Cozee Corner Meals, Como

3 weeks ago, I received a comment from an anonymous reader, who suggested me to try Cozee Corner Meals in Como for authentic 'Pan Mee'.

I wrote a post about making 'Pan Mee' from scratch back in August 2010. 'Pan Mee' or 'flat flour noodle' as its direct translation from Chinese, originated from Malaysia (according to Wikipedia), is a popular noodle soup based dish among Chinese community in Malaysia.

I love eating them because it's comforting and it reminds me of my hometown.

As soon as I received the tip, I dragged my housemate to the unassuming street in Como to try out 'the' best 'Pan Mee' in Perth.

Without much information about the place, I was a bit hesitant about this. But we went to explore anyway.

As soon as we turned into the empty parking lot on Ley Street, we had doubts about the place. We parked right in front of the shop, questioning ourselves whether or not this was the right place, as it looked just like another deli selling Mrs. Macs's pie and sausage rolls. We sat in the car for a good 10 minutes, with question marks written all on our faces. I even double checked the information provided by the reader. Even Apple's iOS map said we were at the right place! We eventually decided to just walk into the shop. If it wasn't the place, we would just grab an iced coffee to go.

Once we stepped out of the car, the lady owner came out and greeted us, asked us if we were here for 'Pan Mee', and we were like 'YEAH!'

This place had a weird fit-out, they sold your usual Aussie takeaway meals like pies, sausage rolls, sandwich, salad, burgers and hot rolls. At the same time, they also sold Malaysian specialty and noodles dishes. We walked in and ordered 2 bowls of 'Pan Mee' amongst all other dishes on offer.

They had a a dining area for customers to dine in. However, we couldn't quite get our head in to understand why they sold the mixture of Malaysian dishes with typical Aussie sandwiches items. It was a confusing sight to see.

But as soon as we got our bowl of steaming hot 'Pan Mee', the doubts were all out of the window.

'Pan Mee' as good as home! 

There are 2 element that make a good 'Pan Mee', the broth and the texture of the noodle. At Cozee Corner Meals, they nailed the above mentioned 2 elements and it was value for money too!

The broth was fresh, clear and sweet with essence of Chinese dried anchovies (ikan bilis). It didn't taste like MSG filled broth, which usually caused dehydration.  

The flat floured noodle, were soft and silky. It was served in the traditional hand-torn form. The noodle was so silky smooth, it practically just slid down my throat without choking! 

In the bowl, there were also a soft-poached egg, fried Chinese dried anchovies (ikan bilis), wood ear fungus, pork mince, pork balls and choy sum.  The extra ingredients added different texture to the dish and it complemented the broth and noodle well. 

Instantly, there were contented smiles on our faces. This bowl of 'Pan Mee' were so satisfying and it made us felt so much at home. The only 2 things that were missing to complete our contentment were the blended chilli with Calamansi lime and some sweet leaf (sayur manis or Sauropus amdrogynus) instead of choy sum.

We were glad we made the move and we would definitely be back to have another bowl of 'Pan Mee' or try some other Malaysian dishes on offer. Most dishes were on sale from $7.50 to $8.50. 

We left the place with silky smooth noodle swimming in our tummies and flavorsome broth. Though $8.50 poorer, we were completely satisfied and until today, the goodness of those noodles still stay fresh on our minds. 

If you miss a good bowl of 'Pan Mee', be sure to check out this place and I am sure you will have that contented smile on your face, too.

Also, a big thank you to the anonymous reader, who suggested this place to me. I reckon it's a place where I should share it with the rest of food lovers out there! 

Food Quality: 4.5 outta 5 Pan Mee

Service: 4 outta 5 Pan Mee

Ambience: 1 outta 5 Pan Mee

Will I be back?: YES!! 

Opening Hours:

Monday - Saturday 

6am - 3pm 

Cozee Corner Meals

U3/61 Ley Street

Como

08 9450 2669

Fuku - Omakase/Teppanyaki

Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited to one of Fuku's soft openings in Mosman Park. Fuku means blessed, happy or lucky in Japanese.

Fuku is not just another Japanese restaurant that pops up in and around Perth. Its a warm, intimate 16-seater teppanyaki/omakase (degustation) restaurant. They only serve degustation and you get to choose among 3 menus - 'good', 'better' & 'best'. The menu for the night was from the 'better' menu, which has 9 courses and it is $160 per person. Unlimited still/sparkling water and green tea are complimentary.

Array of imported sake from Japan on display

Fuku has a different booking system, which is similar to Momofuku. You can only make booking from their website and a prepayment of $50 is required. Alternatively, you can try your luck by driving past the restaurant during dinner time. If the amber lantern at the door is 'on', then you are in luck for some seats.

