El Público (Mt Lawley, Perth WA)

511 Beaufort St
Highgate Western Australia 6003
0418 187 708
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Hours   
  Wed - Fri: 17:00 - 00:00
  Sat:12:00 - 00:00
  Sun: 12:00 - 22:00
 
I had passed many times by El Público without realising that this was a restaurant, as the store-front is very sleek and the signs are flat banners on the wall and windows. The place is quite small, but very comfortable and luminous during the day, and has a nice background music. The cocktail bar is right at the entrance, but nicely separated from the eating area and very trendy.

El Público offers simple tasty street-food and home-style Mexican cooking, a small selection of traditional sweets, a great selection of soft drinks, Mexican alcoholic drinks (beer, mezcal and tequila) and cocktails. I love their rustic tin crockery and serving pots. Very cute - they convey well the sort of food they prepare.

THE FOOD - I have tried some of their antojitos (snacks) primeros (entrees), and postres (desserts) and most of them were good. The Esquites are yummy and the serving size was great. The Beef Mogo Mogo fried balls were crunchy outside and very tender and soft inside, and a very nice dipped in the sauce. My fav thing so far have been the lamb watercress mini-tacos, which were great - I felt like shouting Cloudy with a Chance of Lamb Taquitos! On the contrary, the frijoles and onion tacos were terrible, tasteless, with chewy fibrous spring onion difficult to masticate. 

Most sweets are home-made style. The almond cake with chipotle sauce is ugly looking, but very nice - more a sort of almond panna cotta than a proper cake. The chocolate pan dulce was also very nice - a bare tiny strip of sweet bread and a tiny bowl of hot chocolate. 

The home-made sodas are really tasty, refreshing and thirst quenching, and the perfect companion if you do not like very sugary drinks with your food.  I have not tried any of their alcoholic beverages. 

They change their menu often, so any of the dishes mentioned here might not be there when you visit, but they have a great variety of foods, which is always great. 


THE SERVICE - The staff are terrific and extremely nice. The Mexican waitress is delightful and helpful, and one of the other girls, Aussie I think, even let me browse her own magazine when I asked if the restaurant had one. That is what I call customer service! The other guys were also wonderful. All of them work hard to make your stay enjoyable and their enthusiasm is contagious.

THE PRICING AND THE SIZING - The servings sizes for primeros, antojitos and postres are Lilliputian, especially the sweets, which seem to be designed for toddlers. Street food is by definition delicious, unsophisticated and very cheap. I understand that having street food in a Perth restaurant is not only a culinary oxymoron, but also impossible to have at the prices you find them in the country of origin. However,  If you want to tame your hunger, be prepared to pay a little fortune: paying +40$ for two snacks, a minuscule sweet and a soda is unaffordable, especially if I leave the place hungry and with the feeling that this is average Mexican food not the real thing.

 
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 
1- I find the bilingual menu really cute and funny. However, I have heard too many complaints about it to ignore them. Most people are not bilingual, so an English one would make things easier for everybody. Besides, explaining customers what is exactly what you are ordering is time-consuming.
2- Most of Mexican food is very spicy and hot. The food in El Público is obviously adjusted to Australian tastes. I am OK with that. Still it tastes a bit bland. A bit of more spice and hotness would be just being faithful to the original and would make the dishes yummier.
3 - El Público does not serve Haute Cuisine but simple Mexican Food, so it would be better having the description of what it is on the plate written down instead of mentioned when the plate is put on your table.  
4 - Get a coffee machine and serve coffee, pleazzz!
5 - Have more Coriander at hand, so when a customer requests an extra pinch of it, you can say no problem, instead of "we are running short of it in the kitchen". Little details make a great difference.

***

There is a lot of hype about El Público. There is no doubt that is a nice place, has nice food and terrific service. It offers much better Mexican food than other Mexican restaurants in Perth, that is for sure. Still, as the Spanish proverb says, "En el Reino de los ciegos el tuerto es el rey" (in the kingdom of the blind, a one-eyed is the King) Honestly, how many Mexicans have you seen eating there?

