version, a sour-ish based, vinegary tasting soup and ever so addicting. Daw, I miss his cooking =( He's quite the chef in my life =)

Seaweed Omlette

So when a restaurant promotes one of its dishes as its signature specialties, it would be dumb to not order it right? So even though we were on the verge of being very full, what the heck. One more dish wouldn't hurt too much, and the name of this thing sounded all the more intruiging.
What on earth did a seaweed omlette look like? Would it be green? Would it taste like ... the beach? For a while my brain didn't realise that I ate seaweed all the time in Japanese cuisine.

I pretty much imagined collective seaweed bunches washed up on the shore of sandy beaches, gathered together, washed, chopped and slapped into an omlette.
Gosh, these vegetarians eat anything! =p (Initial stupid thought)

Alas, thank God, this was not the case OF COURSE! It came out looking very pretty and attractive, and this was when my brain started functioning again: OHHHHHHH, seaweeeeeed, I see. #8904580954892835479834543562512th dumbest moment ever.

It came served with a bowl of red, slightly thick, slightly spicy, slightly sweet dipping sauce (not pictured), which was meant to enhance the taste of it in an unbelievable way, apparently. I reckon it did fine without. Ingredients were seaweed, mushrooms, bok choy plus some kind of mysterious melon I couldn't recognise (yeah, fail, sorry). All held together with eggy mixture as well as a slightly interesting but even more slightly sickening clear, gluggy, sticky textured ... GOO. It was somewhat offputting but I'm a disgusting person so I ate it anyway =D LOL

Tasted prettayyy good. The omlette. Not the goo.
Well, the goo as well, since it was an inclusion inside the omlette.
Actually now that I think about it, without that liquid adhesive, the dish just wouldn't be as unique.

...Think I'll let you insert your own caption here ;)

This is a picture from a series a friend sent me, which I have enough of to compile a picture book of the food adventures experienced daily of his business trip. I thought I'd include this one here as it's a pretty damn accurate depiction of the GOO that was used inside that omlette. I think this is where creativity comes to play, where looking at this picture may stimulate widelyyy different thoughts inside different people's brains...

I won't hesitate to say, one of the most obvious descriptions that came about was something like,
Man, I just ate a bowl of sperm for lunch today!
But that was a guy talking, so...........yeah.
I'll stop there and leave the rest up to your vivid imaginations ;)

...

I'd never really known of this little simple eats restaurant that caters for those who have a meat aversion or just want to eat healthy for a meal, once in a blue moon =) I mean, you feel good about yourself because not only have you done your health good but you've done the world good, by letting one little animal free. Sort of. Not really.
But you know, eating here meant I'd done my little good deed for the day :D TEE HEE

It's a great concept, a purely vegetarian eatery serving up a variety of meals, snacks and desserts, which shows you still have a large variety to choose from if you love your animals too much to eat them. There's not many of these around Perth, I'm guessing because Perth is a largely animal-consuming nation (with the iconic Aussie BBQ and all) so if you see these pop up, it's worth a try.

There's not much seating available inside, but they've got a constant trickling stream of customers during lunch time, which is good to see. I love seeing family owned and run businesses be successful, because it shows anyone can be, if you put your heart to it :)
It's nice to see others' accomplishments when I don't see myself having too many achievements. Maybe that's because my heart wanders around too much.

Or, MAYBE, because I don't even have a heart. Apparently.

Taka Japanese Cuisine

After a painstaking long 30 minutes worth of catching up lectures, my stomach was just like,

STOP. Why so hardworking for?!

And I agreed. I'm so damn studious.

And so I stopped my ridiculous studious habits and all carpooled out to one of our favourite eating joints in the city, both value and taste-wise. It's no wonder it's always packed inside.
Full of hungry people, good looking food and over excited buzzers everywhere, which then in turn over excites me whenever it buzzes :D

Dinner for 3, happily shared around like a big fat happy family :)

Japanese style Curry - $7.30

Let me start with perhaps the most unappealing plate of food for the night. And every other time cause lets face it, curry is pretty damn ugly right? But always delicious, however :D

This was my friend's dinner from the night before this meal, served up on a plate*. LOLOL =p

Taka's curries are tasty, even though it looks like crap. Literally. This particular choice was chicken katsu curry served over rice with some lettuce pieces. Good, simple, nourishing brain food.

*Apologies for the crude and distasteful humour. 

Fresh Chicken Udon - $7.30

I got the feeling I wanted to be in a soupy kind of place, and plus, switching from rice sounded like a nice change, since I never seem to do it. This sounded *light* and *fresh* and not so heavy that it would make me want to fall asleep after dinner instead of returning back to my studious self of course.

