Xingli Chinese Restaurant - Ritz Carlton - Shenzhen China

Xingli Chinese Restaurant Website

This is a very special moment in my life. My first ever meal in China! Returning to our ancestral homeland should have been a very emotional moment for me but I think I was too caught up in the excitement to even think about that.

I have to thank my friend Ray Ngai for making this trip possible, for his time, for taking me around and for his kind hospitality.

Now back to the matter at hand. It took Ray's driver a while to locate this restaurant as this was a restaurant that Ray had not been to before. Eventually we found it. It turned out to be a late dinner and the restaurant was nearly empty.

This restaurant serves Cantonese, Teowchew and Szechuan dishes.The meal cost about 800 RMB which is about A$130.

The classy table setting.

This is a very spicy Szechuan chicken dish. I found that the chicken in china are quite small and they are not very meaty. That's the way they like them in China as they enjoy the skin and nibbling on the bones. 

The menu.

Instead of the usual peanuts, they have chicken gizzards.

Some tofu nibblies.

Chilli and garlic dipping sauce.

Hmm.. pigeon. They don't have much meat.

Claypot tofu.

 Teowchew steamed fish.

This is something new to me. Chillies are used as vegetable. This is chilli and pork. Initially, I thought the green stuff was green beans but it turned out to be green chillies.

Stirred fried greens.

So? What did I think? The food was good while not being great but it was a good introduction to food in China!

Yoshiya Japanese Restaurant - Perth

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In my opinion, Yoshiya is the best Japanese restaurant in Perth. We have been going to this restaurant for the past couple of years. Aside from trying a few new dishes, we always order the same dishes.

The prices can be a bit on the high side but you know what? The food is worth it.

I thoroughly recommend this restaurant for good japanese food.

The facade of Yoshiya.

We always start the meal with the mixed shashimi.

The california maki is the best in Perth. It comes with lots of roe.

This tempura sushi is also the best in Perth. Seriously I have not had better.

 Agedashi tofu.

Teriyaki chicken.

Grilled snapper. This is another of my favourite. I think if there is a signature dish in this restaurant, this would be it. The skin is well grilled (but not crispy) and quite salty. I think some people might not like the saltiness but I love having the salty skin with my steam rice. The flesh is always white, soft and moist.

The Mez Greek Restaurant - Northbridge

I have been hearing good things about this restaurant. You can either order a la carte or choose a all inclusive meal. You can have a choice of just meat or meat and seafood for the all inclusive. You are served starters, the main course and dessert. You can have as much as you can eat. If you finish what you are served, they will bring some more. It's $55 a head for the seafood meal.

 Starters. It's like antipasto.

I liked most of what's here.

 I think this is the first time I have had so much Greek food.

 Nice sausage. I had quite a bit of this.

Some sort or rice wrapped in olive leaves.

The grilled seafood.

 Let me guess... hmm Greek salad?

 There were a lot of tender grilled meats.

Grilled meats taken without flash. They still taste the same.

Berry Farm - Margaret River

The berry farm makes jams, preserves, sauces, wines and ports. It is a 20 minutes drive from Margaret River.

 Jams.

 Ports and wines.

 If you ever wondered what an avocado tree looks like..

We had morning tea with jam and scones in the restaurant.

The Margaret River Chocolate Factory

The Margaret River chocloate factory make all sorts of cakes, chocolates, sweets and ice cream. Now I know how Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory felt!

 Muffins.

 Cookies.

 Cakes.

 Free sample chocolate. There was milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate.

The varieties of chocolates.

They look so tempting.

Ice cream.

Margaret's Restaurant - Australis Resort Margaret River

Margaret River is a town about 3 hours drive south of Perth. The area is well known for its vineyards, fresh produce and beaches. If you are there I advise that you book well ahead of time for dinner. Firstly, there aren't that many restaurants there and secondly they tend to close quite early.

We decided for convenience sake to dine in the restaurant at our resort. Well I think the word resort is stretching it a bit. The place is more like a two star motel.

The restaurant itself is quite plain but the food is surprising very good and reasonable. The steak and the lamb shank is $21. In Perth, it would easily be around $35 to $40.

It was a bittersweet dinner though. We waited one hour and forty minutes to get our food. At the end of the night the waitress did apologise. She said that one of the two chefs did not show up. She offered us a free round of coffee.

 Pumpkin soup. It was bland. i think the chef forgot to add salt.

 Fish and chips (again!) We had that for lunch.

 The steak was a good size, tender and tasty.

 Someone in our group was yearning for some rice and curry. This is beef curry.

Hamburger. 

 The lamb shank was very tender and virtually fell off the bone. The problem was the portion control. One of us had a huge serve and another had barely any meat on his one shank.

This serve has only one shank :(

The Goose - Busselton Jetty - July 2011

When I asked a friend where to have lunch in Busselton, he suggested " The Goose" which is located just before the start of the Busselton Jetty. It has a spectacular view of the jetty. The food is fresh and good. It is a bit pricey though.

The jetty is 2km long each way. We walked to the end and back. By that time we were good and ready for lunch.

 The Goose restaurant Busselton.

 View of The Goose from the jetty.

 I started lunch with a flat white. It is quite common for Asians to have coffee before or during a meal.

 Some nice bread to start.

Hamburger, with hand made chips!

 Tasting Plate.

Damper style bread and olive oil.

Fish and chips. The chips there were also hand made.

 Cajun chicken.

Seafood tasting plate.