Location: 7.5/10
Layout: 6.5
Ambience (day): 7.5/10
Service: 9/10
Food: 7/10
Pricing: 6/10
Drinks (non alcoholic): 8/10

TIP
Ask for the bandejas (mains) for lunch as they are more expensive, but also considerably bigger, better value for money, and better filling for your stomach if you are hungry. 

TIP 2
The primeros and antojitos are perfect for night slight snacking with your drinks!

UPDATE 21/10/13/
There was half a page in the Sunday newspaper a few weeks ago, after this review was written, with an interview with the cook. What he says helps once more to confirm that we do not have real Mexican food in Perth, as many of the ingredients basic for cooking are not available here and their food is Mexican inspired. But it is not only the ingredients. It is the flavours and spiciness of what we get in Perth, which is in the best case Tex-Mex. There you have it.

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"Mongolian Bling" by Benj Binks (2012)

Website of the Movie
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Mongolian Bling is an Australian documentary on the Hip-Hop scene in Mongolia directed by newcomer Benj Binks. I was lucky enough to be at the World Premiere in Perth during the Revelation Film Festival 2012.

Mongolia has always been on my list of must-visit countries, still waiting for the right time for me to go there. I like Hip-Hop rhythms and, well, to me, Hip-Hop is to Music what graffiti is to painting. When I heard about the documentary, I thought,  Are you kidding? It did not cross my mind that Mongolia -the land of Genghis Khan, the infinite horizons, cold winters, archery, horse racing, gers and fur hats- had a love affair with something as Western as Hip-Hop. 
 
Mongolian Bling is one of those documentaries that succeeds because it goes where nobody has gone before, has lots of passion and hard work behind it, and talks about its subject with rigour, humour, vigour and grace, still being entertaining and unpretentious.  Most importantly, Mongolian Blink let Mongolians tell their story with their own voice.

Mongolian Bling does not do what you expect from a documentary of this sort to do - a straight forward narration from an outsider point of view of a given subject. Like serious boring history of Mongolia, Mongolian ways of life, or the Mongolian Hip-Hop. 

Still, Benj Binks and his international crew provide us with a colourful tapestry of modern Mongolia images and we learn about the challenges of daily life in Ulaanbaatar, the aspirations and frustrations of the youth, the religious differences that the country has, generation gaps, gender attitudes, marginality, and musical creativity. Binks is able to explain in a simple way why Hip-Hop is so ingrained in modern Mongolia, and how ancestral musical traditions and attitudes served to anchor the genre in the country. We also see the multicolour facets of the Hip-Hop scene, which is far from being monochrome. All of this is told though the voice of three main hip-hop singers: Guiza, Gee and Gennie (who could not be more different among them at all levels), although hip-hop aficionados and wannabes, and even children are featured in the doco. 

The editing by Davide Michielin and Bieks is great, as creates a tempo and mood that keeps you engaged and entertained. The cinematography by Nacho Pende is great, because goes beyond the obvious and is able to capture the beauty of the ugly districts, the lyricism of chaos, and the shining lights of the darkest places. The live sound by Steven Bond is also great, and the viewer feels is right there listening to these people rap just for you.

The film has been bought by ABC Australia to be shown on TV, but in a 56-minute format not in its original 86 minutes, which, however, will be complete in the DVD. I you have the opportunity, go and see it on the big screen. It is completely worth it.

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David Jones Foodhall Cafe (Perth WA)

Level 1, David Jones
622 Hay St
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9210 4000
 Hours
    Mon-Wed 9.30 - 7.00
    Thu 9.30 - 9.00
    Fri 9.30 - 9.00
    Sat 9.00 - 5.00
    Sun 11.00 - 5.00

There are two coffee stands within the David Jones Food Court, one very trendy and nice, which I have visited often to be always disappointed, and this one, at the bottom end of the Food Court, that offers better coffee and better service.

I go there mostly to grab a coffee when I am in the malls or browsing around David Jones and I crave a really good coffee that is creamy, consistently well prepared, and strong without being bitter.

The girls attending to the place are always delightful, and very fast and smiley no matter the many customers they have to attend to.

 

The place only has five stools to seat around, which are usually taken, so ordering is always a matter of you being in point, around the display cabinets or over somebody's shoulder, trying to catch the waitresses' attention.

The salads are interesting a priory, but they have always looked dry and unappealing to me, so I have never feel tempted to order any. They have a small selection of cakes, which are average.

