Bianca: The Western Australia food adventure continues in Perth. On the menu today? Argentinian street food and ice-cream. All within a few hours of each-other because that is how two seasoned profesh eaters roll.
First up ‘Asado’ in Claremont. Serving up parilla BBQ and South American share plates. Generally I can’t say I’m a huge fan of churrasco and BBQ style foods but I do understand the appeal, with the quality of the protein the main focus. The restaurant itself lies within a small shopping district in Claremont Quarter and in less than 8 months Asado has gained quite the reputation.
The ‘Char-grilled beef and mixed leaf salad with chimichurri’ $18.50 was a perfectly light way to start the day, if not a little pedestrian. The beef was soft and tender, though Joyce was hoping it would have a bit more smokiness. And the chimichurri was zesty as well as having a slight unexpected kick. We both found the amount of coriander in the salad a little off-putting, especially as it’s such a divisive herb. I’m a huge fan of peppers and loved that addition. All in all, good but definitely not one of their stand-out dishes on the menu.
I went through a major Mexican stage back in the day and ate my far few share of tacos but I can honestly say I hadn’t had one quite like Asado’s ‘Jerk Chicken w/white corn taco’ $17. The chicken was juicy and plump with a more prominent smoky flavour. The slaw was in abundance but was great to add some crunch. Generous with the aioli as well, most enjoyable of all was the white corn tortilla. There were no questions as to what was the basis for the tortilla, the corn flavour was smack bam in your face and it made a great alternative to your usual boring flour tortillas that taste like nothing.
And because we couldn’t decide on breakfast/lunch/sweet or savoury we ordered a bit of everything. We were both taken with the sound of the ‘French Toast’, with Dulce de leche mascarpone, strawberry and candy hazelnuts $12. Lightly dusted with cinnamon sugar, it was highly reminiscent of a doughnut or churro and made for an extremely decadent breakfast or dessert. We didn’t really get much of the mascarpone coming through at all, if anything it made the dulce de leche a bit lighter.
And just because I love them so much, I had to try one of their ‘Alfajores’, good but not as tasty as the guys over at Alfamores
We took a light breather after lunch to check out ‘Cottesloe Beach’ apparently snakes are a thing on beaches here…who knew. Safe to say we didn’t stay for long. We had ice-cream to eat!!
And so we found ourselves at ‘Whisk Creamery’ in Subiaco. This was one of those glorious social media finds and a lucky one at that. Our schedules always seemed to flow so effortlessly and we managed to slot this in between sightseeing.
Shockingly I was the voice of reason, rationalising that we couldn’t possibly fit in three desserts between us, soz Joyce!
So we settled on two, the first being ‘A Caramel Sandwich’ – A homemade cronut, with salted caramel gelato, salted caramel sauce and topped with whipped cream $13. I’m sorry Messina, I heart you and all but Whisk have the BEST salted caramel ice-cream I’ve ever eaten. Each bite was different from the last which is why it was so hard to stop. It straddled the line between a salted caramel and a butterscotch but either way, this was lethally dangerous. I also have to say, I’m usually not a big fan of cronuts but they serve the best rendition I’ve tried.
Unfortunately the second dessert was a big step down from the highs of the caramel sandwich. ‘’Ninetta’s Brioche’ –w/Sicilian pistachio gelato, orange gel, almond + pistachio crumble and yoghurt mousse just didn’t work for us at all. The home-made brioche was dense and heavy, Joyce more of a pistachio fan and expert wasn’t exactly sold on the flavour of the ice-cream, with no real pistachio flavour coming through at all. I loved the orange gel and pistachio crumble, I just wished there was more of it.
Still, a pretty funky ice-cream place. And that salted caramel gelato easily gives Gelato Messina a run for their money.
And after all that food and with a dinner at ‘Print Hall‘ to come that evening, we did what most normal people would do. Fat nap in the park – ‘Kings Park and Botanic Garden’ in fact, which was gorgeous.
More Western Australia adventures to come!
Bianca
It has been a few year since I visited WA! But the food continues to grow and the gelato would go down a treat on a day like today! 😀 The salted caramel one sounds magical!