Dining Out in Victoria Park

     Cities are no more static than the individuals who live in them. The demographics change, the main drag changes as do our tastes in food.  Victoria Park, just south of the river that rings Perth, has a rapidly changing face along its main road, Albany Highway.  So many more restaurants are there that one is spoiled for choice.  Don't prefer the current choice? Wait a bit, some of the restaurants have changed owners/styles of food three times in one year!  
     The following current review was written by my own Kev. Not big on blogs or writing in general, he was moved by his own curiosity and research into the various eateries to report on the current state of Dining Out in Victoria Park. (I have made minor changes like proper punctuation, capital letters--that sort of thing.)

Well, looks like Vic Park is trying to go cosmopolitan (for Perth that is). There has always been  a unhealthy choice of restaurants here but now the choice is getting more exotic.


When I got here there were the usual cheap Chinese and Italian  & a few pizza places, the local kebab shop, a couple of Indian, as well as a few other Asian  ones like Thai, Malay, Viet and one long standing overpriced Mexican (plus the pubs).


But now there is an explosion of choice, Nepalese, Japanese, vegan, a few other Asian but most of all Korean. We seem to be little Seoul here. there has always been a bulgogi place (that is only open half the time), but now there are about five , complete with hot plates at the table so you can cook it yourself (seems to defeat the purpose?) and exhaust fans for the smoke (doesn't work but it makes it really high end??). There are about ten Korean shops of one sort or another so Kimchi  and gochujang are readily available. Also all the bottle shops have Soju on sale, and the odd Korean Beer. I did try Soju with my friend Wally years ago, Wal wrote it off but I was prepared to give it another go. So in Korea I tried a few and different flavors ( pomegranate- cough mixture, blueberry - Boones Farm (cheap US rotgut), peach - not so bad) at best it was  cheap and not so nasty. The only good thing is it comes in small bottles, The Wal was right , I notice in Korea they would drop a shot of Soju into their beer, would help improve both.


The Chinese Restaurants have gone high end as well with the hot plates and exhaust fans and specific styles or regions to choose from  (A lot of Asian type restaurants have a short life span, particularly the Chinese, only the Chinese can see the snob value). But also there is now other types sticking their plates in. A Eritrean (same as Ethiopian) restaurant set up shop a few years ago and is still there, probably as there is nothing else like it, I get a take away occasionally.


Also unexpected (and a bit silly) is a "traditional American Tapas Bar". Yep, you can get a selection of sliders and mini hot dogs with your favorite bourbon, just like in the USA???. I went in and asked over a beer (Estrella, a Spanish beer!) and they confirmed it. 


Across the road from the Eritrean is a cuisine I never though I would see anywhere, particularly here, Silk Road Uyghur (WEE-GAR) restaurant (the far west of China, Muslim, splitists), more central Asian than Chinese. I had to go opening night (before it closes) and had the saltiest dish possible.


There is also a place just off the main drag for pop-up restaurants, a Peruvian place had a few goes there. There is also a Venezuelan in Perth doing well, although it is more street food than mains (and rum). Other Asian attempts and a regular at the pop up has Japanese burgers and rice???. One restaurant that started there has now moved onto the main drag (into a place vacated by a flash Chinese place) is a Caribbean restaurant, had to try it, particularly for their proper (AKA not Australian) Rum selection and buckets of Cuba Libra for $17, the chicken jerk was a bit bland but they have a gluttony challenge off which I had a front row seat, to watch some man try to eat a burger the size of a leg of lamb, plus chips etc,.  He failed. He was filming himself and was referred to as a pro at this. No one has done it yet (around 50 attempts so far, it's free if you finish.)   


Will have to go back for the goat curry.

     He'll be going to that goat curry without me.  I wrote up on the Silk Road Uyghur restaurant after that visit. (Click on the link to read.)  
     And now that you see that the selection is impressive, feel free to skip Subiaco's standard selection or Fremantle's Cappuccino Strip and come to the very friendly Victoria Park gastronome experience.

Silk Road Uyghur Cuisine...Now Open!

     It's rare that Kev gets super excited about a restaurant opening.  He likes restaurants. He eats in them much more often than I do.  But he doesn't get too worked up about them.  Until a new one took the place of a pancake restaurant (a location that flips owners/food about four times a year) on our local strip.

