Melbourne (and Aggie)...here I come!! I can't wait to go back to my favourite city of all time!
One of my best and oldest buddies flew to Perth the same day my exams ended, and we spent about 5 days exploring places around Perth...and even went market-hopping to Freo and Subiaco markets! Well - the markets were super awesome (more to that in the near future), but we also enjoyed lots of good food around Perth and Fremantle itself. I swear, I've never eaten so excessively in such a long time! I've been controlling my diet for the longest time...but when we went on our food rampage, all diet plans were thrown out of the window...and all hell broke loose. I've always been a big eater, but this food rampage really tested my limits...in a good way!
So for today, we'll start off with two places - Ciao Italia (South Perth) and the famous Little Creatures Bar and Brewery (Fremantle - Fishing Boat Harbour).
We were blessed with good weather throughout the weekend. And when walking to the bus stop...we saw this random mushroom growing in the wooden shavings. Just one single random mushroom. Check out how fresh it is! It probably grew overnight or something. Oh - and I do have a thing for mushrooms. I'm absolutely nuts over them.
Our very first featured eatery of the day - Ciao Italia - a quaint, tiny restaurant situated in South Perth. Not that difficult to get to, but it got dark so early and we had to somehow find our way there!
As its name suggests - Ciao Italia serves really good Italian food. Authentic and tasty. Their pizzas and pastas are served in massive portions, and are so tasty. They have gorgeous bruschetta. And their trademark dessert? Tiramisu! Can't get enough of all the wonderful stuff they served!
The restaurant is small and very packed...but cosy. We queued for at least 1 and a half hours before finally getting a seat! When we went in, I couldn't resist taking pics of their decorations and cute little collectibles. And they have the most hilarious bathroom message...ever!
Woodfired pizza - a trademark of Ciao Italia. Lots of people were ordering takeaways as well.
So out came the menus...and we really had such a hard time deciding on what to eat! In the end we settled for 2 different pizzas, 3 different pastas, chilli mussels and tiramisu. All to share, of course.
Here we go! The pizzas. Thoroughly baked (woodfired pizzas are the best ever!) with lots of ingredients, and a thin crust! Not too cheesy, not too plain. Practically perfect in every way!
Chilli mussels, which we didn't manage to finish. So we took it home in the end. I had a few - they were pretty good! The sauce wasn't spicy though...but still tasty!
The three types of pasta we ordered. One was tomato-based, the rest were cream-based. All equally delicious! But oh my, pastas are filling. Pasta's one of my favourite foods ever. I can't imagine myself bingeing on pasta when I end up in Italy someday.
Although we were all very, very full by the end, we still reserved some space for the famous tiramisu. It was totally HEAVENLY. Since we really loved the ambience within the restaurant, we stayed for quite awhile, before deciding to head back.
I should go back to Ciao Italia someday. Since I'm such a big eater, I shall attempt to finish one whole plate of pasta by myself. Maybe I should go with someone who is an equally big eater...and then we can both enjoy!
Anyway - we shall move on to the next eatery - the Little Creatures Brewery, situated in good ol' Fremantle. Fremantle's my favourite place in Western Australia so far.
Before we went to Little Creatures, my buddy and I watched the sunset at Bather's Beach. Sunsets are really interesting - it is always different each day. The last time I watched the sunset was in April. And that was entirely different from what I saw with my buddy. Sunset was at 5:30pm - we made it just in time! We spent some time chatting while enjoying the sound of waves...
Little Creatures Brewery wasn't too far from the beach, so we got there within 5 minutes. Easy! The brewery is always crowded during weekends...it is really popular! And the food's really awesome too!
Ordered some dishes to share amongst ourselves. Because I had a massive lunch, I was still quite full and so the dinner portion was just perfect!
Nachos - I enjoyed the chilli bits the most! Didn't have much nachos though; I'm not a big fan for nachos.
Gorgeous chicken, marinated with spicy sauce and with herbs sprinkled on top. It's actually really delicious with the lemon squeezed over it.
Had some prawn skewers as well, which were juicy and went well with the lemon and orange flavoured sauce.
I tried kangaroo meat for the first time too. It was juicy, tender, and tasted like beef and mushroom. Totally delicious! It went well with the tomato cajun sauce too. In the end I ended up eating all the cajun sauce. I'll definitely eat kangaroo meat again - super delicious!!
Then we ordered desserts, which included a brownie, sticky date pudding and apple crumble. By the time we finished these, we were all really full. The desserts were also really delicious! Even looking at the pictures makes me drool...
After dinner, it was still quite early (it gets dark early in winter anyway!), so we headed over to Kings Park to enjoy some night scenery. It had rained along the way, so I had to use some tissues to clean the railings before putting my camera on. So much for not bringing a tripod along! I should collect my tripod when I go back to Melbourne.
And that is it for today's post! In the next post - more food pics, but we'll be focusing on the Tuckshop Cafe (one of the highest rated cafes in Perth), and a little bit on Zapata - a Mexican restaurant in Fremantle. Stay tuned!