Udon noodle soup with chicken pieces made for a good meal. They use chicken breast. Breast is something I don't usually like cause I'm not perverted like that and generally like the fleshy smooth thighs more ;) But here I'm not too fussed. I like all of Taka's bits =p

Teriyaki Chicken Udon - $7.30

Same choice as mine, substituted meat. Well not really, its still chicken, DAMN we love our chicken...but just a different form of chicken. Teriyaki chicken strips in udon noodle soup with the same garnish.

It's quite cute really.

But they do give you enough chicken to satisfy, it really is HEAPED ON high and stacked up like a neverending supply of chicken.

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Yeah okay, I cheated, this is two different dinners compiled into one post. Don't be put off or scared by our seemingly gluttinous appetites since I said this was a dinner for 3 and there's 7 meal orders posted up LOL.

That being said, I think many of my friends wouldn't be too surprised if that were the case. I mean I am their rubbish bins most of the time after all :$ GLADLY! =)

Chicken Karaage - $7.30

I gotta admit, one of the things I miss the most is my gall bladder. Not so much the organ itself, but the things I could eat when I still did have the thing inside me. Without it, I am restricted from so many things I love, one of those being this dish at Taka. The bloody awesome Chicken Karaage. Sigh.

I generally called this dish at Taka, 100% of the time (LOL coffee prince :D) Without fail, I could probably eat it everyday for the rest of my life, but then again, that would probably mean I wouldn't live very long anyways so I wouldn't be eating it for too long LOL.

Marinated garlic/ginger chicken pieces, deep fried...yeah okay...served with salad. BOOM healthy meal right there =) You see the picture? Half plate of greasy chicken, half plate of a garden. Balanced meal right there!

It's good stuff. The interior is always popping hot and juicy and the outside is seductively crunchy and delicious. They've got this magical honey mustardy sauce available as well, and its like a match made in heaven, right inside Taka.

Chicken Katsu - $7.30

Deep fried. Panko crumbed. Chicken fillet strips. Combine words together. Imagine inside your mouth. MATEEEEE!

This wasn't my dish but I found my eyes constantly checking it out and eyeing it down. Such a good looking plate of chicken. Panko crumbs from what I know are a special type of Japanese breadcrumbs that have a crispier and airier texture. Greasier too, probably.

You can see the gleam of oil in the picture. It's either that, or just a very dirty iPhone camera lolol.

Teriyaki Don - $7.30

Nowadays it's teriyaki everything at Japanese meals. Personally I'm not so fussed about it. For me it's just a little meh.

This is chicken fillet strips cooked in teriyaki sauce, served over a bed of rice and salad. I think you can begin to sense the pattern in the meals at Taka, with the rice and salad plus meat variation. I should probably mention the free miso soup that comes with large meals also.

Oyako Don - $7.30

And this is my order. I thought I'd go for something a bit different and then realised I'd chosen the plain chicken version, exactly the same as last time but with rice instead of Udon.

Damn I'm dull without even realising it! Guess I enjoy the plain-ness and simplicity :)

This was a bowl of Japanese style egg omlette with plain chicken pieces and onions, garnished with nori seaweed and an overall sweet flavour. It comes in a big bowl that you can happily eat with just a spoon and not having to fuss about other eating utensils and crappy spiky splintered chopsticks. Which means you can probably eat faster than you normally can too.

Friend: "You're really hungry aren't you :)"

Well yeah, either that or it's pretty damn good since I took epic fast to down this whole bowl of food in what seemed like no time at all. Which then resulted in me picking at bits from other's plates of food because I had nothing else to do except wait for everyone else to finish :)

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If you haven't already realised, this whole post consists of chicken, chicken and more chicken x100. All chicken, all large meals. It makes it seem like Taka is one big Japanese KFC but it is definitely not. Its menu is extensive, offers other meats and is affordable as well as being a good quality feed. I assure many will keep returning.

The place is always really busy with all sorts of customers, but despite the fact that it can be hard to get a table, the turnover is extremely fast. On top of that, the meals are ready in no time at all. It's crazy quick. Order, sit down, get some tea and then your buzzer already goes crazy. It's a very efficient system set up, where it's all a very non fuss eatery - you go in, you eat, you go out.

Free sauces/seasonings, free tea from one of those huge boiler things means you can get a free drink - for free! Lolol. It's all do-it-yourself system with all the cups there, meaning I usually am too lazy to get up from my seat once I sit down with/without food so...I spam on the cup usage and fill up like 3 at once and bring it back to my table. All. For. Me. Mua. Ha. Ha.

Tips: Avoid peak meal times. Don't forget to keep some cash on hand. EFTPOS facilities are non existant once again. It's one of the reasons why the queue keeps shuffling fast even though there's a sea of people floating around crowdedly, cause nobody's allowed to flash their cards and create traffic inside a constantly-moving traffic-less restaurant.