This café has the advantage of being subject to David Jones' opening hours, which are extended with regards to most cafés in the city. So the place is perfect to grab a coffee at awkward-late times in the city centre.

To me, this is mostly a take-away café - a very good one.

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Zambrero (Mt Lawley, Perth WA)

625 Beaufort St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 6161 9436
Website
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Hours:
    Mon-Sun 11:00 - 21:00

Not every place selling burritos should be called Mexican, especially Zambrero. This could be called SubwayMex, as both Subway and Zambrero are similar in concept, preparation methods and service.

THE GOOD
- Zambrero has a spot on location on Beaufort Street, and has a semi-open seating area that allows you to focus on the street or just on your food at the central canteen table or the long one facing the wall.
- The food looks and tastes fresh, which is specially important if most of what you put in your meal is salad and veggies.
- Big is big here! So your burrito will appease the monster in your stomach.
- The prices are cheap.
- Service is terrific: the girls are delightful and will attend to you fast and with genuine friendliness.
- Their black board on the footpath always has funny sayings an jokes.

THE BAD
- My chicken burrito was indeed a chicken and rice sort of Indian burrito, which ruined the whole experience, as it was overcooked and did not taste good, and tasted Indian-ish not Mexican-ish.
- So many things put in a burrito and the taste is just OK.
- The tortillas are a bit not tortillas, but wraps...
- The burritos are not burritos but Mexican inspired wraps. They are ugly looking and I did not feel like taking my mobile out for a picture.  
- Go to Zambrero  knowing that this is not a Mexican place and you won't be eating Mexican food.

RECOMMENDATIONS
- Ask for a burrito whose meat is just grilled or roasted.
- Avoid the cheese, because is the usual cheap cheese that you find in any fast food chain, which can ruin any dish.
- Avoid the sauces, and ask for an extra dollop of sour cream instead.
- This is a perfect place for food emergencies: you are super-hungry, you want to eat right now, and don't want to spend much money, and want to leave full.

I might come back :O 

UPDATE
Free guacamole this week with any dish to celebrate the change in their menu.

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"Let the Right One In" by Tomas Alfredson (2008)

A Swedish romance and horror film based on the eponymous novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the script. 

Let the Right One In tells the story of the friendship between Oskar, a 12y.o. weak sweet boy bullied at school, and Eli, a 12y.o. strong lonely vampire girl who moves to Oskar's building in Stockholm.

If vampires existed in the modern world, how would they live? Most probably as they are portrayed in this movie. It is the believability of the story what will appeal to people who usually hate vampire movies, like me. The story does not focus on the gory part of the life of a Vampire, but on the physical and emotional needs they have to survive and how they make do in the modern world. At the same time, the vampire theme glues well with a story that would have been terrific per se as it approaches with honesty the sins of modern urban society: isolation, loneliness, craving for affection, miscommunication, and friendship/love as redemption. The struggle of Oskar at school, his alienation from his divorced parents, the struggle of Eli to be loved and have a normal life, her guilt at having to kill to survive, are equally believable and intriguing.

The appeal and success of the movie are indebted in equal parts to the script and the terrific performances of the leading young actors Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar, Lina Leandersson as Elis, and Patrik Rydmark as the leader of the bullies. The leading couple has great chemistry on camera in part because both kids have a physique that mixes innocence and strength, and they complement each other physically.

The atmosphere is fantastic - peaceful and menacing at the same time. One of the best points of the cinematography is that it is rarely "dark", but virginal white or very luminous, even the night shots, so most of the clichés of the genre are turned over and revamped, leaving those elements strictly necessary for the narrative of the genre to work in the 21st century. The movie has some funny and shocking scenes, too, the one with the cats and the burning in hospital among the most memorable.

An excellent romantic horror film, with a terrific script, good performances and a great atmosphere, which will captivate both lovers and haters of the genre. An American remake has recently been made of this film, also with very good reviews, but who wants to watch an imitation, the original being brilliant?

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"The Triplets of Belleville" by Sylvain Chomet (2003)

A Franco-Belgian-Canadian animated movie, The Triplets of Belleville tells the story of a French cyclist Champion, his Portuguese grandma, and their unwanted adventures in America, where they meet three American sisters.

