Circa Bistro (Mount Lawley, Perth WA)

676 Beaufort St
Mount Lawley, WA 6050
08 9371 9971
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Hours:
    Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 10:30 pm
    Sat 8 am - 11 pm
    Sun 8 am - 4 pm
 

I have tried almost everything at Circa, as I was a regular visitor when I lived in Mount Lawley.

THE PLACE
Occupying what once Diva was, Circa revamped and upgraded the space but kept the layout. They added a cushioned seating area, some Art-deco elements of decoration and turned the café into a simple elegant one.  I love all the Art-deco items of decoration (the starry mirror, the hand lamps, and the horny chandelier at the top area).  At night, the candlelights and the subdued lighting create a cozy, romantic and chic ambience.

The place is always clean and tidy and rarely crowded. The place attracts people from all ages looking for a quite place with nice food to catch up and relax. 

They have clean very nice toilets, as well.

THE FOOD
I have been there for breakfast, lunch and dinner, quite often, and this is so because they have a small but interesting menu. Sometimes the food has been delicious and done to perfection, while others (even for the same dish) the dish was just nice (aka mediocre). The fact remains that after so many visits, their food has never wowed me, but it has never let me down either;there is a lack of consistency in the quality of the dishes. Many times I told myself, this dish would be great just if.., only if the added... They have great ideas, but the realisation of some dishes lacks that j'ai ne sais quoi that brings any dish to a level up. There are a few dishes that I thought were great (the Roasted Root Vegetables, chorizo and manchego toasts, the beetroot ravioli, the beetroot infused salmon breakfast, and some of their pasta dishes), while others were average (Spanish eggs with pecorino, polenta chips, some of their breakfasts, some of their pasta dishes).

They have a really nice chart of wines, my favourit was the Calo Rioja Tempranillo, worth every cent of the 11 dollars per glass I paid. 

Portions are always on the small side for mains, something that bothers me a lot. If I am charged a lot of money for a main dish I want a decent serving portion, unless I am in a fine dine restaurant, which is not the case.    

COFFEE AND DESSERTS
They have always had a nice selection of desserts at Circa, but, like the food, they could have been great but they got aborted midway, lacking technique and authenticity at times. Yet, lovely overall. 

Regarding their coffee, they use Origins Coffee, which is not amongst my favourite beans, as it is lacks in flavour. However, they prepare a good coffee even though the quality varies from barista to barista. 

SERVICE
The staff are always lovely, some of them extremely friendly. The serving tempo is not bad, on the slow side at times, perfect others. The staff are often distracted (even when the place is half full) and their warmth and willingness to please gets blended with a lack of attention to the most important thing in the restaurant - customers. In the past I have seen people leaving the restaurant because they got tired of waiting a waiter approaching them to take their order despite the place being with few clients.

PRICING
Although the food is really nice, this cafe has always been overpriced for what they serve. My opinion. More expensive than Cantina 663 at times for dishes that do not match the quality of Cantina's kitchen.

 

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
>> I know that in these days using foreign names for the ingredients and dishes is the last new thing. I don't have a problem with that if what I get in the plate is  what it is supposed to be or it has the essence of the dish. For example, if you call something a "mousse" I expect something to have the consistency of a mousse, and to be fluffy and light. If you call something "pannacotta" I expect the consistency and texture of the pannacotta. That sort of thing. Please don't mislead.
 >> Their dinner menu has (or used to have) most of the things you find for lunch. Why not creating a complete different menu for dinner?
>> They didn't have specials for ages. Then they started offering some specials, but not regularly or changing them frequently. That is not good for them. You can cross the street and go to Cantina 663 that succeeds at keeping a huge amount of regulars by constantly renewing their menu.  
 >> They need to work on their music. There is a mismatch of tunes. If you want to create a certain atmosphere you need integrity and consistency in the music. The selection is better at night but, in general, music create ambience or destroys it, if you know what I am saying. 
>> I think the methacrylate chairs don't blend well with the Art-Deco woody style of the place. They feel odd to me. But this is just a personal preference.

IN SHORT
Overall Circa is a lovely place, with lovely food, high prices and nice staff. Some of their dishes and desserts will surprise you for good, and others will let you indifferent but with a big bill. The perfect place to catch up and great for night dates.

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Sayers Sister (Perth WA)

236 Lake St
Northbridge Western Australia 6000
(08) 9227 0429
Hours  
    Tue - Sun: 07:00 - 17:00
Website
Facebook

THE PLACE

A bit hidden in Lake St, a few metres away from Hyde Perth, in the outer skirts of Northbridge, Sayers Sister is a replica of the menu of the mother house, but delivered in a funkier and smaller setting.

The place has a beautiful rustic romantic vintage decoration. Everywhere you look, you see something beautiful and special: From the little flower arrangements to the chandeliers and brass lamps, from the cute mugs to the colourful water glasses, from the artistically designed sweets and lollies containers to the old-fashioned sugar bowls. Everything, even the toilets. The ambience music is great, too.

