Edo Japanese BBQ Restaurant

Every single night, I look forward to dinner.

Every single night, I hate deciding where to eat.

Judging by the amount of posts labelled under Japanese I have consumed, you'd think what I ask every night is "What do you feel like tonight? Japanese, Japanese or Japanese?"

I could, should and would. And I probably will.

Sashimi

I don't really know anybody who doesn't like sashimi. Those who don't, are usually misled by their own impressions of it being slimy and having a strong raw, fishy smell. To that, I would say DUH IT'S FISH but actually, quality sashimi has none of that.

Fish that doesn't smell like fish, is good fish.

Edo's sashimi offerings are fresh, thick-cut, lustrous pieces of gold in the form of salmon, tuna and snapper. The brilliance of the colours on the dish are bold, vibrant and is my type of eye candy. I could stare at this all day. IF I resist gobbling it up.

Rice

Calling the donburi version comes with a small heaped bowl of sesame seed studded steamed white rice.
A must.

Sashimi Donburi (Main + Rice)- $8.90

Intense colour adorning the raw fish slices with its white stripey embellishments, its a godsend that fish fat is actually so good for you. Edo lives up to its claims of providing sashimi that is fresh daily, proof when you taste a generous, melty, smooth consistency, buttery slab of these different versions of raw chickens of the sea.

Curry Vegetables Bento Lunch - $9.90

As much as I'll get shunned for this, I think Vegetarians are disadvantaged in the dining world. Because like I've read somewhere, "Becoming vegetarian is a big missed steak" and while anti-meaters will be disgusted with that and the thought of a big slice of delicious juicy steak, I couldn't agree more.

By no means am I anti-vegetarian and I love my meat-free meals and friends alike. I myself, am also pretty meatless and could do with a bit more on my figure. But life is already so full of mistakes that I just simply cannot afford yet another missed steak!

Curry Vegetables

J, as a vegetarian who can only choose Curry Tofu out of a meaty menu, hearing "sorry we've run out of tofu today!" is not a very pleasant experience. Did it mean no vegies no say no lunch today?

Instead of having to watch this carnivore devour her meal, we asked for an on-the-spot creation of a vegetarian dish with whatever meat-free leftovers ingredients they had lying around in their kitchen. Alas Edo whipped up a vegetarian curry compilation of cabbages, carrots, onions, cauliflower and whatever else healthy stuff I don't want to see.

Traditional Japanese curried vegetables among the usual Japanese bento box offerings form a vivid, colourful canvas of colour which sorta makes up for the lack of meat :P

Small Salmon Sashimi - $7.90

The freshness of the sashimi still fresh in my mind, a second time ordering their salmon reinforced this. With a softness that requires minimal chewing, these just about melt in the mouth with a sharp wasabi hit. I tend to deliberately hit myself with a level of spiciness I cannot handle every time I eat the stuff. Wasabi consumption just doesn't feel complete without crying.

Katsu Chicken Bento - $9.90

Considering how much you have to pay these days just to keep your stomach from grumbling, at $9.90 for an entire bento box is pretty damn good value. All their bento boxes come with rice, miso soup, dressed garden salad and assorted sushi (sometimes smoked salmon, other times Californian roll...a lot of the time, chicken).

Katsu Chicken

The Katsu Chicken variety features breadcrumbed and deep fried chicken fillets. Dribbled with that recognisable dark sauce, but even better combining these golden strips with the rich, creamy and absolutely MAGICAL Japanese mayo blob in the middle.

Wasabi Beef Bento - $9.90

Before my crazy food fanatic days, I'd come to Edo and seeing wasabi beef really excited me. The first time, they'd misheard my order and gave me Teriyaki beef instead. Upon sending it back, it seemed that they plopped this splatter of wasabi cream on top and sent it back to me as Wasabi beef. It musn't look like this, I thought.

The second time, it came out looking like the same splat on non-wasabi'ed sauce drenched marinated beef. I was still in doubt.

This third time, I finally accepted that this was indeed Edo's variant of wasabi beef. Usually I don't need very much, if any at all! convincing. Very different to my interpretation of wasabi beef, where the wasabi is stir-fried into the beef. This version is suited better to those who are a bit of a wasabi wuss, as the sauce isn't distributed evenly over everything. To me, this is everything a teriyaki beef with wasabi topping should be.