There is a lot to praise in this movie, but the main praise to any film is that time flies when watching it, so entertaining and enchanting is.

The animation looks like old style hand-made Miyazaki's, both in detail of de drawing, style, fluidity of the images, quirkiness of the characters, and action. Still has a very special feeling, which is both very European and very American. 

It is remarkable that an animation movie without princes and princesses, fairytale love stories, or young characters can be so appealing to people of all ages. In fact, the characters are a group of old women, an overweight dog, and some nasty Mafiosi.  If this was not enough, the characters rarely speak, just mumble a few words, make guttural noses, and sing some songs. The story is entertaining, quirky and original enough to keep the viewer interested and entertained, and the characters are very expressive, like the old silent movies, despite their lack of language. That is a lot to say.

The movie has an awesome soundtrack by Benoît Charest inspired by golden-era Jazz and Motown classics, plus some classic music pieces that perfectly convey the atmosphere of New York in the 1920s-1950s. In fact, the recreation of New York as Belleville has a lot of art-deco with a twist of European Disney (the skyline of Belleville resembles a European castle), plus a contemporary projection of the image of Americans in European mentality (the inhabitants of Belleville are morbidly obese) creating something that is oddly beautiful and original.

Especially brilliant are the scenes of the crossing of the Atlantic, the watching of human programs in TV by the cartoons, the diet of the triplets, and, above all, the surreal black and white dreams of Bruno the dog.

The only thing I did not like was the car persecution at the end, which I found childish and hurriedly resolved, and the end of the movie.  

This is a brilliant movie with a delightful script for people of all ages with lots of winks to adult viewers.

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Milk and Honey (Perth WA)

82 James St
Northbridge Western Australia 6003
(08) 9227 0500
Hours:
    Mon-Fri 6:00 - 16:00  
    Sat-Sun 8:00 - 15:00

THE FOOD - When Milk and Honey opened in James Street a few years ago, it was like a breath of fresh air in the food scene in Northbridge. They were a contemporary café with terrific coffee and great fresh food and an ever changing menu. It was the talk of the whole CBD. One of the best risottos I have ever eaten in WA was indeed prepared here in one of the first months of life of the café. However, the cook/s, cooking practices, or perhaps just the management and the polices of the place, have changed with time. The food and coffee are not what they used to be, and the gourmet flare they used to have is no longer there.

Still, Honey and Milk is one of those eateries that you choose when you want good comfort good - simple fresh fish, meat, pasta or soup meals, that are flavoursome and good-sized, cooked on site, decently prepared, and good value for money.  They have a good range of breakfast menus, a set lunch menu that changes frequently and a pasta and soup of the day. They have the usual pre-prepared salads, pannini and rolls, which are the same sort of thing you find elsewhere and  for which I would not come here.

I usually go there for my carb fix, and the pasta of the day is always very tasty and almost al dente - delicious at times. With the lasagna have had good and bad experiences in the past: from yummy to bad and everything in between.

THE COFFEE - Their coffee uses Five Senses beans, and it used to be among my favourite coffees in the CBD. The coffee is still well prepared, creamy and consistent, but part of the flavour is missing and the coffee is definitely weaker than used to be. Have they changed beans or just their roasting?

THE SERVICE - The service is quite fast, and matter of fact, although varies from person to person - some of them are quite friendly and attentive, and others are not.  

THE PLACE - The place is very luminous, modern functional, with a comfy cushioned area by the wall. The foldable doors are open when the good weather arrives, and the place is really nice - open but still cool. There is a small seating area on the footpath, too. They have tons of daily newspapers for you to browse around (a fact that I always love in any restaurant), a self-service cute fountain with hot and cold water, and extra napkins at hand in case you need them ( I usually do).  They attract an heterogeneous bunch of people of all ages, styles and professions.

***

At Milk and Honey, they do not pretend to be trendy because their hype waned long time ago, so the prices are not inflated. There is a relaxed casual atmosphere, which is very enjoyable, as well as the food. Do not expect too much, and you might be surprised. 

Location 7/10
Layout 6.5/10
Ambience 6.5/10
Coffee 7/10
Food 7/10 
Prizing 7.5/10
Service 5/7 (varies)

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