$299 a bottle of sake from Japan

I brought my dining companion along - Agent M, we were both stunned by hundreds of sakes displayed on the shelves. They had around 500 bottles of sake and about half of them are exclusive imports. Sake's price ranging from $70 - $299 for a 1.8L bottle. We were lucky enough to have sampled the most expensive bottle of sake in Fuku that night. It wasn't your usual warmed sake, which kinda burnt your throat. This was served cold, chilled through an apparatus. Made from pure rice, it was smooth to drink and has a sweet & fruity character. If you're not a sake drinker, they also serve beer and a small selection of fine WA wines.

First course - sushi & sashimi

For our first course, we were served tuna, salmon and swordfish sashimi. As for sushi, we got to try salmon belly, tuna belly and anago (smoked eel) with kabayaki sauce. On the plate, there were freshly grated wasabi, pickled ginger and daikon salad as condiments. The sashimi were fresh and tasty but the smoked eel sushi was my favourite.

2nd course - Small Morsels

On the small morsels plate start from left, we had wagyu beef with miso sauce and wasabi root salsa, lobster meat and avocado salad, Tsubugai and octopus salad. The wasabi root salsa was a nice surprise, it complimented the cold slices of wagyu beef really well. As for tsubugai, it was a kind of shellfish that had an interesting crunchy texture.

If you love to see some chef actions while he prepares your dinner, teppanyaki would be the best way to experience it. Here at Fuku, the chef are not shy in showing off their skills in juggling of pepper shaker or tossing and cracking eggs with a flipper. 

3rd course - Twice cooked quail with pomegranate sauce 

The quail was confit in oil for 6 hours then grilled on sumiyaki griller with imported Japanese grey charcoal, That gave the meat a distinctive and aromatic charcoal flavour. The crispy yet tender quail was served with pomegranate reduction and a ratatouille laced with edamame. According to Brett, the owner, the quail was exclusively imported from Redgate poultry in Hunter Valley. 

4th course - Japanese Scallop and Jumbo prawn with uni butter

I was salivating while watching the chef grilling this jumbo prawns on his teppanyaki hot plate. Serving mostly WA caught seafood, this jumbo prawn was beautifully cooked and the prawn's head was crispy and flavorsome  Sitting at the bottom of the prawn was a beautifully seared Hokkaido scallops. It was fresh, juicy and tasty. Everything on this dish was perfect, but I wish there were more uni (sea urchin) butter to enhance its "sea flavor". 

Chef torching the top of swordfish 

5th course - Fish of the day, Kajiki (Swordfish) and Daikon radish 

The swordfish dish was my favorite dish of all, as the combination of flavour and texture made this the most memorable dish of the night. Swordfish was cooked to the right texture, sitting at the bottom of a piece of daikon radish cooked in dashi stock. Resting on top of the swordfish was a spear of pink ginger. It looked more like a really thin rhubarb slice, but it tasted like ginger without much spiciness. Agent M wasn't a fan of ginger, but he was impressed by it. The sauce tied every element together. It tasted like a mixture of miso and a hint of yuzu (Japanese citrus) and spicy ichimi (chili flakes).

Chef was performing a flaming tower of onion to us

Palate Cleanser - Vine ripened cherry tomato marinated in honey

While watching the chef performed his flaming stunt, we were served a palate cleanser: cherry tomato marinated in honey. Instead of sorbet or granitas like most good restaurants serve, this was something very different to me. Subtle taste of honey married with fresh and sweet cherry tomato, it was a clean palate cleanser to prepare us for the next course. Just make sure you put the whole thing into your mouth instead of bitting it to avoid tomato juices squirting on yourself.

6th course - Waygu sirloin steak Mayura Station grade 7 

We were served Waygu sirloin grade 7 from Mayura Station. The award winning full-blood waygu beef were from South Australia. Although it was only grade 7 but it was as good as anyone could ask for. Fat from the beef just melted in my mouth and its flavor were second to none. However, I would prefer the steak to be served in whole instead of pre-cut pieces for our convenience. 

To bunk it up, we were then served Japanese fried rice cooked with Waygu's fat. It was definitely a class up from your local Chinese's fried rice. The fried rice was tasty, but Agent M and I reckon a few pinches of salt would enhance the flavor. 

Dessert - Genmaicha panacotta, Japanese Baumkuchen and mountain peach 

To end the meal, we had dessert tasting of Genmaicha panacotta, Japanese Baumkuchen and mountain peach with roasted soy flour. I personally really liked the Japanese Baumkuchen (a kind of layered cake). The chef here torched/caramelised every layer of the cake with sugar, made it a really light and wholesome to complete the whole meal. I wish the cake were bigger because I really liked it. 