Salad, Miso Soup & Sushi

ANNNNNNNDDDDDDDD I'M BAAAAAAACKKKKKK! - about a week or so later. When coming for dinner, choosing teppanyaki is a no brainer and comes oh so naturally. It's one of the more affordable Japanese BBQ options I've spotted in Perth, if not the cheapest. This art of dining doesn't take up a lot of stomach space but your wallet ends up with a large dented space :(

Teppanyaki at Edo doesn't come with the personal theatrical cooking show or with talented chefs throwing your dinner at you. $25 can probably get you half a steak or so at fine-dining but here you are loaded with a set menu of salad, soup, steamed rice, teppan vegetables plus different entrees and barbeque mains, depending on your choice.

My choice? The Sakura.

Sushi Entree

The meal starts off with a sushi entree - simple, light, leaves you delirious for more.

Fillings aren't shabby or skimped on either, which is always good to see. On this occasion, prawn and tuna sashimi make extravagant appearances.

Fish Fillet

A small, lightly pan fried fish fillet is presented next, which you should savour really, really, really slowly while waiting for the rest of the dishes to come.

If you position yourself close enough to the cooking hotplate situated at the counter, you could still get your dose of entertainment of watching the chef's cooking that Teppanyaki is famous for. But if that's what you were really after, you could always just watch yourself cook, in your own kitchen.

Just not the same.

Beef Tenderloin

I don't know about you, but somehow beef becomes exquisite when it is done Teppanyaki style. Whether it is pure chef talent, my own bias, the addition of a secret untold ingredient or just a sprinkling of magic, I fall in love with these tender babies over and over and over again.

With this type of unconditional love, I never want to part ways with eating this. Which might mean I double, triple, quadruple, five-ple, laksjdflkwejvodklawejfkjlksdfj-ple my intended red meat intake in the one sitting.

Unbelievably soft and tender bite-sized cubes of grilled beef, full of aroma and flavour. Served with a pool of cloudy beef stocky sauce, the little juicy meaty pops has me love struck.

Teppan Vegetables

And to balance out a very proteiny meal, a side of stir-fried vegetables (read: mostly beansprouts) makes an appearance. Just cooked, crisp and full of simplicity is just what I ordered.

Teriyaki Chicken

The last to come was this alfalfa garnished, teriyaki glazed dish of chicken thigh meat chunks. All in all, a good balance of seafood, red meat and white meat.

The dishes initially come out slow then suddenly, bam bam bam your table is loaded and delightfully cramped with a feast of mini dishes. From afar, you look like a fatty who over ordered and up close, you feel like a fatty who under ordered.

You can never please everybody, so the best you could do is to please yourself :)

Stumbling around Subiaco, it is so difficult finding food options because there's just TOO MANY! Stumbling into Edo is one of my treasured finds that I often come back to. The place is of simple set up with neat and cute furnishings, with red and black as its dominant colours.

Large number of choices available in the menu with slight changes in prices when it comes round to dinner time. Takeaway also seems to be a popular option with a small availability of seating in the restaurant. And loving restaurants who stay open the whole day, readily available at your call. You get your whole range of Japanese fare at very delicious prices and delicious portions.

There is a casual atmosphere circulating the place with free water/tea, order and pay at the counter system and uniform-free waitresses. Staff are there to do what they are supposed to do, sort of like an inherent no-fuss policy in place. Fine by me.

I think me having 3 dates with Edo in a month is the beginning of something very real.

***

(08) 9382 1608

Open 7 days: 11am to 9pm

***

Sasuke Japanese Takeaway

Nestled among other more vibrant, more populated and overall more enticing strip of eateries, I never
gave more than a second glance at Sasuke. Truthfully, ok not even a first glance. Its less-than-attractive
existence just didn't entice me like a usual Japanese restaurant would have.

I should have known from theory that the more simply non decorated places are the ones who serve
mind blowing, amazingly delicious food because they focus on this strength. And so they should, a
restaurant's main job is a food provider after all. Sure, a feast for the eyes is great but a better feast for
the tummy is greatest!

