Koko Black Perth (Perth WA, Australia)

140 William St
Perth WA 6000
Phone (08) 9226 3929
Website
Hours
  Mon - Tues 8:30am-5:30pm
  Wed - Thur 8:30am-10:00pm
  Fri 8:30am-11:00pm
  Sat 9:00am-11:00pm
  Sun 10:30am-5:00pm

  

The place is very functional and has a sleek contemporary design and vibe, still being comfortable and accommodating. Almost half of the place is occupied by the chocolate shop, with  display and sale cabinets. The rest is occupied by the café properly speaking and the open preparation area, which is very cool and quite large.

I love their seating area, so well thought and considerate, perfect for solo visitors, couples, families, groups. Whomever! Whatever!

The selection of chocolates and sweets is delightful and delectable.

The Chocolate Dome is absolutely wonderful in taste and presentation and not heavy on your stomach. A great mix of textures and flavours, and so aesthetically pleasant that you feel bad for breaking the visual spell with your spoon. My favourite thing in their menu.

The Alice Lemington is OK, a bit of a let down.

Their individual chocolates taste of what they are suppose to. Don't frown! This happens so rarely nowadays! All the chocolate pieces I have tried have been much of my liking, perhaps my favourite thing has been one of their simplest: the Orange Segment as orange and chocolate are like a perfect couple; use it as your coffee's date.

Their normal coffees are really forgettable, not barista quality. No no no! However, their iced coffees and chocolate are yummy. No surprise, no? Try the chocolate ice chocolate mixed with raspberry and bring your tongue and tonsils to heaven.

Service is fast and attentive, very welcoming and smiley. However, I found odd that during one of my visits I ordered an espresso coffee and the waitress did not know what that was (!)

Pricing is OK, a bit high for the individual pieces of chocolate and iced coffees/chocolates.

I would like their chart of prepared sweets enlarged, and also their normal coffees improved. They would make themselves a favour. Any chocolate needs of a great coffee!

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Delisio (Perth WA)

    703 Hay St
    Enex100 Shopping Mall, Level 3
    Perth WA 6000
    Phone (08) 9485 0055
    Website

 

I love pizza, Italian pizza, pizza that reminds me of what pizza is in Italy. Delisio does so perfectly with their pizza al taglio for takeaway or dine-in.

Wonderful simple pizzas that taste great with a base that is just heavenly crusty, not too thick, not too thin, not heavy on your stomach. You don't need 100 ingredients and sauces to make a pizza good, you need to prepare a pizza well with just the right amount of ingredients. Just an example, the white anchovy pizza, looks like and abstract painting of ingredients, you expect it to be blah, until you bite the first morsel and the flavour start riding your tongue with gusto. Everything I have tasted is good.


I have never tried their pasta, though as it is only available on weekdays and Enex100 is out of my way for lunches.

They have a mix of really Italian classics sweets (cannellini among them), and some cookies and muffins. The cookies I thought were OK. They prepare their own panna cotta and crème brûlée, as well.

They have a decent coffee (Fiori beans).

The Italian guys attending to the public are just lovely and very charming and welcoming.

This is part of the Enex100 complex, but  they are located in a secluded area beside the windows, a bit at the rear, which makes it a quieter and nicer place if you want to munch and/or talk to your company without disturbance..

Delisio is a reason for go to Enex100  more often.

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WTF Foodie moment 4: Cue

{I get to the last "it" restaurant, usually with kilometre-long cues waiting at the door. No cue today. Is this my lucky day? Plenty of tables available!}

< A table, please.
> Just for you?
< No, my friends are coming.
< How many?
> Three.
<How long it will take?

--> (He thinks I read minds. It makes me feel important.)

< Dunno. Very soon. 

--> (Click click click checking with my friend).

< About 10 minutes.

> Wait in the cue area.

--> (My jaw drops to the floor and bounces back.)

< Can I enter and wait for them inside?

> Wait outside, we don't have a table for three. 

--> (So many empty tables! I am first in an cue with one person, me! A cue of one person is a mathematical enigma).

