I have been spending a lot of my time on the blog – it will be permanently moved to a new location. It’s nearly there, it’s nearly there….I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! As a blogger I have loads of food porn that needs to be managed – taking up a lot of time. New site should be up within the next week.
High Tea at Cape Lavender
February 1, 2010A German guy, Aussie guy, and an Asian guy travel to the heart of Swan Valley for high tea on a warm afternoon. They exchange banter whilst sipping on tea and eating scones with jam and cream. The patrons surrounding them are mostly middle aged women with young children. The guys feel very feminine and a little out of place…
Cape Lavender opened its second store and restaurant in Swan Valley last July, and have recently been promoting their $12.50 high tea special (50 percent off the standard price). The high tea includes a selection of scones with jam and cream, baby gingerbread men, sandwiches, and mini cheese and filo pastries. We chose a pot of English Breakfast tea for two, and a cappuccino made with Mago Coffee beans next door.
The high tea items were ordered in reverse, with the savoury items on the top and sweets on the bottom. The banana cupcakes with lemon cream and baby gingerbread men were, in our opinion, the best items on the plates. We wanted to purchase some gingerbread men to bring back home but the store didn’t sell them – damn.
We loved the high tea – the scones and cakes were fresh, the sandwiches were nice stomach fillers, and the warm savoury delights on the top melted in the mouth. Anyways, enough of me writing…I’ll let the photos do the talking.
Spick and span windows
Our table
Other tables
Other customers
A lavender napkin
View from outside
Tea cup waiting to be filled
English Breakfast Tea for serving
Mago Cappuccino
Mago sugar packet
English Breakfast Tea
Sweet treats
An assortment of sandwiches
Warm savoury assortments
Cheesy treat
High Tea
Savoury delight
The insides
Filo delight
Egg sandwich
Salmon and caper sandwich
Ham and sweet capsicum sandwich
Plain scone with lavender
Scone with jam and cream
Banana cupcake with lemon cream
Baby gingerbread man
Gingerbread man bathing in strawberry jam
Gingerbread man has a friend
The friend is doing something wrong…
Cape Lavender Swan Valley
Address: 6 Cranleigh Street, West Swan
Tel: +61 8 9250 7711
Web: www.capelavender.com.au/cape-lavender-swan-valley.html
Opening Hours:
Monday – Sunday (9:00am – 5:00pm)
Australia Day Morning and Como Rotary BBQ
January 28, 2010It was a beautiful, warm and sunny Australia day with clear blue skies and not a cloud in sight. Our morning started off at 9:00am with a long walk down to the foreshore where we took in views of the city from across the Swan River. We spent a few peaceful and relaxing moments in the sun before huddling up underneath a tent where people were gathered to listen to John McGrath, member for South Perth in the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, and former journalist for The West Australian. He mentioned that Australia Day should be about the celebration of now diverse cultures living on this land, and that we have moved past racial discrimination and mistreatment.
After the speech, a group played and sung music including the song “Home Among the Gum Trees“, as well as other classic Australian songs. Ah, Burke’s Backyard, you can’t get more Aussie than that :)
Flagpole at the South Perth foreshore
Perth city skyline
The man-made beach
A great view of our wonderful city
Bouncy castle
John McGrath giving a speech
A gathering crowd
The crowd listening
Lots of people at 9:30am
The crowd dispersed shortly after, and walked down to the fenced off barbeque held by the Como Rotary Club. A gold coin donation was all that was needed to get a breakfast burger with the lot (bacon and sausages), along with a choice of orange juice, water or coffee, and a banana or apple. A man dressed in a cowboy outfit entertained people as they waited in line forthe aforementioned food and drink. He told everyone that he would not tolerate people with frowns and to turn them upside down. He did get annoying after a while.
Como Rotary Club
Morning BBQ held by the Como Rotary Club – a long line of people (far back left)
Early morning preparations
Preparing the food
Ladies serving cold drinks, coffee, bananas, and apples
My breakfast burger was satisfying with a juicy sausage and a stack of bacon. I drowned it in tomato sauce and mustard. It took me about 2 minutes to eat it all up. I finished my breakfast off with a banana (mmm…. potassium) and a good glug of water. By the time we got home, our skin was darker shade of brown, and we were sweaty and sticky, and in real need of a cold shower. The time was 11 o’ clock. It was a good start to Australia Day!
Breakfast burger with the lot!