Teriyaki Chicken - $8.40

Seeing meals for less than $10 is hard to come by these days. Fortunately, coming to Sasuke makes that an easy task. Their menu features many dishes at yummy prices. Can't remember if takeaway prices are different to dining in prices, but they should sit pretty close if they weren't the same nonetheless.


This token Teriyaki Chicken meal features tender bite sized chicken thigh pieces liberally drenched in sweet teriyaki sauce, which spills over as a flavoursome rice marinade. Served with a side of edible garnishes of cucumber and finely shredded cabbage and carrot makes for a good lunch option.

Gyu Don - $9.40

Ginger makes me want to throw up and cry. But this very dislike of ginger made me choose the Gyu Don, laden with the yellow stuff. It smelt, tasted and even looked so strong of ginger. WHAT THE HELL is wrong with me? The 40 degree heatwave must have fried my brains.


But even though I think ginger is putrid, eating stuff cooked with it is quite alright. Eating the thing itself is not. Food cooked with it adopts some of its sweet, slightly spicy undertones and is actually quite...edible. This bowl looks more like stir-fried onion and ginger over rice with a garnish of beef, but actually reminds me of home.


The meat lacks the overall sweetness and juiciness I imagined it to have. Thinly sliced rump steak gets its flavour from a soy-based sauce, and coupled with mass amounts of onion and ginger, I am a bit psychotic to order this.

Katsu Curry - $9.40

Less than 24 hours later, I dragged my cousin back here to try some more of their cheap and cheerful offerings. After extensive, overboard, annoyingly indecisive perusal of the menu, she finally came to the conclusion of something like, "I still don't know what to get!" Apparently one time, her friends had ordered, paid, and were eating their meals while she was still deciding on what to eat.

I digress. But seriously, her deliberation over the menu is like she's having her last supper and is choosing her last meal on earth. Something like that.

So it is with considerable improvement that she chose the Katsu Curry within 15 minutes or so. A typical dish of Japanese curry is served with rice with your choice of crumbed chicken breast or fish. It's good the sauce doesn't flood the rice and chicken, allowing the chicken to retain its freshly fried crunch but its dryness permeates through.

It also comes with a side note stating *No extra sauce*, which I thought a bit restricting. But I'm cool with that, I wouldn't want more of that sour! tasting curry sauce anyway.

Raw Salmon Sushi (10 piece) - $9.50

After being advised I couldn't choose any beef dishes that day as they had somehow ran out of that meat, I reluctantly jumped over to their sushi options. I thought this was a safe choice as they seem to promote this choice with freshness and efficiency, only being freshly rolled to order.

Sadly, freshly rolled means thrown together quickly and a rushed compilation of a sushi roll. The ingredients fell apart easily at a touch, before getting anywhere remotely near your mouth. Yes the sushi rice was sticky, but only because it was mushy. The salmon didn't taste that fresh and seemed to have watery content within it, which spoils the whole mouthful really. Proportion wise, the abundance of rice to salmon content seemed to be imbalanced.

I sound so angry. And no, I'm not done yet with my gripe! I sound like someone who hasn't taken their anti depressants. But really, life's too short to waste calories on bad sushi. And plus, charging extra for including avocado in my sushi was a bit annoying, being a pretty standard ingredient in sushi. It's like buying a sandwich and needing to pay extra for the lettuce inside it.


BAH, I don't think I've had such a negative reaction before! I'm okay with whatever and won't make a fuss even if I saw a live bug still in my food (which actually happened at a restaurant I probably won't ever return to again. It's not so much the bug that bugged me, but rather the manager's indifferent attitude to, HELLO THERE'S A MOVING INSECT ON MY PLATE?! It's like it was my fault that I spotted the bug. Grrrrr!)

Raw Salmon Sushi

I usually see the glass half full, but this time, I have to say Sasuke's glass was less than half.


At least it looks nice?


But like the phrase that's been used to death by society (who don't necessarily follows), looks aren't everything. You have to taste them first ;) It's the inside that counts.
These insides fell apart. You can't EAT presentation per se.


...