Silk Road Uyghur Cuisine

      Hello  Silk Road Uyghur Cuisine!   What?  Where?  Uyghur?  I share your confusion but Kev was in no doubt about this. The Uyghur [pronounced Wee-gur] region is the western most side of China just before you bump into Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Not easy to find on the map. Not exactly an internationally renown cuisine.  But therein lies its appeal.  We have scores of Asian restaurants on our main drag but none that evoke Old World mystery of the Silk Road. And we were there on Opening Night.

Traditional Uyghur hats

     It was obviously packed with family and friends bringing in flowers, plants, kids and Grandma to celebrate the occasion.  So few non-Asian faces that owner Askar knew who we were as soon we walked through the door. We joined the good will atmosphere as the staff--wearing shirts with the packet fold creases still quite sharp--found their way through a new busy service. We admired regional artwork and coloring of tablecloths and lights while waiting for menus.  And waited longer for our main dishes-mine came first and after a long wait Kev's came and after that his soup.  And we weren't fussed. Our role was to help the staff find their rhythm and taste the mysterious Uyghur offerings.

Uyghur Polo

     And it is clearly a mix of traders and marauders tastes on this part of the road.  Lamb prevails, rice has carrots in it, yoghurt drinks and spice enough for those who like it.  I ordered Polo, a traditional Uyghur rice with two skewers of lamb and salad.  The lamb was not too spicy (and easier to eat off the skewer especially where we were sitting) and the portions filling.  Kev ordered the Tawa Kewap, a lamb shank with bread, salad and yoghurt.   They hadn't mentioned that the lamb is fermented overnight in salt before being marinated and cooked.  This makes it a bit salty but the addition of bread, salad and yoghurt to the same dish was a first for the culinarily adventurous Kev.  Dessert was Kunafe, a Turkish cheese pastry soaked in a sugar syrup and served with ice cream. Again, a multi-regional blend that had never before tickled Kev's palate.  And let us include the traditional salty yoghurt drink--the sweet one was not available as they make their own yoghurt and had not made enough for both versions by opening night.  Happily, all of this food came at a reasonable price.

Where is Uyghur?

Here!

      Good food, happy atmosphere, affordable prices...what more could you ask?  Where's Uyghur?  Our Han Chinese waitress couldn't tell us but the wall at the entrance gives us a clue. A bit far for a meal.  Happily the Silk Road is nearby.

Australia Day 2015 in Victoria Park

    I've talked about Australia Day before [see  Australia Day in WA ] and wandered around to see much of this U.S. Independence Day type fun in the past.  But today the temperatures were forecasted to be 100F/37C and I just didn't fancy getting hot, sticky and irritable to watch people hang out in OZ flagwear by the river. I can see tonight's fireworks right from my balcony-- so why move a sweaty muscle? How grumpy can I get?
    Well, early mornings aren't too bad and this morning the Fremantle Doctor (cool breeze coming in off the Indian Ocean) was in.  So I went to a special 9 a.m. church service and on the way home in the little  memorial park next to the town hall was an Australia Day service in progress. New citizens were being sworn in five at time by the mayor Trevor Vaughn under the ancient giant fig tree.  The newly sworn were from all over the planet.  The dress code was quite obviously "your choice."  Some new citizens were wearing their Sunday best or designer chic.  A few showed up in  ethnic garb. And yet others adopted their new country's relaxed attitude and showed up well...relaxed. All posed for pictures with their very fancy citizenship certificate.  Big Day.
     Then we went on to the local Australian of the Year and local Australian Group of the Year. Oooh, Victoria Park is loaded with do-gooders. All sounded worthy. Certainly worthy of better flowers than the collection of weeds in cellophane they received.  Add a few politician speeches. And a few more. And a couple more for good measure. zzzzzzzzz    Done!     Now the nice little Vic Park Band played the entire Banjo Patterson catalog (this includes Waltzing Mathilda, soundtrack from Man From Snowy River, etc) and we all dashed up to the refreshment tables for wonderful finger sandwiches, mini-pastries and drinks. All seriously good stuff--Vic Park doesn't believe in scrimping on food at their parties.
     I bumped into Mayor Trevor Vaughn as I was leaving (and trying to hide the extra goodies I was sneaking home with) and he inquired about my turn under the old fig tree. "Well, as soon as I know more words of the national anthem than my Australian born husband does."   That occurred about two weeks after I arrived here.  But don't tell. 
    Well, I'm still not going out to wander in the heat and I am sure I am missing some really cool stuff happening on the river.  But I won't miss tonight's fireworks and I'm glad I didn't miss my little community's appreciation and induction ceremony. Happy Australia Day, everyone.

