West End Deli (Leederville, Perth WA)

95 Carr St
West Perth Western Australia 6005
(08) 9328 3605
Website
Facebook
Hours:
    Mon-Sun 7:00 - 15:00
    Thu-Sun 18:00 - 22:00
   

Established by Justin and Christine Peters, the West End Deli is located in a quite corner in a quiet street in an odd area that is remarkable, precisely, because of the constant hub of customers visiting the place. It is a suburban place, and that has a relaxed atmosphere, and lack of hype, and that is visited by patrons of all ages and sorts. The inside space if wonderfully woody, with a mix of rustic, faux-decay and vintage quirky decoration elements, like the hanging-chairs lamps. It has the feeling of an old Italian or French café.

The staff are very smiley, friendly, and welcoming with all customers. The service is relative fast even for cooked dishes, and they have a waiter service, so you can seat and relax.

THE FOOD
 Their food is very good, and they have a good selection of dishes that stand out for their plating and great mix of flavours, colours and textures.
+ Their food is very good, great taste, texture and presentation, and the menu changes regularly, which is very exciting if you visit often. They also have a big selection of desserts, drinks, and wines.

The pork belly, caramelised peaches, basil, sweet potato was a superb dish regarding presentation, flavour, colours and textures. Pork Belly is fatty, so it really needs of contrasting refreshing flavours to clean the palate, and the mix in this dish was fabulous. The size of the belly was also great. Not too big, not too small. My belly was in love when met this peachy belly.

I also found excellent the charred octopus salad with pears, walnuts, charmoola and orange sauce.

Their home-made fettuccine, on the contrary, were disappointing in texture and flavour. They were a bit hard, not "al dente", therefore difficult to roll on your fork, they were dry, and the chilli was not hot at all. Nothing memorable. The dish needs a bit more of oil -perhaps herb or chilli infused oil- to make it smother, and a bit of more stuff on the plate.

DESSERTS 
They have a counter with already-made cakes, cup-cakes and muffins, decently priced, and a small menu of special desserts. The latter are much more expensive, but way more interesting and inventive.

The Pistacchio Jaconde was a highlight for me -  a crunchy cylindrical chocolate carcase enveloping a marshmallow fluff and pistacchio mouse resting on a sprinkled bed of pistacchio and berry, with fresh blueberries and pear puree dollops. The dish was artistically plated, and had a wonderful mix of colours, textures and flavours, with the right amount of sugar. It is a delicate, light and flavoursome dessert, perfect for summer. One of my favourite desserts of 2012, which is a lot to say!

Their cheesecake with salted dulce de leche, is an inventive fun dessert. The cheesecake is potted and served with a tube containing the dulce de leche -a sort of salted caramel cream- and a super-cute mini-bottle containing popping vanilla salts, which you add as a topping and keep popping in your mouth and ears while you are eating. However, the cheesecake is too sweet for my taste, and, therefore, the flavour of the cheese gets masked by the excess of sugar.

THE COFFEE

Their flat-while, despite being well prepared, is disappointly bland in flavour, strength and size of the cup. Average. To get a good one, forget sugar and order a long topped-up Macchiato, then you get a very good flat white :O.

EXTRA KUDOS
+ They open, morning, day and evening.
+ You can pay at the end, before leaving.
+ The staff refill you water glasses regularly. 
+ The place is good for groups and solo eaters.
+ They have EFPTOS.
+ Their toilets, at least the ladies', are very clean, stylish and classy. A bit small, but a pleasure to rest your derrière on.
+ They have a reasonable amount of newspapers for customers. 

DISAPPOINTING
- Most dishes contain small servings of food and are a bit pricey. There is no reason for that when most of the produce they use is seasonal. 
- They serve their coffee in those infamous tiny glasses that are becoming part of Perth coffee scene.
- The  service can be lacking or distracted even when the café is not busy.  

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 
- My main criticism to the restaurant and its food is the lack of consistency in the quality of the dishes served. Some of them are artistically prepared and served, while others are average. I have seem most of their egg brunches and I would not bother with those. However, the sides look yummy. I think that they should put a bit of more effort in having a threshold regarding quality of the dishes, so there is a balanced standard and not the differences I have experienced myself.   
- The ventilation system is deficient. They have huge fans on the walls, but there are blind spots, underneath the fans, and the tables underneath can be very hot and humid if you happen to be there on a hot day. There is an air-con device on the wall, but has never been on during my visits. 
- Their website does not show their drinks, wine list, and dessert menu. It takes little effort to improve that.