I thought I had found a local Japanese place that could provide me with regular dinners and satisfy my urges for Japanese...(food). After the little sushi incident, I had second thoughts about giving Sasuke a second glance. Not to say it has completely thrown me off, everyone deserves a second (third in this case!) chance to redeem themselves. I do like the place, considering I went back for breakfast the day after the first time I visited!


Menu wise, they go beyond the usual Jap dishes but still within the Jap cuisine. Fried rice, soup dishes, stir fried dishes, ramen are all available at reasonable lunch prices that extends to dinner. The choice to upgrade to a bento box is available for an extra $3.50 is an attractive option, which gives you the main dish, rice, salad, seaweed salad, potato croquette, 1 vegetable spring roll, and either 1 inari (sweet bean curd pouch stuffed with sushi rice) or 2 sushi (however $2 extra). All these extra surcharges! They have a full page in their takeaway pamphlet dedicated to all the extra charges for condiments. Even soy sauce. Gripe.


It's good that the charges aren't hidden, all the options and separations are considerate but mind boggling. Those who want to alter their dishes and are intolerant of gluten and animal consumption are punished by having to pay extra money for requesting for dishes prepared to be gluten free or free of animal product. It's a nice gesture, but is tainted with the attached price tag!


Presentation food wise, good. Presentation shop wise, could do with a makeover. Limited seating probably makes takeaway a better option, since there's not much to look at inside or outside the restaurant, being pleasantly situated in and with large glass windows overlooking a very potholed carpark!


Portions are decent but if you're a big eater, you're not going to be full. I wasn't full.
We craved sashimi (FRESH sashimi) and got ready to drive to a different Japanese restaurant right after finishing Sasuke. Unfortunately 3pm is Perth restaurants' resting time and everywhere is usually dead.
I even left with my own souvenir of this place, casually thieved a spoon in my hand as I walked out. Accidentally.


(I gave it back though).


***
(08) 9445 7831


Mon - Thurs: 11.30am to 2.30pm & 5.00pm to 8.30pm
Fri: 11.30am to 9pm
Sat: 11.30am to 8.30pm
Closed on Sun and Public Holidays
*During Winter Months (Jun, Jul, Aug), Friday's Opening Hours are 11.30am to 8.30pm


***

Bbar Cafe

My first memories of this cafe are pretty much, "what the hell, it's a Medical Centre -___-"

Many thanks to Urbanspoon misleading me to a wrong address and many thanks to my bright self for
not thinking of looking across the road where a whole shopping plaza stood.

Originally on time, I was now 15 minutes late and was still driving up and down the same street like a
lost child, convinced that this place had closed down and been transformed to a Medical Centre.

So, so, so oblivious.

Still feeling like breakfast at a time way past lunch, it was good to see breakfast was still being served
until 2pm. Good news for early birds like me, whose day doesn't start until after 12pm. Call it lazy if you
must, while you drag yourself off the bed at 6am every morning :)

Zucchini & Pea Fritters, Smoked Salmon & Watercress Salad - $11.50

I started my day with Something light, that being a category in the menu and with this choice falling under that. And light and healthy it tasted indeed, with a green vegetable patty and all.
So not my typical order, because I usually judge people who eat salad.


The patty could have done with a bit more flavour, but it was a refreshing change to the usual items you see on breakfast menus. A generous inclusion of peas lines the fritters and makes for a good mouthful but I am more partial to the poppity pop sensation and sweeter flavour bursts accompanying corn fritters. And eating something yellow makes me feel better than eating something green.


Nevertheless, these were pretty ok but nothing too memorable. I'm a bit doubtful on just how watercress the watercress salad is, as it looks suspiciously like rocket instead.

Another angle

They say looking at green objects is meant to be good for you. So, sit and stare your guts out.
Much like what I'm doing at the moment as I am lacking inspiration with this annoying mind blank.

B Benedict with Smoked Salmon - $13.50

My piggy counterpart ordered a more standard breakfast dish, that being the B Benedict. This was a masterpiece stacked high with colourful layers of poached free-range eggs, smoked salmon, avocado, raw baby spinach and creamy liquid sunshine, fondly known as hollandaise, all atop circles of rye bagel.

Piggies who are pig lovers will be happy to see that the smoked salmon can be substituted with bacon or leg ham. This might have enhanced the whole dish's flavour by adding that extra saltiness, and made up for the hint of dryness in the bagel.