The place receives patrons of all ages and conditions. From tradies to business people and everybody in between, but it is especially popular with young people and professionals.

 

FOOD AND COFFEE

They have Mediterranean inspired dishes in simple but winning recipes. Their food is well prepared, portions are generous, flavours fantastic, and the plating beautiful. Their tagine, croquettes, and full breakfasts are yummy and man-sized! The Ploughman's board is also huge, and has a nice mice of flavours and textures. Everything I have tried is great.

Their sweets are great, too. The gluten free chocolate and strawberry mini-cakes are one of those things that you think about often after trying one. Their pineapple muffins are delicious.

Coffee is good, smooth and not strong. They use a mix of the house from Five Sense. They do mugs. I repeat, they do mugs!

SERVICE

All the waitresses have been delightful, smiley, polite and willing to serve every time I have visited. Service is laid back, but they do their best to accommodate and please patrons, especially at peak times.

 

PRICING

At Sayers Sister, you pay more or less as you would pay at any other café for your breakfast, lunch, coffee or cake. However, the food you get is way bigger, better, fresher, tastier and prettier. 

I always wonder why Sayers and Sayers Sister can be successful businesses without ripping us off, while other renowned cafés in Perth need to overcharge us and treat us as morons with the excuse of them using fresh seasonal produce. I think the answer relies on the fact that the Sayers do not want to make money out of hype and laziness, despite the fact that they use local fresh produce too. They respect their patrons, the same that cue at their doors every weekend.   

DOWNSIDES

- It is almost impossible to get a seat at Sayers Sister during the weekends, and cues are common at peak eating hours. Weekdays are way better, still, if you go at certain times, it will be difficult to find a table. 

- As a consequence, the place can be a bit hectic and crowded at times.
- The cashier counter is a bit high, or better said, the place from where the staff stands. That always puts customers in a position of "looked down", unless, of course, you are 6 feet tall. 
- At times, their poached eggs are a bit overdone, and the muffins left too much time in the microwave.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

- Let's face it. Most people do not want to seat at the communal counter. However, there are not enough individual or two-people tables on one of the sides of the café, and some of the four-people tables are used by two people. Therefore, patrons arriving are turned down, or do not stay, or the staff have to ask people to move around. They should replace the four-people tables with two-people ones, so they can be joined or separated on demand. I do not need to say that a few more tables outside would be welcomed.
- It would be great having a few extra more magazines available for patrons.
- It would be great if they had their Sayers Sister-only dishes and specialities.

***

The Sayers have done it again! Sayers Sister shares the brilliant menu with the mother café, but I feel they are a bit behind regarding excellence. However, their food is still great, their service is very good, and this a funkier, more modern and stylish café than the original one. 

Location: 7.5/10
Layout: 6.5/10
Ambience: 9/10
Service: 8/10
Food: 8.7/10
Sweets: 8.5/10
Coffee: 7.5/10
Pricing: 8/10

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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.

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Sayers (Leederville, Perth WA)

Shop 1/ 224 Carr Place
Leederville WA 6007
(08) 9227 0429
Website
Facebook
Hours:
    Mon-Sun 7:00 - 15:00


Sayers is one of those places that epitomises what a good café and restaurant can be and sets an example for other cafés that aim to get a name amongst foodies without overcharging or hype. Sayers ticks most things that need to be ticked when evaluating a restaurant: good location - good ambience - good food - decent coffee - moderate pricing - decent serves - cozy layout - fresh local produce - and good service. Bingo!

I love the multi-layered and open layout, which goes from the inner place and spreads around the footpath, to the quiet intimate alley beside the building -my fav area-, and to the inner backyard. The space between tables is sometimes very small, but nothing uncomfortable.

The place is fully packed most days, any time, with patrons of all ages and conditions, but the atmosphere is always relaxed and enjoyable, casual, intimate and classy.

I have tried everything at Sayers, breakfast, lunches, after-hour counter lunches, sweets, coffee and teas, and every single thing has been good, very good or outstanding. They seems to succeed at creating dishes that are well textured, with great taste combinations, and beautifully plated.

The croquette breakfast is yummy, filling, and full of flavour and textures. Delicious to the utmost degree. They are a sort of Eggs Benedict with a big croquette, and Bearnaise -sort of Hollandaise sauce-. The best breakfast I have had this year, and I have had plenty!

Despite its simplicity, the Salmon & Orange salad is wonderfully textured, tasty, light and very refreshing. It is perfect if you want a light lunch or want to leave room in your stomach for a dessert.

The pan seared rare tuna salad is a high-cuisine kind of dish, wonderfully plated, fresh, filling, light and very colourful. I missed some type of bread or bread-ish product to accompany the dish, though.