TIP
* Order a takeaway coffee to get the size you want. It is slightly more expensive but way bigger.
* Go there for things you cannot prepare at home or buy at a normal bakery, as those are the ones that will wow you.

Read More

Fashion Magazines' Beauty Advice - 3

Final words, after the first and second entries on this topic.

A confession - I do love some luxury beauty products -especially make-up- advertised in fashion magazines, mostly because of the glamorous packaging and design, and their wonderful scents.

Another confession - My life at University extended longer than for most students. I was poor when I was a student, a postgraduate student and a PhD. student. Too poor, too long. I used to go to stores and use perfume and make-up testers for my beauty purposes. The expensive ones. I can be very cheeky. That is a virtue when you are poor, believe me. I could only afford things like Maybelline or cheaper brands. Being able to have something luxury today is not only a pleasure, it is an indication that I have reached a point in life that I dreamt about when I was poor. Kudos to me. 

This does not change a thing what I have said about beauty products in the previous entries.  

If you like luxury items be clear why you do buy them. Do not full yourself thinking that they will have a bigger impact on your physical beauty, or the state of your skin, hair or nails. Sometimes they do, sometimes they do not.  I would say, most times they do not.

An example of positive difference I find it in the eye shadows by MAC, which are a bit pricey -even if bought online- but they do not smudge, last the whole day and do not irritate my skin.  Way better than any other brand I have tried.

An example of no difference can be found in the Chanel Foundation powder and Revlon Mineral Foundation I use in summer or the Revlon Photoready airbrush mousse and Lancôme Vitalumière foundations that I use in winter. The colouring is the only difference, and they both do a great job.

An example of negative difference. I cannot tolerate most Lancôme moisturisers, which have a burning effect on my skin. However, my skin does not react or have a problem with moisturisers from L'Oreal, Neutrogena, Nivea, Dove, Sukin and other "cheapies".

***

A fact  - Chanel and Bourjois are part of the same brand and produced in the same facilities, but packaged and marketed differently.

A fact - L'Oreal owns not just L'Oreal mainstream products, but also Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Biotherm, Cacharel, Diesel, Kiehl's, Stella McCartney, Garnier, Maybelline, Vichy, La Roche, Kerastase, Redken, among many other luxury, medium quality and natural-beauty brands. Sometimes they are the same thing packaged differently with different colouring, and scent.

This being the case, if you find a medium-quality product from these holdings, there is a high probability that they have been produced in the same facilities, are good quality, and have similar qualities, minus the glamorous packaging and high price.

Read More

"Moon" by Duncan Jones (2009)

Moon is an indie retro-Sci-Fi film that narrates the last days of San Bell on a station on the moon at the end of his 3-year contract.

The storyline is excellent, but the script and the mood of the movie get deflated mid way, as the movie does not have a marked tempo and the in crescendo necessary for the viewer to get excited and anxious towards the end. Although the story carries on very well, there is not enough tension and mystery to give the movie the little push up it need it to get a more rounder film.

The aesthetics of the movie are very much the same you could find in classic sci-fi of the 1970s, with miniature lunar sets, clean white interiors and furniture, miniature vehicles. Even the robot is chunky and heavy, more emotional than functional, nothing to do with modern robotics. Even the atmosphere is classic, with that unsettling feeling of old sci-fi movies. 

Sam Rockwell really shines in his double performance, especially in the skin of the first character, showing what a great actor he is. The changes of clothing are minimal, but his performance really gives life to two different people.  In fact, Rockwell makes the movie, as it is him who carries the weight of the story and makes it believable. This is a performance worth of an Oscar nomination.

Keven Spacey, the voice of robot Girty, is not especially inspired, though, as his voice is dull and plain and improper of a chunk and primitive robot. One would expect 1/ a more mechanical voice, if the robot is as it looks, or 2/ a more human voice, with more human inflexions and tone, in case the chunkiness is just apparent.

I hated the voice in off at the end, summarising what happens at the arrival to earth... which I found a little bit cheesy and unnecessary, unless you want to shoot a follow up.

A very good science-fiction film, entertaining, and well acted, that did not live to my expectations. 

Read More