Victoria Park Toastmasters

Sandra in Action

Toast on display in library

    Well, everyone who knows me knows that I'm not toooooo shy.  Speaking in front of a crowd poses very little difficulty for me. In fact, I love an Audience.
      So why would I join a speaking group like ToastMasters? I had been to a TM meeting with a friend almost ten years ago and nothing clicked in the Interest or Need departments.
   Call it a convergence in my universe when I finally realized : other people existed and were interesting in the world, potential employers glancing at their watches or eyes glazing over while you talk is not a good sign, and that my best stories/answers  came to me about an hour after they were needed.  The classic TMJ Syndrome--Too Much Jaw. I needed to learn to say more while speaking less. Be brilliantly brief instead of volunteering voluminous verbiage.  And when a new ToastMasters branch was starting up here in Victoria Park on the next street, motive and opportunity met. I signed up.  Everyone feels the benefits straight away.  We learn some excellent technique and the Commendation-Recommendation-Commendation style of evaluation by fellow members is helpful without being confrontational or unsupportive.
     Admittedly, some Toasties are pretty hardcore.  They don't have and don't want any other activities in their lives, or so it seems.  Most of us at Vic Park just want to improve our speaking.  Our six month old club is too new to start dreaming of TM world domination but we went ahead with the annual speech contest process this year.  Yours Truly won both the Humorous Speech and Table Topic sections at our branch. I went on to our District comp but was edged out.  This is O.K.  The experience was yet another reminder not to go over time on my speeches (a chronic issue for this gal) and frees me up to help judge other speech competitions.
     And it frees me up to start working on the speech due on Monday.  I could enlighten everyone on how to win blue ribbons at state fairs.  But can it be done in under seven minutes...?
 

  

Neighborhood Old Italian

I participated in an election recently. The lone candidate made no campaign speeches. In fact, he didn't even know he was running for anything. I was the only voter. The office? Neighborhood Old Italian.

The proprietor of Kakulas (see "These are a Few of My Favorite Things, 2-10-09) suggested that the best people to ask about sourcing quality produce and herbs were our Neighborhood Old Italians (NOI). Handy that my once-Italian neighborhood still has a few hanging around. All too easy to access information about growing herbs in pots at the house and where to find U-pick produce...provided you make a valuable alliance to start with. Enter Carlo, my NOI. He has a very large property on my street with its garden up at eye level. There are bushes to obscure the view from quick-handed opportunists , but not to an interested pair of eyes. Eventually, I started pestering Carlo for advice on why my tomatoes weren't thriving and then where I can get fresh oregano (he gave me a cutting) and then, can I borrow your spade? And so on.

I find his help invaluable, although he downplays it (His dad was the real expert in the family.) I've been given the "tour" of his garden. He's been in Australia enough years to know what you can plant each season - and there are four planting seasons here. When a crop doesn't work for whatever reason, he is annoyed. And cackles like an old thief when tomato or purple bean seeds smuggled in from the old country take off with abundant produce. A perfect place to putter for retiree. Just ask his two brothers-in-law also living on our street. His two sisters live a mere stone's throw from his house. They also have large gardens and Italian accents too thick to figure out. One, Domenic? Guido?, gave me a rosemary cutting to plant and lemons whenever they are ripe.

Carlo is also my connection. I prefer to pick the tomatoes I sauce and can. No U-pick farms anywhere. But Carlo has a choir mate named Nick, who knows somebody who grows tomatoes in great quantity. December is harvest month...Perth is too hot for tomatoes any later than this...and when Paesan's tomatoes are ripe, I am allowed to come over and pick. Under his direct supervision. Sign me up! Carlo thinks the Paesan is wrapped a little too tight and that I am nuts for agreeing to the terms. But Carlo recognizes a fellow fussy customer in his American neighbor and appreciates one with discriminating tastes.

