Hungry Again? - A Perth Food Blog: May 2015

The Raw Kitchen

It is somewhat out of character for me to make a trek to Fremantle for dinner (although this mindset must change to make way for the bustling dining scene of Freo!), it made sense to find a feed here after some frolicking around at the beautiful Cottesloe Beach for Sculptures by the Sea. It was about time I visited The Raw Kitchen, a place that ticks all my boxes - having a menu in which I would be able to eat any dish that I could close my eyes and point my finger at. More so, I was interested in how much it would take to get our meat-loving bellies full and remain that way.

Summer Green - $9.50

Like a meal on its own, we started with this green smoothie - cool, refreshing and quenches your thirst for healthiness. Its combination of greens including organic spinach and cucumber blended with mango, lemon and dates results in a summery drink with a natural tinge of sweetness. I did notice the sky high price but hey, I've just gotta get used to Perth doing this to its people.
What I also found intriguing was the metal straw. An inflexible straw = mind blown.

Pad Thai - $24

Andy was very excited to eye out the words Pad Thai and other greasy, protein-heavy dishes on the menu like curries, but I gently let him down by reminding him of where we were dining - hello RAW KITCHEN! No signs, smells or sights of any woks here that even the mention of Pad Thai seems a little taboo.

A different kind of noodles

Looking deceptively noodley, there are long, stringy strands of zucchini noodles with an almond 'satay' sauce mixed through the dish, amongst a medley of vegetables such as capsicum, baby corn, snow peas, mung bean sprouts with fresh herbs, tamarind and kaffir lime.

Zucchini almost looking like real noodles!

The 'Pad Thai' available here is of course, a far and healthy cry from the kind we are accustomed to. This is a fresh and very clean edition of the greasy favourite kind I adore and to be honest it was somewhat difficult to fall in love with eating raw zucchini. This is the first time I tried zucchini noodles, the latest destination of the health-craze train. I must give credit to how long and thin the zucchini strands are sliced to mimic the appearance and nearly even texture of normal noodles - we spent a good 5 minutes studying a single noodle strand to try to deduce whether these were noodles with zucchini added in or actually made from zucchini itself.
Ooh aren't we just so silly!

Refreshing, but I finished this dish craving actual Pad Thai and a serious carb fix. Oh carbs, I could never leave 'em!

Yellow Coconut Curry - $27

In hindsight, I am not surprised that we ended up choosing the Asian-style dishes to try from the vegan menu. It is interesting to see the creative elements of how to rework these types of dishes into something healthy that you don't feel the slightest pang of guilt for eating.

I actually really enjoyed the yellow coconut curry dish, a shallow dish of creamy 'curry' sauce with lupin tempeh, broccoli, sweet potato chunks, lime and chilli, complete with the finishing touch of crispy shallots scattered on top for fragrance and flavour. Not forgetting about curry's best friend - rice - the substitution is a small dish of quinoa on the side.

The heavenly raw dessert cabinet!

Strategically placed where the counter to pay is, the multi-tiered cabinet of desserts features a whole range of guilt-free (how many times have I said that right!) treats that you can't help but check out from top to bottom when lining up to pay. There are chocolates, then there are raw balls, then just out of the corner of your eye are more tempting caramel slices and a selection of raw cheesecakes just to test out your ability to resist.

Needless to say, we left with some balls. Meh, what does resisting temptation even mean!

Just like its menu and philosophy to real, natural food, the interior of The Raw Kitchen is very much simplistic and exposed. The warehouse style restaurant is big and spacious, where the extra space houses a retail store and is also used for other purposes such as yoga classes and workshops on the premises.

The most beautiful bottles of poison

Clever use of a shipping container

The Raw Kitchen is a haven for those who have food intolerances, as the kitchen is very accommodating and have taken care to design a very thoughtful and creative menu free of dairy, gluten and refined sugar. As my friend once said to me when suggesting a place for dinner, that this was a restaurant where I could "actually eat everything on the menu!"

Carnivores might resent places like this and probably won't willingly find themselves eating from a plant-based menu, but with such an interesting menu, they just might realise that not eating meat for a meal is not such a big missed-steak after all ;)