Hollandaise masterpiece - $Priceless

If you're wondering how the hollandaise tasted, I can't comment because...this happened.
And if you're wondering what happened to the hollandaise, which is probably more likely to be the case ... not much. There is no fascinating story behind this wild, vivid paint explosion on my canvas.


It's merely what you'd usually see on my plate after I'm done with it: piles of fat, crumbs of golden batter, splatters and smears of creamy sauces all left behind, painstakingly peeled, stripped off and cleaned of the original item of food. Picky or a health freak you think?


Nope. More a case of what you have to avoid when you're missing a gall bladder. Yeah it may defeat the purpose of ordering a dish like that, but I'll rather indulge in at least ONE (or two or three) delicious mouthfuls rather than ordering fat free salads for the rest of my life.


I must have left one heck of a good impression with this aftermath. This, is what I call art. And waiters and chefs must hate me for it.


...


Bbar Cafe operates on a very do it yourself style, with minimal reliance on staff. You find your own table, order and pay concurrently at the counter and obtain a table number. There is minimal interaction with staff, at least on my visit, but genuine service is still provided. Ambiance is a bit dull with no striking efforts made to liven up a cafe and decor is basic, but fanciness is just a bonus.


Their menu covers a variety of items, specialising more towards lunch item choices. Prices are fair and serving sizes are good representations of prices. What's tempting my taste buds the most are the availability of gourmet wood fired pizzas all throughout the day, and all the way til 9pm most nights. It's rare to find a local cafe in the suburbs that stays open for business for 13 hours straight!


Bbar, affectionately known to us Bieber Cafe, doesn't attract me as a young, screaming, crazy, off-my-head starstruck fan girl, although I may be converted after being exposed to more of their works and sample more of their items. You never know what sort of successes something/someone seemingly normal can achieve after all.

Cafe at the Hyatt Regency

In a crazy moment of genius, (but after being rejected from fully booked Nobu at Burswood), the idea of buffet gripped our conscience. From experience, you really can't fight that off.

Mass never-ending supply of quality food sounded like a better idea than I'm not full yet but I can't afford to order anymore that happens with A la Carte.

I took a short guilt trip when I realised I just had buffet the night before. Knowing I'd go on this guilt trip, packing more greed than guilt into my suitcase definitely helped ;) Buffet again for 2 consecutive nights! :D


I'm livin' the dream.

Sauce & spice condiments

An impressive array of bottles lined up and a colourful mix of peppers and spices are readily available for use. But as if the food isn't cooked well enough! I say skip trying to alter the taste and really savour the natural flavours in the food, enhanced by talented cooking technique.

Breadsticks & Crisps

The most prominent feature that lures attention has got to be this massive...bread fan thing. It earns so much points for presentation, so so important at a buffet. You are attracted to things that look good (food wise), and not so much a big bread fan, I wouldn't have given this a second glance if it didn't make such a bold statement. I stood in front of this staring at it, a little longer than what would be considered normal. Like some food pervert or something.


I just had to break off a piece and ruin the fan. In doing so the snap suggested how crisp the thin piece of bread was. Sprinkled with an abundance of sesame seeds amongst other seeds, it was a bit salty for my liking. That was ok though, as I don't think there should be a place for boring carbs like bread in the stomach at a buffet!

Seafood

The Hyatt buffet seafood spread made me very happy! Everything was topped up, tasty and probably the most important characteristic of seafood: FRESH! Juicy prawns, crab, natural oysters, mussels, big fat juicy scallops, smaller plump and bouncy prawns and smoked salmon that very nearly tasted like sashimi even.


Nothing tasted fishy or had the faintest smell of the ocean, just purely well cooked and perfectly prepared sea food.

Cold Section

Although not extensive in choice, quality makes up for it. I would have like to seen more, but alas beggers cannot always be choosers ;)

Extras

Cheeseboard with assortment of accompaniments, complementing the antipasto style.

Hot food/grill section

This is something unique to a buffet that gives an edge to this buffet. Having a BBQ plate with succulent meats cooking away in an open kitchen brings out the delicious smells of the whole process. And if you're patient enough, you could wait for the next batch of freshly cooked, still sizzling round of goodness straight off the barbeque. I became a meat stalker that night. Just a one off thing.