And I appreciate my Neighborhood Old Italian.

Tea with Trev & Tots

Well, you know that glitterati like myself prefer to be seen at all of the premier events in town, especially of those supporting a good cause. It makes us look good and feel good about ourselves while helping the little people. Take today's event, for example. Australia's Biggest Morning Tea. So many groups were having lame-o tea breaks at their work "for the cause" or haus fraus dusting off old tea sets to impress friends or thick-ankled matrons from benevolent societies serving up 'slices' while rattling coin boxes to ensure a Cancer Council donation. Not for this flapper. I went to the only place to be seen this day...

Victoria Park Primary School.
Like, everyone who is anyone was there. Ms May's preprimary
class hosted this classy event on their exclusive property. You know it was exclusive because of the really high fence(the higher the fencing, the higher tone a place, I tell you). Nothing but gold coins accepted by a golden haired boy and our swag bags (and who else got swag bags at their humble shindig?) were individually decorated by artistes. I rubbed shoulders with Trevor Vaughn, Victoria Park's mayor (you may remember I had breakfast with him on Anzac Day) and admired the almost paper-like yellow daffodils growing in their Olympic-sized sandbox. (planted just for the occasion.)

Our teacups were specially chosen to match our different personalities. None of that institutional sameness you'd see at at IKEA (that's so...April. ugh!) Heroes that they are, some of Miss May's troops offered their quality control services at the cookie table. Specially selected for me was a teacup cookie: a clockface cookie (set to the perfect hour of 2pm) with a thin layer of icing on its flat side. Upon which was a white marshmallow with a half Lifesaver frosted to its side. The perfect teacup! (So brilliant it outshines the top photo. You can see the broad shoulders of our fearless mayor in the shot also.)

This curing cancer business is exhausting. I think I'll have a second cuppa.

ANZAC Day

The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915. A crushing defeat, this day is used not to glorify war but to remember the brave dead, honor veterans and hail current members of the armed forces.

The largest of Perth's ANZAC Day services-which start at dawn-is held at Kings' Park. It is followed by a 'gunfire' breakfast, then a parade and culminating in a commemorative program on the Esplanade. It attracts tens of thousands of people all sardining themselves on the hill to watch the event on a big screen. So there is a big move to have Returned Services League (VFW equivalent) branches hold smaller ceremonies in their community. Our service was at the end of my street at Memorial Garden. All too convenient, even at 6 a.m., to join elected officials, neighborhood vets, a church choir, diligent Scouts and assorted insomniacs for a solemn service. The predawn program goes off without hitch [if you don't count the three Scouts who stood with knees locked for too long and fainted] and even with a bit of humor- a seven year-old girl joined the wreath laying action wearing a lime green robe and red slippers. She was part of the ever-increasing numbers attending ANZAC services everywhere.

Afterwards, it is off to a 'gunfire' breakfast. Normally this would mean rum in the trenches for foot soldiers. Victoria Park attendees were treated to eggs, bacon, tomato and bread at tables set up in the cleanest municipal building loading dock [euphemistically called an undercroft] you have ever sat in. My distinguished table mates included a well-decorated vet who served in Papua New Guinea and the mayor of Vic Park! The conversation was lively and very interesting. Good thing we weren't at the back of the chow line as more people showed up for breakfast than for the service and food was running out. Or does a freebie meal inspire larger self-served portions?

Choices, choices. At this point, one can bus downtown for the parade or head home and watch it on TV. I love a parade, any parade, all parades. Clap, clap, clap, woo hoo, clap, clap, oh yeah, clap, clap. Is that a 99 year-old man walking the parade? And another? Gee, can we cut these oldies some slack?

It is rather ironic that ANZAC Day, of all days in the year, has alcohol sale restrictions on it. The pubs and casino close from 3 a.m. to noon- not out of respect and patriotism-but because it is one of the very few times it is not legal to sell booze. So it is always a bit of a contest each year to see which RSL Hall (full of thirsty vets) gets sprung by law enforcement for tapping a vein before 12 o'clock. I'll settle for an Anzac (oatmeal) cookie, instead.