Saturday, December 28, 2013

Food Store - Deli Cafe, West Perth - 80%

The Food Store on Hay St in West Perth is a very popular lunch destination for people working in the area. It is always a special treat to come here for lunch. Their delicious display contains fritters, tarts, and salads; and once, a sausage roll as big as my head. The lineup is so seductive that it took me some time to get around to indulging in one of their steak sangas.

On the menu, this steak sanga is billed as: Prime grilled steak on toasted sour dough with salad, spicy tomato relish, homemade aioli and chips.

The first visual of the sanga was striking.

A knife thrust into the heart. Maybe to ensure it was dead?

I had asked for rare and they promised "as rare as they could possibly make it". It was a generous slab of tender flavorful steak, all good apart from one fatty, gristly edge at the end. Wouldn't be a big deal, though I do like to save the best bite for last!

The bread was sourdough with grill marks from toasting. It was good quality bread and held together the contents and accumulated juices well. Though I don't love crusty toasted bread being used in a steak sanga. I find the crusty edges are relatively tough to get through and the sharp edges scrape the roof of the mouth. That is a personal thing; the other fellow who ordered the steak sanga quite liked the bread.

The salad was excellent with a varied selection of baby lettuce leaves and a few generous slices of a very flavorful tomato. The aioli and relish tied the entire thing together, and I loved the fact that we had both. The cheese was also a welcome surprise addition, because steak and cheese go together like sweet chilli and sour cream.


Altogether an enjoyable steak sanga experience. I really enjoyed it, though my mate who was also eating the sanga wasn't as enthused. He rated it about a 7, with the caveat that he doesn't love tomatoes. I personally enjoy tomatoes, so will rate this accordingly higher.

Steak: 4.5 / 5
Bread: 3.5 / 5
Salad: 4 / 5
Condiments: 5 / 5
Surroundings: 3 / 5

Steak Sanga Score: 80%
Price: $21.50

Food Store - Deli Cafe
1251 Hay St 
West Perth, WA 6005
Food Store - Deli Cafe on Urbanspoon 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Dome Cafe, Fremantle

I ended up at Dome Cafe in Fremantle after unwisely saying, "I don't care what we eat; whatever you want to get". We subsequently walked into, and out of, a Vietnamese shop, a Japanese shop, an Asian food hall, a bakery, a chocolateria, and an Italian shop. At each place I got too attached too quickly to a particular dish, and then was wrenched away from it. After the umpteenth trauma I may have gone a bit doolally from the hunger. Fortunately salvation was right across the road.

When a picky eater is looking for a specific "something" which can't be quantified by any measure but will just be known when it is seen, something utterly generic is probably going to suffice. Dome to the rescue.

Dome Steak Sanga

The steak sanga came out on a large slightly-toasted, non-Turkish bun, with well-cooked chips on the side. The steak was pounded flat and thoroughly cooked. It was fairly tender apart from one bit of gristle requiring some wrestling. The salad was stock-standard lettuce and tomato. There was a stand-out to this sanga though-- the relish. The capsicum relish cut through the steak and bread with a sweet acidity that tied the entire dish together.

When it comes to chain restaurants, you could most certainly do worse than Dome. Dome is actually a fairly special chain, as it originated and is based in Perth, Australia. From my experience, the food is rarely amazing or surprising or special... but it does always hit the spot. Particularly for fussy eaters.

Steak Sanga Score: An acceptable steak sanga.
Price: <$20

Dome Fremantle
13 South Terrace
Fremantle
WA 6160

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Grass Espresso Bar, West Perth

 Finding a venue for a spontaneous birthday lunch for Dr S was always going to be challenging on Melbourne Cup day, but Grass Espresso Bar came to our rescue. We don’t normally venture further east than the West Perth Food Court, so coming across this welcoming cafe was a happy surprise. The menu had many enticing options on the menu, but my fate was sealed as soon as I saw the GrassSteak Sanga.