--> (A couple comes, cues, and the waiter ushers them in before me. A second couple comes, cues, and the waiter ushers them in before me - again! Is this a cue?)

--> (A group of five arrives, and the waiter ushers them in before me. WTF is this cue?)

--> (I'm cueing on my own, again! in an empty cue. To cue or not to cue, I don't have a clue.) 

--> (A human river starts to arrive. They cue behind me. I feel the queen of this cue and we are all cueing together. This is a cue!)  

--> Finally I get my table, and I am allowed out of this WTF cue. 

(WHERE? Papparich Northbridge.)

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WTF Foodie Moment 3: Espresso

{I call the attention of the lovely young waitress}

< Can you bring me an espresso, please?

> Espresso? Uhmmm, what do you mean?

--> (Rolling my eyes anti-clockwise).

< Well, an e-s-p-r-e-s-s-o. A coffee, you know, an espresso coffee.

> Do you mean, that sort of coffee that is like a long black?

---> (Rolling my eyes clockwise. Perhaps I need to clean up my ears?).

< No, you know?, an espresso, just like a concentrated coffee, no milk,  in a small coffee cup.

> Ahhhhhhh, like a shot of coffee in those little tiny winy cups?

< That's right. That is an espresso.

--> (Really.... WTF!)

(WHERE? Kokoblack cafe, Northbridge)

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WTF Foodie Moment 2: The Wrong dish

{I order the pork belly dish. Before ordering I asked about other dishes, the egg dish included. I distinctly heard the waiter saying pork belly after I ordered. The food arrives like 20 minutes later}

> Here are your eggs. 

< I ordered the pork belly.
> Ah really, I thought you had ordered the eggs. 

--> ( I show a lovely knife sharp smile. I think, how on earth the sound of eggs and pork belly can be mixed up?).

< Well, no, I ordered the pork belly. 

--> (We are all humans. I expect a retreat and my pork belly start cooking right now. I am hungry and dangerous or vice versa).

> Do you mind if we change it? 

--> (I am rolling my eyes and breathing out some toxic fumes, fanned out in his direction by my nostrils).

< Well... I ordered the pork belly.

> OK, sorry about that. 

--> (Retreat. Fake smile. He seems to be disappointed in me wanting the dish I ordered. How weird of me! WTF!) 

(WHERE? Lot 20, Northbridge)

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WTF Foodie Moment 1: Warm Coffee

{My turn at the coffee shop is up. First in the line. I order my coffee}

< A skinny flat white just warm, please.
> Not too hot, right? 
< No no, not hot, just waaaaarrrrrmmmmm. 
> OK...  not too hot.

--> (I get my coffee. It is hot. Not too hot means hot enough to be hot, not warm.).

< The coffee is a bit too hot, would you mind adding some cold milk? 

> Oh really? Sooooo sorryyyyy. No problem. 

--> (They add some milk, without stirring. The coffee is still hot, but less hot, still it is hot not warm. I am going to get my tongue burned - again.) 

< Thanks. 

--> (I am just being polite, it is not a thanks full of thanks. Mental note to myself: bring a chapter of Elmo's World in my bag to lend to baristas out there. Hot and Warm lesson. WTF!)

(WHERE? Most Cafés in Perth )

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Vismaya Luxury Resort (Bangkok, Thailand)

Vismaya Suvarnabhumi Luxury Resort
98 Moo 15 Soi King Kaew 43,
Bang Phli, Samut Prakan,
10540 Thailand
Phone: 66 (2) 738 49 88
Website

Vismaya Budget Transit Hotel is what the hotel should be called, because this what Vismaya is. You get what you pay and you cannot get luxury for 50 bucks the night, right? Still, the words work magic on you psyche especially if the hotel has flattering images of the rooms and a pool in them. 

This is a very convenient transit hotel, especially good if you just have to spend a few hours sleeping without any wanderings in Bangkok between your flights: the hotel is pleasant, has spacious rooms, a nice pool, bar/restaurant/cafe, free buffet breakfast, free hourly transfer to the airport, free Wi-Fi at awesome prices. All what you need.