What they ARE missing is more grilled vegetables - which would seriously, like seriously, make this perfect.

Carvery station

Yes, most buffets do have a roast and carvery section but the latter section is usually abandoned and the personalised carving service you could have got, you can't get. There seemed to be a person permanently docked at the carvery station that night, catering to all meat eating machines.

Cold food selection

A closer inspection into the cold food selection reveals a variety of salads and small goods. Circling around the plate we start with pâté on the far right. I love processed meat mash and all but this was a bit bland plus a bit dry. Salami, roast pumpkin salad, cous cous, chickpea & mushroom salad, potato salad plus a few other savoury cuts of meat completes the cold section.

Hot food selection

Although the creamy vegetarian lasagna, woodfired pizza slices, sweet honey parsnip, crisp roast potato and fresh crusty bread slices deserves your respect, the one stand-out dish worth mentioning has to be the unbelievably tender, soft, lustful roast pork. I could see its softness when the knife met with the meat, and sticking to the description which I mostly hear about awesomely cooked meat - it just fell apart after I prodded it with my fork.


To me, this really outshone the other meats available. You could probably eat this with no teeth. I went for second serves. And then thirds. And then wished you could ask for takeaway containers at buffets.

Hot food selection #2

The other yummy meats that I gave less attention to were still pretty good. Freshly done steak, roast chicken, turkey and chicken breast meat and GRILLED SALMON!!! I could eat salmon everyday for the rest of my life, but I would probably change that to pork instead, if Hyatt was feeding me for the rest of my life :)

Seafood section

Just showing you the seafood presentation I mentioned earlier. Note that these pictures are in chronological order, meaning yep, we started with this, jumped to something else, came back to this, went to something else, ended with this.
It was way good to not keep coming back.

Dessert selection

My dining companion seriously considered skipping out on dessert. I widened my eyes and practically barked at them. "NO, YOU MUST HAVE DESSERT. ARE YOU CRAZY? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" In hindsight I was a crazy woman with control issues since it seriously isn't my business when it comes to what a person decides to do with their appetite. But really, dessert is compulsory and is a whole course on its own. Were they nuts? It's probably cause they hadn't seen the whole station dedicated to dessert.


Mango cheesecake, petite berry custard tarts, fruit cake, a passionfruity cream layered cake, thick and rich chocolate sponge with heavy chocolate icing and cream and a chocolate log with dainty iced Christmas trees. Dusted with icing sugar, it's a perfect snowy scene depicting the Christmas spirit.
Uh huh, this post is about 4 months overdue.

Plum Tart

A perfect circular baked plum tart encased in a shortbread-like crust pastry captures my attention. It's shiny, golden, wonderfully caramelised, and looking so...undamaged, a very rare occurence at buffets. Everything is demolished for the sake of it.


However, looks can be deceiving and although really citrusy and tangy, the tang of the plums are a bit too overboard for me. The sourness cut through the sweetness a bit too much and caused many "squishy" facial expressions like so >.<

Dessert decorations

And as if your dessert isn't sweet enough, or you just feel like playing with colourful things, these jars of chocolate specks, smarties, jellybeans and peanut M&M's come in handy!

Waffles corner

A very enticing waffle station awaits your request, if the other desserts aren't enough. Doesn't matter either way, cause freshly made waffles are a must have. A heavy duty waffle maker pops out hot, crisp waffles that you can overload with lashings of cream, stewed fruits, butter, syrups and sauces.


You can and should go crazy with the toppings, as you'll probably have more fun messing with waffle decorations than eating it. I know I did. Easily amused.

Dessert selection #2

And a big dish of creme brulee, complete with a crackly layer of hard caramel on top. I very nearly became one of those annoying people at buffets who take the top layers off stuff and leave behind the base. Like apple crumble...potato bakes...creme brulees.......................
but nahhh I didn't :)

Desserts!

I had a big grin on my face coming back from the dessert station with a plate full of this. The lady at the dessert station thoroughly explained what each dessert was while I was excitedly gawping at everything, not taking in much of what she said. I did appreciate the efforts though!