Buttons for the toilet! 

We thoroughly enjoyed our feast at Fuku. And who would have thought even the loo was a surprise! That was my first time using a heated toilet seat and needless to say I enjoyed it! Also check out those "massage" and "turbo" selections for your maximum comfort/ buttock pampered experience ;)

Don't forget to reserve your seat at their website for a memorable Japanese dining experience. 

Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday from 6pm

Fuku - Omakase/Teppanyaki 

20, Glyde Street,

Mosman Park 

The Tuck Shop Cafe, Northbridge

Finally, I'm joining the bandwagon in writing about my experience with The Tuck Shop. After getting back from my holiday, they have became the talk of the town on Urbanspoon, and that is saying something! Luckily, it lived up the hype.

I wasn't one of those people who love waking up early in the morning and go out for breakfast, I don't believe in paying about $20 per person for an average eggs on toast. Sadly enough, there seems to be a lot of these breaky joint in Perth though!

I don't mind paying that kind of money to a place where they put love into their food and perhaps some creativity. And The Tuck Shop has it all.

Menu for 28/8

They print their menu everyday and changes the menu almost everyday, that's what I love about them. I've been back twice just to check out the new items and to try other popular items on the menu.

They are always pack full of diners and we waited at the door for about 15 minutes for seats on 2 separate occasions.

Toby Estate's coffee with their roast of the day

 Without much further ado, we ordered a flat white and a cappuccino while deliberate on the menu. The coffee has the right flavour profile, milk was heated to the right temperature and consistency. We enjoyed it!

Choosing what to eat seems like a tough job here at The Tuck Shop. There are many items that I'd like to try, I guess I'll have to go back to try everything (Which I did return). Everything else on the menu sounded amazing and creative. However, we've decided on Sourdough with grilled black pudding, tomato, parsley ricotta and poached egg and Chorizo with paprika potatoes, peppers, spanish onion, crispy pork belly and fried egg. 

Chorizo with paprika potatoes, peppers, spanish onion, crispy pork belly and fried egg $18.50

All the element on the chorizo dish were nice, but overall it was a very salty and fulfilling dish because everything was fried. Perhaps substitute the paprika potatoes with some bread to soak up all the fat and flavour or substitute the fried egg with poached egg to form some kinda sauce. 

Sourdough with grilled black pudding, tomato, parsley ricotta and poached egg $17.50 

This might be an adventures dish to some, but I love black pudding. Sourdough was nicely toasted, on top of it layered with slices of roasted tomatoes and grilled black pudding. In between them, there were parsley ricotta to cut down the rich flavour from black pudding. The tomato concasse and relish add another flavour to the dish. Lastly, the poached egg tight everything together to make a complete dish. I enjoyed it! 

When poached egg done right. 

3 weeks later, we returned to Tuck Shop to try on other items on the menu. The also sells in-house pie, which I was tempted to order but was saving the best for my next visit. 

Special of the day - Crispy pork belly, "coleslaw", apple and walnuts 

My mate ordered the special of the day - Crispy pork belly. Pork belly was deep fried til crispy, unfortunately it was a little on the dry side. It was accompanied with a crossbred or coleslaw and waldorf salad. The salad consists of Chinese cabbage, apple, onion, walnuts. It was refreshing to eat and a great addition to go with the fatty pork belly. It was a nice dish nonetheless, if it wasn't for the dry pork belly, my mate would gladly order this dish again. 

Smoked bacalao, potatoes, leek, poached egg and cheddar cheese toastie.

Recently traveled around Spain, I am obsess with bacalao (salted cod). I decided on this dish straight away when I saw it on the menu. I didn't expect it to be such a big dish but it was a great wholesome dish especially for a rainy day. If you're not a big fan of smoked and salted cod, this might not be a dish for you. The cod might be a little on the salty side, but hey it's salted cod after all. As they didn't skimp on the cod, every mouthful that I had was filled with smokey goodness. The cheddar cheese toastie was there to mop up the bechamel sauce filled with bacalao. It was a well executed dish, but I couldn't finish it. 

If you haven't been there, you should get there as soon as possible, but do bear in mind that you might have to wait up to 20 minutes for table. 

Service was friendly, but the barista and the cashier could use some smile on their face to complete our experience there. 

Food Quality: 4 salted cod outta 5 

Service: 3.5 salted cod outta 5

Ambience: 3.5 salted cod outta 5

Will I be back?: Yes, I already did, will be going back soon too! 