Steak Sanga

There were a lot of things I enjoyed about Grass Espresso. The setting on Hay st was lovely. The service was excellent. The French-accented waiter was charming, and we weren’t left waiting too long for our meals to be served despite the business of the afternoon. The steak sanga came out ‘medium’ between two halves of a lightly toasted Turkish bun, embellished with a light salad. Chips, salad, and a cute little jar of tomato sauce accompanied. The size of the meal was impressive and I tucked in with relish.

Unfortunately the steak sanga didn’t live up to its promise. I thought the steak, a medium-cooked minute cut, was rather salty, though tender enough. The salad consisted of two lonely slices of tomato and two of capsicum, plus a few greens. There may have been a light dressing, but I didn’t taste it. A great steak sanga is juicy and is a naughty, messy, affair. This steak sanga was dry, and even a schmear of the provided tomato sauce on the last quarter didn't do much to perk the sanga up.


Half-eaten steak sanga

I really wanted to like my sanga, as I loved the venue, the setting, the chips I had on the side, and the service. Unfortunately, while they did follow the recipe for a steak sanga and all of the components were there, the whole didn't transcend the sum of the parts. I might be back, but not for the sanga.

Steak Sanga Score: Not the best steak sanga (but lovely chips). 
Price: $18, with chips and salad.

Grass Espresso Bar
1238 Hay Street
West Perth, WA, 6005

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Caffeina, Subiaco - 78%

The Steak Sanga at Cafeina is what started this whole idea, with the ambitious claim of "The Best Steak Sandwich in Town". I'm not sure of all the variables they've taken into consideration-- by town, do they mean the City of Subiaco? Or the 'large country town' persona of Perth? And what do they mean by 'best'? According to whom? By what criteria? Had the judge really tried every steak sandwich available in the town of Subiaco/Perth?

I was thinking over these things while enjoying one of their steak sandwiches, which is indeed nice, but since I haven't tried every steak sandwich in any town, I feel it is presumptive to call it the best. The critic who made that claim hasn't emerged yet from their steak sandwich coma, so I thought I might start judging for myself.

So. The Cafeina Steak Sandwich.



This is a very good steak sandwich. It has all the elements that I think belong in a steak sandwich. Thick slices of lightly-toasted Turkish bread hold the salad fixings, the dressing, and of course, the steak, securely. I have actually enjoyed this steak sandwich many times, though this is the first time I have approached it critically.

The steak is a nice tender piece of fillet, cooked rare on request, which is always appreciated and not always offered. There's some seasoning on it-- I think a bit garlicky, a bit peppery, very flavoursome. The steak spills out over the edges of the sandwich. I'm not sure if its been pounded flat/tender, but it yields easily to my teeth. Nothing worse than a sandwich you need to tooth-saw through. Overall, I am a big fan of the steak.

The bread is also a hugely important component which Cafeina does well. It's a sizable piece of Turkish bread, and here's the critical part: lightly toasted. Yielding on the inside, but ever-so-slightly crunchy and warm on the inside. Just the way I like it.

The salad is a simple lettuce and tomato affair. The lettuce is plentiful and crisp. There is a good amount of tomato as well, but slightly bland in the way tomatoes are sometimes.

The only thing I think might stand in the way of a truly excellent steak sandwich is the dressing. Cafeina use a mayonnaise, which I don't mind, but for a steak sandwich to be fully realised, I think it needs relish. A sweet, punchy, relish balances out the richness of the steak and makes the sanga transcend. I find the mayonnaise and steak tastes merging in the end, with not enough salad to cut through. I'm happy I ordered salad on the side instead of chips.

Overall, I think this is a strong contender for the "best" steak sandwich on this side of town. I can't commit to the whole town, or the city, or the state-- but will definitely be ordering it again next time we dine in at this lovely little cafe on the corner.

Steak: 5 / 5
Bread: 4 / 5
Salad: 4 / 5
Condiments: 3.5 / 5
Surroundings: 3 / 5

Steak Sanga Score: 78%
Price: $18 (with chips or salad)

Cafeina
68 Hay St, Subiaco
Cafeina on Urbanspoon