Their selection of savoury tarts is eye-catching, and, to me, much more tempting than their sweets. They are good, very tasty and textured, not just good looking.

 

Their cakes are gorgeous-looking but some of them are overly syrupy and sweet for my taste. However, the Chocolate & Strawberry Cake is divine, rich but not overwhelmingly so, and with the right amount of sugar, so the chocolate flavour stands out. The Orange & Poppy Seed Tart is also great. However, I did not like the Pine Nuts and Apple Cake, which looks wonderful, but was sickly sweet, and the wonderful flavour of the apple was lost in an overwhelming mass of sugar and syrup.

Sayers has a name for their coffee. However, I am very picky with my coffee, and theirs is not among my favourites. It is good and well prepared, but their Five Senses mix is a bit weak and not especially flavoursome to me, and I need to order a long topped-up macchiato to get the flat-white I want. If you are into smooth coffees your will certainly like it. One thing that I love is that they do mugs, yes, actual mugs, because mugs are sexy. They also have a good selection of teas, which they serve in hyper-cute porcelain cups and teacups, which are very good, too.

The service at Sayers is quite fast despite the huge amount of patrons they attend to every day; many times the staff run, literally, all over the place. The staff are very friendly, courteous and smiley. If they are not too busy, they drop by to ask you how things are going and if you are happy with your dish. They are also very accommodating about any requests or adjustments you need.

Price is moderate for the quality of food you get.  If Sayers can do so, why are we being ripped off by most Perth restaurants?

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
-  They should allow payment at the end of your meal, and have one waiter to take orders from tables. At the moment, you have to pay in advance, and get up again and go to the counter to reorder anything else you want. It is not a bad system, it is that they could do better. 
- More self-service water areas could be easily placed in the alley and backyard.
- More magazines and newspapers would be much appreciated.
- Sometimes, food, drinks and bread arrive at different times. That is a problem for dishes that have bread as part of them. Shouldn't be better serving both things together?
- They need to make sure that any change in ingredients in the printed menu is mentioned upfront to patrons, or the menu changed before they change.
- Their toilets need an overhaul. Not bad, but not good either.

MIND
+ They do take-aways!
+ They do cater!
+ You can book by phone weekdays! 

Location: 8/10
Layout: 8.5/10
Ambience 8.5/10
Food: 9/10
Coffee: 6.5/10
Service: 8/10
Pricing: 7/10

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Harvest (North Fremantle, Perth WA) - CLOSED

1 Harvest Rd
North Fremantle Western Australia 6159
(08) 9336 1831
http://www.harvestrestaurant.net.au
Hours:
    Tue-Fri 11:00 - 15:00
    Tue-Sat 18:00 - 22:30
    Sat-Sun 8:00 - 15:00

When you get to Harvest, you might think that you are trespassing your neighbour's property and catching them, by surprise, eating in their front yard - so familiar, cosy and unpretentious the place is. Once you enter, the suburban home has been transformed into a classy rustic-chic restaurant, with many different seating areas, a wine-heaven private room, a wonderful fireplace foyer, an intimate beautiful corner around the front window (perfect for couples), plenty of unusual decoration elements organically mixed, and a wonderful courtyard. The courtyard has a special energy, which completely separates it from the rest, not just spatially - if the day is sunny and clear, the light cascades in a diffused way, and the place looks and feels dreamy and ethereal. For a moment I thought that those red curtains and those tables were part of a famous scene in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Oh Gosh, if the light and atmosphere of a place were edible - this courtyard would be a feast!

Their breakfast menu has an interesting mix of edgy egg dishes, some of them mixing savoury and sweet flavours in an unusual way; they also have traditional breakfasts, just in case you do not like surprises on your plate in the morning, but keep in mind that they do not alter the menu to suit your taste. I had a textured mix of eggs mixed with cooked and pureed cauliflower, flaked almonds and raisings - odd looking but tasty.

Serving sizes are small-ish, at least for the cauliflower eggs and the waffle, but the scrambled eggs with sausage & bacon were huge, as well as the bread slices. I cannot understand the reason of the small portions of some of the dishes: Cauliflower or bananas are not rare plants that you need to collect from the Swiss Alps and the other ingredients are not expensive either  - be generous when possible.

Their coffee is  well prepared and creamy but weak in flavour and aroma, and served in a tiny cup. I almost fainted when I was told they did not have skim milk - unacceptable. Pas possible!

The service was fast and courteous.

Pricing for the breakfast was not cheap but not expensive either. Prices for lunch, tasting menu and dinner are pricey, though.

Their tasting, lunch and dinner menus are very interesting and tempting, and the place is definitely worth another visit, not only for the food, but for the place itself. 

Location:6
Layout: 9
Ambience: 8.5
Pricing: 6
Service: 6.5
Coffee: 6.5
Food (breakfast): 6.5

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