The Tuck Shop Cafe

178, Newcastle Street,

Northbridge 

(08) 9227 1659 

Overseas and BACK!

I haven't been writing for a long while, simply due to the reason that I wasn't inspired to write about the average food quality in Perth. I may be wrong on this, but nothing was exciting in Perth that makes me jump off my seats and yell O-M-G!

While my brain got stuck generating genuine thoughts of the food in Perth, I traveled overseas to refresh my passion for food and of course to see the world. And man, did I have a good time, hell yeah! Great time!

Mercado La Boqueria, Barcelona 

Yes, I was in Europe for a couple of months and I was wowed from left to right, top to toe. Seeing all those food produce and their way of life, i've never been this inspired before. While visiting those market, I wish I was staying at a place where I was able to cook, I can't get my hands on all those new ingredients.

Cured meat, Spain

Fortunately for Perth, there are a few new places sprung up whilst I was gone. I am impressed with how the food and coffee scene in Perth progressing. So, new post on new restaurants in Perth will be coming up from this blog too.

Vibrant summer berries, Nice, France

Stay tune as I will be writing about my travel and food! 

Thanks for your patience.

XX
DimsumQ

Good Food & Wine Show 2011 (Post Show)

Did you go to the Good Food & Wine Show on previous weekend? If you did, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm always a fan of Food & Wine Show, being such a massive foodie, it's just like going to a wonderland. Thanks to Devahasdin for the sponsored tickets to the event, me and my friend had a blast.

We decided to go on the Sunday session, because I liked the crowd (not so good for photo blogging, so please bear with my crappy photo framing). Although it seemed like it was crowded than last year, this year's exhibition stands were well apart with plenty of room for traffic flow and it also provided a bigger celebrity chef theatre.

There were a few familiar stands returning to the show, like the ever popular Luv-A-Duck, Mahogany Creek, the Bratwurst Hut, Turban Chopsticks, Chilli Salt, etc. We also noticed there were quite a few new and interesting stands offering excellent products.

Staff at Turban Chopstick working hard to feed the hungry crowds with food samples

Dare to try all of his Chilli sauces and condiments?

My friends and I tried his hottest chilli condiment and it burnt our tongues so bad that we needed a few glasses of cider to cool down. If you were a chilli wuss, I suggest you avoid trying anything from this stand (with the exception of chilli salt with chips, they were good!).

Variety of award winning flavoured extra virgin olive oil at Pukara Estate

Founder of Pukara Estate - Bruce, trying to put on a funny face

As we were tasting a bit of cider and a bit of food, we came across Pukara Estate's stand. There were award-winning flavoured olive oil for sampling and ranges of premium flavoured balsamic vinegar as well. A few standouts were their Premium Robust E.V.O.O.(Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Garlic E.V.O.O., Wasabi E.V.O.O., Barrel Aged Balsamic Vinegar, Caramelised Balsamic Vinegar, Red White Liquer Balsamic Vinegar and their new Guava Flavoured Balsamic Vinegar. These premium products didn't come cheap. Olive oil was $16 per bottle and balsamic vinegar was $22 per bottle. We bought 3 bottles for $50 (show special price).

Boscastle Pies $7 for 4 mini pies

Selection of hot chocolate for sampling from Crema Gourmet Coffee Roasters

Regal King Salmon

Regal King Salmon, a new exhibitor showcasing New Zealand King Salmon. Unlike other smoked salmon brands that have this overly salty and fishy after taste that we all accustomed to (which are from Tasmania or Norway), theirs were salted to perfection and smelt fresh. They also managed to retain the glorious salmon flavor. I liked it!

Would you like one of these lovely smoke machines from Bradley Smoker?

One of the highlights of this year's show was Malaysia Kitchen. Two kitchen stands were set up. They proved to be favorite stands of the crowd, as there was always a constant stream of people queuing up for delicious Malaysian food samples from Malaysian restaurants in Perth. We were lucky enough to have tried three different dishes that day, which was Rendang by Makan-makan Cafe, Chicken Curry from Curry on Lord, and a Fish and Lemongrass curry.

Kitchen stand 1, giving out food sample every hour

The second stand was a demonstration kitchen, which a cooking demo on various Malaysian delicacies was performed every 2 hours. Remember Alvin from Masterchef season 2? He was one of the ambassadors for Malaysian Tourism and was also a cooking demonstrator in this year's show. The splendid aroma filled up every space in the exhibition hall.

Alvin from Masterchef season 2 performed live at Perth's GFWS

Another newbie to the show this year was Jean Pierre Sancho. An array of delightful and mouthwatering pastries and breads were on offer at this French stall. A display fridge full of colourful macarons beautifully decorated the venue, making the stall almost the center of attention. It was almost eye candy-like to participant in this show. We bought a vanilla macaron and a jaffa macaron. Personally, I preferred jaffa flavor over vanilla flavored macaron.