She suggested which ones to try and I did not object, however my excitement was probably too obvious and after a few suggestions she paused and said, "would you just like me to get you one of everything?" HA! I practically must have been salivating liberally all over myself or something.

Dessert shot glasses :)

Being lazy wise and conserving my energy, I attempted to bring my whole party of desserts back to my table all at once. The staff very kindly suggested that I should probably come back to fetch the rest of my precious little shot glasses. I did this, and ended up going back to the dessert station another 3 times :$ This sweet overload made me feel like such a fatty afterwards.


Strategically placing the dessert station right at the front entrance is a form of seduction, and serves as a BIG reminder to SAVE STOMACH FOR DESSERT! The cabinet display is impressive, featuring glasses of sweet temptations. Running from L to R is a rich coconut pudding, an Eton Mess spin-off with strawberries, meringue and cream, a traditional Tiramisu, jelly and custard layers, passionfruit pannacotta, mango pudding and various jelly shots. Serving them in cup form makes it simple to plunge a spoon right to the base, cutting through all the layers and ensuring that consuming the swirl of flavours together is possible.


This is like dessert tapas. So many shots - glasses AND amount of photos I snapped :D Lined them up and took them all within a few minutes. This is by far the most amount of shots I've taken :P Leaves you on a high instead of a headache and throwing up on the street (to which some cool people would actually prefer).
A big sugar hangover definitely beats a shitty alcoholic hangover by far.

Gingerbread House #1

Sadly, these were not edible. Well, maybe they were, but we couldn't touch.
Can't blame Hansel & Gretel, this was hard to resist.

Gingerbread House #2

But for purposes of display, these were awesomely made and very fitting with the festive eating season!

Gingerbread House #2 - side view

Festivity decorations

Yeah I know I'm 4 months late, but you could also take it as I'm 8 months ahead of schedule and wishing you Christmas greetings very early in advance :)
Because I'm organised like that!


...


With prestigious food awards proudly adorning the hotel's walls, you'd expect no less from a buffet that has been a consecutive Gold plate award winner for buffet dining for 09', 10' and 11'. To gain continuous attention like that is impressive, and Cafe at the Hyatt masters its food, service and atmosphere aspects to a top notch. A very warm, inviting and relaxed atmosphere is created by contemporary decor in the restaurant.


An aspect that gives this place all the credit it deserves is really the immaculate service. It's the finer details that make the experience so much more (or less) enjoyable. Plates are cleared away promptly, you get attention immediately when you want it. All the food counters are interactive, have helpful staff who actually seem like they enjoy their job and actually like people, unlike the distasteful connotations that are attached to Perth's hospitality scene where some staff have swallowed dynamite and can explode and kill customers at any second.


Each of the chefs behind the counters are proud of their work and what they do, and don't hesitate to offer explanations to food noobs (i.e. me. That's why this blog might suck). One even gave me a lengthy explanation on parsnip after seeing me studying and looking very confused at a weirdly shaped honey roasted one. Staff actually acknowledge which course you're at during your 10 course buffet meal. Passing a staff on the way to the dessert station then coming back to see my dirty cutlery replaced with dessert spoons was VERY impressive indeed :D
Along with a neatly folded napkin. Every. Time. You. Return. To. Your. Seat. Respect!


The damage that was done was $150 between 2 people, which can usually kill me in one hit. I very nearly vomited at the price and considered bailing at first but I'm glad I stayed and nearly vomited from eating so much good food instead. You really could sit and munch away for ages without realising how much you've eaten, or the time. An hour after we were meant to meet up with friends, we had just started on dessert. Oops!


Yes we unintentionally dogged the plans we had for after dinner. But when asked to "get our priorities right", I think we have. Because when it comes to buffets, nothing else compares.

***
(08) 9225 1239

Breakfast
Weekdays: 6am - 10am
Weekends: 6.30am - 10.30am

Lunch
Daily: 12pm - 2pm

Afternoon Tea
Weekends: 3pm - 5pm

Dinner
Daily: 6pm - 10pm

http://www.perth.regency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/dining/Cafe.html
or
http://www.caferestaurant.com.au/index.html

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