Little Caesars Pizzeria Leederville
January 27, 2010Baker-trained pizza maker Theo Kalogeracos first opened his Little Caesars restaurant in Mundaring just 9 years ago, serving both the nearby locals and hungry people willing to travel (from overseas, interstate and intrastate) to indulge on his pizzas including the famous Mudhoney and Oysters Kilpatrick. With the buzz surrounding his book Theo & Co: The Search for the Perfect Pizza, and news about his 4th place ranking at the World Champions Pizza in Italy and finalist placing as World Pizza Champion in Las Vegas, people have flocked to his latest establishment in Leederville with full force. The place is packed every night and you will be expected to wait for quite a while to get a table.
Little Caesar’s Pizzeria
Various ingredients, and waiting customers in the background
Sauce bottles…
Comments written on pizza tins – ooh look, one from Eskimo Joe
The restaurant
Out the back…
This was my third visit to Little Caesars – the previous two visits were met with closed doors – a lunch time visit (I didn’t know they were closed during the day), and one during the week of Christmas (break). A group of us sat on bar stools near the kitchen watching Theo and his young staff prepare pizzas for the hungry waiting customers. We had already ordered our pizzas. These were the Smashing Pumpkin ($20.00), The Max (The Lot) ($20.00), Margherita ($14.50), and Peri-Peri Prawns ($18.50) – all large.
Theo in the kitchen
A pizza being made behind frosted glass
A young staff member prepares a pizza
The margherita is the most difficult pizza to make because it has the fewest ingredients – everything has to be perfect. In Naples, pizza makers take their making very seriously, adhering to strict standards defined by Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. One place that comes to mind is Pizza Mario in Surry Hills, Sydney, which is an accredited member – they serve great pizzas. Stop by the next time you travel to Sydney…
But I digress…
Theo’s margherita pizza was distinctly modern, with a generous smattering of tomatoes, on a cheesy doughy base. The hint of tomato sauce underneath the cheese, and the juiciness of the tomatoes on top combined with the sweet, smokey pepperiness of the basil made this a very good eat indeed. It wasn’t a “classic” margherita, but you will be hard pressed to find a better one than this in Perth.
Margherita Pizza
Margherita slice
Basil leaf
Juicy tomato
Our next pizza was the Smashing Pumpkin. Personally I don’t like sweet pizzas (unless they’re dessert ones), but this turned out to be my favourite pizza of the night. There were a lot of ingredients - garlic cream sauce, mozzarella cheese, roasted cashews, butternut pumpkin in pesto, parmesan cheese, and parsley. The butternut pumpkin was sweet and caramelised like melted raw sugar, while the roasted cashews added a nice rich taste. The small touches of pesto and parsley gave the pizza some slightly peppery and anise-like qualities.
Smashing Pumpkin Pizza
A slice of Smashing Pumpkin
Our third pizza was The Max (The Lot) – pizza sauce, cheese, ham, bacon, pepperoni, olives, onion, capsicum, fresh tomato, and pineapple. With the number of ingredients just listed, I thought the pizza slices would have fallen apart when picking up them up. Rather, the slices I had sat perfectly still in my hand and I was able to eat without any mess at all. The pizza was delicious.
The Max (The Lot)
Maxed out with meat
A slice of The Max
The Peri-Peri Prawn pizza was an interesting one – large juicy prawns, cheese, olives, pizza sauce, parsley, and peri-peri sauce drizzled over the top for a tangy chilli kick. It wasn’t my favourite.
Peri-Peri Prawns Pizza
A slice of Peri-Peri Prawns
One thing you will notice about Theo’s pizzas is the flavour (oh, and the parsley). You can tell that Theo loves to pack flavour into his pizzas, with at least 5 or more toppings being the norm. At other pizza places I am forever picking up the scraps that fall onto the plate, but at Little Caesars I had none of that – all ingredients were layered nice and compact.
I was fortunate to chat with Theo on the way out. He really is a nice guy.
On my next visit I will have to try the Mudhoney Pizza. That will be the first on my list.
Little Caesars Pizzeria
Address: 127 Oxford Street, Leederville
Tel: +61 8 9444 0499
Web: littlecaesarspizzeria.com.au
Opening Hours:
7 days a week (5:00pm – 10:00pm)
Bowl of Honey is moving…
January 22, 2010You’ve probably noticed that there have been a lack of posts lately. I’ve been busily working on redesigning/redeveloping the blog, and am in the process of moving it all over to a self-hosted WordPress server.
Anyways, watch this space for an update :)