If you are going to stay for a few days or for an extra day, you might want go elsewhere, as the location is not good to wander round but in taxi. On the other hand, if you decide to stay, you will find that place relaxing, and you will save a good deal of money you can spend the way you like.

I think the hotel is backpackers friendly, and an upgrade from a normal backpacker place, with many facilities you find in good hotels minus the price.    

 My "deluxe" room was very spacious and luminous, facing the pool, with lots of storage room, flat TV, with a very comfortable firm bed. There was a long benched table, an armchair and a desk chair. The bathroom was spotless clean and shiny with separate bathtub and shower. However, both areas were Spartan regarding everything else, bare concrete floors, run out furniture and appliances in need of an overhaul.

The staff were polite but a bit abrupt at times. This is due, mostly, to their poor English and difficulty at communicating properly. Lost in translation has a meaning here. I found that the ladies at reception softened with Thai greetings and thankyouses, and relaxed enough to be smiley and way friendlier. 

POINT MAKERS
+ The hotel offers an hourly free shuttle to/from the airport. The transfer trakes about 10 minutes if the traffic is good.
+ Free Wifi all around the hotel, both in the rooms and lobby. Mine was fast and reliable, and it is remarkable in such a cheap hotel.
+ ATM in the premises.
+ Storage room for your luggage if you want to go to the city after check out.
+ Buffet breakfast is included.
+ The Lobby is an open space used as lobby, cafe, restaurant and bar. During the day is very luminous and relaxes, but it lives up once the night lights and music are on. They have a decent selection of Western and Thai favourites, and of soft and alcoholic drinks, at medium prices.

SO SO 
> Muggy room despite the air-con. You need the air-con to run for a while to get it right. The room was really hot and muggy when I arrived. The hotel gives guests one key card that is used both to open the door and operate the electric system; if you go out for a while, the room will be left without air-con and will be muggy at your return. It would cost little giving guests two key cards, especially to those staying more than a few hours overnight. 
> Air-con is noisy.
> The bedside tables were at floor level, way below the bed, so they were of no use! 
> Slow drainage in the shower. 
> Minimal toiletries.
>There are tons of TV channels to choose from. Most of them in Thai. Only Channel 896 *You2Play" had some music in English. This is a transit hotel full of Westerners, why not including a few channels at least in English?
>  The buffet breakfast was varied but a bit tasteless. There was a mix of cooked Asian and Western favourites, fruit and salad plates, plus coffee, tea, juice, fresh fruit, cereals, etc. I thought that the cold part of the breakfast should be covered as flies were binging on the fruit. It does not cost much placing the cold food in covered containers. 
> Several cabs at the door. They are not metered so you will paying about double than you would with a metered one. However, they are affordable for most Western main currencies, and they come handy to go to the city. The pricing chart for the main destinations is clearly visible and written in English at the reception desk.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH
> Minimal decoration. The paintings in my room were three empty frames, framing the crack on the wall (see photo). It made me smile, though. 
> The towels are old and ratty (see the photo).
> Repairs badly done in the bathtub base (see photos). 
> Check out was not extended for a late departure despite me checking at 5 pm the previous day. 
> Staff at the bar/cafe were polite but totally disinterested in attending to customers. I tried to get their attention 3 times, by hand gestures and "excuse me" without success and I had to get up and approach the bar to get my bill.
> The notepad had not been refilled, just one leaf left. No pen. 
> There are geckos everywhere, especially the corridors, in the evening and night. One of them welcomed me in my room (see photo). They eat insects and, in a way, they are a natural insecticide, but 1/ they are very noisy 2/ they move fast, 3/ they come out at night, 4/ you want to go to sleep without having to worry about closing your bags or your eyes.  I like geckos, but no hotel should have them around, especially in the rooms. Otherwise, market them as a charming environmental insecticide, tell customers that they aren't dangerous, so visitors are prepared.   

MIND
> The surroundings of the hotel are not inviting to have a walk. 
> The place is located away from the main road, in a lateral side street, not easy to find by taxi, unless you are familiar with the area and you can direct the driver or they have the hotel card in Thai.

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