Macaron flowers, just for display though!

Just like every other year, a WA Food Pavilion was set up to showcase WA's freshest produces. When we walked past the pavilion, all we could smell was the wonderful BBQ aroma from Harvey Beef, Mt Barker Turkey, Linley Valley Pork, The Bratwurst Hut and Mondos Butcher.

Steak Sandwich and Chips from Harvey Beef for $10

There was no sampling here at these stalls. Instead, if we liked to try, we had to pay for a meal. I would much prefer to have tried the meat before buying them. After all, for all the money people paid to get in the show, I'd expected more food sampling than having to pay more. I thought Food & Wine show was about showcasing great produce and educating the masses. In this instance, the tunnel to educating people about importance of good quality produce was narrowed down, which was unfortunately a little downside of this show.

Linley Valley Pork Burger  $8

Having said that, I got myself a Linley Valley Pork Burger towards the end of the show to fill up my otherwise boozed up stomach. Although messiness was caused by sauces dripping everywhere, the pork was juicy, tender and flavorsome. If only the bun was a toasted gourmet Turkish bun (just like Jus Burger's), I would have enjoy it even more.

Pork Burger got it for $5, 15mins before the show ends.

Another highlight of the show was the increase presence of coffee exhibition. Among them, Nespresso stood out as one of the most popular stands. Crowd gathered around to experience the latest coffee trend on the market. We could choose our choice of Nespresso Coffee Capsule and were opened to all options or preferences to our coffees (strong or mild, with or without milk, just like normal espresso bar minus the chunky machine). It was a pretty functional and practical fully automatic coffee machine on the market available to coffee connoisseur, who didn't have time to go through all fine processes to produce a fine cup of golden mixture of caffeine and milky nectar. Having said that, I would much preferred using a manual espresso machine, as I'd always enjoyed trying out different varieties of coffee beans that local boutique cafes offered. 

Nespresso stand attracted unbelievable amount of show goers.

Apart from Nespresso, there were also other coffee aspects featured in this show. However, I wish there were more coffee education element added to the show, such as coffee cupping or different ways of brewing a cuppa or more participation of local coffee roasters.

Rekorderlig Cider - sweet Sweedish cider

These were like the golden nectar to the palette of cider lovers. They were so good! There were more cider for tasting this year ad Rekorderlig was one of them. There were also ciders from England for tasting and our local Perth hills cider - Core Cider. I loved cider myself and I thought it was often overshadowed by beer and wine.

Inner Bystander's Moscato

Returning to this year's show, Inner Bystander brought in moscato in a keg. We bought 2 bottles last year and absolutely loved it. This year I was tempted to buy the keg home! How could one not be tempted to bring home a PINK KEG full of sparkly Moscato!

Celebrity Chef Theater - Matt Moran and his apprentice.

We also attended Matt Moran's masterclass at the Celebrity Chef Theater. Last year, he dissected a lamb and this year he showed us how to fillet a whole salmon and different ways of preparing salmon. It was an interesting and educating class; though not as funny or crazy as George and Gary.

Wine taste at Riedel Wine Theatre - Dinner for Eight

After all the food, cider and wine we sampled, we queued up for a wine tasting class at the Riedel Wine Theatre. The queue was enormous as everyone was trying to get a spot to learn from the wine guru in the country. Having said that, we were the last few that got a spot for tasting. We ended up sharing a seat for the 4 of us.

Wine expert sharing their knowledge

There were 6 glasses of premium wine pre-poured on our table, from a young riesling to a sweet semillion. The class was free and it was good for those who loved to learn more about wine tasting.

All in all, my friends and I did have an enjoyable day at the Food & Wine show this year.

However, there were some downsides:

• Most aspect of the show was the same as last year's, including celebrity chefs. Would love to see more variety of chefs apart from judges from Masterchef, perhaps Jamie Oliver or even Marco Pierre White or Thomas Keller. 
• We also noticed the lack of food tasting compared to last year. Most of the food in the show needed you to fork out money, it didn't make much difference than going to a weekend market. At one point, it looked like a giant food hall. 
• Some interesting food stands from last year didn't return to the show this year. I would love to try the ones that I missed out on last year.
• Comparing to the show at Melbourne and Sydney, Perth's show looked rather pathetic.

Let's just hope next year is going to be BIGGER and will come with more interactive surprises for all show goers. If not, I might have to consider flying to the east for something new. 

Once again, thanks to Devahasdin for the free tickets.