Friday 20 January 2012

Banzai Sushi and Noodle Bar

OK, I realise this isn't exactly a pub. We were planning to go to the Garden, but there wasn't enough tables for everyone, so we ended up going across the road for delicious Japanese food. As this place isn't exactly my standard for these reviews I'm not going to stick to my proper format. It's hard to compare a restaurant to a pub.

Unlike most pubs there was plenty of vegetarian options. Almost every type of dish: sushi, udon, ramen, rice, etc had a vegetables only choice. The prices were pretty good too, mostly within the $10-$15 range. 

I ordered vegetable ramen which was $12 and could have easily fed two of me. Even of a day I was really hungry I don't think I could have finished it. It was really nice though, I especially enjoyed the bits of sweetcorn as they were a little unexpected. 
As it's not a pub, I wasn't planning on reviewing this place, so I  didn't take  a photo before I started eating. This was when I was done, which just goes to show the portion sizes.


I've eaten here before and always enjoyed it. The low prices and the large portion sizes make it great value for money, and the food is really tasty. So, if you're heading to The Garden on a Thursday night and you find it's completely packed head across the road to Banzai. 


Extra points for the chairs that look like they have faces on them!


Banzai Sushi and Noodle Bar on Urbanspoon

Monday 16 January 2012

Side Quest: Jus Burgers (Leederville)

So got home after work and I was starving, so I went to Leederville looking for dinner and ended up at Jus Burgers.

They had 3 vegetarian burgers on the menu, one of them being a "make your own" kind of thing. I went to for the Pumpkin burger ($13) as I had enjoyed the pumpkin burger at V Burgers (at least the first time I tried it).



The burger had crumbed pumpkin, goats cheese, pesto, lettuce and tomato. It wasn't the holy grail of burgers, and I'm not sure it was as good as the one from V burgers, but it was still nice. The cheese and tomato were the best bit for me. The bun was a little over-toasted, which was a little disappointing. Also, it was really big. I think I made the mistake of ordering a side of very average chips. They arrived first, which at the time I thought was good as I was really hungry, but then I ended up eating most of them before my burger arrived, and then I wasn't as hungry for it.



If you find yourself with a group of people craving burgers, yeah, order the pumpkin burger from here. It's good, but it's not amazing.

Jus Burgers (Leederville) on Urbanspoon

Friday 13 January 2012

The Generous Squire

The last time I went to this place they had amusing coasters. They didn't have them this time. It may have been because we were in the restaurant section; I didn't check.

Food Choices
Usual sides, plus 2 x pizzas (Margherita, Mediterranean: $18, $20), 2 x salads (Greek, rocket: $15, $12.50) and a roasted vegetable tart ($20). The soup of the day was mushroom ($11). Having arrived late, my friends had already ordered, so I didn't have a chance to ask about the soup of the day, or I probably would have picked that. I didn't want to eat pizza, salad or sides, so that left me the with vegetarian tart. I wasn't looking forward to it, but I thought I'd give it a go.

Food Quality

I wasn't really a fan of the tart. It tasted a lot like a quiche. The vegetables were fresh enough, and really there wasn't anything wrong with it, but it just wasn't what I fancied that night. To be fair, it was nice, but just not to my tastes.


My friend ordered the soup. She said it was really nice, thick and tasty. She definitely recommended it. 




Two other friends ordered each of the pizzas. They both described them as average.


Mediterranean
Margherita


Finally, I wanted to comment on the chips. They were really good chips. The beer batter gave them a really nice flavour and they were cooked really well. If you just want a bar snack, not dinner, I would definitely recommend this place to get beer and chips.




Overall Rating

1 point per vegetarian choice (max 3): 3 - One for the pizzas, one for tart, one for the salads
Quality of meal (1-3): 2 - I've giving it an exactly average mark, whilst the soup and chips were good, the other meals were still average.
Value for money (1-3): 1 - Everything was on the upper end of my budget.
X-factor (0-1): 0.5 - I'm just not sure about this place. I like the location, but at the same time it's hard to find parking. I liked the amusing coasters, but I didn't see them last time. I liked the restaurant section, but there wasn't enough room for my group.
Total: 65%

Guess I will have to drink my calories tonight...

The Generous Squire on Urbanspoon

Friday 6 January 2012

Brass Monkey Hotel

In the heart of Northbridge I'd always seen the Brass Monkey as a place you go to get really drunk on a Friday night, or as a starting point for clubbing so I wasn't expecting much. I suppose I didn't really have much to base this assumption on, so perhaps I was being a bit unfair.

Food Choices

Actually the choices wasn't bad. Besides the usual sides there was a $14.90 Brushetta, 3 different vegetarian salads (excluding the side salad); Garden ($10.90), Greek ($13.90) and Goats cheese ($20.90). There was a vegetarian pizza ($19.50) and two mains Three mushroom risotto ($22.90) and Spinach and ricotta cannelloni ($18.90).

I felt vaguely obligated to get the cannelloni considering the price was in budget, but I just really fancied the risotto, so I splurged $2.90 over budget.

Food Quality

Average. The rice was a bit undercooked, and it was a bit bland. It wasn't terrible, not by a long shot. I've definitely had worse, but there was just nothing special about it. To be honest, the risotto I cooked a few nights ago was better. As a small eater, I couldn't finish it and I don't like leaving things I've paid good money for; I would have preferred to have half for half the price. 




I wish there was more I could say about the risotto, but it just wasn't very memorable. Considering I had gone over budget, I was hoping for something nice.

Overall Rating

1 point per vegetarian choice (max 3): 3 - two mains in budget, and a bunch of salads
Quality of meal (1-3): 1.5
Value for money (1-3): 1
X-factor (0-1): 0 - The atmosphere wasn't bad, but they were really understaffed so we had to wait a long time at the bar to order food.
Total: 55%

Guess I will have to drink my calories tonight...

The Brass Monkey on Urbanspoon